The House in the Mist

Anna Katharine Green

In The House in the Mist, weary traveler Hugh Austin happens upon a house in a village whilst seeking shelter on a misty night. The house is open, and initially the reception he gets is quite strange to him, he then realizes that he was taken for the relative of a dead man and that the gathering he encounters is a meeting of relatives regarding an inheritance that was left. By the time they find out the deceased had long-held vengeance on his mind, it is too late. The House in the Mist is a short story by Anna Katharine Green which is included in her collection Room Number 3 and Other Detective Stories. She is credited with shaping detective fiction into its classic form, and developing the series detective.

The Forsaken Inn

Anna Katharine Green

The Forsaken Inn by Anna Katharine Green is an exceptional novel of gothic horror set in late 18th-century Revolutionary America. Told from the perspective of a Mrs. Truax, the owner of an inn, The Forsaken Inn is a locked-room mystery that keeps readers guessing about what has happened. Edwin Urquhart, loved by two sisters, chooses to marry the elder. Arriving at the Forsaken Inn for their honeymoon, they occupy an apartment containing a secret chamber. That night, the young bride is murdered and buried in this secret room. Did her new husband commit the crime or is something much more sinister afoot? Yet, many people saw that bride leave with her husband. How can this be?

The Ambassadors

Henry James

The novel comes from what is called Jamess late period. The writing is mannered, baroque, complex, and focused intently on the psychological relationships between his characters. There is very little plot here in the conventional sense. Much of the interest in the narrative is centred on the limitations of the principal character, from whose point of view the story is told. Lambert Strether is a morally upright, middle-aged American who feels that life has passed him by. He wants to do the right thing, but finds himself somewhat out of his depth when he visits Paris which Walter Benjamin called the capital of the nineteenth century. In general, The Ambassadors describes a visit to Europe in the early 20th century by Americans to find and retrieve a wayward family member, and the complex cross-cultural interactions between the Americans and the Europeans.

The Sundial

Fred M. White

John Charlock had found out that all he had longed and hoped for since the early days was nothing more than vexation of spirit. Charlock made his way upwards. He had known what it was to starve. He often slept in parks. And now everything has changed, and he has become almost unsurpassed as a portrait painter. Glory and happiness came to him thanks to his brush and pencil. And at the same time, he seems to have found the only woman who could make him happy.

Przygody dobrego wojaka Szwejka podczas wojny światowej

Jaroslav Hašek

Przygody dobrego wojaka Szwejka podczas wojny światowej to wciągające perypetie Józefa Szwejka z Pragi, sprzedawcy psów i pucybuta. Wydarzenia odwołują się do realiów historycznych i doświadczeń czeskiego autora Jaroslava Haška, tworząc przesycony ironią obraz świata początku XX wieku. Obfitość anegdot i cynicznego humoru nie przesłania antywojennego i antyaustriackiego wydźwięku powieści.

Black Wind Blowing

Robert E. Howard

In Black Wind Blowing, Howard lays it on so thick I half suspected he was trying to do a spoof on the genre. But then, his normal storytelling was always full of bizarre images, hyperactive violence and heavy use of adjectives so this story is probably just an extreme example. It helps too, that Black Wind Blowing has enough wild premises to build at least two or three effective horror stories on. If youre not moved by whats going on at the moment, by the next page the story has shifted gears in a weirder direction.

Chłopi

Władysław Stanisław Reymont

Akcja powieści Chłopi rozgrywa się pod koniec XIX wieku. We wsi Lipce trwają jesienne prace polowe. Najbogatszy gospodarz we wsi, Maciej Boryna, zamierza się ożenić, mimo iż jego dzieci domagają się rozdzielenia między nich ziemi. Decyduje się starać o rękę najpiękniejszej panny w Lipcach Jagny Paczesiówny, córki Dominikowej. Jagna bezwolnie godzi się na ślub z Boryną, ponieważ we wszystkim słucha matki. Antek Boryna, syn Macieja, buntuje się jednak przeciw temu małżeństwu Jagna jest jego kochanką. Nie wyobraża sobie, że będą mieszkali pod jednym dachem. Ostatecznie, po jednej z awantur, Antek i jego żona Hanka z dzieckiem opuszczają zagrodę Borynów. Nikt nie spodziewa się mających wkrótce nadejść wypadków, które zaciążą na całej wiejskiej społeczności.

Sarrasine

Honoré de Balzac

This is the coming of age story of a young sculptor named Sarrasine and the choices he will face on his journey towards his destiny. We follow Sarrasine as he travels from France to Italy to search for his passion and find the love of his life. The story of Sarrasine is intertwined with that of the beautiful La Zambinella, and Italian singer with whom the young sculptor will fall madly, deeply in love with. From that moment, he was no longer the owner of his thoughts. However, La Zambinella has a secret that Sarrasine has no idea of and would no doubt shake him to his very core. This shocking tale of fate and love is one of the first to truly ground the genre into realism and adds in the dark and sometimes painful truth that is prevalent in real life. Sarrasine, written by legendary author Honoré de Balzac is widely considered to be one of the greatest books of all time.