Powieści historyczne ebooki

During the absolutism in France, the young clog-maker Thibaudt has a deep desire to belong to the aristocracy. One day he saves the life of a wolf, who fled from the baron Jean de Vez and his hunting party. A while later Thibaudt imagine his amazement: the wolf transformed himself into a human and offers him a pact. The wolf promises to grant Thibault’s wishes in exchange for a hair on his head. As Thibault wishes harm upon more and more people, the hairs on his head become...

”The Secret of One Night” tells about the life and love of three young women: Cyril Hendrick, daughter of a handsome, beggar, bastard; her best friend Sidney Owenson, a naive heiress; and Dolly De Courcy, an energetic actress. Both Cyril and Sidney are engaged, although everything is not as it seems in any case. Sydney’s gold miner is stupefied by Dolly, and Cyril is satisfied with her aunt, whom Cyril calls „the most humble, vicious old woman on earth.” The Secret of One N...

After „The Three Musketeers” and „Twenty Years After” the adventurous story of Athos, Porthos, Aramis and D’Artagnan continues! Against a tender love story, Dumas continues the suspense which began with „The Vicomte de Bragelonne” and will end with „The Man in the Iron Mask”. Can it be true that the King is in love with the Duchess d’Orleans? Or has his eye been caught by the sweet and gentle Louise de la Valliere? No one is more anxious to know the answer than Raoul, son o...

„Madame Bovary” is a novel by Gustave Flaubert, often considered his masterpiece. Emma Bovary yearns for a life of luxury and passion of the kind she reads about in romantic novels. But life with her country doctor husband Charles Bovary in the provinces is unutterably boring, and she embarks on love affairs to realize her fantasies. But even her affairs bring her disappointment, and when real life continues to fail to live up to her romantic expectations, the consequences ...

This swashbuckling yarn is the continuation of the story in „Memoirs of a physician,” „The Queen’s necklace,” and „Six Years Later”. „The Countess of Charny or, The Execution of King Louis XVI” is the seventh in Dumas’ series on the retelling of the French Revolution. Known as one of the important early figures in the burgeoning genre of historical fiction, Alexandre Dumas spent much of his life chronicling the social and political unrest that utterly transformed France – a...

„The Three Musketeers” (French: „Les Trois Mousquetaires”) is a historical adventure novel written in 1844 by French author Alexandre Dumas. Set in 1625–1628 when France is under threat, it recounts the adventures of a young nobleman named d’Artagnan after he leaves home to travel to Paris, to join the Musketeers of the Guard. Although d’Artagnan is not able to join this elite corps immediately, he befriends the three most formidable musketeers of the age – the mysterious A...

The bonds that tie family together are among the strongest on earth. But what of those between two brothers born as Siamese twins? The „Corsican Brothers” is a richly drawn tale of fraternal love and revenge. Alexandre Dumas weaves the compelling story of Siamese twins who are separated physically but never in spirit. They have a truly remarkable psychic link, and can feel each others pains and triumphs. When one of the brothers is murdered, the other leaves Corsica for Par...

This is a rare genre, namely historical fiction. You will learn what role the Fenians played in New Brunswick’s determination to become part of the Confederation of Canada. This book has become a revelation for many people. And she revealed the secrets of historical events.

Into a compellingly real portrait of nineteenth-century Russian society, Dostoevsky introduces his ideal hero, the saintly Prince Lev Nikolaevich Myshkin. Returning to St. Petersburg from a Swiss sanatorium, the gentle and naïve epileptic Myshkin, the last, poverty-stricken member of a once great family and regarded by many as an idiot, pays a visit to his distant relative General Yepanchin and proceeds to charm the General and his family. Here he sees a picture of Nastasya...

Set out for a rollicking good time with Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870), the renowned French author who created timeless classics such as „The Three Musketeers”, „The Count of Monte Cristo” and „The Man in the Iron Mask”. „Les Compagnons de Jehu” („The Companions of Jehu”) tale is based loosely on a historical account of a band of young aristocrats-turned-highwaymen that continuously steals the money of the Directoire in order to finance the restoration of monarchy and who foug...

