LITMIR.BIZ

“The Return of the Soldier” is British author Rebecca West’s remarkable 1918 novel of the struggle of a World War I veteran and the three women who love him as he returns home and tries make sense of the life that he had before he went to war. Told from the perspective of his cousin Jenny, who lives with him and his wife Kitty, it is the story of British soldier Chris Baldry, who has just returned home from fighting in France. Chris has amnesia and does not remember the last 15 years of his life, his marriage to Kitty, or the young son they tragically lost before the war. Instead, he believes he is 20 years old again and still courting Margaret, an inn-keeper’s daughter and his first love. While Kitty feels powerless to save her husband, Jenny enlists Margaret to help Chris and the two must face a tragic and difficult choice: to let Chris remain happily unaware of his true life or help him remember his tragic past. Heartbreaking and affecting, West’s classic dramatically exemplifies the lasting psychological effects of war on both soldiers and their families.

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Born and raised in a Longford, Ireland workhouse, Padraic Colum left home at seventeen to become a clerk in the Irish Railway Clearing House in Dublin. This venture was short-lived, however, and with the success of a few poems and a play, “The Saxon Shillin’,” in 1904 he went on to pursue a career in writing. His success as a dramatist, poet, novelist, essayist, biographer, children’s writer, and editor, as well as his participation in the founding of the Abbey Theatre, made Colum a central figure in the Irish literary renaissance. Colum wrote “The Children’s Homer” or “The Adventures of Odysseus and the Tale of Troy” in 1918 as a retelling of Homer’s epic poems, the “Iliad” and the “Odyssey,” intended for younger readers. It recounts the perilous adventures of Odysseus on his journey back from the war in Troy, including his encounter with the horrible Cyclops, the duplicitous Sirens, and the evil Circe. One of Colum’s many successful children’s novels, these stories will be enjoyed as much today as they were when they first appeared. This edition is wonderfully illustrated by Willy Pogany.

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Considered by many to be one of the greatest adventure novels of all time, “The Thirty-Nine Steps” is Scottish author John Buchan’s most successful work. Published in 1915 and set during the early days of the First World War, it is the first of Buchan’s stories of Richard Hannay, a brave and honorable yet unremarkable gentleman, who finds himself mixed up in extraordinary circumstances. In “The Thirty-Nine Steps” Hannay is unintentionally drawn into a deadly plot to undermine the British war effort and assassinate the Greek Premier. Framed for murder and now a fugitive from the law, Hannay must race against time to try to stay one step ahead of his deadly pursuers and do what he can to stop the plot. Thrust into a world of spies, intrigue, and danger, the ordinary Hannay rises to the occasion and becomes a resourceful and loyal hero. Thrilling, intelligent, and clever, “The Thirty-Nine Steps” was popular and widely influential when first published and is credited with being one of the first “man on the run” stories. This classic is an exciting adventure of mystery and espionage that will thrill and delight readers both young and old. This edition includes a biographical afterword.

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Widely considered to be one of the first English novels, Fielding’s “Tom Jones,” written in 1749, revolves around the life and experiences of an orphaned baby who grows up to be a kind-hearted, if overly vigorous, young man. Tom is brought up by the generous Mr. Allworthy on his Somerset estate, where Tom eventually falls in love with his beautiful neighbor, Sophia Western. Because of his partially unknown parentage, however, their respective guardians are against the match. When Tom is banished due to his occasionally heated temper and sexual encounters with local girls, he has an adventure full of danger and surprise. Ultimately he follows Sophia to London, who herself is fleeing from an undesirable arranged marriage. Generally acknowledged as Fielding’s greatest work, “Tom Jones” takes the hero through an inventive plot that will entertain and astonish readers through to its revealing conclusion.

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Published in 1875 after appearing in serial form, “The Way We Live Now” is widely acknowledged to be the masterpiece of Anthony Trollope’s prolific Victorian career. The novel is a scathing satire which Trollope wrote upon returning to England after traveling abroad. Trollope was horrified to discover how pervasive greed and dishonesty had become in England during his absence. In seeking to reveal the deceit and dissipation he found, Trollope spared no sinful aspect he perceived in business, politics, social classes, literature, and various vice-related activities. Inspired by the devastation wrought by several famous financial scams of the nineteenth century, Trollope drew upon these scandals to show how destructive such deception and avarice can become. The result of his efforts is an impressive array of characters, such as the old coquette Lady Carbury, her dissolute son Sir Felix, a spoiled and treacherously lovely heiress Marie, and her colossal figure of a father Augustus Melmotte, the great financier whose deceitful plots dupe countless wealthy individuals. Through the swindling, bribery, feuding, and shameless self-promotion of these characters, Trollope writes a sweeping panorama of vice for the sake of monetary greed that will cause readers to reflect on the morality of our own time. This edition includes a biographical afterword.

