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- Inasmuch as the scene of this story is that historic pile, Belpher Castle, in the county of Hampshire, it would be an agreeable task to open it with a leisurely descrip-tion of the place, followed by some notes on the history of the Earls of Marshmoreton, who have owned it since the fifteenth century. Unfortunately, in these days of rush and hurry, a novelist works at a disadvan-tage. He must leap into the middle of his tale with as little delay as he would employ in boarding a moving tramcar. He must get off the mark with the smooth swiftness of a jack-rabbit surprised while lunching. Otherwise, people throw him aside and go out to picture palaces. I may briefly remark that the present Lord Marshmore-ton is a widower of some forty-eight years: that he has two children-a son, Percy Wilbraham Marsh, Lord Belpher, who is on the brink of his twenty-first birth-day, and a daughter, Lady Patricia Maud Marsh, who is just twenty: that the chatelaine of the castle is Lady Caroline Byng, Lord Marshmoreton's sister, who married the very wealthy colliery owner, Clifford Byng, a few years before his death (which unkind people say she hastened): and that she has a step-son, Reginald. Give me time to mention these few facts and I am done. On the glorious past of the Marshmoretons I will not even touch.

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James Joyce's Portrait of an Artist is one of the most significant literary works of the twentieth century, and one of the most innovative. Its originality shocked contemporary readers on its publication in 1916 who found its treating of the minutiae of daily life as indecorous, and its central character unappealing. Was it art or was it filth? The novel charts the intellectual, moral, and sexual development of Stephen Dedalus, from his childhood listening to his father's stories through his schooldays and adolescence to the brink of adulthood and independence, and his awakening as an artist. Growing up in a Catholic family in Dublin in the final years of the nineteenth century, Stephen's consciousness is forged by Irish history and politics, by Catholicism and culture, language and art. Stephen's story mirrors that of Joyce himself, and the novel is both startlingly realistic and brilliantly crafted, not to mention that it is one of the founding texts of Modernism and the precursor of the acclaimed Ulysses. For this edition Jeri Johnson, an eminent Joyce scholar, has written an introduction and notes which together provide a comprehensive and illuminating appreciation of Joyce's artistry.

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"A Room with a View," by E. M. Forster, depicts a young Englishwoman's adventure trying to come to grips with the conflict between her desires and society's expectations. Lucy Honeychurch is a well-bred young middle class girl on holiday in radiant Florence. As E. M. Forster tells it, Lucy comes from a family which is overly concerned with respectability, and is over-protected by a spinster named Charlotte Bartlett. Under no circumstances will Miss Bartlett allow Lucy to pursue (or even examine) her affection for the handsome young George Emerson--his father is far too unconventional with his modern notions about honesty and freethinking. Determined to forget George, Lucy finally gives in to the repeated proposals of Cecil Vyse, a thoroughly fashionable young gentleman, if not very exciting. And so E. M. Forster sets the stage for "A Room with a View," a splendid satire on the English social strata of the early part of the 20th century when the formal social structure of the Victorian era was beginning to fray at the edges. Vyse is a delightfully drawn male chauvinist; nobody likes him, but everyone is willing to accept him, and Lucy convinces herself that she is in love with him. However, Vyse's own penchant for getting his way by playing rather cruel practical jokes brings the Emersons back into the picture. Confronted by the contrast between the not quite classy but intelligent, thoughtful (and bold) George Emerson and the arrogant, boorish, but elite Cecil Vyse, Lucy finally decides to live as she plays Beethoven, with exciting results. E. M. Forster writes gently and calmly, but with a passion for life and love welling up beneath the surface. "A Room with a View" is a lovely book, vital with the force of a sensitive and empathetic mind. Highly recommended!

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The Mysterious Affair at Styles is a detective novel by Agatha Christie. It was written in the middle of the First World War, in 1916, and first published by John Lane in the United States in October 1920 and in the United Kingdom by The Bodley Head (John Lane's UK company) on 21 January 1921. The US edition retailed at $2.00 and the UK edition at seven shillings and sixpence (7/6). Styles was Christie's first published novel. It introduced Hercule Poirot, Inspector (later, Chief Inspector) Japp, and Arthur Hastings. Poirot, a Belgian refugee of the Great War, is settling in England near the home of Emily Inglethorp, who helped him to his new life. His friend Hastings arrives as a guest at her home. When the woman is killed, Poirot uses his detective skills to solve the mystery. This is also the setting of Curtain, Poirot's last case. The book includes maps of the house, the murder scene, and a drawing of a fragment of a will. The true first publication of the novel was as a weekly serial in the The Times, including the maps of the house and other illustrations included in the book. This novel was one of the first ten books published by Penguin Books when it began in 1935. This first mystery novel by Agatha Christie was well received by reviewers. An analysis in 1990 was positive about the plot, considered the novel one of the few by Christie that is well-anchored in time and place, a story that knows it describes the end of an era, and mentions that the plot is clever. Christie had not mastered cleverness in her first novel, as "too many clues tend to cancel each other out"; this was judged a difficulty "which Conan Doyle never satisfactorily overcame, but which Christie would." From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).

