- Romance
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Harrington
Harrington follows the protagonist of the same name who tries to explore his memories in order to understand his views on Jews. It begins with Harrington's early images of Jews, which are formed by a collection stories told by his maid, of Simon the Jew. His parents further strengthen this image by rewarding Harrington's antisemitism. Only after going to public school and coming face to face with the bully Mowbray are Harrington's views on Jews changed. Mowbray's tormenting of a Jewish peddler Jacob causes this sudden shift in thinking. Then with the introduction of Berenice Montenero, an American Jew who moved to England with her wealthy father, all does not run smoothly. -
Brethren (Version 2)
A tale of love, romance and chivalry set amongst the backdrop of the climactic months before the opening of the Kings' Crusade. Two English knights are in love with the same maiden. Their devotion and bravery is tested when their beloved is kidnapped against her will and taken to Palestine and eventually to the court of the famous Muslim leader, Saladin. -
Bronze Eagle: A Story of the Hundred Days
The Bronze Eagle is a romantic historical novel which takes place during the return of Napoleon and his attempt to reestablish his Empire. The main character is a rich English businessman, who falls in love with an aristocratic young woman, with lots of pitfalls and challenges. -
Marriage, volume 2
Lady Juliana is the daughter of the Earl of Courtland. She receives a marriage proposal from a wealthy Duke but much to the horror of her father she elopes to Gretna Green a Scottish soldier Henry Douglas. She is disowned and Douglas is dismissed. The couple journey to Glenfern in Scotland and reside with the Douglas family. Juliana is shocked by the difference in lifestyles. Despite all kind-hearted attempts from Henry’s fussing spinster aunts, Miss Grizzy, Miss Jackie and Miss Nicky, Lady Juliana makes no attempt to accept her new life in Scotland and events take some interesting turns. -
History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless, Vol. 4
Betsy Thoughtless is about an intelligent and strong-willed woman who marries under pressure from the society in which she lives. Betsy learns that sometimes giving way to the role of women within a marriage can at times be fulfilling. This is the fourth and final volume in this series. Does she get her man you will have to listen and find out. ( Michele Eaton) -
Marriage, volume 1
"Love!--A word by superstition thought a God; by use turned to an humour; by self-will made a flattering madness." - Alexander and Campaspe.
Lady Juliana, the indulged and coddled seventeen ("And a half, papa") year old daughter of the Earl of Cortland, is betrothed by her father to a wealthy old Duke who can give her every luxury. She instead runs away and marries her very handsome but penniless lover. Very soon, they are forced to travel to Scotland to live with his quirky family in a rundown "castle" in the barren wilderness. Can this marriage survive? -
Valley of the Giants
The man was John Cardigan; in that lonely, hostile land he was the first pioneer. This is the tale of Cardigan and Cardigan's son, for in his chosen land the pioneer leader in the gigantic task of hewing a path for civilization was to know the bliss of woman's love and of parenthood, and the sorrow that comes of the loss of a perfect mate; he was to know the tremendous joy of accomplishment and worldly success after infinite labour; and in the sunset of life he was to know the dull despair of failure and ruin. Because of these things there is a tale to be told, the tale of Cardigan's son, who, when his sire fell in the fray, took up the fight to save his heritage--a tale of life with its love and hate, its battle, victory, defeat, labour, joy, and sorrow, a tale of that unconquerable spirit of youth which spurred Bryce Cardigan to lead a forlorn hope for the sake not of wealth but of an ideal. -
Eyes Like the Sea
He was a painter, a poet, a novelist. He lived during the Hungarian revolution and his love of freedom meant his life was often in peril. She was his first love, this girl with the eyes like the sea. She was at heart noble, good and loving. What an excellent lady might have been made out of this woman, if she had only met with a husband who, in the most ordinary acceptance of the word, had been a good fellow, as is really the case with about nine men out of every ten. But she always managed to draw the unlucky tenth out of the urn of destiny. And so she spurned his true love in favor of a high-flying dandy. He went on to pursue a life of politics and she to follow her capricious heart. But yet, throughout her life, she kept returning to him and to the end, of all men, she loved him perhaps best of all. (Eyes Like the Sea won the Hungarian Academy of Sciences prize for literature in 1890.) -
Broad Highway
Our hero, Peter Vibart, an Oxford graduate with no means of support but for 10 guineas he has inherited, sets out on a walking tour of the Kent countryside. Along the way, he meets many quaint and adoring characters as well as a few ne’er-do-wells, meets with several disasters and triumphs, and eventually he meets "The Woman," who leads him to even more disasters and triumphs. -
