In Pollyanna Grows Up we follow the titular character as she “grows up” through a story told in two connected parts. The first part takes place in Boston when she is age 13, having just been rehabilitated from severe injuries sustained in an automobile accident. As she leaves the hospital, she is sent to stay with a nearby dowager, who has long withdrawn into grief, pining for her lost nephew.
Eleanor H. Porter · Drama · 49 ch
Published in 1919, Mr. Standfast is a thriller set in the latter half of the First World War, and the third of John Buchan’s books to feature Richard Hannay. Richard Hannay is called back from serving in France to take part in a secret mission: searching for a German agent. Hannay disguises himself as a pacifist and travels through England and Scotland to track down the spy at the center of a web of German agents who are leaking information about the war plans.
John Buchan · Adventure · 23 ch
Five friends are staying at a remote cottage in the Cornish countryside, where they’re joined by an American. While helping clean out a local well, the six discover an ancient cup buried within. This cup seems to have a long and mysterious history—could it even be the fabled Holy Grail?
Mary Butts · Drama · 33 ch
Katherine Howard, a young, devoutly Catholic, and impoverished noblewoman, arrives at the court of King Henry VIII as he has just married his fourth wife. The idealistic and beautiful girl is unprepared for the corruption and intrigue she finds there. Quite accidentally, she comes to the notice of the king and quickly becomes involved with the competing members of court.
Ford Madox Ford · Historical · 21 ch
Sir Oliver Tressilian, a retired seafarer, lives in Cornwall with his half-brother Lionel. After Lionel kills the brother of Oliver’s beloved Rosamund, Oliver protects him by letting it be assumed that he himself did the deed. Lionel, becoming paranoid that Oliver will one day expose him, has Oliver kidnapped and sold into slavery.
Rafael Sabatini · Adventure · 35 ch
Framley Parsonage is the fourth novel in Trollope’s Chronicles of Barsetshire series. Originally a serial, it was first published as a book in 1861, and it has since been praised for its unsentimental depiction of the lives of middle-class people in the mid-Victorian era. As with the other books in the series, Framley Parsonage is set in the fictious English county of Barsetshire, and deals with the doings of a variety of families and characters who live in the region, several of whom have appeared in the previous books; but it primarily concerns the young Reverend Mark Robarts.
Anthony Trollope · Drama · 48 ch
“Bunny” Manders is drawn to fill the void left by A. J. Raffles’ absence at the end of The Black Mask with untold stories of the past adventures.
E. W. Hornung · Drama · 13 ch
A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder is perhaps James De Mille’s most popular book; sadly, De Mille didn’t get to see this novel grow in popularity, as it was first serialized posthumously, in Harper’s Weekly. De Mille had written the novel before the “lost world” genre had become saturated, meaning many of the ideas were fresh and original for the time in which it was written. But, since he didn’t succeed in publishing it during his lifetime, by the time the novel was made public other authors like H.
James De Mille · Sci Fi · 33 ch
The Lost Continent, initially published as a serial in 1899, remains one of the enduring classics of the “lost race” genre. In it we follow Deucalion, a warrior-priest on the lost continent of Atlantis, as he tries to battle the influence of an egotistical upstart empress. Featuring magic, intrigue, mythical monsters, and fearsome combat on both land and sea, the story is nothing if not a swashbuckling adventure.
C. J. Cutcliffe Hyne · Fantasy · 21 ch
On the day after visiting his friend Peters, Rector Driver learns that Peters has been murdered. The prime suspect seems clear: the alcoholic gardener Trethewy, who has a motive, an opportunity, and the murder weapon. But when a strange letter concerning the fate of the ship Eleanor arrives for his dead friend, the rector realizes the murder mystery is more complicated than it appears.