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One of the most popular and most quoted books in English, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was the creation of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1832–1898), a distinguished scholar, mathematician and author who wrote under the pseudonym of Lewis Carroll. Written for young readers but enjoyed equally by adults, the fantastic tale transformed children's literature, liberating it from didactic constraints. The story is deeply but gently satiric, enlivened with an imaginative plot and brilliant use of nonsense, as it relates Alice's adventures in a bizarre, topsy-turvey land underground. There she encounters a cast of strange characters and fanciful beasts, including the White Rabbit, March Hare, and Mad Hatter, the sleepy Dormouse and grinning Cheshire Cat,the Mock Turtle, the dreadful Queen of Hearts, and unusual creatures. ---------- Also contained in: - [Alice in Wonderland](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL151449W) - [Alice's Adventures in Wonderland / The Hunting of the Snark](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL17727149W) - [Alice's Adventures in Wonderland / Through the Looking Glass](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL9770557W) - [Alice's Adventures in Wonderland / Through the Looking-Glass / Hunting of the Snark](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL8029136W) - [Best of Lewis Carroll](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL138061W) - [Complete Illustrated Works of Lewis Carroll](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL151414W) - [Complete Stories of Lewis Carroll](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL24036293W) - [Complete Works of Lewis Carroll](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL151444W) - [Magic in the Air](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL1387662W) - [Reader's Digest Best Loved Books for Young Readers: Volume Eight](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL15150278W)

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One of the most popular and most quoted books in English, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was the creation of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1832–1898), a distinguished scholar, mathematician and author who wrote under the pseudonym of Lewis Carroll. Written for young readers but enjoyed equally by adults, the fantastic tale transformed children's literature, liberating it from didactic constraints. The story is deeply but gently satiric, enlivened with an imaginative plot and brilliant use of nonsense, as it relates Alice's adventures in a bizarre, topsy-turvey land underground. There she encounters a cast of strange characters and fanciful beasts, including the White Rabbit, March Hare, and Mad Hatter, the sleepy Dormouse and grinning Cheshire Cat,the Mock Turtle, the dreadful Queen of Hearts, and unusual creatures. ---------- Also contained in: - [Alice in Wonderland](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL151449W) - [Alice's Adventures in Wonderland / The Hunting of the Snark](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL17727149W) - [Alice's Adventures in Wonderland / Through the Looking Glass](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL9770557W) - [Alice's Adventures in Wonderland / Through the Looking-Glass / Hunting of the Snark](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL8029136W) - [Best of Lewis Carroll](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL138061W) - [Complete Illustrated Works of Lewis Carroll](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL151414W) - [Complete Stories of Lewis Carroll](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL24036293W) - [Complete Works of Lewis Carroll](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL151444W) - [Magic in the Air](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL1387662W) - [Reader's Digest Best Loved Books for Young Readers: Volume Eight](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL15150278W)

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One of the most popular and most quoted books in English, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was the creation of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1832–1898), a distinguished scholar, mathematician and author who wrote under the pseudonym of Lewis Carroll. Written for young readers but enjoyed equally by adults, the fantastic tale transformed children's literature, liberating it from didactic constraints. The story is deeply but gently satiric, enlivened with an imaginative plot and brilliant use of nonsense, as it relates Alice's adventures in a bizarre, topsy-turvey land underground. There she encounters a cast of strange characters and fanciful beasts, including the White Rabbit, March Hare, and Mad Hatter, the sleepy Dormouse and grinning Cheshire Cat,the Mock Turtle, the dreadful Queen of Hearts, and unusual creatures. ---------- Also contained in: - [Alice in Wonderland](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL151449W) - [Alice's Adventures in Wonderland / The Hunting of the Snark](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL17727149W) - [Alice's Adventures in Wonderland / Through the Looking Glass](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL9770557W) - [Alice's Adventures in Wonderland / Through the Looking-Glass / Hunting of the Snark](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL8029136W) - [Best of Lewis Carroll](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL138061W) - [Complete Illustrated Works of Lewis Carroll](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL151414W) - [Complete Stories of Lewis Carroll](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL24036293W) - [Complete Works of Lewis Carroll](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL151444W) - [Magic in the Air](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL1387662W) - [Reader's Digest Best Loved Books for Young Readers: Volume Eight](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL15150278W)

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Great excitement and awe greeted its publication in 1873, and today Around the World in Eighty Days remains Jules Verne's most successful novel. A daring wager by the eccentric and mysterious Englishman Phileas Fogg that he can circle the globe in just eighty days initiates this marvelous travelogue and exciting suspense story. Together with his manservant, Passepartout, Fogg makes a breathless world tour, overcoming wild misadventures and finding time to rescue a beautiful Indian maharani from a burning funeral pyre-all the while restlessly pursued by a bumbling detective called Mr. Fix. Realistically utilizing nearly every means of transportation known in the 1870s, Around the World in Eighty Days generated enchantment with scientific progress-and its delightful mixture of fantasy, comedy, and dazzling suspense has kept it a perennially superb entertainment.

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Great excitement and awe greeted its publication in 1873, and today Around the World in Eighty Days remains Jules Verne's most successful novel. A daring wager by the eccentric and mysterious Englishman Phileas Fogg that he can circle the globe in just eighty days initiates this marvelous travelogue and exciting suspense story. Together with his manservant, Passepartout, Fogg makes a breathless world tour, overcoming wild misadventures and finding time to rescue a beautiful Indian maharani from a burning funeral pyre-all the while restlessly pursued by a bumbling detective called Mr. Fix. Realistically utilizing nearly every means of transportation known in the 1870s, Around the World in Eighty Days generated enchantment with scientific progress-and its delightful mixture of fantasy, comedy, and dazzling suspense has kept it a perennially superb entertainment.

