R. D. Blackmore’s enduring masterpiece, Lorna Doone: A Romance of Exmoor, is renowned for its beautifully descriptive writing, the cleverly woven plot, and the powerfully drawn portrait of true love. Set in Devon in the late 17th century, it is an enduring masterpiece. First published in 1869, the novel revolves around the story of Devonshire farmer, John Ridd, his family, friends, and community. John tells the story in the first person beginning when he is just a boy and his fath...

This is Charles Dickens’s second novel and regarded as one of his best. It was originally published as a serial from 1837 to 1839, and titled; Oliver Twist, or; A Parish Boys Progress. As a book, it first appeared in 1838 in three volumes. The story follows the title character Oliver Twist, who, being born and raised in a workhouse for the first ten years of his life, runs away to nearby London. Here, he falls in with a gang of young thieves and pickpockets controlled by ...

An account of the D-Day invasion—from the German point of view.The Allied invasion of Northern France was the greatest combined operation in the history of warfare. Up until now, it has been recorded from the attackers' point of view—whereas the defenders' angle has been largely ignored.While the Germans knew an invasion was inevitable, no one knew where or when it would fall. Those manning Hitler's mighty Atlantic Wall may have felt secure in their bunkers...

This powerful and moving 1860 novel is believed to be George Eliot’s most autobiographical novel. She was certainly referencing personal experience when she wrote the character of Maggie Tulliver.The protagonist siblings, Tom and Maggie, are brought up in Lincolnshire, at Dorlcote Mill, on the banks of the imaginary River Floss. Maggie adores and worships her brother. As a young boy, he has adopted a chivalrous, manly, moral code, but also displays a reluctance to learn, and he fai...

A husband murdered . . . A widow's ruse to find the killer . . . A nobleman's curiosity . . . Lead to a white slavery ring destroyed and a love found . . .Although her marriage to George Waddley has been passionless, the beautiful widow Cecilia Haukstrom Waddley vows to unmask the man responsible for her husband's murder. Suspecting the culprit traveled in society circles, she diverts attention from eavesdropping and prying with constant and tiresome complaints of ...

The economic operating system keeps crashing. It’s time to upgrade to a new one.Five decades ago, The Limits to Growth shocked the world by showing that population and industrial growth were pushing humanity towards a cliff. Today the world recognizes that we are now at the cliff edge: Earth has crossed multiple planetary boundaries while widespread inequality is causing deep instabilities in societies. There seems to be no way out.Earth For ...

“The following Tales are meant to be submitted to the young reader as an introduction to the study of Shakespeare, for which purpose his words are used whenever it seemed possible to bring them in; and in whatever has been added to give them the regular form of a connected story, diligent care has been taken to select such words as might least interrupt the effect of the beautiful English tongue in which he wrote: therefore, words introduced into our language since his time have been as fa...

First published in 1905, H. G. Wells’s Kipps is an appraisal of society and class framed in a “rags to riches” style plot. The protagonist, Arthur Kipps, is an orphan who, from an early age, is entrusted to his Aunt and Uncle who own a shop in New Romney on the Kent coast in Southern England. Educated poorly at a cheap, middle-class seminary boarding school, he is later apprenticed for seven years to a draper in Folkstone. Before he leaves home, however, Arthur becomes enamored by...

Emily, the Dowager Countess of Woodhaven, has received title to lands in the Highlands-MacGregor lands—and after surviving an abusive marriage, she's determined to make a new start . . . without a man. She just has to win over the handsome Scottish laird whose family has lived there for centuries. How hard could it be?When Ian MacGregor heard that the Sassenach countess was actually laying claim to his lands, he figured to scare the aging widow away by showing her the hardships of ...

Set in rural Victorian England, Far from the Madding Crowd describes the life and relationships of a woman Farmer, Bathsheba Everdene. First with the faithful shepherd Gabriel Oak, then her lonely neighbor William Boldwood, and finally, the prodigal soldier Sergeant Frank Troy. Set in Thomas’s imaginary county of Wessex, it deals with themes of love, honor, and betrayal, against a backdrop of the idyllic, though the idyllic was often harsh in a farming community in Victorian Engla...

When newlyweds Sir James and Lady Cecilia Branstoke come to console a widow on the death of her husband, they discover some things don't add up about the death of the young Lord. Worse, a man who won't state his purpose, but is obviously military, wants a carte blanche to search the dead man's library! The sheer effrontery!What begins as sympathy and concern for a troubled neighbor escalates into a mystery with reverberations at the highest level of government.Napoleon has ...

Let’s follow the adventures of Lulu the Moon Dog. A brave and curious little dog who lived on the Moon and went exploring with her best friends Robbie the Robot and played with Benji, her little puppy friend that her parents brought to the moon for her.