The Uttermost Farthing

R. Austin Freeman

In this tightly plotted novel, we follow the bizarre career of a man who loathes criminals. After Humphrey Challoner finds his wife killed by the bullet of a robber in his home, he vows to catch the man. Mr. Challoner is a wealthy savant, and he saved the fingerprints of the robber as well as some of the robbers strange hair which Challoners wife had in her hand. For twenty years Humphrey hunts for the killer, in the process revenging himself on Londons criminals class in a surprising and gruesome fashion. This Freeman work is not a Dr. Thorndyke mystery. Instead, it is the disturbing account of how a man wreaks vengeance on the miscreant who murdered his wife in a bungled robbery attempt. It also poses the question of how a moral society should deal with criminals.

The V4 Towards Migration Challenges in Europe. An Analysis and Recommendations

Robert Łoś, Anna Kobierecka

The culmination of the large-scale influx of migrants in the European area in 2015 and 2016 has not only led to severe pressure on the affected countries - transit countries as well as countries of destination - but also to the questioning of fundamental achievements of the European Union such as the freedom of movement. The migrant crisis also shed light on pressing issues still in need of satisfying responses reflecting reality, such as the case of the revision of the 1951 Geneva Convention on the status of refugees and the Dublin Ili Regulation setting forth that an asylum application needs to be filed in the first country of entry. Not only did the crisis reveal already existing ruptures between Western and Eastern Europe, but it also showed that the European Union as such is incapable of taking firm and swift decisions regarding the protection of its own borders and citizens against an unprecedented influx of irregular migrants - many of them without official documents. Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia are all sceptical towards the idea of positivist humanitarian approach towards migrations and introducing limits on accepting refugees for each EU state. Such reluctance derives from many different aspects, from political and geopolitical to social and cultural. Does V4 region is in fact threatened by migration crisis? lt is evident, that Hungary being the transit state can face significant threats. However, none of those states have the status of settlement countries or long-standing destinations.

The Valley of Decision

Edith Wharton

Published in 1902, The Valley of Decision is Edith Whartons first full length novel set in late 18th century Italy. In it, Odo Valsecca, a young Italian raised by peasants, is plucked from poverty and dropped into the lap of luxury as the newly named heir to his cousin, a duke. It is the time leading up to the French revolution, and Europe swirls with conflicting factions and ideologies, some trying to prop up the feudal and religious traditions that empowered them, and others seeking a new way. Meanwhile, in France, a revolution is brewing... Forced to choose between conflicting loyalties those to the forces of social reform with which he allied himself before he came to power, or those of the feudal tradition to which he belongs by blood Odo must define himself.

The Valley of Fear

Arthur Conan Doyle

The Valley of Fear is the fourth and final Sherlock Holmes novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Sherlock Holmes receives a message from Fred Porlock, an agent to Professor Moriarty. Moriarty is blameless in the eyes of the law but Holmes knows him to be the controlling brain of the underworld. Together Holmes and Watson decipher Porlocks message as indicating that a man named John Douglas residing at Birlstone is in danger...

The Valley of Fear. Illustrated Edition

Arthur Conan Doyle

The Valley of Fear is the fourth and final Sherlock Holmes novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Sherlock Holmes receives a message from Fred Porlock, an agent to Professor Moriarty. Moriarty is blameless in the eyes of the law but Holmes knows him to be the controlling brain of the underworld. Together Holmes and Watson decipher Porlocks message as indicating that a man named John Douglas residing at Birlstone is in danger...

The Valley of Ghosts

Edgar Wallace

A murder is committed among the rich of a small town, and with more than one ghost and all the evidence seems to point to a beautiful young woman... The Valley of Ghosts, written as one of four detective novels in 1922, is set in the seemingly peaceful community Beverly Green, a place where upper-middle-class families live a secluded life. Why was Stella Nelson with the victim in the middle of the night, shortly before the murder? Who was the mysterious blackmailer who held all England in their grasp? Why didnt the famous detective, Andy MacLeod, do his duty? A chill-packed mystery from the master of suspense. This is what Edgar Wallace is all about, a complex, old fashioned mystery, with a highly unlikely solution.

