Face Cards

Carolyn Wells

A house party at a country house in Connecticut, reputedly a house under a curse. The owner dies mysteriously, and one of the house party vanishes. The characters of the wealthy murdered man, his young wife and his daughter, as well as those of the servants and detectives are more than usually convincing and the story altogether adapted for effortless fireside reading. While the reader is prevented from divining the solution too easily, a proper number of clues are conscientiously given and the events, nicely dovetailed together. Face Cards, written by an American author and poet Carolyn Wells, is a locked-room mystery in which crime and a family curse are interwoven, with plenty of creepy supernatural events thrown in, relating to exotic masks.

The Avenger

Edgar Wallace

Over a period of time, men disappear, and later their heads are found. Meanwhile a young actress in a small part in a film on location, is disturbed by the actions of the owner of the place where they are filming. A detective comes to investigate, and finds many puzzling things going on. Several of the characters are suspicious, in one way or another, and as the plot unfolds, it grips you. Edgar Wallaces The Avenger is a perfectly fine example of what a page-turning thriller looked like, early in the last century. What Edgar Wallace has over modern writers is the willingness to insert a girl-snatching, sapient orangutan in his plot. Surely the seeds for his King-Kong screenplay can be found here.

Le livre de la pitié et de la mort

Pierre Loti

Pour le lecteur moderne, le nom de Pierre Loti est presque oublié, et au tournant des XIX XX siecles. ses uvres ont été lues et raffinés esthetes et large lectorat. Le livre Mercy and Death contient les meilleures uvres de lécrivain, attisées par le parfum magique des aventures errantes et romantiques. En mettant en valeur des peintures exotiques dans ses uvres, P. Loti déploie de superbes drames damour sur leur fond.

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.

Der Weg zum Glück

Karl May

Mehrere unabhängig voneinander eingeführte Handlungsstränge verbinden sich im Laufe des Romans, der zum allergrößten Teil in einem geografisch recht knapp gefassten Gebiet zwischen Bayern, Österreich und Böhmen spielt. Die voneinandern unabhängigen Episoden verweben sich immer wieder zu einem äußerst unterhaltsamen und interessanten Gesamtwerk. Der Weg zum Glück war der letzte große Fortsetzungsroman des großen deutschen Schriftstellers. Behandelt wird die Lebensgeschichte des berühmten Bayernkönigs Ludwig II. Die Helden dieses Romans sind ein schrulliges bayerisches Original, genannt Wurzelsepp, und der bayerische König Ludwig II. Beide greifen in das Schicksal von mehreren Personen ein und sorgen dafür, dass diese glücklich werden können. So wird die arme Sennerin Magdalena, das Patenkind des Wurzelsepp, die von dem Wilderer Krickelanton sitzengelassen wurde, eine gefeierte Opernsängerin und Gräfin von Senftenberg. Einen Großteil des Romans nimmt aber der Kampf gegen die Machenschaften der beiden Bösewichte Peitschenmüller und Silberbauer ein, die vor langer Zeit in der Walachei eine Fürstin ermordet und ihr Kind entführt haben. Karl May bemüht sich in diesem Roman mit einem selbstgebasteltem und äußerst fehlerhaften bayerischen Dialekt erfolgreich um Lokalkolorit.

Tales of Hearsay

Joseph Conrad

This collection of four stories. One of the stories is Prince Roman. It tells about the Polish people and their hero. The conversation was about aristocracy. How did this discredited item come about? However, neither the great Florentine artist, who did not close his eyes at death while thinking about his city, nor Saint Francis, who blessed the city of Assisi with his last breath, were barbarians.

Smoke Bellew

Jack London

The famous cycle of novels and short stories by the American writer Jack London is a peculiar and unique painting of life in inhuman conditions, where people still manage to remain human beings. The story is about a man who found the courage, courage and power to exchange the clerks prosperous, but dull and boring life for danger, the exciting and fascinating fate of an adventurer in the wild lands of the Northern Way. The whole North knew him under the name Smoke Bellew.

Les Misérables

Victor Hugo

Dans les premieres pages on fait la connaissance de Jean Valjean. Au début il est un, mais puis écoeuré par sa propre noirceur, et grâce la générosité dun évque Fauchelevent il deviendra le bienfaiteur de certaines âmes sans titre ni fortune. Son destin croise le chemin de la pauvre Fantine, une mere qui est prte tout pour le bonheur de sa fille. Cette fille Cosette devient sa raison de vivre. Mais son passé le rattrape...

The Bishop and Other Stories

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

One of the last stories of Chekhov. This is the tragedy of a representative of the intelligentsia, whose pursuit of a very successful church career cuts him off from real human intercourse. Until he faces death, the bishop does not understand that something important is missing in his life, namely, love and respect for himself, and not for his title.

