This is the first and only bitesized guide to the works that have captured the imagination of millions and inspired readers everywhere to follow their dreams.
A rebellion of some nobles against King Henry IV of England in the year 1400 brought ruin and disgrace to the friends who sheltered them from the king's vengeance.
William Shakespeare's tragic tale of Hamlet introduces us to indecision, revenge, deception and fate. Prince Hamlet mourns both his father's death and his mother Queen Gertrude's remarriage to Claudius. The ghost of Hamlet's father appears to him and tells him that Claudius has poisoned him. Hamlet swears revenge. Everybody dies at the end.
Having been born in the seafaring town of Salem, Massachusetts, I, Ben Lathrop, had as my life's ambition the desire to ship before the mast. I was a lad of sixteen when in the year 1809, my took me to see his good friend, Captain Joseph Whidden, the master of a ship called The Island Princess.
