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La Réforme est inséparable de la Renaissance ; elle fut une révolution à la fois politique et religieuse. Prêchée en France par Calvin dès 1534, la Réforme provoqua, entre catholiques et protestants, une longue série de guerres. Déjà sous François Ier et Henri II, des persécutions avaient été dirigées contre les non-catholiques : extermination des Vaudois, supplices d¿Étienne Dolet et d¿Anne du Bourg. Mais, sous François II, la lutte ouverte éclata. Marié à Marie Stuart, nièce de François de Guise et du cardinal de Lorraine, François II est peu aimé de sa mère, Catherine de Médicis. Elle lui préfère son fils cadet, Henri ¿ futur Henri III. À tout prix, elle veut écarter François II du trône et, pour servir ses sombres desseins, la reine mère n¿hésite pas à s¿entourer de bretteurs sans scrupules, dont le baron de Rospignac est le chef. Dans ces sombres conjonctures de guerre civile, François II se lie d¿amitié avec le chevalier de Beaurevers et le vicomte de Ferrière. Ils mettent leur courage et leur épée au service du roi, jeune et inexpérimenté, pour protéger sa vie, menacée par les entreprises criminelles de Catherine II et de sa clique.

"Folla" est un roman écrit par Roger Dombre, un auteur dont le style se caractérise par une approche sensible et poétique de la littérature.Dans "Folla", l'auteur nous plonge dans l'histoire d'une jeune femme, Folla, qui traverse une série d'épreuves et de défis dans sa vie. Le roman explore ses luttes intérieures, ses aspirations, ses rêves, et les relations complexes qu'elle entretient avec les autres personnages.L'histoire est tissée d'émotions profondes et de réflexions sur la nature humaine, la société et les dilemmes auxquels chacun peut être confronté dans sa quête de bonheur et de sens.Le style d'écriture de Roger Dombre est marqué par des descriptions délicates et une prose poétique qui plonge le lecteur dans l'univers intime de Folla.

"Forestiers et Voyageurs" est un ouvrage écrit par Joseph-Charles Taché, un auteur canadien du XIXe siècle.Dans ce livre, l'auteur nous emmène dans un voyage captivant à travers les vastes étendues sauvages du Canada. Il nous présente les aventures et les défis auxquels font face les forestiers et les voyageurs qui explorent ces régions reculées.À travers des récits passionnants, Joseph-Charles Taché décrit la vie des hommes courageux qui travaillent dans les forêts et naviguent sur les rivières pour exploiter les ressources naturelles du pays. Il met en lumière leur dévouement, leur ténacité et leur connexion profonde avec la nature.Le livre offre également un aperçu des paysages grandioses et de la faune sauvage du Canada, offrant aux lecteurs une immersion dans la beauté et la majesté de ces contrées."Forestiers et Voyageurs" est un hommage aux pionniers qui ont façonné le Canada et aux magnifiques paysages qui les entourent.

Piccadilly Jim, by P. G. Wodehouse, was first published on February 24, 1917 by Dodd, Mead and Company in New York. It was subsequently published in London in May 1918 by Herbert Jenkins. It is based on a story originally published in the Saturday Evening Post from September 16 to November 11, 1916. The book sees Jimmy Crocker, also known as ¿Piccadilly Jim,¿ trying to escape his increasingly bad reputation by returning to New York from London. On the way, he meets and falls in love with Ann Chester, and agrees to help her kidnap Ogden, her cousin, for his own good. Their plans go awry and become more convoluted as impersonations, explosives and a determined detective get in the way.

Charles Babbage was a Victorian polymath, and someone with a seemingly never-ending intellectual curiosity about the world around him. A mathematician by training, he also wrote copiously on subjects such as economics, physics, engineering, computation, cryptography, religion and education, along with conducting practical experiments with pretty much anything that had grabbed his interest at the time. Today, he¿s widely viewed to be the father of the computer with his Difference and Analytical Engines. Although neither were fully completed during his lifetime, a working replica of the Difference Engine was built in the 1990s, and an Analytical Engine is currently in the planning stages.This autobiography (first published near the end of his life in 1864) veers from topic to topic and rarely settles on any subject for more than a chapter. Apart from his early life and an explanation of the thinking behind his computing Engines, Babbage also transcribes his memories of climbing into an active volcano, arguing with street musicians, picking locks, standing in elections, and imagining life as a cheese mite, among other diverse subjects. The original meaning of the titular word ¿Philosopher¿ is ¿lover of wisdom,¿ and this book shows Babbage to be just that.

