"An Old Man's Love," the last novel written by Anthony Trollope, tells the story of William Whittlestaff, who lost the woman he loved to a richer, more lively rival many years before, lives alone at Croker Hall in Hampshire, looked after by his loyal, odd housekeeper Mrs Baggett. Mr Whittlestaff impulsively takes in as his ward the orphaned daughter of an old friend, nineteen year-old Mary Lawrie, much to Mrs Baggett's disapproval. She - rightly - suspects that Mary's arrival will eventually lead to her master falling in love with the girl, who will supplant her as head of the household. The reserved, unworldly Mary gradually warms towards the lonely bachelor, and he eventually asks her to be his wife. Mary has only briefly experienced love three years before, with John Gordon, a penniless Oxford student who was sent away by her step-mother as a bad prospect. Mary accepts Mr Whittlestaff, but not before making him aware of the history of her short and painful dealings with John Gordon. He dismisses this knowledge, allowing that Mary 'may think of him' from time to time, but privately presuming the young man to be safely out of her life.But John Gordon unexpectedly arrives at Croker Hall. Fresh from the diamond fields of South Africa where he has made a considerable fortune in order to make himself worthy of Mary, he has come to renew his suit, and she finds herself caught in an impossible situation, feeling incapable of jilting the man whose proposal she has so recently accepted. Mr Whittlestaff, though well aware who it is that Mary really loves, is unwilling to be rejected himself once again, and reluctant to release her from her promise. John Gordon, unable quite to give up hope, goes to stay for a few days with an old university friend, Montagu Blake, a curate who lives nearby. Thus the battle is on for the hand of Mary Lawrie... Views: 409
The year is 1928. On the outskirts of a large German city, three young men are earning a thin and precarious living. Fully armed young storm troopers swagger in the streets. Restlessness, poverty, and violence are everywhere. For these three, friendship is the only refuge from the chaos around them. Then the youngest of them falls in love, and brings into the group a young woman who will become a comrade as well, as they are all tested in ways they can never have imagined. . . .
Written with the same overwhelming simplicity and directness that made All Quiet on the Western Front a classic, Three Comrades portrays the greatness of the human spirit, manifested through characters who must find the inner resources to live in a world they did not make, but must endure. Views: 409
The bestselling author of Before Women Had Wings spins a wild new tale about the strong bonds among a group of friends that loses its quirkiest member, Murmur Lee. Exploring new literary territory while keeping to her native Floridian roots, Fowler is here at her most original and entertaining.As a new year dawns over the island of Iris Haven, Murmur Lee Harp and her lover, Billy, go for a romantic sail without a care in the world. The evening comes to an abrupt halt when Murmur Lee discovers that she has drowned--but by whose hand?--in the Iris Haven river.Grief-stricken and haunted by the mysteries surrounding her death, Murmur Lee's circle of friends sets out to discover what really happened to her, and in the process they learn as much about her failings and triumphs as their own. After years of self-exile in the North, Charlee Mudd returns to set her best friend's affairs in order, only to confront her own ghosts. Edith Piaf, a former marine whose sex... Views: 409
In Danielle Steel's gripping new novel, a reclusive woman opens up her home to her neighbors in the wake of a devastating earthquake, setting off events that reveal secrets, break relationships apart, and bring strangers together to forge powerful new bonds.Meredith White was one of Hollywood's most recognizable faces. But a personal tragedy cut her acting career short and alienated her from her family. For the last fifteen years, Meredith has been living alone in San Francisco with two trusted caretakers. Then, on a muggy late summer day, a massive earthquake strikes Northern California, plunging the Bay Area into chaos. Without a moment's hesitation, Meredith invites her stunned and shaken neighbors into her mostly undamaged home as the recovery begins.These people did not even realize that movie star Meredith White was living on their street. Now, they are sharing her mansion, as well as their most closely kept secrets. Without the walls and privacy of... Views: 409
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. Views: 409
Oh, say can you see these sparks flying in this 4th of July-themed standalone short romance when singer/songwriter Kamar Jaziri meets the beautiful and undefeated Independence Games champion in a red, white, and blue meet-cute over a plate of hot dogs. Summer Darby, owner of Summer's Sun Spray Tan Salon, is a winner. The end. Every goal she's had, she's crushed and her streak isn't about to come to an end now even though the games have changed. She doesn't care how much the new singer in the pavilion lights her firecracker—she won't be distracted by his star-spangled salute. When Kamar Jaziri isn't studying in graduate school, he's working as a singer/songwriter at small gigs around the local college town—including a recent hire at Yule Heights Shopping Mall. All he wants is a taste of freedom as he chases his American dreams, and that means he doesn't have time for romance or dating. And he definitely doesn't have time... Views: 409
For the first time, Booker Prize-winner Peter Carey's dazzling stories are gathered in one volume. Bound together with his critically acclaimed collection, The Fat Man in History, are seventeen fantastic and disturbing tales previously unpublished in Canada. In each one Carey reveals the surreal within the ordinary. A man begins peeling off his girlfriend's clothes and then layers of her skin to discover another person underneath. A lone soldier who is guarding a fence that runs across the desert forgets which side is which. A mild-mannered architect, fearing that his lover will leave him because he is too ordinary, plots to steal a drug-dealer's secret cache. Collected Stories is a testament to Carey's remarkable imagination and his exceptional achievements in the short-story form. Views: 409
