Written in 1903 by the active and ultimately executed Irish republican Erskine Childers, «The Riddle of the Sands: A Record of Secret Service» unfolds the story of a minor official in the Foreign Office, Carruthers, and his complete boredom with his occupation. Although his prospects are good, he feels an emptiness in his life, and this in large part encourages Carruthers to go sailing with his friend Davies. This acquaintance suspects German na ...
Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) was an English literary and social critic, historian, playwright, poet, Catholic theologian, debater, mystery writer and foremost, a novelist. Among the primary achievements of Chesterton's extensive writing career are the wide range of subjects written about, the large number of genres employed, and the sheer volume of publications produced. He wrote several plays, around 80 books, several hundred poems ...
"A Christmas Carol, The Chimes, and The Cricket on the Hearth" contains three of Charles Dickens most popular Christmas-time stories. In «A Christmas Carol» we have the classic story of Ebenezer Scrooge, a miserly old man who is visited by ghosts prior to Christmas to show him the error of his ways. In «The Chimes» we have the story of Toby Veck, a poor working-class man who has lost his faith in human nature. On New Year's Eve he is v ...
William Hill Brown (1765-1793) was an American poet, dramatist and novelist who anonymously published «The Power of Sympathy», considered to be the first American novel. The son of a prominent clockmaker, Brown received his education at a Boston boy's school. His literary spark and encouragement came from his step-aunt, Catherine Byles. While living in Boston, Brown lived directly across the street from a famous Boston family, the Anthorp-M ...
Very few books have resulted in the controversy that «The Diary of a Drug Fiend» has caused since its original publication in 1922. While much of the debate is centered on the novel's author Aleister Crowley, the story itself has both enchanted and enraged audiences for nearly a century. Despite being a fictional work, Crowley drew from his own experiences as a heavy drug user for the context of the plot. Peter Pendragon and Louise Laleham, ...
"Maggie: A Girl of the Streets", Stephen Crane's first novel, is the story of a beautiful young girl living in the slums of New York in the late 19th Century. «Maggie: A Girl of the Streets» is a shockingly explicit portrait of the brutal conditions that existed in the poverty-stricken slums of New York. Originally refused by all publishers that it was submitted to because of its brutal and sexual realism, «Maggie: A Girl of the Street ...
"The Mill on the Floss" is George Eliot's 1860 novel, which tells the story of Tom and Maggie Tulliver, a brother and sister growing up on the river Floss near the village of St. Oggs. Set in the early 1800s over a period of ten to fifteen years, «The Mill on the Floss» follows the two main characters from childhood. Central to the theme of the novel is the struggle of man between spiritual determinism and free will. A classic work of ...
A shining example of Conrad's later literary ability, «The Shadow-Line» is his 1915 autobiographical novella of a young man in his first command as a sea captain. A series of crises prove incredibly difficult for his new authority, for the sea is curiously becalmed and the crew is weakened by feverish malaria. When the first mate's fear convinces many that the ship is haunted and cursed by the malevolent spirit of the previous captain, ...
Contained in this volume are the two classics by Lewis Carroll, «Alice's Adventures in Wonderland» and «Through the Looking Glass.» We are first introduced to Alice in «Alice's Adventures in Wonderland» where we find Alice idly passing away the time next to a river when she sees a white rabbit pass by in a waistcoat. She follows the rabbit down the rabbit hole and ends up in the fantasy world of Wonderland. Alice's adventures are ...