High politics are not always centrally in view in Anthony Trollope¿s Palliser novels, but parliamentary life comes to the fore throughout Phineas Finn, the second in the series.The hero of the tale is the young son of an Irish country doctor, now attaining manhood and striking out in life. Although training for the Bar, he feels the lure of Parliament and manages to secure a seat. Blessed with good fortune, ¿comely inside and out,¿ and pleasant company to both women and men, he begins to climb the ladder. Along with his undoubted triumphs there come also palpable failures¿social as well as political. Leaving behind a sweetheart in Ireland, he encounters women of high status and fashion in London who place their own claims on his heart.While Phineas is clearly the hero of the novel bearing his name, the lives of a number of remarkable women become intertwined with his own, each of whom he loves, after a fashion. The portrait of Lady Laura Standish¿who serves as his political muse as well¿is especially poignantly drawn, while Violet Effingham and the somewhat mysterious Madame Max Goesler each have an individuated strength and depth of character. Each, too, mirrors in different ways the dilemma faced by Phineas in his political career: whether it is better to be subservient and ¿succeed,¿ or maintain independence and risk being an outcast.The writing of Phineas Finn coincided with Trollope¿s own political awakening and aspirations. While working on this novel, he was also composing a memoir of Lord Palmerston, the Prime Minister who had died in office only a couple years previously. (The memoir remained unpublished until 1882.) By this point in his mid fifties, Trollope made his own attempt to secure a seat as a member of Parliament in 1868, failed, and was scarred by the experience. The literary critic Michael Sadleir characterized Trollope¿s parliamentary fiction as showing a ¿preoccupation with political society [but] indifference to political theory,¿ perhaps unfairly. Especially in the character of Mr. Monk, Phineas¿s chief political mentor, much wisdom for parliamentary life is imparted.Trollope¿s political failure does not yet cast a shadow on the optimism which pervades Phineas Finn. The novelist¿s own views would ripen along with those of his characters as the series took shape. Still, in his autobiography Trollope was able to declare, ¿Phineas Finn, I certainly think, was successful from first to last.¿

Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral was the first book of poetry ever published by an African-American author. Phillis Wheatley¿s deep familiarity with Latin literature and Christianity, combined with her African ancestry, provided her with a unique and inimitable view of poetry.She was kidnapped and brought over to America on a ship called The Phillis after which she was named. Her interest in poetry and literature was recognized by the Wheatley family who, though keeping her enslaved, provided her with classic works of literature by authors such as Virgil, Homer, Terence, and Pope, all of whom had a significant influence on her work.She received praise from many of her contemporaries including George Washington, John Hancock, and Voltaire. Shortly after publishing her collection of poetry she was emancipated by the Wheatley family. Even so, her life ended in poverty and obscurity.Though her influence on poetry and African-American literature is indisputable, more modern critics of her work point to the lack of censure of slavery and the absence of discussion about the lives of black people in the United States as an example of the Uncle Tom syndrome.

"Feuilles volantes" est un recueil de poèmes de Louis Fréchette, un poète canadien du XIXe siècle. Dans cet ouvrage, l'auteur nous entraîne dans un univers poétique où se mêlent amour, nature, nostalgie et réflexions sur la vie.Avec une plume élégante et sensible, Fréchette explore les émotions humaines et les beautés de la nature canadienne. Ses poèmes sont empreints de lyrisme et de romantisme, évoquant des scènes bucoliques, des paysages enchanteurs et des moments de douceur et de mélancolie.

