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Sartor Resartus

Sartor Resartus was a strange and new book when it was first published in 1833, and in many ways it remains a strange and new book today. The bulk of the novel takes the form of the a commentary on the life and works of the fictional Diogenes Teufelsdröckh, a sort of renaissance-man German philosopher who develops a “Philosophy of Clothes.” The commentary is composed by a fictional English commentator, known only as the “Editor”; the Editor claims to have translated many of Teufelsdröckh’s ideas and quotes from German. As the commentary progresses, the Editor receives a bag of paper scraps on which are written various autobiographical fragments from Teufelsdröckh’s life.

Thomas Carlyle · Drama · 34 ch

The Spy in Black

During the Great War, German U-boat officer Conrad von Belke possesses the bravery, intellect, and facility in English for him to undertake intelligence work in the far north of Scotland. His mission is to provide information on movements of the British fleet in support of an audacious German submarine attack on their enemy. He’s not acting alone, however; his actions are guided locally by the experienced professional spy Adolph Tiel, who is in turn abetted by a most alluring and winsome “sister.” German strategy made substantial use of U-boats in attacking merchant shipping, believing this would rapidly and decisively weaken the Allied forces.

J. Storer Clouston · Drama · 28 ch

The History of Henry Esmond

Henry Esmond is the modest but appealing hero of his own story. Set, for the most part, in the early years of the eighteenth century, Esmond is regarded as a bastard member of his noble family. He gains some ability in arms, exercises his capable brain, and finds that the tumultuous events of those years give him ample opportunity to make his way as a military man.

William Makepeace Thackeray · Historical · 46 ch

The Canary Murder Case

Philo Vance, the snobbish art collector who happens to be the longtime friend of District Attorney John Markham, once more finds himself drawn into a criminal investigation. Margaret Odell, the beautiful and talented theatrical singer nicknamed “The Canary,” has been strangled during the night, and from the very beginning there are signs that nothing in the case is quite what it appears to be. Accompanied once more by Sergeant Heath, the unlikely trio struggle to make sense of the evidence.

S. S. Van Dine · Mystery · 33 ch

Toilers of the Sea

Gilliat is an accomplished sailor, but due to a mysterious mother and a home locally regarded as haunted, his acceptance into Guernsey society is limited. That isolation doesn’t stop him from falling for Déruchette, the “neat and delicate and pretty” niece of local ferry-owner Mess Lethierry. When the ship is involved in a catastrophic incident, Déruchette announces that she will marry the man who can salvage it; Gilliat immediately steps forwards to take on, alone, the impossible task.

Victor Hugo · Drama · 100 ch

With Fire and Sword

Goodwill in the seventeenth century Polish Commonwealth has been stretched thin due to the nobility’s perceived and real oppression of the less well-off members. When the situation reaches its inevitable breaking point, it sparks the taking up of arms by the Cossacks against the Polish nobility and a spiral of violence that engulfs the entire state. This background provides the canvas for vividly painted narratives of heroism and heartbreak of both the knights and the hetmans swept up in the struggle.

Henryk Sienkiewicz · Historical · 70 ch

The Dead Secret

The Dead Secret is Wilkie Collins’ fourth novel. It first appeared in serial form in Charles Dickens’ Household Words magazine during 1856. Like many of Collins’ books, it features incidents and themes which were considered to be sensational at the time; in this case, sex before marriage, illegitimacy, and fraud.

Wilkie Collins · Drama · 30 ch

The Crimson Circle

Strange envelopes marked with a crimson circle have started to appear across London: a series of blackmailing letters, each directed at prominent figures in society and communicating the threat of punishment if the demands within aren’t met—a promise that has yielded fatal results for those who have ignored those instructions. Despite their best efforts, the police haven’t been able to track down this shadowy cabal of criminals, leaving them without the means to put an end to the terror that has overtaken London and its citizens. The lead investigator in the Crimson Circle case, Chief Inspector Parr, finds an unlikely partner in Derrick Yale, an enigmatic detective with a peculiar gift for deduction, after the Circle claims its latest victim: Mr. James Beardmore, found dead in his estate after failing to pay £100,000.

