A young man came to Lloyds of London. He knew they took out policies on unusual risks... And what he wanted was love insurance. What follows is a comic novel, by the creator of the Chinese detective - Charlie Chan!

A young man, finding himself unexpectedly impecunious, attempts to improve his fortunes by wagering that he can speak nothing but the absolute truth for three weeks. He soon learns, however, that telling only the unvarnished truth can have surprising consequences. This 1914 novel of love, mystery, and misunderstandings, with amusing characters and plot twists, was adapted as a Broadway play in 1916, followed by six motion pictures: in 1920 and 1929; in 1931 separately in Spanish, French and German; and in 1941 starring Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard. Frederic S. Isham was a writer of short stories, novels and plays. (Lee Smalley)

Grandma Knight's Tales* includes stories that provide entertainment and, hopefully, some moral learning to small listeners. A special dedication goes out to the narrators own grandchildren, by whom this book was inspired. "Merry Christmas to my Bucket, Stuff, Jo-Jo, Buster Brown Eyes, and little Curly...grandma loves you! And a very Merry Christmas to children all over the world! Enjoy!" (Deborah Knight, December 2013) Created to inspire an early love for reading, writing, and literary works it includes the following stories...

Baring-Gould's humorous observations on the various Christian sects to be found in "the most learned church in the most religious country in the world" (i.e., London in 1870) contains a challenge to Christians of today to focus on the substance of faith rather than the forms of public worship.

Maude is a novella by Christina Rossetti, written in 1850 but published posthumously in 1897. Considered by scholars to be semi-autobiographical, the protagonist is 15-year-old Maude Foster, a quiet and serious girl who writes poetry that explores the tensions between religious devotion and worldly desires. The text includes several of Rossetti's early verses, which were later published as part of her collections of poetry.

A puppy, unanounced and unordered, arrives in a crate at Mr. Murchison's house. Humorous events follow.

Science fiction is a genre encompassing imaginative works that take place in this world or that of the author’s creation where anything is possible. The only rules are those set forth by the author. The speculative nature of the genre inspires thought, and plants seeds that have led to advances in science. The genre can spark an interest in the science and is cited as the impetus for the career choice of many scientists. It is a playing field to explore social perspectives, predictions of the future, and engage in adventures unbound into the richness of the human mind.

Nicholas Nickleby was Dickens's third novel following on from Pickwick Papers and Oliver twist. It has a cast of wonderful characters that include Wackford Squeers, the reprehensible and villainous headmaster whose reign of terror at his school in Yorkshire resulted in the abuse and deaths of many of his unwanted and orphaned children, Mr Vincent Crummles and his hilariously inept touring company, the munificent Cheeryble brothers, Ralph Nickleby, Nicholas's uncle, a mean spirited man who is driven...

Love Among the Artists was published in the United States in 1900 and in England in 1914, but it was written in 1881. In the ambience of chit-chat and frivolity among members of Victorian polite society a youthful Shaw describes his views on the arts, romantic love and the practicalities of matrimony. Dilettantes, he thinks, can love and settle down to marriage, but artists with real genius are too consumed by their work to fit that pattern. The dominant figure in the novel is Owen Jack, a musical genius, somewhat mad and quite bereft of social graces...

Household Puzzles peeks into the life of the Randolph family, four daughters and one son. They are financially strapped but must follow societal expectations . . . and the expectations of Helen, the eldest daughter, who is a slave to the whims of society. Half the family are professing Christians, but only the father really lives it out. Helen's marriage, Tom's job in a saloon, their cousin's visit, and other events all have an impact that reverberate through the family. (Intro by TriciaG)

A set of often funny, sometimes tragic stories by Israel Zangwill. Most famous for his scathingly accurate portrayals of the Jewish ghetto, these stories have a wider stage, poking fun at social conventions and society itself, both high and low. The real and the fantastic collide to produce a world uniquely Zangwill's.These are the tales of figures as diverse as a pantomime dragon, an excellent butler, a man living his life in the wrong order and a Jewish maiden who knows exactly what she is worth...

Most of us have passed through a period of life during which we have ardently longed to be, if not actually a rover, a buccaneer, or a pirate, at least and really a sailor! To run away to sea has been the misdirected ambition of many a youngster, and some lads there are who have realized their desire to their sorrow. The boy who has not cherished in his heart and exhibited in his actions at sometime or other during his youthful days, a love of ships and salt water, is fit for—well, he is fit for the shore, and that is the worst thing a sailor could say about him! (From the introduction, by Cyrus Townsend Brady)

collection of children's fairytales including the tale of how the griffin lost one eye and Can't Shan't and Don't Care came to be giants.