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William Hope Hodgson (1877-1918) was an English author. He produced a large body of work, consisting of essays, short fiction, and novels, spanning several overlapping genres including horror, fantastic fiction and science fiction. Early in his writing career he dedicated effort to poetry, although few of his poems were published during his lifetime. He also attracted some notice as a photographer and achieved some renown as a bodybuilder. He began a four-year apprenticeship as a cabin boy in 1891. In 1899, he opened W. H. Hodgson's School of Physical Culture offering tailored exercise regimes for personal training. He wrote articles such as Physical Culture Versus Recreative Exercises (1903). Hodgson turned his attention to fiction, publishing his first short story, The Goddess of Death (1904). In 1906 the American magazine The Monthly Story Magazine published From the Tideless Sea, the first of Hodgson's Sargasso Sea stories. His first published novel, The Boats of the "Glen Carrig," appeared in 1907. Amongst his other works are The House on the Borderland (1908), The Ghost Pirates (1909), Carnacki: The Ghost Finder (1910) and The Night Land (1912).

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With her satire on Anglo-Irish landlords inCastle Rackrent(1800), Maria Edgeworth pioneered the regional novel and inspired Sir Walter Scott'sWaverley(1814). Politically risky, stylistically innovative, and wonderfully entertaining, the novel changes the focus of conflict in Ireland from religion to class, and boldly predicts the rise of the Irish Catholic bourgeoisie. The second edition now includes new notes informed by the latest scholarship. About the Series:For over 100 yearsOxford World's Classicshas made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

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May 16th.-The garden is the place I go to for refuge and shelter, not the house. In the house are duties and annoyances, servants to exhort and admonish, furniture, and meals; but out there blessings crowd round me at every step-it is there that I am sorry for the unkindness in me, for those selfish thoughts that are so much worse than they feel; it is there that all my sins and silliness are forgiven, there that I feel protected and at home, and every flower and weed is a friend and every tree a lover. -from Elizabeth and Her German Garden First published anonymously in 1898, this beautiful chronicle of languid days spent in a rejuvenating Italian garden was a tremendous bestseller at the turn of the century, its cheerful satire and fresh charm endearing it to millions of readers. The first work of its author, the Countess Elizabeth von Arnim, it would form the basis of her extraordinary popularity as one of the most admired literary figures in Europe and "one of the three finest wits of her day." British novelist ELIZABETH VON ARNIM (1866-1941) wrote numerous books, including The Solitary Summer (the sequel to Elizabeth and Her German Garden) and the work she is best known for, Enchanted April.

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- WHEN Farmer Oak smiled, the corners of his mouth spread till they were within an unimportant distance of his ears, his eyes were reduced to chinks, and diverging wrinkles appeared round them, exten- ding upon his countenance like the rays in a rudimentary sketch of the rising sun. His Christian name was Gabriel, and on working days he was a young man of sound judgment, easy motions, proper dress, and general good character. On Sundays he was a man of misty views, rather given to post- poning, and hampered by his best clothes and umbrella: upon the whole, one who felt himself to occupy morally that vast middle space of Laodicean neutrality which lay between the Communion people of the parish and the drunken section, - that is, he went to church, but yawned privately by the time the congregation reached the Nicene creed, and thought of what there would be for dinner when he meant to be listening to the sermon. Or, to state his character as it stood in the scale of public opinion, when his friends and critics were in tantrums, he was considered rather a bad man; when they were pleased, he was rather a good man; when they were neither, he was a man whose moral colour was a kind of pepper-and-salt mixture.

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Maugham completed the writing of "Liza of Lambeth" during his final year of medical school. The publication of this novel brought him enough money and notoriety that he decided to abandon thoughts of a career as a doctor (he qualified but never practiced) and instead make his way as a full-time writer. The novel itself is the story of a young girl, Liza, living in the Lambeth slums of London. The details of the novel are rich and evocative, much of the material inspired by the people and events Maugham encountered while he was a medical student practicing mid-wifery in the same area.

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Lord Jim, by Joseph Conrad, is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of Barnes & Noble Classics: New introductions commissioned from today's top writers and scholars Biographies of the authors Chronologies of contemporary historical, biographical, and cultural events Footnotes and endnotes Selective discussions of imitations, parodies, poems, books, plays, paintings, operas, statuary, and films inspired by the work Comments by other famous authors Study questions to challenge the reader's viewpoints and expectations Bibliographies for further reading Indices & Glossaries, when appropriate All editions are beautifully designed and are printed to superior specifications; some include illustrations of historical interest. Barnes & Noble Classics pulls together a constellation of influences—biographical, historical, and literary—to enrich each reader's understanding of these enduring works. With Lord Jim, first published in 1900, Joseph Conrad transformed a tale of seafaring adventure into a subtle study of the meaning of honor and courage, loyalty and betrayal. When Jim, an idealistic merchant seaman and ship’s officer, abandons the supposedly sinking Patna and its passengers, he dashes his youthful dreams of glory in a single stroke. Condemned in court for his impetuous act of cowardice, Jim relegates himself to a life roaming the Far East. Unforgettably told by Marlow, who also narrates Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, the story of Lord Jim plumbs the mysteries of a man renounced by society but driven by a desire for redemption. A. Michael Matin is a professor in the English Department of Warren Wilson College in Asheville, North Carolina. He has published articles on various twentieth-century British and postcolonial writers, and has written the introduction and notes for the Barnes & Noble Classics edition of Heart of Darkness and Selected Short Fiction by Joseph Conrad.

