The pinnacle of the work of the English writer, journalist and graphic artist William Makepeace Thackeray was the novel Vanity Fair. All characters of the novel - positive and negative - are involved, according to the author, in the "eternal circle of grief and suffering." Saturated with events, rich in subtle observations of everyday life of its time, imbued with irony and sarcasm, the novel "Vanity Fair" took pride of place in the list of masterpieces of world literature....
Daniel and Peachy arrived from Britain to India to undergo military service, but the soldiers had their own plans for life. Fraudulent friends intend to leave for the country called Kafiristan to become its rulers, and take possession of the treasures of the whole country hidden in the bowels of the mountains....
The novel "Hero of Our Time" was first published in 1840. Then no one could have imagined that the author’s life would end so soon, and many contemporaries predicted Mikhail Yuryevich a great future precisely as a prose writer. Gogol, in particular, remarked: "Lermontov the prose writer will be higher than Lermontov the poet." With his novel “The Hero of Our Time” Lermontov greatly expanded the scope of the literary tradition. Unusual was the composition of the work, consisting of five independent stories. A peculiar chronology of events and a constantly changing circle of heroes attracted...
The ruthless Dictator of Mekin has already subjugated twenty-two helpless planets. Now he wants Kandar's unconditional surrender - or he will blast it out of existence!...
First published in 1894, the “Jungle Book” remains one of the most beloved among children and adults around the world. These classic stories about the boy Mowgli, raised by a wolf pack, give indelible lessons not so much about the laws of the jungle, but about the needs of the soul and heart. Originally from magical and mysterious India, these stories of people and animals living side by side are addressed to both children and adults. In addition to the boy Mowgli, you will meet with the brown and sleepy bear Balu, with the cunning black panther Bagheera, with the python Kaa, who raised...
If there is at least one dubious detail in the case, the famous detective will check it until he gets to the bottom of the truth. So, in the novel `One, two - a buckle fastener ', he doubts the guilt of a man whom the police suspect of several murders. In the novel `Elephants Can Remember, 'there is an endless debate with the writer Ariadne Oliver, in the process of which he finds out the details of the crime. And in the collection of stories `Poirot leads the investigation`, the tireless detective brilliantly investigates a series of crimes....
The adventures of the unlucky, good-natured English traveling across the Thames, about which Jerome wrote in his famous novel Three in a Boat, Not Counting a Dog, translated into almost all the languages of the world and repeatedly filmed, became well known even in the most remote corners of the planet. It was originally planned that the book would be a guide covering local history as the route followed. At first, Jerome was going to name the book "The Story of the Thames." “I was not even going to write a ridiculous book at first,” he admitted in his memoirs. The book was supposed to focus...
Emma Woodhouse, a young twenty-year-old girl, lives with her father in Highbury, a small village near London. The Wodehouse is the first family in the village. The affair begins immediately after Emma arranged the marriage of her pupil Miss Taylor to become Mrs. Weston and rise in society. After Emma succeeds, she realizes that this is her vocation. In order not to be bored, she is preparing a new marriage. Her next “victim” is Harriet Smith, a young girl with whom she makes friends and is going to marry the village priest, Mr. Elton. To do this, she uses all means, although the matchmaker,...
Herman Melville's tale is a grotesque narrative of a poor office worker whose unusual behavior breaks the usual rhythm of business life and makes others doubt the correctness of the world order....
A young American, Winterbourne, who has lived in Europe for many years and has managed to break the habit of American customs, arrives in the small Swiss town of Vevey to see his aunt. At the hotel, he accidentally meets a wealthy American Miller family - a nine-year-old boy, his older sister and their mother. They travel around Europe accompanied by their agent and are going to go to Italy. The girl - Daisy Miller - amazes Winterbourne with her beauty, as well as free and laid-back behavior, which is not accepted in Europe. He is trying to understand what is behind this strange behavior from...
Medieval England. King Richard the Lionheart was returning home from the Crusades when he was captured and imprisoned in Austria. His treacherous brother John has already seized the throne and refuses to pay a ransom for Richard. Meanwhile, the conflict between the Saxons and the Normans threatens to escalate into a civil war. Aivengo, the deprived son of Cedric, returns from the crusade to claim his inheritance and marry Rowena, a cousin and niece of Cedric, who seeks to marry the girl to the last offspring of the Saxon royal family....
Spouses Monark, once rich gentlemen, aristocrats. They lost their fortune and were now forced to look for work. Tall stately, graceful, graceful. Spouses considered themselves genuine samples, ideal for working as sitters. But the drawings always turned out to be the same, they looked like beautiful statues. And they were much inferior to real sitters, poor people without any position, but at the same time talented, artistic, able to transform, alive....
Andrew Lang is a British writer, translator, historian and ethnographer. "Coloured Fairy Books" is the famous series of fairy-tale collections compiled by Andrew Lang. It includes 25 books and The Arabian Nights Entertainments, one of which is a unique collection of magical Arabian stories....
Eugenia Grande was considered the most enviable bride in Saumur. Her father, a simple bochar, became rich during the Revolution, buying up confiscated church estates for nothing - the best vineyards and several farms in the Saumur district. He was elected mayor at the Consulate, and during the time of the Empire he was only called Mr. Grande - however, he was familiarly called "dad" by the eyes. No one knew exactly what capital the former Bochar had, but savvy people said that dad Grande had six to seven million francs loyal. Only two people could confirm this, but the notary Kruscho and the...
