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Written over a century and a half ago, Madame Bovary is still an extraordinarily fresh, exciting and shockingly frank novel, at once an acute psychological study of a woman drawn into adultery through circumstances we can partly understand, and a sharply-observed comedy that offers a fascinating glimpse of the social and cultural divisions running through French provincial society in the mid nineteenth century. This translation is by Eleanor Marx-Aveling, a prominent social activist and literary translator. She was the youngest daughter of Karl Marx.

Genre(s): Family Life, Published 1800 -1900

Gustave Flaubert (1821 - 1880)

This is the 16th edition of the Shakespeare Monologues Collection, in which Librivox volunteers bring you their favorite characters' monologues. All topics and emotions are covered, from love to hate, drawn from Shakespeare's comedies and tragedies, world-famous and lesser known lines. 

Genre(s): Plays

Language: Multilingual

Genre(s): Essays & Short Works, Nature

Henry David Thoreau (1817 - 1862)

This drama was written in 1848 for the great French tragedienne, Rachel, by Eugene Scribe and his writing partner, Ernest Legouve. Scribe is remembered for devising the compositional technique now known as the “well-made play” that dominated play-writing for most of the 19th century. This plot is loosely based on events in the life of the actress, Adrienne Lecouvreur of the Comédie-Française and the tragic outcome of her love affair with Maurice, Comte de Saxe 

Genre(s): Tragedy

Ernest Legouve (1807 - 1903) and Eugène Scribe (1791 - 1861)

The Cambridge Modern History is a universal history covering the period from 1450 to 1910. It was published in 14 volumes between 1902 and 1912. The series was planned by Lord Acton, who intended it to be a monument of objective, collaborative scholarship, and edited by A.W. Ward, G. W. Prothero and Stanley Leathes.

Genre(s): War & Military, Early Modern

Language: English

The Castle of Otranto is regarded as the first Gothic novel, a genre appealing to a taste for terror and set in a remote past when prodigies and magic can be imagined to have existed, with violent contrasts between purity and ungoverned passions. The author represents the tale as having been translated from a black letter Italian volume of the 15th century but describing much earlier events. This fictional antiquity and the depiction of mysterious wonders, dark subterranean passages, fearsome apparitions, marvelous coincidences, and especially a savage threat to spotless innocence are all typical of this genre, which does not assure a reader of a happy ending. 

Genre(s): Gothic Fiction

Horace Walpole (1717 - 1797)

The Martian, by George du Maurier, is a largely autobiographical novel published in 1898 and the author's third. It describes the life of Barty Josselin as told by his close friend Robert Maurice, starting from their school days in Paris in the 1850s. Written in long descriptive passages with very little dialogue and many digressions, the book had considerably less success in its time than its predecessor, the popular Trilby.

Genre(s): General Fiction

George du Maurier (1834 - 1896)

"Has there ever been a time when no stories were told? Has there ever been a people who did not care to listen? I think not." Thus begins a journey through the history of English literature, from the early middle ages to the Victorian era. The young person will experience the most well-loved characters of all time, from Beowulf, the warrior who dares to challenge a terrifying and bloodthirsty monster, to virtuous Una of The Faerie Queene, faithful to the end. H. E. Marshall masterfully weaves selections from the stories into her own retelling, leaving the reader with a keen appreciation for the great books that have become the foundation of Western culture. 

Genre(s): General

Henrietta Elizabeth Marshall (1867 - 1941)

This week's poem is a narrative of a working girl and her situation in society. George A. Baker was a native of New York City. He was a journalist, lawyer and author of novels and poetry, His works include Bad Habits of a Good Society (1876). 

Genre(s): Multi-version (Weekly and Fortnightly poetry)

George A. Baker, Jr. (1849 - 1906)

Genre(s): Family

Marion Ames Taggart (1866 - 1945)