The Stray Lamb

Thorne Smith

In The Stray Lamb, author Thorne Smith draws inspiration from his most famous works, the beloved Topper series. It follows mild-mannered investment banker, cuckold, ordinary, faithful, and dipsomaniac T. Lawrence Lamb. He is given a new perspective on life through the eyes of many different animals as he assumes the shape of many including a stallion, goldfish, dog, lion and many others. Mr. Lamb gains wisdom, fresh insight, and a new much needed exuberance for life as he exchanges the mundane for the slightly insane. Thorne Smith again shows his mastery of the comic fantasy tale as Lamb lurches from one mishap to another, reeling from his wifes abandonment and the actions of his headstrong daughter and reveling in the new opportunities that his excursions into animal form provide.

Lord Jim

Joseph Conrad

Parostatek Patna, z ośmiuset pobożnymi pielgrzymami na pokładzie, wyrusza w rejs. Morze jest spokojne i wszystko przebiega bez najmniejszych zakłóceń. Niespodziewanie okręt uderza w niezidentyfikowany obiekt. Młodszy kapitan Jim zostaje wysłany pod pokład w celu sprawdzenia ewentualnych uszkodzeń. Na miejscu stwierdza, że okrętu przed zatonięciem broni jedyna gródź, która z powodu rdzy i starości wkrótce nie wytrzyma naporu wody. Taką też informację przedstawia kapitanowi. Ten wraz z mechanikami postanawia po cichu, nie budząc pasażerów, opuścić statek. Wie, że nie ma wystarczającej liczby szalup ratunkowych, by ocalić wszystkich pasażerów. Jim nie wie, jaką podjąć decyzję. Z jednej strony chciałby się wykazać heroizmem i uratować pielgrzymów, z drugiej strony zdaje sobie sprawę, iż pozostanie na statku to pewna śmierć. Strach paraliżuje go coraz bardziej. W ostatniej chwili wskakuje do szalupy, którą opuściła na wodę reszta załogi. Po kilku chwilach Patna znika im z oczu. Gdy dobijają do najbliższego portu, okazuje się, że parostatek nie zatonął. Tytułowy Lord Jim jako jedyny z członków załogi nie ucieka i stawia się na procesie o zaniedbanie podstawowych obowiązków marynarskich. Dręczony wyrzutami sumienia nie może zaznać spokoju.

The Tale of Triona

William J. Locke

Trion is Alexis Trion, a man with a mysterious past, a tormented hero, a man who writes his story, which instantly becomes a bestseller. It was at this moment that Olivia enters his life. Olivia is a rich, recently orphaned young woman who wants adventure to see the world, etc. to start her new life. There she reads Alexeys book and meets him in person.

Wesołe kumoszki z Windsoru

William Shakespeare

Wesołe kumoszki z Windsoru to jedyne dzieło dramatyczne Szekspira osadzone we współczesności autora w Anglii przełomu XVI i XVII wieku, stanowiące przy tym znakomity obraz obyczajowości epoki. Dwie zamężne mieszczki padają ofiarami zalotów pewnego szlachcica. Jako że szybko odkrywają jego niecne zamiary, postanawiają zabawić się jego kosztem i zrobić sobie z niego niewybredne żarty.

The Lone Star Ranger

Zane Grey

The Lone Star Ranger is a 1915 Western novel by American author Zane Grey. Set in Texas, the story revolves around the exploits of a band of Texas Rangers and Buck Duane, an outlaw on a quest for redemption. A captain of the Texas Rangers offers him a pardon and a rangers badge if he will infiltrate the gang of the shadowy figure known as Cheseldine who wields vast power in West Texas, and make it possible for the Rangers to break the gangs hold on the regions towns. Duane accepts, never guessing in his wildest nightmares that he would sniff out this Cheseldine, his hideouts, his lieutenants... and fall in love with his daughter! There is plenty of action and gunplay, but The Lone Star Ranger has an emotional and psychological depth that really elucidated the mentality of the lone wolf outlaw and driven Texas ranger.

Bartek Zwycięzca

Henryk Sienkiewicz

Akcja utworu Bartek Zwycięzca toczy się w drugiej połowie XIX wieku. Bartek Słowik jest prostym chłopem mieszkającym we wsi Pognębin w Wielkopolsce. Ma żonę i dziecko. W 1870 roku wybucha wojna prusko-francuska. Bartek jako obywatel Prus zostaje wcielony do wojska i wysłany na wojnę. Wyróżnia się podczas walk odwagą, dzięki czemu zyskuje uznanie pruskich generałów. W czasie jednej z akcji przeciwko partyzantom jego oddział bierze do niewoli grupę jeńców. Dwóch z nich okazują się Polakami, którzy służyli we francuskiej armii. Od tego momentu Bartek zaczyna się zastanawiać nad tym, z kim walczy i o co walczy...

The Lighted Way

E. Phillips Oppenheim

A mystery story that involves the revolution in Portugal. Arnold Chetwode never intended to become involved in international intrigue. Arnold, a gently born young man in impecunious circumstances, toils as a lowly, ill-paid clerk in the prosperous London firm run by Mr. Weatherley, he is industrious but common merchant. A surprising invitation puts him at the right time and place to be a witness to a public murder. His employer and employers family are involved in the aftermath. Even Ruth, the poor invalid who befriended him when he was penniless. Full of descriptions of London settings, society, restaurants, country houses, and early motorcars, the novel careens back and forth between politics and romance. The reader is kept in complete mystery until the whole story is explained.