The Secret Cause - format ePub

Brazilian Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis was the finest storyteller of nineteenth-century Latin America. "Midnight Mass and Other Stories" offers a selection of Machado's tales, from the oft-translated...

Martinha, in her forties, finds herself alone. She has only the old aunt she lives with. One day, going through the mementos of her youth, she comes across a dried flower and reminisces about the circumstances...

In Montevideo, on shore leave, a naval officer comes across a burning dressmaker's shop. Ever the chivalrous gentleman, he ignores the flames and the smoke and rushes up the stairs to the burning workshop.Translated...

"At forty, he was disabused of his ambitions, but his temper remained the same, and, his conjugal vocation notwithstanding, he still couldn't find a bride. More than one would have would have accepted...

"People recall an abyss with pleasure; it is impossible to recall a bore without dread. Sooner the Tarpeian Rock than an author of ill repute."Genre: short storyLength: 1,500 wordsTranslated from Portuguese...

"Our disagreement has a natural explanation. I am a single girl, full of complications, dreams, ambitions, and poetry; you are already a woman of the house, a calm and happy wife, soon to be a mother;...

The aging clerk Coimbra no longer believes in much. Not even his long-standing faith in the lottery--"I'm no longer of the age to hope," he admits--is entirely steadfast. He resolves, then, to buy one...

Inácio Ramos is a cellist. His young wife, daughter of a poor shopkeeper, does not understand his art. She is drawn instead to popular music and those who play it, above all to a mediocre law student...

"'Now, you've played cards with so many people, but only once, a long time ago, have you played with me, écarté. Isn't écarté the name of that game you taught me? Let's play a game.' Xavier started laughing."So...

In "Trio in A Minor," Machado's classic tale of a love triangle in Brazilian high society, the intrigue plays out to the tune of the old sonata of the absolute.Genre: short storyLength: 2,900 wordsTranslated...

When Luís Negreiros returns home from the office one evening, he finds a fine watch and chain on a table in his bedroom. The watch isn't his and can't be his young and beautiful wife Clarinha's, either....

The disquieting pleasures of a forty-year-old man are gradually made clear to a young doctor in this short story by the great Brazilian Machado de Assis.Length: 4,000 words.Date of English translation:...

Baron Sigismundo de Kernoberg, a single Swede of thirty-nine, wedded to science alone, suddenly finds himself roped into giving botany lessons to a neighbor's lovely young niece.Translated from Portuguese...

"Her gaze was not absent, as it had been shortly before; instead, it was fixed on the flowers on the wallpaper that lined the room. She noticed, for the first time, that the flowers were daisies. And...

Brazilian Tales is a collection of six short stories selected by Isaac Goldberg as best representative of the Brazilian Literature of his period - the end of the 19th century. His comprehensive preface...

"Mes doigts frôlaient la nuque de la fillette ou ses épaules vêtues d'indienne, et c'était une sensation délicieuse. Mais enfin, bien malgré moi, les cheveux tiraient à leur fin, alors que je les aurais...

Simon Bacamarte, aliéniste diplômé, s'installe dans une paisible bourgade brésilienne et, au nom de la science, fonde un asile d'aliénés.Il classe d'abord et enferme tous les lunatiques, mais son emprise...

“Et voyez maintenant avec quelle dextérité, avec quel art, j’effectue la plus grande des transitions de ce livre.Voyez : mon délire commença en présence de Virgilia Virgilia fut mon grand péché de jeunesse...

Une montre en or apparaît sur une table de nuit les bras d’une femme troublent un adolescent ; une cartomancienne révèle un avenir radieux ; un miroir ne reflète plus un jeune homme et permet la naissance...

Rubiao, modeste professeur hérite une fortune du philosophe Quincas Borba, sous réserve de prendre soins de son chien. Mais avec la richesse il hérite de la folie de son ami.Sa fortune se disperse dans...

Le livre se présente comme le journal intime d'un diplomate revenu à Rio après trente années de service en Europe. Ces notes couvrent une période importante où l'esclavage est enfin aboli au Brésil.L'événement...

Young José Martins, let out of class early one day, heads home with his uncle and his older sister. On the way, he and his sister try to guess the reason--a party? a birthday? an election victory?--for...

A classified ad is offering a large reward for the return of a lost greyhound. Mendonça, a single young doctor who has found the dog, makes his way to a house on Rua de Mata-cavalos, where the reward...

"I felt an acute pain in the top part of my skull; a foreign object went in to the inside of my brain. I know nothing else. I think I fainted. When I came to, the laboratory was empty. Father and daughter...

Chekhov noted that if, early in a story, mention was made of a rifle hanging on the wall, it would eventually have to go off. Hanging on the window frame of the schoolhouse in Machado de Assis's "A School...

Máximo, an impoverished young poet and student, inherits a fortune on the unexpected death of his godfather. His own fortunes, however, are not greatly improved.Genre: short storyLength: 5,400 wordsTranslated...

Failed composer Maestro Romão, ill, is seeking desperately to complete a piece of music he had abandoned in 1779, shortly after his marriage. In this brief and moving tale by the Brazilian master Machado...

It's Christmas Eve, 1861 or 1862. Seventeen-year-old Nogueira, a native of the provinces living in Rio de Janeiro for his studies, has arranged with a neighbor to go to midnight mass. Into the parlor...

"And over the years, in other loves, more real and longer lasting, he never experienced a feeling like that of that Sunday on Rua da Lapa, when he was fifteen years old."Fifteen-year-old Inácio has been...

