It was a winter night, and the ground around Paris was covered with snow, although the flakes had ceased to fall since some hours.?Spite of the cold and the darkness, a young man, wrapped in a mantle so voluminous as to hide a babe in his arms, strode over the white fields out of the town of Villers Cotterets, in the woods, eighteen leagues from the capital, which he had reached by the stage-coach, towards a hamlet called Haramont. His assured step seemed to indicate that he had previously gone this road.?Soon above him streaked the leafless boughs upon the grey sky. The sharp air, the odor of the oaks, the icicles and beads on the tips of branches, all appealed to the poetry in the wanderer.??Through the clumps he looked for the village spire and the blue smoke of the chimneys, filtering from the cottages through the natural trellis of the limbs.?It was dawn when he crossed a brook, bordered with yellow cress and frozen vines, and at the first hovel asked for the laborer's boy to take him to Madeline Pi-tou's home.??Mute and attentive, not so dull as most of their kind, the children sprang up and staring at the stranger, led him by the hand to a rather large and good-looking cottage, on the bank of the rivulet running by most of the dwellings.?A plank served as a bridge.?"There," said one of the guides nodding his head to-wards it.?Gilbert gave them a coin, which made their eyes open still more widely, and crossed the board to the door which he pushed open, while the children, taking one another's hand, started with all their might at the handsome gentleman in a brown cloth coat, buckled shoes and large cloak, who wanted to find Madeline Pitou.?Apart from them, Gilbert, for such was the young man's name, simply so for he had no other, saw no liv-ing things: Haramont was the deserted village he was seeking.??As soon as the door was open, his sight was struck by a scene full of charm, for almost anybody, and par-ticularly for a young philosopher like our roamer.?A robust peasant woman was suckling a baby, while another child, a sturdy boy of four or five, was saying a prayer in a loud voice.?In the chimney corner, near a window or rather a hole in the wall in which was stuck a pane of glass, an-other woman, going on for thirty-five or six, was spin-ning, with a stool under her feet, and a fat poodle on an end of this stool.?Catching sight of the visitor the dog barked in a civil and hospitable manner just to show that he had not been caught napping. The praying boy turned, cutting the devotional phrase in two, and both females uttered an exclamation between joy and surprise.?"I greet you, good mother Madeline," said Gilbert with a smile.

This is not a book about writing or innovation, arts or craft but a guide to being more creative and to applying the creative process to everything. Orna Ross, award-winning and best-selling novelist, and founder of the global non-profit self-publishing association, the Alliance of Independent Authors, has gathered extracts from a selection of her books -- novels, poems and the Go Creative! series into this anthology of inspirations, aimed at helping you to be more creative in everything you do. Ranging widely across her work, this anthology is at once a memoir, a meditation on the creative process, and an eloquent companion to living life as a conscious creator: a creativist. At its core is the concept of creativism, the art of creating more of what you truly want in your life and less of what you don’t. Through a blend of stories from lore and literature, from science and psychology, from her students and from her own life, Orna offers enduring wisdoms about creative practice as it applies to life, love and the pursuit of happiness -- including how to foster flow, overcome self-sabotage and enjoy true creative living. Chapters include: "The Seven Stages of The Creative Process"; "How To Create Anything" and "Where The Law of Attraction Goes Wrong” but what makes this volume unique is the stories and poems. Extracts from Orna's novels illustrate creative principles in action in the lives of her characters. And inspirational poems ignite the state of creative presence as you read. The combination of ancient wisdoms and up-to-date creative research equips you for the creative age in which we now live. Guaranteed to inspire and ignite your own creative spark, this compendium is also an excellent introduction to the Go Creative! series, as well as a practical guide to being more creative at work, at home and in everything you do.

