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Louisa May Alcott's overwhelming success dated from the appearance of the first part of Little Women: or Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy, (1868) a semi-autobiographical account of her childhood years with her sisters in Concord, Massachusetts. Part two, or Part Second, also known as Good Wives, (1869) followed the March sisters into adulthood and their respective marriages. (Summary from Wikipedia)...

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Fiction

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The Old Wives' Tale is a novel by Arnold Bennett, first published in 1908. It deals with the lives of two very different sisters, Constance and Sophia Baines, following their stories from their youth, working in their mother's draper's shop, into old age. It is generally regarded as one of Bennett's finest works. It covers a period of about 70 years from roughly 1840 to 1905, and is set in Burslem and Paris. (Summary by Andy)...

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Fiction

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A businessman's selfish wife forces her way into upper society.

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Fiction

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Richard Hunter, formerly Ragged Dick, continues to advance in the world through luck and excellent morals. He, along with his friend Henry, moves into a better boarding house and then finds a promising job. He is framed for theft by a jealous co-worker and ends up in jail. He is exonerated, given his job back, and then is promoted. He eventually works his way up the ladder and becomes quite successful. (Written by Alys Attewater and Barry Eads)...

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Fiction

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A collection of short stories that chronicles the first year of the Malcolm Sage Detective Bureau.

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Fiction

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A tragic love triangle between a beautiful English girl, an English gentleman, and a half-English, half-Egyptian plays out among the ruins and under the desert stars of 1920s era Egypt. The saga ends, as all love triangles must, in tragedy upon the desert sands. (Summary by Sibella Denton)...

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Fiction

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From the cold and mountainous regions of Wyoming to the bright lights of the big city, The Branding Iron is the story of a remarkable woman, Joan Carver. Born of poor means, at a fairly young age Joan decides to leave her father and strike out on her own, but she is to face more difficulties and hardships than she had reckoned for, and the men she encounters on her way share different means of dealing with her; and she of them. She becomes her own individual, with a strong will and a determination to lead her life as she sees fit. As with many of Ms. Burt's stories, The Branding Iron is filled with unexpected surprises at each turn. (Summary by Roger Melin)...

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Fiction

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Sheen, a member of Seymour's House at Wrykyn School, flees from an unexpected assault by town boys. His colleagues wade into the fight with relish, acquiring bruises and sore heads, but in the fracas, Sheen is missed, and the story makes the rounds of Wrykyn that when blows were traded, Sheen funked it.Honor in such institutions depends on reliably standing with your House. As punishment for his defection, Sheen is cut - treated as if he did not exist.In a later expedition into town, Sheen is set upon by the town bullies and finds that when retreat is no option, he can take their blows and fight against odds. Seeing his pluck, bystander Joe Bevan, an ex-champion boxer, offers to tutor Sheen.Surprisingly, Sheen finds he has a knack for boxing. And with that discovery comes a plan: he will fight for his House in the Lightweight division and win back his honor.But the best-laid plans... may go awry!Wodehouse, a humorist, picks up the sober topic of cowardice but treats it with his customary panache....

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Fiction

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It is one of several nineteenth-century novels [which] uncovers the changes in women's work in the new industrial era, as well as the dilemmas, tensions, and the meaning of that work The story depicts the struggles of a young woman trying to support herself. The main character, Christie Devon, works outside the home in a variety of different jobs, but the end of her story marks the beginning of a new career as a voice and activist for other working women. (Summary by Bonnie Lee)...

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Fiction

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The Man Who Laughs is a novel by Victor Hugo, originally published in April 1869 under the French title L'Homme qui rit. Also published under the title By Order of the King....

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Fiction

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Life in the Grey Nunnery was first published in Boston, in 1857 by Edward P. Hood, who was credited as the book's editor. It is likely that this account is by Sarah J. Richardson as told to Edward Hood, though it may in fact be completely fictional. It is clearly an anti-Catholic book, an example of the genre of fiction referred to as the convent horror story. As this summary shows, it is not known if this book is fictional or a true account.(Summary by project Gutenberg and Elaine Webb)...

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The Plastic Age (1924) is a novel by Percy Marks, which tells the story of co-eds at a fictional college called Sanford. With contents that covered or implied hazing, partying, and petting, the book sold well enough to be the second best-selling novel of 1924. The following year, it was adapted into a film of the same name, starring Clara Bow....

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Fiction

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This is a collection of works -- short stories or poetry -- by women writers in English from around the world and first published before 1923. (Summary by BellonaTimes)...

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Fiction

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Before becoming the author of such classics as Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, and Emma, Jane Austen experimented with various writing styles as a teenager in the early 1790s. This is a collection of her juvenilia, including the epistolary novels Love and Freindship, Lesley Castle, and Lady Susan, as well as her comic History of England and some shorter pieces. (Summary by Elizabeth Klett)...

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Fiction

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Tales of the Jazz Age (1922) is a collection of eleven short stories by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Divided into three separate parts, according to subject matter, it includes one of his better-known short stories, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Several of the stories had also been published earlier, independently, in either The Metropolitan, Saturday Evening Post, Smart Set, Collier's, Chicago Tribune, or Vanity Fair....

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Fiction

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One of the great literary tragedies of all time, The Hunchback of Notre Dame features some of the most well-known characters in all of fiction - Quasimodo, the hideously deformed bellringer of Notre-Dame de Paris, his master the evil priest Claude Frollo, and Esmeralda, the beautiful gypsy condemned for a crime she did not commit. (Summary by Mark Nelson)...

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Fiction

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Gertrude began life as an abused child in the care of Nan Grant, a cold and cruel woman. The only human character who was kind to her was the lamplighter, Truman Flint. When Nan, in one of her tantrums, threw Gertrude away from her house, he took her into his care. A few unforgettable people taught Gertrude everything that a young lady has to know. Almost everybody loves and admires Gertrude. But the one she loved best is Willie Sullivan. Will this love stay strong even after 6 years of separation? And will Gertrude, so admired and loved as she is, be happy - once in her life - for herself and not for others? (Summary by Stav Nisser)...

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Fiction

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'The Well-Beloved' tells the story of Jocelyn Pierston and his love for three generations of women - the grandmother, her daughter and grand-daughter over a period of forty years. Pierston is seeking for perfection in his choice of lover and in doing so lets opportunities for happiness pass him by. However, at the end of his life, he finds some kind of contentment in compromise. (Summary by Simon Evers)...

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Fiction

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The Grand Inquisitor is a parable told by Ivan to Alyosha in Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel The Brothers Karamazov (1879–1880). Ivan and Alyosha are brothers; Ivan questions the possibility of a personal, benevolent God and Alyosha is a novice monk. The Grand Inquisitor is an important part of the novel and one of the best-known passages in modern literature because of its ideas about human nature and freedom, and because of its fundamental ambiguity. In the tale, Christ comes back to earth in Seville at the time of the Inquisition. He performs a number of miracles (echoing miracles from the Gospels). The people recognize him and adore him, but he is arrested by Inquisition leaders and sentenced to be burnt to death the next day. The Grand Inquisitor visits him in his cell to tell him that the Church no longer needs him. The main portion of the text is the Inquisitor explaining to Jesus why his return would interfere with the mission of the church....

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Fiction

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This is a story of an adventure involving a young man, his dog, and two friends. Together they wander through the Western prairies on a mission to make peace between the pale-faces and the Red men. They face many perils and become heroes many times over. This wonderful story takes the characters (and the reader) on an action-packed journey through the Western prairies during the times when relations between the white man and the Natives were not always peaceful. (Summary by Allyson Hester)...

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Fiction