The Old Man and the Sea is a short novel written by the American author Ernest Hemingway in 1951 in Cuba, and published in 1952. It was the last major work of fiction by Hemingway that was published during his lifetime. The Old Man and the Sea became a Book of the Month Club selection and made Hemingway a celebrity. Published in book form on September 1, 1952, the first edition print run was 50... Read More
William Somerset Maugham was an English playwright, novelist and short story writer. He was one of the most significant travel writers of the inter-war years, and can be compared with contemporaries such as Evelyn Waugh and Freya Stark. His best efforts in this line include The Gentleman in the Parlour, dealing with a journey through Burma, Siam, Cambodia and Vietnam, and On a Chinese Screen, a... Read More
British novelist, playwright, short-story writer, Somerset Maugham was the highest paid author in the world in the 1930s. Despite his popularity, Maugham did not gain serious recognition from his contemporaries. In many of his novels, the setting is international and the stories are told in a clear, economical style. His thirst to see the world was evidenced by the fact that, disguising himself... Read More
Jack London was an American fiction writer who was one of the pioneers of writing professionally for magazine fiction. One of his most well-known books is the still-popular Call of the Wild. His writing style is often referred to as a Naturalist style, which means that he provides vivid yet simple descriptions of natural settings and events without colouring them with any opinions or preconceiv... Read More
Jack London was born in 1876 and began life as a sailor at the tender age of fourteen. He cruised most of the world this way and eventually landed back in California in the wave of the gold prospectors. He settled into a home there and began to write about some of the things he'd experienced and learned on his journeys. Jack London wrote many short stories, which were loved by critics and usual... Read More
Jack London was born in 1876 and began life as a sailor at the tender age of fourteen. He was one of the pioneers of writing professionally for magazine fiction. Jack London wrote many short stories, which were loved by critics and usually devoured by readers. He used his experiences around the world to write about the struggles of humans against the brutalities of nature. He was also a politic... Read More
Agatha Christie wrote her first short story, The House of Beauty while recovering in bed from an undisclosed illness. This was about 6,000 words on the topic of "madness and dreams", a subject of fascination for her. Biographer Janet Morgan commented that despite "infelicities of style", the story was nevertheless "compelling". In “The Mystery of the Blue Jar,” a pair of thieves utilize the cur... Read More