Art or politics, this is the question Nick Dormer dealls with in the course of this novel. Mirian Ruth, an aspiring actress, is the "tragic muse" of the title. Her concerns are a bit different: would proper society accept her as an actress, or would she have to choose between giving up acting and marrying well? A large and interesting cast of secondary characters accompany them along the way, for good or bad. This novel is for lovers of Trollope and Dickins, while James's sharp and keen observations and wit are there at all times. Enjoy a stroll in the park listening to this overlooked masterpiece. . - Summary by Stav Nisser

Maggie is an orphan who depends on the charity of the farmer she lives with. She tries to be cheerful and helpful to everyone where she is. However, Maggie dreams of being a queen. But how can a poor orphan ever become anything other than what she is?

A story which shows that strength of character, and belief in the good in everything is above all else The old fisherman had a good dog, Boley, and an evil black cat, Sershina. "Master, this cat will be our undoing! Let's drive her away! Black cat, evil cat!" yelped Boley "Don't say that! You'll see that Serzhina will change and become good!" answered the old fisherman... Excerpt: There once lived an old man on the shore of a beautiful sea. All day he wove nets and caught fish. There were so many that the old fisherman shared them with his animals...

The Mysteries of London was a best-selling novel in mid-Victorian England. The first series was published in weekly instalments from 1844-46, priced at a penny each. Serialised novels sold in this way were known as Penny Dreadfuls … without any claim to literary greatness, they sought to provide ongoing entertainment for the popular audience. This book has it all -- vice, poverty, wealth, virtue, in every combination. Consider it a Victorian soap opera.Summary by Cori Samuel. Note: this project only covers half of volume 1. To be continued!

Set in the 1890s in Moonstone, a fictional place supposedly located in Colorado, The Song of the Lark is the self-portrait of an artist in the making. The story revolves around an ambitious young heroine, Thea Kronborg, who leaves her hometown to go to the big city to fulfill her dream of becoming a famous opera star. The novel captures Thea's independent-mindedness, her strong work ethic, and her ascent to her highest achievement. At each step along the way, her realization of the mediocrity of her peers propels her to greater levels of accomplishment, but in the course of her ascent she must discard those relationships which no longer serve her.

If you are expecting glass slippers and pumpkin coaches, look elsewhere... This is "a pantomime as Ibsen would have written it, if only it had occurred to him to write one." Set on a "bleak and cheerless heath overlooking the fjord" we meet Ibsenesque heroine Mrs. Inquest, her step-daughter Hilda, and her daughter Hedda, who is engaged to be married to the unfortunate Tesman. Thus begins Calderon's hilarious Ibsenesque version of Cinderella. NOTE from the editor of the volume, published in 1922 after Calderon's death: This play is hardly more than a rough draft, written when the idea was fresh and put aside to be worked on when the right moment should come...

The Marvelous Land of Oz Being an account of the further adventures of the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman and also the strange experiences of the highly magnified Woggle-Bug, Jack Pumpkin-head, the Animated Saw-Horse and the Gump; the story being A Sequel to The Wizard of Oz.

The novel, set in 1861, describes adventures of British expedition led by Captain John Hatteras to the North Pole. Hatteras is convinced that the sea around the pole is not frozen and his obsession is to reach the place no matter what. Mutiny by the crew results in destruction of their ship but Hatteras, with a few men, continues on the expedition. ( Wikipedia)

This project features four longer stories by Hans Christian Andersen.Andersen's fairy tales, which have been translated into more than 125 languages, have become culturally embedded in the West's collective consciousness, readily accessible to children, but presenting lessons of virtue and resilience in the face of adversity for mature readers as well. They have inspired motion pictures, plays, ballets, and animated films. (

Lisbeth Longfrock - (Sidsel Sidsærkin in its original Norwegian) was seen by the author as a book written for adults, telling the story of a young girl growing up in a farming district in a steep-sided Norwegian Valley. First written when the author's daughter was 8 years old so she would know about his childhood spent in similar surroundings, living on a farm and spending summer in charge of the cows and goats on the mountain pastures.