The Valley of the Moon

Jack London

The novel of the famous American writer Jack Londons Moon Valley is the story of a young worker defeated by the iron fifth of an industrial octopus city and finding peace and joy in a life close to nature on a California ranch. This book describes historical events in America in the early twentieth century on the example of one family. The Great Depression has not yet begun, but tension is felt in the cities, clashes are taking place between the striking workers and strike breakers, which are supported by the police.

The Valley of the Moon

Jack London

“The Valley of the Moon” is a book by Jack London, an American novelist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and an innovator in the genre that would later become known as science fiction.   The novel The Valley of the Moon is a story of a working-class couple, Billy and Saxon Roberts, struggling laborers in Oakland at the Turn-of-the-Century, who leave city life behind and search Central and Northern California for suitable farmland to own. The book is notable for its scenes in which the proletarian heroes enjoy fellowship with the artists' colony in Carmel, and their settling in the Valley of the Moon.  

The Valley of Vanishing Men

Max Brand

Valley of the Vanishing Men begins with Ben Trainor receiving a letter from home that tells him that his brother who was bound for Alkali Valley has been missing. Alkali Valley was a lawless desert outpost, known for its gunplay and gold. Ben Trainor rode into town searching for his vanished brother. Within twenty-four hours he had been slugged, shot at, and bushwhacked. ""Go home while youre still in one piece"" the sheriff advised him. But Ben decided to stick it out. And when his friend Silvertip slipped into town to help him out, it was just the two of them against a pack of gun-happy killers. Two men against a gang of killers!

The Vanished Messenger

E. Phillips Oppenheim

Mystery novel by E. Phillips Oppenheim involving a handicapped art collector. The book concerns recently demobbed and down on his luck Major Owston, who becomes the bodyguard of the deformed amoral art collector Martin Hews. Enabled by his enormous wealth to buy the worlds most beautiful works of art. Hews is plunged into a bitter rivalry with a gang leader simply known as Joseph. This is a thrilling and tense story of a struggle between master brains, of gang wars, of deceit, of murder, while the sinister Martin Hews sits in his fortified treasure house, and the love story of Beatrice lends romance and beauty. It presents a fascinating picture of unexpected turns and twists.

The Vanishing American

Zane Grey

Here is the great romance of the American Indian, revealing in the swift march of its events the tragedy and the glory of a whole race, and the true essence of the West, as only Zane Grey can express it. It tells the story of the love between Nophaie, a young Native American (or American Indian) man and his love for and with a woman by the name of Marian Warner. Also Indian warrior Nophaie strives to maintain ancient and honorable customs among his people in the face of abuse and exploitation by whites in the early 20th century. The Vanishing American is about Nophaies struggle to find a place in society. On a larger scale it is about all Native Americans and their future in America.

The Vanishing of Betty Varian

Carolyn Wells

Carolyn Wells inspires and entertains with her classical mystery masterpiece, The Vanishing of Betty Varian, guaranteed to feed the mystery monster that craves suspense! The book was first published in 1922. In this classic locked room mystery, the Varian family have rented a house for the summer a house built on the edge of a cliff, three sides faced by water and the entrance the only way in. They are about to go on a picnic with family and friends when the daughter returns to the house to pick up a camera. When she doesnt return, father goes after her and neither returns... Carolyn Wells mysteries give you just enough information to get you drawn into the story and enough twists and turns to keep you guessing.

The Veiled Man. Being an Account of the Risks and Adventures of Sidi Ahamadou, Sheikh of the Azjar Marauders of the Great Sahara

William Le Queux

I am a Veiled Man. Openly, I confess myself a vagabond and a brigand. Living here, in the heart of the Great Desert, six moons march from Algiers, and a thousand miles beyond the French outposts, theft is, with my nomadic tribe, their natural industrya branch of education, in fact. We augment the meagreness of our herds by extorting ransoms from some of our neighbours, and completely despoiling others. Mention of the name of Ahamadou causes the face of the traveller on any of the caravan routes between the Atlas mountains and Lake Tsâd to pale beneath its bronze, for as sheikh of the most powerful piratical tribe in the Sahara, I have earned an unenviable notoriety as leader of The Breath of the Wind, while the Arabs themselves have bestowed upon my people three epithets which epitomise their psychology: Thieves, Hyenas, and Abandoned of Allah.