This is a sea-faring novel set in 1837. A wealthy former seaman from London and his daughter, who is engaged to be married, set sail on his newly restored schooner, headed for the equator for the purpose of restoring his health. Also aboard are a captain and crew. Soon, distractions, diversions, discontent and much more occur. William Clark Russell (1844–1911) was an English writer best known for his nautical novels. ~ Lee Smalley

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. When first published, this book was intended for an adult audience. The crime and vice involved would have had a terrible effect on the Young Mind of the Victorian Era. However, it’s less likely to cause offence or concern now, though I don’t recommend it for younger children.

Bertram Greene, brilliant student, aesthete, intellectual and shy, decides to make his military father proud of him at last and joins the colonial Indian Army Reserve as a second Lieutenant at the start of Great War. Feeling a complete fish out of water, he is dispatched to India without any training whatsoever, and is expected to take charge of a company of native soldiers. He is then posted to East Africa to join the British fighting force there, and finds out what real soldiering means. This amusing, and at times harrowing tale gives a comprehensive description of the life and conditions of a soldier in the tropics, obviously written by someone who has experienced them...

The scene is Rome, 935 A.D. Thirty-year-old Tristan, dressed as a pilgrim, overhears a conversation between Basil, the Grand Chamberlain, and Il Gobbo, his assistant. After the two have left, Tristan continues to observe the revelry on the Eve of St. John. Suddenly a chariot containing a beautiful woman stops before him. They exchange words. He kisses her hand. Then she moves on, leaving him to ponder her beauty as he returns to the inn where he is staying. That night he has an enchanting and haunting dream of him together with another woman...

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. Volume II of the trilogy continues the account of Clara’s adventures, romances, and encounters with many eccentric characters, when, years later, she devotes herself to unraveling the mystery. As Clara explains in an early chapter: “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.

A weary survivor of the Great War, Major Rane Smith wanders in a great ennui amidst the mystical beauties of the fjords of Norway after the War, seeking a spiritual renewal. Deep in the forest he stumbles fatefully upon the strange, almost elvish home of Karl Ingman, an iconoclastic old Ibsen scholar. There Major Smith meets Ingman's two beautiful young daughters and his eldritch wife Rosa, entering into long days of profound dialogue with each member of the family. A rare and exquisite gem of...

Sevastopol Sketches (Russian: Севастопольские рассказы, Sevastopolskiye rasskazy) are three short stories written by Leo Tolstoy and published in 1855 to record his experiences during the Siege of Sevastopol (1854–1855) in the Crimean War (1853-1856). The name originates from Sevastopol, a city in Crimea. The book has also been released under the anglicized title The Sebastopol Sketches and is sometimes titled Sevastopol Stories. These brief "sketches" formed the basis of many of the episodes in Tolstoy's magnum opus, War and Peace...

Another remarkable World War I novel by Romer Wilson, "If All These Young Men" is a character study of a group of young 20-something friends in England dealing with the looming, grey presence of the War in their lives. The story begins on Good Friday 1918, and centers on Josephine Miller, a restless, strong-minded young woman who cannot tolerate trivialities or frivolities so long as the War goes on, and who agonizes over how to go on living in its shadow. The characters of Josephine and her friends...

Come and hear some of the wonderful, magical, fantastic and macabre works of the inestimable Edgar Allan Poe. This collection contains the world famous poems Annabel Lee, The Bells, Eldorado and The Raven. Also included is his masterful short story, the horror classic The Tell-Tale Heart. Poe's vocabulary and ability to rhyme and 'turn a phrase' have made him one of the most celebrated and well regarded writers of all time!

Romer Wilson's first novel is a study in the life of Genius, a theme that would preoccupy her throughout her life. The eponymous Martin Schüler is a young German composer of genius in the years leading up to the Great War. His great passion is to create one magnificent work that will live forever. With his passions so consumed in his art, he makes sacrifices in his human relationships, going through a series of wrenching, unequal love affairs. The novel is of interest not only for Schüler's lifelong struggle to reconcile his fleshly desires with his lust for fame, but also for the Continental setting as Europe falls toward catastrophe.

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)...