Rosemary, the former love of Peter Blakeney, is about to be married to one of Peter¿s friends. A famous journalist, she is asked to come to Transylvania and report on the Romanian occupation following the first World War, having travelled there many times in her childhood with Peter¿s mother. She agrees to move up her wedding so that her fiancé can travel with her. Soon after they get there, Peter¿s nephew and girlfriend are arrested for treason, and Rosemary is given a terrible choice¿all while Peter arrives in the country as well, seemingly working against his own family.Just as she went back several generations in previous entries in the series, this time the Baroness Orczy goes forward several, to the years immediately following World War I. Having grown up in Hungary, she sets the story in an area of the world very familiar to her, weaving her fictional characters into the real-world history of the time.

The essential facts regarding Joan of Arc are well known. A young teenage girl hears voices that tell her she will deliver France from England¿s oppression during the Hundred Years War. She manages to take her message to the dauphin, who after some persuasion places her at the head of his army. That army promptly lifts the siege of Orléans, throws the English out of the Loire valley, hands them another significant defeat at Patay, and marches all the way to Reims, where the dauphin is crowned King Charles VII. After an ill-advised and short-lived truce, Joan is captured by the Burgundians¿French nobility who have aligned themselves with the English¿and they try her for heresy and burn her at the stake.Twain first became fascinated with Joan as a teenager. When he finally decided to write a book about her, he researched it for a dozen years and spent two more years writing it. It was, in his words, ¿the best of all my books,¿ and became his last finished novel. Although a work of fiction, Twain¿s research was time well spent: the known facts of Joan¿s life, and especially the trial, are very accurate in their depiction. To tell Joan¿s story, Twain invented a memoirist, Louis de Conte, a fictionalized version of her real-life page, Louis de Contes. Twain has the fictional de Conte grow up with Joan, and so he is able to tell her story from her early childhood all the way through the trial and execution. The result is the story of one of the great women in history told by one of history¿s great storytellers.

After an unusual mission trading catnip to the catlike Salariki of planet Sargol, Dane Thorson and other low-ranking crew members of the Solar Queen watch in horror as the rest of their crew falls mysteriously ill. Only the four men left standing¿and maybe the Captain¿s bizarre pet Hoobat¿can save their ship from drifting through space for all time, condemned as a plague ship.Originally published by Gnome Press in 1956 under the name Andrew North, Plague Ship is the second installment in the Solar Queen series of science fiction novels by Andre Norton, the male pseudonym of Alice Mary Norton.

At the end of Phineas Finn, the second of Anthony Trollope¿s Palliser series, Phineas has abandoned his parliamentary career, accepted a sinecure in the civil service in Dublin, and married his Irish sweetheart. As Phineas Redux begins, he is a widower and tired of Dublin life.Fortunately for him, his friends in London believe he might be enticed back to take a role as a member of Parliament in the face of the latest political crisis. Phineas answers the call¿but all does not turn out as planned. His friends welcome him back, but even this involves serious social complications. And, it transpires, even the likable Phineas Finn has political enemies who wish to spoil his return to public life. Along the way, Phineas continues to deepen his understanding of both personal and public politics.As in The Eustace Diamonds, Trollope weaves high drama into his plot, but refuses to keep secrets from his readers. Far from having a dampening effect on the tension, the focus of Trollope¿s art directs his readers¿ attention to the psychological conflicts that arise.At this point in the series, something of Trollope¿s own political disappointments begin to cast a shadow over the maneuvers and machinations of both local and parliamentary politics. There is still a nobility about public service, though, of which Trollope never loses sight, and which will play a larger role as the series moves towards its conclusion.

King Antiochus has issued a challenge to any suitor proposing marriage to his daughter: answer a seemingly-impossible riddle correctly, or die. Pericles, the Prince of Tyre, discovers the answer to the puzzle, but in doing so, he unearths the incestuous relationship between the king and his daughter. Pericles decides not to reveal the truth, and King Antiochus gives him forty days before his execution. When Antiochus hears that the prince has fled back to Tyre, he sends an assassin after him.At the advice of his councilor, Helicanus, Pericles plans to travel until Antiochus no longer wants to kill him. On his journeys he encounters a brutal storm that leaves him shipwrecked in Pentapolis.This play draws from many sources: Confessio Amantis by John Gower (who appears in the play as the chorus), The Odyssey, Sir Philip Sidney¿s Arcadia, and Plutarch¿s Lives. The themes of separated families and mistaken death refer back to Shakespeare¿s earlier plays, like The Comedy of Errors.This Standard Ebooks edition is based on William George Clark and William Aldis Wright¿s 1887 Victoria edition, which is taken from the Globe edition.