The Velvet Hand

Madame Rosika Storey was one of the most celebrated fictional female private investigators during the Golden Age of the mystery (1920-40). She is a beautiful detecative who solves four cases for you in a manner most effecative, arriving at conclusions by processes subliminal, since intuition is her guide in locating the criminal. See what happen in each case, both dangerous and difficult. And since her intuition is so perfectly reliable, and backed up by ingenious proof whose force is undeniable all of which of course is written in a manner most enjoyable were sure that youll agree no crook could ever catch Rosika out, and if you ever need a dick we hope that you will seek her out.

The Vengeance of Women

Marcin Brzostowski

‘The vengeance of women’ is an absurd criminal story in which the main character, a brilliant inspector Franco Fog, a hedonist addicted to whiskey and women, albeit in heart always faithful to his only love – Veronica Blanca, has to investigate a mysterious disappearance of a few men. He wanders around ‘the most dangerous nooks and corners of the town’, gets help from fallen women, deals with pimps and gun-traders and disarms a group of Warsaw Nazis before he finally comes across ‘the vengeance of women’ – the vengeance of our times… A perfect read for people with taste for surrealism and humour.   Marcin Brzostowski (1969) – a contemporary Polish writer, who comments on current issues and affairs by absurd and grotesque.

The Vicomte de Bragelonne

Alexandre Dumas

The dArtagnan Romances are a set of three novels by Alexandre Dumas telling the story of the musketeer dArtagnan from his humble beginnings in Gascony to his death as a marshal of France in the Siege of Maastricht in 1673. It is May 1660 and the fate of nations is at stake. Mazarin plots, Louis XIV is in love, and Raoul de Bragelonne, son of Athos, is intent on serving France and winning the heart of Louise de la Valliere. DArtagnan, meanwhile, is perplexed by a mysterious stranger, and soon he learns that his old comrades already have great projects in hand. Athos seeks the restoration of Charles II, while Aramis, with Porthos in tow, has a secret plan involving a masked prisoner and the fortification of the island of Belle-Ile. DArtagnan finds a thread leading him to the French court, the banks of the Tyne, the beaches of Holland, and the dunes of Brittany. The Vicomte de Bragelonne: Ten Years Later is the 3rd and largest continuation of the Musketeer saga, following The Three Musketeers and Twenty Years After.

The Victorian Royal Nursery, 1840-1865. Creation, Organisation, Staff, Financing

Mariusz Misztal

The Victorian Royal Nursery attempts to shed more light on the nursery for the children of Queen Victoria. It examines the creation, organisation, and financing of the nursery, with a consideration of the most important individuals who looked after the Royal children, namely the medical staff, wet nurses, monthly nurses, permanent nurses, governesses and subgovernesses. The study is based mostly on the numerous unpublished documents from the Royal Archives at Windsor as well as the hitherto little-known or unknown sources like the journal of the royal accoucheur Dr Robert Ferguson or the diary of head-nurse Mrs Ann Thurston. From the review of The Victorian Royal Nursery, 1840–1865: This is an original and important research project […]. In The Victorian Royal Nursery Mr Misztal brings a scholarly, tightly-focussed approach to a part of the Victorian Royal Household which until now has only received passing references in the literature. This superb study gives a full, definitive account of a part of the life of Queen Victoria which has been largely neglected […]. No one has written in such detail about the royal nursery, and that in itself represents a vital contribution to royal scholarship. The new material which Misztal has discovered sheds new light on the Queen’s mental and emotional state after childbirth… This gives substance to Albert’s later fears about Victoria’s mental state and the rumours that she had inherited the madness of King George III. […] The footnotes are excellent and full of additional material [...]. This is an outstanding piece of research. It is a definitive account, and it will become indispensable. Professor Jane Ridley, author of Bertie: A Life of Edward VII and Queen Victoria: A Short Life

