The Black Mate

Joseph Conrad

Since this is not a very famous story, and most of the pleasure that it provides depends on the surprise that the highlight in the story will present to the reader. Winston Bunter, who registered as First Mate on Sapphire, a ship bound for Calcutta. His commander, Captain Jones, is described as an extremely unpleasant person, incredulous and capricious, who believes that sailors over forty are no longer suitable, and he always talks about ghosts and ways to contact them. Despite all this strange humor that lives within the framework of this story, you can, of course, feel that the narrator is very skeptical of Johns opinion that senior sailors are no longer suitable, as he makes a sharp remark that gray-haired tars are desperate in search of a berth in the English ports.

The Black Monk and Other Stories

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

This is a story about psychological and spiritual health, about true happiness, about loneliness and about genius. The main character finds complete spiritual harmony and happiness only in a state of mental illness, when he sees hallucinations in the form of a mysterious Black Monk, with whom you can talk for hours about the eternal, true, truly valuable. This is definitely one of the best works of Anton Pavlovich on the topic of madness and, at the same time, quite a calm, emotional and touching story about the life of one simple genius.

The Black Opal. A Romance of Thrilling Adventure

Fenton Ash

The Black Opal: A Romance of Thrilling Adventure was written by Fenton Ash and was first published in 1906. It is a lost race adventure novel set in a medieval kingdom in the Sargasso Sea. Fenton Ash is the first and main pseudonym of UK civil engineer and author Francis Henry Atkins (1847-1927) who was a writer of pulp fiction, in particular science fiction aimed at younger readers. He was involved in a scandal at the turn of the century and sentenced to nine months imprisonment for obtaining money by deception. After leaving prison he dropped the name Frank Aubrey and in his early 60s, following a three-year hiatus began writing as Fenton Ash.

The Black Rider

George Owen Baxter

The Black Rider, originally published in 1925, is set in Spanish California at the time when the eastern colonies of this country were still ruled by Great Britain. In the novella The Black Rider," a Navajo named Taki is fluent in four languages, a skilled knife-thrower, a consummate horseman, and can outwit any opponent. It is a tale of intrigue and revenge, where a mysterious Navajo becomes more than just a nemesis to a brutal landowner and his simpering son. But a woman named Lucia dArquista will test him to his limits. An arranged marriage, a murder, an arrogant duelist and several false identities combine to provide muscular action and some delightful surprises.

The Black Robe

Wilkie Collins

The novel The Black Robe tells the story of a young rich heir who has fallen into the net of the Catholic Church. Only the devotion of his wife and love for his son allowed Luis Romain to throw off his heavy fetters and make the right decision.

The Black Stranger

Robert E. Howard

The Black Stranger"is one of the stories byRobert E. HowardaboutConan the Cimmerian. It was written in the 1930s but not published in his lifetime. When the original Conan version of the story failed to find a publisher, Howard rewrote The Black Stranger into a piraticalTerence Vulmeastory entitled Swords of the Red Brotherhood.

The Black Tulip

Alexandre Dumas

Set at the height of the tulipomania that gripped Holland in 17th century, this is the story of Cornelius van Baerle, a humble grower whose sole desire is to grow the perfect specimen of the tulip negra. After his powerful godfather is assassinated, the unwitting Cornelius becomes caught up in deadly political intrigue and is falsely accused of high treason by a bitter rival. Condemned to life imprisonment, his only comfort is Rosa, the jailers beautiful daughter, and together they concoct a plan to grow the black tulip in secret. Also we meet the scheming and wicked Isaac Boxtel, who labors to acquire the elusive black tulip for himself, stooping even to falsely imprison the naive Cornelius. The Black Tulip, by Alexandre Dumas, is a work of historical fiction that mixes actual events in the Netherlands in the 17th century with fictional characters and events. A masterful retelling of one of the most infamous incidents in Dutch history, it is not to be missed by fans of historical fiction.

