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Romance Novels |
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By: Victor Hugo (1802-1885) | |
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Hernani
First performed in 1830, this was once described as a play on which the "romantic school centered its hopes". The Classicists at the time felt that this play was a threat to everything they deemed important in literature. Set in 16th century Spain, Hernani is a tale of romance and intrigue. Described in 1912 thusly: "The performance was permitted, so tradition says, in the expectation that the play would discredit the romantic school once and for all. The principal actress, Mlle. Mars, was outraged by Hugo’s imagery, and refused point blank to call Firmin [actor] her ‘lion, superb and generous... |
By: E. T. A. Hoffmann (1776-1822) | |
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Weird Tales, Volume 2
Paradoxically, it is variety that unites the tales you are about to read. They take place in widely separated countries and historical periods, and their outcomes—fortunate or tragic—cannot always be predicted with accuracy. The characters too speak with varied voices; even the narrative voice is not uniform, for the author often frames story within a story, using a character in one tale to narrate another. The reader will sometimes feel as though the author is extending an invitation to enter his workshop to observe him at his trade and admire his craftsmanship... |
By: Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821-1881) | |
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Landlady
Everything changed when Ordynov, a secluded young thinker, stepped out of his old lodgings in search of another corner. The ailing landlord watched from a distance, while the beautiful landlady came close... A tale of love, murder, and sorcery, The Landlady is one of a kind among Fyodor Dostoevsky's works. Written at the age of 26 before he was sent to Siberia, preceded only by The Double and Poor Folk, this novella draws inspiration from Russian folklore as well as stories by Pushkin and Gogol. It anticipates some of the writer's most important ideas to be developed in his later writings. | |
By: Ethel M. Dell (1881-1939) | |
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Hundredth Chance
In this prequel to "Charles Rex'' by Ethel M. Dell you will meet the aristocratic blackguard Lord Saltash for whom our distressed heroine Maude Brian still holds deep feelings. Dedicated to the care of her younger crippled brother whom she adores, Maude eventually agrees to a marriage of convenience in order to escape from a home which has become unbearable after her mother marries a brutish hotel owner. Jake, an honest, strong and silent type, agrees to the marriage because he is secretly in love with her but refrains from showing it which leads to many regrettable misunderstandings... |
By: Gene Stratton-Porter (1863-1924) | |
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Keeper of the Bees
Threatened with isolation in a sanitorium for tuberculosis, a young soldier escapes and finds himself healing in a paradisal bee-garden by the ocean, tending bees which he knows nothing about, and other unlikely charges who in their circuitous ways, challenge him to discover love. |
By: Warwick Deeping (1877-1950) | |
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Uther and Igraine
This beautifully written book imagines the lives of Igraine and Uther Pendragon before the legend of Arthur began. |
By: Evelyn Everett-Green (1856-1932) | |
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Monica - Complete
Monica was happy at Trevlyn, with her father and step-brother. But what would happen to them when the estate passed to a distant cousin, entailed as it was to the male line? Could she bear to see her invalid brother torn from his home? Should she marry this distant cousin, and thus ensure her and her brother the right to remain at Trevyln? Could she love him? And what about his dislike of her old childhood friend? Was there more to the situation than she knew? |
By: Elisabeth Sanxay Holding (1889-1955) | |
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Angelica
Angelica's dearest wish is to better herself. Not to be a factory worker, struggling every day to survive, but to be a lady. Refined, respected, and rich. She jumps at the chance to be a companion to a lady, hoping that she can learn how the other class lives, and how to be like them. Young and naive, her dream seems within her grasp - but can she hold on to it? |
By: George Payne Rainsford James (1799-1860) | |
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Agincourt: A Romance
The Battle of Agincourt provided a surprise English victory in the Hundred Years' War. It took place in 1415 and brought a turning point in the war between France and England after failed negotiations. This romance by James begins in the lead-up to the battle, with the mysterious "Hal of Hadnock" shown hospitality by Sir Philip Beauchamp while on an unknown journey. He is befriended by young Richard of Woodville, who has suspicions regarding Hal. Gradually, we learn more of Hal and Richard as we follow their fortunes and the twists and turns surrounding Richard’s love for Mary. |
By: Alice Duer Miller (1874-1942) | |
