
The Old Stone House
Constance Fenimore Woolson
Publisher: Project Gutenberg
Summary
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Publisher: Project Gutenberg
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A former British Army major voyages to West Africa to discover a lost city of gold in this adventure novel by the author of King Solomon’s Mines.Since a bout of blackwater fever robbed Maj. Alan Vernon of his military post, he has cast about for a new vocation. A business scheme in the Sahara seems like the perfect fit for his engineering skills, until revelations about his partners give him pause. To save his family estate, Vernon decides to undertake his African venture on his own.Years ago, Vernon’s uncle brought a small golden idol back from Western Africa. The idol itself is worth little, but its strange powers will lead Vernon on a perilous journey to a world of riches. And there he will meet a beautiful but fearsome tribal ruler who is determined to make him her next husband.Show book
The timeless adventure featuring explorer Allan Quatermain, the inspiration for Indiana Jones, from one of the first authors of the “Lost World” genre. The Ivory Child is a novel by H. Rider Haggard featuring Allan Quatermain—explorer, treasure hunter, and adventurer. In one of his strangest undertakings yet, Quatermain finds himself in the throes of a war between two African tribes, one of them led by an evil spirit that resides in the body of a gigantic elephant. Two foreigners, Harût and Marût, call upon Quatermain by the name he uses among the Africans: Macumazana. They are convinced by divination that only Quatermain can defeat the elephant god and save Africa from an epic battle destined to plunge the continent into chaos . . .Show book
Gentleman adventurer Allan Quartermain discovers a strange African village in this 1926 novel by the author of King Solomon’s Mines.An Englishman living in South Africa, Allan Quartermain has spent his life exploring the mysteries of the Dark Continent. When he hears the legend of a lost tribe ruled by a magical priestess, he goes in search of a remote holy lake surrounded by tall cliffs. Together with his companion Hans, Allan discovers a land and a people even more peculiar than the legend describes. Published posthumously in 1926, The Treasure of the Lake is one of the last Allan Quartermain novels written by H. Rider Haggard. Set in the Victorian era, it is a quintessential tale of colonial adventure.Show book
One of Faulkner’s most controversial novels! A lesser-known but compelling novel from the author of Absalom, Absalom! and The Sound and the Fury. Have you ever wondered what speaks to the tortured soul of an artist? What would it be like to be stuck on a yacht with only the musings of the world and a group of artists as your company? In the heat of the late Louisiana summer, Faulkner brings us a story of artistry that examines the thoughts and actions of Southern bohemians who have nothing to interrupt them but the hum and fire of the mosquitoes that surround them. “Faulkner’s message is clear: We are the mosquitoes, and the mosquitoes are us.”—Rein Fartel, “Twentieth Century Millennial: Revisiting Faulkner’s Mosquitoes.” With a foreword by Carl Rollyson, a renowned biographer of Faulkner and other eminent authors, this fine new edition works to highlight the “Louisiana Faulkner,” the Faulkner before fame, and his thoughts on the lives of Southern artists.Show book
In this swashbuckling tale of medieval adventure, an English fisherman lost at sea finds romance, intrigue, and war among the peoples of Peru.While exploring the jumble of curiosities at the home of an eccentric antiquarian, an editor discovers a collection of letters dating back to the era of King Richard II. These letters recount the incredible life story of one Hubert of Hastings, a fisherman turned London goldsmith whose turbulent fortunes brought him to a strange new land that would become his home. Shortly after a whirlwind wedding, Hubert finds himself both widowed and framed for murder. Together with his old friend Kari, he escapes by ship, only to be storm-tossed across the Atlantic. Undertaking a voyage to Kari’s homeland along the Pacific coast, they hope to finally find peace. Instead they find a brewing war between the Chancas and the Incas, and Hubert finds an unattainable love that could change the course of history.Show book
The Mysterious Affair at Styles is a detective novel by British writer Agatha Christie. It was written in the middle of the First World War, in 1916, and in the United States in 1920 and in the United Kingdom in 1921. Styles was Christie's first published novel. It introduced Hercule Poirot, Inspector (later, Chief Inspector) Japp, and Arthur Hastings. Poirot, a Belgian refugee of the Great War, is settling in England near the home of Emily Inglethorp, who helped him to his new life. His friend Hastings arrives as a guest at her home. When the woman is killed, Poirot uses his detective skills to solve the mystery. The book includes maps of the house, the murder scene, and a drawing of a fragment of a will. The true first publication of the novel was as a weekly serial in The Times, including the maps of the house and other illustrations included in the book. This novel was one of the first ten books published by Penguin Books when it began in 1935. This first mystery novel by Agatha Christie was well received by reviewers. An analysis in 1990 was positive about the plot, considered the novel one of the few by Christie that is well-anchored in time and place, a story that knows it describes the end of an era, and mentions that the plot is clever. Christie had not mastered cleverness in her first novel, as "too many clues tend to cancel each other out"; this was judged a difficulty "which Conan Doyle never satisfactorily overcame, but which Christie would." One morning at Styles Court, an Essex country manor, its household wake to the discovery that the owner, elderly Emily Inglethorp, has died. She had been poisoned with strychnine. Arthur Hastings, a soldier from the Western Front staying there as a guest on his sick leave, ventures out to the nearby village of Styles St. Mary, to enlist help from his friend staying there - Hercule Poirot. Poirot learns that Emily was a woman of wealth - upon the death of her previous husband, Mr. Cavendish, she inherited from him both the manor and a large portion of his income. Her household includes: her husband Alfred Inglethorp, a younger man she recently married; her stepsons (from her first husband's previous marriage) John and Lawrence Cavendish; John's wife Mary Cavendish; Cynthia Murdoch, the daughter of a deceased friend of the family; and Evelyn Howard, Emily's companion. Poirot learns that per Emily's will, John is the vested remainderman of the manor - he inherits the property from her, per his father's will. However, the money she inherited would be distributed according to her own will, which she changed at least once per year; her most recent will favours Alfred, who will inherit her fortune. On the day of the murder, Emily had been arguing with someone, suspected to be either Alfred or John. She had been quite distressed after this, and apparently made a new will - no one can find any evidence that it exists. Alfred left the manor early that evening, and stayed overnight in the village. Meanwhile, Emily ate little at dinner and retired early to her room, taking her document case with her; when her body was found, the case had been forced open and a document removed. Nobody can explain how or when the poison was administered to her.Show book