THE STORY: A group of congenial friends have restored several adjoining houses in one of New York's more attractive neighborhoods, and plan to move in en masse--setting up a sort of urban commune. However, one of their number, a confirmed bachelor,
When writer and historian Peter Wells found a cache of family letters amongst his elderly mother's effects, he realised that he had the means of retracing the history of a not-untypical family swept out to New Zealand during the great nineteenth-century human diaspora from Britain. His family experienced the war against Te Kooti, the Boer War, the Napier earthquake of 1931 and the Depression. They rose from servant status to the comforts of the middle class. There was army desertion, suicide, adultery, AIDS, secrets and lies. There was also success, prosperity and social status. In digging deep into their stories, examining letters from the past and writing a letter to the future, Peter Wells constructs a novel and striking way to view the history of Pakeha New Zealanders.
How to live a full and rewarding life after a dementia diagnosis. Keith Oliver was diagnosed with young onset dementia at the age of 55. Unaware at the time that dementia could affect people of this age, Keith set out to increase public awareness of the condition and dispel the myths about the illness. Using a unique diary format, this intimate and empowering memoir captures what everyday life with dementia is like, offering both a candid look at its struggles, and a profoundly moving account of Keith's journey to live a full life afterwards.
Charles Dickens's second novel, “Oliver Twist” was first published as a serial from 1837 to 1839 and centres around the story of orphan Oliver Twist, who was born in a workhouse and sold as an apprentice to an undertaker. When he manages to escape, Oliver travels to London where he encounters the “Artful Dodger” and his gang of pickpockets. A gritty representation of the London underworld, “Oliver” famously exposed the hardships of the poor, especially the terrible treatment of orphans in the mid-19th century. Charles John Huffam Dickens (1812–1870) was an English writer and social critic famous for having created some of the world's most well-known fictional characters. His works became unprecedentedly popular during his life, and today he is commonly regarded as the greatest Victorian-era novelist. Although perhaps better known for such works as “Great Expectations” or “A Christmas Carol”, Dickens first gained success with the 1836 serial publication of “The Pickwick Papers”, which turned him almost overnight into an international literary celebrity thanks to his humour, satire, and astute observations concerning society and character. This classic work is being republished now in a new edition complete with an introductory chapter from “Appreciations and Criticisms of the Works of Charles Dickens” by G. K. Chesterton.