LITMIR.BIZ

Katherine Mansfield is often recognized as one of the true innovators of the modern short story. The New Zealand-born Englishwoman embraced a Bohemian lifestyle and became involved in a series of scandalous relationships, which greatly influenced some of her most significant work. Her best-known writings were produced in her final years, as she was plagued by illness. Her fiction is dominated by themes of male-female relationships, sexual ambivalence, and gender roles. Most of her work focuses on female protagonists and demonstrates the problems of social relationships. This collection, written between 1920-1922, includes “At the Bay”, a story that proposes there is more to a woman's life than marriage and motherhood; “The Garden Party”, which explores class differences; “The Daughters of the Late Colonel”, a story about life and death; “Marriage à la Mode”, about the dissolution of a relationship; “Miss Brill”, Mansfield's memorable tale of the lonely woman, and many more. This edition includes a biographical afterword.

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John Maynard Keynes was a British economist whose theories had a profound impact on twentieth century history and economic practice. Born and raised in Cambridge, England to highly successful, intelligent parents John and Florence Keynes, he attended Eton and King’s College, Cambridge where he joined the intellectual group called “The Apostles” with the likes of Virginia Woolf, E. M. Forster, and Bertrand Russell. In 1919, after attending the Paris Peace Conference as economic advisor to Prime Minister Lloyd George, Keynes resigned from a prominent position in the Treasury and published “The Economic Consequences of the Peace”, a stinging indictment of the Versailles Treaty. Keynes expressed his opposition to the political practices that were taking place, and the work gained him instant notoriety. The impact of this, and other, works on economic theory and policy led to what is now termed the “Keynesian Revolution” of the twentieth century, and helped shape modern macroeconomics.

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A sequel to the “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”, this 1904 book by L. Frank Baum delves once more into the Land of Oz after Dorothy’s return to Kansas in a story that follows the adventure of a boy named Tip. In “The Marvelous Land of Oz” the reader is introduced to Tip after he escapes the witch Mombi. Tip travels the lands of Oz with a group of friends and has numerous adventures, including encountering an army of wild women, escaping violent creatures such as the Jackdaws, seeking Glinda the Good, and ultimately meeting his destiny in the Emerald City. Baum infuses his land of fantasy with new characters while utilizing some of the familiar personalities of the first novel, creating an engaging and memorable cast and an entertaining plot that twists and turns when the reader least expects it. “The Marvelous Land of Oz” is a well-crafted novel that continues to entertain audiences over one hundred years after its first publication. This edition includes a biographical afterword.

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An imaginative work first published in 1902, L. Frank Baum’s “The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus” tells the story of Claus, an orphaned boy raised by various immortal creatures in an enchanted forest. When he reaches adulthood, Claus is told to live among mortals; he is disheartened initially by poverty, war, and other negative aspects of humanity. He becomes well-known for his kindness to children, and this enthusiasm leads to the invention of the first toys. Claus eventually makes it his life’s mission to bring joy to children, and this unfolds into an entertaining explanation of many Christmas traditions, including the hanging of stockings, Christmas trees, and gift-giving. After a lifetime of generosity the immortal creatures who raised him must consider whether Claus is worthy of immortality so that he may continue to bring joy into the lives of children. “The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus” illustrates the depth of Baum’s skill as an author of children’s literature. This edition includes a biographical afterword.

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The first novel of Trollope’s “Chronicles of Barsetshire” series, “The Warden” introduces the fictional cathedral town of Barchester and many of its clerical inhabitants. Originally published in 1855, the story centers on Mr. Septimus Harding who has been granted the comfortable wardenship of Hiram’s Hospital, an almshouse from a medieval charity of the diocese. Mr. Harding, a fundamentally good man and an excellent musician, conscientiously fulfills his duties to the twelve elderly occupants of the hospital. He also cares for his younger daughter Eleanor, who is in love with a young doctor named John Bold. The misfortunes of Harding begin when Bold becomes an enthusiastic reformer and endeavors to expose the great disparity in the allotment of Hiram’s antiquated charity funds. This leads to a sequence of events that he becomes powerless to stop, from the editorials of Tom Towers in “The Jupiter” to the legal interference of Archdeacon Grantly. The novel is a thoughtful description of clerical life infused with the romance of a young couple, which combines to form a novel with a melancholy conclusion. This edition includes a biographical afterword.

