Gwiazda Południa

Jules Verne

Powieść dwóch współautorów Paschala Grousseta (ps. André Laurie) i Juliusza Vernea z cyklu Niezwykłe podróże. Powieść odznacza się wartką akcją rozgrywającą się w Afryce Południowej wśród wydobywców diamentów. Opowiada o poszukiwaniach tytułowej Gwiazdy Południa imponujących rozmiarów diamentu, a jednocześnie o powstawaniu diamentów. Porusza wątki wyzysku ludzi pracujących w kopalniach i idealistycznych marzeń o naprawie świata.

Portret Doriana Graya

Oscar Wilde

Dorian Gray, niezwykłej urody młodzieniec, ulega namowom malarza Bazylego Hallwarda i zgadza się pozować mu do portretu. Po jego ukończeniu, zachwycony efektem chłopak niefrasobliwie wypowiada życzenie, które wkrótce ma się zacząć spełniać. Równolegle dokonują się dwie przemiany ulegającego zepsuciu moralnemu Doriana i imponującego portretu, odzwierciedlającego prawdziwą naturę sportretowanego. Skandalizująca powieść Oscara Wildea od blisko półtora wieku fascynuje rzesze czytelników.

The Deaves Affair

Hulbert Footner

The Deaves Affair by Hulbert Footner. A millionnaire family is attacked by a blackmailer. They will be ruined if he always succeeds. A young struggling artist in New York City Evan is engaged to protect the old man from the crowd and from their blunders. But he had to play the role of a detective to help this family to discover the romantically inclined mystery in this affair. Will he succeed?

My Life. The Story of a Provincial

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

The theme of the little man, which appeared in many of Chekhovs short stories, was also touched on in the novel My Life. The main character, Misail Poloznev, a nobleman by birth, becomes a simple worker. In order to live the way he wants, he breaks with his father. He is opposed to lies and hypocrisy, namely they, in his opinion, reign among the intelligentsia. The quote of the old house painter Radish: Aphids eat grass, rust iron, and lies the soul. According to the protagonist, moral self-improvement of a person is directly related to physical labor, which he would like to make mandatory for everyone.

The Storm

Max Brand

Twelve-year-old Tommy is left to fend for himself. Thanks to endurance, ingenuity and a wonderful union with the grizzly bear, whose mother he helped, the boy survives. When Tommy gets older, he and the bear set off for the valley, where they prevent the killing of an indestructible horse. The horse, bear and Tommy become legend and the expedition is about to capture or kill Tommy.

Tales of the Jazz Age

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Divided into three separate parts, according to subject matter, Tales of the Jazz Age includes two of F. Scott Fitzgeralds better-known short stories, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and The Diamond as Big as the Ritz. Set in the Jazz Age, Fitzgeralds own term for the Roaring Twenties of newly confident, post-war America, this collection of early 11 short stories shows a comic genius at work, fashioning every genre from low farce to shrewd social insight, along with fantasy of extraordinary invention.

The Dead Secret

Wilkie Collins

The mistress of the old estate the Portgen Tower dies, leaving a dying letter in which she makes a fatal confession. The discovery of this secret can have truly tragic consequences for all the inhabitants of the estate. But the maid, hoping to keep the peace of her masters, hides the letter in the old abandoned room of the castle the Dead Room. Many years will pass before the Dead Room will part with its terrible secret.

The Chronicles of Michael Danevitch of the Russian Secret Service

Dick Donovan

Dick Donovan was a pseudonym used by (Mr) Joyce Emmerson Preston Muddock (1842-1934). Muddock was also a journalist and wrote many other books. His series characters included not only Dick Donovan, the Glasgow Detective, but also Russian Secret Service agent Michael Danevitch, Vincent Trill of the Detective Service, private detective Tyler Tatlock and early forensic criminologist Fabian Field among others. The Chronicles of Michael Danevitch of the Russian Secret Service is a collection of short stories that includes 10 thrilling tales such as The mysterious disappearance of a million roubles, A modern Borgia, The strange story of an attaché, etc.