Playing Sherlock Holmes contains three verbatim interviews - with John Wood, Robert Stephens and Christopher Lee - about their very different experiences of appearing as Holmes on stage and screen. The interviews were conducted in 1974. At the time, John Wood was appearing on stage in an acclaimed revival of William Gillette's play Sherlock Holmes, a Royal Shakespeare Company production; Robert Stephens had recently completed The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes for film director Billy Wilder; and Christopher Lee - who had a role as Mycroft Holmes in that film - had earlier played the lead role in Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace. The interviews have been transcribed from tapes held in the Arthur Conan Doyle Collection - Richard Lancelyn Green Bequest at Portsmouth Museum.

Tino Balio, in his book The American Film Industry, said that the Production Code meant that American films could not deal with political or social issues 'in an honest and truthful fashion'. This incisive essay tests out the legitimacy of Balio's claims, using The Lost Weekend (directed by Billy Wilder, 1945) as an example of the Hollywood 'problem film'. Rather than treating the film as being an entity with a single, unchanging meaning, it is put into its historical and social context, in particular the commercial context within which the studios were working. The commercial imperatives hardly sat well with the reality of a social problem such as alcoholism and this essay reminds us that the prime aim of the industry was to entertain: many of these 'problem films', therefore, were as honest and truthful within these confines as it was possible to be.

Did you know that you're almost two thousand times more likely to die from an asteroid hitting the earth than you are from a terrorist attack? Would you be shocked to learn that almost half of pilots surveyed admitted to falling asleep during a flight? Do you think world population growth is increasing or declining? And does a regular social drinker earn more or less than their alcohol-free counterpart? This fascinating book contains over one hundred statistics that will surprise, shock and amaze you. With sections covering life, death, crime, education, the environment and much more, this is a great quick read for readers of any age.

The A-Z of Sega Mega Drive Games: Volume 1 features reviews of three different games for each letter of the alphabet. The games range from the very earliest releases in the mid-eighties to the modern homebrew games of today. This book shows you just how diverse the library of titles is for the Sega Mega Drive and how it became one of the most popular consoles of all-time.

The A-Z of Atari 2600 Games: Volume 2 features reviews of three different games for each letter of the alphabet. The games range from the very earliest releases in the 70s to the modern homebrew games of today. This book shows you just how diverse the library of titles is for the Atari 2600 and how it became one of the best selling consoles of all time.

The A-Z of Nintendo Game Boy Games: Volume 1 features reviews of three different games for each letter of the alphabet. The games range from the very earliest releases in 1989 to the modern homebrew games of today. This book shows you just how diverse the library of titles is for the Nintendo Game Boy and how it became one of the most popular consoles of all-time.

Are you the world's biggest One Direction fan? Do you know everything there is to know about the world's best-loved boy band? Then this is the book for you! In this easy-to-digest eBook are 101 facts about your favourite group - do you know all of them?This is the second book in Jack Goldstein's One Direction series, featuring even more fantastic facts about your favourite band - Get the complete set!Test yourself and your friends with these handily-packaged facts easily organised into categories for maximum enjoyment. Show everyone that you are the master of One Direction mania!

This excellent quiz book contains 150 questions (and answers!) to test the knowledge of any Sex and the City fan. From questions a casual viewer should know all the way through to trivia that would test Carrie herself, this is a fantastic way to enjoy the high-class, high-fashion world of the much-loved foursome even more.

A comprehensive study of several great operas from the renowned musicologist Henry Edward Krehbiel. Includes in-depth analyses of: Il Bariere di Siviglia Le Nozze Di Figaro Die Zauberfloete Don Giovanni Fidelio Faust Mefistofele La Damnation de Faust La Traviata Aida Der Freischuetz Tannhaeuser Tristan und Isolde Parsifal Die Meistersinger von Nuernberg Lohengrin Haensel und Gretel