Amadis of Gaul (Amadís de Gaula, in Spanish) was not the first, but certainly one of the best known knight-errantry tales of the 16th century. Not only is its authorship doubtful, but even the language in which it was first written - Portuguese or Spanish. It is imagined to have been composed in the 14th century, but the known first printed edition came to light in Zaragoza in 1508, and the oldest extant version is in Spanish. The plot is the story of the brave knight Amadis, and starts with the forbidden love of his parents and his secret birth, followed by his abandonment near water...

The Betrothed (I Promessi Sposi) presents a kaleidoscope of individual stories, which are all tied together by the story of Lucia and Renzo, two young persons of humble origin that are deeply in love with one another. However, despite their great attachment, they are prevented from marrying by the cruel Don Rodrigo, who has himself cast an eye on the beautiful and pious Lucia. Don Rodrigo menaces the priest who was to perform the wedding ceremony, who then refuses to do his duty. Thus threatened and prevented from being married, the couple is separated, and the narration follows each of them on their struggle to unite again...

Part I. The Story of Rollo; Mr. Holliday knows all there is to know about raising children, or at least he thinks he does. His attempts to train his son, Rollo, "in the way he should go," are well-meant, but hilariously unsuccessful--or are they? I believe this is a sort of spoof of the “Rollo” series for children, that was written by Jacob Abbot in the mid 19th century. The characters have the same names and the chapters have a little Q&A at the end like the Abbot books, except these are definitely tongue-in-cheek...

Ulysses is a groundbreaking novel in which Irish author James Joyce explores realism through stream-of-consciousness technique and shifting narrative styles. It was published in serial form between 1918-1920 and first published in book form in 1922. The story follows Leopold Bloom through Dublin during the course of one day: June 16, 1904. The events and characters of Ulysses parallel those of Homer's Odyssey, with Bloom corresponding to Odysseus. Although the book was the subject of early obscenity...

Sylvie and Bruno Concluded continues the adventures of the many characters in the previous volume Sylvie and Bruno. The fairy-children Sylvie and Bruno are charming whenever they appear, their fairy companions such as the Professor delight in taking ideas to their logical (and humorous) conclusions, and many nonsense songs are sung. Meanwhile, the mortals (comprised of the unnamed narrator, the gracious Lady Muriel and the sententious Arthur) tend to become the vehicles for Carroll's regular sermons on morality and proper Christian values.

Our hero, Peter Vibart, an Oxford graduate with no means of support but for 10 guineas he has inherited, sets out on a walking tour of the Kent countryside. Along the way, he meets many quaint and adoring characters as well as a few ne’er-do-wells, meets with several disasters and triumphs, and eventually he meets "The Woman," who leads him to even more disasters and triumphs. (Introduction by John Lieder)Proof-listened by Dawn Larsen and BainbridgeCatherine.

Sara Crewe, an exceptionally intelligent and imaginative student at Miss Minchin's Select Seminary for Young Ladies, is devastated when her adored, indulgent father dies.

"Four and twenty marvellous tales, one for each hour of the day," retold in a novel and entertaining manner by a master of the form. While drawing on German, English, and Scandinavian folk literature for many of his characters and plots, Pyle reworks the material in an imaginative way, crafting the tales in his own inimitable style. Equally engaging are the numerous woodcuts that accompany the stories and enliven the narrative. Read along and see the illustrations

Johnny Reb & Billy Yank is an epic novel first published in 1905 by Alexander Hunter, a soldier who served in Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army from 1861 to 1865. The novel is noted for encapsulating most of the major events of the American Civil War, due to Hunter's obvious involvement in them. The "novel" is actually pulled from Hunter's own diaries during the war. He explains his reasons for publishing his accounts in the preface to the novel- "There were thousands of soldiers on both sides during the Civil War, who, at the beginning, started to keep a diary of daily events, but those who kept a record from start to finish can be counted on the fingers of one hand...

