Arcturus The Mayor of Casterbridge Гарди Томас

HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. 'The movements of his mind seemed to tend to the thought that some power was working against him.' When Henchard, an out-of-work hay-trusser gets drunk and sells his wife at a country fair, his life will never be the same. Eighteen years later, his wife and daughter return to Casterbridge to find that Henchard has become Mayor. Although he's spent most of his life attempting to repent for his actions, he remains a rash and impetuous man. Hardy portrays Henchard as a tragic hero, searching for love and acceptance from the community around him, posing the overarching question of whether we shape our own fate, or whether life deals us an inevitable hand

D H Lawrence remarked that Hardy's best novels were about 'the struggle into love and the struggle with love', and The Major of Castlebridge is no exception. One of the long series of Wessex tales include Far from The Madding Crowd, it is the story of the brooding and sometimes brutal Michael Henchard and the women with whom he searches for happiness in the harsh world of the nineteenth-century rural England

В молодости Майкл Хенчард совершил ужасную ошибку - продал свою жену и дочь. Тогда он зарекся, что не будет пить 21 год и искупит свой грех. Хенчард сдержал слово. Из человека, потерявшего все, он превратился в успешного оптового торговца зерном и стал мэром Кестербриджа. Спустя 18 лет Хенчард вновь встречает жену Сьюзен и дочь. Семья воссоединяется после долгой разлуки. Но мужчина, которому Хенчард когда-то продал жену, вновь появляется в их жизни. Теперь он пришел, чтобы забрать то, что принадлежит ему… • Мощный роман Томаса Харди "Мэр Кэстербриджа" является чрезвычайно драматичным произведением, трагически разыгранным на ярком фоне сплоченного дорсетширского городка • Книга на английском языке • Part of Penguin's beautiful hardback Clothbound Classics series, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith, these delectable and collectible editions are bound in high-quality colourful, tactile cloth with foil stamped into the design

«Мэр Кэстербриджа» – один из самых ярких и увлекательных великих романов Викторианской эпохи. На его страницах читателя ждут яркие примеры несравненного литературного мастерства Томаса Гарди. У классика английской литературы получилось создать трагедию поистине шекспировских масштабов с продуманным до мелочей и стремительно развивающимся сюжетом. Герой этой книги с подзаголовком «История человека с характером» – Майкл Хенчард, мужчина сильный и стойкий, но не лишённый пороков. Много лет назад он спьяну продал свою жену и маленькую дочь матросу на ярмарке за пять гиней. Ужаснувшись содеянному, он решил начать жизнь с чистого листа, отказался от алкоголя и стал сначала уважаемым торговцем зерном, мэром города Кэстербридж и одним из столпов местного сообщества

«Мэр Кэстербриджа» – один из самых ярких и увлекательных великих романов Викторианской эпохи. На его страницах читателя ждут яркие примеры несравненного литературного мастерства Томаса Гарди. У классика английской литературы получилось создать трагедию поистине шекспировских масштабов с продуманным до мелочей и стремительно развивающимся сюжетом. Герой этой книги с подзаголовком «История человека с характером» – Майкл Хенчард, мужчина сильный и стойкий, но не лишённый пороков. Много лет назад он спьяну продал свою жену и маленькую дочь матросу на ярмарке за пять гиней. Ужаснувшись содеянному, он решил начать жизнь с чистого листа, отказался от алкоголя и стал сначала уважаемым торговцем зерном, мэром города Кэстербридж и одним из столпов местного сообщества

The Essence of Kabbalah explains the mysticism of the Torah and the other books in the Hebrew Bible, and presents an overview of the historical trends that have shaped Kabbalah as it is known today. It examines the interpretative methods that are viewed as unlocking the secrets of the Torah - those teachings that point to the inner fabric of creation • Acclaimed author Brian Lancaster explores key extracts from the seminal works of Kabbalah - the Sefer Yetsirah, the Bahir and the Zohar, and presents the major teachings of influential kabbalists. He places Kabbalah in the context of Judaism as a whole, and illustrates the ways in which Judaism's teachings, prayers and rituals express a concealed inner tradition • Further, he shows how contemporary scholarship and science are enabling a creative dialogue with the ancient teachings preserved within Kabbalah, leading to a twenty-first century renaissance in the importance of mysticism for providing a much-needed and profound sense of connectedness and purpose in our world

The Battle of the Bulge was the largest land engagement of World War II. The German counter-attack, spearheaded by three Panzer armies, found the Allies unprepared and ill-equipped. As the fighting raged across the frosty forests of the Ardennes, it was left to a few untested US Infantry divisions to hold the Allied lines. Written by one of the world's leading experts on the subject, this account provides an essential introduction to the events of winter 1944-5 and to the many soldiers who risked their lives in defence of freedom • Drawing on personal interviews, extensive research, and an unparalleled knowledge of the region, Martin King explores one of the most important battles of World War II

The Hound of the Baskervilles is a chilling tale presenting Sherlock Holmes with one of his most challenging cases. The young Sir Henry Baskerville, the new master of the Baskerville estate, is haunted by a phantom beast 'with blazing eyes and dripping jaws' which roams the mist-enshrouded moors around isolated Baskerville Hall on Dartmoor. Is this fiendish spectre the manifestation of the family curse Or is Sir Henry the victim of a scheming murderer Sherlock Holmes' arch enemy, the criminal genius Professor Moriarty, is back! But the solution to the riddle, found after many surprising twists and high drams, lies far away, half across the world in a location known as 'The Valley of Fear'. This is Conan Doyle's last Holmes novel and in the opinion of many of his fans, it is his best!

The poems of Wilfred Owen have shaped our remembrance of World War I. The power of his writing arises not only from his role as witness but due to his poetical prowess and the strength of his descriptions. His work conveys the sheer range of suffering experienced during the war, from the graphic depiction of a gas attack in 'Dulce et Decorum Est' and the blinding of a soldier in 'The Sentry' to the reflections on madness in 'Mental Cases' and 'The Chances' to the nightmarish visions of a haunted psyche in 'Strange Meeting'. Owen's poems capture the physical, mental and emotional toll of the war with devasting clarity. A leading voice for a lost generation, he was killed in November 1918, one week before the war's end

'The rain set early in to-night, • The sullen wind was soon awake, • It tore the elm-tops down for spite, • And did its worst to vex the lake • I listened with heart fit to break, • When glided in Porphyria...' • Robert Browning was one of the greatest poets of the Victorian era. This collection includes his a selection of his most famous works. Dramatic monologues such as 'My Last Duchess' and 'Porphyria's Lover' show Browning's masterful ability to inhabit the minds of others and render them poetically, while his equally renowned narrative poetry, including such favourites as 'The Pied Piper of Hamlin', have become some the most frequently anthologized poems. There's no simple way of summing up Browning because his work is so varied, but there is no one better when it comes to describing the complexity of love

The distinguished artist, illustrator, author, and poet Edward Lear was one of the great humourists of the 19th century. He is best remembered for his witty nonsense verse, which has delighted readers of all ages for more than 150 years • Beneath the absurd and playful imaginings of Lear’s poetry there lurks a melancholic streak that was to bedevil him throughout his extraordinarily creative, nomadic life. And it is this that gives his writing its haunting quality • This collection includes “The Owl and the Pussycat”, “The Courtship of the Yonghy-Bonghy-Bo”, “The Dong with the Luminous Nose”, and a selection of Lear’s unforgettable limericks, and is interspersed with his own engaging pen-and-ink illustrations