How Green Was My Valley is a 1939 novel by Richard Llewellyn, narrated by Huw Morgan, the main character, about his Welsh family and the mining community in which they live. The author had claimed that he based the book on his own experiences but this was found to be untrue after his death; Llewellyn was English-born and spent little time in Wales, though he was of Welsh descent. Llewellyn gathered material for the novel from conversations with local mining families in Gilfach Goch.
She Stoops to Conquer is a comedy by Oliver Goldsmith, first performed in London in 1773. The play is a favourite for study by English literature and theatre classes in the English-speaking world. It is one of the few plays from the 18th century to have retained its appeal and is still regularly performed. The play has been adapted into a film several times, including in 1914 and 1923. Initially the play was titled Mistakes of a Night and the events within the play take place in one long night. In 1778, John O'Keeffe wrote a loose sequel, Tony Lumpkin in Town.
The Pursuit of Love is a novel by Nancy Mitford, first published in 1945. It is the first in a trilogy about an upper-class English family in the interwar period focusing on the romantic life of Linda Radlett, as narrated by her cousin, Fanny Logan. Although a comedy, the story has tragic overtones.
Anthony John Soprano Sr. is a fictional character and the protagonist of the HBO crime drama television series The Sopranos, and portrayed by James Gandolfini. Soprano is a member of the Italian-American Mafia and, especially later in the series, acts as the boss of the fictional North Jersey DiMeo crime family. Usually referred to as Tony, the character was conceived by Sopranos creator and showrunner David Chase, who was also largely responsible for the character's story arc throughout the show's six seasons. Gandolfini was ultimately cast in the role ahead of several other actors including Steven Van Zandt and Michael Rispoli. The character is loosely based on stories from and about an assortment of La Cosa Nostra figures and especially on real-life New Jersey mobsters Ruggerio "Richie the Boot" Boiardo, boss of the North Jersey Genovese crime family, and Vincent "Vinny Ocean" Palermo, a former caporegime and de facto boss of the DeCavalcante crime family. Bobby Boriello and Mark Damiano II portrayed Tony Soprano as a child in one episode each and Danny Petrillo played the character as a teenager in three episodes. William Ludwig portrayed him as a child and James Gandolfini's son Michael Gandolfini portrayed a teenage version of the character in the 2021 prequel film The Many Saints of Newark.
Shirley, A Tale is a social novel by the English novelist Charlotte Brontë, first published in 1849. It was Brontë's second published novel after Jane Eyre. The novel is set in Yorkshire in 1811–12, during the industrial depression resulting from the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812. The novel is set against the backdrop of the Luddite uprisings in the Yorkshire textile industry.
The Hollow is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the United States by Dodd, Mead & Co. in 1946 and in the United Kingdom by the Collins Crime Club in November of the same year. The US edition retailed at $2.50 and the UK edition at eight shillings and sixpence (8/6). A paperback edition in the US by Dell Books in 1954 changed the title to Murder after Hours.
Z for Zachariah is a post-apocalyptic science-fiction novel by Robert C. O'Brien that was published posthumously in 1974. The name Robert C. O'Brien was the pen name used by Robert Leslie Conly. After the author's death in March 1973, his wife Sally M. Conly and daughter Jane Leslie Conly completed the work, guided by his notes. Set in the continental territory of the United States, it is written from the first-person perspective as the diary of sixteen-year-old Ann Burden. Burden has survived nuclear war and nerve gas by living in a small valley with an isolated microclimate.
The Buffalo Creek flood was a disaster that occurred in Logan County, West Virginia, on February 26, 1972, when a coal slurry impoundment dam burst, causing significant loss of life and property damage.
October Sky is the first memoir in a series of four, by American engineer Homer Hickam Jr. originally published in 1998 as Rocket Boys. Later editions were published under the title October Sky as a tie-in to the 1999 film adaptation.
The Witch of Blackbird Pond is a children's novel by American author Elizabeth George Speare, published in 1958. The story takes place in late 17th-century New England. It won the Newbery Medal in 1959.
Denise Giardina is an American novelist. Her book Storming Heaven was a Discovery Selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club and received the 1987 W. D. Weatherford Award for the best published work about the Appalachian South. The Unquiet Earth received an American Book Award and the Lillian Smith Book Award for fiction. Her 1998 novel Saints and Villains was awarded the Boston Book Review fiction prize and was semifinalist for the International Dublin Literary Award. Giardina is an ordained Episcopal Church deacon, a community activist, and a former candidate for governor of West Virginia.
The President's Lady is a 1951 novel of the life of American president Andrew Jackson and his marriage to Rachel Donelson Robards, written by Irving Stone. A biographical film was made in 1953 by 20th Century Fox, directed by Henry Levin and produced by Sol C. Siegel with Levin as associate producer. The screenplay was by John Patrick, based on the 1951 novel by Irving Stone, the music score by Alfred Newman, and the cinematography by Leo Tover.
Storming Heaven is Denise Giardina's second novel. It was published in 1987 and won the W.D. Weatherford Award that year. It is a fictionalized account of the labor strife in the coalfields of southern West Virginia, United States during 1920 and 1921. It mainly takes place in the town of Annadel, which is based on the town of Keystone, West Virginia. Its events also have similarities to the Ludlow Massacre, which is mentioned in the book.
Albela (transl. Unique) is an Indian Hindi-language romantic comedy film released on 20 April 2001. It was directed by Deepak Sareen and stars Jackie Shroff, Govinda, Aishwarya Rai and Namrata Shirodkar.
Sylvia's Lovers (1863) is a novel by English author Elizabeth Gaskell, which she called "the saddest story I ever wrote".
Kathy Brookman is a fictional character from the British television soap opera Emmerdale, played by Malandra Burrows. She made her first appearance during the episode broadcast on 26 November 1985. In 2001, new series producer Steve Frost decided to write the character out. Burrows briefly reprised the role in 2005, as Kathy returns for the funeral of Seth Armstrong. She was one of the show's central characters throughout that time.
China Rich Girlfriend is a 2015 satirical romantic comedy novel by Kevin Kwan. It is the sequel to Crazy Rich Asians, a novel about the wealthy Singapore elite. Kwan was urged to write the sequel by his publishers after the initial success of Crazy Rich Asians. The title refers to a line in the novel in which Nick's mother, Eleanor, exclaims over the wealth of the "China rich" who are billionaires, "These people aren't just everyday rich with a few hundred million. They are China rich!" The novel was followed by a sequel, Rich People Problems, in 2017.
Crazy Rich Asians is a satirical 2013 romantic comedy novel by Kevin Kwan. Kwan stated that his intention in writing the novel was to "introduce a contemporary Asia to a North American audience". He claimed the novel was loosely based on his own childhood in Singapore. The novel became a bestseller and was followed by two sequels, China Rich Girlfriend in 2015 and Rich People Problems in 2017. A film adaptation of the novel was released on August 15, 2018.
During the Reign of the Queen of Persia is the first novel by American writer Joan Chase. On its publication in 1983 it won the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award.
The Unquiet Dead is a 2015 novel by Canadian author Ausma Zehanat Khan. It is the first novel in the Rachel Ghetty and Esa Khattak series, and is followed by The Language of Secrets (2016), Among the Ruins (2017), A Death in Sarajevo (2017) (novella), A Dangerous Crossing (2018) and A Deadly Divide (2019). The novel follows Canadian detectives as they investigate the death of Christopher Drayton, which transforms into a complex portrayal of war crimes, grief and injustice. The Unquiet Dead was awarded the Arthur Ellis Award and Barry Award for "best first novel" in 2016, and was nominated for an Edgar Award.