Highwayman
A romance and adventure novel, set in England during the reign of Queen Anne. The book is much unlike the author's later detective short stories. The actual book is difficult to locate and appears to have been forgotten. It is not even listed by Wikipedia as part of the author's work, never mind have any information on the book itself. -
Evil Genius
The Evil Genius, one of Wilkie Collins' last works, is subtitled "A Domestic Scene". It is the intriguing tale of family Linley, including the "evil genius", and their governess Sydney Westerfield. In colorful pictures, Collins presents the story of this family, which becomes entangled in the often hypocritical Victorian perceptions of morality and decency. -
Poor Wise Man
Mary Roberts Rinehart offers a superb blend of romance and suspense amidst political tensions in this story set in early 20th Century America. The characters are compelling and representative of the various socioeconomic classes. The reader follows the complicated relationship of Lily Cardew (just returned from working with the Red Cross during the war) who finds herself unable to go back to the empty social life of the rich and William Wallace Cameron, an honest, fearless and patriotic pharmacy clerk during the turbulent times of an industrial town. -
Children Of The Abbey
Published in 1796, this novel tells the trials and tribulations of Amanda and Oscar FitzAlan, brother and sister who have to navigate the world with no money or status, and hardly any connections. They find love, yet, again and again, things block the way to happiness and, worse, destroy Amanda's reputation. This is the story of abuse of power, loyalty, and, ultimately, love in many forms. -
Golden Threshold
Sarojini Naidu was a remarkable woman. Known as the Nightingale of India, she started writing at the age of thirteen and throughout her life composed several volumes of poetry, writing many poems which are still famous to this day.
As well as being a poet, Naidu was an activist and politician, campaigning for Indian independence and became the first Indian woman to attain the post of President of the Indian National Congress.
This volume contains the beautiful 'Indian Love-Song', as well as many other moving verses. All of them give insight into the heart and mind of this hugely important and influential woman.The poems are split into three categories: Folk Songs, Songs for Music and Poems. -
Rosalynde or, Euphues' Golden Legacie
This novel, which Shakespeare adapted in his pastoral comedy As You Like It, is the archetypal pastoral adventure. Two young persons of high birth, who have recently lost their fathers (one to death, one to banishment), fall in love but are separated almost at once and forced to flee to the Forest of Arden. There they meet again, but as Rosalynde is disguised for safety as a boy, named Ganymede, her lover Rosader does not recognize her. Once Rosader has confided his love to Ganymede, they play a game in which the "boy" poses as Rosalynde to give Rosader practice in wooing. As the comic episodes, replete with dramatic irony, accumulate, minor characters with complementary romantic relationships fill in the spectrum of the sublime ludicrousness of sexual love until the shadow of death (which is not excluded from Arcadia!) brings matters to a happy conclusion. The various sets of lovers are appropriately joined, and once the corrupt seats of authority back home have been either purged or reformed, Rosalynde's banished father the Duke and the high-born lovers return to civilization, bringing with them a better understanding of what really matters in life. -
Pierre and Luce
Pierre and Luce were an unlikely young pair who found themselves in the chaos of Paris during the war; Pierre, the shy, recently conscripted pacifist, and Luce, the free spirited artist in training, and both confused about the things going on around them. Why were these war birds flying overhead? Why these warning sirens, and occasional bombs exploding in the distance? Why did the government leaders, who didn't even know one another, hate and destroy so much? Why did these two delicate young adults find each other now? This story takes place between Jan. 30 and Good Friday, May 29, 1918. -
Beau Brocade
Beau Brocade is a historical fiction set in England in the early 1700's. The hero Beau is a wanted highwayman, who takes from the rich to help the poor. -
Henrietta Temple
The Armine family, in particular the young Ferdinand Armine, is in great financial difficulties. Ferdinand's grandfather has burdened the family estate with large debts, which his father did not manage to diminish. Ferdinand himself is not disposed to live with his small income alone, and during his time in Malta with his regiment, he incurs debts of his own.
The only thing that can easily pay for his debts and restore the house of Armine now is for Ferdinand to marry well, and the chosen wife for him is his cousin Katherine, the heiress to their grandfather's wealth. Katharine, who has idolized her cousin like their grandfather did, immediately consents to the marriage. But for Ferdinand, the match is a matter of necessity, not of love.
