An ambitious lawyer, a scandalous family secret, and a loan shark. Take these three elements and paint them onto a backdrop of upper-class Paris and you have Honore de Balzac's 'Go ...

'Now that I am free, perfectly free, I intend to remain so.'Today, this would be a clear message to look for another online date.In 19th-century Paris, Leon de Preval, a captain in ...

The summer of 1968 is warm and humid, but rife with possibilities. Something is in the air; something more than thunder and lightning. Sally and her husband, Otis, have decided to ...

‘Bouvard and Pécuchet’ (1881) was written by the great French author Gustave Flaubert, famous for his scandalous best-selling novel ‘Madame Bovary’. Although unfinished at the time ...

Spoiling a child is not just about letting them have a few extra sweets. In some cases, years of doting really do spoil them.Victurien d'Esgrignon was raised by his doting aunt and ...

It begins with the undignified scene of two young men on a Parisian stagecoach, boasting about their love affairs with older, married women.Hubris turns to tragedy when the coach o ...

Once bitten, twice shy sometimes rings true. Madame de Beauseant must have been bitten very hard, for she became a hermit in her Normandy castle due to humiliation after being cast ...

When Milanese nobleman Count Andrea Marcosini sees Marianna in the crowd at the Palais-Royal in Paris, he immediately decides that she will be his. After all, this wealthy man with ...

Veronique Graslin is a woman of strength.Despite being scarred by smallpox at 11, and then railroaded into a miserable marriage with a man who resembles an 'antique satyr', she bui ...

You know that feeling when you have just sent a text or an email to the wrong person? Well, in the 19th century the equivalent was a wrongly-directed letter - and there is no 'dele ...

Felix was rejected as a child by his mother and those scars never fully heal.In a book with great emotional depth, Honore de Balzac explores Felix' two major adult relationships wi ...

'Vive la counter-revolution!'In 'Sons of the Soil', Balzac tells an extraordinary story of gentry and peasants, complacency and corruption, jealousy and revenge. And it has a conte ...

There are dilemmas - and then there are dilemmas. Juanito Leganes faces the sort of choice that is beyond our worst nightmares.It comes after his father, Marquis of the Spanish tow ...

Fans of 'The Godfather' trilogy and 'The Sopranos' will know a thing or two about vendettas.In Honore de Balzac's ´The Vendetta´, tragic consequences are laid bare. What begins as ...

Set during the war between Austria and Prussia in 1866, ‘The Prussian Terror´ is a gritty, historical adventure novel. While the story graphically describes the horrors and effects ...

Set against the backdrop of the Paris Uprising of 1832, ‘The She-Wolves of Machecoul’ is dripping with political intrigue, sinister plots, and knuckle-cracking villains. However, a ...

Although written after ‘The Companions of Jehu,’ ‘The Whites and the Blues’ details events leading up to the first book.It follows the fortunes of young Charles Nodier, who arrives ...

In ‘The Sire de Maletroit's Door’ we follow young Denis de Beaulieu, a veteran in the raging ‘Hundred Years War’ as he creeps through the streets of Burgundy trying to avoid patrol ...

If you only know Robert Louis Stevenson as the author of "Treasure Island", "Underwoods" will surprise and delight. It collects over 50 of his poems, written in both English and Sc ...

The final story in Joyce’s ‘Dubliners’ collection, ‘The Dead’ tells the story of Gabriel Conroy and his wife, Gretta. While at a Christmas party hosted by his aunts, Gretta tells t ...

Cora Green es periodista y tiene el mundo entero como lugar de trabajo. Ahora se encuentra en Kenia para seguir las pistas de una historia en la que está trabajando. Julian es fotó ...

Trondheim år 1892.Helene står inför ett svårt val efter att advokat Mortensen har friat till henne. Förnuftet säger att familjen går en trygg framtid till mötes om hon accepterar e ...

Det är julafton. Ella och hennes tre vuxna barn är i Säffle, Värmland för att fira jul hos släkten. När Ella går upp på vinden för att leta efter julkyrkan som brukar stå på julbor ...

Vaikka italialainen Guidobaldo da Montefeltro eli vain 36-vuotiaaksi, hänen elämänsä oli mielenkiintoinen ja täysi. Vuonna 1482 Guidobaldo astui isänsä saappaisiin ja alkoi hallita ...

Kun Margot saapuu pariisilaiseen kartanoon varakkaan emännän seuraneidiksi, kaikki on uutta ja ihmeellistä. Margotin pää on pyörällä, eikä asiaa ainakaan auta se, että hän rakastuu ...