tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20158583220180819942024-03-13T08:00:09.300-07:00Recovering Bygone LiteratureAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10775712817472553225noreply@blogger.comBlogger85125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2015858322018081994.post-37225136818337470222014-04-08T09:45:00.000-07:002014-04-08T09:45:53.900-07:00<strong>Raspberry Jam</strong> - 1920<br />
Carolyn Wells<br />
211 pages<br />
genre - Mystery<br />
my rating - 3 out of 5 stars<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicaWu5MsaZeDmS60AsK2-j2K68aHH3rwD1NgP4Z-zmlLvzvN5wnP-ypvIn_IaqHAtIJTj0Db4vELl49AQOKsw0Tebev9P8Wo-FGRrboPeXtAdxNx30uez9lsOHwBYYIVPocXtZMRHWFC4S/s1600/raspberry+jam+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicaWu5MsaZeDmS60AsK2-j2K68aHH3rwD1NgP4Z-zmlLvzvN5wnP-ypvIn_IaqHAtIJTj0Db4vELl49AQOKsw0Tebev9P8Wo-FGRrboPeXtAdxNx30uez9lsOHwBYYIVPocXtZMRHWFC4S/s1600/raspberry+jam+4.jpg" height="200" width="137" /></a>My ideal book has an even balance of dialogue and description. If the balance HAD to tip one way or the other, I guess I would prefer it to go towards the dialogue side. That is how I would define <em>Raspberry Jam -</em> lots of talking.<br />
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List of characters:<br />
Eunice Embury - orphan, raised by her aunt<br />
Abby Ames - Eunice's aunt<br />
Sanford Embury - Eunice's husband<br />
Alvord Hendricks - Eunice's friend and admirer<br />
Mason Elliot - Eunice's friend and admirer<br />
Fleming Stone - a private detective<br />
Terence McGuire, aka Fibsy - Stone's assistant, a boy<br />
<br />
<em>Raspberry Jam</em> is a classic mystery story of the 'locked room' style. According to Wikipedia: "The locked room mystery is a sub-genre of detective fiction in which a crime—almost always murder—is committed under apparently impossible circumstances. The crime in question typically involves a crime scene that no intruder could have entered or left, e.g., a locked room." <br />
<br />
It was a very quick read. For as short as the book is, I thought that the characters were well defined. I agree with another review that I saw on Amazon: "I was pleasantly surprised to see the main woman in the story wasn't the sweet little damsel who did no wrong. She has a temper and is spoiled. (There were times I got impatient with her.) This adds a great little dimension to the story." by kindlefan May 12. 2013<br />
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Wells wrote 61 books with Fleming Stone as the detective called in to solve the mystery. The first in the series is <em>The Clue</em> (1909). <em>Raspberry Jam</em> is the 11th book written. I didn't find out until after I had read the book that <em>Raspberry Jam</em> was part of a series. It certainly didn't feel like I was reading a book from a series.<br />
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<br />
<strong>About the Author</strong> -<br />
<br />
Carolyn Wells was born on the 18th of June, 1862 in Rahway, New Jersey. She was the daughter of William and Anna Wells. After finishing school she worked as a librarian for the Rahway Library Association.<br />
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Wells married Hadwin Houghton, the heir of the Houghton-Mifflin publishing empire. <br />
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Carolyn Wells wrote a total of more than 170 books. During the first ten years of her career, she concentrated on poetry, humor, and children's books. According to her autobiography, <i>The Rest of My Life</i> (1937), around 1910 she heard one of Anna Katherine Green's mystery novels being read aloud and was immediately captivated by the unravelling of the puzzle. From that point onward, she devoted herself to the mystery genre.<br />
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Wells died in 1942.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10775712817472553225noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2015858322018081994.post-48502021468547045302014-04-03T16:41:00.002-07:002014-04-03T16:41:51.686-07:00<strong>Zoe</strong> - 1890<br />
Evelyn Whitaker<br />
184 pages?<br />
genre - General Fiction, short story<br />
my rating - 3 out of 5 stars<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/d4/17/75/d41775042f1a52f9a050596f12d47015.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/d4/17/75/d41775042f1a52f9a050596f12d47015.jpg" height="200" width="143" /></a>"Hath this child been already baptized, or no?"<br />
<br />
"No, she ain't, leastwise we don't know as how she've been or no, so we thought as we'd best have her done."<br />
<br />
At the beginning of the story, Mr. and Mrs. Gray and their teenaged son have brought a baby to a nearby church to be christened. But it's not their own child; Mr. Gray found the little girl at their cottage gate.<br /><br />Amazon says their ebook has 184 pages. It was much shorter than that. There is a paperback version available on Amazon. It's product page says the book has 52 pages. That sounds more like it.<br />
<br />
There are eight chapters. There is a transcriber's note before the contents page. It reads: "The source book had varying page headers. They have been collected at the start of each chapter as an introductory paragraph..." These page readers remind me of what you read in the Bible at the beginning of each chapter. For example, here is the heading for Chapter 1 "The Christening - An Outlandish Name - The Organist's Mistake - Farmwork - Tom and Bill - The Baby - Baby and All".<br /><br />The story kept my interest, although there was not a lot of conversation for easy reading.<br />
<br />
<br />
<strong>About the Author</strong> -<br />
<br />
Evelyn Whitaker was born in 1844, the seventh child of Edward Whitaker and his wife Emily Ann Woolbert. Whitaker attended the Ladies College in Bedford Square, which later developed into Bedford College, part of the University of London. <br />
<br />
All Whitaker's works were published anonymously from 1879-1915 and her identity was not revealed until 1903. Many of these editions were beautifully bound and illustrated. Whitaker's writing style was praised as "a study in English for its conciseness, simplicity, and elegance" and <i>Tip Cat</i> was adopted as a textbook for German students studying English.Whitaker's stories were described as "charming, pure, and wholesome," full of "humor and pathos."<br />
<br />
For more than a decade after Evelyn Whitaker's death, her two most popular titles, <i>Miss Toosey's Mission</i> and <i>Laddie</i>, continued to be reissued as gift books. <br />
<br />
Whitaker died in Hammersmith, London at the age of 84. She never married.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10775712817472553225noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2015858322018081994.post-81040499960192039792014-03-24T11:38:00.000-07:002014-03-24T11:38:11.910-07:00<strong>The Maid of Maiden Lane</strong> - 1900<br />
Amelia E. Barr<br />
203 pages<br />
genre - Historical, Romance <br />
my rating - 3 out of 5 stars<br />
<br />
According to <a href="http://www.thefreedictionary.com/">www.thefreedictionary.com</a>, verbose means: using or containing an excessive number of words; wordy. While I was on the website I also looked up grandiose, which means: characterized by feigned or affected grandeur; pompous. <br />