The sons of the Roland family, Pierre and Jean, return home in the lull between the completion of their studies and the start of their professional careers, bringing the Roland family back together again, in a way. This peace, though, is broken when the younger brother Jean is left a life-changing inheritance by Maréchel, an old family friend¿and Pierre is left with nothing. Despite the happiness in the rest of the family, unanswered questions start gnawing at Pierre.Pierre and Jean was Guy de Maupassant¿s shortest novel, and is often acclaimed as his greatest. The setting for the novel is the scenery of de Maupassant¿s childhood, and it is, accordingly, richly described. It was serialized in Nouvelle Revue in 1887 before being published as a complete novel in 1888; this edition is based on the 1902 translation by Clara Bell.

Pellucidar, the sequel to At the Earth¿s Core, was published in 1915. It continues the adventures of David Innes as he returns to the hollow interior of the Earth in search of his friend Perry and his lost love Dian the Beautiful. He takes with him many tools and weapons, intent on bringing civilization to the savage world within, which is populated with dinosaurs and neolithic creatures. He has many perilous adventures as he battles to survive.

Pointed Roofs is the first installment in Dorothy M. Richardson¿s Pilgrimage sequence of autobiographical novels. It is also one of the first novels identified with the modernist technique of stream of consciousness.Set in the early 1890s, Pointed Roofs centers on seventeen-year-old Miriam Henderson. After her family runs into financial troubles, Miriam is sent to Germany to teach English at a finishing school in Hanover. The narrative chronicles Miriam¿s daily life at the school, as well as outings to the city and the countryside with the other teachers and pupils. All the while, it tells of her experience of living abroad, her attitude to the people around her, her future prospects, and her thoughts on religion, literature, and the status of women in society.

Jules Verne is perhaps best known for his science fiction stories, and Michael Strogoff breaks that mold. It¿s a true-to-life tale of the titular character¿s journey across Siberia to deliver an important message to the brother of the Russian Czar.Like other of Verne¿s works, Strogoff encounters many colorful characters along the way, and together they create a vivid depiction of the harsh life in Russo-Siberia, as well as the resilient spirit of its inhabitants. The attention to detail and the accuracy of both the physical and geographical depictions of Siberia was noted by contemporaries, though it¿s also said that Verne took some dramatic license in recreating some of the historical events.Contemporary critics agreed that Michael Strogoff is a thrilling tale of the strength of men, of patriotism, and of the devotion of one human being to another. Modern critics consider it to be one of Verne¿s best novels.

Mike Jackson is the youngest son of a family of excellent cricket players and the most promising batsman of them all. At Wrykyn, the public school his elder brothers once attended, his desire to prove himself as a cricketer is challenged by his apathy for studying and his penchant for mischief. In the second half of the novel, his poor academics result in his being sent to Sedleigh, where he immediately befriends Psmith, an eccentric monocle-wearing student in a similar situation. Together they navigate the social waters of a school that neither one of them wants to attend.Mike was one of P. G. Wodehouse¿s earlier novels, and one of his personal favorites. In a preface to a later edition, he stated that the school setting allowed Psmith¿s ¿bland clashings with Authority¿ to truly shine. The cricket scenes are memorable and exciting, but the meat of the story is in Mike and Psmith¿s school escapades.Mike was originally published in The Captain magazine in two parts, Jackson Junior (published in 1953 as Mike at Wrykyn), and The Lost Lambs (also published later as Enter Psmith in 1935 and Mike and Psmith in 1953).