Having returned safely home, Robinson Crusoe marries and starts a family. Peace is not for Robinson, he hardly hangs out in England for several years: thoughts about the island are haunted him day and night. He even buys a farm, intends to engage in rural labor, to which he is so accustomed. After the death of his wife, nothing else keeps him in England, Robinson is overcome by the old wanderlust, and sets out with his faithful companion Friday to see his island once again....

„The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain” is an 1848 ghost story by Charles Dickens. It is the final novella in Dickens’ series of five Christmas Books, the first and best known of which is „A Christmas Carol”. For Victorians these ghost stories began to be associated with Christmas time, and the end of the year. In this story, Dickens narrates the hair-raising experiences of a teacher of chemistry Redlaw. As the protagonist dwells on his past sorrows and mistakes, a phanto...

”Rescue” is not just muscular descriptions of a boiling sea or some kind of intrigue or action. Konrad decisively decides things like lengthy / nuanced conversations. But, as in all his books, „Rescue” is darkly intense, much more happening under the surface than even the characters think. This is not an easy book to concentrate on. Tension, uncertainty about what will happen next, a gloomy atmosphere – all this is alive and overwhelming.

„The Inheritors” is a little-known book of two main British writers. The plot is based on a political scheme to undermine the British Empire, based on a Congo-like colonial enterprise and manipulated by journalists. The main character claims that she is from the Fourth Dimension and works to replace the human race.

Hawthorne’s use of the language is magnificent, and the premise was interesting. We get acquainted with the love triangle between the heiress of Ellen, the immature student Edward and the painful scientist Fanshaw, and everything starts to go south after the villain enters. The pacing of this novel goes beyond the strange and not in a good way. After the first half of the novel, all expectations disappeared, even the idea that the search for the abducted girl had just begun...

This is a fun collection, the second of Hawthorne, Greek myths slightly rethought and retold for children. These are famous stories with a rather friendly perception. Antey has some friends who are called „pygmies”, but it seems that their height is about six inches. But they are going to avenge him after Hercules killed him, and Big X good-naturedly accepts the loss. Theseus still kills the Minotaur, although the beast seems to be a kind of miserable soul, but does not lea...

An early collection of fairy tales. Some of the subtle, almost subconscious problems that Hawthorne faces with female sexuality. Like the stories, these plays often do not follow the traditional dramatic arcs that can disappoint, but Hawthorne is always more interested in character than plot, so you just need to abandon any expectations of high drama and sometimes enjoy the amazing revelations that come from his attention to atmospheric details.

Dr. Dolliver, a worthy character of great antiquity. A person’s desire for an immortal existence, an attempt to satisfy which would be stated in various ways: first, through the selfish old sensualist, Colonel Dabni, who greedily grabbed the mysterious elixir and took his draft so that he died on the spot; then, through the plain old Grandir, longing to live for Pansy; and, perhaps, through Pansy herself, who, having come to enjoy some kind of ennobling love, would like to ...

At the center of the novel is a group of four characters. These are two young American artists, Hilda and Kenyon, who were brought to Rome by a thirst to comprehend the secrets of art, and their friends – the artist Miriam and the young Donatello, who are introduced into this circle not by a passion for art, but by love for Miriam. Everyone is struck by the similarity of the count with the famous statue of Praxiteles, depicting a faun. Most importantly, this similarity is n...

Amazingly conveyed the characters of the era and characters, suffering and atonement, sin and clogging of society. The plot of the story is simple – a married woman, whose husband has been absent for two years, gives birth to a child. In Puritan society, where the concept of „"personal life"” does not exist, the people are in deep shock from what happened, but mercifully decides not to kill the woman, but to punish with shame. The letter „"A"” now shines on her chest....

The novel „Doctor Grimshawe’s Secret”, in which a specific eerie coloring is attached to one particular house, still existing in Salem and adjacent to the old cemetery on Charter Street. This mood was expressed in giving a certain amount of mystery, magic or horror to events that are basically not supernatural. An interesting novel for mystery lovers.

