Penumbria, Regno di Taglia: una terra senza santi né eroi, in balia di mercenari e fuorilegge, stretta fra le lame di una crociata eterna e la fame di una fauna mostruosa. Mentre Lutti e Malavita si contendono il feudo di un eretico e un diabolico cardinale cospira per instaurare un ordine nuovo e duraturo, due stranieri senza passato spargono sangue e leggenda nelle contrade tra gli Appenninferni e il Maladriatico.Sono una cacciatrice di taglie e un mattatore di bestie e si fanno chiamare la Lebbrosa e il Barbiere.Niente di epico, niente di etico.Tra un matrimonio e molti funerali, solo ombre e acciaio.Letale come le zanne di una vilupera.

Secondo libro di Fenoglio, La malora apparve nel 1954, due anni dopo il fulminante esordio dei Ventitré giorni della città di Alba. Vi si racconta, con un tono ruvido che nulla concede alla retorica e al sentimento, la vicenda carica di destino del giovane Agostino che, morto il padre, va a servizio in un'altra cascina. Fenoglio conosceva bene la realtà umana delle colline di casa. Le vite elementari dei suoi personaggi, scandite dalla fatica e dal silenzio, dalla dignità e da speranze impossibili, sono come scolpite nella pietra di un linguaggio essenziale, e tuttavia profondamente partecipe che ha fatto dello scrittore albese uno dei "grandi" del Novecento.

Secondo libro di Fenoglio, La malora apparve nel 1954, due anni dopo il fulminante esordio dei Ventitré giorni della città di Alba. Vi si racconta, con un tono ruvido che nulla concede alla retorica e al sentimento, la vicenda carica di destino del giovane Agostino che, morto il padre, va a servizio in un'altra cascina. Fenoglio conosceva bene la realtà umana delle colline di casa. Le vite elementari dei suoi personaggi, scandite dalla fatica e dal silenzio, dalla dignità e da speranze impossibili, sono come scolpite nella pietra di un linguaggio essenziale, e tuttavia profondamente partecipe che ha fatto dello scrittore albese uno dei "grandi" del Novecento.

Immerse yourself in the captivating and surprisingly contentious world of opera with this compelling unveiling of the art form’s bold characters and the fierce struggles that are redefining its future.“Opera breeds fanatics. There are opera groupies. Opera diehards. Opera obsessives. And I’m not one of them.” With these words, Caitlin Vincent—who admits to a lifelong love-hate relationship with opera—pulls us into a thrilling, high-stakes world that few ever see. It’s all here—both edge-of-the-seat drama and cultural clashes that often spill beyond the stage and get audiences and critics thoroughly riled up. Vincent, an award-winning librettist and trained vocalist, draws on her extensive experience and intimate interviews with twenty-nine opera insiders to unravel the complex tapestry of opera’s inner workings. From tension-filled rehearsal rooms to the grandeur of the stage, she exposes a world driven by fierce rivalries, economic pressures, and stubborn resistance to change. With humor and irreverence, she runs straight at opera’s thorniest issues—its struggles with racial and gender biases, the weight of tradition, and the agonized debate over whether to remain loyal to centuries-old composers. But this isn’t just a tale of bare-knuckled battles over political correctness. Vincent makes us feel the magic of a live performance, even if we’ve never seen one; she dissects the cutthroat process of becoming a professional opera singer; and she examines how competition shapes the art form. Whether you’re an opera devotee or a total newcomer, you’ll find Vincent’s irreverent wit and passion irresistible. Opera Wars is a must-read for anyone eager to glimpse the drama, beauty, and battles that have kept this art form alive for centuries and will undoubtedly bring to it badly needed change in the years ahead.

Shakespeare’s King Lear challenges us with the magnitude, intensity, and sheer duration of the pain that it represents. Its figures harden their hearts, engage in violence, or try to alleviate the suffering of others. Lear himself rages until his sanity cracks. What, then, keeps bringing us back to King Lear? For all the force of its language, King Lear is almost equally powerful when translated, suggesting that it is the story, in large part, that draws us to the play. The play tells us about families struggling between greed and cruelty, on the one hand, and support and consolation, on the other. Emotions are extreme, magnified to gigantic proportions. We also see old age portrayed in all its vulnerability, pride, and, perhaps, wisdom—one reason this most devastating of Shakespeare’s tragedies is also perhaps his most moving. The authoritative edition of King Lear from The Folger Shakespeare Library, the trusted and widely used Shakespeare series for students and general readers, includes: -Freshly edited text based on the best early printed version of the play -Full explanatory notes conveniently placed on pages facing the text of the play -Scene-by-scene plot summaries -A key to the play’s famous lines and phrases -An introduction to reading Shakespeare’s language -An essay by a leading Shakespeare scholar providing a modern perspective on the play -Fresh images from the Folger Shakespeare Library’s vast holdings of rare books -An annotated guide to further reading -Essay by Susan Snyder

Inspired by Shakespeare's King Lear, this breathtaking debut novel tells the story of the most famous woman ever written out of literary history."I am the queen of two crowns, banished fifteen years, the famed and gilded woman, bad-luck baleful girl, mother of three small animals, now gone. I am fifty-five years old. I am Lear's wife. I am here." Word has come. Care-bent King Lear is dead, driven mad and betrayed. His three daughters too, broken in battle. But someone has survived: Lear's queen. Exiled to a nunnery years ago, written out of history, her name forgotten. Now she can tell her story. Though her grief and rage may threaten to crack the earth open, she knows she must seek answers. Why was she sent away in shame and disgrace? What has happened to Kent, her oldest friend and ally? And what will become of her now, in this place of women? To find peace she must reckon with her past and make a terrible choice - one upon which her destiny, and that of the entire abbey, rests. Giving unforgettable voice to a woman whose absence has been a tantalising mystery, Learwife is a breathtaking novel of loss, renewal and how history bleeds into the present.

From the award-winning author of Our Wives Under the Sea, a speculative reimagining of King Lear, centering three sisters navigating queer love and loss in a drowning world It’s been raining for a long time now, so long that the land has reshaped itself and arcane rituals and religions are creeping back into practice. Sisters Isla, Irene, and Agnes have not spoken in some time when their father dies. An architect as cruel as he was revered, his death offers an opportunity for the sisters to come together in a new way. In the grand glass house they grew up in, their father’s most famous creation, the sisters sort through the secrets and memories he left behind, until their fragile bond is shattered by a revelation in his will. More estranged than ever, the sisters’ lives spin out of control: Irene’s relationship is straining at the seams; Isla’s ex-wife keeps calling; and cynical Agnes is falling in love for the first time. But something even more sinister might be unfolding, something related to their mother’s long-ago disappearance and the strangers who have always seemed unusually interested in the sisters’ lives. Soon, it becomes clear that the sisters have been chosen for a very particular purpose, one with shattering implications for their family and their imperiled world.