Books with title The Castle of Otranto

A father sets his three sons three tasks to determine which one should inherit the family farm: to bring back "the most beautiful wedding kerchief," wedding dress, and bride. The youngest brother, Ivan, would prefer to play with his leather ball, but he is encouraged to at least try. Each time, the family horse takes him to a magnificent palace populated entirely by elegantly attired cats. The felines are enamored of the gifts he presents–first the leather ball, then some catnip leaves, and finally a wooden ring that he offers to their queen. Ivan always receives a present in return, including the queen herself in human form as a bride, enabling him to trump his brothers and win the farm. Ivan prefers an alternative "happily ever after," however, and returns instead to the castle with his feline bride and becomes a cat. A note explains that although the tale is Latvian, the author and illustrator have moved the setting to the Ukraine, as evidenced both by the flavor of the language and specifics in the artwork. Kimmel has a true storyteller's voice and keeps the action moving at an energetic pace without sacrificing images or details.

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"The Castle of Otranto" by Horace Walpole. Published by Good Press. Good Press publishes a wide range of titles that encompasses every genre. From well-known classics & literary fiction and non-fiction to forgotten−or yet undiscovered gems−of world literature, we issue the books that need to be read. Each Good Press edition has been meticulously edited and formatted to boost readability for all e-readers and devices. Our goal is to produce eBooks that are user-friendly and accessible to everyone in a high-quality digital format.

The Castle of Otranto CHAPTER I. Manfred, Prince of Otranto, had one son and one daughter: the latter, a most beautiful virgin, aged eighteen, was called Matilda. Conrad, the son, was three years younger, a homely youth, sickly, and of no promising disposition; yet he was the darling of his father, who never showed any symptoms of affection to Matilda. Manfred had contracted a marriage for his son with the Marquis of Vicenza’s daughter, Isabella; and she had already been delivered by her guardians into the hands of Manfred, that he might celebrate the wedding as soon as Conrad’s infirm state of health would permit. Manfred’s impatience for this ceremonial was remarked by his family and neighbours. The former, indeed, apprehending the severity of their Prince’s disposition, did not dare to utter their surmises on this precipitation. Hippolita, his wife, an amiable lady, did sometimes venture to represent the danger of marrying their only son so early, considering his great youth, and greater infirmities; but she never received any other answer than reflections on her own sterility, who had given him but one heir. His tenants and subjects were less cautious in their discourses. They attributed this hasty wedding to the Prince’s dread of seeing accomplished an ancient prophecy, which was said to have pronounced that the castle and lordship of Otranto “should pass from the present family, whenever the real owner should be grown too large to inhabit it.” It was difficult to make any sense of this prophecy; and still less easy to conceive what it had to do with the marriage in question. Yet these mysteries, or contradictions, did not make the populace adhere the less to their opinion. Young Conrad’s birthday was fixed for his