NoelBadrian

Round the Sofa

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Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell



Round the Sofa (1859), is a book of stories by the lady that Charles Dickens called his “dear Scheherazade” due to her skill as a story tell…

The Story of the Mikado

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W. S. Gilbert



The Mikado is the ninth of the 14 Gilbert and Sullivan musical collaborations. It opened in 1885, had the second longest run for any work of…

Mopsa The Fairy

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Jean Ingelow



Jean Ingelow (1820 – 1897) was one of the more famous poets of the period, indeed many people suggested that she should succeed Alfred, Lord…

The Story of H.M.S. Pinafore

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W. S. Gilbert



H.M.S. Pinafore; or, The Lass That Loved a Sailor, is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by W. S. Gilbe…

The Unbearable Bassington

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Saki



The Unbearable Bassington was the first novel written by Saki (H. H. Munro). It also contains much of the elegant wit found in his short sto…

Cranford (version 2)

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Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell



Cranford is set in a small market town populated largely by a number of respectable ladies. It tells of their secrets and foibles, their gos…

Reginald in Russia and Other Sketches

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Saki



Reginald in Russia is the title story in a collection of fifteen witty and satirical stories, sketches and one "playlet" by that m…

Letters from a Cat

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Helen Hunt Jackson



Letters from a Cat: published by her mistress for the benefit of all cats and the amusement of little children is a collection of letters th…

The Untilled Field

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George Moore and George Logan Moore



George Moore, an Irish writer involved with the Celtic Revival was influenced by the French Realists and particularly by the work of É…

Love and Freindship, and Other Early Works

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Jane Austen



This book draws together some of Jane Austen's earliest literary efforts. It includes "Love & Freindship" and "Lesley Ca…

Jacob Faithful

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Frederick Marryat



Rebelling against the career chosen for him by his wealthy family, Frederic Marryat joined the Royal Navy in 1806 at the age of 14. He first…

Woman and War

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Olive Schreiner



Olive Schreiner was a South African writer born in 1855 to missionary parents in the Eastern Cape. She is credited with being the first Inte…

Castle Rackrent

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Maria Edgeworth



"One of the most inspired chronicles written in English" was the verdict of William Butler Yeats on the novel Castle Rackrent by M…

The Undying One and Other Poems

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Caroline Elizabeth Sarah Norton



“The Byron of our modern poetesses," was the verdict of Henry Nelson Coleridge, the eldest son of the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, wri…

Mr. Harrison's Confessions

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Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell



It is asserted that the inspiration for Elizabeth Gaskell's marvellous stories of Cranford was her childhood home of Knutsford, a small tow…

Biographies of Working Men

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Grant Allen



Grant Allen was an anthropologist, scientific writer, novelist and poet, though the biographer and writer Frank Harris has said of him that …

Fairy Realm: A Collection Of The Favourite Old Tales Told in Verse

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Tom Hood



Here are five of the most loved Fairy Tales retold in verse by the English humourist and writer, Tom Hood (1835 - 1874). The tales are; The …

The Life of Nelson

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Robert Southey



In 1813, the year that he was appointed Poet Laureate, Robert Southey published "The Life of Nelson". Horatio, Lord Viscount Nels…

The Sirens Three -- Queen Summer

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Walter Crane



Walter Crane (1845 - 1915) was a renowned artist and the illustrator of numerous books, among them "The Happy Prince and Other Stories&…

Æsop in Rhyme, with Some Originals

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Jefferys Taylor



Jefferys Taylor was born in 1792 in Suffolk, England. He became apprenticed to his father who was an engraver and invented a special ruling …

Poetry of Thomas Moore

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Thomas Moore



The Dubliner, Thomas Moore, born in 1779 was a poet, composer, musician, and writer. He is most famous for the 10 volume work "Irish Me…

The Happy Prince and Other Tales (version 5)

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Oscar Wilde



Oscar Wilde said of his story The Happy Prince that it was "an attempt to treat a tragic modern problem in a form that aims at delicacy…

A House of Pomegranates (version 2)

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Oscar Wilde



A House of Pomegranates (1891) is the title of the second collection of Fairy Tales by Oscar Wilde. This book contains four tales: 1. &quo…

The Spring of Joy: A Little Book of Healing

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Mary Webb



Mary Webb was a novelist and poet and two of her novels "Gone to Earth" and "Precious Bane" have been successfully adapt…

Precious Bane

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Mary Webb



Published in 1924, Precious Bane is a novel by Mary Webb (1881 - 1927) which touches on ambition, prejudice and hatred but also on the power…

Outa Karel’s Stories: South African Folk-Lore Tales

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Sanni Metelerkamp



Sanni Metelerkamp was a South African playwright and author born in 1867. She is well known for her biography of her great-grandfather, Geor…

Dreams

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Olive Schreiner



Olive Schreiner was a South African writer and intellectual born in 1855 to missionary parents in the Eastern Cape. She was one of the earli…

Fairy Tales from South Africa

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Mrs. E. J. Bourhill and Mrs. E.J. Bourhill



The stories in this collection come from the oral traditions of the people from Swaziland, Matabeleland (Ndebele people) and Zululand in So…

The Golden Maiden and Other Folk Tales and Fairy Stories Told in Armenia

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A. G. Seklemian



Armenians trace their history back to before the time of the Babylonians and earliest recorded history - in fact, to Togarmah, a grandson of…

Korean Fairy Tales

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William Elliot Griffis



Everywhere on earth the fairy world of each country is older and perhaps more enduring than the one we see and feel and tread upon. So I tel…

Japanese Fairy World: Stories from the Wonder-Lore of Japan

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William Elliot Griffis



William Elliot Griffis born in Philadelphia in 1843, was an educator, author and Congregational minister. In 1870 he was invited to go to Ja…

Jewish Fairy Tales and Fables

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Gertrude Landa



Gertrude Landa or rather, Hannah Gittel (Annie Gertrude) Landa nee Gordon wrote under the pen-name of Aunt Naomi. The stories that she relat…