This work, then, contains a collection of the myths, legends, and folk-lore of the principal Wabanaki, or Northeastern Algonquin, Indians; that is to say, of the Passamaquoddies and Penobscots of Maine, and of the Micmacs of New Brunswick. All of this material was gathered directly from Indian narrators, the greater part by myself, the rest by a few friends; in fact, I can give the name of the aboriginal authority for every tale except one.

Everyone probably has Glenn Close and John Malkovich in mind, but for those who have not seen the movie, this epistolary fiction describes how a young girl, Cécile de Voanges, walks on the road to perdition, and is just a toy in the Vicomte de Valmont's and the Comtesse de Merteuil's hands. Readers:Narrator, Mme de Volanges: Nadine Eckert-BouletCécile de Volanges: SaabMarquise de Merteuil: AvailleVicomte de Valmont: Martin GeesonPrésidente de Tourvel: Elizabeth KlettChevalier de Danceny: Max...

Between these pages you will find only the good, old-fashioned, every-day cat. No Angora or thoroughbred has been entered here, unless it be "Hansie," who is little more than mentioned. These are true incidents and true lives, with the exception of the one chapter, "The Mission of the Cat." The reader will pardon the intrusion of Victor, the dog. I have added him as the cook adds her trace of spice, but feeling also that he is entirely in place, being an ardent cat-lover himself.

Fearing that her son, Robert, will grow too intellectual to relate to his parents, Mrs. Fenton starts a "Chautauqua Literary & Scientific Circle" in the town of Centreville. The C.L.S.C. draws in members from all strata of society - from the maid of a well-to-do family and 3 lazy, wild youths to society girls and the eminent Professor Monteith. We follow various members of the Circle as the studies at home and the social interactions and programs at the actual Chautauqua in New York shape and challenge their previous ideas and beliefs...

This is a collection of short stories of mystery and romance, set at sea, in the times of the great sea voyages.

Molly Morganthau, day operator in the telephone exchange, helps to solve a murder.

When two life sized carved lions from the east are given as a gift to an English household, the children of the house are enchanted, especially when the lions come to life and help take care of them. This is a delightful book for young girls but retains some adult appeal. The author Mrs Molesworth has been called "the Jane Austen of the nursery.

Stendhal - a German pen-name for a French writer who hated the English. Contemporary to some of the great names of French literature like Balzac and Flaubert, Stendhal is quite often considered a writer that doesn't seem to fit a defined genre. Some say he's a Romantic, others that he's a Modernist and that Le Rouge et Le Noir is the first modern novel. On one point they are all agreed: the novel is a masterpiece that shows a young theology student - Julien Sorel - intelligent, handsome and who is determined to rise above his humble peasant origins...

Hagar's Daughter was first published serially in "The Colored American Magazine" in 1901-1902 by Pauline E. Hopkins, a prominent African-American novelist, journalist, historian, and playwright. The book was described as "a powerful narrative of love and intrigue, founded on events which happened in the exciting times immediately following the assassination of President Lincoln: a story of the Republic in the power of Southern caste prejudice toward the Negro." (From the January, 1901, issue of "The...

Fiction about (or involving) motion pictures started appearing in the late nineteenth-century, when writers first became aware of early kinetoscope technologies. These stories grew more and more popular as the public became increasingly fascinated with the movies, the film industry, and the odd inhabitants of Hollywood. These stories reflect and often respond to the public's fascination with the movies; at the same time, they also reveal their fears and anxieties about the new medium. The first volume of this anthology collects 16 short stories and a monologue about motion picture technology and the film industry published between 1895 and 1922.