When the world falls to terror and tyranny reigns…… will you resist?Would you risk your own life or the lives of the ones you love?From a young Jewish woman in love fighting her way out of the Warsaw ghetto, to a Czech assassin rising above his fears for an attempt on a Nazi Hangman's life, to a daughter who vows to avenge her family by taking down a Japanese commander, and a French boy's touching act of defiance no matter how small.Come and get a glimpse of the invisible side of WWII - the Resistance, those who refuse to bow down to brutality.Hold your breath and hope for the best in the darkest of times, when our heroes and heroines risk all to defy evil so the light of freedom will shine over their countries again.This collection includes ten never before published novellas by ten of today's bestselling WWII historical fiction authors.Foreword by Terry Lynn Thomas, author of The... Views: 408
This dad-by-surprise is in over his head in USA TODAY bestselling author Marie Ferrarella's new installment in the Fortunes of Texas series!This is the story of a man named BradyReformed playboy Brady Fortune has suddenly become legal guardian to his best friend's little boys, and he is in over his head...until Harper Radcliffe comes to the rescue. His new nanny makes everything better, but her past makes her wary. Can Brady convince her they can somehow form a family? Their Fortune bunch won't feel complete without her!From Harlequin Special Edition: Believe in love. Overcome obstacles. Find happiness.The Fortunes of Texas: The Hotel Fortune Views: 408
Chapter I A Strange Request Tom Swift closed the book of adventures he had been reading, tossed it on the table, and got up. Then he yawned. "What\'s the matter?" asked his chum, Ned Newton, who was deep in another volume. "Oh, I thought this was going to be something exciting," replied Tom, motioning toward the book he had discarded. "But say! the make-believe adventures that fellow had, weren\'t anything compared to those we went through in the city of gold, or while rescuing the exiles of Siberia." "Well," remarked Ned, "they would have to be pretty classy adventures to lay over those you and I have had lately. But where are you going?" he continued, for Tom had taken his cap and started for the door. "I thought I\'d go out and take a little run in the aeroplane. Want to come along? It\'s more fun than sitting in the house reading about exciting things that never have happened. Come on out and--" "Yes, and have a tumble from the aeroplane, I suppose you were going to say," interrupted Ned with a laugh. "Not much! I\'m going to stay here and finish this book." "Say," demanded Tom indignantly. "Did you ever know me to have a tumble since I knew how to run an airship?" "No, I can\'t say that I did. I was only joking." "Then you carried the joke too far, as the policeman said to the man he found lugging off money from the bank. And to make up for it you\'ve got to come along with me." "Where are you going?" "Oh, anywhere. Just to take a little run in the upper regions, and clear some of the cobwebs out of my head. I declare, I guess I\'ve got the spring fever. I haven\'t done anything since we got back from Russia last fall, and I\'m getting rusty." "You haven\'t done anything!" exclaimed Ned, following his chum\'s example by tossing aside the book. "Do you call working on your new invention of a noiseless airship nothing?" "Well, I haven\'t finished that yet. I\'m tired of inventing things. I just want to go off, and have some good fun, like getting shipwrecked on a desert island, or being lost in the mountains, or something like that. I want action. I want to get off in the jungle, and fight wild beasts, and escape from the savages!" "Say! you don\'t want much," commented Ned. "But I feel the same way, Tom." "Then come on out and take a run, and maybe we\'ll get on the track of an adventure," urged the young inventor. "We won\'t go far, just twenty or thirty miles or so." The two youths emerged from the house and started across the big lawn toward the aeroplane sheds, for Tom Swift owned several speedy aircrafts, from a big combined aeroplane and dirigible balloon, to a little monoplane not much larger than a big bird, but which was the most rapid flier that ever breathed the fumes of gasolene. "Which one you going to take, Tom?" asked Ned, as his chum paused in front of the row of hangars. "Oh, the little double-seated monoplane, I guess that\'s in good shape, and it\'s easy to manage. When I\'m out for fun I hate to be tinkering with levers and warping wing tips all the while. The Lark practically flies herself, and we can sit back and take it easy.... Views: 408
'[Arnold Bennett's] superb Old Wives' Tale, wandering from person to person and from scene to scene, is by far the finest 'long novel' that has been written in English and in the English fashion, in this generation.'--H. G. WellsFirst published in 1908, The Old Wives' Tale affirms the integrity of ordinary lives as it tells the story of the Baines sisters--shy, retiring Constance and defiant, romantic Sophia--over the course of nearly half a century. Bennett traces the sisters' lives from childhood in their father's drapery shop in provincial Bursley, England, during the mid-Victorian era, through their married lives, to the modern industrial age, when they are reunited as old women. The setting moves from the Five Towns of Staffordshire to exotic and cosmopolitan Paris, while the action moves from the subdued domestic routine of the Baines household to the siege of Paris during the Franco-Prussian War. 'Like Wordsworth, [Arnold Bennett] has... Views: 408
