The Tragedie of Anthony and Cleopatra

William Shakespeare

With a strong spirit and body, people who are ready to endure all sorts of hardships and difficulties for the sake of the cause of their whole life, their blood, their feats inscribing their names in the history of mankind, also end up being tested, which turn out to be stronger than them. And for the sake of this, a person is able to erase his entire former life overnight. This happens with Anthony, an honorary Roman who fell in love with the proud queen of Egypt. For his sake he forgot Rome and the family, and Caesar.

The Prince and the Pauper

Mark Twain

Tom Canty is a poor boy in the London slums. His birth only brings more poverty to his already dirt poor family. Edward VI is the long awaited heir to the English throne. They are born on the same day and look so alike they cant believe it. They exchange clothes and Edward VI ends up being thrown out of the palace by guards who think he is the poor boy he looks to be. Both boys have difficulty fitting into the others lives. After many adventures, matters are set right again, with one of the boys resuming his rightful, royal position and the other boy accepting a position that recognizes his innate intelligence and good heartedness.The bulk of the books is the mad life of the poor boy during which Edward VI learns how many of his subjects live. He resolves to change things if he can get back to the palace and be restored to his rightful place.

Семейное счастье (Szczęście rodzinne)

Лев Николаевич Толстой, Lew Nikołajewicz Tołstoj

Роман Льва Толстого, посвященный теме любви и брака. Что важнее: страсть или верность любимому человеку, семейное счастье или прожигание жизни в утехах? История любви молодой девушки к другу своего покойного отца, её опекуну, их женитьбы и первых нескольких лет супружеской жизни, включающих некоторое охлаждение и ссоры.

Beatrix

Honoré de Balzac

This novel opens in the old town of Guerande which still enclosed by mighty walls and possesses moats still full of water. The houses have not changed and the streets are as they were one hundred years in the past. It is the family seat of the de Guenics. The old society of the town gather here to play cards and gossip, often about the younger generations. The son of the house, Calyste, is going to visit one of the main objects of this gossip and we learn of this persons past. While on this visit, Calyste hears of Beatrix de Rochefide who is coming to Guerande on a visit. Béatrix is an 1839 novel by French author Honoré de Balzac and included in the Scenes de la vie privée section of his novel sequence La Comédie humaine. Balzac based the characters in this novel on real figures: Félicité des Touches, a celebrated musician and writer, is based on George Sand. Béatrix de Rochefide is based on Marie dAgoult (who wrote under the pen name of Daniel Stern); Gennaro Conti is based on Franz Liszt; Claude Vignon is based on Gustave Planche.

The Lost Trooper

Talbot Mundy

How can one start a fairy tale in the beginning, when it has so many beginnings, how many people it has in it? I do not see that these critics, who make up literary laws, have done a lot different than closing two thirds of the best fairy tales without letting them say about them. Anyway, as I say it; and as no one should listen, if he does not like it, Im going to start where I enjoyed what is happening in Berlin. Germany, which I have been visiting for a long time after the Bourgeois War for men who fought for it all to show themselves there without the need for police protection.

Trylogia Saska (tom 1). Hrabina Cosel

Józef Ignacy Kraszewski

Losy hrabiny Anny Cosel jednej z najsłynniejszych królewskich metres, kochanki Augusta II Mocnego. Władca zakochał się w Annie Cosel, kiedy była żoną jednego z jego ministrów. Sprawnie i bez skrupułów przeprowadził rozwód, chciał ją bowiem mieć na własność. Przez wiele lat hrabina królowała na jego dworze. Była bardzo ustosunkowana i wpływowa. Jej silna pozycja nie odpowiadała jednak wielu ludziom z najbliższego otoczenia króla. Intrygami i plotkami doprowadzili do tego, że August odsunął ją od siebie, od dworu, a nawet od wspólnych dzieci. Ponieważ hrabina nie umiała pokornie zgodzić się na nowy romans Augusta, trafiła do więzienia. Została odcięta od rodziny, przyjaciół, towarzystwa... Powieść wraz z Brühlem i Z siedmioletniej wojny tworzy tzw. Trylogię Saską Kraszewskiego i ma mocne podstawy historyczne. Na podstawie powieści powstał film i serial Hrabina Cosel w reżyserii Jerzego Antczaka, z Jadwigą Barańską w roli tytułowej.

The Ostrekoff Jewels

E. Phillips Oppenheim

This is another great novel by Edward Phillips Oppenheim, the prolific English novelist who was in his lifetime a major and successful writer of genre fiction including thrillers and spy novels, and who wrote over a 100 of them. He composed some one hundred and fifty novels, mainly of the suspense and international intrigue nature, but including romances, comedies, and parables of everyday life. The Ostrekoff Jewels is the story of a Russian prince, princess and the end of the Russian Revolution that is taking place around them and involves the smuggling out of a familys hereditary jewels. They attempt to flee, which appears to be successful, at least at first. Loosely based on the Romanovs reign in Russia.

The Queens Necklace

Alexandre Dumas

French author of famous swashbuckler novels Alexandre Dumas again chooses 18th century France for his milieu. No musketeers in this one, for it is the Queen, Marie Antoinette, who needs defending. Set a few years before the deluge of the French Revolution this plot is convoluted beyond belief; schemes, counter-measures, vicious personal agendas, love-struck young people, royal revenge and ecclesiastical machinations all are present. Fans of historical fiction will love The Queens Necklace Dumas gripping retelling of the Affair of the Necklace a suspicious incident of theft in the court of Louis XVI. This episode further spoiled the already-tarnished reputation of the Queen. Although seeming to present an idealized picture of Marie Antoinette, it also illustrates the decay and impending decline of the contemporary nobility. Some experts say set into motion a chain of events that resulted in the eventual downfall of the monarchy.