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Set in the days of the religious wars of Europe, St. Bartholomew's Eve is the tale of the Huguenot's desperate fight for freedom of worship in France. As the struggle intensifies the plot thickens, culminating in the dreadful Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Eve. Henty, The Boy's Own Storyteller weaves the life and adventures of Philip Fletcher and his cousin, Francois DeLaville, into the historical background with thrilling battles, sieges and escapes along the way (not to mention a fair damsel in distress! ). (Summary by Minkona)...

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Historical Fiction, Children

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Riley was an American writer known as the Hoosier poet, and made a start writing newspaper verse in Hoosier dialect for the Indianapolis Journal in 1875. His favorite authors were Burns and Dickens. This collection of poems is a romanticized and mostly boy-centered paean to a 19th century rural American working-class childhood. (Summary by Val Grimm)...

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Poetry, Children

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The mask is the one which we all wear, even though unconsciously, to hide our thoughts and feelings. Alison Terry wore one, though she had never realized it until she faced a crisis in her life. Alison, a girl of sympathetic mood and action whose keen intelligence is overbalanced by the inexperience of innocence and a sheltered upbringing, goes to New York with her erratic husband, Phil Howland. She passes through various stages of disillusionment inevitably resulting from cheap boarding-house life, association with the undesirable friends of her husband, and the discovery that Phil himself is selfish and lacking in ambition, a man whose chief interests seem to lie in restaurant-life and gambling. Then comes tragedy in the loss of their little child in a horrible accident for which Phil is responsible. The splendid strength with which Alison forces him to forgive himself and the subsequent loneliness and suffering, lead to the establishment of a mutual bond of sympathy, understanding and encouragement which starts them on the road to their ultimate happiness. Miss Irwin has written a story that rings true, and its publishers recomme...

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Romance

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White Nights and Other Stories by Fyodor Dostoyevsky is a compilation published in 1918 by The MacMillan Company, NY (USA) and Heinemann (UK). It contains these 7 works: - White Nights - Notes from the Underground - A Faint Heart - A Christmas Tree and a Wedding - Polzunkov - A Little Hero - Mr. Prohartchin...

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Short stories

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Selma Lagerlöf was born in Vaermland, Sweden, in 1858 and enjoyed a long and very successful career as a writer, receiving the Nobel-Prize in Literature in 1909. She died in Vaermland in 1940. The Emperor of Portugallia was first Published 1914 in Sweden, and 1916 in English, translated by Velma Swanston Howard. The Story i set in Vaermland around 1860 or 1870. In the centre is Jan of Ruffluck Croft. He loves his daughter more than anything, but when she moves to Stockholm and never sends a word home about her doings, he sinks into a dream-world where she is a noble Empress of Portugallia. And he believes himself to be Emperor too. His whole world and all his thoughts are dominated by the thoughts of her return and what will happen then. In the role of Emperor in the poor forest country where he lives he can question the social hierarchies around him, and dressed in his Royal regalia he sits in the frontbench in the Church, and he takes the place of honour at Parties etc. After 15 years his daughter returns home and is shocked to see what a mad clown her father has become and .... ( Summary by Lars Rolander )...

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Sybella There is no plot in this story, because there has been none in my life or in any other life which has come under my notice. I am one of a class, the individuals of which have no time for plots in their life, but have all they can do to get their work done without indulging in such a luxury. Like the author Miles Franklin, Sybella grows up in the bush , and as her family's fortunes decline , so her feelings rise that life should hold more for her than the relentless hard physical work farming marginal land in times of drought.(Summary by Annise)...

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In a world where a gentleman’s life is defined more “by being, rather than by doing,” a family’s reputation can be compromised if it is not guarded carefully, and the sole heir of the Amberson family is proving himself to be a difficult person. Expected by the family to carry on its proud traditions, George Amberson Minafer is trusted implicitly. But though rich relatives provide the elegant suits, the handsome young man who wears them is filled with little but appearances. And this happens in spite of, or perhaps, because of, his mother’s selfless love that places him above her own happiness. As George’s uncle perceptively remarks, “life and money both behave like loose quicksilver in a nest of cracks.” With the new automobile industry transforming fortunes and coal heat transforming city air into sooty clouds, anything that stands still is apt to be run over, or at least begrimed. What is magnificent about the Ambersons is their faithful reliance on old money and old ways in a world changing rapidly around them. Or perhaps it is the magnificence of the train-wreck created when George’s relatives, with the best intentions, shield h...

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The Fortunes of Philippa is based on the author's mother, Angelica Brazil, who had grown up in Rio de Janeiro and attended an English boarding school at the age of 10, finding the English culture, school life and climate confronting....

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Their Mutual Child (aka The Coming of Bill and The White Hope) is full of the loveable characters, preposterous situations, and opportunities to chuckle, if not outright laughs, that we expect from PG Wodehouse. It lacks the frantic slapstick of some Wodehouse comedy, but has a quieter more reflective humour. Kirk, the erstwhile hero, is a typical Wodehousian hero. At the beginning of the story, he is thoroughly likeable, a healthy, but a somewhat weak and malleable fellow. He dabs at beings a painter for a living, and runs with a gang of hangers-on, who sponge off him. However, his life changes dramatically when he meets the charming and lovely Ruth. Ruth is out of Kirk's league socially and financially. She possesses an exceedingly rich father and an excessively dominant and eccentric aunt, Miss Laura Delane Porter. Miss Porter’s claim to fame is her authorship of books and pamphlets aimed at bettering the world through hygiene and eugenics (the highly questionable “science” of race improvement by restricting mating to superior types deemed suited to each other). Against her father’s strong objections, but with Aunt Laura's approv...