The Renaissance,' a word which means being born again, or a new awakening, when men began to draw real pictures of real things and fill the world with images of beauty.Now it is the stories of the men of that time, who put new life into Art, that I am going to tell you--men who learned, step by step, to paint the most beautiful pictures that the world possesses.In telling these stories I have been helped by an old book called The Lives of the Painters, by Giorgio Vasari, who was himself a painter. He took great delight in gathering together all the stories about these artists and writing them down with loving care, so that he shows us real living men, and not merely great names by which the famous pictures are known. It did not make much difference to us when we were little children whether our pictures were good or bad, as long as the colours were bright and we knew what they meant. But as we grow older and wiser our eyes grow wiser too, and we learn to know what is good and what is poor. Only, just as our tongues must be trained to speak, our hands to work, and our ears to love good music, so our eyes must be taught to see what is beautiful, or we may perhaps pass it carelessly by, and lose a great joy which might be ours.So now if you learn something about these great artists and their wonderful pictures, it will help your eyes to grow wise. And some day should you visit sunny Italy, where these men lived and worked, you will feel that they are quite old friends. Their pictures will not only be a delight to your eyes, but will teach your heart something deeper and more wonderful than any words can explain.

This text was taken from 'Celebrated Crimes', a series of essays on famous criminals and crimes by the author of 'The Count of Monte Cristo' and 'The Three Musketeers', Alexandre Dumas, and contains the text from three of the books in the series. This volume contains books on Beatrice Cenci, an Italian noblewoman committed of murder in the 16th century. The Countess of Saint-Geran Karl Ludwig Sand, convicted of murder in the early 19th century

Three writings taken from 'Celebrated Crimes', a series of essays on famous criminals and crimes by the author of 'The Count of Monte Cristo' and 'The Three Musketeers', Alexandre Dumas.

From her days as Hermione in the Harry Potter series to her emergence as one of the finest actressess of her generation, Emma Watson has become a favourite across the world. This book tells you everything you need to know about Emma from her first tentative steps in school plays to behind-the-scenes information from her recent films and her career as a model. If you're an Emma Watson fan, this is the perfect book for you!

Do you know what all 50 states in the USA are? Do you know facts such as the capital of each state? Do you know the state flower or bird? All this and many more facts are inside this interesting quick fact book of 300 interesting USA State facts.

How well do you know your 2000's Pop Music? This Quiz book will test even the most avid fan, with questions that span the 2000's bands and songs! Test yourself and your friends with this 2000's Pop Music Quiz Book.

Pointless conversations: a selection of daft, ridiculous and utterly pointless meanderings from the mind of Scott Tierney. If you've ever wanted to know the answers to why Superman is a coward; why Spiderman should technically be deformed; and if Superdog caused the death of Krypton, then these bite-sized comics will reveal all. The discussions may be insane, and most of what is said is rambling, but despite this, you may find yourself agreeing with most of what is said. It's a fair point: where does Spiderman store all that web?

Pointless conversations: a selection of daft, ridiculous and utterly pointless meanderings from the mind of Scott Tierney. If you've ever wanted to know the answers to why Superman is a coward, why Spiderman should technically be deformed, and if Superdog caused the death of Krypton, then these bite-sized comics will reveal all. The discussions may be insane, and most of what is said is rambling, but despite this, you may find yourself agreeing with most of what is said. It's a fair point: where does Spiderman store all that web?

Pointless conversations: a selection of daft, ridiculous and utterly pointless meanderings from the mind of Scott Tierney. If you've ever wanted to know the answers to why Superman is a coward, why Spiderman should technically be deformed, and if Superdog caused the death of Krypton, then these bite-sized comics will reveal all. The discussions may be insane, and most of what is said is rambling, but despite this, you may find yourself agreeing with most of what is said. It's a fair point: where does Spiderman store all that web?

Are you a fan of talented singer and gossip-column favorite Taylor Swift? Do you want to know 101 amazing facts about her that you might not have been aware of until now? If so, then this easy-to-digest eBook is perfect for you. Contained within are 101 facts about the much-loved country singer. Test yourself and your friends' knowledge with these handily-packaged facts easily organised into categories for maximum enjoyment. Subjects include Taylor's music, upbringing and of course her long string of failed relationships including Harry Styles. Show everyone that you are the world expert on Taylor Swift!