Godfrey R. Benson · Mystery · 23 ch
After having spent almost three years in prison Johnny Gray is released, only to be dismayed to find that his ladylove has been pressured by her father, an old friend of his, into marrying another man. Soon after, Johnny discovers that the bridegroom is actually a suspected counterfeiter and the son of a notorious criminal plotting to ruin his friend by exposing his nefarious past. Johnny is determined to foil the plot and bring the counterfeiter and his father to justice—but first he needs to rescue the new bride.
Edgar Wallace · Adventure · 34 ch
Plantagenet Palliser, now the Duke of Omnium, is a familiar character to the readers of the Barchester and Palliser series, but only now, at a moment of political crisis, does he take center stage. Neither the Liberals nor the Conservatives can command a majority in Parliament; the Duke is called upon as the only figure capable of forming a coalition government. He does so, but only with deep misgivings about whether the role of Prime Minister suits his character.
Anthony Trollope · Drama · 80 ch
The Water of the Wondrous Isles is a landmark in fantasy fiction. First published a year after Morris’s death in 1897 by Kelmscott Press—Morris’s own printing company—the novel follows Birdalone, a young girl who is stolen as a baby by a witch who takes her to serve in the woods of Evilshaw. After she encounters a wood fairy that helps her escape the witch’s clutches, Birdalone embarks on a series of adventures across the titular Wondrous Isles.
William Morris · Fantasy · 109 ch
The Old English Baron opens with Sir Phillip Harclay returning to England after years of foreign service to find his friend Arthur Lord Lovel dead, and the family castle sold to Baron Fitz-Owen. Among the baron’s children, Harclay takes notice of the adopted son Edmund, a peasant from the nearby village. The knight feels an immediate connection with the child and offers to adopt him as his own.
Clara Reeve · Drama · 7 ch
George Arthur Rose aspired to the priesthood, but after being much abused and taken advantage of for many years by his Catholic brothers, he finds himself disillusioned with humanity. But just as the secret conclave in Rome is deadlocked in the election of the next Pope, he finds himself rediscovered. A compromise in the election results in Rose being chosen for the office, and he styles himself as Hadrian the Seventh.
Frederick Rolfe · Drama · 13 ch
Three men, working as artists in Paris, enjoy their days and evenings together in artistic and musical activities. A mysterious character named Svengali often visits their workshop and plays the piano. He is talented and thinks very highly of himself.
George du Maurier · Drama · 19 ch
When Dr. Marjoribanks’s wife dies, his teenage daughter makes it her purpose in life “to be a comfort to dear papa.” At least, Lucilla thinks, ten years of such devotion might suffice, by which time she might have begun to “go off.” But beneath this grand intention lies a yet more ambitious plan: to revolutionize the moribund and constricted social life of Carlingford. She is remarkably well-endowed for such an aspiration, being of able mind and otherwise ample proportions. As Lucilla’s plans unfold, her Thursday evenings become a great success, and draw into her sphere characters whose lives now become deeply entwined with her own.
Margaret Oliphant · Drama · 52 ch
Dick Hunter is a shoeshiner working and living on the streets of New York City in the mid-19th century. Despite being dealt a bad hand, Dick attempts to extricate himself from his situation and become respectable. But it won’t be easy, thanks to the bullies, con men, and thieves that roam the city.
Horatio Alger Jr. · Drama · 28 ch
The Little White Bird is generally divided into three sections: the first chronicles the narrator’s life in London, beginning with how he came to know a little boy named David (who joins him on his adventures), and describes other matters of his everyday life. The second section tells the story of how Peter Pan came to be a “betwixt-and-between” and his adventures in Kensington Gardens, including his interactions with the birds as well as the fairies hidden in the park. Finally, the third section of the book revisits London with the narrator and David.
J. M. Barrie · Fantasy · 26 ch
It’s 1913, and war is on the horizon. The disgraced English aristocrat, Everard Dominey, is stumbling through East Africa when he comes across his old classmate and lookalike—the German Baron von Ragastein. Shortly after their chance encounter, Dominey returns to England.
E. Phillips Oppenheim · Drama · 29 ch