Faulks on Fiction (Includes 4 FREE Vintage Classics): Great British Characters and the Secret Life of the Novel PDF Download

Author: Sebastian Faulks
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 1446416259
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 400

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Book Description
The publication of Robinson Crusoe in London in 1719 marked the arrival of a revolutionary art form: the novel. British writers were prominent in shaping the new type of storytelling - one which reflected the experiences of ordinary people, with characters in whom readers could find not only an escape, but a deeper understanding of their own lives. But the novel was more than just a reflection of British life. As Sebastian Faulks explains in this engaging literary and social history, it also helped invent the British. By focusing not on writers but on the people they gave us, Faulks not only celebrates the recently neglected act of novelistic creation but shows how the most enduring fictional characters over the centuries have helped map the British psyche - through heroes from Tom Jones to Sherlock Holmes, lovers from Mr Darcy to Lady Chatterley, villains from Fagin to Barbara Covett and snobs from Emma Woodhouse to James Bond. Also included in this fantastic ebook package are four free classic novels: Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe: The legendary story of a marine adventurer shipwrecked on a desert island. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen: Accomplished Elizabeth Bennett must navigate a web of familial obligations and social expectations in this witty drama of friendship, rivalry, enmity and love. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens: Pip's life as an ordinary country boy is destined to be unexceptional until a chain of mysterious events lead him away from his humble origins and up the social ladder. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins: Marian and her sister Laura live a quiet life under their uncle's guardianship until Laura marries Sir Percival Glyde, a man of many secrets. Can she be protected from a mysterious and potentially fatal plot?

Author: Sebastian Faulks
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307820386
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 498

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Book Description
#1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • A mesmerising story of love and war spanning three generations and the unimaginable gulf between the First World War and the 1990s In this "overpowering and beautiful novel" (The New Yorker), the young Englishman Stephen Wraysford passes through a tempestuous love affair with Isabelle Azaire in France and enters the dark, surreal world beneath the trenches of No Man's Land. Sebastian Faulks creates a world of fiction that is as tragic as A Farewell to Arms and as sensuous as The English Patient, crafted from the ruins of war and the indestructibility of love.

Author: Sebastian Faulks
Publisher: Seal Books
ISBN: 0307373320
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 400

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Book Description
Bond is back with a license to thrill. Forty-three years ago, Ian Fleming wrote his last great 007 adventure. Now, in Devil May Care, the world's most iconic spy returns in a Cold War story spanning the world's exotic locations. By invitation of the Fleming estate to mark the centenary of his birth, acclaimed novelist Sebastian Faulks picks up where Fleming left off, writing a tour de force that will electrify every James Bond fan. A fitting tribute to the Bond tradition, Devil May Care stands on its own as a triumph of witty prose and plenty of double-0 action. "In his house in Jamaica, Ian Fleming used to write a thousand words in the morning, then go snorkeling, have a cocktail, lunch on the terrace, more diving, another thousand words in the late afternoon, then more martinis and glamorous women. In my house in London, I followed this routine exactly, apart from the cocktails, the lunch, and the snorkeling." —Sebastian Faulks

Author: Sebastian Faulks
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 1588365689
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 669

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Book Description
Sixteen-year-old Jacques Rebière is living a humble life in rural France, studying butterflies and frogs by candlelight in his bedroom. Across the Channel, in England, the playful Thomas Midwinter, also sixteen, is enjoying a life of ease-and is resigned to follow his father's wishes and pursue a career in medicine. A fateful seaside meeting four years later sets the two young men on a profound course of friendship and discovery; they will become pioneers in the burgeoning field of psychiatry. But when a female patient at the doctors' Austrian sanatorium becomes dangerously ill, the two men's conflicting diagnosis threatens to divide them--and to undermine all their professional achievements. From the bestselling author of Birdsong comes this masterful novel that ventures to answer challenging questions of consciousness and science, and what it means to be human.

