This adventure story, wildly popular when first published in England in 1887, follows Leo Vancey and Horace Holly on an expedition to Africa. They encounter many serious and dangerous trials, including shipwreck, sickness, and hostile natives, before discovering a legendary lost city in a system of underground caverns. It is here that they meet Ayesha, or She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed, a white queen who is wise, beautiful, terrible in her love, and two ...
Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse (1881-1975) was a master of English prose, who produced novels, collections of short stories, scripts, screenplays and lyrics for Broadway shows. Wodehouse enjoyed a long, prosperous career, despite the many political and social changes that he witnessed throughout his life. Although he spent most of his time in France and the United States, his works usually reflected his early life experiences in pre-war English ...
Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) was the first English-language author in literary history to have international success during his actual lifetime. His works were celebrated in North America, Australia and Europe. Born in Edinburgh, Scott lived a rather sequestered childhood, stricken with polio and sent to live on his grandparents farm. There, his aunt Jenny not only taught him to read, but influenced his writing forever, influencing the character ...
"Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions" is one of the most original pieces of fiction ever written. With the use of a geometric theme, Edwin Abbott weaves the fascinating tale of «A Square» an inhabitant of «Flatland» who journeys to Spaceland, Lineland, and Pointland. Flatland is a witty and satirical adventure that explores the very nature of physical reality. ...
One of the most popular novels of early American literature, «The Last of the Mohicans» helped to establish James Fenimore Cooper as one of the first great and world-famous American authors. The second novel in the «Natty» Bumpo series, «The Last of the Mohicans» is set in the British province of New York during the French and Indian War. It concerns the rescue of two sisters, daughters of a British commander who are kidnapped following a Huron ...
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's «The Valley of Fear» was the last of the Sherlock Holmes novels published by the author and originally appeared in «Strand Magazine» serially between September 1914 and May 1915. The novel concerns the real-life activities of the secret Irish organization, the «Molly Maguires», and of Pinkerton agent James McParland who investigated them. Divided into two parts, the novel is first concerned with Holmes investigation ...
After a brief military career, the illustrious Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky quickly turned to writing as a profession with the publication of his first novel, «Poor Folk,» in 1846. This novel sparked a literary career that would eventually cement Dostoyevsky's reputation as one of the greatest novelists of the nineteenth century. Early participation in a literary/political group landed the writer in exile in Siberia for nearly a decade ...
"Moll Flanders" is the classic and tragic picaresque morality tale of its title character. Moll, the daughter of a convict is driven by a singular ambition, to raise her station in life, by any means necessary. In the process of trying to lift herself out of squalor and become a lady she resorts to thievery, adultery, prostitution, child neglect, and incest. One of Defoe's best and most loved works, «Moll Flanders», while likely writte ...
First published in 1873, Alcott's semi-autobiographical novel follows the life experiences of Christie Devon, which begin before and conclude after the American Civil War. An enthusiastic, well-rounded, and independently-minded young woman, she sets out from her uncle's house determined to find meaningful work and a sense of self-fulfillment. The series of jobs she performs, from alternately being a maid, an actress, and a governess, t ...
