"The Monk" by M. G. Lewis. Published by Good Press. Good Press publishes a wide range of titles that encompasses every genre. From well-known classics & literary fiction and non-fiction to forgotten−or yet undiscovered gems−of world literature, we issue the books that need to be read. Each Good Press edition has been meticulously edited and formatted to boost readability for all e-readers and devices. Our goal is to produce eBooks that are user-friendly and accessible to everyone in a...
Supernatural events, women in distress, and a corrupt clergy were popular themes in the Gothic novels of the 19th century. All of those elements, along with murder, incest, and the excesses of the Spanish Inquisition, are present in The Monk (1796), one of the era's bestselling and most influential novels.Set in a sinister Capuchin monastery in Madrid, the ever-more horrifying narrative recounts the experiences of a lustful and devious abbot, who forgoes his monastic vows in the face of...
First published in 1919, W. Somerset Maugham’s “The Moon and Sixpence” is an episodic first person narrative based on the life of Paul Gaugin. At the center of the novel is the story of Charles Strickland, an English banker who walks away from a life of privilege, abruptly abandoning his wife and children, in order to pursue his passion to become an artist. Strickland leaves London for Paris and ultimately Tahiti, mirroring the life of Gaugin who would also split with his wife to pursue a life...
HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.‘The horrid mystery hanging over us in this house gets into my head like liquor, and makes me wild.’Centred around a glorious yellow diamond that carries with it a menacing history, The Moonstone tells the story of Rachel Verinder, who inherits the stone on her eighteenth birthday. That very evening, the diamond is stolen and there begins an epic enquiry into hunting down the thief. At the same time, three Indian...
First published serially in 1868, Wilkie Collins’s “The Moonstone” is generally considered as the first full length detective novel in the English language. The novel concerns a large valuable diamond plundered from India by Colonel Herncastle during the Siege of Seringapatam. Herncastle, who has been shunned by his own family, decides to bequeath the diamond to his niece Rachel Verinder on her eighteenth birthday. At her birthday party, Rachel wears the Moonstone for all to see, later that...
Stolen from the forehead of a Hindu idol, the dazzling gem known as «The Moonstone» resurfaces at a birthday party in an English country home — with an enigmatic trio of watchful Brahmins hot on its trail. Laced with superstitions, suspicion, humor, and romance, this 1868 mystery draws readers into a compelling tale with twists and turns ranging from sleepwalking to experimentation with opium. The suspense and drama is heightened as the narrative passes from one colorful character to...
First published in 1923, “The Murder on the Links” is Agatha Christie’s second novel featuring her most famous character, Belgian detective Hercule Poirot and his assistant, Arthur Hastings. Poirot and Hastings have traveled to France to meet Paul Renauld, who has recently requested their help. They are too late however and arrive to find him brutally murdered and buried in a newly dug grave near a local golf course. Poirot notices many things about Renauld’s death that are strange and...
On a French golf course, a millionaire is found stabbed in the back…An urgent cry for help brings Poirot to France. But he arrives too late to save his client, whose brutally stabbed body now lies face downwards in a shallow grave on a golf course.But why is the dead man wearing his son’s overcoat? And who was the impassioned love-letter in the pocket for? Before Poirot can answer these questions, the case is turned upside down by the discovery of a second, identically murdered corpse…
First published in four volumes in 1794, Ann Radcliffe’s “The Mysteries of Udolpho” is an unparalleled example of Gothic romance and was wildly popular upon its first appearance. Often cited as the archetypal Gothic novel, the story portrays the multitude of misfortunes heaped upon the admirable French heroine, Emily St. Aubert. Losing first her mother, then her beloved father, the orphaned Emily must be separated from her newfound love Valancourt to live with her aunt and new guardian, Madame...