In The Little Colonel in Arizona the story is centered around the Ware family, who, after their husband and father has died, and due to the mother's illness, have to move from Kentucky to Arizona. Joyce now has to take most of the responsibility for holding the family together. She is having difficulties in coming to terms with the family's new existence, feeling lonely and that her dreams for the future will never come true. But when she learns to know an invalid at Lee's Ranch who tells her the...

The Girl Who Had Nothing is about a young orphan girl in desperate circumstances, who throws herself on the mercy of an elderly stranger. By her own intelligence and wit, she manages to survive, and very nicely at that!

"Harold Transome is a landowner who goes against his family's political tradition (much to his mother's distress), while Felix Holt is a sincere radical. The setting of the book, the 1832 parliament election, is used to discuss the social problems of that time. A secondary plot involves Esther Lyon, the stepdaughter of a minister who is the real heiress to the Transome estate, with whom both Harold Transome and Felix Holt fall in love. Esther loves poor Felix Holt, but would she choose a comfortable life with Harold Transome?"

This story presents through letters, poems and third-person commentary the love affair between a young man named Freeman Jones and a married woman named Elinor, lady of the castle he is visiting in Scotland. Events in the affair are traced from initial attraction through seduction to (somewhat) graphic sexual encounters and their aftermath. (Allegedly based on a real-life scandal, the author, in re-issuing his story two years later, transplanted the action to Italy, renaming the principals Fernando Jeronimi and Leonora.)

This is an exquisite and heartbreaking love story. Violet Tempest and Roderick Vawdrey, otherwise known to each other as Vixen and Rorie, are childhood sweethearts. However, Rorie's family wants him to marry elsewhere. You may think it is the old story all over again, but nothing in this novel is what it seems. It is far too realistic for that. Many books talk about falling in love. This book starts after that stage, and speaks about the harder stage of a relationship: loving earnestly but understanding that love - even in the truest and purest sense - is not everything in life...

Before Downton Abbey, there was Mary Broome. In Allan Monkhouse's 1911 satire, when the son of a middle-class household gets their housemaid pregnant, the two families must try to combine their very different values.

The Rebel Rose is the story of Mary Stuart Beaton, a descendant of Mary Queen of Scots who has come to London in the hope of having her family claims legitimized. The Pretendress -- as she is called, finds herself caught up in the devices of her own personal guardians as well as a scheming London society woman scorned by a powerful member of Parliament who has become an admirer of the Princess. Apart from the claims of royalty, Mary Beaton knows where her worth is found and she proves to be a formidable opponent for all those scheming for and against her.

Young and beautiful Helen Eskdale and fabulously wealthy Lord Teviot seem to be the perfect match. But when they marry, they find that misunderstandings and jealousies continually drive them apart. The machinations and intrigues of a large supporting cast surround the central question of whether their marriage will survive. Emily Eden's comedy of manners is reminiscient of Jane Austen's witty and ironic novels.

Cross Currents: The Story of Margaret, to give it its full title, is delightful story about a little girl’s resilience and a mother’s unwavering love, from the beloved author of Pollyanna. Margaret Kendall (the Margaret of the story) has known nothing but love, wealth and privilege for the first five years of her life. An accident during a visit with her mother to New York City leaves little Margaret alone and fending for herself. While her mother searches desperately for her, Margaret has to do the best she can by herself...

After reading and re-reading the book many time as a boy and wishing that Lewis Carroll would have written another Alice In Wonderland Book, John Rae began imagining what that girl would have gotten up to if he had done so. Telling these stories to his children over the years, where they were enthusiastically received, he finally decided to share them with the world. And here they are! The New Adventures of Alice

Sybil is one of the most prominent political novels of the mid-nineteenth century, taking as its subject the "condition of England" question. That phrase was first used by Thomas Carlyle in an essay of 1839 on Chartism, a working-class protest movement that plays a prominent role in this novel. The two nations are the rich and the poor, and the increasing gulf between them, and their condition also inspired such writers as Charles Dickens and Mrs. Gaskell, among others (one of whom, Friederich Engels, was the disciple of Karl Marx, and in his The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844 described the appalling effects of the industrial revolution a year before Sybil appeared)...

