Fiction Story Briefs

Great novels are often connected-to (or based-on) real-life events. It's fun to search-for (and uncover) those connections. This Collection features fictional stories with real-life tie-ins.

In this audio clip, Carole Bos reads from Les Miserables, Volume I - Book Sixth ("Javert") - Chapter I (entitled "The Beginning of Repose").

In this audio clip, Carole Bos reads from Les Miserables, Volume I - Book Sixth ("Javert") - Chapter II (entitled "How Jean May Become Champ").

Do you know the background of "Little Women?" Meet Louisa May Alcott and learn how she based her still-famous story on her real-life family.

Scholars believe Shakespeare learned the story of the historical figure from a chronicle which was popular in England at the time. There was a differ...

Margaret Mitchell wrote "Gone with the Wind" while living at Crescent Apartments in Atlanta. She called apartment 1 "The Dump."

As he watches Marley's Ghost leave, through the window of his home, Scrooge is shocked to see and hear more phantoms flying in the sky with long chain...

This image depicts the back-cover of a recent edition of Mrs. Dalloway, one of Virginia Woolf's most-famous novels.

A dog plays an important role in J.M. Barrie's "Peter Pan." But this dog, called "Nana," has to be tolerant (beyond measure). So ... how did Barrie f...

Nero became the Emperor of Rome in 54 AD.

NOTES from UNDERGROUNDBy Fyodor DostoevskyTranslation by Andrew R.

Dostoevsky worked on Notes from Underground in 1863.

Throughout the centuries, artists have created works of art depicting "The Odyssey," a tale which Homer created likely in the second half of the 8th C...

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