In June, many countries celebrate Father’s Day and they indeed deserve a big “Thank you!” Let’s have a look at what the world owes to dads – and other father figures – with 10 gems from our catalogue
If I had a Father is the cry of sculptor Arthur Gervaise, unawares that his absentee dad aids him from nearby. At the same time, an old man searches for his daughter – was Arthur involved in her disappearance? Find out in the play by George MacDonald.
After 20 years in New Zealand, Harry Trojan puts in an appearance at his old home. There, he finds a grown son and the two have to form a new relationship. Throw in old prejudices and new ideas, and this homecoming may well be the Wooden Horse tearing the family apart in the novel by Hugh Walpole.
This is exactly what Voltaire and the French Enlightenment did to Europe. Ideas like freedom of speech and separation of church and state made Voltaire one of the fathers of modern Europe. Will Durant wrote this biography of the famous philosopher.
Pat Glendon, 22, is no philosopher. But, the Abysmal Brute is a natural fighter, so his father sends him to San Francisco to enter the ring. Since he can’t come along he hires Sam to keep his boy on the straight and narrow of the sports. Will this novella by Jack London have a happy end?
The book by Ernest Poole does, kind of. Read about Roger Gale, NY businessman, whose dying wife implored him to take care of His Family. However, he feels estranged from his 3 grown daughters, and the rapidly changing world of the 1910s only adds to the difficulties.
E = mc2. Doesn’t seem difficult, really. And yet, Albert Einstein’s Relativity: The Special and General Theory remains one of the most complex scientific theories of the world. The above 1916 book is by the master himself – all you need is a bit of perseverance!
Doing a little bit every day beats huge short-term efforts. This is where the little book Flowers from the Garden of St. Francis comes in. It lists 365 short moral admonitions by St. Francis of Assisi and other Franciscan fathers to inspire you every day of the year.
The achievements of great men are always inspirational, and often, they serve as father figures. In the Boy’s Book of Famous Soldiers, J. Walker McSpadden offers biographies of 12 military men. Among them are Washington, Lee, Napoleon, Pershing…
But no worries, you don’t have to be famous to be inspiring or important to somebody. Here are 12 stories centering around Nell and her Grandfather and their friends from a Charles Dickens novel that tell about the influence of a grandfather on his granddaughter.
And sometimes, it’s the other way around. When a young orphan girl is brought to her grandfather, nobody knew how much she would change his life – and him. The rest is literary history, written by Johanna Spyri in Heidis Lehr- und Wanderjahre. We also have this famous children’s book in English and French.
Enjoy – and do say “Thanks” to your dad or father figures!