<br />
Both excellent words I would use to describe the writing in <em>The Maid of Maiden Lane</em>. Perhaps the author was trying to replicate a much earlier time in American history and the speech used during that time.<br />
<br />
Here is part of the opening paragraph: "Never, in all its history, was the proud and opulent city of New York more glad and gay than in the bright spring days of Seventeen-Hundred-and Nighty-One (1791). It had put out of sight every trace of British rule and occupancy, all its homes had been restored and re-furnished, and its sacred places re-consecrated and adorned."<br />
<br />
Soon we are introduced to a young lady, Miss Cornelia Moran. "She might have stepped out of the folded leaves of a rosebud, so lovely was her face, framed in its dark curls...She was small, but exquisitely formed, and she walked with fearlessness and distinction. Yet there was around her an angelic gravity..."<br />
<br />
Cornelia is the Juliet in the story. I will leave you to decide who fits the role as Romeo.<br />
<br />
What saves this book from a 2-star rating is all the awesome one-liners. Here are a few:<br />
<br />
"...men had better be without liberty, and without God..."<br />
"New York is not perfect, but we love her."<br />
"The Dutch, as a race, have every desirable quality. The English are natural despots."<br />
"Truth is wholesome, if not agreeable..."<br />
"The man who calls a woman an angel has never had any sisters..."<br />
<br />
And my favorite? "Death, is like the setting of the sun. The sun never sets; life never ceases. Certain phenomena occur which deceive us, because human vision is so feeble - we thinks the sun sets, and it never ceases shining..."<br />
<br />
<strong>About the author</strong> - <br />
<br />
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Amelia Edith Huddleston was born on March 29, 1831 in Ulverston, Lancashire, England.<br />
<br />
In 1850 she married William Barr, and four years later they migrated to the United States and settled in Galveston, Texas where her husband and three of their six children died of yellow fever in 1867.<br />
<sup></sup><br />
With her three remaining daughters, Mrs. Barr moved to Ridgewood, New Jersey in 1868. She went there to tutor the three sons of a prominent citizen. Barr did not like Ridgewood and did not remain there for very long. She left shortly after selling a story to a magazine. <br />
<br />
In 1869, she moved to New York City where she began to write for religious periodicals and to publish a series of semi-historical tales and novels.<br />
<sup></sup><br />
By 1891, when she achieved greater success, she and her daughters moved to Cornwall-on-Hudson, New York. <br />
<br />
She had sunstroke in July 1918 and never fully recovered. She died on March 10, 1919 in Richmond Hill, Queens, New York. She was buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Tarrytown, New York.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10775712817472553225noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2015858322018081994.post-69073932269840449542014-03-19T09:27:00.000-07:002014-03-19T09:27:06.306-07:00<strong>Major Barbara</strong> - 1905<br />
George Bernard Shaw<br />
96 pages<br />
genre - play<br />
my rating - 4 out of 5 stars<br />
<br />
<br />
At the beginning of the play, Lady Undershaft has asked her adult son, Stephen, to join her in the library to consult with him on an important issue. Should she ask her estranged husband for more funds for him and his two younger sisters who are engaged to penniless (comparatively) men? <br />
<br />
You see, Mr. Undershaft has an unusual profession: he deals in warfare. Stephen complains to his mother: "I have hardly ever opened a newspaper in my life without seeing our name in it. The Undershaft torpedo! The Undershaft quick firers! The Undershaft ten inch! the Undershaft disappearing rampart gun! the Undershaft submarine! and now the Undershaft aerial battleship!"<br />
<br />
This play is a wonderful selection for a book club to read and discuss. There is so much going on. You could debate about so many things: Barbara and the Salvation Army, inheritances, values, the power of money, and the qualities needed to be a politician. Which brings me to my favorite quote in the book: "He knows nothing; and he thinks he knows everything. That points clearly to a political career."<br />
<br />
<br />
<strong>About the Author</strong> -<br />
<br />
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George Bernard Shaw was born in Synge Street, Dublin, on 26 July 1856 to George Carr Shaw, an unsuccessful grain merchant and sometime civil servant, and Lucinda Elizabeth Gurly Shaw, a professional singer.<br />
<br />
Shaw briefly attended the Wesley College, Dublin, a grammar school operated by the Methodist Church in Ireland, before moving to a private school near Dalkey and then transferring to Dublin's Central Model School. He ended his formal education at the Dublin English Scientific and Commercial Day School.<br />
<br />
Influenced by his reading, he became a dedicated socialist and a charter member of the Fabian Society, a middle class organization established in 1884 to promote the gradual spread of socialism by peaceful means. <br />
<br />
In the course of his political activities he met Charlotte Payne-Townshend, an Irish heiress and fellow Fabian; they married in 1898. The marriage was never consummated, at Charlotte's insistence, though he had a number of affairs with married women.<br />
<sup></sup><br />
Shaw's plays were first performed in the 1890s. By the end of the decade he was an established playwright. He wrote sixty-three plays and his output as novelist, critic, pamphleteer, essayist and private correspondent was prodigious.<br />
<br />
Shaw died at the age of 94, of renal failure precipitated by injuries incurred by falling while pruning a tree. His ashes, mixed with those of his wife, were scattered along footpaths and around the statue of Saint Joan in their garden.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10775712817472553225noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2015858322018081994.post-61608279502248615432014-03-10T09:04:00.001-07:002014-03-10T09:04:05.989-07:00<strong>Miss Million's Maid</strong> - 1915 <br />
Berta Ruck (Mrs. Oliver Onions)<br />
407 pages<br />
genre - Romance<br />
my rating - 4 out of 5 stars<br />
<br />
"My story begins with an incident that is bound to happen some time in any household that boasts - or perhaps deplores - a high-spirited girl of twenty-three in it." Horror of horrors, Beatrice talks to the young man living next door!<br />
<br />
An impoverished high-society elderly aunt, her 23-year-old niece Beatrice Lovelace and their maid Nellie live at No. 45 Laburnum Grove, Putney, S.W., London. The aunt refuses to allow Beatrice any association with the neighbors. "They are not our kind...And although we may have come down in the world, we are still Lovelaces, as we were in the old days when your dear grandfather had Lovelace Court. Even if we do seem to have dropped out of our world, we need not associate with any other. Better <em>no</em> society than the wrong society."<br />
<br />
The poor girl is pretty much a recluse. <br />
<br />
Everything changes when the maid inherits a lot of money from an American uncle. Beatrice becomes the maid, and Nellie tries to find her way in Society. <br />
