On an American college campus, in the early years of World War II, a professor from Germany is murdered and the plans for a new bomb sight he had invented are missing. Who murdered the professor and stole the plans? And are the accidents, happening with alarming frequency to young student aviators from the campus, really accidents -- or is some unknown conspiracy afoot?This mystery novel was written by Daniel A Lord, S.J., a priest and popular American Catholic writer. The subjects of the works in his bibliography range from religion, humor, plays, songs, mysteries and even politics. His most influential work was possibly in drafting the 1930 Production Code for motion pictures. (

Teenagers Peggy Prescott and her brother Roy share a love of aviation that they inherited from their late father. Mr. Prescott had always dreamed of building an aeroplane that would be free of the defects of planes already invented. Peggy and Roy manage to build a plane starting with the framework their father had begun. Peggy christens it ‘The Golden Buttefly’ and she and Roy are determined to enter it in a young aviator’s contest for a prize of $5000. The Prescotts need the money desperately to save the home they share with their aunt which is about to be taken from them by the rather nasty banker, Mr...

Semi-autobiographical series of incidents in the life of an intellectual American family in the late 19th - early 20th Century as seen by favored daughter, Sylvia Marshall. Her father is an economics professor in a Midwestern state university and she is following in his inquisitive footsteps. Canfield writes this in a matter-of-fact manner with Tarkingtonesque good humor.

A man who has been condemned to death writes down his cogitations, feelings and fears while he is waiting for his execution. He does not betray his name to the reader or what he has done. He describes his life in prison, everything from what his cell looks like to the personality of the prison priest. (Introduction by Wikipedia)

Stoddard’s novel traces the education and development of a young female in American middle-class society. The protagonist, Cassandra Morgeson, is educated by a series of journeys she makes throughout her youth and early adulthood. Each new setting represents a different stage in her intellectual development.Cassandra is born in Surrey, a small New England town. Surrey is quiet and isolated, granting a young woman little intellectual stimulation. Cassandra escapes the boredom of domestic life through stories of adventure and exploration. Surrey instills in Cassandra a restlessness that drives her quest for knowledge and experience.(Introduction by Wikipedia)

This small collection puts together stories by Kipling that feature the characters from Stalky & Co. but which for some reason were not included in the book Stalky & Co. Of these the more interesting is the first, “Stalky”, which introduces the characters and is full of the humour and understanding of adolescent males and their timeless jostling with adult powers that characterise the stories in Stalky & Co.“Stalky” was the first of the tales to be written, and was published in 1898, so it is difficult to understand how it came to be omitted from the book in 1899...

In this political thriller set at the turn of the 20th century, several lives, both of Washington insiders and those on the periphery, intersect over the issue of some stolen diplomatic papers. And what hidden secrets bind Mrs. Redmond, the wife of the Secretary of State, to the unscrupulous Count Valdmir, the Russian ambassador? Politics, power, and intrigue combine in this novel, first published in 1905.

This is George Sand's first novel. Her real name was Amantine (or Amandine) Lucile Dupin, and she later became baroness Dudevant. As an aristocratic woman living in 19th century France, she chose her first novel to be, above all, a realistic work. Indiana is trapped since the age of 16 in a loveless marriage with a rich, much older, man. Her only real friend is her cousin, sir Ralph, who, sometimes, just does things which are- logically- the best for her but- mentally- the worsed he could do. She tries to find means of escape. But would she be able to recreate her own reality? Can a woman find true love while trying to maintain her identity and independence in a man's world?"

MANUAL OF SURGERY, OXFORD MEDICAL PUBLICATIONSBY ALEXIS THOMSON, F.R.C.S.Ed.PREFACE TO SIXTH EDITION Much has happened since this Manual was last revised, and many surgical lessons have been learned in the hard school of war. Some may yet have to be unlearned, and others have but little bearing on the problems presented to the civilian surgeon. Save in its broadest principles, the surgery of warfare is a thing apart from the general surgery of civil life, and the exhaustive literature now available on every aspect of it makes it unnecessary that it should receive detailed consideration in a manual for students...

This is the story of Elizabeth North a young woman who becomes engaged and with the aid of a social climbing friend begins to plan her wedding beyond what she can afford. Her friend Evelyn Tripp, convinces Elizabeth that she “simply can’t afford” not to live a fashionable and expensive lifestyle. However her husband and her grandma help her to see sense and pull herself out of the debt she has got herself into.