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First published in 1919, Lucy Maud Montgomery’s “Rainbow Valley” is the seventh novel chronologically in the “Anne of Green Gables” saga, though it was published fifth. This installment of the timeless series finds Anne Shirley happily married to Gilbert Blythe for 15 years, busy raising their six children. Soon the family has an unusual neighbor when the new Presbyterian minister John Meredith, a widower, moves into an old mansion nearby with his four children. Most of the community views the Meredith children as wild and unmannered and question John’s ability to raise them on his own and thus be a good minister to the village. The Blythe family is the only one to see another side of this misunderstood family and witness their kindness and generosity. Soon all the children work together to solve problems both big and small, from finding a home for a starving orphan, helping John find love again, to saving a favored rooster from death. “Rainbow Valley” is an enjoyable and heartwarming addition to the popular and well-loved saga of Anne and her family. This edition includes a biographical afterword.

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First published anonymously in 1678, Madame de Lafayette is generally believed to be the author behind “The Princess of Cleves”. Set between October 1558 and November 1559 at the royal court of Henry II of France, the novel is concerned with Mademoiselle de Chartres, a sheltered heiress who is brought to the court by her mother to find her a proper husband. This soon to be princess will find herself caught between her duty as a wife and her untimely love for another man. “The Princess of Cleves” is one of the great classics of French literature, known for its remarkable historical accuracy. The novel which is not only highly evocative of a past era marked a major turning point in world literature. Up to then novels had been highly romanticized whereas “The Princess of Cleves” is noted for having a highly realistic plot with deeply introspective characters.

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Euripides, along was Sophocles, and Aeschylus, is largely responsible for the rise of Greek tragedy. It was in the 5th Century BC, during the height of Greece’s cultural bloom, that Euripides lived and worked. Of his roughly ninety-two plays, only seventeen tragedies survive. Both ridiculed and lauded during his life, Euripides now stands as an innovator of the Greek drama. Collected here are six of Euripides’ tragedies in prose translation by Edward P. Coleridge: “Medea”, “Hippolytus”, “Hecuba”, “Electra”, “Heracles”, and “Helen”. The first play in this collection, “Medea”, tells the horrific tale of a woman who seeks revenge on her husband by killing her children. “Hippolytus” relates the tragedy of its titular character, son of Theseus, and his tragic fall at the hands of Phaedra. “Hecuba” is the tale of a fallen Queen, the grief she feels for the death of her daughter, and the revenge she takes for the murder of her son. In “Electra” we find the daughter of a slain king plotting her revenge. In “Heracles” we find a hero racing to save his family from a death sentence. Lastly, “Helen” presents an alternate tale regarding Helen of Troy than that which sparked the Trojan War. For the lover of drama and the ancient world, this collection is not to be missed—Euripides is seen here in all of his valor and brilliance. This edition includes a biographical afterword.

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First published in 1869, “An Old-Fashioned Girl” is the charming novel of a young country girl learning to navigate sophisticated city-life by celebrated American author Louisa May Alcott. Appearing a year after the publication of her most famous work, “Little Women”, Alcott’s “An Old-Fashioned Girl” centers around the contrast between the title character, the country girl Polly Milton, and her wealthy friend from the city, Fanny Shaw. Polly goes to visit the Shaw family for the first time at age 14 and is shocked by their fancy clothes, urban lifestyle, and questionable morals. They, in turn, are amused by Polly’s simple dress and seemingly strange behavior. Before long however, the Shaw family is won over by her warmth, kindness, and wholesome values. Polly continues her visits for many years and is able to help Fanny, her brother Tom, and the rest of the Shaw family to become better people and to recognize what truly matters in life. “An Old-Fashioned Girl” is a warm-hearted and satisfying novel featuring interesting and sympathetic characters that readers both young and old will enjoy getting to know. This edition includes a biographical afterword.

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Harriet E. Wilson is the first female African American to publish a novel in North America. Her first and only work, “Our Nig: Sketches from the Life of a Free Black” was first published in 1859. Considered lost until 1982 when it was rediscovered by scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr., the novel is largely autobiographical, tracking the life of a free black women in the Antebellum North. At the age of three, the protagonist Frado is abandoned by her parents and left at the house of the Bellmonts, a wealthy New England family. Her life as a free black woman in the North is filled with hardship and suffering. This realistic tale sugar coats nothing, and the reader witnesses Frado’s difficult life as a servant to the family. A groundbreaking work of gender and race identity, Wilson creates a tremendous narrative central to African American history which helped to begin a tradition of African American literature in America.

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