<br />
What you think might happen definitely does not. What you think will become a turning point in the story is only a side plot. This wonderful twisty tale kept me on my toes, always wondering what is important. <br />
<br />
<strong>About the author</strong> -<br />
<br />
Amy Roberta Ruck was born on 2 August 1878 in Punjab, India, one of eight children by Eleanor D'Arcy and Colonel Arthur Ashley Ruck, a British army officer. The family moved to Wales where Ruck went to school in Bangor. She then studied at Lambeth School of Art, the Slade School of Fine Art (from 1901) and at the Académie Colarossi in Paris (1904-5).<br />
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In 1903 Ruck began a career as an illustrator for magazines such as <i>The Idler</i> and <i>The Jabberwock</i>. From 1905 she began to contribute short stories and serials to magazines such as <i>Home Chat</i>. One such serial was published as a full-length novel, <i>His Official Fiancée</i> (London, 1914), and its success marked the beginning of Ruck's career as a popular romantic novelist.<br />
<br />
On 1909, she married the also novelist (George) Oliver Onions, and they had two sons. <br />
<br />
Widowed since 1961, she died in Aberdyfi, Wales on 11 August 1978, only nine days after her 100th birthday.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10775712817472553225noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2015858322018081994.post-49511492033240566432014-03-05T08:08:00.000-08:002014-03-05T12:23:51.668-08:00<strong>The Winning of Barbara Worth</strong> - 1911<br />
Harold Bell Wright<br />
329 pages<br />
genre - General Fiction, possibly Literary Fiction<br />
my rating - 4 out of 5 stars<br />
<br />
Three men and a boy are headed from the port city of San Felipe, California to Rubio City, a frontier town along the Colorado River, where "there is only a rude trail - two hundred and more hard and lonely miles of it - the only mark of man in all that desolate waste and itself marked every mile by the graves of men and the bleached bones of their cattle." <br />
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I really like how one of those men describe the desert where Rubio City is located. "A thousan' square miles av ut wouldn't feed a jack-rabbit. "Tis the blisterin', sizzlin' wilderness av sand an' cactus, fit for nothin' but thim side-winders, horn'-toads, heely-monsters an' all their poisonous relations..."<br />
<br />
Along their way to Rubio City the travelers find a horse on its last legs. They follow its tracks to a wagon with no one nearby. They see more tracks, but these tracks are made by small feet, possibly a woman. They follow those until they find a dead woman, with a four-year-old girl at her side. The girl says her name is 'Barba'.<br />
<br />
This is a fantastic book. Every once in a while, the author would insert wonderful poetical segments. My favorite is when the author describes the monsoon season of this area:<br />
<br />
"...the spirit of the Desert issued its silent challenge. It was not the majestic challenge of the mountains with their unsealed heights of peak and dome and impassable barriers of rugged crag and sheer cliff. It was not the glad challenge of the untamed wilderness with its myriad formed life of tree and plant and glen and stream. It was not the noble challenge of the wide-sweeping, pathless plains; nor the wild challenge of the restless, storm-driven sea. It was the silent, sinister, menacing threat of a desolation that had conquered by cruel waiting and that lay in wait still to conquer."<br />
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Amazon reports that its ebook edition is 329 pages. Most printed books are over 500 pages. Also, more than 15 movies were made or claimed to be made from Wright's stories, including Gary Cooper's first major movie, <i>The Winning of Barbara Worth</i>. <br />
<br />
<br />
<strong>About the author</strong> -<br />
<br />
Harold Bell Wright was born on May 4, 1872 in Rome, New York to William and Alma Watson Wright. When Wright was eleven years old his mother died and his father abandoned the children. For the remainder of his childhood Wright lived with various relatives or strangers, mostly in Ohio. <br />
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In his late teens he found regular employment painting both works of art and houses. After two years of what Wright called "pre-preparation" education at Hiram College in Hiram, Ohio, Wright became a minister for the Christian Church.<br />
<br />
In 1902, while pastoring the Christian Church in Kansas, he wrote a melodramatic story, entitled <em>That Printer of Udell's. </em>It was Wright's second novel, <i>The Shepherd of the Hills</i>, published in 1907 and set in Branson, Missouri, that established him as a best-selling author. <br />
<br />
Harold Bell Wright married Frances Long and had three children from this marriage.<br />
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Although mostly forgotten or ignored after the middle of the 20th century, he is said to have been the first American writer to sell a million copies of a novel and the first to make $1 million from writing fiction.<br />
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After struggling most of his life with lung disease, Wright died of bronchial pneumonia on May 24, 1944 in La Jolla, California.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10775712817472553225noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2015858322018081994.post-26161464529019861092014-02-24T07:19:00.000-08:002014-03-19T09:32:11.851-07:00<strong>Barty Crusoe and His Man Saturday</strong> - 1908<br />
Frances Hodgson Burnett<br />
248 pages<br />
genre - Children's Literature, picture book<br />
my rating - 3 out of 5 stars<br />
<br />
The first line in the book is: "I hope you remember that I told you that the story of Barty and the Good Wolf was the kind of story which could go on and on, and that when it stopped it could begin again." A very big hint that this story is not the first in a series. <br />
<br />
I did some checking, and Burnett published a book called <em>The Good Wolf</em> a year before <em>Barty Crusoe and His Man Saturday</em> was released. While I enjoyed reading <em>Barty Crusoe and His Man Saturday</em>, I would strongly suggest you read <em>The Good Wolf</em> first. There were a few parts in the book where I was puzzled. I'm sure those would be cleared up with information from <em>The Good Wolf</em>.<br />
<br />
One rainy day Barty is up in the attic and he finds a book. "It was a rather fat book, and it had been read so much that it was falling to pieces. On the first page there was a picture of a very queer looking man. He was dressed in clothes made of goat skin; he carried a gun on one shoulder and a parrot on the other, and his name was printed under the picture and it was—Robinson Crusoe."<br />
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Barty reads the book and decides that he wants his own adventure on a deserted island. He calls for the Good Wolf, who arranges the trip. They have a wonderful time.<br />
<br />
The book never mentions Barty's age, but in the illustrations, it looks like he is about 5 or 6-years-old. Speaking of illustrations, be sure to find a copy of this book with all the pictures and drawings, especially if you are going to read this to a child. They are wonderful. Gutenberg.org has a pdf version with all the illustrations and drawings.<br />