Alfred J. Church created 26 stories from the original Greek version of Virgil's Aeneid. He included well-known ones, such as "The Horse of Wood" and "The Love and Death of Dido," as well as many others perhaps less well-known, such as "King Evander" and "The Funeral Games of Anchises."

The first Anti-Slavery Convention of American Women met in New York City in May, 1837. Members at the Convention came from all walks of life and included such prominent women as Mary Parker, Lucretia Mott, the Grimke sisters, and Lydia Maria Child. One outcome of this important event was a statement of the organization’s role in the abolitionist movement as expressed in AN ADDRESS TO FREE COLORED AMERICANS, which begins: “The sympathy we feel for our oppressed fellow-citizens who are enslaved...

The work was composed between 1790 and 1793, in the period of radical foment and political conflict immediately after the French Revolution. The title is an ironic reference to Emanuel Swedenborg's theological work Heaven and Hell published in Latin 33 years earlier. Swedenborg is directly cited and criticized by Blake several places in the Marriage. Though Blake was influenced by his grand and mystical cosmic conception, Swedenborg's conventional moral structures and his Manichean view of good...

The young Count von Rudloff got himself into so much trouble with the Imperial Family in Berlin, that he sees no other way out of it than to fake his own death. Stumbling through different identities, he finally assumes - quite against his will - the identity of the Prince von Gramberg. At Gramberg Castle, he finds a web of intrigue, which threatens the safety of the young and beautiful Countess Minna. The Count von Rudloff decides to save the girl, but the intrigue is more complicated than it first appeared, and there are old enemies who are still waiting for their revenge...

Those who have read "Ashton-Kirk, Investigator" will recall references to several affairs in which the United States government found the investigator's unusual powers of inestimable service. In such matters, tremendous interests often stand dangerously balanced, and the most delicate touch is required if they are not to be sent toppling. As Ashton-Kirk has said: "When a crisis arises between two of the giant modern nations, with their vast armies, their swift fleets, their dreadful engines of war, the hands which control their affairs must be steady, secret, and sure...

This is a robust, rough and tumble, first-hand account of the early California gold rush years 1851-1854 by a Scottish adventurer and artist J. D. Borthwick. The first edition, published in 1857 was called Three Years in California. Reprints have used the more descriptive title The Gold Hunters.

Hilda is saved from destitution by Edwin Clayhanger who marries her. The two, with Hilda's son by her disastrous 'marriage' to George Cannon, are living in Bursley. Edwin does not enjoy an entirely happy marriage with Hilda because of her outspokenness. Hilda has strong opinions on matters which at the time were considered to be a male preserve – for example, on Edwin’s business. She also does things without telling him. As a consequence, Edwin has his doubts about their marriage and is angered by his wife just as he had been by his father...

CLARA VAUGHAN, the young heroine, narrator, and namesake for R. D. Blackmore’s early detective novel, is determined to solve the mystery of her father’s murder—a crime that occurred when she was only 10 years of age. The book gives an account of Clara’s adventures, romances, and encounters with many eccentric characters, when, years later, she devotes herself to unraveling the mystery. As Clara states at the beginning of Chapter II, “How that deed was done, I learned at once, and will tell. By whom and why it was done, I have given my life to learn.” R. D. Blackmore, undoubtedly better known for his later novel LORNA DOONE, published this book anonymously in 1864.

That one who is not a recognized authority or an expert in literature should attempt the solution of a problem which has so far baffled specialists must doubtless appear to many as a glaring act of over- boldness; whilst to pretend to have actually solved this most momentous of literary puzzles will seem to some like sheer hallucination. What I have to propose, however, is not an accidental discovery, but one resulting from a systematic search. And it is to the nature of the method, combined with a happy inspiration and a fortunate chance, that the results here described were reached...

