"The Holiest of All" is a devotional exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews. It was written towards the end of the nineteenth century and has since become a classic. Its pages lead the reader into a practical understanding of who Christ is, the power of his finished work on the Cross and his present intercession for believers. The author demonstrates how it is only a full understanding of who Jesus is and what he does for us that can bring us into a full and complete Christian life.

Towards the close of his ministry on earth, Jesus taught his disciples of the need for them to abide in Him. This word "abide" speaks of the intimacy of fellowship with the Master to which his followers are still invited. Andrew Murray wrote this series of meditations, which he subtitled "Thoughts on the Blessed Life of Fellowship with the Son of God", out of a conviction that many believers are missing out on something that is really at the heart of a healthy Christian life. The author explains...

In this book, Andrew Murray explores the dynamics of the Christian life as Jesus means it to be lived. He explains how the Holy Spirit is essential to living effectively as a believer. Christians are often all too well aware of the feebleness of their life and testimony. This most encouraging book, consisting of a series of lectures given to students at the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago in 1895, shows how the working of the Holy Spirit in the Christian’s life makes all the difference. It shows how God’s power is made perfect in weakness, and how His Holy Spirit may animate and renew every area of the believer’s life.

Andrew Murray wrote in the introduction to this daily devotional book of one month’s readings, of the need that many Christians feel of being helped to a deeper and clearer insight into all that Christ could be to them. In this volume he shows both the need and the benefit of waiting upon God, and of giving God time and place to show us what He can do and what He will do. The author encourages us to enlarge our hearts and not limit God; to understand that God can do new things, unheard of things, and hidden things. “When Thou camest down, Thou didst terrible things we looked not for; the mountains flowed down at Thy presence.”

Andrew Murray wrote “Working for God”, a book of daily meditations for a month, as a sequel to “Waiting on God”. The object of the book is, in Murray’s own words, to remind all Christian workers of the greatness and the glory of the work in which God gives a share. It is the work of bringing people back to God – but it must be done in God’s way and in God’s power. It is spiritual work, to be done by spiritual people. In this book we find valuable insights into the calling that all Christians have, to work for the Lord in some capacity or other...

Andrew Murray sub-titled this book "A Plea for More Prayer". In it, he shows how throughout Scripture, in the life of every saint, and that of God’s own Son, and all through Church history, God is, first of all, a prayer-hearing God. He builds upon the truths brought out in his earlier volume “With Christ in the School of Prayer”, by showing firstly that Christ meant prayer to be the great power by which His Church should do its work, and secondly that we have far too little conception of the place that intercession, as opposed to praying just for our own needs, should have in the Church and in the Christian life...

Andrew Murray opens his Introduction to the book with these words: "The message which this little book brings is simple but most solemn. It is to the effect that the one thing needful for the Church, and the thing which, above all others, men ought everywhere to seek for with one accord and with their whole heart, is to be filled with the Spirit of God." Jesus said "He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water". In Murray's words, it is as we yield our hearts to the leading of the Holy Spirit to know Christ and look at Him, and believe in what is revealed, that the Spirit can take possession of us...

Andrew Murray wrote this volume as a sequel to his well-known devotional book "Abide in Christ". It is sub-titled "Thoughts on the Blessed Life of Conformity to the Son of God". In his preface, Murray states two objects he had in mind in writing the book. The first was to portray the Son of God as a pattern of what God the Father wants believers to be, in such a way that we can see that being like Jesus is immensely attractive in awakening love, inspiring hope and strengthening faith. The second was to show how likeness to Christ is not a mere ideal, but something very real in life of believers as we reflect His image amid the trials and duties of daily life...

“We have become so accustomed to limit the wonderful love and the large promises of our God, that we cannot read the simplest and clearest statements of our Lord without the qualifying clauses by which we guard and expound them”. This is what Andrew Murray writes in the preface to this practical and scriptural volume on the practice of prayer. This book has been of tremendous help to generations of believers as they have sought a more effective prayer life. It opens with the words of the disciples, “Lord, teach us to pray”. And so opens the school of prayer to which believers are invited. - Summary by Christopher Smith

Dr. Andrew Wilson FRSE was a Scottish physiologist and zoologist and lecturer in zoology and comparative anatomy at the University of Edinburgh and the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in the late 19th and early 20th century. In the preface of this book, he writes: "...the chief aim of the work is to present in a popular and readily understood form, the chief evidences of the evolution of living beings. In this view, whilst I have been content to assume the reality of that process, I have...