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Comedy

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This is a COMPELLING semi-autobiography of a woman who experienced severe highs and lows! Starting many things at a very young age in life & experiencing incredible happiness! Only all too soon to find herself in extreme opposite situations. This book shows some of the true heartlessness that some human beings can display, as well as some family. It conveys hypocrisy of some in the religious world. It also displays true grit and what desperation can do to drive a person! This book will inevitably cause the reader to experience several emotions and thoughts, some pleasant, some not so nice. Live the journey along with the author! A MUST read! (Written by Deborah Knight)...

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Fiction

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This 1861 novella was the first published work by Rebecca Harding Davis: writer, social reformer, and pioneer of literary realism. It tells the story of Hugh Wolfe, a Welsh laborer in an iron mill who is also a talented sculptor, and of Deborah, the hunchbacked woman who unrequitedly loves him. (Summary by Elizabeth Klett)...

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Fiction

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The Sport of the Gods is a novel by Paul Laurence Dunbar, first published in 1902, centered around urban black life. Forced to leave the South, a family falls apart amid the harsh realities of Northern inner city life in this 1902 examination of the forces that extinguish the dreams of African Americans. (Summary from Wikipedia)...

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Fiction

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Both Trollope and some of his later critics have considered The Last Chronicle to be his greatest novel. Many of its characters are familiar from the earlier Barsetshire novels, including the Rev. Josiah Crawley, the impoverished curate of Hogglestock, whose alleged theft of £20, together with the efforts of many to clear up the mystery, lie here at the center. Central also is the trying courtship between Major Grantly and Grace Crawley, the clergyman's daughter, over the objections of the Major's parents, Archeacon Grantly and his wife; and the adventures of Johnny Eames, a protagonist of the Small House at Allington. Finally, it is in The Last Chronicle that Bishop Proudie of Barsetshire and his domineering wife, introduced in Barchester Towers, achieve their fullest and most dramatic portrayal.(Summary by Nicholas Clifford)...

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Fiction

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First published in 1766, the loveable and innocent Dr Primrose and his family have given pleasure to all that have read it.The story opens with the vicar losing his fortune and moving to another parish. What follows is a tale of love,deceit,betrayal,humour and a hidden hero…..It was one of Charles Dickens favourite books and a source of inspiration to him. No further recommendation is needed. Enjoy. (Summary by Tadhg)...

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Fiction

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With seven children and a home to take care of, Margaret wondered how her Mother could be so happy living a life that seemed all drudgery. As Margaret has new experiences, she comes to realize that her mother was not only the truest, the finest, the most generous woman she had ever known, but the happiest as well. (Summary by Megan Kunkel)...

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Fiction

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The House of Mirth (1905), by Edith Wharton, is a novel about New York socialite Lily Bart attempting to secure a husband and a place in rich society. It is one of the first novels of manners in American literature, and one of the first to openly explore how American Victorian society offered little social mobility for women. (Summary from Wikipedia)....

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Fiction

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The wandering minstrel Martin Pippin finds a lovelorn ploughman who begs him to visit the orchard where his beloved has been locked in the well-house with six sworn virgins to guard her. Martin Pippin goes to the rescue and wins the confidence of the young women by telling them love stories. Although ostensibly a children's book, the six love stories, which have much the form of Perrault's fairy tales such as Beauty and the Beast and Cinderella, have a depth which is adult in sentiment, and indeed they were written not for a child but for a young soldier, Victor Haslam. Among the stories, themes include the apparent loss of a loved one, betrayal, and the yearning of a woman for whom it appears that love will never come. (Introduction adapted from Wikipedia)...

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Fiction

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This novel describes how Edred and Elfrida Arden and their Aunt Edith embark on a treasure hunt through time - for the famous Arden family treasure. With help from the magical creature Mouldiwarp, they find a whole lot of excitement and adventure. They need to discover the missing fortune before Edred's tenth birthday - or it will never be theirs. (Summary by Neeru Iyer)...

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Fiction

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It is the end of the 19th century. Like thousands of others, the Rudkus family has emigrated from Lithuania to America in search of a better life. As they settle into the Packingtown neighborhood of Chicago, they find their dreams are unlikely to be realized. In fact, just the opposite is quite likely to occur. Jurgis, the main character of the novel, has brought his father Antanas, his fiancée Ona, her stepmother Teta Elzbieta, Teta Elzbieta's brother Jonas and her six children, and Ona's cousin Marija Berczynskas along. The family, naïve to the ways of Chicago, quickly falls prey to con men and makes a series of bad decisions that lead them into wretched poverty and terrible living conditions. All are forced to find jobs in dismal working conditions for their very survival. Jurgis, broken and discouraged, eventually finds solace in the American Socialist movement. This novel was written during a period in American history when “Trusts” were formed by multiple corporations to establish monopolies that stifled competition and fixed prices. Unthinkable working conditions and unfair business practices were the norm. The Jungle’s autho...

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Fiction, Literature

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French colonists on a planet ruled by reptiles and amphibians are forced to wear living “skins” that subdue aggression and enforce vegetarianism. As children, Rastignac and his reptile friend Mapfarity force themselves to become carnivores and begin a protein fueled journey that causes Rastignac to develop a Philosophy of Violence. When a spaceship from Earth crashes in the ocean, Rastignac and company must put their philosophy to the test. - Rastignac The Devil was first published in the May 1954 issue of Fantastic Universe Magazine. (Summary by Gregg Margarite)...

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Fantasy, Fiction, Science fiction