„The Possessed” (also known in English as „The Devils” and „The Demons”) is the greatest novel ever written about the politics of revolution. It is a social and political satire, a psychological drama, and large scale tragedy. Published in 1871, Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel foretold with uncanny prescience events that would occur almost fifty years later during the Bolshevik Revolution and the Communist tyranny that followed. Inspired by the true story of a political murder th...

A book with some gothic trends in the beginning. Dark and stormy night, terrible secrets, fainting of women and orphans. The December night was wet and wild around Thetford Towers. A strange, massive, old house built during the time of James the First by Sir Hugo Thetford, the first baronet of the name, and as strong and strong now as it was then. The December day was overcast and gloomy, but the December night was stormy and wild. On this stormy winter night, the last of t...

A child of Irish immigrants, writer May Agnes Fleming was born in Canada and has lived in the United States in recent years. The exciting romance novel „The Actress’s Daughter” contains many elements that contributed to Fleming’s popular recognition: strong female characters, complex plot twists and many dark intrigues. On Christmas Eve, and the main characters this time cast a spell on the weather....

There was nobody on the road except herself. Late time – after all, it was almost midnight – and an increasing storm kept pedestrians at the door of that gloomy March night. From time to time she passed cottages in which lights were still burning, but most of the houses were shrouded in silence and darkness. And still during the night, and the storm, and the gloom, – the wanderer answered, with ruthless rain beating across her face, cold explosions – from her thin shabby cl...

A good, old-fashioned story that would appeal to any fan of Jane Austen or Bronte. This takes place in St. John, NB. There are enough love interests, mysterious meetings, solemn balls and the necessary beautiful bouncer to pat all the hearts of young ladies. Indecision and murder provide the backdrop for this gothic novel.

Set in the fictitious Midlands town of Middlemarch during 1829–32, and widely considered the greatest of Victorian novels. It comprises several distinct (though intersecting) stories and a large cast of characters: Dorothea Brooke, the heroine, idealistic but naive; Rosamond Vincy, beautiful and egoistic: Edward Casaubon, the dry-as-dust scholar: Tertius Lydgate, the brilliant but morally-flawed physician: the passionate artist Will Ladislaw: and Fred Vincy and Mary Garth, ...

George Eliot’s (the pen name of Mary Ann Evans) first full-length novel, „Adam Bede” paints a powerful portrait of rural life, seduction, faith, self-deception and redemption. First published in 1859, this innovative novel carried its readers back sixty years to a time of impending change for England and the wider world. The story follows the rural lives in the fictional community of Hayslope – a rural, pastoral and close-knit community in 1799. Adam Bede is a carpenter who...

The day was very hot. The crew lay in groups, idly, near the deck. The captain – a stately man of about forty or so – stepped up and down a quarter of the deck – now letting his eyes wander around his people or give them some order. His companion was young, three to four years younger than him, with a frank beautiful face and laughing brown eyes. His look of careless ease was very different from the proud stock of his companion, but some secret connection of sympathy bound ...

Anyone old enough to have friends they haven’t seen for many years knows how difficult it can be to get everyone together again. And when you do, it’s never quite the same. That’s the theme of „Twenty Years After” (1845), Alexandre Dumas’s sequel to „The Three Musketeers” that is a supreme creation of suspense and heroic adventure. This story follows events in France during La Fronde, during the childhood reign of Louis XIV, and in England near the end of the English Civil ...

Set in Paris during the French Revolution, „The Mesmerist’s Victim” tells the story of two star-crossed lovers whose romance blooms at an extremely inopportune moment in European history. Will they be able to find happiness together, or will they be swallowed up in the tumult of radical political and social change? „The Mesmerist’s Victim” is the second in Dumas’ fictional series on the French Revolution. The story continues the tale where „Memoirs of a Physician” left off....

A mystical and a little detective story. A dark and terrible tragedy occurred within the walls of this gloomy red farmhouse. In this room a man was killed – stabbed to death. A riddle for a real detective. Only an attentive reader will understand everything in advance.