A young idealistic civil servant, Arvid Falk, leaves the drudgery of bureaucracy to become a journalist and author. As he explores various social activities — politics, publishing, theatre, philanthropy, and business — he finds more hypocrisy and corruption than he thought possible. He takes refuge with a group of "bohemians", who meet in a red dining room in Berns Salonger to discuss these matters. (Introduction adopted from Wikipedia)

The author, Ben Hecht, was a prolific writer as well as a renowned screenwriter, producer, and director of films. His screenwriting skills include some of the most popular films of Hollywood's golden era, including "Gone With the Wind", "Wuthering Heights", "Spellbound", and "Scarface", to name but a few.Hecht had already established himself as a novelist and an author of short stories when "Gargoyles" was published. "Gargoyles" delves deep into the psyches of individuals and of their relationships within social classes, revealing both the darker sides and the sentimental sides...

This is a collection of theatrical essays from the American quarterly The Drama, including six non-fiction works -- 3 profiles: Schnitzler, Andreyev, and O'Neill, and 3 articles: Characterization vs Situation, The Actor in England, & The Evolution of The Actor.

A self-serving Spaniard discovers a means of traveling to the moon, describing his sensations in transit in terms remarkably consistent with modern astronauts' experiences. He finds on the moon a utopia, which he describes in detail, but being a fallen creature, he takes the first opportunity of coming home. (

This is the story of Miriam, an orphan Christian woman living in Rome in the first century. She falls in love with a Roman officer, but knows that her Jewish childhood playmate loves her too and will do anything in order to get her love in return.

The Young Crusoe, or The Shipwrecked Boy (1829) Novel. At the novel's opening, Charles Crusoe, thirteen years of age, asks his mother if he is related to the famous Robinson Crusoe, and is told that he is not. His future adventures, however, strongly resemble those of the earlier Crusoe.

This historical novel is set in Rome in the early 4th century AD, during the time of the cruel persecution of Christians under the Emperor Diocletian. The heroine of the book is Fabiola, a young pagan beauty from a noble Roman family. Fabiola seems to have everything, including a superior education in the philosophers, yet under the surface, she is not content with her life. One day, in a fit of rage, she attacks and wounds her slave girl Syra, who is a secret Christian. The proud, spoiled Roman girl is humbled by Syra's humility, maturity and devotion to her in this situation, and a slow transformation begins...

Zip, a little fox terrier, lives in the town of Maplewood in the house of his owner, Dr. Elsworth. Each day when Dr. Elsworth drives his carriage to visit his patients, Zip goes along with him so that he can keep the doctor company and, most importantly, visit with the other animals in the town. Zip likes to find out all the latest news so that he can tell it to his best friend, Tabby the cat, who also lives with Dr. Elsworth. However, he also finds himself getting into mischief, whether it's trying to solve a burglary, sneaking fried chicken from a picnic, getting stuck in a stovepipe or fighting with Peter-Kins the monkey. Zip is one dog who never has a dull day.

Cowboy Lin McLean rides into frontier Cheyenne, Wyoming, at Christmastime and learns a powerful meaning of Christmas. Author Owen Wister is well known for his western writings, famously the novel The Virginian. Illustrations are by the western artist Frederic Remington.

The Dancing Girls is just one of the 4 excellent short stories in this recording. All written by the master, Edna Ferber for magazines between 1910 and 1919 they naturally contain her unique mix of real people, sadness, joy and always humor. The lead Story, The Dancing Girls, is my favorite for the way she paints a picture of mid America small town society and how good people somehow (and sometimes) can find their way to each other. Other stories in this collection are Old Lady Mandel; Long Distance; and One Hundred Percent

This is a collection of essays, verbal sketches, and stories by Washington Irving. Irving lived at the Alhambra Palace while writing some of the material for his book. In 1828, Washington Irving traveled from Madrid, where he had been staying, to Granada, Spain. At first sight, he described it as "a most picturesque and beautiful city, situated in one of the loveliest landscapes that I have ever seen." He immediately asked the then-governor of the historic Alhambra Palace as well as the archbishop of Granada for access to the palace, which was granted because of Irving's celebrity status...

The story takes place in the fictional city of Western City circa 1920. It begins with a man named Billy who is attacked by a mob of ex-servicemen outside a theater after watching a German film. Billy stumbles into a church to escape the mob and is visited by Carpenter, that is Jesus, who walks out of the stained glass window of the church. Carpenter is shocked and appalled by his observations of greed, selfishness, lust, sorrow, and the ultimate division between rich and poor. The story then roughly follows the ministry of Jesus.