Cattle Brands is a collection of 14 entertaining short stories depicting not only the life of cowboys in the wild, wild West, but also the harrowing skirmishes with banditos, thrilling shoot-outs, attempt at and the recapture of stolen chattel from fierce desperados, and much, much more exciting accounts that make one think it all actually happened.

The Log of a Cowboy is an account of a five-month drive of 3,000 cattle from Brownsville, Texas, to Montana in 1882 along the Great Western Cattle Trail. Although the book is fiction, it is firmly based on Adams's own experiences on the trail, and it is considered by many to be the best account of cowboy life in literature. Adams was disgusted by the unrealistic cowboy fiction being published in his day; The Log of a Cowboy was his response. It is still in print, and even modern reviewers consider it a compelling classic...

Andy Adams worked as a cowboy on trail drives from Texas for eight years. This is an account of a drive when he was the foreman of a herd of Texas cattle being driven to Montana. Expect the same quality writing as found in other books by Adams.

Adams breathes life into the story of a Texas cowboy who becomes a wealthy and influential cattleman.. (Introduction by Wikipedia)

The Mystery of the Caribbean Pearls is a Biff Brewster story full of adventure and intrigue. Biff Brewster meets up by accident with Derek, after being called to the Caribbean by his Uncle Charlie. They go on to search for valuable pearls in Martinique which have been discovered by Derek's father, who is also now missing. Their adventures take them to other places in the Caribbean, and they have to avoid and deal with the evil man Dietz and his sidekicks, and also brave the dangerous waters containing sharks and other nasty things at the bottom of the sea.

Another Biff Brewster adventure story set this time in exotic and mystical India with much of the action around and near the Himalayas. This story brings together all of the friends that Biff Brewster has made in his previous adventures plus a couple of new friends, and involves his father and Uncle Charles once again, and the other members of his family. Some of the events are spectacular, and tension is held by the involvement of an international spy and other situations including riots in Calcutta, poisonous snakes, a mad tiger, and wild bears, as well as a strange religious cult.

The Mystery of the Chinese Ring is an exotic adventure story and is set in locations such as Burma and China, with the historical and political ramifications which applied to the mid Twentieth Century and still ring true in the early 21st Century. What is the purpose of the ring? What is the significance of the letter “K”? Why the interest in a sixteen year old boy going to visit a relative in Burma? Why are family dynasties so important, and why the secrecy concerning their survival? This is an audiobook that will find eager listeners from the ages of about ten to octogenarians, male and female, and also those enjoying adventure stories with many twists and turns...

Mystery adventure, fiction . This is a very exciting and gripping story set in the jungles of Brazil and Venezuela, and the quest for the famous El Dorado gold. Incidents with dangerous wild animals, not to mention encounters with head hunters and other native tribes, plus some black magic hocus-pocus all add to the suspense. Double dealing and threats as well as actual confrontations all make life difficult for our brave heroes, and often cause the expedition problems which slows down the quest for the yellow gold. This is a good geography lesson also, and readers will learn about all those huge rivers that flow through these regions, including the huge River Amazon.

Adventure series in exotic locations. This adventure is set in the exotic Island of Hawaii and involves the search for a missing sloop and the whereabouts of a valuable mine. Biff Brewster, his father and friends become entangled with ruthless criminals who are also intending to find the sunken boat and discover the map and the mine. They have kidnapped the elderly scientist who holds the key to the discovery. An exciting adventure with lots of action on land and sea.- Summary by Peter Thomlinson

As a boy Andy Adams helped with the cattle and horses on the family farm. During the early 1880s he went to Texas, where he stayed for 10 years, spending much of that time driving cattle on the western trails. A Texas Matchmaker is a narrative that describes the work of a cowboy on a large southTexas ranch during the late 1800’s. Adams is considered to be one of foremost writers of the life of the real American cowboy.

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.