<br />
<br />
<strong>About the author</strong> - <br />
<br />
I have previously reviewed a book by this author. Please see my post on June 14, 2013 for the biography about Frances Hodgson Burnett. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10775712817472553225noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2015858322018081994.post-62768711926238028482014-02-17T08:19:00.000-08:002014-02-17T08:19:45.850-08:00<strong>The Hills of Refuge</strong> - 1918<br />
Will N. Harben<br />
440 pages<br />
genre - General Fiction (with some romance)<br />
my rating - 4 out of 5 stars<br />
<br />
My favorite thing to do when I read a book is to look for 'words of wisdom'. By 'words of wisdom' I mean thoughts or ideas that express a truth. This book is loaded with them. Here's a few:<br />
<br />
1. "Was there really such a thing as a new birth in which, under stress of some rare spiritual experience, a man was completely changed? It might really be so..."<br />
<br />
2. "'Oh, it doesn't make any difference what you once were...It is what you are now that counts.'"<br />
<br />
3. "It is a great thing to trample an old weakness underfoot and rise up on it."<br />
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4. "It isn't one's body that feels the greatest pain, it is the mind, the soul, the memory. The pain comes from the futility of hoping."<br />
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<em>The Hills of Refuge</em> is about two brothers, William and Charles, and their struggles to overcome weakness. The story is also about love, redemption, and learning to taking responsibility. <br />
<br />
One of the interesting facets about this story is that it felt like it was written as a serial. There were several denouements towards the last 20% of the book. I would read what seemed like the end, but then I would realize I still had a ways to go. And then I would read another conclusion, but still had 10% left on my Kindle. The true ending was very well written. <br />
<br />
I will definitely look for other books by this author.<br />
<br />
<strong>About the author</strong> - <br />
<br />
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William Nathaniel Harben was born on July 5, 1858, to Myra Richardson and Nathaniel Parks Harben, in the small town of Dalton, Georgia. Harben was a bright, fun-loving youth who showed an interest in writing at an early age. <br />
<br />
At the age of thirty, he decided to take his chances on writing as a profession. After several successful short stories, he made his first mark on the literary scene in 1889 with a melodramatic but extremely popular novel entitled <i>White Marie</i>. <br />
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He married the South Carolina socialite Maybelle Chandler in 1896. They had three children.<br />
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<em>Almost Persuaded</em> (1890), a religious novel, was so well received that Queen Victoria of England requested an autographed copy.<br />
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Harben wrote until his death in New York City on August 7, 1919, and was buried in his beloved Dalton, Georgia.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10775712817472553225noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2015858322018081994.post-47652513609884338942014-02-03T11:10:00.000-08:002014-02-03T11:10:11.519-08:00<strong>Her Season in Bath</strong> A Story of Bygone Days - 1889<br />
Emma Marshall<br />
204 pages<br />
genre - Historical Fiction<br />
my rating - 2 out of 5 stars<br />
<br />
"It was the height of the Bath season in 1779, and there was scarcely any part of the city which did not feel the effect of the great tide of amusement and pleasure..." Young Griselda Mainwaring, an orphan and ward of her aunt, was not amused nor pleased with the pressure of accepting the suit of Sir Maxwell Danby. He was repugnant! How could she get away from him?<br />
<br />
The author tried so hard for this one book to be so many things. It seemed like it was intended to be an educational historical fiction, part romance (with gothic tendencies) and an inspirational story, to boot! Included in all this, the author wrote in an awkward style meant to be the common speech of the late 1700's. In my opinion, it just didn't work.<br />
<br />
All that being said, the story did keep my attention throughout the whole. The plot was well defined, if somewhat predicable. And I learned something in the process. Evidently, Emma Marshall was well-known for taking a real person and inserting them into her fictional tale.<br />
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In <em>Her Season in Bath</em>, the Hanoverian-born British astronomer, William Herschel and his sister Caroline, are neighbors to the young heroine. Herschel built his own reflecting telescopes. He "began to look at the planets and the stars" in May 1773 and on 1 March 1774 began an astronomical journal by noting his observations of Saturn's rings. <br />
<br />
In March 1781, Herschel noticed an object appearing as a nonstellar disk. It must be a planet beyond the orbit of Saturn. He called the new planet the 'Georgian star' after King George III. The name did not stick. In France, where reference to the British king was to be avoided if possible, the planet was known as 'Herschel' until the name 'Uranus' was adopted.<br />
<br />
<strong>About the author</strong> -<br />
<br />
Emma Martin was born in 1830, in Norfolk, England and was the youngest daughter of Simon Martin and Hannah Ransome. Miss Martin has depicted her early childhood in one of her first stories, <i>The Dawn of Life</i>. She was educated at a private school until the age of sixteen. <br />
<br />
When as a girl she read Longfellow's <i>Evangeline,</i> she was so much impressed with it that she wrote to the poet, and thus began a correspondence that lasted until her death. <br />
<br />
In 1854, she married Hugh Graham Marshall, a banker.<sup> </sup>They had three sons and four daughters.<br />
<br />
Her first story, <i>Happy Days at Fernbank,</i> was published in 1861. Between that date and her death she wrote over two hundred stories. <br />
<br />
Marshall died at home on 4 May, 1899, from pneumonia.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10775712817472553225noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2015858322018081994.post-42036059265176698292014-01-27T09:40:00.000-08:002014-01-27T09:40:47.553-08:00<br />
<strong>The Ups and Downs in the Life of a Distressed Gentleman</strong> - 1836<br />
William L. Stone<br />
230 pages<br />
genre - Memoir<br />
rating - 2 out of 5 stars<br />
<br />
Have you ever read a book where at the beginning you didn't know if it was going to be worthwhile to spend the time on it? Such was the case when I started <em>The Ups and Downs</em>... <br />
<br />
The introduction is all about an ostrich, the importance of biographies, and an old Emperor from China. Chapter 1 is about circles. It's not until Chapter 2 that we meet the subject of the story. <br />
<br />
But somehow I was kept interested through long paragraphs, musings, digressions, and some great one-liners. It is the one-liners that keeps this book from a one star rating. Examples:<br />