The worst of being a Christmas Child[2] is that you don’t get birthday presents, but only Christmas ones. Old Naylor, who was Father’s coachman, and had a great gruff voice that came from his boots and was rather frightening, used to ask how I expected to grow up without proper birthdays, and I thought I might have to stay little always. When I told Father this he laughed, but a moment later he grew quite grave. “Listen, Chris,” he said. And then he took me on his knee—I was a small chap then—and told me things that made me forget old Naylor, and wish and wish that Mother could have stayed with us...

A madcap Frenchman posing as an ambassador's barber blackmails a dishonest duke to introduce him as a nobleman to a wealthy belle of Bath. Since the duke himself hopes to mend his fortunes by wedding this very woman, he attempts to murder Beaucaire, and failing that to discredit him. To test the lady's mettle, Beaucaire allows his deception to be exposed--up to a point--and there we must draw the curtain to preserve the surprise ending. (

A Phantom Lover is a supernatural novella by Vernon Lee (pseudonym of Violet Paget) first published in 1886. Set in a Kentish manor house, the story concerns a portrait painter commissioned by a squire, William Oke, to produce portraits of him and his wife, the eccentric Mrs. Alice Oke, who bears a striking resemblance to a woman in a mysterious, seventeenth century painting.

A temperance lecturer misses his train and ends up attending a town picnic. It was a common enough picnic on a commonplace day. But the discussions, actions, and attitudes from that picnic reverberate through the lives of many people. What are the far-reaching consequences of one commonplace day in OUR lives?

An unnamed American painter resident in Rome serves as narrator in this story, watching as his god-daughter Martha, becomes the wife of Prince Marco Valerio. The young bride is eager to use some of her American fortune in the service of archeology at the Villa Valerio, her husband's somewhat run down Roman house. Archeology can be, her god-father suggests, a rather expensive hobby, but to his (and her) surprise, the dig brings to light a lovely marble statue of Juno. Martha is overjoyed, but it is soon clear that her husband is overcome by the discovery, and overcome in ways that are to be disquieting...

The flirtations of a rich young maiden, Miss Betsy Thoughtless with several suitors, as she alienates the right man by refusing to take the issue of marriage seriously. Because of this her guardian commits her to marriage to the wrong man, a situation over which she has little control. As the heroine describes her fate, this text exposes the institution of marriage, the powerlessness of women and the double standards held during that time.(Introduction by Joyce Martin)

The author is considered the first great Irish writer of realist fiction and is said to have been an inspiration for James Joyce. Celibates is a novel of three characters: Mildred Lawson, John Norton and Agnes Lahens.They have nothing in common other than an absolute love of themselves and an inability to sympathize with others. In that vein, it constitutes a striking image of our own modern day self-absorbed society. (Introduction by James Carson)

A very heart touching story about two homeless children, a brother and sister, living on the streets of Liverpool, England during Victorian times.

The mask is the one which we all wear, even though unconsciously, to hide our thoughts and feelings. Alison Terry wore one, though she had never realized it until she faced a crisis in her life. Alison, a girl of sympathetic mood and action whose keen intelligence is overbalanced by the inexperience of innocence and a sheltered upbringing, goes to New York with her erratic husband, Phil Howland. She passes through various stages of disillusionment inevitably resulting from cheap boarding-house life,...

Henry James wrote a number of ghost stories -- The Turn of the Screw being the most famous. Did he believe in ghosts himself, as did many of his contemporaries? It's generally possible to find earthly interpretations, Freudian and other, for his ghosts. Sir Edmund Orme, though, is unquestionably a real ghost -- except of course that James's unnamed narrator tells the story in the voice of yet a third man, and the narrator himself passes no judgments on the factual nature of what he is reporting (there's a resemblance here to The Turn of the Screw)...

Serialized in Shadowland from November 1921 to February 1922, Hollywood: Its Morals and Manners is Theodore Dreiser's shocking four part expose on the motion picture industry. In it, he shares his observations from his extended stay in Los Angeles, and gives us an intimate look at the seedier underside of Hollywood.

Northwest! takes place in western Canada, primarily western Alberta and British Columbia. The story revolves around Jimmy not being sure whether or not he shot and killed a Northwest Mounted while he and some friends were out hunting one day. Not exactly a bushman, he needs to head northwest to avoid capture by the officials who are out to find him and bring him to trial. At least that's what he suspects. Survival in the wilderness for one who was raised in British class proves to be a daunting experience, and we learn of the trials he is to be put through while he is on the lam.

