A Laodicean. A Story of To-Day

Thomas Hardy

Paula Power, daughter of a wealthy railroad tycoon, inherited De Stancy Castle, an ancient castle in need of modernization. She instructs a young London architect, George Somerset, to do this work. Somerset falls in love with Paulo. But Paula, the Laodicean title, referring to a person with a warm or indecisive soul, is torn between the admiration of George and the admiration of Captain de Stancy, whose romanticism in the old world contrasts with Somersets visionary gaze.

A Pair of Blue Eyes. A Novel

Thomas Hardy

The heroine of the novel is a young Elfrid. She can easily charm anyone with the look of her blue eyes. In her life, two appear, a young architect and an experienced writer. Former friends become rivals, and Elfrida is faced with a painful choice.

A Prayer for My Son

Hugh Walpole

This is the story of a sadist, in this case, a grandfather with excessive ego and a thirst for satisfying his sense of strength. The boys mother, his aunt, the boy himself become a victim of his madness, and the story gathers momentum until they are forced to flee from an environment that gives him his strength. This is a skillful build-up of atmosphere and tension.

A Romance of Two Worlds

Marie Corelli

The main character, who is fond of music, being under the heavy pressure of a creative crisis, goes on a journey with her friends to improve her mental and physical health. There she meets an artist who once also became very discouraged, but who was lucky enough to be treated by a mysterious healer with fantastic abilities. In the midst of an ignorant society, a rumor has already been very successfully circulating about the doctor, as if he communicates with evil spirits, which is why his extraordinary skills. However, as it turns out later, the doctor is not at all a sorcerer and not a servant of Satan, but, on the contrary, a man of deep scientific interests and, even, achievements, to which he came purely thanks to sincere faith in God and the after life.

A Smile of Fortune

Joseph Conrad

A Smile of Fortune is located on a beautiful island in the Pacific Ocean, on which the narrator, captain docked; ship suppliers are supposedly brothers who have not talked to each other for 18 years. One of the brothers, Ernest, is an assimilated citizen. He owes a lot of money, has parties, has taste and manners, and is trusted. He treats the half-blood servants as cruelly as the rest of the colonists. Another, Arthur, is an outcast, not because of his race or profession, although he was forced to make aggressive deals by beating his brother for incoming captains in order to get food and equipment contracts earlier than his brother

A Tangled Web

Lucy Maud Montgomery

Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery, justly famous for her Anne of Green Gables series, wrote two novels in her career that were explicitly intended for adults. A Tangled Web centers around a community consisting mainly of two families, the Penhallows and the Darks whose collective lives are thrown into chaos by the dying wish of matriarch Aunt Becky Dark. For several generations everyone in the Penhallow family has married someone in the Dark family. Now Aunt Becky, the eccentric old matriarch of the clan, has bequeathed her prized possession: a legendary heirloom jug. But the name of the jugs new owner will not be revealed for one year. This is a charming book set in Lucy Maud Montgomerys beloved Prince Edward Island. Its colorful characters, descriptive scenery and interesting plot that employs a mixture of humor, pathos and sweet sentiment make for a comfortable read that leaves behind a pleasant sense of satisfaction at its close.

Above the Dark Circus

Hugh Walpole

This novel is served with a psychological detective dressing. In reality, this is a mixture of experiences, feelings and thoughts of the protagonist, describing events that in any case should end in tragedy. This is not hidden from the very beginning. Everything that happens is written very atmospheric, gradually thickening events to an inevitable outcome.

Across the Stream

E.F. Benson

A mixture of romance and paranormal. The story of a child who belongs to the upper class. The main character, Archie, saw something strange in women. They wore skirts that might have hidden some kind of abnormality that would be scary to contemplate. Men were a true example of courage.