Just as Ferdinand is beginning to realize that this planned marriage will be a loveless one for him, a chance meeting with the beautiful Henrietta Temple changes everything. "There is no love but love at first sight", and this young lady proceeds to turn Ferdinand's world upside down.
Henrietta Temple is a semi-autobiographical novel and the author's first true success. Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield and later British Prime Minister, based this novel on his affair with the married Henrietta Sykes. -
Helen's Babies
In this hilarious novel, Harry Burton, a bachelor white-goods salesman, goes to take care of his sister Helen's two little boys for ten days while she and her husband are out of town. Helen says, "The children won't give you the slightest trouble; they're the best children in the world!" but, as you can imagine, Toddie and Budge are always up to something, and all sorts of comic mischief ensues. It just so happens that there's a lovely young lady in the neighborhood whom Harry admires very much, but she always seems to be passing by when he's deep in some terrible mess of the boys' making... -
Miss or Mrs.?
Natalie Graybrooke is in love with her cousin Launcelot Linzie, but engaged to Mr. Turlington, an older man who covets her fortune and whom she detests. Turlington is the executor of Natalie's father's estate. When Natalie secretly marries her cousin, Turlington arranges to have Natalie's father murdered, to gain control of his fortune. -
Eagle's Shadow
A romantic comedy in which love is complicated by a large inheritance. -
Amiable Charlatan
An Englishman is enjoying his dinner at Stephano's, at which he is a regular diner. A man enters quickly, sits at his table, starts eating his food, and hands him a packet underneath the table! So begins Paul Walmsley's acquaintance - and adventures - with American adventurer Joseph H. Parker and his lovely daughter, Eve. (Intro by TriciaG)
Note that there is an alternate reading of section 8. Both are excellent renditions, so enjoy either or both of them. -
Indian Serenade
Volunteers bring you 15 recordings of The Indian Serenade, by Percy Bysshe Shelley.
This was the Fortnightly Poetry project for September 8, 2019.
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From Wikipedia, Shelley's short life spanned from August 1792 – 8 July 1822 and after his death, became known as was one of the major English Romantic poets, who is regarded by some as among the finest lyric and philosophical poets in the English language, and one of the most influential. -
Her Mother's Secret
What kind of secret could a mother be keeping that would keep long time lovers apart, and force her eldest daughter into a hasty marriage? Young Odalite and her cousin Leonidas have lived the past three years apart, with Leonidas at sea, and were planning on marrying when he came back. An old acquaintance turns up who knows something about Odalite’s mother’s past, and holds that secret over her, threatening dishonor to her and her family, unless she gives him what he wants. Will true love win the day? This story will be continued in the sequels "Love's Bitterest Cup" and "When Shadows Die". (Bridget Gaige) -
Run to Earth
A captivating Victorian “sensation” novel by the author of “Lady Audley's Secret”, Run to Earth has it all: scoundrels and mercenaries, love and lust, jealousy, intrigue, and suspense. -
Ninth vibration and other stories, The
This is a collection of the following short stories: The Ninth Vibration -- The Interpreter : A Romance of the East -- The Incomparable Lady : A Story of China with a Moral -- The Hatred of the Queen : A Story of Burma -- Fire of Beauty -- The Building of the Taj Majal -- How Great is the Glory of Kwannon! -- The Round-Faced Beauty. Many of them are romantic, some of them are fantasy and others are occult fiction. -
Two Destinies
Mary Dermody is destined to be together with George Germaine one day, or so at least her grandmother prophesies. Destiny at first doesn't seem to adhere to this plan, and the pair is separated and lose sight of each other. But when George saves a young woman from drowning, a strong connection seems to develop between them, which seems to be almost supernatural.. -
After the Divorce
Giovanna and Costantino Ledda are a happily married couple living with their young child in a Sardinian country village close to their extended family. Costantino is wrongly convicted of murdering his wicked uncle and with no way of supporting herself, Giovanna reluctantly divorces him and is driven to marry Brontu Dejas, a wealthy but brutish drunkard who has always lusted after her.
As well as enduring a marriage amounting to slavery, Giovanna is derided by villagers for having two husbands. When Constantino is freed after the real murderer confesses to his crime, he and Giovanna are together again, but this time their relationship is outside the law, and sets both on a path of destruction, at the mercy of religious and social forces they cannot control.