A collection of short nonfiction works in the public domain. The selections included in this collection were independently chosen by the readers, and the topics encompass history, travel, mathematics, humor, philosophy, and nature.

Soporific dullness is in the ear of the listener, and what's tedium incarnate to one person will be another person's passion and delight. However, it is hoped that at least one from the range of topics here presented will lull the busy mind to a state of sweet sleep. (Introduction by Cori Samuel)

The four series follow Grace Harlowe and her friends through high school, college, abroad during World War I, and on adventures around America. In The High School Girls Series, Grace attends Oakdale High School with friends Anne Pierson, Nora O'Malley, and Jessica Bright. The four promote fair play and virtue while winning over troubled girls like Miriam Nesbit and Eleanor Savell, playing basketball, and founding sorority Phi Sigma Tau. The group becomes friends with boys in their acquaintance: David Nesbit, Tom Gray, Hippy Wingate, and Reddy Brooks, forming "The Eight Originals." (Introduction by Wikipedia)

If Winter Comes, was in many aspects ahead of its time, dealing with an unhappy marriage, eventual divorce, and an unwed mother who commits suicide. According to the New York Times, "If Winter Comes" was the best-selling book in the United States for all of 1922.

The Angels of Mons is a popular legend about a group of angels who supposedly protected members of the British army in the Battle of Mons at the outset of World War I. The story is fictitious, developed through a combination of a patriotic short story by Arthur Machen, rumours, mass hysteria and urban legend, claimed visions after the battle and also possibly deliberately seeded propaganda.

A collection of comedic short stories from the perspective of an old country man.

In "Tales of Folk and Fairies" Ms. Pyle tells 15 different children's stories from around the world; each more delightful than the last. Each story stands completely on it's own and although they were probably meant for children, adults will certainly enjoy them as well.

Parables From Nature is a collection of short stories which were originally published as 4 separate volumes. They are inspired from Nature and written for children. Nevertheless, Gatty uses children's literature because she knows that in doing so, she can reach a wider group of readers and point out problems from the Victorian Age.

The Broken Vase and Other Stories;for Children and Youth,Compiled by a Teacher

Iron bars do not confine a Man—only his body. There are more subtle, and more confining bindings, however....Police methods of the future will naturally use complex new technology but police will still need to deal with the same old sad human nature, that is forever doing horrible deeds. The night stick may be replaced by the hypo-gun but is prison the only solution? Listen to this speculative story from Randall Garrett bizarre mind and see.

More of the witty, wry, and deliciously wicked essays and articles written by Milne. Most people know him as the creator of Winnie The Pooh, but he worked for many years as editor of Punch Magazine and these are some of his best. Not That It Matters is a collection of over 40 of these short stories and articles. Not That It Matters collects his columns for Punch, which include poems, essays and short stories, from 1912 to 1920. Most of his writing pokes fun, both gentle and not so gentle at a variety of topics...

Being the Letters written by John Graham, Head of the House of Graham & Company, Pork-Packers in Chicago, familiarly known on 'Change as "Old Gorgon Graham," to his Son, Pierrepont, facetiously known to his intimates as "Piggy." George Horace Lorimer was an American journalist and author. He is best known as the editor of The Saturday Evening Post.

Aucassin and Nicolette is a medieval romance written in a combination of prose and verse called a “song-story.” Created probably in the early 13th century by an unknown French author, the work deals with the love between the son of a count and a Saracen slave girl who has been converted to Christianity and adopted by a viscount. Since Aucassin’s father is strongly opposed to their marriage, the two lovers must endure imprisonment, flight, separation in foreign lands, and many other ordeals before their ardent love and fierce determination finally bring them back together...

The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz was edited in 1616 in Strasbourg (annexed by France in 1681). It is the third of the original manifestos of the mysterious "Fraternity of the Rose Cross" (Rosicrucians). NOTE: It was translated into English for the first time in 1690 by E. Foxcroft. This translation became the source for many of the modern attempts to improve the original. The translation presented here is that of E. Foxcroft. Although the book first appeared in 1616, the story takes place over 150 years earlier...

If you have read any accounts of adventure in Africa, you will know that travelers never mention animals of any kind that are gifted with the faculty of speech, or gazelles that are overseers for native princes, or hares that eat flesh. No, indeed; only the native-born know of these; and, judging by the immense and rapid strides civilization is making in those parts, it will not be long before such wonderful specimens of zoölogy will be as extinct as the ichthyosaurus, dinornis, and other poor creatures who never dreamed of the awful names that would be applied to them when they were too long dead to show their resentment...