This is a collection of thirteen letters from Angelina Grimké on the subjects of abolitionism and human rights in the United States.

The Lives of the Queens of England is a multi-volumed work attributed to Agnes Strickland, though it was mostly researched and written by her sister Elizabeth. These volumes give biographies of the queens of England from the Norman Conquest in 1066. Although by today's standards, it is not seen as a very scholarly work, the Stricklands used many sources that had not been used before.Volume one includes the biographies of Matilda of Flanders, Matilda of Scotland, Adelicia of Louvaine, Matilda of Boulogne and Eleanora of Aquitaine.(Introduction by Ann Boulais)

Consolation of Philosophy (Latin: Consolatio Philosophiae) is a philosophical work by Boethius written in about the year 524 AD. It has been described as the single most important and influential work in the West in medieval and early Renaissance Christianity, and is also the last great work that can be called Classical. Consolation of Philosophy was written during Boethius’ one year imprisonment while awaiting trial, and eventual horrific execution, for the crime of treason by Ostrogothic King Theodoric the Great...

In this comic novel written by American author Anita Loos, we follow the adventures of the fictional character Lorelei Lee who is a young blonde flapper. This story takes place in the hedonistic Jazz Age and is written in the form of a diary from Lorelei's viewpoint as she shares stories of the men she entertains in New York City and Europe. “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” was an instant bestseller and has been declared as “the great American novel” by Edith Wharton. - Summary by Jenn Broda

Published in 1847, five years after her epic poem, 'Dionysus the Areopagite', 'Poems For My Children' was Ann Hawkshaw's second collection of poetry. The poems are dedicated to her six children and many are written in an intimate conversational style. 'Ada', the final poem in the collection, is a memorial for her second child, who had died of hydrocephalus shortly before her fifth birthday. Five historical poems, set in the times of the Druids, the Romans the Saxons, the Normans and the Crusades, punctuate the collection and anticipate her later collection, 'Sonnets on Anglo-Saxon History'.

Ann Hawkshaw's fourth and final collection was published privately and named for her young grandson, Cecil Wedgwood. Written for children, the volume alternates prose with poetry and is lighter in tone than her earlier work, although poems such as 'The Discontented Stream' and 'The Ambitious Water-Lily' are tinged with a sense of waste. The final piece in the collection, 'In Memoriam', is a moving elegy on childhood death, which alludes to Hawkshaw's loss of three children including Cecil's mother who died shortly after his birth. - Summary by Phil Benson

The history of Britain up to the Norman Conquest in the form of 100 prose commentaries, each followed by a sonnet. The commentaries set the historical scene, quoting from Bede, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and noted historians of the times, Hawkshaws sonnets are both imaginative and reflective, often casting new light on historical figures and events. Born in Yorkshire, Ann Hawkshaw spent much of her creative life in Manchester, where her husband John Hawkshaw was elected to Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society and, as a friend of Elizabeth Gaskell, she was drawn into the intellectual and literary circle of the city.

An early figure in the birth of poetry in industrial Manchester, Ann Hawkshaw published three collections and another was circulated privately. Her first collection. published in Manchester and London in 1842, begins with an epic poem, Dionysius the Areopagite. Based on the New Testament story of the conversion of Dionysius by St Paul, much of the poem centres on the consequences of Dionysius' conversion for his betrothed, Myra, and her sister, Corrina. The collection also includes two of Hawkshaw's most important works, The Past and The Future, and a number of shorter poems on themes of history, loss and faith.

Considered a change agent in early Gothic romance; oft-referenced in later literary works or paid homage to by such authors as Jane Austen (influential novel ready by her heroine, Catherine Morland, in Northanger Abbey); Edgar Allen Poe (borrowed plot elements for the short story The Oval Portrait); and Sir Walter Scott. In The Mysteries of Udolpho, one of the most famous and popular gothic novels of the eighteenth century, Ann Radcliffe took a new tack from her predecessors and portrayed her heroine’s inner life, creating an atmosphere thick with fear, and providing a gripping plot that continues to thrill readers today...