Published in 1859 to great fanfare from French literary society, Mirèio was the first of four long narrative poems written by the French author Frédéric Mistral. Composed in Occitan, a regional language spoken in southern France, Mirèio arose out of the milieu of the Félibrige, a cultural movement centered around Mistral and his compatriots who championed the use of the Occitan language. Rich with references to local Provençal culture and geography, Mirèio recounts the joys and sorrows of two young lovers: the titular Mirèio, daughter of a rich farmer, and Vincen, a poor basket weaver. Though the two fall madly in love, they find themselves separated by social class and the disapproving attitude of Mirèiös parents.In part thanks to Mirèio, Mistral went on to win the 1904 Nobel Prize in Literature, celebrated by the Nobel Committee for his poetry and his work as a Provençal philologist. Mirèio was widely translated, and was also adapted into the French-language opera Mireille by Charles Gounod. Mirèio remains a celebrated depiction of Provençal culture to this day.This Standard Ebooks edition of Mirèio augments Harriet Waters Preston¿s unannotated 1890 translation with the annotations from her first translation published in 1872.

Duke Vincentio has given his deputy Angelo temporary power over Vienna before his leave for a diplomatic mission. But instead of leaving the city, the Duke disguises himself as a friar named Lodowick, and stays behind to observe the city¿s happenings and Angelös brief reign.Meanwhile, Angelo decides to enforce the laws on prostitution and debauchery, effectively shutting down the red-light district. A man named Claudio gets arrested for impregnating his lover, and Angelo sentences him to death. Claudiös sister enlists a certain friar¿s help to trick Angelo into releasing her brother.This Standard Ebooks edition is based on William George Clark and William Aldis Wright¿s 1887 Victoria edition, which is taken from the Globe edition.

In the process of writing his memoirs, Arsène Lupin takes us back to his early twenties and his first love: Clarice d¿Etigues. Although forbidden by her father to meet, that doesn¿t stop Ralph d¿Andresy¿Lupin¿s nom du jour¿from wooing Clarice. But when he finds evidence on the d¿Etigues estate of a conspiracy to murder a woman, he cannot help but be drawn into the ensuing three-way race to a legendary treasure.Memoirs of Arsène Lupin was originally published in France in 1924 under the name La Comtesse de Cagliostro; this English translation was published the following year. Maurice Leblanc was not the only author to call on the myth of Cagliostro as a framing device: both Goethe and Dumas had written famous novels on the subject. This story showcases a Lupin who is growing into his abilities, and with the swings between outright confidence and self-doubt that would be expected of so comparatively young a protagonist.

McTeague is an enormously strong but dim-witted former miner now working as a dentist in San Francisco towards the end of the nineteenth century. He falls in love with Trina, one of his patients, and shortly after their engagement she wins a large sum in a lottery. All is well until McTeague is betrayed and they fall into a life of increasing poverty and degradation.This novel is often presented as an example of American naturalism where the behavior and experience of characters are constrained by ¿nature¿¿both their own heredity nature, and the broader social environment.McTeague was published in 1899 as the first of Norris¿s major novels.

Published in 1918, The Madman: His Parables and Poems is the first collection of philosophical poetry and short stories by Lebanese author Khalil Gibran. The Madman is the first work by Gibran that was originally published in English, as compared to his earlier works which were written originally in his native Arabic. The Madman deals with themes of love, loss, spirituality, and the nature of truth.

" Enter the heartwarming world of "Little Grandfather" by Sophie May, where the bond between generations is celebrated and cherished. This enchanting book follows the story of Little Grandfather, a beloved figure in a small community, as he imparts wisdom, kindness, and love to those around him.In "Little Grandfather," Sophie May captures the essence of familial relationships and the importance of intergenerational connections. Readers will witness the joy and love that radiates from Little Grandfather as he guides and supports the people in his community, offering words of wisdom and heartfelt advice.Sophie May's storytelling paints a vivid picture of a close-knit community, where the wisdom and experiences of the older generation are treasured and passed down. Through endearing characters and heartfelt moments, readers will be reminded of the power of love, empathy, and the enduring bonds of family.Join Little Grandfather on his inspiring journey as he imparts his wisdom and kindness, leaving a lasting impact on the lives of those around him."