Christina is a story of two people: Christina, a strong young and poor woman, who searches for work and finds more than she bargained for, and Rupert, a middle class man, who is pressured to marry and settle down. These two people meet frequently and start to confide in each other. But can they really help one another put their wounds from the past to rest and start a new life? And will their new life include one another? Lucy Gertrude Moberly was an English popular novelist whose wonderful writing style deserves attention.

A group called the Scorpions, eight Oxford undergraduates, find a letter Kathleen wrote a letter to Joe at Oxford. They build up an image of Kathleen and Joe from the letter and set out to find and meet Kathleen. The competition between them leads to many entertainingly funny scenarios.

This is a collection of short stories and fairy tales by Frances Hodgson Burnett, the author of The Secret Garden and A Little Princess.

Yee-hawww! The Pony Rider Boys are on the trail again! In the second book of this series, Professor Zepplin has taken the young men to San Diego, Texas, to experience the life of a cowboy. The cattle drive will take them across the great state of Texas, where they will meet many dangers and adventures.

"In the course of time a very considerable public feeling was aroused in the United States and Canada over this state of affairs. The lack of reciprocity in it seemed unfair. It was felt (or at least I felt) that the time had come when some one ought to go over and take some impressions off England. The choice of such a person (my choice) fell upon myself. By an arrangement with the Geographical Society of America, acting in conjunction with the Royal Geographical Society of England (to both of whom I communicated my proposal), I went at my own expense."And from thence follow the impressions of Canadian political economist and humourist, Stephen Leacock, after a lecturing visit to England.

"Mäzli" may be pronounced the most natural and one of the most entertaining of Madame Spyri's creations. The atmosphere is created by an old Swiss castle and by the romantic associations of the noble family who lived there. Plot interest is supplied in abundance by the children of the Bergmann family with varying characters and interests. A more charming group of young people and a more wise and affectionate mother would be hard to find. Every figure is individual and true to life, with his or her special virtues and foibles, so that any grown person who picks up the volume will find it a world in miniature and will watch eagerly for the special characteristics of each child to reappear...

The Austrian nobility in Rome forms a very close circle, into which only those of high rank and wealth are admitted. They managed to get along with Cecil Sterzl, who, although not one of their own, is regarded as quite an amiable man. However, when he brings his younger sister Zinka into that circle, she is received very coldly at first, if at all. And when, with her fresh and unaffected manners, she wins one heart after another, especially that of the handsome Count Sempaly, she also excites jealousy and contempt in many members of that "set"...

M. E. Francis was born Mary E. Sweetman in Dublin and moved to Lancashire on her marriage to Francis Nicholas Blundell, of the Blundell family, who remain squires of Little Crosby, the last Catholic recusant village in England, which lies a few miles north of Liverpool. Blundell died young and Mary went on to write more than 50 books, using her husband's Christian name as pen name, including this collection of 12 stories set in Little Crosby (‘Thornleigh’). A romantic portrait of mid-19th century...

By Zorra, in the following sketches, is meant a little district in Oxford county, Ontario, some ten miles square, composed of part of East and part of West Zorra, and containing a population of about fourteen hundred. It was settled about the year 1830, chiefly by Highlanders from Sutherlandshire, Scotland.Within the last forty years there have gone from this district over one hundred young men who have made their mark in the world. With most of these it has been the writer's good fortune to be personally and intimately acquainted; and companionship with some of them has been to him a pleasure and a benefit...

Peter and Wendy tells the classic story of Peter Pan, a mischievous little boy who can fly, and his adventures on the island of Neverland with Wendy and her brothers, the fairy Tinker Bell, the Lost Boys, the Indian princess Tiger Lily, and the pirate Captain Hook. (Introduction modified from Wikipedia)

Harold Bindloss, while born in England, based most of his novels in western Canada, and The Protector is based primarily in and around Vancouver and Victoria.There is often danger involved in the mining and timber industries north of Vancouver, and there is also danger in the trust given to people who own and operate these mines and timber lands. And finding one's way in locating them can be equally as difficult as well. Wallace Vane and his trusted friend Carroll seemed to encounter these dangers in a seemingly endless journey both for business purposes and for adventure in their search for adequate timber land which they had inadvertently heard of...