“Ragged Dick is a well-told story of street-life in New York, that will, we should judge, be well received by the boy-readers, for whom it is intended. The Hero is a boot-black, who, by sharpness, industry, and honesty, makes his way in the world, and is, perhaps, somewhat more immaculate in character and manners than could naturally have been expected from his origin and training. We find in this, as in many books for boys, a certain monotony i ...
During her prolific career, popular English children’s writer Edith Nesbit wrote or collaborated on over sixty books of fiction for children in her illustrious literary career. In “Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare” first published as “The Children's Shakespeare” in 1897, she turns her attention to a series of interpretations of several of William Shakespeare’s best-known comedies and dramas. These retellings of many of Shakespeare’s plays ...
First published in London in 1858, “Phantastes” by Scottish author George MacDonald is a classic work of 19th century fantasy. The story follows Anodos, a young man who finds a fairy lady in a desk inherited from his late father and wakes the next day to find his room transformed into a magical, dream-like forest. Anodos, while fleeing from evil forces, finds his ideal of female beauty in a magical statue who he can never quite catch. Anodos has ...
Originally published serially in 1880 and named for the upscale area in New York where the novel is set, “Washington Square” is Henry James’s classic story of familial conflicts and social class in mid-19th century America. It is the tale of Catherine Sloper, a naive, kind, and plain heiress who has lived a sheltered life, raised by her stubborn and wealthy father and flighty aunt in a grand house. Much to her father’s disapproval, she is wooed ...
First published in 1917 and the fifth novel in the “Anne of Green Gables” saga by Lucy M. Montgomery, “Anne’s House of Dreams” begins with Anne’s wedding to her childhood sweetheart Gilbert Blythe and chronicles the early days of their married life together. Shortly following their marriage in the Green Gables orchard at the beginning of the novel, the couple moves into their “house of dreams” at Four Winds Point and Gilbert begins to take over ...
First published in eight installments from 1851 to 1853, Elizabeth Gaskell’s “Cranford”, one of her most popular works, is a gentle and humorous picture of an English country village. Based on the village of Gaskell’s childhood, the novel is narrated by a young woman visiting the town who describes the genteel poverty of the town’s female inhabitants and centers on the lives of two middle-aged spinster sisters, Miss Matty and Miss Deborah. The l ...
Zane Grey’s debut novel, which he self-published in 1905, “Betty Zane” is the first book in Grey’s “Frontier Trilogy” and tells the true biographical story of Elizabeth “Betty” Zane, a hero of the American Revolutionary War and direct ancestor of the author. While under siege at Fort Henry by American Indian allies of the British Army and faced with dwindling supplies, the lovely and sixteen-year-old Betty bravely volunteers to venture out of th ...
First published in 1915, Willa Cather’s “The Song of the Lark” is the second novel in Cather’s “Prairie Trilogy”. The novel tells the remarkable story of Thea Kronborg, a talented young pianist, who leaves her small hometown of Moonstone, Colorado, to fulfill her dream of becoming a professional musician. Setting off on her own, her ambition takes her to Chicago at a young age where she works tirelessly on her music. It is there that a teacher h ...
Apuleius was a student of Platonist philosophy and Latin prose writer who produced the novel “Metamorphoses”, more popularly known as “The Golden Ass”. This work is the only Latin novel to survive in its entirety. Adapted from an earlier Greek story, “The Golden Ass” tells of the adventures of Lucius, a young man who is obsessed with magic. In attempting to perform a spell, Lucius inadvertently transforms himself into an ass. His long and arduou ...