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Priceless Pearl
Pearl Leavitt is habitually fired from her New York City office jobs for being "too beautiful" and thereby causing all the men to fall in love with her. Fed up, she decides to take a job in the Hamptons as a governess for three over-indulged children. - Summary by Nancy Halper |
By: Victor Hugo (1802-1885) | |
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Toilers of the Sea (Version 2)
The book is dedicated to the island of Guernsey, where Victor Hugo spent 15 years in exile. Hugo uses the setting of a small island community to convert seemingly mundane events into drama of the highest caliber. Set just after the Napoleonic Wars, Toilers of the Sea deals with the impact of the Industrial Revolution upon the island. The story concerns a Guernseyman named Gilliatt, a social outcast who falls in love with Deruchette, the niece of a local shipowner, Mess Lethierry. When Lethierry's ship is wrecked on a perilous reef, Deruchette promises to marry whoever can salvage the ship's steam engine... |
By: J. M. Barrie (1860-1937) | |
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Mary Rose
A ghost story and a haunting story of ageless love. Identified by The Guardian as number 10 on its list of the "Forgotten Plays" that it hoped would be revived. Supposedly looked at by Hitchcock as potential movie material. - Summary by ToddHW Cast list: Mrs. Otery: mleigh Harry: Greg Giordano Mr. Amy : Michael Jarvis Mr. Amy : redrun Mr. Moreland: ToddHW Mrs. Moreland: Sonia Mary Rose: Jenn Broda Simon: Tomas Peter Cameron: Alan Mapstone Stage Directions: MichaelMaggs Editing: ToddHW |
By: John Maddison Morton (1811-1891) | |
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All That Glitters Is Not Gold
Fresh from the success of his phenomenally popular farce, “Box and Cox,” playwright James Madison Morton and his brother, Thomas, adapted a French script into this light-hearted romantic Victorian-era melodrama. Wealthy cotton factory owner Jasper Plum has two sons, Stephen and Frederick. One has fallen in love with honest factory worker, Martha Gibbs. The other has lost his heart to beautiful Lady Valeria. Dashing Sir Arthur Lassell also has an admiring eye on both of these young ladies. Father Jasper wants his sons to make the best match possible and not be taken in by a gold-digger who is just after the millions they will inherit... |
By: Edna Ferber (1885-1968) | |
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Show Boat
Published in 1926, Show Boat tells of three generations of the Hawks-Ravenal family and the Cotton Blossom Floating Palace Theatre on the Mississippi and other rivers, from the Reconstruction Era of the 1880s, to the Gilded Age and Roaring Twenties. The story was made into a Broadway musical in 1927 and into films in 1929.NOTE: There are issues of race in the story, particularly anti-Black stereotypes and derogatory terms. It is policy to record texts as written. - Summary by TriciaG |
By: Bram Stoker (1847-1912) | |
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Chain of Destiny
Frank Stanford, strapping young man, heads out to the countryside to visit his old friends Mr. and Mrs. Trevor as the Scarp estate. What begins as a warm visit with his ersatz parental figures turns into something both ominous and wonderful with the announcement by Mrs. Trevor that they are to be visited by a young Miss Fothering who Mrs. Trevor feels Frank will fall in love with almost immediately. Frank takes it all in stride until he has a terrible nightmare that evening of dreadful things to come upon Miss Fothering's arrival. Will there be a 'happily ever after' for the pair of lovebirds or will an ancient family curse finally come to bare? |
By: Charles Garvice (1850-1920) | |
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Mistress of Court Regna
On the death of Lord Wharton, beautiful young Claire is shocked to find herself the heiress to Court Regna along with the title, the vast fortune and lands that it entails. She meets a poor, handsome architect, and as their love blooms, she misinterprets a chance meeting, which leads her to doubt and refuse him. He immediately leaves Regna not realizing that in doing so, he is suspected of running away with a local village girl who disappeared the same night.. A reversal of fortune, lies, treachery, murder and long hidden secrets abound as we follow the separate adventures of Claire and Gerald and those who become entangled in their lives lives along the way... |
By: Morley Roberts (1857-1942) | |
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Adventure of the Broad Arrow: An Australian Romance
When a few men decide to go for looking for gold in the outback of Australia, days of extreme heat with no water and no rain in sight, make them turn back and give up the trip; all but two of them that is, Smith and Mandeville, aka the "Baker. Smith and Baker decide to tough it out and go after their dreams, chancing their lives to find "their luck". Little do they realize, they will put their lives in grave danger, and this quest for gold will turn into a nightmare. Life threatening food and water deprivation is a constant issue, and they had no idea they would stumble upon an unknown tribe of prehistoric white men that are head hunters and cannibals... |