Epistolary fiction
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Abbotsford and Newstead Abbey
Although this book may not have the immediately recognizable title of, say, ?Rip Van Winkle? or ?Legend of Sleepy Hollow,? this book deserves its place among the pantheon of Washington Irving?s classics. Irving, who traveled extensively in his youth and throughout his life, was given a firsthand look into the lives of two great writers of the Empire: Sir Walter Scott and Lord Byron. Irving first chronicles his visit to Abbotsford, the home of Sir Walter Scott, whom he notes had not, at the time of his stay, yet received his title of ?baronet.? Scott gives Irving a personal tour not only of his home but of the surrounding neighborhoods and landmarks that are a part of Abbotsford. We get a unique glimpse into the private life of the celebrated writer and the reverence the people of his time held him in. Irving next moves on to Newstead Abbey, the home of the then-late Lord Byron. His travels are guided by Colonel Wildman, the individual who purchased Newstead Abbey following Byron?s death, and who restored the building to its former glory. In this portion of the book we learn of the fantastic and bizarre Byron family and its connection to Robin Hood and the famed locales of Sherwood Forest and Nottingham. Few American writers gained famed for their extensive work outside of the United States. Washington Irving was unique in many respects, not the least of which was his enthusiastic curiosity of the ?homeland? of so many Americans who were born literally around the time America was. His detailed writings of life in the early 19th century and the changes that were already taking over the more rural areas, can?t help but make one yearn for the even simpler times prior to his visit. (Summary by Greg Giordano)
Love Letter Collection 2008
LibriVox readers have cast their nets wide to create this small collection of letters and poems, from fiction and from life, from heart to heart and from soul to soul. With love for St Valentine. (Summary by Peter Yearsley)
The Biter Bit
“The Biter Bit” is a humorous short story by British writer Wilkie Collins. Originally published as “Who is the Thief?” in the April 1858 issue of The Atlantic Monthly, it was retitled and published with nine other short stories in the 1859 book, The Queen of Hearts. The tale is told in epistolary form, recounting a comedy of errors involving a young wannabe police detective — with an exaggerated sense of his own investigatory skills — and a minor theft of banknotes. Can you spot the guilty party before the rookie figures it out? – Summary by Louise J. Belle
The Black Robe
The church has lost out on a valuable piece of land through wars and transfers. Father Benwell is determined to reclaim that property by the conversion of the owner, Lewis Romayne. Enter beautiful Stella, who captures the heart of Romayne. Should Stella capture the love and devotion of Romayne, Father Benwell’s scheme would fail, and that is something that he can not allow. Complicating things is the fact that both Romayne and Stella are hiding their own terrible secrets. The Black Robe is an 1881 epistolary novel by famed English writer, Wilkie Collins. The book centers around the misadventures of Lewis Romayne, and is also noted for a perceived anti-Catholic bias (Summary by Mike Zane and Wikipedia)
The Coquette, Or The History of Eliza Wharton
The classic early American epistolary novel about the seduction and ruin of a passionate young woman. Based on the true story of Elizabeth Whitman, whose lonesome death in childbirth in a Connecticut inn sparked widespread discussion and outrage, the novel went through many editions and innumerable printings in the century after its initial publication in 1797. (Summary by Jon Miller)
The Expedition of Humphry Clinker
The Expedition of Humphry Clinker was the last of the picaresque novels of Tobias Smollett, and is considered by many to be his best and funniest work. Published in London on 17 June 1771, it is an epistolary novel, presented in the form of letters written by six different characters: Matthew Bramble, a Welsh Squire; his sister Tabitha; their niece and nephew, Jery and Lydia Melford; Tabitha’s maid Winifred Jenkins; and Lydia’s suitor, Wilson. Much of the comedy arises from differences in the descriptions of the same events by different participants. Attributions of motives and descriptions of behavior show wild variation and reveal much about the character of the teller. The setting, amidst the high-society spa towns and seaside resorts of the 18th century provides his characters with many opportunities for satirical observations on English life and manners. (Summary by Wikipedia)
The Fables of Pilpay
These moralistic stories within stories date back to the Sanskrit text Panchatantra (200 BC ? 300 AD). They were first translated into Arabic by a Persian named Ruzbeh who named it Book of Kalilah and Dimna and then by Abdullah Ibn al-Muqaffa and later Joseph Harris in 1679 and then remodeled in 1818. Max Mueller noted that La Fontaine was indebted to the work and other scholars have noted that Jeanne-Marie LePrince de Beaumont and John Fletcher were both familiar with the fables. The Fables of Pilpay are a series of inter-woven fables, many of which deploy metaphors of anthropomorphized animals with human virtues and vices. (Summary by The introduction and Wikipedia)