<br />
"...biography is history..."<br />
"...somewhat questionable members of the piscatory family..." (eels)<br />
"Every patriotic Gothamite should rejoice at each successive indication of an improvement in architectural taste amongst us."<br />
<br />
And the best for last: "The reader has probably heard the story of the Yankee candidate for the mastership of one our common schools, who, on being asked by the inspectors whether he knew any thing of mathematics, answered that he didn't know Matthew, although he had seen a good deal of one Tom Mattocks, in Rhode Island; but he'd never hearn (sic) of his having any brother."<br />
<br />
At the end of the book, the author assures us that "...every essential incident that I have recorded, actually occurred..." I don't know if that's true, and if a Daniel Wheelwright really existed, but I'm glad I read the book. I'm also glad it wasn't very long.<br />
<br />
<br />
<strong>About the author</strong> - <br />
<br />
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William Leete Stone (20 April 1792 – 15 August 1844) was a journalist and historical writer mostly on topics relating to the American Revolutionary War. His father, William, was a soldier of the Revolution and a descendant of Gov. William Leete.<br />
<br />
At the age of seventeen, he became a printer in the office of the Cooperstown <i>Federalist</i>, and in 1813 he was editor of the Herkimer <i>American</i>. Subsequently he edited the <i>Northern Whig</i>, the <em>Daily Advertiser,</em> and<em> </em>the Hartford <i>Mirror</i>. He took a turn at editing a literary magazine called <i>The Knights of the Round Table</i>. He also edited <i>The Lounger</i>, a literary periodical which was noted for its pleasantry and wit. In 1821 he became editor of the New York <i>Commercial Advertiser</i>, which place he held for the rest of his life.<br />
<br />
Brown University gave him the Master of Arts degree in 1825. Stone always advocated the abolition of slavery by congressional action. He was the first superintendent of public schools in New York City.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10775712817472553225noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2015858322018081994.post-29346750960806356522014-01-20T09:18:00.000-08:002014-03-19T09:37:35.362-07:00<strong>The Enchanted Barn</strong> - 1918<br />
Grace Livingston Hill<br />
107 pages ?<br />
genre - Romance, Inspirational Fiction<br />
my rating - 4 out of 5 stars<br />
<br />
Over the years my mother has told me about her favorite books by Grace Livingston Hill. I figured it was about time that I read one for myself. I chose to read <em>The Enchanted Barn</em>.<br />
<br />
Shirley Hollister, a young stenographer, is very worried. Father has been dead for several years now and Mother is deathly ill. It is up to her and her younger brother, George, to support the family. <br />
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Plus, they have received a notice that their apartment complex is being torn down and they have a couple of weeks to move out. And it's coming up summertime. It will be too hot for Mother to continue living in the city. A new home needs to be found soon.<br />
<br />
Taking advantage of an unexpected afternoon off, Shirley takes a trolley car going out-of-town. She sees "...a wide, old-fashioned barn of stone, with ample grassy stone-coped entrance rising like a stately carpeted stairway from the barn-yard." This would be a wonderful place to spend the summer. Now if only the owner will rent the barn to them for no more than $12 a month!<br />
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Usually I don't enjoy reading inspiration stories as blatant as <em>The Enchanted Barn</em>, but somehow the author as able to pull it off. Perhaps it was because I didn't feel as if I was being preached at, but that was just the way the characters believed.<br />
<br />
Also, I don't think Amazon's estimate of the page count for this book is correct. It seemed much longer than that. Other editions of this book show that it has between 295 to 366 pages.<br />
<br />
<br />
<strong></strong><br />
<strong>About the author</strong> -<br />
<br />
Grace Livingston Hill was born April 16, 1865 in Wellsville, New York to Presbyterian minister Charles Montgomery Livingston and his wife, Marcia Macdonald Livingston - both of them being writers.<br />
<br />
Hill's first novel was written to make enough money for a vacation to Chautauqua in New York while the family was living in Florida. Lack of funds was a frequent motivator, particularly after the death of her first husband left her with two small children and no income other than that from her writing. <br />
<br />
After the death of Hill's father, her mother came to live with her. This prompted Hill to write more frequently. <br />
<br />
The last Grace Livingston Hill book, <i>Mary Arden</i>, was finished by her daughter Ruth Livingston Hill and published in 1947.<br />
<br />
Hill died Jan. 1, 1947.<br />
<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10775712817472553225noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2015858322018081994.post-13072341217785384362014-01-13T13:57:00.000-08:002014-01-13T13:57:06.097-08:00<strong>Plain Tales From the Hills</strong> - 1888<br />
Rudyard Kipling<br />
256 pages<br />
genre - short stories<br />
my rating - 2 out of 5 stars<br />
<br />
This is my first experience reading anything of Kipling's works. I did not enjoy <em>Plain Tales from the Hills</em> as much as I thought I would. I should probably read later publications just to see how much his writing improved over the years. <br />
<br />
Near the end of Kipling's years at college, his parents obtained a job for him as the assistant editor of a small newspaper in Lahore, Punjab, (now in Pakistan) called the <em>Civil & Military Gazette</em>. It was in this newspaper that Kipling published thirty-nine stories between November 1886 and June 1887. Kipling included most of these stories in <i>Plain Tales from the Hills</i>, which was published a month after his 22nd birthday.<br />
<br />
Some of the stories are quite short; others are longer. Some of the stories are humorous; others are very sad. Some of the stories have a moral; others seem to have no point at all. Truly a grab bag of tales. Only a few a the stories would I ever read again.<br />
<br />
<strong>About the author</strong> - <br />
<br />
Rudyard Kipling was born on 30 December 1865 in Bombay, India, to Alice MacDonald and John Lockwood Kipling. John Lockwood and Alice had met in 1863 and courted at Rudyard Lake in Rudyard, Staffordshire, England. They married, and moved to India in 1865. They had been so moved by the beauty of the Rudyard Lake area that they named their first child, a boy, after it. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f9/Collier_1891_rudyard-kipling.jpg/200px-Collier_1891_rudyard-kipling.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f9/Collier_1891_rudyard-kipling.jpg/200px-Collier_1891_rudyard-kipling.jpg" width="163" /></a>On 18 January 1892, Carrie Balestier and Rudyard Kipling were married in London, in the "thick of an influenza epidemic, when the undertakers had run out of black horses and the dead had to be content with brown ones."<sup> </sup> The author, Henry James, gave the bride away.<br />
