Retelling of the stories of women from the Bible, including Miriam, Zipporah, Ruth, Abigail, Huldah and Esther, who use their wits, inner strength, and faith to overcome the challenges that face them.

A Daughter of Eve is a short novel wriiten by Honore de Balzac. This short novel, part of the Scenes of Private Life section of Honore de Balzac's vast masterpiece The Human Comedy, includes the first appearances of key characters who return later in the series. A Daughter of Eve is a tale in which seemingly innocent peccadilloes soon spiral into an inescapable web of intrigue, fraud, and lust. Honore de Balzac (20 May 1799 – 18 August 1850) was a French novelist and playwright. The novel sequence La Comédie Humaine, which presents a panorama of post-Napoleonic French life, is generally viewed as his magnum opus. Owing to his keen observation of detail and unfiltered representation of society, Balzac is regarded as one of the founders of realism in European literature. He is renowned for his multi-faceted characters; even his lesser characters are complex, morally ambiguous and fully human. Inanimate objects are imbued with character as well; the city of Paris, a backdrop for much of his writing, takes on many human qualities. His writing influenced many famous writers, including the novelists Emile Zola, Charles Dickens, Gustave Flaubert, Jack Kerouac, and Henry James, filmmakers Akira Kurosawa and Eric Rohmer as well as important philosophers such as Friedrich Engels. Many of Balzac's works have been made into films, and they continue to inspire other writers. An enthusiastic reader and independent thinker as a child, Balzac had trouble adapting to the teaching style of his grammar school. His willful nature caused trouble throughout his life and frustrated his ambitions to succeed in the world of business. When he finished school, Balzac was apprenticed in a law office, but he turned his back on the study of law after wearying of its inhumanity and banal routine.

It can be a bit melodramatic and the characterization is not at all convincing. Julie, Marquise dAiglemont, is warned by her father not to marry the dashing officer that she admires when they go to farewell Napoleons troops but she does and, well, gosh, daddy was right and so is his auntie, the guy is a dolt and a cad. The discovery that he is Not a Nice Man makes Julie take to her bed with the vapours, but somehow she manages to get pregnant and have a child, Helene.But Julie recovers and none too worried about the sanctity of marriage either she takes a lover, Lord Grenville, though they never actually, er, consummate their love because She is Too Good and He is Too Noble. But goodness me, theres a quick-hide-in-the-cupboard scene when hubby comes back unexpectedly. (You cant expect him to believe theyre just sighing A Lot and Loving in Purity, can you?) So poor Lord G ends up having to wait out the night on the windowsill to Save her Honour, and (while Im sure this would never happen to a Frenchman) he catches cold and dies.

The Collected Writings of Franz Liszt: Dramaturgical Leaves: Richard Wagner completes the second half of Liszt’s writings about stage works, its composers, and music drama. In this volume, Liszt focuses on the works of his most controversial devotee and son-in-law, Richard Wagner, whose music dramas Liszt championed as conductor during his tenure in Weimar. Here, we see Liszt prove his skill and expertise as a music critic, as well. He offers a critical analysis of the aesthetic and musical principles that underlie Wagner’s operas, Tannhäuser, Lohengrin, and The Flying Dutchman, including a thorough discussion of Wagner’s Leitmotif system of composition. Additionally, his findings are substantiated with a plethora of music examples, which will satisfy those who wanted greater musical substance from his writings. He also foretells the magnitude of Wagner’s influence on prosperity in his pamphlet-length essay, The Rhine’s Gold. Finally, the editor and translator of this volume, Janita Hall-Swadley, provides a unique perspective on these same principles, which is based on Wagner’s own mysterious diagram of “The Philosopher’s Stone,” which was supposed to be included in the original 1863 edition of the composer’s important writing, Opera and Drama, but never made it to publication.