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Excerpt: VII. HE was stoical the next day when Maitre Ha- reng, the bailiff, with two assistants, presented himself at her house to draw up the inventory for the distraint. They began with Bovary's consulting-room, and did not write down the phrenological head, which was considered an "instrument of his profession;" but in the kitchen they counted the plates, the saucepans, the chairs, the candlesticks, and in the bedroom all the nick-nacks on the whatnot. They examined her dresses, the linen, the dressing- room; and her whole existence, to its most intimate details, was, like a corpse on whom a post-mortem is made, outspread before the eyes of these three men. Maitre Hareng, buttoned up in his thin black coat, wearing a white choker and very tight foot-straps, repeated from time to time -- " Allow me, madame. You allow me 1" Often he uttered exclamations. " Charming ! very pretty." Then ho began writing again, dipping his pen into the horn inkstand in his left hand. When they had done with the rooms they went up to the attic. She kept a desk there in which Kodolphe's letters were locked. It had to be opened. " Ah ! a correspondence," said Maitre Hareng, with a discreet smile. "But allow me, for. I must make sure the box contains nothing else." And he tipped up the paperslightly, as if to shake out napoleons. Then she grew angered to see this coarse hand, with fingers red and pulpy like slugs, touching these pages against which her heart had beaten. They went at last F61icit6 came back. Emma had sent her out to watcli for Bovary in order to keep him off, and they hur...

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All my life I have had an awareness of other times and places. I have been aware of other persons in me.-Oh, and trust me, so have you, my reader that is to be. Read back into your childhood, and this sense of awareness I speak of will be remembered as an experience of your childhood. You were then not fixed, not crystallized. You were plastic, a soul in flux, a consciousness and an identity in the process of forming-ay, of forming and forgetting. You have forgotten much, my reader, and yet, as you read these lines, you remember dimly the hazy vistas of other times and places into which your child eyes peered. They seem dreams to you to-day. Yet, if they were dreams, dreamed then, whence the substance of them? Our dreams are grotesquely compounded of the things we know. The stuff of our sheerest dreams is the stuff of our experience. As a child, a wee child, you dreamed you fell great heights; you dreamed you flew through the air as things of the air fly; you were vexed by crawling spiders and many-legged creatures of the slime; you heard other voices, saw other faces nightmarishly familiar, and gazed upon sunrises and sunsets other than you know now, looking back, you ever looked upon.

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The novel that set the pattern for the modern Western, Riders of the Purple Sage was first published in 1912, immediately selling over a million copies. In the remote border country of southern Utah, a man is about to be whipped by the Mormons in order to pressure Jane Withersteen into marrying against her will. The punishment is halted by the arrival of the hero, Lassiter, a gunman in black leather, who routs the persecutors and then gradually recounts his own history of an endless search for a woman abducted long ago by the Mormons. Secrecy, seduction, captivity, and escape: out of these elements Zane Grey fashioned his magnificent classic of the American West. About the Series: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

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There's a divinity that shapes our ends. Consider the case of Henry Pifield Rice, detective. I must explain Henry early, to avoid disappointment. If I simply said he was a detective, and let it go at that, I should be obtaining the reader's interest under false pretences. He was really only a sort of detective, a species of sleuth. At Stafford's International Investigation Bureau, in the Strand, where he was employed, they did not require him to solve mysteries which had baffled the police. He had never measured a footprint in his life, and what he did not know about bloodstains would have filled a library. The sort of job they gave Henry was to stand outside a restaurant in the rain, and note what time someone inside left it. In short, it is not 'Pifield Rice, Investigator. No. 1.-The Adventure of the Maharajah's Ruby' that I submit to your notice, but the unsensational doings of a quite commonplace young man, variously known to his comrades at the Bureau as 'Fathead', 'That blighter what's-his-name', and 'Here, you!'

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This is the story of how a middle-aged spinster lost her mind, deserted her domestic gods in the city, took a furnished house for the summer out of town, and found herself involved in one of those mysterious crimes that keep our newspapers and detective agencies happy and prosperous. For twenty years I had been perfectly comfortable; for twenty years I had had the window-boxes filled in the spring, the carpets lifted, the awnings put up and the furniture covered with brown linen; for as many summers I had said good-by to my friends, and, after watching their perspiring hegira, had settled down to a delicious quiet in town, where the mail comes three times a day, and the water supply does not depend on a tank on the roof.

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Praise for P.G. Wodehouse: "One of Britain's most talented comic writers."- Time "Wodehouse on golf: a delight. He may have been a hacker on the course, but Wodehouse's drives, putts, and mashie shots were deadly accurate when it came to writing about the game."- The Boston Globe "Mr. Wodehouse's world can never stale. He will continue to release future generations from captivity that may be more irksome than our own. He has made a world for us to live in and delight in."- Evelyn Waugh "A master, a genius of inventiveness and versatility, brilliant in his use of language, more adroit than almost any novelist since Dickens."- The Daily Telegraph "A brilliantly funny writer-perhaps the most consistently funny the English language has produced."- The Times "Mr. Wodehouse is a creature of pure light and joy."- The New Statesman Golf and love-the two primal obsessions. P. G. Wodehouse displays his most uproarious storytelling and never-ending jollity in these tales of lovers on the links. -Cuthbert Banks, champion golfer, wins the heart of his beloved Adeline, who won't give him the time of day until a visiting Russian author ignores everyone to fawn over Cuthbert's golfing prowess. -One man loses his fiance when he discovers golf late in life (on the eve of his wedding) and just can't stop thinking about it. -One golfing woman attempts to kill (with her niblick) her golfing husband who just won't stop talking during the game (he survives, cured of his garrulity). -One golf fanatic discovers, to his horror, that he has married a croquet player; their union is nearly sundered, until she takes up the ancient and royal game and matches his handicap. -Two men play a single hole sixteen miles long, requiring over eleven-hundred strokes, in a grudge match over the love of one woman. Other loves stand and fall by the vagaries of that infuriating tiny white ball. The end result is a collection of sublimely funny stories, dear to all golfers, and those who love them.