The Victors. A Romance of Yesterday Morning and This Afternoon

Robert Barr

This greatest political novel of Robert Barrs most beloved books has been written in years. Barr was a Scottish-Canadian author who relocated to London in 1881 where he founded the magazine The Idler in 1892 in collaboration with Jerome K Jerome. In 1895 he retired from its co-editorship and became a prolific novelist. The Victors: A Romance Of Yesterday Morning & This Afternoon... is a stirring story of a boss and others. Patrick Maguire, big, brawny, and smooth of tongue, early decides that there is a good thing for him in the big city, and he starts after it. How he succeeds becoming the big boss by methods that are known to be practical and practiced by the initiated is Mr. Barrs theme. Another live issue treated by Mr. Barr is that of Christian Science. The work has a climax whose strength has rarely been equaled in modern fiction.

The Village Rector

Honoré de Balzac

Forget the erroneous title, the central figure of this particular slice of Balzacs lifelong gift to literature is a woman of character, Madame Veronique Graslin. Honoré de Balzac (20 May 1799 18 August 1850) is considered to be one of the fathers of realism in fiction and has crafted a vivid picture of Europe during the end of the Bourbon Monarchy. The first characters presented are the shopkeeper Sauviat and his family. The daughter, Veronique, is beautiful and charming, a favorite in the entire quarter. When she is eleven she falls desperately ill with smallpox. Her beauty has been ruined by the disease and her parents love her even more and try to give her everything money can buy in compensation. A marriage to a rich banker is arranged. What causes Veronique to later live a life of penance?

The Vintage. A Romance of the Greek War of Independence

E.F. Benson

This is a historical novel. The plot of the struggle of the Greek people against the Turks for independence. All actions revolve around the clan Maniot, Mavromihalov, who are central to the revolution. The action especially focuses on Nicholas Vidalis, a revolutionary leader, and his nephew, Mitsos, who is 18 years old at the beginning of the book, and becomes a fierce fighter.

The Vintage of Yon Yee

The novel is about a young woman of both English and Chinese descent, who must choose between lovers of both races, between East and West. Neither effort, nor suffering, nor experience can give perfection to any person, nor any race. Humanity, individual or herd, can only strive never fully triumph or to fulfill. But there are separate people, there are different people: vintage masculinity, vintage nation.

The Viper

Hulbert Footner

A collection of crime fiction short stories featuring Mme. Rosika Storey and her resourceful assistant Bella Brickley. Mme. Storey unravels complex cases with thorough investigation and an understanding of human nature. Her way to resolve the mystery is original and bring you in a new world. She is Madame Storey, like Sherlock has fantastic powers of deduction and understanding of psychology, and her secretary is like Watson though she doest have a degree in medicine. These short stories are written through Bella Brickleys point-of-view. It is definitely recommended for a wide circle of readers who want to have a couple of hours of fascinating reading.

The Virgin of the Sun

H. Rider Haggard

Haggard explores love, friendship, and women during an adventure across the Atlantic and South America. In The Virgin of the Sun, the author also explores the Inca myth associated with the rise of one of Americas greatest pre-Columbian leaders, Pachacuti. After several small adventures and misfortunes, our hero, Hubert, meets and befriends a strange man from a strange land. This story is filled with murder, intrigue, adventure and betrayal. It will definitely be remembered by readers for a long time.

The Voice of the City. Further Stories of the Four Million

O. Henry

O. Henry is most widely recognized for his stories dry wit, plot twists and surprise ending. But another major element in his fiction is his love of the American urban environment, as well as a keen appreciation of the rapid diversification that occurred in many cities in the early twentieth century. In The Voice of the City, O. Henry uses excellently written short stories and high vocabulary to convey a sense on New York. This collection brings together an array of tales about humble people trying to survive in a major metropolis. The author has created a myriad of heroes and heroines to serve as guides to this large city. It is full of some funny, some far reaching, and some heartwarming stories of life that make you smile.