Brazilian Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis was the finest storyteller of nineteenth-century Latin America. "Midnight Mass and Other Stories" offers a selection of Machado's tales, from the oft-translated...

As the interminable case of Jarndyce and Jarndyce grinds its way through the Court of Chancery, it draws together a disparate group of people: Ada and Richard Clare, whose inheritance is gradually being...

"'Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard. Just stick out your wand hand, step on board and we can take you anywhere you want to go.'"When the Knight Bus crashes...

‘Addictive. A first-class page-turner.’ Lisa Hall, author of Between You and Me Can the past ever be forgotten? As soon as nurse Maura Lyle sets foot inside the foreboding Essen Grange,...

THE SUNDAY TIMES TOP BESTSELLER#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERSHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZELONGLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE'An utterly mesmerising novel..I absolutely loved this book' Bernardine Evaristo,...

WINNER OF THE HUGO AWARD FOR BEST ALL-TIME SERIES The Foundation series is Isaac Asimov’s iconic masterpiece. Unfolding against the backdrop of a crumbling Galactic Empire,...

The hauntingly prophetic classic novel. Over 1 million copies sold in the UK. Guy Montag is a fireman. His job is to burn books, which are forbidden, being...

Is it ever too late to leave the friend zone? Friends-to-lovers TikTok sensation, The Cheat Sheet, is the rom-com that has readers laughing and rooting for these lovable best friends from the first page!...

"There it was, hanging in the sky above the school: the blazing green skull with a serpent tongue, the mark Death Eaters left behind whenever they had entered a building… wherever they had murdered…"...

"'Give me Harry Potter,' said Voldemort's voice, 'and none shall be harmed. Give me Harry Potter, and I shall leave the school untouched. Give me Harry Potter, and you will be rewarded.'"As he climbs...

The story of Oliver Twist - orphaned, and set upon by evil and adversity from his first breath - shocked readers when it was published. After running away from the workhouse and pompous beadle Mr Bumble,...

OVER 12 MILLION COPIES SOLD WORLDWIDENOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTUREA NUMBER ONE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERFor years, rumours of the 'Marsh Girl' have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina...

A burned-out pop star stranded in small-town Kentucky can't help falling for her unlikely knight in shining armour - the notoriously grumpy owner of the local pie shop - in this charming slice of romance...

"'There will be three tasks, spaced throughout the school year, and they will test the champions in many different ways … their magical prowess - their daring - their powers of deduction - and, of course,...

"'You are sharing the Dark Lord's thoughts and emotions. The Headmaster thinks it inadvisable for this to continue. He wishes me to teach you how to close your mind to the Dark Lord.'" Dark times have...

An enchanting collection containing books four, five, and six of #1 New York Times bestselling author Julia Quinn’s beloved Regency-set Bridgerton novels—Romancing Mister Bridgerton; To Sir Phillip, with...

Fame. Fashion. Friendship. Hollie can't catch a break. She's broke, she's back living with her family, and her career prospects are precisely zero. So when the chance arises for her and her best friend...

In the vast expanse of the treacherous ocean, a legendary tale unfolds, gripping the hearts of readers for generations to come. Immerse yourself in the thrilling world of "Moby Dick," a literary masterpiece...

"Turning the envelope over, his hand trembling, Harry saw a purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms; a lion, an eagle, a badger and a snake surrounding a large letter 'H'."Harry Potter has never even heard...

Jonathan Harker, a young London solicitor travels to Transylvania to help a rich nobleman, Count Dracula, purchase an estate in England. Dracula is planning to immigrate to England, and wants Harker to...

The story of the orphan Oliver, who runs away from the workhouse only to be taken in by a den of thieves, shocked readers when it was first published. Dickens's tale of childhood innocence beset by evil...

This ebook compiles Jule Verne's complete collection, including "Twenty-Thousand Leagues Under the Sea", "Journey to the Interior of the Earth", "The Mysterious Island", "Around the World in Eighty Days",...

What The Lord of the Rings is to fantasy, Dune is to science fiction. Presenting one of the most influential works of all time, which has inspired countless other stories for more than half a century,...

An enchanting collection containing the first three novels in New York Times bestselling author Julia Quinn’s beloved Bridgerton series set in Regency England—The Duke and I, The Viscount Who Loved Me,...

Pre-order Beth's epic new novel, SWEPT AWAY, now! 'Beth O'Leary is that rare, one-in-a-million talent who can make you laugh, swoon, cry and ache all in the same book' EMILY HENRYTiffy and Leon share...

"'There is a plot, Harry Potter. A plot to make most terrible things happen at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry this year.'" Harry Potter's summer has included the worst birthday ever, doomy...

The long-awaited explosive climax to the first arc of the Number One New York Times bestselling Stormlight Archive. Dalinar Kholin challenged the evil god Odium to a contest of champions with the future...

In the ruins of a post-apocalyptic world, the totalitarian government of Oceania has risen from the ashes. The Party, led by the omnipresent Big Brother, exercises total control over its citizens, suppressing...

Readers love The Ingredients for Happiness! ‘A gorgeous summer read’ ‘Uplifting, funny, romantic and charming’...

A spellbinding epic tale of ambition, anarchy and absolute power set against the sprawling medieval canvas of twelfth-century England, The Pillars of the Earth is Ken Follett's classic historical masterpiece.A...

One of the BBC's '100 Novels That Shaped Our World' HarperCollins is proud to present its incredible range of best-loved, essential classics. Winston Smith rewrites history. It’s his...