I will begin the story of my adventures with a certain morning early in the month of June, the year of grace 1751, when I took the key for the last time out of the door of my father's house". So begins one of the greatest tales in literature, an account of David Balfour's trials and tribulations as he falls foul of his miserly uncle who has him abducted on board ship in order to steal his inheritance. After rescuing Alan Breck on the high seas they are shipwrecked, witness a murder and are themselves suspected, effect a hazardous escape and exact revenge on the wicked Ebenezer thereby regaining David's rightful legacy. "In one of my books and in one only, the characters took the bit in their teeth….they turned their backs on me and walked off bodily; and from that time my task was stenographic - it was they who spoke, it was they who wrote the remainder of the story" - R.L. Stevenson
‘The Woman Who Did’ written in 1893, wholly and solely to satisfy the author’s conscience was perhaps the most controversial book of the late 19th Century. Certainly, it was a success de scandale and a commercial triumph. The heroine, Herminia Barton, chooses to live unmarried with her lover. When he dies, she endures many a trial for her beliefs – particularly after the ‘stigma’ of bearing his child – being cast out from both families.Unfortunately the Women’s Movement, whose views the book purported to represent, rejected it as unhelpful to their cause but the author was quite sure of his own intentions and the strength of his heroine’s convictions."But surely no woman would ever dare to do so" said my friend, "I knew a woman who did" said I, "and this is her story".
A romantic adventure yarn of plotting and corruption largely set against the panorama of Imperialist Russia but with some of the skulduggery taking place in the major capitals of Europe.
An old Etonian and half Russian, Prince Paul Alexis, inherits the Osterno estate in the Steppes. Naive and honest, but helped by experienced campaigner Steinmetz, he forms a progressive but illegal Charity League to succour the needs of the starving uneducated peasantry who are ravaged by cholera. When the League is betrayed there are severe consequences for the neighbouring nobility and Paul himself only just escapes a violent death at the hands of his own serfs. Who has betrayed them? Is it Claude de Chauxfille Paul's erstwhile rival in love or is the beautiful Etta, his wife, keeping more secrets than he or Steinmetz can guess?
With intrigue and deception at every turn 'The Sowers' was Merriman's biggest bestseller eventually reprinted thirty times.
No wonder ‘The Sowers’ was a Victorian bestseller. Set mainly in the Siberia of Imperial Russia, it has love, corruption, betrayal, jealousy, heroic charity, uprisings –and hair-raising sleigh journeys. Prince Paul Alex has inherited the family estate and, fired by compassion for peasants ravaged by starvation and cholera, he forms an illegal charity league and, incognito, he relieves their sufferings .But someone has betrayed the league and death threatens. Peter Joyce’s excellent narration conveys the tension without melodrama. I was hooked for all twelve hours.Further review of ‘The Sowers’ Observer. TOP FIVE AUDIOBOOKS 2007 A gripping Victorian bestseller that still captivates
When rich recluse Austin Ruthyn dies from a heart attack, Maud, his daughter is made a ward to the sinister Uncle Silas. Silas is already suspected of the grisly murder of a creditor several years earlier but has never been tried for the crime. Should Maud die before she reaches her majority, Silas will inherit the family fortune.
Rejecting an offer of marriage from the distasteful Dudley, Silas' son, Maud finds out later that he is already married. Then father and son pretend to send her to school in France but she awakes to find herself prisoner and the two frightful villains, aided by the disgraced Madame de Rougierre, once Maud's governess, plan to murder the heroine in an horrific manner.
A chilling tale brimming with suspense.
Cowpunchers, Indians and horses are the heroes and villains of these tales from the early days of Montana and Wyoming with bear and buffalo also making an appearance. The author’s philosophy on such varying topics as marriage, whisky and just staying alive will be of interest to all, cowboy fan or not. Charles M Russell moved to Montana at the age of 15 and lived there for the rest of his life. “In the spring I wrangled horses, in the fall I herded beef. I worked for the big outfits and always held my job”. The author’s reminiscences are authentic and recreate the humour and excitement at the passing of the Old West.
Against a backdrop of delicate imagery, Willa Cather explores the tough inner terrain of a man in mid-life crisis. Bartley Alexander is a master bridge engineer at the height of his power, comfortable with success and all it brings. Yet he yearns for the lost vibrancy of his youth and so leads a double life, veering between his beautiful, accomplished wife and his mistress, an actress he knew as a student in Paris.
Charles Dickens helped define the holiday that we now celebrate by immortalizing it as a time of warmth and sharing with an emphasis on family and friends. He wrote these stories in the 1850s for Christmas issues of Household Words, the weekly magazine he founded and edited. Included are fictional sketches verging on the autobiographical. They reaffirm the virtue of nurturing our traditions and offer a master storyteller's vision of the real meaning of Christmas.
Frederick Winterbourne, an American expatriate visiting at Vevey, Switzerland, meets commonplace, newly rich Mrs. Miller from Schenectady, New York, her mischievous small son and her daughter, Daisy, an "inscrutable combination of audacity and innocence." The Millers have no perception of the complex code that underlies behavior in European society, and Winterbourne is astonished at the girl's innocent naiveté and her mother's unconcern, both of which lead to trouble for Daisy.
Set in Malaya, Almayer's Folly is Joseph Conrad's first novel. In it he charts the decline of a Dutch merchant after a twenty-five-year struggle against overwhelming odds. Unhappily married to a bitter and hateful Malayan wife, Almayer refuses to accept the financial ruin which he has precipitated. Instead, he dreams of fantastic wealth and a return to the civilization of his youth, accompanied by his loving daughter, Nina. Almayer's Folly was published in 1895, and it became the first in a long series of novels and stories including Heart of Darkness, Lord Jim, The Secret Agent, Nostromo, Victory, and Under Western Eyes, which have distinguished Conrad in the top rank of English stylists. The romance and adventure of Conrad's own life form the basis for his incomparable novels of the sea and the magical Eastern islands.
"The human heart as recorded in Mr. Conrad's pages is the human heart of an immense number of men in all ages and in all climes." -Ford Madox Ford
Agnes Grey is Anne Brontë's first novel, centering around a rector's daughter working as a governess. Drawing directly from her own experiences, Anne Brontë set out to describe the immense pressures that the governess's life entailed-frustration, isolation, and the insensitive and cruel treatment suffered at the hands of employers and their families.
[May] makes the young protagonist come to life in her nuanced first-person reading; her crisp and educated voice conveying the narrator's energy and persistent optimism, while renderings of Agnes' masters, mistresses, and young charges show them for the uncouth bullies that they actually are, despite their superior airs and flaunted gentility.- Kliatt
In this important American author's first novel, Nan struggles to choose between marriage and a career as a professional doctor. It is also a luminous portrayal of rural Maine with perfect details of seaside wharves, wildflowers, farm women, and sailors.
"Brimming with period realism and thematic depth...."-Ingram
This book's eight tales of danger and adventure feature David Grief, who came to the South Pacific at the age of twenty and two decades later owned a vast trading empire. He played the South Sea game not for the gold but for the daring life of the island rover.
"They don't write 'em like this anymore...[London's] considerable storytelling skills engage listeners who might not otherwise be drawn to this subject. Brian Emerson contributes a well-paced reading and an authentic range of voices. His David Grief is just right: self-assured and always in control."-AudioFile
