Afra Wilson and her brother do well to live on a small farm outside the hamlet of Brook on Creek in northern England. They are not only Catholics - Afra is suspected of witchcraft. When her brother disappears, the young woman seems lost. But the worst is yet to come: in a heavy snowstorm, a stranger gains access to the small farmhouse. What she does not suspect is that she has give shelter to King James I's chief witch hunter. And the snow continues to fall...
“A lively and nuanced look at gender roles as they have been revealed by the lives of concubines and mistresses over the centuries” (Kirkus). She exists as both a fictional character and as a flesh-and-blood human being. But who is she, really? Why do women become mistresses, and what is it like to have a private life that is usually also a secret life? Is a mistress merely a wife-in-waiting, or is she the very definition of the emancipated, independent female? Elizabeth Abbott intelligently examines the motives and morals of some of history's most infamous and fascinating women, from antiquity to today. Drawing intimate portraits of those who have—by chance, coercion, or choice—assumed this complex role, Mistresses offers a rich blend of personal biography and cultural insight. “Ms. Abbott is delightfully indiscreet, with an eye for a good story and a colloquial style . . . She has done the ladies a service by bringing them out of the shadows.” —The Economist
Alessandro Leopardi prides himself on his ability to sort the women from the girls. So when he finds Leonora Thaxton piloting his private jet, he's outraged! Firstly, he doesn't employ females—too distracting. Secondly, she's a ravishing beauty—and he can't quite believe he was duped. Leonora won't be getting away with it! The dark-hearted billionaire needs a no-strings mistress for one night. Then he'll let her go. But when the public show becomes a private seduction, Alessandro realizes she may be worth more to him than he thought….
When dark fantasy turns to darkest reality... Self-bondage addict Paul is submissive to the core but deeply unfulfilled. He despairs of ever meeting a really sadistic woman who will give him the constant hard discipline that he craves. Then a chance meeting with an old friend brings him within the thrilling orbit of top professional dominatrix Mistress Nikki. Paul is stony broke and cannot possibly afford Nikki's expensive services. She amazes him by saying that she's prepared to discipline him regularly without charge - but only as long as he always does exactly as she instructs and never asks why she is doing what she's doing for him. The stunning dominatrix goes on to discipline Paul frequently and in ever more kinky and deviant permutations. On one occasion she takes him to an outrageously uninhibited S&M club where she arranges for the Amazonian Strap-on Jane to use and abuse him. On another occasion she summons him to an anonymous hotel room where, bound and blindfolded, he is sexually tormented by a mystery assailant. Paul has been thoroughly debauched by such experiences and wonders what perverted sexual adventure Nikki is going to devise for him next. He finds out with a vengeance when she hands him over to her friend, the ultra-sadistic Mistress Alicia. This truly formidable dominatrix keeps Paul locked in her dark dungeon where she submits him to constant heavy discipline. Too late he realises that everything that has happened to him has been part of a ruthless conspiracy and that he is now completely at the mercy of the ultimate Mistress of Torment.
Passion's Triumph over Reason presents a comprehensive survey of ideas of emotion, appetite, and self-control in English literature and moral thought of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In a narrative which draws on tragedy, epic poetry, and moral philosophy, Christopher Tilmouth explores how Renaissance writers transformed their understanding of the passions, re-evaluating emotion so as to make it an important constituent of ethical life rather than the enemy within which allegory had traditionally cast it as being. This interdisciplinary study departs from current emphases in intellectual history, arguing that literature should be explored alongside the moral rather than political thought of its time. The book also develops a new approach to understanding the relationship between literature and philosophy. Consciously or not, moral thinkers tend to ground their philosophising in certain images of human nature. Their work is premissed on imagined models of the mind and presumed estimates of man's moral potential. In other words, the thinking of philosophical authors (as much as that of literary ones) is shaped by the pre-rational assumptions of the 'moral imagination'. Because that is so, poets and dramatists in their turn, in speaking to this material, typically do more than just versify the abstract ideas of ethics. They reflect, directly and critically, upon those same core assumptions which are integral to the writings of their philosophical counterparts. Authors examined here include Aristotle, Augustine, Hobbes, and an array of lyric poets; but there are new readings, too, of The Faerie Queene and Paradise Lost, Hamlet and Julius Caesar, Dryden's 'Lucretius', and Etherege's Man of Mode. Tilmouth's study concludes with a revisionist interpretation of the works of the Earl of Rochester, presenting this libertine poet as a challenging, intellectually serious figure. Written in a lucid, accessible style, this book will appeal to a wide range of readers.
Henry Peterson weaves a captivating tale in 'Dulcibel: A Tale of Old Salem', which transports readers to the fateful year of 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts. Amidst a prosperous community, a series of trials unfold, exposing the accusations, detentions, and punishments faced by those accused of witchcraft. While the story blends fact and fiction, it incorporates real historical figures, shedding light on the chilling reality of the time. Peterson's evocative nineteenth-century prose brings this dark chapter to life, delving into the social and political climate that fueled the witch hunts.
