The Master of Ballantrae. A Winters Tale

Robert Louis Stevenson

A tale of fierce internecine feud that destroyed Lord Henry Darrissdire and his older brother James, also called the ruler of Ballantre. The story of their deaths is described by a devoted servant of the clan old Ephraim McKellar. The novel tells how easy it is to lose honor and how difficult it is to preserve what is dear to you when money and power are at stake...

Smithy and The Hun

Edgar Wallace

This collection of stories from every-day life in the British military, centered around the characters of Smithy and Nobby. Edgar Wallace, who is also famous for his own stories of colonial life the Sanders stories was principally a writer of crime and detective fiction. He was one of the most popular and prolific authors of his era. However, he was well aware that the irrepressible spirit of Kiplings famous rankers would live on, and he wrote his own tales of ordinary British soldiers. Edgar Wallaces Smithy stories enter the First World War, not much mud and bullets or the horror of the trenches, instead its Nobbys schemes and delightfully silly comic description of life with the Kaiser.

Dead Man Manor

Valentine Williams

There is a secret surrounding the abandoned local manuar and the death of the local miller. When a lawyer on vacation is found slaughtered, the law enters into force. One area of interest for the British reader is the different legal system and methodology used by Sergeant Biguri, who is conducting an official investigation. His personality perfectly complements and contrasts with the personality of Tredgold. The love interest between Dr. Wood and Adrienne de Saint-Remy is well maintained, and the villagers, including the mayor, priest and notary, come alive.

General Besserleys Puzzle Box

E. Phillips Oppenheim

General, his companion pronounced, you are getting fat. Too many cocktails. General Besserley, late of the Secret Service at Washington and now a very popular member of Monaco society, glanced downwards at his slightly increasing outline. He was rather a fine figure of a man and his carriage was beyond reproach, but it was certainly true that there was sometimes a little difficulty about the two bottom buttons of his waistcoat.

Dominie Dean. A Novel

Ellis Parker Butler

Humorous novel set in Riverbank, a fictionalized Muscatine, in a Mississippi River town. Pastor David Dean and his wife take up residence in this town, Iowa in the 1850s and learn how unaccepting a small town can be of new residents, even after a stay of decades. An interesting social history of mid nineteenth century life, emphasizing the dominance of crass commercial interests in the vicissitudes of small town life, written by an American author Ellis Parker Butler. He was the author of more than 30 books and more than 2,000 stories and essays and is most famous for his short story Pigs Is Pigs, in which a bureaucratic stationmaster insists on levying the livestock rate for a shipment of two pet guinea pigs, which soon start proliferating geometrically.

The Penrose Mystery

R. Austin Freeman

The Penrose Mystery, fist published in 1936, is definitely up to the high standard of the wonderful Dr. Thorndyke series. Penrose is an eccentric old man in possession of some dazzling gems, which he wont insure. When Dr. Thorndyke is alerted to a burglary at his house, a scrap of paper is found with the word lobster on it along with two Latin words. Meanwhile, Penrose has fled in panic after a car accident. The police believe hes gone into hiding to avoid a manslaughter charge after a hit-and-run accident. Finding him is a forlorn hope, theres so little to go on. But Thorndyke has a way of seeing significance in the merest bits of dirt inside a tire or oddments in a pocket... Polton, Dr. Thorndykes lovable lab assistant, has an important presence in the plot, less this time for his remarkable technical skills than for his fondness for fixing antique clocks.

Han dIslande

Victor Hugo

Han dislande est un roman fantastique de Victor Hugo ou mlent gothique et romantisme, le roman se ménage une place confortable. Caveaux funéraires, apprentis savants disséquant les morts, géant sanguinaire se jouant de la justice des hommes, ours polaire domestiqué... et Han, qui vit avec un ours et qui boit du sang humain. Un monstre, une révolte populaire, une ligne damours. Ce roman se semble dtre plein dinattendus!

Róża. Dramat niesceniczny

Stefan Żeromski

Róża to najoryginalniejszy dramat Stefana Żeromskiego. Autor starał się zająć w utworze stanowisko wobec sprzecznych poglądów na sens i celowość rewolucji 1905 r. Kreślił też własną wizję rozwiązania problemów społecznych i politycznych w Polsce na początku XX wieku. Miejsca akcji dramatu przypominają warszawską Cytadelę oraz Nałęczów. W tekście utworu jest wiele bezpośrednich historycznych nawiązań. Pojawiają się odniesienia do straconych bojowników PPS (m.in. do Stefana Okrzei i Józefa Mireckiego-Montwiłła) do porewolucyjnych represji w Łodzi i zamachów PPS w Warszawie, które wydarzyły się w 1906 r. Róża to jeden z najdziwniejszych dramatów w dziejach polskiego teatru. Z jednej strony jest to tekst realistyczny, niemal reporterski, z drugiej metafizyczny (odwołania do Słowackiego, Wyspiańskiego czy Brzozowskiego).