<br />
Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of Scouting, used many themes from <i>The Jungle Book</i> in setting up his junior movement, the Wolf Cubs. <br />
<br />
Kipling kept writing until the early 1930s, but at a slower pace than before. On the night of 12 January 1936, Kipling suffered a haemorrhage in his small intestine. He underwent surgery, but died less than a week later on 18 January 1936 at the age of 70.<br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10775712817472553225noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2015858322018081994.post-47144939156937061042014-01-06T13:35:00.000-08:002014-01-06T13:35:51.059-08:00<strong>Over Paradise Ridge</strong> A Romance - 1915<br />
Maria Thompson Daviess<br />
102 pages<br />
genre - Romance<br />
my rating - 4 out of 5 stars<br />
<br />
I had to read the opening lines of this book several times. It just didn't make sense.<br />
<br />
"Nobody knows what starts the sap along the twigs of a very young, tender, and green woman's nature. In my case it was Samuel Foster Crittenden..."<br />
<br />
I'm extremely grateful I persevered. It's a wonderful book, written in an unusual style. Somehow poetic, with plenty of wisdom. <br />
<br />
Young Betty Hayes has two very good friends who desperately need her help - Sam and Peter. Betty has known Sam her whole life and now he is trying to start a farm from scratch with hardly any money. Betty has known Peter for three years now and he is trying to write the next great American play. She is constantly being torn between the two young men.<br />
<br />
There are some fascinating supporting characters: Sam's younger brother referred to as the Byrd, Peter's anxious father, Betty's crocheting mother just to name a few. <br />
<br />
One of my favorite lines in the book is the description of New York City. "New York in the daytime is like a huge football game in which a million or two players all fall on the ball of life at the same time and kick and squirm and fight over it; but a night it is a dragon with billions of flaming eyes that only blink out when it is time to crawl away from the rising sun and get in a hole until the dark comes again."<br />
<br />
I will certainly look for other works by this author. <br />
<br />
<strong>About the author</strong> -<br />
<br />
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Maria Thompson Daviess was born in Harrodsburg, Kentucky on Nov. 25, 1872. After her father died when she was eight, her family relocated to Nashville, Tennessee. She studied one year at Wellesley College, and then went to Paris to study art. <br />
<br />
Returning to Nashville, she continued to paint and also took up writing. Her first novel, <i>Miss Selina Lue and the Soap-box Babies</i> was published in 1909. <i>The Melting of Molly</i>, published in 1912, was one of the top best-selling books for the year. <br />
<br />
In 1921, she moved to New York City, where she died on September 3, 1924. She did not marry and had no children.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10775712817472553225noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2015858322018081994.post-55450775902949553782013-12-19T14:10:00.001-08:002013-12-19T14:10:49.972-08:00<strong>The Little City of Hope</strong> - 1907<br />
F. Marion Crawford<br />
214 pages<br />
genre - General Fiction, Christmas<br />
my rating - 4 out of 5 stars<br />
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John Henry Overholt is an inventor. His first invention was considered very successful, and John Henry is now working an a new idea, an 'air-motor'. <br />
<br />
Quite a bit a money has already been invested, with the 'air-motor' no where near completion. John Henry is running out of money, time and hope.<br />
<br />
John Henry and their 13-year-old son, Newton, are staying in a run-down house in Connecticut while he works on this new invention. And on the theory that two can live cheaper than three, Mrs. Overholt has taken a job as a governess and is with that family in Germany.<br />
<br />
I love the names of the nine chapters:<br />
<br />
I. How John Henry Overholt Sat on Pandora's Box<br />
II. How a Man and a Boy Founded the Little City of Hope<br />
III. How They Made Bricks Without Straw<br />
IV. How There Was a Famine in the City<br />
V. How the City Was Besieged and the Lid of Pandora's Box Came Off<br />
VI. How a Small Boy Did a Big Thing and Nailed Down the Lid of the Box<br />
VII. How a Little Woman Did a great Deed to Save the City<br />
VIII. How the Wheels Went Round at Last<br />
IX. How the King of Hearts Made a Feast in the City of Hope<br />
<br />
The title of the story refers to a model of the town that Newton is building. "It was entirely made of bits of cardboard, chips of wood, the sides of match-boxes, and odds and ends of all sorts..." Or maybe the title could signify the Overholt family and their little circle of support and love. A wonderful story full of perseverance and sacrifice.<br />
<br />
<strong>About the Author</strong> -<br />
<br />
Francis Marion Crawford was born on August 2, 1854, in Bagni di Lucca, Italy, the only son of the American sculptor Thomas Crawford and Louisa Cutler Ward. He studied successively at St Paul's School, Concord, New Hampshire; Cambridge University; University of Heidelberg; and the University of Rome.<br />
<br />
In 1879 he went to India, where he studied Sanskrit and edited in Allahabad <i>The Indian Herald</i>. Returning to America in February 1881, he continued to study Sanskrit at Harvard University for a year and for two years contributed to various periodicals, mainly <i>The Critic</i>.<br />
<br />
In December 1882 he produced his first novel, <i>Mr. Isaacs,</i> a brilliant sketch of modern Anglo-Indian life mingled with a touch of Oriental mystery. This book had an immediate success, and its author's promise was confirmed by the publication of <i>Dr. Claudius</i> (1883). <br />
<br />
In May 1883 he returned to Italy, where he made his permanent home. In October 1884 he married Elizabeth Berdan, the daughter of the American Civil War Union Gen. Hiram Berdan. They had two sons and two daughters.<br />
<br />
Crawford died on April 9, 1909 at home in Sant' Agnello, Italy of a heart attack. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10775712817472553225noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2015858322018081994.post-28600609014182326942013-12-16T09:17:00.000-08:002013-12-16T09:17:43.194-08:00<strong>Christmas Bells</strong> - 1863<br />
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow<br />
7 stanzas, 35 lines<br />
genre - poetry<br />
my rating - 4 out of 5 stars<br />
<br />
I have sung this hymn at Church every December for as long as I can remember. I didn't realize until today that there were two stanzas missing.<br />
<br />
See if you recognize the song by those missing lines:<br />
<br />
Then from each black, accursed mouth<br /> The cannon thundered in the South,<br /> And with the sound<br />
The carols drowned<br />
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!<br />
<br />
It was as if an earthquake rent<br /> The hearth-stones of a continent,<br /> And made forlorn<br />
The households born<br />
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!<br />
<br />