„The Royal Life Guard – A Historical Romance of the Suppression of the French Monarchy” is a historical romance of the suppression of the French monarchy. France had been changed to a limited monarchy from an absolute one, and King Louis XVI had solemnly sworn to defend the new Constitution. But it had been remarked by shrewd observers that he had not attended the Te Deum at the Paris Cathedral, with the members of the National Assembly: that is, he would tell a lie but not...

Although the shortest of George Eliot’s novels „Silas Marner” is a cherished masterwork and a moving story of redemption by the one of the Victorian era’s most accomplished novelists. Published in 1861, the author charts the life of the cataleptic, miserly weaver Silas Marner. Arriving in insular Raveloe after a wrongful expulsion from his Calvinist community in the north, Silas is a foreign and outcast figure, left alone to accumulate a useless fortune through his loom in ...

It began as a dark crime story. It was Christmas Eve, and most people celebrated except Madge Oranmore. She and the good doctor Wiseman were planning to kill a daughter-in-law and her young child. That night before Christmas, two children remained on the beach.

This is a goose bump story. In early October, on one stormy night, when the wind blew into a storm, and rain fell on her. The main character walked in all the rain from the station. This helped her strike a mortal blow. But she would still die. She didn’t want anything but to return to the old house and die.

Mr. Gordon Carill marries Miss Rosamond Lovell, and then discovers that she is not the daughter of Colonel Lovell, but a girl with a low birth rate and a bad reputation, who was a concert singer. She is unusually beautiful, she is only eighteen years old, and the dark experiences of her past life, to put it mildly, had to hurry. In horror, she leaves her husband, who then pursues her.

What makes this work so unusual is that it tries to mimic the format of a legal report covering a fictional trial of Pickwick, who is accused of breaking a promise to marry his mistress. In a large number of quotes from the source text, Fitzgerald explains some of the factual materials. Having some experience in legal matters, Fitzgerald can also indicate where Dickens’ knowledge of the British legal system is accurate and where it may deviate slightly from the true state o...

An adventure is something that happens outside the course of ordinary life. We can’t go on an adventure all the time, but an adventure story will take you right to that adventure. With no time to scout for a library, now these books are at our fingertips. „The Hero of the People” is the fifth book in the fictional series on the French Revolution by the famous French author Alexandre Dumas. Alexandre Dumas is known for penning many masterpieces of historical fiction, includi...

Charles Dickens’ work is ranked among the finest writing in the Western canon, and the author specialized in seasonal stories to warm the hearts of his adoring fans during the holiday season. Dickens’s relationship with Christmas extends far beyond the success of „A Christmas Carol”, with five short Christmas books and countless slighter stories on a festive theme. In all of them he uses Christmas as a time to wake up the dozing conscience of the prosperous urban middle cla...

Set against the turbulent years of the Napoleonic era, Alexandre Dumas’s thrilling adventure story is one of the most widely read romantic novels of all time, along with „The Three Musketeers”. The historical setting is a fundamental element of the book, an adventure story primarily concerned with themes of hope, justice, vengeance, mercy, and forgiveness. It centers on Edmond Dantès who is wrongfully imprisoned, escapes from jail, acquires a fortune, and sets about exactin...

French author of famous swashbuckler novels Alexandre Dumas again chooses 18th century France for his milieu. No musketeers in this one, for it is the Queen, Marie Antoinette, who needs defending. Set a few years before the deluge of the French Revolution this plot is convoluted beyond belief; schemes, counter-measures, vicious personal agendas, love-struck young people, royal revenge and ecclesiastical machinations – all are present. Fans of historical fiction will love „T...

Set at the height of the „tulipomania” that gripped Holland in 17th century, this is the story of Cornelius van Baerle, a humble grower whose sole desire is to grow the perfect specimen of the tulip negra. After his powerful godfather is assassinated, the unwitting Cornelius becomes caught up in deadly political intrigue and is falsely accused of high treason by a bitter rival. Condemned to life imprisonment, his only comfort is Rosa, the jailer’s beautiful daughter, and to...