A Sicilian Romance is a Gothic novel by Ann Radcliffe. It was her second published work, and was first published anonymously in 1790. The plot concerns the turbulent history of the fallen aristocrats of the house of Mazzini, on the northern shore of Sicily, as related by a tourist who becomes intrigued by the stories of a monk he meets in the ruins of their doomed castle. The introduction to the 'Worlds Classics' edition notes that in this novel "Ann Radcliffe began to forge the unique mixture of the psychology of terror and poetic description that would make her the great exemplar of the Gothic novel, and the idol of the Romantics"...

The love story between a nobleman and a beautiful lady whom he meets in church leads both of them to unexpected places, as many people would not put up with their love. This novel is considered to be one of the best Gothic novels ever written, by one of the first (and best) writers of the genre. How does an “indecent” love story become a Gothic tale? What is the outcome of this love story? If you want to know, read this book.

A Gothic novel famously mentioned by Jane Austen in "Northanger Abbey" as an inspiration for the romantic ideals and supernatural fears of Catherine. Ann Radcliffe has been called the "Great Enchantress" of her age and this is one of her finest novels. Supernatural eerie thrills, midnight explorations of draughty corridors and mysterious partly burned notes all play their parts. There are noblemen in disguise, a duel, a trial, a dangerous illness, a deathbed confession and, of course, a dark and handsome hero with a fatal secret! - Summary by Beth Thomas This project was proof-listened by Betty M. and Mary in Arkansas.

In Edwy, Ann Radcliffe gives us a delightful piece of poetic moonshine, whose eponymous hero seeks assistance from the world of faerie in order to spy on his girlfriend, Aura, and see if she really loves him. He does this by venturing unseen into Windsor Forest at night to trap the love-fay, Eda, who, once spellbound, must reveal all and let him remotely view Aura's activities by means of a magic mirror cut from crystal. In addition to this early form of cyberstalking, Edwy, on his night-journey into the forest gets to witness a royal procession of the Fairie Queen, followed by midnight revels of elves and spirits...

Ann Radcliffe is the founder of the gothic novel. This novel is no exception. The wicked baron murdered the good earl's father twelve years before the novel began. Only twelve years later, free from his mother's wishes, can the earl seek revenge. Meanwhile, Mary, the earl's beautiful sister is falling in love with a peasant. Yet her brother was abducted by the baron and he wants to marry her. She may have to wed him in order to secure his return. We see Mary's conflict along with a description of her brother's captivity...

Described by author Liza Daly as a "strange masterpiece of outsider art," Arqtiq is a bizarre, borderline hallucinatory work of feminist utopian fiction. Equal parts sci-fi adventure, philosophical tract, and pro-Symmesian pamphlet, Anna Adolph’s strange, self-published novella centers its narrative around an aviator who, along with a ragtag group of family and friends, charts an expedition to the North Pole in a retro-futuristic airship of her own invention. There, Anna and her crew travel into the hollow earth, encounter a race of telepathic giants, and uncover secrets about God and the universe...

or Socialism a Reality In the year 2050, Wolfgang travels to the socialist city of New York. He writes enthusiastically to his friend Hannevig describing the wonders of the journey and vastness of the city. He then turns his eye and pen to the effects of true equality of the sexes and freedom from work. Unfortunately for the New Yorkers, they do not create the desired utopia but just the opposite.

Mowatt wrote The Fortune Hunter to be submitted to a contest held by the New World newspaper. Contest rules dictated that the title of the work, that the setting had to be New York, and that the text had to be completed within six months. So, recycling a few characters from short stories written under the pen name “Helen Berkeley,” Mowatt quickly created a tale that started with two fashionable fellows in search of wealthy wives -- Brainard and Ellery. They, in turn, are pursued by the inexorable debt collector, Mr...

