"The Suicide Club" is Robert Louis Stevenson's short story cycle that details the investigations of Prince Florizel of Bohemia and his sidekick Colonel Geraldine into a secret society of people intent on losing their lives, the so-called «suicide club». Comprised of the tales «Story of the Young Man with the Cream Tarts», «Story of the Physician and the Saratoga Trunk», and «The Adventure of the Hansom Cab»; «The Suicide Club» follows the Prince and the Colonel as they infiltrate the...
"The Tale of Genji" by Lady Muraski is one of the world's most influential novels. As the first psychological novel, «The Tale of Genji» delves into the motivations and thoughts of the main characters, which had never been done in previous novels. The famous Japanese story is about Genji, the son of an emperor. When his mother died, Genji's father married another woman who greatly resembled Genji's mother. However, Genji fell in love with his new stepmother, causing problems...
The Tale of Genji (源氏物語 Genji monogatari) is a classic work of Japanese literature written by the noblewoman and lady-in-waiting Murasaki Shikibu in the early years of the 11th century. The original manuscript no longer exists. It was made in «concertina» or «orihon» style: several sheets of paper pasted together and folded alternately in one direction then the other, around the peak of the Heian period. The work is a unique depiction of the lifestyles of high courtiers during the Heian period,...
Originally published in 1848, “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall” is the second and final novel written by Anne Bronte. Considered one of the first feminist novels, it was both instantly successful and highly controversial. The story follows the relationship between Gilbert Markham, a prosperous farmer, and the mysterious widow Mrs. Helen Graham, who takes up residence with only her son and a servant in the nearby tumbledown mansion of Wildfell Hall. Told in a series of letters, Gilbert describes how...
A level 4 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. Retold for Learners of English by Nick Bullard. 'I turned on the light, but there was nobody there. Then I saw something in the corner that made my blood turn cold. Scudder was lying on his back. There was a long knife through his heart, pinning him to the floor.' Soon Richard Hannay is running to his life across the hills of Scotland. The police are chasing him for a murder he did not do, and another, more dangerous enemy is chasing him as...
Considered by many to be one of the greatest adventure novels of all time, “The Thirty-Nine Steps” is Scottish author John Buchan’s most successful work. Published in 1915 and set during the early days of the First World War, it is the first of Buchan’s stories of Richard Hannay, a brave and honorable yet unremarkable gentleman, who finds himself mixed up in extraordinary circumstances. In “The Thirty-Nine Steps” Hannay is unintentionally drawn into a deadly plot to undermine the British war...
In this fast-paced spy thriller, a self-described «ordinary fellow» stumbles upon a plot involving not only espionage and murder but also the future of Britain itself. Richard Hannay arrives in London on the eve of World War I, where he encounters an American agent seeking help in preventing a political assassination. Before long, Hannay finds himself in possession of a little black book that holds the key to the conspiracy — and on the run from both the police and members of a...
Three musketeers. Two enemies. One major battle.’‘All for one and one for all!’Country boy d'Artagnan is desperate to join the King's elite band of bodyguards, the Musketeers. And when his fiery loyalties (which often get him into trouble) and incredible sword skill (which get him out again) manages to impress brash Porthos, foppish Aramis and melancholy Athos, the three musketeers and d'Artagnan become friends for life.When they discover that the King they protect is under threat, the...
One of the most loved science fiction novels of all time, H. G. Wells’s “The Time Machine” is a novel that crafts a vivid and haunting picture of an earth some 800,000 years into the future. First published in 1895, it was one of the first novels to deal with the concept of time travel and due to its popularity has come to be regarded as one of the most impactful works on the development of the science fiction genre. “The Time Machine” was written at the beginning of a period of great...
English novelist, historian and science writer Herbert George Wells (1866–1946) abandoned teaching and launched his literary career with a series of highly successful science-fiction novels. The Time Machine was the first of a number of these imaginative literary inventions. First published in 1895, the novel follows the adventures of a hypothetical Time Traveller who journeys into the future to find that humanity has evolved into two races: the peaceful Eloi — vegetarians...
"The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson" begins with the act of a young slave girl exchanging her light-skinned child, fearing for its safety, for that of her master's. From this reversal of identities evolves a suspenseful murder mystery and courtroom drama. «The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson» is everything one would expect from a novel by Mark Twain. On the surface it is a witty and satirical tale but as one digs deeper a biting social commentary of racial inequality can be found.