The d’Artagnan Romances are a set of three novels by Alexandre Dumas telling the story of the musketeer d’Artagnan from his humble beginnings in Gascony to his death as a marshal of France in the Siege of Maastricht in 1673. It is May 1660 and the fate of nations is at stake. Mazarin plots, Louis XIV is in love, and Raoul de Bragelonne, son of Athos, is intent on serving France and winning the heart of Louise de la Valliere. D’Artagnan, meanwhile, is perplexed by a mysterio...

„The Man in the Iron Mask” is the final episode in the cycle of novels featuring Dumas’ celebrated foursome of D’Artagnan, Athos, Porthos and Aramis, who first appeared in „The Three Musketeers”. Some thirty-five years on, the bonds of comradeship are under strain as they end up on different sides in a power struggle that may undermine the young Louis XIV and change the face of the French monarchy. Unbeknownst to D’Artagnan, Aramis and Porthos plot to remove the inept king ...

„Uncle’s Dream” is a somewhat comic small-town society tale. It satirizes Petersburg society with an emphasis on the evils of gossip. When the aging Russian Prince, Prince K., arrives in the town of Mordasov, Marya Alexandrovna Moskaleva, a doyenne of local society life, takes him under her protection, with the aim of engineering his marriage with her 23 year old daughter Zina. Yet with many rivals for the hands of both parties, events are not guaranteed to run smoothly. In...

Decades later after „Uncle’s Dream”, Dostoevsky wrote „The Permanent Husband”, also known as „The Eternal Husband” (1890). It is one of Dostoevsky’s most perfect works. Classical in form, it presents his most profound exploration of mimetic rivalry and the duality of human consciousness. A love-affair drama that is both tragedy and comedy, that follows complicated relationships, remarriages, and unrequited love. Told from the point of view of a rich and idle man who is conf...

The d’Artagnan Romances are a set of three novels by Alexandre Dumas telling the story of the musketeer d’Artagnan from his humble beginnings in Gascony to his death as a marshal of France in the Siege of Maastricht in 1673. It is May 1660 and the fate of nations is at stake. Mazarin plots, Louis XIV is in love, and Raoul de Bragelonne, son of Athos, is intent on serving France and winning the heart of Louise de la Valliere. D’Artagnan, meanwhile, is perplexed by a mysterio...

Inspired by Dostoevsky’s own gambling addiction and written under pressure in order to pay off his creditors and retain his rights to his literary legacy, „The Gambler” is set in the casino of the fictional German spa town of Roulettenburg and follows the misfortunes of the young tutor Alexei Ivanovich working in the household of an imperious Russian general. He begins gambling to win enough money to become a rich man and therefore win the favor of the woman that he loves. ...

Alexandre Dumas’s 1846 novel, „Captain Paul” is based on life of John Paul Jones, a captain in the American Navy during the revolutionary war. This epic adventure is written in best traditions of Duma’s work featuring numerous desperate battles, true love, brave heroes, devious villains, and intrigue. This tale of high adventure and daring-do is highly recommended for fans of Dumas’s work, and would make for a fantastic addition to any bookshelf! One of the most widely read...

„The Forty-Five Guardsmen”, by Alexandre Dumas (1894), the most celebrated of French romance writers, is in two volumes, and is the third of a series known as „The Valois Romances”. It basically deals with Diana de Meridor and her servant Remy who find a way to take revenge upon Duc d’Anjou for his heinous betrayal of Bussy d’Amboise. Historically it commences with the execution of Salcede and the arrival of the Forty-Five at Paris and deals with the Guise intrigues, the ca...

Following the phenomenal popularity of „Sketches by Boz”, Dickens produced two short volumes of „Sketches of Young Gentlemen” and „Sketches Young Couples"’. Dedicated to „The Young Ladies of the United Kingdom of Great Britain” as well as to other young ladies, „Sketches of Young Gentlemen” scrutinizes in a very witty and humorous fashion certain familiar characteristics of Victorian men and women. Indeed, the sketches center around certain social stereotypes developed by t...