Mimic Life; or Before and Behind the Curtain is a collection of three narratives about life in the theater based on Mowatt’s career on stage. The stories, “Stella,” “The Prompter’s Daughter,” and “The Unknown Tragedian” reveal the every-day challenges faced by Victorian theatrical workers and argue against prejudices against this profession still held by many people at that time. - Summary by Kelly S. Taylor

Anna Cora Mowatt was the author of the first Broadway comedy hit written by a woman. Her 1845 play “Fashion” is still performed today. She was also the first woman to professionally perform solo public readings of literature in the U.S. In pre-Civil War America, she was a popular novelist, poet, playwright, essayist, and correspondent. Autobiography of an Actress tells the dramatic story of her life and her struggles to overcome the anti-theatrical prejudices of her day. - Summary by Kelly S. Taylor

Sylvie de la Roche is the daughter of a destitute former nobleman and his wife living in the slums of Paris circa 1847. Her magnificent singing voice is discovered by the irascible, but equally impoverished, old musician, Maître Beaujeu. Under his guidance and training, she is well-prepared when an opportunity comes for her to sing with the great tenor, Lablanche. Overnight, aristocrat patrons are all at her feet – in particular a very intriguing young nobleman and his lady companion. On the eve of her greatest triumph, though, Sylvie loses her wondrous contralto voice. Will it ever be recovered? - Summary by Kelly S. Taylor

A mix of short works written by Anna Cora Mowatt Ritchie during her residence in Florence from 1864-65, this collection was edited and prepared for publication by her sister, Mary Thompson, wife of artist, Cephas Giovanni Thompson, after her death. It contains short stories, legends, historical sketches, profiles of noted Italian performers and foreign literati, and even an account of a devastating flood of the Arno that the author witnessed. - Summary by Kelly S. Taylor

Evelyn is a two-volume novel told in an epistolary style – alternating between letters from the point of view of a trusted, unmarried female friend of the young, naïve heroine of the novel and those of the feckless adventurer who decides that he must seduce the beautiful Evelyn. The author, actress/novelist/playwright Anna Cora Mowatt, was a fan of the works of Fredericka Bremer . This narrative is heavily influenced by that writer’s style. Like Mowatt’s hit comedy, “Fashion,” the plot centers on the misadventures of nouveau riche family social climbing in New York society of the late 1830’s...

“Gulzara, The Persian Slave” is a rare example of a script for a Victorian melodrama that was intended as a private theatrical – to be performed by a limited cast of amateurs in a home or school, not on a public stage. Rarer still, “Gulzara” was written by a female author to be performed by a cast of women. The only male character, Amurath, was a “breeches role,” played by a young girl. Thus this drama, set in a harem in Constantinople, in addition to spinning a yarn about the abduction of Sultan Suliman’s son, gives us an unusual peek at the lives of young women in the U...

Although almost completely obscure today, this romantic melodrama was arguably a bigger hit for actress/playwright Anna Cora Mowatt than her theatre history-making comedy “Fashion” Wisely cashing in on the craze for settings and characters made popular by Alexander Dumas’ “Musketeer” novels still being published in serial form when the play debuted, this drama focuses on the adventures of sweet, beautiful, peasant maiden Blanche, who discovers she may be the illegitimate daughter of the scheming Duke de Richelieu...

This is the first book in the Betty Baird Series of boarding school books, a genre which was popular among young girls in the early 1900s. Our heroine, Betty Baird, who is herself obsessed with reading boarding school books, is sent away to The Pines, a boarding school where at first she is ridiculed by some of the wealthier and more popular students. As time goes on, Betty silences her foes with her unique and captivating personality, and she and her new friends have many lighthearted adventures during their days at The Pines...

Betty has graduated from the Pines and is now with her parents at their new home on Long Island. When Betty finds out that her father is having trouble paying the mortgage, she decides to spread her entrepreneurial wings and help with the family finances. But can a young girl in 1907 earn enough money to make a difference? Does Betty have the spirit and determination to stick with her plans, even when others try to discourage her?

It seems that all the people close to Betty are going through major life changes. Lois is certainly spending a lot of time with Dunmore Lane these days. Is Betty about to lose her friend and confidante forever? Even Miss Minturne is behaving strangely. If she's falling in love, as Betty suspects, what will happen to the income that Betty is depending on to pay off the mortgage on the farmhouse? Meanwhile, before Betty is even aware of it, her friends have begun to wonder if someone is falling in love with her...