Edgar Wallace · Mystery · 45 ch

The Lost Girl

Alvina Houghton is the only daughter of James Houghton, a merchant in the English Midlands whose business sense is insufficient to ensure his family’s prosperity. Alvina is independent-minded and struggles to fit in with the society around her—none of the available men spark her interest, and she begins training as a maternity nurse more out of a sense of obligation than of duty. As her father’s business continues to do poorly, he decides to open a theater, with Alvina helping by playing the piano.

D. H. Lawrence · Drama · 18 ch

Can You Forgive Her?

Can You Forgive Her? is the story of Alice Vavasor and her cousins. On her father’s side are Kate and George Vavasor, brother and sister.

Anthony Trollope · Drama · 81 ch

The Song of the Lark

The Song of the Lark, Willa Cather’s third novel, was written in 1915. It is said to have been inspired by the real-life soprano Olive Fremstad, a celebrated Swedish-American singer who, like the protagonist, was active in New York and Europe during the time period depicted in the novel. The work explores how an artist’s early life influences their work.

Willa Cather · Drama · 62 ch

The Arrow of Gold

The young narrator of The Arrow of Gold, a British seaman called Monsieur George, finds himself in Marseilles, France, in the 1870s during the time of the Third Carlist War. Supporters of the pretender are smuggling arms into Spain, and the narrator soon becomes entangled in this undercover plot. His benefactor is the mysterious Doña Rita, and their relationship is the plot’s focal point.

Joseph Conrad · Drama · 27 ch

The End of the Tether

Henry Whalley is an aging but once-famous merchant captain in Southeast Asia. He made a name for himself in the age of sail, when he commanded clipper ships and even made some minor geographical discoveries. When a banking crash wipes out his life savings, he retires with enough funds to sail on his own small ship.

Joseph Conrad · Drama · 14 ch

An Outcast of the Islands

Peter Willems is a successful clerk in a Dutch East Indies trading company until he’s caught for embezzlement. He turns to Tom Lingard, his erstwhile benefactor, who sends him to work in a commercial outpost on a river settlement. There, Willems meets a young and beautiful native girl.

Joseph Conrad · Drama · 27 ch

The Club of Queer Trades

Charles Swinburne and his friend, the private detective Rupert Grant, are startled when Major Brown recounts the things that happened to him that morning. Along with Rupert’s brother, the ex-judge Basil Grant, they launch headlong into their investigation only to discover that the antagonist is a member of the Club of Queer Trades. Over the course of six short stories, the secrets of the Club come to light in surprising ways.

G. K. Chesterton · Drama · 6 ch

Lost Face

The first anthology of short stories by Jack London, Lost Face tells seven stories about the Klondike gold rush. In “Lost Face,” the fur thief Subienkow faces gruesome torture and execution by a tribe of Indians, armed with only his wits. “Trust” is a story about the dangers of the Yukon River.

Jack London · Drama · 8 ch

The Vicar of Bullhampton

Frank Fenwick is in many ways a model clergyman. He takes seriously the cure of souls in his Wiltshire parish, extending to the material as well as spiritual well-being of his flock, while upholding his convictions without doctrinaire excess. But in his ministry, as well as his friendships, his good intentions embroil him in unwonted controversy.

Anthony Trollope · Drama · 56 ch

The Greene Murder Case

Philo Vance, the snobbish art collector turned amateur detective, finds his curiosity piqued by the shootings of two members of the Greene family household. Initially judged to be a burglary gone wrong, careful examination reveals the murders must have been carefully planned, and the perpetrator remains wholly elusive. As Vance and the New York police struggle to bring order to the Greene mansion, the murder attempts continue relentlessly.

S. S. Van Dine · Mystery · 30 ch

The Coral Island

Three young members of the crew of a merchant ship sailing in the South Pacific are the sole survivors of its wreck in a storm. Swept ashore an uninhabited island, their initial efforts to survive soon lead them to a settled life in what seems to be a tropical paradise. However, their enjoyment of their new island home doesn’t dampen their desire to return to England, their homeland.

R. M. Ballantyne · Adventure · 37 ch

The Small House at Allington

The Small House at Allington was originally serialized in Cornhill Magazine between July and December 1862. It is the fifth book in Trollope’s Chronicles of Barsetshire series, being largely set in that fictious county of England. It includes a few of the characters from the earlier books, though largely in very minor roles.

Anthony Trollope · Drama · 61 ch