„Sketches of Young Couples” is similarly a relatively early and short work by Charles Dickens – in which he outlines in a humorous and vaguely satirical way various „types” of couples (young, old and matured) in society under different subjects describing their actions, thoughts and decisions as couple. These subjects are chosen as a moral essay to raise the awareness and information in young couple for coming generation of both sexes. As always, Dickens’ scatterings of hum...

Amidst the conspiracy of the Holy League to make the Duke of Anjou king, Bussy d’Amboise falls in love with a lady of the court of Henry III – a lady with a very jealous husband! This sequel to Dumas’ „Marguerite de Valois” begins four years after the sudden death of King Charles IX and succession of his brother Henry III. Bristling with political plots, secret assignations, mysteries, daring escapes, duels, surprising alliances and betrayals, Dumas orchestrates two plotlin...

With their penetrating psychological insight and their emphasis on human dignity, respect and forgiveness, Dostoyevsky’s early short stories contain the seeds of the themes that came to his major novels. „Poor Folk” is a short novel focused on a powerful exchange of letters between two bright and introspective individuals living in difficult circumstances in 19th century Saint Petersburg who are in love, yet fight poverty with every inch of their breath. Bound to never be a...

Based around the Gordon riots of 1780 as seen through the eyes of the simple but good-hearted Barnaby Rudge. This is Dickens fifth novel and it was his first attempt to write an historical novel and was inspired by the Walter Scott’s novels. It is the most neglected, but most rewarding tale of treachery, forbidden love, abduction and the dangerous power of the mob. Barnaby Rudge is a half-witted young innocent simpleton who is devoted to his talkative raven, Grip. When he g...

A set of melodramatic love stories, first published in 1917 by the hugely successful English writer of popular romances. This collection contains five of Ethel M. Dell’s best short stories: „The Safety Curtain”, „The Experiment”, „Those Who Wait”, „The Eleventh Hour”, „The Place of Honor”. In „The Safety Curtain”, a dragonfly-like dancing girl is „rescued” by a subaltern when he offers her a marriage of convenience and takes her to his station in India. But she hides a myst...

Aleksandr Petrovich lives through a spiritual re-awakening that culminates with his release from the prison camp. The narrator has been sentenced to penalty deportation to Siberia and ten years of hard labor for murdering his wife. Published in 1861, „House of the Dead” is a semi-autobiographical work based upon Dostoevsky’s exile to Siberia where he was punished with „hard labor” after he was initially convicted to be punished by death by firing-squad for his involvement i...

„The Brothers Karamazov” is a passionate philosophical novel set in 19th century of Russia that enters deeply into the ethical debates of God, free will, and morality. It is a spiritual drama of moral struggles concerning faith, doubt, and reason, set against a modernizing Russia. The plot of the novel revolves around the murder of perhaps one of the most despicable characters ever created, Fyodor Karamazov, and the investigation and trial that follows, which swirl around t...

Written in the form of an autobiography, it describes the life of the eponymous narrator Robinson Crusoe. After surviving a terrible shipwreck, Crusoe discovers he is the only human on an island far from any shipping routes or rescue. At first he is devastated, but slowly, with patience and imagination, he transforms his island into a tropical paradise. For twenty-four years he lives with no human companionship – until one fateful day, when he discovers he is not alone... „...

While „The Battle of Life” is one of Charles Dickens’ Christmas Books – his annual release of a story just before Christmas – this one breaks the tradition by not being concerned with Christmas. Rather, its subtitle, „A Love Story”, reveals more of the plot. The setting is an English village that stands on the site of a historic battle. Some characters refer to the battle as a metaphor for the struggles of life, hence the title. This novel basically depicts the battles one ...

Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s novels and stories delve deep into the mysteries of the mind. Characters grapple with the most basic questions of existence, including what it means to be moral, what it means to love, and what it means to be human. Exploring many of the same themes as in his longer works, these small masterpieces move from the tender and romantic „White Nights”, an archetypal nineteenth-century morality tale of pathos and loss, to the famous „Notes from the Underground...