Like other E. Nesbit stories, The Phoenix and the Carpet was initially published in The Strand Magazine. While The Railway Children or Five Children and It proved more popular, Phoenix has still been adapted into three BBC TV series and a film.The story picks up some time after the events of Five Children and It. The children are back in London and encounter another ancient, magical creature: this time a noble, beautiful, arrogant, and vain Phoenix. He comes with a magic carpet which the gang uses to go on adventures around the world. Some things don¿t go as planned, but there are still opportunities to make others happy.As a female British author of children stories, E. Nesbit was not a typical early 20th century woman. Described as tomboy during her childhood, she grew up a staunch supporter of democratic socialism in a time when many were crushed under poverty. She was a founding member of the Fabian Society, and dedicated herself to charity work, so much so that she almost ended up in poverty.Nesbit¿s stories continue to fascinate readers. Her dry wit and respect with which she engages children ensures that adults can also enjoy her tales. Her depiction of magic¿how it follows rules which must be taught or learned, and the painful consequences when they are forgotten¿has influenced the works of other writers such as P. L. Travers, C. S. Lewis, and J. K. Rowling.

Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann was a contemporary of Ludwig von Beethoven: a composer himself, a music critic, and a late-German-Romantic-movement writer of novels and numerous short stories. His incisive wit and poetic imagery allow the reader to peer into the foibles of society and the follies of human psychology. (In fact, Hoffmann¿s wit may have gotten him into a bit of legal trouble, as parts of Master Flea were censored and had to be reworked when authorities disliked certain satirical criticisms of contemporary dealings of the court system.)Join gentleman bachelor Peregrine Tyss as his life as a recluse takes a twist, when he gains an epic advantage of tiny proportions. Part proto-science-fiction and part Romantic fantasy, Master Flea follows the fate of a mysterious, captivating princess at the intersection of numerous suitors, human and insect. Like a lesson from a fable or a tale of classical mythology, Hoffmann¿s fairy-tale allegory shows how seeking forbidden knowledge can poison the soul, and how following the heart can heal it.

Martin Eden is a young, hard working man of the working class. After a chance encounter with a beautiful woman of the bourgeoisie, he finds himself in love. In order to win this woman¿s approval he decides to educate himself: He corrects his speech, he learns proper manners, and he reads the classics of literature, philosophy, and science.Eventually they become engaged, and he decides to become a writer. But he¿s continually flummoxed by the greedy and unintelligent editors who are incapable of understanding his work, and by a society that values money as the pinnacle of success.In Martin Eden, Jack London weaves in several details from his own life and experience as an early writer. However, unlike the titular character, a self-described ¿individualist¿ and ¿Nietzsche-man,¿ London was in reality a vocal socialist, and had intended Martin Eden to be an unflattering caricature of a man who seeks only self-improvement instead of class-improvement. Ironically this was unremarked upon in contemporary reviews. As he inscribed in a copy of the novel given to Upton Sinclair, ¿One of my motifs, in this book, was an attack on individualism. I must have bungled it, for not a single reviewer has discovered it.¿

The popular history of William Frederick ¿Buffalo Bill¿ Cody remains more myth than anything else, yet it¿s undeniable that he was a central figure in the American Old West. Pony Express rider, stagecoach driver, trapper, soldier, bison hunter, scout, showman¿his résumé reads like the quintessential record of all that makes up the Old West mythology, and it¿s all documented in this, his original 1879 autobiography.While The Life of Buffalo Bill is rife with the dramatic stylings of the dime novels and stage melodramas so popular at the time, in it Cody presents his version of his life: from his boyhood settling in the newly-opened Kansas territory, to his early life as a frontiersman. It was written when Cody was only thirty-three years old, just after he started his career as a showman and a few years before he created his world famous Buffalo Bill¿s Wild West show. Originally titled The Life of Hon. William F. Cody Known as Buffalo Bill the Famous Hunter, Scout, and Guide: An Autobiography, it is an arguably more accurate account of both his life and the American West than the later 1917 autobiography The Great West That Was: ¿Buffalo Bill¿s¿ Life Story which was ghostwritten by James Montague and published after his death. Although it makes many claims that are disputed today, The Life of Buffalo Bill reveals much about both the historical William F. Cody and the Buffalo Bill of American legend, and gives insight into the history of the American West.