Ophelia's Fan

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Berlie Doherty

The night before Jess goes off to France for a university year abroad, her parents and grandparents gather to celebrate and share the stories of their lives.

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histoire, Christine Sagnier

Chroniques de la vie quotidienne sans gravité de Lola, cadette d'une famille reconstituée qui s'installe en banlieue parisienne suite à la promotion de Pierre, l'amoureux de sa mère. Dans cet épisode, la fillette narre les derniers préparatifs rocambolesques précédant le mariage de Juliette, pour laquelle elle joue les petites filles d'honneur. C'est l'occasion de rencontrer Antoine, le garçon d'honneur, qu'elle a l'occasion de mieux connaître lors de la noce qui suit la cérémonie, au cours de laquelle sa chienne Croquette multiplie les petites bêtises ... [SDM]. Une intrigue rocambolesque, prétexte à une petite réflexion sur l'amour. Quelques dialogues colorés d'expressions populaires françaises émaillent le récit de lecture facile. D'amusantes illustrations jalonnent le tout, mis en page sur papier ligné, à la manière d'un cahier d'écolier. [SDM].

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Sebastian Rook

When London begins to experience the same sickness that Paris experienced, Jack believes that the vampires have not been destroyed, but have moved on to another city. Jack wants to believe it was only a dream, that the vampires are gone, that they've been banished by an ancient ritual that sent their leader to the depths of hell. But he isn't so sure. That voice still echoes in his mind, the voice of a vampire god promising to return. Jack's friends Ben and Emily say it is just his imagination, and he desperately wants to believe them. While Victorian London may be safe, a strange sickness is raging in Paris. A familiar illness that leaves its victims drained of blood. It seems the vampires have moved on, and the fight must follow them.

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Charles Dickens

Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy's Progress, is the second novel by English author Charles Dickens. It was originally published as a serial from 1837 to 1839, and as a three-volume book in 1838. The story follows the titular orphan, who, after being raised in a workhouse, escapes to London, where he meets a gang of juvenile pickpockets led by the elderly criminal Fagin, discovers the secrets of his parentage, and reconnects with his remaining family. Oliver Twist unromantically portrays the sordid lives of criminals, and exposes the cruel treatment of the many orphans in London in the mid-19th century.[2] The alternative title, The Parish Boy's Progress, alludes to Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress, as well as the 18th-century caricature series by painter William Hogarth, A Rake's Progress and A Harlot's Progress. In an early example of the social novel, Dickens satirises child labour, domestic violence, the recruitment of children as criminals, and the presence of street children. The novel may have been inspired by the story of Robert Blincoe, an orphan whose account of working as a child labourer in a cotton mill was widely read in the 1830s. It is likely that Dickens's own experiences as a youth contributed as well, considering he spent two years of his life in the workhouse at the age of 12 and subsequently, missed out on some of his education.