During the American Civil War, Longfellow's oldest son Charles Appleton Longfellow joined the Union cause as a soldier without his father's blessing. Longfellow was informed by a letter dated March 14, 1863, after Charles had left. "I have tried hard to resist the temptation of going without your leave but I cannot any longer".<br />
<br />
Charles was severely wounded<sup> </sup>in the Battle of New Hope Church (in Virginia) during the Mine Run Campaign. Coupled with the recent loss of his wife Frances, who died as a result of an accidental fire, Longfellow was inspired to write "Christmas Bells".<br />
<br />
It's nice to hear 'the rest of the story'. While I really liked the hymn, and could relate to the words, it always seemed as if the 4th verse of the song came out of nowhere. Now I understand. And we are promised "The Wrong will fail, the Right prevail."<br />
<br />
<strong>About the author</strong> - <br />
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Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born on February 27, 1807, to Stephen and Zilpah (Wadsworth) Longfellow. He was the second of eight children. <br />
<br />
In the fall of 1822, Longfellow enrolled at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. His grandfather was a founder of the college. There, Longfellow met Nathaniel Hawthorne, who would later become his lifelong friend.<br />
<br />
After graduating in 1825, he was offered a job as professor of modern languages at Bowdoin. He accepted the position after traveling abroad for several years. <br />
<br />
On September 14, 1831, Longfellow married Mary Storer Potter, a childhood friend from Portland. In October 1835, Mary had a miscarriage about six months into her pregnancy. She did not recover and died after several weeks of illness.<br />
<br />
In 1836, Longfellow took up a professorship at Harvard. <br />
<br />
In 1839, Longfellow began courting Frances "Fanny" Appleton. On May 10, 1843, after seven years, Longfellow received a letter from Fanny Appleton agreeing to marry him. They were soon married. They had six children.<br />
<br />
In March 1882, Longfellow went to bed with severe stomach pain. He endured the pain for several days with the help of opium before he died surrounded by family on Friday, March 24, 1882. He is buried with both of his wives at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.<br />
<br />
<br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10775712817472553225noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2015858322018081994.post-79447966775382267292013-12-13T08:42:00.000-08:002013-12-13T08:44:57.970-08:00<strong>Colonel Crockett's Co-operative Christmas</strong> - 1906<br />
Rupert Hughes<br />
66 pages<br />
genre - Humor, Christmas<br />
my rating - 4 out of 5 stars<br />
<br />
If you were away from your family on Christmas Day, what would you do? <br />
<br />
Well, the first year this happened to Colonel D. Austen Crockett, he moped around feeling sorry for himself. In his own words, it was "the miserablest night I ever spent in all my born days". <br />
<br />
But the next year when it happens again, Colonel Crockett comes up with a very clever idea.<br />
<br />
This short story is actually two letters from Colonel Crockett's to his wife with a commentary from an 'editor' in-between the letters. <br />
<br />
I loved reading the Texan slang, and I'm purdy sure there was some exaggeration somewheres, especially when Col. Crockett reports that "the fire department was called and played the hose on the crowd. This thinned 'em off a bit on the outsquirts". <br />
<br />
The first time I read this, it was just an ebook I got from Amazon. I really enjoyed it, and told my family all about it. Then my husband found a pdf version, which included all the wonderful pictures in colors. If you decide to read this book, I highly suggest you take the time to find a copy with the illustrations. Each page of the book has a border with drawings inside, and then there are six pictures.<br />
<br />
<br />
<strong>About the Author</strong> - <br />
<br />
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Rupert Hughes was born on January 31, 1872 in Lancaster, Missouri. Rupert spent his early years there until age seven when the family moved to Keokuk, Iowa. He was the brother of Howard R. Hughes, Sr. and uncle of billionaire Howard R. Hughes, Jr. <br />
<sup></sup><br />
After receiving his basic public education in Keokuk and at a private military academy near St. Charles, Missouri, Hughes attended Adelbert College in Ohio. Hughes later attended Yale University, earning a second degree in 1899.<br />
<br />
Hughes worked at various times as a reporter for the <i>New York Journal</i> and editor for various magazines including <i>Current Literature</i>, all the while continuing to write short stories, poetry, and plays.<br />
<br />
Some of Rupert Hughes most notable early writing involved music. Hughes was a musician and composed several songs including ones for his first venture as a playwright, the musical comedy <i>The Bathing Girl</i> (1895).<br />
<br />
Hughes was married three times: Agnes Wheeler Hedge in 1893 (ended in divorce in 1903), Adelaide Bissell in 1908 (she died in 1923), Elizabeth Patterson Dial in 1924. <br />
<br />
Rupert Hughes health began to fail in the late 1940s, leading to a non-fatal stroke in 1953. He suffered a fatal heart attack while working at his desk on September 9, 1956.<sup> </sup>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10775712817472553225noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2015858322018081994.post-45840169862141043992013-12-04T10:39:00.000-08:002013-12-13T08:42:39.463-08:00<strong>Miss Santa Claus of the Pullman</strong> - 1913<br />
Annie Fellows Johnston<br />
196 pages<br />
genre - Young Adult, Christmas<br />
my rating - 3 out of 5 stars<br />
<br />
William (age 4) and his sister Libby (age 7) have been living with Grandma Neal in Junction. Their mother "went off to heaven" a couple of years ago and Papa has been too busy to care for them. <br />
<br />
But now Papa has married and the children will be traveling to the city to join their father and stepmother on the train that goes through their town at least once a day. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51NW2tidW6L.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51NW2tidW6L.jpg" width="137" /></a>The journey was made extra exciting when the train makes a special stop to pick up a young lady. "She was not more than sixteen...her hair was tucked up under her little fur cap with its scarlet quill, and the long, fur-bordered red coat she wore, reached her ankles. One hand was thrust through a row of holly wreaths, and she was carrying all the bundles both arms could carry."<br />
<br />
Miss Santa Claus! And she tells them a secret: "You must always get the right kind of start. It's like hooking up a dress, you know. If you start crooked it will keep on being crooked all the way down to the bottom..."<br />
<br />
I really enjoyed reading this story. It keep my attention the whole way through. I could tell that the book was meant to inspire certain virtues in children, but the promptings were subtle enough not be annoying.<br />
<br />
<strong></strong><br />
