Free ebook: ‘The Minister’s Black Veil’ by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Dear friends and followers of the Grammaticus blog, I am very happy to present the fourth title in my series of Grammaticus Free Library ebooks, designed primarily for English language learners (levels C1/C2), and all lovers of good literature. This one contains a short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne, 'The Minister's Black Veil'. First published in …

Book review: ‘The Cathedral’ by Hugh Walpole

"We translate more easily than we know our gratitude to God into our admiration of ourselves." Hugh Walpoleโ€™s 1922 novel The Cathedral is one of the best works of this, now sadly and unjustly neglected, author. Regular readers of the Grammaticus blog hopefully havenโ€™t missed the December 2022 release of his short ghost story The …

‘Life’ by Charlotte Brontรซ

Life is a delightfully optimistic poem. In stanza 1, the poet counters the prevailing opinion of the wise men (the โ€˜sagesโ€™), positing that life is not as gloomy and difficult as itโ€™s often claimed. If and when there is hardship, itโ€™s there only to enable something better to come out of it.ย 

Book review: “Loss and Gain” by John Henry Newman

John Henry Newman was one of the intellectual giants of the Victorian era. Born in London in 1801, he led a long life filled with intellectual curiosity and deep concern with matters of faith. Originally an Anglican priest and theologian based in Oxford, he famously converted to Roman Catholicism in 1845, continuing his ministry as a …