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First published in 1841, “The Deerslayer” was the last of James Fenimore Cooper’s “Leatherstocking Tales” to be written. Chronologically set first the novel introduces the reader to the hero of the series, the young frontiersmen Natty Bumppo. In this prequel to the later “Leatherstocking Tales,” Natty, the “Deerslayer”, is at Otsego Lake in central, upstate New York, during the years 1740-1745, a time in which the French and Indian Wars were beginning and the advance of civilization began to dominate the landscape of New York State. The story revolves around the conflict that arises between Natty and the Huron tribe when he and his friend Chingachgook attempt to rescue Henry March and Tom Hutter, who have been taken as prisoners by the Huron for attacking and scalping members of the tribe. Absorbing and realistically detailed, “The Deerslayer” is both a romantic adventure and a fascinating glimpse of the colonies in the decades before the American Revolution. The savage violence of the time is contrasted in moving prose with the breathtaking landscape of the New World. This thrilling tale of early American frontier life and adventure completes James Fenimore Cooper’s saga of the “Leatherstocking Tales”. This edition includes a biographical afterword.

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First published in 1860, George Eliot’s “The Mill on the Floss” tells the story of Tom and Maggie Tulliver, a brother and sister growing up on the fictional river Floss near the village of St. Oggs in Lincolnshire, England. Set in the early 1800s over a period of several years, the novel follows the two main characters from childhood to young adulthood. Maggie and Tom’s love and loyalty to each other is the primary relationship of the novel, as well as Maggie’s connections to the two young suitors she is often torn between. Maggie struggles to decide if she will violate the social code of her time and risk ostracism from her family and friends to follow her own passions and desires. It is a struggle that women from many time periods can relate to. While Tom is stubborn and traditional, Maggie is often caught between what she should do and what she wants to do. This deeply personal and tragic tale remains a popular and enduring example of George Eliot’s importance in English literature. This edition includes a biographical afterword.

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First published in 1903 in serial form, Henry James’ “The Ambassadors” is the story of the middle-aged and naïve Lewis Lambert Strether, who travels to Europe at the behest of his widowed fiancée to find her supposedly wayward son, Chad Newsome. Mrs. Newsome fears he has fallen under the spell of a sinful woman and Strether must rescue him. With the intent of bringing Chad back to America and to his post at the family business, Strether encounters many unexpected complications along the way and finds that the situation may not be as his fiancée has imagined. Strether finds himself seduced by the beauty of Europe, the more casual and open relationships of the Europeans he encounters, and the relaxed social mores. Strether is so seduced that he considers never returning to his home and begins to fall in love with another woman. Eventually, Strether comes to his senses and realizes that Europe may not be the paradise he has convinced himself it to be. Strether returns to America as a changed man, less rigid, wiser, and more thoughtful. Hailed as one of James’s finest novel and his own personal favorite, “The Ambassadors” is the perfect blending of the old world with the new. This edition includes a biographical afterword.

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Written by the Indian philosopher Vatsyayana sometime between the 4th century B.C. and the 1st century A.D., “The Kama Sutra” is perhaps the world’s most famous book ever written on love and sexual desire. “Kama” is one of the four Hindu goals of human life and is translated as love, including sexual desire and romantic love. “Sutra” in this context means aphorisms, or rules and lessons, on the subject of love. “The Kama Sutra” has become synonymous with its instructions on sexual positions, but this compromises only a small portion of the work and it is much more than an erotic guide to lovemaking. Instead, it is intended as a manual for not only love and intimacy, but also a treatise on the politics and customs of marriages and family life. While the treatise values sensual delight and the pursuit of physical pleasure, it also promotes honor, virtue, and responsibility. This masterpiece of Sanskrit literature provides a fascinating glimpse into an ancient culture and its traditions and values, such as how one chooses a mate, how husbands and wives should comport themselves, and which romantic relationships are healthy and which are destructive. Presented here is the classic translation of Sir Richard Burton.

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First published in 1914 after Leo Tolstoy’s death, “Hadji Murad” was the author’s last novel. Drawing upon his own experiences fighting for the Russian army, historical archives, and the true story of the real-life Hadji Murad, the story is a narrative based on actual events that occurred during the Russian war with the Chechens during the 1850’s. “Hadji Murad” focuses on the life and struggles of its central character, a Chechen soldier who breaks ranks and flees to the side of the Russians in the hope that the Russians will help him free his family from the control of the Muslim religious leader Imam Shamil. Murad does not find the help he seeks though and is not trusted by many of the Russian military commanders, who view him as a potential spy. Frustrated by the lack of progress towards his goal, Murad eventually returns to try and rescue his imprisoned family himself with tragic consequences. “Hadji Murad” is the final masterpiece by a gifted writer which brilliantly examines the brutality and senselessness of war and contrasts it with the beauty of the human spirit and the importance of resistance in the face of injustice. This edition includes a biographical afterword and follows the translation of Aylmer Maude.

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