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Excerpt: CHAPTER V WHEREIN OPPOSITES AGREE maid who opened the door showed a reluctance to A let Bailey in. She said that Mrs. Porter was busy with her writing and had given orders that she was not to be disturbed. Nothing could have infuriated Bailey more. He, Bailey Bannister, was to be refused admittance because this preposterous woman wished to write. It was the duty of all decent citizens to stop her writing. If it had not been for her and her absurd books Ruth would never have made it necessary for him to pay this visit at all. "Kindly take my card to Mrs. Porter and tell her that I must see her at once on a matter of the utmost urgency," he directed. The domestic workers of America had not been trained to stand up against Bailey's grand manner. The maid vanished meekly with the card, and presently returned and requested him to step in. Bailey found himself in a comfortable room, more like a man's study than a woman's boudoir. Books lined the walls. The furniture was strong and plain. At the window, on a swivel-chair before a roll-top desk, Mrs. Porter sat writing, her back to the door. "The gentleman, ma'am," announced the maid. "Sit down," said his aunt, without looking round or ceasing to write. The maid went out. Bailey sat down. The gentle squeak of the quill pen continued. Bailey coughed. "I have called this morning -- " The left hand of the writer rose and waggled itself irritably above her left shoulder. "Aunt Lora," spoke Bailey sternly. "Shish!" said the authoress. Only that ...

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- As I sit down to write here amidst the shadows of vine-leaves under the blue sky of southern Italy, it comes to me with a certain quality of astonishment that my participation in these amazing adventures of Mr. Cavor was, after all, the outcome of the purest accident. It might have been any one. I fell into these things at a time when I thought myself removed from the slightest possibility of disturbing experiences. I had gone to Lympne because I had imagined it the most uneventful place in the world. "Here, at any rate," said I, "I shall find peace and a chance to work!" And this book is the sequel. So utterly at variance is destiny with all the little plans of men. I may perhaps mention here that very recently I had come an ugly cropper in certain business enterprises. Sitting now surrounded by all the circumstances of wealth, there is a luxury in admitting my extremity. I can admit, even, that to a certain extent my disasters were conceivably of my own making. It may be there are directions in which I have some capacity, but the conduct of business operations is not among these. But in those days I was young, and my youth among other objectionable forms took that of a pride in my capacity for affairs.

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This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER THE THIRD THE GIANT RATS I It was two nights after the disappearance of Mr. Skinner that the Podbourne doctor was out late near Hankey, driving in his buggy. He had been up all night assisting another undistinguished citizen into this curious world of ours, and his task accomplished, he was driving homeward in a drowsy mood enough. It was about two o'clock in the morning, and the waning moon was rising. The summer night had gone cold, and there was a low-lying whitish mist that made things indistinct. He was quite alone?for his coachman was ill in bed?and there was nothing to be seen on either hand but a drifting mystery of hedge running athwart the yellow glare of his lamps, and nothing to hear but the clitter-clatter of his horse and the gride and hedge echo of his wheels. His horse was as trustworthy as himself, and one does not wonder that he dozed. . . . You know that intermittent drowsing as onesits, the drooping of the head, the nodding to the rhythm of the wheels, then chin upon the breast, and at once the sudden start up again. Fitter, litter, patter. ' What was that ?' It seemed to the doctor he had heard a thin shrill squeal close at hand. For a moment he was quite awake. He said a word or two of undeserved rebuke to his horse, and looked about him. He tried to persuade himself that he had heard the distant squeal of a fox?or perhaps a young rabbit gripped by a ferret. Swish, swish, swish,fitter, patter, swish . . . What was that ? He felt he was getting fanciful. He shook his shoulders and told his horse to get on. He listened and heard nothing. Or was it nothing ? He had the queerest impression that something had just peeped over the hedge at him, a queer big head. With round ears ! He peered hard, but he could see nothing. ...

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The Lost World, first published in 1912, tells the story of Professor Challenger, Professor Summerlee, adventurer Lord John Roxton, and reporter Ed Malone as they travel to a remote plateau in South America inhabited by dinosaurs, ape men, and prehistoric humans. In trying to escape from the dangerous creatures, some of them end up captured by the ape men, and the rest must mount a rescue. Fraught with action and suspense, The Lost World is one of the seminal works of dinosaur fiction. It has been the inspiration for numerous spinoffs and retellings, including television shows, radio shows, and movies. Readers of all ages will delight in this deftly told tale. Scottish surgeon and political activist SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE (1859-1930) turned his passions into stories and novels, producing fiction and nonfiction works sometimes controversial (The Great Boer War, 1900), sometimes fanciful (The Coming of the Fairies, 1922), and sometimes legendary (The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, 1892).

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In "Moon and Sixpence," Somerset Maugham takes a fascinating look into the life of Charles Strickland, a man who gives up his comfortable life as a stock broker, breaks the social contract, abandons his family, and takes up painting. These changes condemn him to a life of poverty and disdain by most who know him. The story is related by an aspiring writer who never seems to be able to quite get the painter to admit he is either remorseful of all the human wreckage he's left in his wake, or so uncomfortable in this new life that he's sorry for having made such a hash of his it. "Moon and Sixpence" raises several interesting questions: Who makes the social contract anyway, and did Strickland knowingly sign on, or was he simply incorporated into it by society? Would it have been acceptable for Strickland to abandon his family to become a priest, missionary, or some other more acceptable form of profession? While the book is loosely based on the life of Paul Gaugin, it is really more about W. Somerset Maugham and his search for beauty and truth. Maugham shows us that while the search may be noble, the journey is not necessarily beautiful to everyone, especially those not involved. "Moon and Sixpence" is a must-read for anyone contemplating a life in the arts. While Strickland is a thoroughly dislikable character, he is one without artifice, totally lacking the ability to say anything other than what is true to him. He is a man consumed by his passion, completely lacking the need for approval. Maugham as usual creates a work that is both powerful and thought-provoking. "Moon and Sixpence" satisfys on at least two levels; as an excellent story, and as a philosophical treatise on art, beauty and passion.