Author: Lucy Maud Montgomery
Publisher: Aegitas
ISBN: 0369410254
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 204

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Book Description
"The Blue Castle" tells the story of a young woman named Valancy Stirling, who lives a dull and uneventful life in the restrictive and judgmental society of the early 20th century. She is unmarried and lives with her overbearing mother and cousin, and has resigned herself to a life of spinsterhood and conformity. However, everything changes when Valancy receives a devastating medical diagnosis that gives her only a year to live. This news acts as a catalyst, prompting Valancy to break free from the constraints placed upon her and start living life on her own terms. She decides to leave her oppressive family environment and embrace her dreams and desires. Valancy's journey takes her to the fictional Blue Castle, a place of love and freedom that exists only in her imagination. In this imagined space, she meets a mysterious man named Barney Snaith, who becomes a symbol of hope and adventure in her life. Through "The Blue Castle," Montgomery explores themes such as self-discovery, the power of imagination, and the importance of living authentically. The novel challenges societal norms and expectations, highlighting the barriers placed on women during the early 20th century. Valancy's transformation from a meek and submissive woman to a vibrant and independent individual is both inspiring and empowering. Montgomery's writing is vivid and evocative, immersing readers in the beauty of the Canadian landscape and the emotions of the characters. Her descriptions of nature and the Blue Castle itself transport readers to a place of enchantment and possibility. The author's knack for creating memorable characters shines through in Valancy's journey, as well as in the supporting cast that includes eccentric family members and quirky townspeople. "The Blue Castle" stands apart from Montgomery's more famous works due to its departure from the author's usual setting of Prince Edward Island. The novel is set in the fictional Muskoka region of Ontario, providing a fresh and captivating backdrop. This change of scenery adds another layer of charm and uniqueness to the story. Overall, "The Blue Castle" is a delightful and heartwarming tale of self-discovery, courage, and love. It portrays the transformative power of embracing one's true desires and finding joy in unexpected places. Montgomery's masterful storytelling and the endearing characters make this a book you won't want to put down.

Author: Sebastian Faulks
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0804152608
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 604

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Book Description
Faulks's first novel since the extraordinary success of Birdsong is written with the same passion, power and breadth of vision. Set in England and France during the darkest days of World War II, Charlotte Gray, like Birdsong, depicts a complex love affair that is both shaped and thwarted by war. It is 1942. London is blacked out, but France is under a greater darkness, as the occupying Nazi forces encroach ever closer in a tense waiting game. Charlotte Gray, a volatile but determined young woman, travels south from Edinburgh. Working in London, she has a brief but intense love affair with an RAF pilot. When his plane is lost over France, she contrives to go there herself to work in the Resistance and to search for him--but then is unwilling to leave as she finds that the struggle for the country's fate is intimately linked to her own battle to take control of her life. Faulks's novel is an examination of lost paradises, politics without belief, the limits of memory, the redemptive power of art and the existence of hope beyond reason. It is also a brilliant evocation of life in Occupied France and, more significantly, a revelation of the appalling price many Frenchmen paid to survive in unoccupied, so-called Free France. As the men, women and children of Charlotte's small town prepare to meet their terrible destiny, the truth of what took place in wartime France is finally exposed. When private lives and public events fatally collide, the roots of the characters' lives are torn up and exposed. These harrowing scenes are presented with the passion and narrative force that readers will recall from Birdsong. Charlotte Gray will attract even more readers to Faulks's remarkable fiction.

Author: Kamila Shamsie
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1632864177
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 347

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Book Description
In the summer of 1914 a young Englishwoman, Vivian Rose Spencer, joins an archaeological dig in Turkey, fulfilling a long-held dream. Working alongside Germans and Turks, she falls in love with archaeologist Tahsin Bey and joins him in his quest to find an ancient silver circlet. But the outbreak of war in Europe brings her idyllic summer to a sudden end, and her new friends become her nation's enemies. Thousands of miles away, twenty-year-old Pathan Qayyum Gul is learning about brotherhood and loyalty in the British Indian army. When he loses an eye in battle and is sent to England to recuperate, his allegiances falter. Returning home at last, Qayyum shares a train carriage with Vivian Rose, whose continued search for the circlet has led her to Peshawar in the heart of the British Raj. Many years later, the two cross paths again, and their loyalties will be tested once more amidst massacres, cover-ups, and the disappearance of a young man they both love.

Author: Rose Tremain
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0671886096
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 340

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Book Description
Certain that she is really a male trapped in a female body, Mary Ward pursues this elusive identity, much to the consternation of her mother, her brother, and a neighbor's son.

Author: Tom Sharpe
Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press
ISBN: 9780871131430
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 260

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Book Description
A South African woman struggles to convince the police that she has murdered her black cook.

Author: Sebastian Faulks
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 030747268X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 338

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Book Description
Meet Mike Engleby, a second-year student at university. Despite the fact that Mike is obviously intelligent, and involved in many clubs, it is clear that something about Mike is not quite right. When he becomes fixated on a classmate named Jennifer Arkland, and she goes missing, we are left with the looming question: Is Mike Engleby involved?