A predecessor to such monumental works such as „Crime and Punishment” and „The Brothers Karamazov”, „Notes From Underground” represents a turning point in Dostoyevsky’s writing towards the more political side. In this work, we follow the unnamed narrator of the story, who, disillusioned by the oppression and corruption of the society in which he lives, withdraws from that society into the underground. This story is an exposé of the irrational forces which underlie all human...

Written in a time when criminal biographies enjoyed great success, Daniel Defoe’s „The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders” (aka „Moll Flanders”) details the life of the irresistible Moll and her struggles through poverty and sin in search of property and power. Born in Newgate prison and abandoned six months later, Moll Flanders’ drive to find and hold on to a secure place in society propels her through incest, adultery, bigamy, prostitution and a resource...

This is a story about the adventures of the youth of the regency from the lower reaches of the British nobility in the harsh and capricious world of the Caribbean Sea, complete with pirates, romance and daring Spanish girls, as well as a few last minute escapes – the clichés of romantic fantasies about adventures. There are several excerpts from Conrad’s beautiful memories. At that time, slavery was the basis of the Caribbean economy, and the hero for some time is the head ...

Charles Dickens was an English writer and social critic. This charming collection of sketches from Victorian literary master brings together a number of pieces that were originally published in various popular periodicals of the era. „The Mudfog Papers” describes the local politics of the fictional town of Mudfog. It also describes the delusions of its mayor Nicholas Tulrumble, his disastrous attempts at putting on a public show and the meetings of its Society for the Advan...

Is murder is permissible in pursuit of a higher purpose? Meet Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov, a destitute and desperate former student in St. Petersburg who formulates and executes a plan to kill an unscrupulous pawnbroker for her cash. Raskolnikov convinces himself that his motive for the murder is to benefit mankind. His struggle with himself and those around him becomes a battle of the individual against society, radicalism against tradition, and ultimately the will of ma...

With a page-length title promising thrilling adventures in exotic locations, „Captain Singleton” is often viewed as an attempt by Defoe to capitalize upon the success achieved by „Robinson Crusoe”, which had been published a year earlier and had already merited a sequel. Defoe here offers a searching exploration of society from the point of view of its outcasts. The narrative describes the life of an Englishman, stolen from a well-to-do family as a child and raised by Gypsi...

Originally a regular magazine written entirely by Charles Dickens from April 4, 1840-December 4, 1841, „Master Humphrey’s Clock” uses an elderly gentleman named Master Humphrey as a frame for a number of stories. He is a lonely, crippled old man who lives in London. He keeps manuscripts in an antique clock by the chimney. He decides to start a little club, Master Humphrey’s Clock, at which the members – eventually six in total, including Mr. Pickwick – would write and read ...

„A Tale of Two Cities” is the second historical novel by Charles Dickens and it is one of his most tragic works. The plot centers on the years leading up to the French Revolution and culminates in the Jacobin Reign of Terror. The novel, first and foremost, follows several characters including Charles Darnay, a French once-aristocrat who falls victim to the indiscriminate wrath of the revolution despite his virtuous nature, and Sydney Carton, a dissipated British barrister w...

This is the story of a sea captain named Wally, who suffered a financial catastrophe at the end of an outstanding career. All he wants is to leave his only daughter some money to help her cope with her unsuccessful marriage, so he is investing his last 500 pounds in an old steamer owned by his chief engineer, a man named Massy. Massy – a desperate man who won the money to buy his ship in the lottery.

First published in 1923, this is a magnificent story about an ill-treated but fiercely proud heroine. A young lady meets a mysterious stranger at a farm called Tetherstones, where Druids in ancient times used to perform their human sacrifices. The master of Tetherstones is a large brute of a man, more gladiator than farmer, and the heroine finds herself strangely attracted by him. Is a new start possible for either one of them or will the past win out? A tale of tempestuous...