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Nearly a hundred years after its original publication, "The Railway Children" is still one of E. Nesbit's most beloved and delightful stories. Roberta, Peter, and Phyllis were very happy living in a comfortable house surrounded by a cook and servants and two loving parents, until one evening when there was a knock at the door and their father was mysteriously taken away by two men. Suddenly alone, their mother moves the family to a small cottage in the countryside. There, the children begin a series of exciting adventures, from saving a train filled with passengers from a landslide, to rescuing a baby from a fire, to aiding a penniless Russian exile, to eventually unraveling the mystery of their father's disappearance. Featuring a new jacket illustration by Caldecott medalist Paul O. Zelinsky, as well as all nineteen of the original black-and-white line drawings by C. E. Brock, this classic story is perfect for home and classroom libraries.

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"The Riddle of the Sands," by Erskine Childers, not only may have affected the course of history-it still thrills readers today. One of the first and still finest spy stories ever written, "The Riddle of the Sands" introduced Edwardian readers to the idea of a 'secret service'. In an enthralling tale of a duel among the islands and sandbanks of the North Sea, two amateur investigators and yachtsmen discover sinister preparations off the German coast. At great peril both from an implacable enemy and furious storms at sea, they stake their lives on the strength of their doughty boat, the Dulcibella. Will they fight their way back to England in time to sound a warning? "The Riddle of the Sands" caused a sensation when it appeared in1903, with statesmen and soldiers drawn into a debate about Britain's readiness to repulse a naval invasion. So strong was its impact that one critic later accused its author of almost single-handedly starting a European war. The influence of "The Riddle of the Sands" would not have been so great if it had not been so powerfully readable, a quality it keeps to this day. Ranked with the greatest work of John Buchan, Joseph Conrad and Ian Fleming, this vintage adventure by Erskine Childers has lost nothing of its force.

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The Secret Adversary is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK in 1922. The book introduces the characters of Tommy and Tuppence who are featured in three other Christie books and one collection of short stories written throughout her writing career.The New York Times Book Review of June 11, 1922 was also impressed, stating, "It is safe to assert that unless the reader peers into the last chapter or so of the tale, he will not know who this secret adversary is until the author chooses to reveal him." The review gave something of a backhanded compliment when it said that Christie "gives a sense of plausibility to the most preposterous situations and developments." Nevertheless they conceded that, "Miss Christie has a clever prattling style that shifts easily into amusing dialogue and so aids the pleasure of the reader as he tears along with Tommy and Tuppence on the trail of the mysterious Mr. Brown. Many of the situations are a bit moth-eaten from frequent usage by other writers, but at that Miss Christie manages to invest them with a new sense of individuality that renders them rather absorbing."

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The Secret Agent, by Joseph Conrad, is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of Barnes & Noble Classics: New introductions commissioned from today's top writers and scholars Biographies of the authors Chronologies of contemporary historical, biographical, and cultural events Footnotes and endnotes Selective discussions of imitations, parodies, poems, books, plays, paintings, operas, statuary, and films inspired by the work Comments by other famous authors Study questions to challenge the reader's viewpoints and expectations Bibliographies for further reading Indices & Glossaries, when appropriateAll editions are beautifully designed and are printed to superior specifications; some include illustrations of historical interest. Barnes & Noble Classics pulls together a constellation of influences—biographical, historical, and literary—to enrich each reader's understanding of these enduring works. Set in early twentieth-century London and inspired by an actual attempt to blow up the Greenwich Observatory, The Secret Agent is a complex exploration of motivation and morality. The title character, Adolf Verloc, is obviously no James Bond. In fact, he and his circle of misfit saboteurs are not spies but terrorists, driven less by political ideals than by their unruly emotions and irrational hatreds. Verloc has settled into an apparent marriage of convenience. Family life gives him a respectable cover, while his wife hopes to get help in handling her halfwit brother, Stevie. Instead Verloc involves Stevie in one of his explosive schemes, an act that leads to violence, murder, and revenge. Darkly comic, the novel is also obliquely autobiographical: Joseph Conrad’s parents were involved in the radical politics of their time, and their early deaths left him profoundly distrustful of any sort of political action. Steven Marcus is Professor of English and Comparative Literature and George Delacorte Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University, and a specialist in nineteenth-century literature and culture. He is the author of more than 200 publications.

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From the book:Sherlock Holmes took his bottle from the corner of the mantel-piece and his hypodermic syringe from its neat morocco case. With his long, white, nervous fingers he adjusted the delicate needle, and rolled back his left shirt-cuff. For some little time his eyes rested thought-fully upon the sinewy forearm and wrist all dotted and scarred with innumerable puncture-marks. Finally he thrust the sharp point home, pressed down the tiny piston, and sank back into the velvet-lined arm-chair with a long sigh of satisfaction. Three times a day for many months I had witnessed this performance, but custom had not reconciled my mind to it. On the contrary, from day to day I had become more irritable at the sight, and my conscience swelled nightly within me at the thought that I had lacked the courage to protest. Again and again I had registered a vow that I should deliver my soul upon the subject, but there was that in the cool, nonchalant air of my companion which made him the last man with whom one would care to take anything approaching to a liberty. His great powers, his masterly manner, and the experience which I had had of his many extraordinary qualities, all made me diffident and backward in crossing him.

