The Green Pearl

Aidan de Brune

The Green Pearl (1930) is the second adventure in the Dr. Night trilogy by Aidan De Brune, (1874-1946). Aidan De Brune was a Canadian-born writer who settled in Australia. This second story is gaudy crime yarns, which steadily veers into fantasy by the end (gravity powered aircraft without engines...) and features a very unlikely Asian villain who is as different from Fu Manchu as you can imagine: a small, colorless man of uncertain central Asian origin whose principal obsession is raising money by any means possible (invariably criminal) to recreate a long-dead central Asian kingdom of which his distant ancestors were kings. Most of the stories take place in and around Sydney, although the earliest known is set in Perth Western Australia and one of the novelettes in north Queenslan.

Private Selby

Edgar Wallace

As a prophecy of modern warfare, this book, written before the Great War, is distinctly remarkable, as well as having the genuine Edgar Wallace sense of thrilling narrative. The centre of the plot is the invasion of Britain in 1909. It could be a crime story, as it opens in the mean streets of working class Deptford in the opening years of the 20th century, and includes criminals petty and not so petty. It is also a war story, and includes a balloon air raid over London; and finally the love story of Private Selby and his dream girl, the Brown Lady, also known as O.C. An interesting small novel which changes rather abruptly from a crime novel to a military drama and finally an early alternative history-meller describing a conflict.

Joan and Peter. The Story of an Education

Herbert George Wells

The book starts in late Victorian England and ends shortly after the first world war. It covers the transition between the end of the Victorian era, and the aimlessness of the next generation very well. The main characters grow up with the best education that can be found in England at the time, which is freely admitted to be not very good. They grow up and deal with love, decadence and the reality of war in a very meaningful way. Beautiful and brilliant this remarkable novel, with the subtitle The Story of an Education, is full of love, tragedy, World War I scenes and perspectives on German, Irish, Russian, British and American issues and values. Joan and Peter, orphaned at five and with four guardians, run the gamut.

The Great Shadow

Arthur Conan Doyle

Set in an English-Scottish border village during the waning days of the Napoleonic era, this adventure story introduces us to Jock Calder, whose quiet way of life is shattered when a mysterious stranger steps ashore near his home. The stranger changes forever the lives of Jock, his cousin Edie, and his best friend Jim, sending the young men into the jaws of the final battle to defeat The Great Shadow that threatens to devour the whole of Europe. We see the boy grow into a soldier who fights in the Battle of Waterloo, and gives us his interesting insights on it. Drama, mystery, comedy, tragedy, and an enlightened look at the horrors of war and the last battle of Waterloo are contained in this tale.

Sodome et Gomorrhe

Marcel Proust

La partie principale du roman est consacrée au deuxieme et éventuellement au dernier voyage du héros Balbec. Encore Verdureny, Cambrera, mais au lieu de Charles et Odette maintenant Marseille et Albertina. Tout rappelle au héros et sa mere la grand-mere décédée. Plus ils sont douloureux dans cet endroit. Et, bien sr, le dreyfusarstvo-anti-drifusarisme, le sémitisme / antisémitisme / le nationalisme sont touchés.

A Group of Noble Dames

Thomas Hardy

A group of "local historians" of men comes together and tells each other stories about women from the past. All stories are connected with love, marriage to the wrong person and illegitimate children. This says a lot about how women looked at that time. Even those in abundance had very little influence and were often convicted of using it when they had a chance.

His Name His Fortune

Max Brand

Max Brand (1892-1944) is the best-known pen name of widely acclaimed author Frederick Faust, creator of Destry, Dr. Kildare, and other beloved fictional characters. Orphaned at an early age, Faust studied at the University of California, Berkeley. He became one of the most prolific writers of our time but abandoned writing at age fifty-one to become a war correspondent in World War II, where he was killed while serving in Italy. This is one of his work. The plot is well constructed with well drawn subsidiary characters and provides a number of interesting twists.

Cow Country

B.M. Bower

This is a solid, basic cowboy story from B. M. Bower, an early work of hers on the standard ranching setting she writes many more times. This is one of her stories. This follows the life of a boy from very early youth until he finds his own way and establishes his name. Through hazards, difficulties and dangers, Bob sets out to discover life for himself. With awfully wild terrain and red-Indians around him, he has to find his way. More than the threats posed by nature are those that are created by other humans. A tale of swashbuckling adventures! B.M Bower had a gift for writing Westerns, weaving tales of adventure, intrigue, mystery, and romance often with surprise endings.