The Blanket of the Dark

John Buchan

Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown is a time-tested adage that suits Peter Pentecost, a young monk and legitimate claimant to Englands Throne. But he is not alone as others are vying for power too. Soon a plot is hatched against the present King Henry VIII and Peter is sucked into the intrigue... Buchans description of the ruthless king is compelling. His knowledge of the time of Henrys reign and his love of the Oxfordshire countryside are apparent. This historical novel set in the time of Henry VIII vividly depicting both high life and low in the society of that time. A grand, sweeping historical drama. Set in Mediaeval England during a tense time as a the country waits for the new king to be crowned. A enthralling, richly detailed story of intrigue and passion.

The Blind Goddess

Arthur Ch. Train

1926. Arthur Cheney Train (1875-1945) was the former assistant district attorney in New York City. His interactions with clients, together with his experiences in the courtroom, provided the material for the more than 250 short stories and novels he would write during his lifetime. Train wrote dozens of stories about fictional lawyer Ephraim Tutt in the Saturday Evening Post. He also coauthored two science fiction novels with eminent physicist Robert W. Wood. After 1922, he devoted himself to writing. In The Blind Goddess, Hugh Dillon, a young lawyer, becomes a public prosecutor in New York City, and is soon forced to choose between his idealistic view of duty, and Moria Evans, the girl he loves, under circumstances, that seem to spell the end of his career.

The Blind Mans House

Hugh Walpole

The House of the Blind is Walpoles last book before his death. This is a psychological study of the village and people who come in contact with a blind person and his young bride. The letter is impeccable. If you enjoy in-depth character study and enjoy reading old novels, then you will really enjoy it.

The Blithedale Romance

Nathaniel Hawthorne

A group of people is a powerful mixture of competing ambitions, and its idealism finds little satisfaction in agriculture. Instead of changing the world, Blithedale community members individually follow selfish paths that ultimately lead to tragedy. Hawthornes tale simultaneously mourns and saturates a rural idyll, not unlike the history of America in the 19th century as a whole.

The Blockade Runners

Jules Verne

The Civil War is tearing apart the North American United States. The Union Fleet blocked the Confederate seacoast, interrupting all sea trade, and European merchants suffer big losses from this. One of Glasgows trading houses is building a high-speed ship capable of breaking through the blockade and bringing unheard of profits. But on board the ship, not only those seeking benefits will set sail.

The Blonde Lady. Being a Record of the Duel of Wits Between Arsene Lupin and the English Detective

Maurice Leblanc

If you enjoy the Sherlock Holmes series, then Arsene Lupin will be another detective series for your library. Leblanc was a French novelist and short story writer known for creating the character Arsene Lupin, who is the French counterpart to the English Sherlock Holmes. In The Blonde Lady: Being a Record of the Duel of Wits between Arsene Lupin and the English Detective the great French gentleman thief and the formidable English unofficial consulting detective go head-to-head in a series of Alien vs Predator-style skirmishes. If in the last story of Arsene Lupin, gentleman-burglar Sherlock Holmes arrives too late, in the two stories that compose The Blonde Lady these two great intellects are bound in opposite directions. Where one chooses to abide to the law, the other uses his power and wits to crime and who is going to win?

The Blood of Belshazzar

Robert E. Howard

Once it was called Eski-Hissar, the Old Castle, for it was very ancient even when the first Seljuks swept out of the east, and not even the Arabs, who rebuilt that crumbling pile in the days of Abu Bekr, knew what hands reared those massive bastions among the frowning foothills of the Taurus. Now, since the old keep had become a bandits hold, men called it Bab-el-Shaitan, the Gate of the Devil, and with good reason.

The Blotting Book

E.F. Benson

The Blotting Book ends with a murder story, but this is not a detective story. There is one amazing feature of this story that sets it apart from the others. The focus of the work is the human character and state, not action and history. This is an older writing style, and the author makes a compassionate analysis of human weakness, without being picky and offering no excuse for bad moral behavior.

The Blue Castle

Lucy Maud Montgomery

One of the only L.M. Montgomery books featuring an older heroine, The Blue Castle is widely hailed as a reader favorite and is filled with humor and romance. Valancy Stirling is 29, unmarried, and has never been in love. She lives a drab life with her overbearing mother and prying aunt. One day, an unexpected medical diagnosis changes everything for Valancy and, for the first time in her dull grey life, she rebels. From then on things begin to change. Rebelling against her family she soon discovers a surprising new world, full of love and adventures far beyond her most secret dreams.