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From the book:Sherlock Holmes took his bottle from the corner of the mantel-piece and his hypodermic syringe from its neat morocco case. With his long, white, nervous fingers he adjusted the delicate needle, and rolled back his left shirt-cuff. For some little time his eyes rested thought-fully upon the sinewy forearm and wrist all dotted and scarred with innumerable puncture-marks. Finally he thrust the sharp point home, pressed down the tiny piston, and sank back into the velvet-lined arm-chair with a long sigh of satisfaction. Three times a day for many months I had witnessed this performance, but custom had not reconciled my mind to it. On the contrary, from day to day I had become more irritable at the sight, and my conscience swelled nightly within me at the thought that I had lacked the courage to protest. Again and again I had registered a vow that I should deliver my soul upon the subject, but there was that in the cool, nonchalant air of my companion which made him the last man with whom one would care to take anything approaching to a liberty. His great powers, his masterly manner, and the experience which I had had of his many extraordinary qualities, all made me diffident and backward in crossing him.

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Will Barrent had no memory of his crime . . . but he found himself shipped across space to a brutal prison-planet. On Omega, his only chance to advance himself - and stay alive - is to commit an endless series of violent crimes. The average inmate's life expectancy from time of arrival is three years. Can Barrett survive, escape, and return to Earth to clear his name? "Yes sir. Well, there are three men outside trying to kill me...." "Quite right," Mr. Frendlyer said. "And today is Landing Day. You came off the ship that landed today, and have been classified a peon.... I'm happy to say that everything is in order. The Landing Day Hunt ends at sundown. You can leave here with the knowledge that everything is correct and that your rights have not been violated." "Leave here? After sundown, you mean." Mr. Frendlyer shook his head and smiled sadly. "I'm afraid not. According to the law you must leave here at once." "But they'll kill me!" "That's very true. Unfortunately it can't be helped. A victim by definition is one who is to be killed.... We protect rights, not victims."

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Published in 1926 to explosive acclaim, The Sun Also Rises stands as perhaps the most impressive first novel ever written by an American writer. A roman à clef about a group of American and English expatriates on an excursion from Paris's Left Bank to Pamplona for the July fiesta and its climactic bull fight, a journey from the center of a civilization spiritually bankrupted by the First World War to a vital, God-haunted world in which faith and honor have yet to lose their currency, the novel captured for the generation that would come to be called "Lost" the spirit of its age, and marked Ernest Hemingway as the preeminent writer of his time.

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H. G. Wells's classic novel The Time Machine, first published in 1895, is one part fairy tale, one part love story, one part science fiction, and one part utopia. Readers can enjoy the story on multiple levels and take away something unique to themselves upon finishing the novel. With every turn of the page, we become as little children being read a good night story; for in effect, we are being read to rather than reading ourselves. The story is told through an unnamed narrator, a young member of an informal group of men who meet occasionally at the Time Traveler's house for dinner, drinks, cigars, and conversation. It is no accident that the narrator who tells us the story is the least skeptical, indeed the most credulous of the group, in response to the Time Traveler's claim to have built a Time Machine. We need an optimistic and trusting narrator, for he represents the audacity of hope, the possibility of human endeavor leading to improvement and progress, at a time when the specter of social Darwinism and scientific fatalism had fallen over the western world. The narrator is the one who exclaims, in response to the prospect of traveling into the future, "To discover a society erected on a strictly communistic basis." As humorous and naive as such a statement sounds to us today, communism was a synonym for utopia in the late nineteenth century. And so we are supposed to identify with the narrator, to suspend our disbelief in the absurd hypothesis of time as the fourth dimension and the fantastical invention of a time machine. During the time when we submit to the power of the story and allow ourselves to be swept away by the fantasy, time machine does exist and time travel is possible.

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Contains: - [Adventures of Sherlock Holmes](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL262421W/The_Adventures_of_Sherlock_Holmes) [Scandal in Bohemia](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL14930611W/A_Scandal_in_Bohemia) [Red-Headed League](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL262476W/The_Red-Headed_League) [Case of Identity](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL14929939W/A_Case_of_Identity) [Boscombe Valley Mystery](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL18495288W/The_Boscombe_Valley_Mystery) [Five Orange Pips](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL1518120W/Five_Orange_Pips) [Man with the Twisted Lip](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL14930258W/Man_With_the_Twisted_Lip) [Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL1518317W/Adventure_of_the_Blue_Carbuncle) [Adventure of the Speckled Band](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL262561W/Adventure_of_the_Speckled_Band) [Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL1518318W/Adventure_of_the_Engineer's_Thumb) [Adventure of the Noble Bachelor](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL14929841W/Adventure_of_the_Noble_Bachelor) [Adventure of the Beryl Coronet](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL14929825W/Adventure_of_the_Beryl_Coronet) [Adventure of the Copper Beeches](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL1518116W/Adventure_of_the_Copper_Beeches) - Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes - His Last Hour - Hound of the Baskervilles - [Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL262598W/Memoirs_of_Sherlock_Holmes) [Silver Blaze](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL1518358W/Silver_Blaze) [Adventure of the Yellow Face](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL20571966W/Adventure_of_the_Yellow_Face) [Adventure of the Stockbroker's Clerk](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL20619319W/Adventure_of_the_Stockbroker's_Clerk) [Adventure of the Gloria Scott](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL20619337W/Adventure_of_the_Gloria_Scott) [Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL20619374W/Adventure_of_the_Musgrave_Ritual) Adventure of the Reigate Squire Crooked Man [Adventure of the Resident Patient](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL16090759W) Adventure of the Greek Interpreter [Naval Treaty](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL14930289W/The_Naval_Treaty) Final Problem - [Return of Sherlock Holmes](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL262480W/The_Return_of_Sherlock_Holmes) [Adventure of the Empty House](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL1518119W/The_Adventure_of_the_Empty_House) [Adventure of the Norwood Builder](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL262418W/Adventure_of_the_Norwood_Builder) [Dancing Men](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL262417W/The_Dancing_Men) [Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL1518122W/Adventure_of_the_Solitary_Cyclist) [Adventure of the Priory School](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL1518319W/Adventure_of_the_Priory_School) Black Peter [Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL20621973W/Adventure_of_Charles_Augustus_Milverton) [Six Napoleons](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL20628495W) [Adventure of the Three Students](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL1518368W/Adventure_of_the_Three_Students) [Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL18191848W/Adventure_of_the_Golden_Pince-Nez) [Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL18191816W/Adventure_of_the_Missing_Three_Quarter) [Adventure of the Abbey Grange](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL17084226W/Adventure_of_the_Abbey_Grange) [Second Stain](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL18191864W/Second_Stain) - [Sign of Four](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL262585W/The_Sign_of_Four) - [Study in Scarlet](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL16290253W/A_Study_in_Scarlet) - Valley of Fear

