The story explores the evolving relationship between Fergus, a bookish teenager, and Fred, his father's rugged chauffeur, as they bond through boxing lessons. Initially intended to toughen Fergus up, their time together unexpectedly blossoms into a deep friendship, hinting at romantic feelings. This unexpected connection challenges the Colonel's perceptions of masculinity and reveals the complexities of identity and emotional growth in a young man navigating his self-worth.
Set in a post-World War III society, the narrative explores a dystopian world governed by a hidden dictator who enforces extreme equality to avert conflict. Individuality is suppressed, with beauty, intelligence, and personality considered threats to the regime. Punishments for dissent range from death to a chilling fate known as being "emptied," where victims lose their essence. This chilling backdrop raises questions about conformity, freedom, and the cost of peace in a society that prioritizes uniformity over humanity.
L.P. Hartley's moving exploration of a young boy's loss of innocence The Go-Between is edited with an introduction and notes by Douglas Brooks-Davies in Penguin Modern Classics. 'The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there' When one long, hot summer, young Leo is staying with a school-friend at Brandham Hall, he begins to act as a messenger between Ted, the farmer, and Marian, the beautiful young woman up at the hall. He becomes drawn deeper and deeper into their dangerous game of deceit and desire, until his role brings him to a shocking and premature revelation. The haunting story of a young boy's awakening into the secrets of the adult world, The Go-Between is also an unforgettable evocation of the boundaries of Edwardian society. Leslie Poles Hartley (1895-1972) was born in Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire, and educated at Harrow and Balliol College, Oxford. For more than thirty years from 1923 he was an indefatigable fiction reviewer for periodicals including the Spectator and Saturday Review . His first book, Night Fears (1924) was a collection of short stories; but it was not until the publication of Eustace and Hilda (1947), which won the James Tait Black prize, that Hartley gained widespread recognition as an author. His other novels include The Go-Between (1953), which was adapted into an internationally-successful film starring Julie Christie and Alan Bates, and The Hireling (1957), the film version of which won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. If you enjoyed The Go-Between , you might like Barry Hines's A Kestrel for a Knave , also available in Penguin Modern Classics. 'Magical and disturbing' Independent 'On a first reading, it is a beautifully wrought description of a small boy's loss of innocence long ago. But, visited a second time, the knowledge of approaching, unavoidable tragedy makes it far more poignant and painful' Express
It is the summer of 1900 and Leo is staying with his friend Marcus. Leo likes
Marcus’s beautiful older sister very much. To make her happy, he becomes a
secret messenger for her and a local farmer. But then he realises what their
messages are about, and his whole life begins to change. Penguin Readers are
written by specialist ELT authors. The language, vocabulary, style and content
of every book is carefully graded to make sure it suits the learner's own
language ability. Every Penguin Reader has a range of activities in the book
and accompanying Factsheet to help increase comprehension and develop reading,
writing, listening and speaking skills.
It is the summer of 1900 and Leo is staying with his friend Marcus. Leo likes Marcus's beautiful older sister, Marian very much. He becomes a secret messenger for her and a local farmer. But when he realizes what the messages they send each other are about, he is shocked and confused.
It is the summer of 1900 and Leo is staying with his friend Marcus. Leo likes Marcus's beautiful older sister, Marian very much. He becomes a secret messenger for her and a local farmer. But when he realizes what the messages they send each other are about, he is shocked and confused
V románu Poslíček vzpomíná šedesátiletý muž Leo Colston na horké léto roku 1900, kdy byl jako dvanáctiletý chlapec pozván na panství Brandham v Norfolku, aby strávil prázdniny se svým bohatým spolužákem Marcusem. Bezstarostný čas dětskách her však navždy přeruší Marcusoca sestra Marian, jejímuž kouzlu Leo propadne a je pro ni ochoten udělat cokoliv. Marian toho využije a uděla si z něho poslíčia, spojku doručující psaníčka mezi ní, dívkou z vyšší společnosti, a Tedem Burgessem, pachtýřem nedaleké Černé farmy. Leo krásné Mariant ochotně slouží, aniž by tušil, co v listech stojí. Jednou to však náhodou zjistí...
Emotionally paralyzed by grief at her husband's death, Lady Franklin, an eligible young widow, unburdens herself to Leadbitter--a gallant, hard-bitten ex-soldier who has invested his savings, and himself, in the car he drives for hire--as he takes her on a series of journeys. He in turn beguiles her with stories of his nonexistent wife and children thereby weaning her from her self-absorption, but creating for himself a dreamlife with Lady Franklin at the heart of it. Half-hoping to make his dream come true, Leadbitter takes a bold step which costs him her company and brings the story to a dramatically unexpected end. "The Hireling" was made into a 1973 film starring Sarah Miles and Robert Shaw.
The three books gathered together as Eustace and Hilda explore a brother and sister's lifelong relationship. Hilda, the older child, is both self-sacrificing and domineering, as puritanical as she is gorgeous; Eustace is a gentle, dreamy, pleasure-loving boy: the two siblings could hardly be more different, but they are also deeply devoted. And yet as Eustace and Hilda grow up and seek to go their separate ways in a world of power and position, money and love, their relationship is marked by increasing pain. L. P. Hartley's much-loved novel, the magnum opus of one of twentieth-century England's best writers, is a complex and spellbinding work: a comedy of upper-class manners; a study in the subtlest nuances of feeling; a poignant reckoning with the ironies of character and fate. Above all, it is about two people who cannot live together or apart, about the ties that bind--and break.