1862 Anna Leonowens accepted an offer made by the Siamese consul in Singapore, Tan Kim Ching, to teach the wives and children of Mongkut, king of Siam. The king wished to give his 39 wives and concubines and 82 children a modern Western education on scientific secular lines, which earlier missionaries’ wives had not provided. Leonowens sent her daughter Avis to school in England, and took her son Louis with her to Bangkok. She succeeded Dan Beach Bradley, an American missionary, as teacher to the Siamese court...

volunteers bring you 16 recordings of A Mother's Song by Anna Hempstead Branch. This was the Fortnightly Poetry project for May 3, 2020. ------ A tribute to Mothers everywhere. Taken from The shoes that danced, and other poems by Anna Hempstead Branch, - Summary by David Lawrence

Horatio Leavenworth, an immensely wealthy bachelor, is a retired merchant who enjoys great social position and respect. His two orphan nieces, Mary and Eleanor live with him in a luxurious mansion in New York's upscale Fifth Avenue. One morning, he is found mysteriously dead in his study, shot neatly through the back of his head. His will, written some time earlier, is discovered, in which he has left his entire fortune to one of the nieces, while cutting out the other completely. The building, which had remained locked throughout the night, houses a number of servants besides the two young ladies...

A perplexing mystery novel published in 1897, That Affair Next Door focuses on a mysterious murder that has occurred in a quiet neighborhood, incidentally in the house next door to the home of the curious Miss Butterworth. Consequently, the middle-aged spinster becomes directly involved in the unraveling of the gruesome crime, instigated by her inquisitive and resolute nature. The story sets into motion with the introduction of its protagonist, Miss Amelia Butterworth, an admirable woman in her fifties, who has never experienced the doubtful bliss of marriage, but nevertheless is quite contempt with her respected status in the inner circle of New York society and her comfortable home...

Anna Katharine Green (November 11, 1846 – April 11, 1935) was an American poet and novelist. She was one of the first writers of detective fiction in America and distinguished herself by writing well plotted, legally accurate stories (no doubt assisted by her lawyer father). (Wikipedia)

Violet Strange, a clever petite detective, is called upon to solve the mystery of a page gone missing from an important document. The futures of several people, including an eccentric misanthrope, a chemical scientist, a bride and groom, depend on the quick resolution of this problem. In solving one mystery, she uncovers another which dates back many years.

Anna Katharine Green (November 11, 1846 – April 11, 1935) was an American poet and novelist. She was one of the first writers of detective fiction in America and distinguished herself by writing well plotted, legally accurate stories (no doubt assisted by her lawyer father).

“I was, perhaps, the plainest girl in the room that night. I was also the happiest—up to one o’clock. Then my whole world crumbled, or, at least, suffered an eclipse. Why and how, I am about to relate.” Thus begins this mystery told by Anna Katharine Green, one of the first writers of detective fiction in America and renowned for writing well plotted, legally accurate stories.

"Sometimes in the course of his experience, a detective, while engaged in ferreting out the mystery of one crime, runs inadvertently upon the clue to another. But rarely has this been done in a manner more unexpected or with attendant circumstances of greater interest than in the instance I am now about to relate.For some time the penetration of certain Washington officials had been baffled by the clever devices of a gang of counterfeiters who had inundated the western portion of Massachusetts with spurious Treasury notes...

A reward of five thousand dollars is offered, by Phil Ocumpaugh, to whoever will give such information as will lead to the recovery, alive or dead, of his six-year-old daughter, Gwendolen, missing since the afternoon of August the 16th, from her home in New York. (Quote from the book)

This short story by Anna Katharine Green revolves around a plot to steal some goods secured safely within an impenetrable vault within the confines of Mr. Stoughton's business concern. Nobody seems to have any clue as to how the vault can be accessed, and yet access is gained once a day by person or persons unknown, by a means not known to anyone, apparently Mr. Stoughton himself included! Every clerk in the office is suspect, as the devious plot to plunder the vault's contents unfolds. (Introduction by Roger Melin)

It was a night to drive any man indoors. Not only was the darkness impenetrable, but the raw mist enveloping hill and valley made the open road anything but desirable to a belated wayfarer like myself.Being young, untrammeled, and naturally indifferent to danger, I was not averse to adventure; and having my fortune to make, was always on the lookout for El Dorado, which, to ardent souls, lies ever beyond the next turning. Consequently, when I saw a light shimmering through the mist at my right, I resolved to make for it and the shelter it so opportunely offered...