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The War of the Worlds (1898) is a science fiction novel by H. G. Wells. It describes the experiences of an unnamed narrator who travels through the suburbs of London as England is invaded by Martians. It is one of the earliest stories that details a conflict between mankind and an alien race.The War of the Worlds is split into two parts, Book one: The Coming of the Martians, and Book two: The Earth under the Martians. The novel is narrated by a writer of philosophical articles who throughout the narrative struggles to reunite with his wife, while witnessing the Martians rampaging through the southern English counties. Part one also features the tale of his brother, who accompanies two women to the coast in the hope of escaping England as it is invaded.The plot has been related to invasion literature of the time. The novel has been variously interpreted as a commentary on evolutionary theory, British imperialism, and generally Victorian fears and prejudices. At the time of publication it was classified as a scientific romance, like his earlier novel The Time Machine. Since then, it has influenced much literature and other media, spawning half a dozen feature films, radio dramas, various comic book adaptations, a television series, and sequels or parallel stories by other authors. It also influenced the real-life work of scientists, notably the rocket scientist Robert H. Goddard.

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The War of the Worlds (1898) is a science fiction novel by H. G. Wells. It describes the experiences of an unnamed narrator who travels through the suburbs of London as England is invaded by Martians. It is one of the earliest stories that details a conflict between mankind and an alien race.The War of the Worlds is split into two parts, Book one: The Coming of the Martians, and Book two: The Earth under the Martians. The novel is narrated by a writer of philosophical articles who throughout the narrative struggles to reunite with his wife, while witnessing the Martians rampaging through the southern English counties. Part one also features the tale of his brother, who accompanies two women to the coast in the hope of escaping England as it is invaded.The plot has been related to invasion literature of the time. The novel has been variously interpreted as a commentary on evolutionary theory, British imperialism, and generally Victorian fears and prejudices. At the time of publication it was classified as a scientific romance, like his earlier novel The Time Machine. Since then, it has influenced much literature and other media, spawning half a dozen feature films, radio dramas, various comic book adaptations, a television series, and sequels or parallel stories by other authors. It also influenced the real-life work of scientists, notably the rocket scientist Robert H. Goddard.

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The War of the Worlds (1898) is a science fiction novel by H. G. Wells. It describes the experiences of an unnamed narrator who travels through the suburbs of London as England is invaded by Martians. It is one of the earliest stories that details a conflict between mankind and an alien race.The War of the Worlds is split into two parts, Book one: The Coming of the Martians, and Book two: The Earth under the Martians. The novel is narrated by a writer of philosophical articles who throughout the narrative struggles to reunite with his wife, while witnessing the Martians rampaging through the southern English counties. Part one also features the tale of his brother, who accompanies two women to the coast in the hope of escaping England as it is invaded.The plot has been related to invasion literature of the time. The novel has been variously interpreted as a commentary on evolutionary theory, British imperialism, and generally Victorian fears and prejudices. At the time of publication it was classified as a scientific romance, like his earlier novel The Time Machine. Since then, it has influenced much literature and other media, spawning half a dozen feature films, radio dramas, various comic book adaptations, a television series, and sequels or parallel stories by other authors. It also influenced the real-life work of scientists, notably the rocket scientist Robert H. Goddard.

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1907. The Water-Babies was an exceptionally popular fantasy serialized in Macmillan's Magazine. It is the story of Tom, a young boy who is a chimney sweep employed by the brutal bully Mr. Grimes. Falling down a chimney, Tom finds himself in the presence of a girl called Ellie. Her cleanliness and neatness makes Tom aware for the first time of his own dirty blackened body. He is chased out of Ellie's house and falls into the river where he enters a magical underwater world and becomes a water-baby. Here we meet the caddis fly, the salmon and other creatures that teach Tom morality. Most readers, however, will be carried away by the fantasy and its sense of hope and possibility in life. The famous characters of Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby and Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid appear in the story, and Kingsley portrays the water world in a consistently vivid and exciting manner. See other books by this author available from Kessinger Publishing.

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Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle, DL (1859-1930) was a Scottish author. He is most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, which are generally considered a major innovation in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger. He was a prolific writer whose other works include science fiction stories, historical novels, plays and romances, poetry, and non-fiction. His first significant work was A Study in Scarlet, which appeared in Beeton's Christmas Annual for 1887 and featured the first appearance of Sherlock Holmes, who was partially modelled after his former university professor, Joseph Bell. Other works include The Firm of Girdlestone (1890), The Captain of the Polestar (1890), The Doings of Raffles Haw (1892), Beyond the City (1892), The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892), The Exploits of Brigadier Gerard (1896), The Great Boer War (1900), The Green Flag (1900), The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902), and The Lost World (1912).

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