Full of delightful fairy tales, charming poems and engaging stories, this is the third volume of the "My Bookhouse" series for little ones. Originally published in the 1920's as a six volume set, these books, edited by Olive Beaupre Miller, contained the best in children's literature, stories, poems and nursery rhymes. They progressed in difficulty through the different volumes.

A collection of short and humorous one-act "sequels" to 14 major plays (many already in the catalog). Plays end too soon. They never show the whole of what I want to know. The curtain falls and I'm perplexed with doubts about what happened next. Did HAMLET'S father haunt no more the battlements of Elsinore? Does LADY TEAZLE never call at LADY SNEERWELL'S now at all? Was BENEDICK'S a happy marriage? And will the MELNOTTES keep a carriage? Will AUBREY take to wife one day another MRS. TANQUERAY? Do ECCLES and his stepson wrangle? Has anything been heard of DANGLE? What has become of MRS...

The first flight to outer space became an actual fact – Mars would be the first stop. But before the spaceship took off, two insane enemies almost succeeded in preventing the departure. This science fiction story for teens was written by a Catholic priest.

”From a Swedish Homestead” by the Swedish author Selma Lagerloef (translated by Jessie Brochner) is a varied collection of stories, mostly set in Dalarne or Vaermland in Sweden, but also some stories or legends from Kungahalla on the west-coast at the time between Heathendom and early Christianity plus some Legends from Italy and Belgium. The first nine sections, “The Story of a Country House”, is a short Novel, originally published on its own, but here part of the collection. It is the story...

”War and Peace” is a panoramic novel: It is its own justification, and perhaps needs no introduction. It always reminds the translator of a broad and mighty river flowing onward with all the majesty of Fate. On its surface, float swiftly by logs and stumps, cakes of ice, perhaps drowned cattle or men from regions far above. These floating straws, insignificant in themselves, tell the current. Once embark upon it, and it is impossible to escape the onward force that moves you so relentlessly. What landscapes you pass through, what populous towns, what gruesome defiles, what rapids, what cataracts! The water may be turbid, or it may flow translucent and pure, – but still it rushes on...

An unforgettable family saga which revolves around the beautiful young Elizabeth. Elizabeth is orphaned and raised by her spinster aunts. As an adult, she finds herself trapped in a loveless marriage and ultimately falls in love with another man. After telling her lover the truth about her marriage - her husband is found murdered the very next day! This is a story of destiny, temptation, and courage of the heart. This book is sometimes attributed to Elizabeth von Arnim, but her authorship cannot be confirmed. There is no chapter four in this book, it seems to have been intentionally left out by the author.

A collection of twenty stories featuring ghoulies, ghosties, long-leggedy beasties and things that go bump in the night. Expect shivers up your spine, the stench of human flesh, and the occasional touch of wonder.

Published in 1899, Vassar Studies is a collection of twelve realistic glimpses into the character of attending students at Vassar College. It delves more with the inner workings of people rather than with dramatic incidents or what was studied in college. The glimpses themselves are both wordy and enlightening. The dialogue within each tends to have a background of various people, some with names and some who remain nameless as part of the scenery. The manner in which they speak may be surprisingly academic for those used to college girl stories of the adventurous or mysterious nature...

Rebecca Harlowe is a young woman who strives to apply Christ's instructions in the Bible to her daily life and relationships. In this book we witness some of her successes and failures and the effect of her example on those around her.

LibriVox’s Short Story Collection 054: a collection of 20 short works of fiction in the public domain read by a group of LibriVox members.

This is a story about the life of a school girl. The story centres around the girls' college of St. Wode's, Wingfield. This is the place in all England where women who wish to distinguish themselves should go to receive training. The girls come from all classes of society, but the tale centres chiefly around the doings of the Gilroy girls and their benefactor, Mr. Parker.