by Mikhail Lermontov, Paul Foote (Translator, Introduction)
In its adventurous happenings, its abductions, duels, and sexual intrigues, A Hero of Our Time looks backward to the tales of Sir Walter Scott and Lord Byron, so beloved by Russian society in the 1820s and ’30s.
Oscar Wilde made up these very special fairy stories for children. He was telling them more than stories about princes, giants, nightingales, and roses, he was teaching them about life and the way to live it. You will find in them so much sweetness and tenderness you will never forget them.
A pioneer in the art of the English detective novel and master of innovation, Wilkie collins was one of the most successful and gifted writers of his generation. In the words of Michael Innes The Moonstone ‘stands alone in its kind… [there is] a sense of attending upon the birth of the detective story’.
A brooding Yorkshire tale of a love that is stronger than death, it is also a fierce vision of metaphysical passion, in which heaven and hell, nature and society, are powerfully juxtaposed.