The author, Grazia Deledda, won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1926, for writings which show passion and sympathy for the people of her native Sardinia, and ‘After the Divorce’ (Dopo il Divorzio) is one of her finest works. -
Doctor Grimshawe’s Secret
Dr. Grimshawe is a spider-cultivating eccentric. The central secret of the book is an all-encompassing spiders web. The central character is loosely based on the author Nathaniel Hawthorne. He always considered the book as unfinished and it wasn't published until after his death by his son Julian.Summary by Michele Eaton -
One Day's Courtship and The Heralds of Fame
Robert Barr approaches romance in two short stories in his engaging and subtly humorous style.
In One Day's Courtship, British artist John Trenton visits Quebec and tries to slip in a quick canoe trip on his last day in town to photograph the scenic Shawenegan Falls.
In The Heralds of Fame, a freshman novelist heads to America with his suitcase packed with copies of his new book. Before heading out, he panic buys an extra copy of his own book at a bookstand to buoy sales after observing someone pass it up. This sets off a chain of events. -
Antonia
Will love conquer all? An entertaining novel of growth in light of societal pressures of propriety, finance and inheritance of 19th century France. Intriguing events and turns of phrase abound. -
Mistress of Shenstone
For those of you who enjoyed The Rosary by Florence Barclay, this one will come in as a close second. When Lady Myra Ingleby learns by telegram that her husband has been killed in the war, the sadness if not true grief that assails her along with the stress it involves, leads her towards a nervous breakdown. Her doctor convinces her that the best and only cure is for her to go away for a month, under an assumed name, preferably to a small seaside town. And there at the Moorhead Inn, begins a beautiful, spontaneous romance that will keep you in suspense and pull at your heart strings. -
Golden Bough
The eyes of the Légionnaire, now grown accustomed to the glow of the light, made sure that the figure had not moved, nor was aware of his silent and furtive approach. Two plans of action suggested themselves, one to move behind the foliage to the right and intercept the monk with the lantern should he attempt to flee toward the lights of the house nearby, the other to risk all in a frank statement, a plea for charity and asylum.(A selection from Chapter 1.) -
Fortunes of Glencore
Viscount Glencore has retreated to live alone with his son in Glencore castle after his wife deserted him claiming she did not love him. He wishes to exact revenge on her by denouncing the marriage and therefore proclaiming his son to be illegitimate. This consequently robs the child of his birthright and upon his father telling him his intentions, the boy runs away and refuses to return home. Glencore asks his old friend Upton to become the boys guardian to which he agrees after much protestation against it. The boy and his companion Billy move abroad to pursue their schooling and try to live a life of anonymity but all does not go according to plan. -
If Winter Comes
If Winter Comes, was in many aspects ahead of its time, dealing with an unhappy marriage, eventual divorce, and an unwed mother who commits suicide. According to the New York Times, "If Winter Comes" was the best-selling book in the United States for all of 1922. -
Juggernaut: A Veiled Record
Edgar Braine was consistently successful at all he set out to accomplish. He went through life with goals and worked diligently and with ethical purity in reaching those goals, from becoming editor of the local newspaper on up to his political aspirations. That was how his mother, in her waning years, had advised him to reach his goals, and Edgar was determined to honor her advice. There was one caveat in his mothers advice however, and it is for Edgar to determine exactly what she meant by it. Is success measured by the interactions between business, politics, and marriage? -
Minnie's Sacrifice
Minnie, who lives in the South, does not know she is a mulatto. She is sent to the North after her mother's death, and there she marries Louis, who is ironically also of mixed parentage. The story revolves around their discoveries and how they deal with their true identities. (N.B. There are some missing portions of the text.) -
Bessie's Fortune
The coverup of a murder leads to the search for the dead man's heiress decades later in this delightful 3 part novel by Mary Jane Holmes. Her characters are as always very interesting and realistic. Poor little Bessie is raised in poverty because her mother spends most of her time at the gaming tables of Monte Carlo or Baden Baden while her so called aristocratic father looks down on all menial work. Her wealthy relatives will do nothing to help. Add the love of three men for one girl to the mix and the result is an absorbing historical romance. -
Gretchen
Rich and sophisticated Arthur Tracy returns to Tracy Park after several years abroad confused and mentally unstable. Initially claiming that Gretchen accompanied him on the boat and train back he then expects her to arrive at any moment. Meanwhile a child is found at the side of a woman frozen to death in the Tramp House nearby. Arthur's brother Frank believes he knows the child's identity but keeps it a secret fearing that his elaborate lifestyle could be in jeopardy. This is a heartwarming story with just the right mix of suspense and romance. -
Bagpipers
A story of two sets of lovers and the development of their relationships, set in rural France in the mid 19th century. -
House in the Mist, The
It was a night to drive any man indoors. Not only was the darkness impenetrable, but the raw mist enveloping hill and valley made the open road anything but desirable to a belated wayfarer like myself.
