Generally considered as the first detective novel in the English language, «The Moonstone» is the story of a young woman named Rachel Verinder who inherits a large Indian diamond, the Moonstone, on her eighteenth birthday. At her eighteenth birthday party, Rachel wears the Moonstone for all to see, later that night the diamond is stolen and quickly an investigation ensues to discover the identity of the thief and recover the jewel. A genre defin ...
The final and unfinished novel of Charles Dickens, «The Mystery of Edwin Drood» begins a tale that revolves around John Jasper, choirmaster and opium addict, who is the guardian of his orphaned nephew Edwin Drood. Before the death of his parents, Edwin was promised to marry Rosa Bud, but their affections have cooled upon reaching adulthood. This angers Neville Landless, twin brother of Helena and from Ceylon, who quickly develops feelings for Ro ...
One of Knut Hamsun's most famous works, «Pan» is the story of Lieutenant Thomas Glahn, an ex-military man who lives alone in the woods with his faithful dog Aesop. Glahn's life changes when he meets Edvarda, a merchant's daughter, whom he quickly falls in love with. She, however, is not entirely faithful to him, which affects him profoundly. «Pan» is a fascinating study in the psychological impact of unrequited love and helped to ...
The following text has been drawn from Sir Richard Burton's exhaustive translation of «The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night», more commonly known as «The Arabian Nights». The story of «Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves» is one of the more popular of those found in «The Arabian Nights» collection. It tells the story of Ali Baba who while chopping wood in the forest discovers the secret hiding place for the treasure of a band of forty thi ...
Wilkie Collins (1824-1889) is best known as the innovator of the English detective novel, whose sensational novels, plays, and short stories were hugely popular in the Victorian Era. Today, readers enjoy Collins' intricate and suspenseful plots, and his penetrating social commentary on the plight of women and domestic issues of the time. Unfortunately Collins suffered from rheumatic gout, for which he took the opiate laudanum, and which eve ...
Susanna Rowson, a British American novelist, poet, playwright, actress, and educator, was responsible for writing the first American best-selling novel. In 1791, Rowson published «Charlotte Temple», which held the rank of best-selling novel of all time until Harriet Beecher Stowe's «Uncle Tom's Cabin» (1852). During her lifetime, she dabbled in many genres, composing novels, poetry, plays, musical farce, a dictionary, and even an opera ...
Agatha Christie's second novel, «The Secret Adversary», is the story of the out of work couple Tommy Beresford and Tuppence Cowley who form the partnership «The Young Adventures, Ltd.» The two quickly become involved with a mysterious individual by the name of Mr. Whittington and then later because of this involvement, the British intelligence agency. Quickly a mystery is underway. A classic of detective fiction, «The Secret Adversary» will ...
Charles Dickens «The Pickwick Papers» appeared originally in serial form between March 1836 and October 1837. It is a series of loosely related comical adventures of a cast of exaggerated personalities, the principal of which is Mr. Samuel Pickwick, a wealthy old gentleman and the founder of the Pickwick Club. With the introduction of Mr. Pickwick's valet, Sam Weller, in chapter ten, «The Pickwick Papers» gained immense popularity and becam ...
Set in the fictitious mining town of Sulaco, a port city in the imaginary country of Costaguana, «Nostromo» is widely considered as one of Joseph Conrad's best works. It is the story of Senor Gould, an English expatriate who owns the silver-mining concession in the country. When the country becomes engulfed in increasing political turmoil, Senor Gould charges Nostromo, his trusted head longshoreman, with the duty of hiding his silver so tha ...