Being young, untrammeled, and naturally indifferent to danger, I was not averse to adventure; and having my fortune to make, was always on the lookout for El Dorado, which, to ardent souls, lies ever beyond the next turning. Consequently, when I saw a light shimmering through the mist at my right, I resolved to make for it and the shelter it so opportunely offered.
But I did not realize then, as I do now, that shelter does not necessarily imply refuge, or I might not have undertaken this adventure with so light a heart. Yet, who knows? The impulses of an unfettered spirit lean toward daring, and youth, as I have said, seeks the strange, the unknown and, sometimes, the terrible. (Exerpt from Chapter I) -
Mary Marie
A charming 'coming of age' story about a young girl, Mary Marie, whose young life is thrown into turmoil as her parents divorce. As she leads two lives, she comes to realize that her parents still love one another, and engineers a reunion. In the end, we discover the long-lasting effect of this turmoil on the adult Mary Marie, and her own marriage." -
Sea-Witch, The
Maturin Murray Ballou was the author of dozens of books, chiefly centered around his extensive sea travel. He was deputy navy-agent in the Boston Custom House and circumnavigated in 1882, collecting material for several travel accounts and various nautical romances, amongst which The Sea-Witch can be counted. -
Throckmorton
This is a novel about the lives of the members of the Temple family and their connections in Tidewater, Virginia, in the Reconstruction era. The widow Judith Temple and her sister in law Jacqueline live quietly on the Temple plantation, when the widower George Throckmorton returns to Tidewater. He had joined the Union Army in the war, and led with distinction. The lives of the girls are turned upside-down.. -
Wild Olive
Norrie Ford, having been unfairly convicted of murder, has escaped. A lucky chance finds him being rescued by a mysterious girl (the Wild Olive of the title), who sets him up with a new life under a new name in Argentina. He makes such a success of his time there that he is posted back to New York by the company he works for – but not before he has become engaged to be married. Back in New York, he meets up again with the Wild Olive . . . -
That Unfortunate Marriage
This is the funny, romantic, slightly tongue-in-cheek story of how little May Cheffington makes her way in the world despite being the sole surviving product of "that unfortunate marriage." -
Gwen Wynn - A Romance of the Wye
Gwendoline Wynn, our heroine, is an orphan-heiress who lives on the river Wye. She will live with aunt until she comes of age and her money. Vivian Ryecroft, our hero and a captain in the Hussars, is on a leave of absence in Herefordshire, salmon fishing on the Wye. Gwen and Vivian have a chance, and brief, encounter on the Wye, and Vivian is enchanted. Will our hero and heroine find love? Will it last? -
Golden Lion of Granpere, The
Time to do a short Continental trip with Trollope and see if we agree with Walpole. "...not only Trollope's very best shorter book, but one of the most charming idylls in English literature. - . . It has all the colour and richness and cohesion of something done irresistibly." -Walpole .
The storyline is simple - boy meets girl - parents object - trials and tribulations follow - and then the story reaches it's conclusion - but you will need to find what that is for yourself !!
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Princess Aline, The
Morton Carlton, an easy-going, rich young artist, has never taken the concepts of love and marriage all that seriously -- until by accident a copy of an English illustrated paper falls into his hands, which contains a photograph of the young Princess Aline of Hohenwald. Instantly, Carlton is captivated by the princess, and decides that he must meet her. But how to get close to a princess, who lives in a small German duchy well protected by guards and etiquette?
Carlton decides to travel to Europe and try his luck... -
Coast of Bohemia
William Dean Howells is at his iconoclastic best in this exploration of bourgeois values, particularly in the clash between respectable society and the dubious bohemian world of Art and Poetry. Cornelia Saunders has everything going for her in her middle-class world: comfort, good looks, attentive young men. She seems willing to risk it all for the sake of what might be an artistic Gift, venturing with great trepidation to put her foot over the line into Bohemia to see if it might be the thing for her. Skewering the conventions of sentimental literature as usual, Howells keeps the reader guessing to the end as to the fate of Cornelia and her Gift.