<strong>About the author</strong> -<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span lang="en-us">Born on May 15, 1863, Annie Julia Fellows</span> grew up on a farm in McCutchanville, Indiana. Her father<span lang="en-us">, who was</span> a Methodist minister, died when she was only two, but left his influences through his theological books. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Annie began writing as a girl, producing poems and stories<em>.</em> She was known to have read every book in her Sunday school library. She attended district school, and taught a year when she was seventeen. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Annie attended the University of Iowa for one year (1881-82), then returned to Indiana to teach for three years, and later to work as a private secretary. She traveled for several months through New England and Europe. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">When she returned, Annie married William L. Johnston (a cousin and a widower with three young children.) He encouraged her to write, and she began contributing stories to periodicals. William died in 1892, leaving Annie a widow with his children to support. It was at that time that Annie began her career as a writer.</span><br />
<br />
Johnston wrote <em>The Little Colonel</em> in 1895, and it quickly became a success. Twelve more volumes of the Little Colonel series would appear over the next thirty years<br />
<br />
In 1910, Johnston moved to Pewee Valley, Kentucky, and lived there until her death on Oct. 5, 1931.<br />
<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10775712817472553225noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2015858322018081994.post-67157104147309741392013-11-29T14:31:00.000-08:002013-11-29T14:31:30.072-08:00<strong>Wired Love</strong> A Romance of Dots and Dashes - 1880<br />
Ella Cheever Thayer<br />
173 pages<br />
genre - Romance<br />
my rating - 4 out of 5 stars<br />
<br />
<br />
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<a href="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/07/26/article-2378705-1B008DF3000005DC-312_634x670.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/07/26/article-2378705-1B008DF3000005DC-312_634x670.jpg" width="188" /></a></div>
19-year-old Miss Nathalie Rogers, "...or Nattie, as she was usually abbreviated..." was at work one afternoon at a telegraph office when " a noise caused her to lay aside her book, and jump up hastily, exclaiming, 'Somebody always 'calls' me in the middle of every entertaining chapter!'"<br />
<br />
The operator signaling the other end of the wire was incredibly fast, and quite rude. But funny, and interesting, and a man, too, if Nattie's not mistaken. They quickly strike up a friendship. <br />
<br />
What follows is a wonderfully cute romance, with a certain amount of comedy of errors. The supporting characters were well fleshed out. There were a number of times I chuckled out loud at the antics of Quimby. <br />
<br />
This story could easily have been written recently with the two people meeting online. It's amazing how times really don't change, just circumstances.<br />
<br />
My favorite line in the book: "There certainly is something romantic in talking to a mysterious person, unseen, and miles away!"<br />
<br />
<strong>About the author</strong> -<br />
<br />
I couldn't find much about this author.<br />
<br />
Ella Cheever Thayer (September 14, 1849 – 1925) was a playwright and novelist. She was a former telegraph operator at the Brunswick Hotel in Boston, Massachusetts. <br />
<br />
Thayer was a resident of Saugus, Massachusetts.<br />
<br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10775712817472553225noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2015858322018081994.post-23658276554059203772013-11-25T12:27:00.000-08:002013-11-25T12:27:21.130-08:00<span id="btAsinTitle"><strong>John Inglefield's Thanksgiving</strong> - 1852</span><br />
<span>Nathaniel Hawthorne</span><br />
<span>6 pages</span><br />
<span>genre - short story</span><br />
<span>my rating - 3 out of 5 stars</span><br />
<span></span><br />
<span>Of the few works I have read of Hawthorne's, none of them have been particularly cheerful. I hope one day that I will be pleasantly surprised to read an uplifting and happy story of his writing. 'John Inglefield's Thanksgiving' is from Hawthorne's anthology <em>The Snow-Image and Other Twice Told Tales</em>.</span><br />
<span></span><br />
<span>There are four people sitting around John Inglefield's table on that Thanksgiving night. John, his son (who is home from college), his 16-year-old daughter, and John's journeyman. There is an empty chair at the table for John's wife who had died a few months ago.</span><br />
<span></span><br />
<span>"Within the past year another member of his household had gone from him, but not to the grave. Yet they kept no vacant chair for her."</span><br />
<span></span><br />
<span>Everyone is astonished when Prudence Inglefield walks in the door. </span><br />
<br />
<span>I have to admit that there were a few ideas in the tale that I will have to consider. And that's what I like best about books: when I am given points to ponder.</span><br />
<span></span><br />
<span></span><br />
<span><strong>About the author</strong> -</span><br />
<span></span><br />
<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/bf/Nathaniel_Hawthorne_by_Brady,_1860-65.jpg/220px-Nathaniel_Hawthorne_by_Brady,_1860-65.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/bf/Nathaniel_Hawthorne_by_Brady,_1860-65.jpg/220px-Nathaniel_Hawthorne_by_Brady,_1860-65.jpg" width="143" /></a><span>Nathaniel Hawthorne was born on July 4, 1804, in Salem, Massachusetts. After the death of his father in 1808, young Nathaniel, his mother and two sisters lived with relatives.</span><br />
<span></span><br />
<span>William Hathorne, the author's great-great-great-grandfather, a Puritan, was the first of the family to emigrate from England. William's son, John Hathorne, was one of the judges who oversaw the Salem witch trials. Having learned about this, the author may have added the "w" to his surname in his early twenties, in an effort to dissociate himself from his notorious forebears.</span><br />
<span></span><br />
<span>Hawthorne married Sophia Peabody on July 9, 1842. The couple moved to Concord, Massachusetts. His neighbor, Ralph Waldo Emerson, invited him into his social circle, but Hawthorne was almost pathologically shy and stayed silent when at gatherings.</span><br />
<span></span><br />
<span>Hawthorne published <i>The Scarlet Letter</i> in mid-March 1850. One of the first mass-produced books in America, it sold 2,500 volumes within ten days and earned Hawthorne $1,500 over 14 years.</span><br />
<span></span><br />
<span>Hawthorne met Herman Melville at a picnic hosted by a mutual friend. Melville had just read Hawthorne's short story collection <i>Mosses from an Old Manse</i>. Melville, who was composing <i>Moby-Dick</i> at the time, wrote that these stories revealed a dark side to Hawthorne, "shrouded in blackness, ten times black". Melville dedicated <i>Moby-Dick</i> to Hawthorne: "In token of my admiration for his genius, this book is inscribed to Nathaniel Hawthorne."</span><br />
<span></span><br />
<span>Hawthorne died in his sleep on May 19, 1864.</span><br />
<span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10775712817472553225noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2015858322018081994.post-76967240630826662942013-11-18T16:19:00.000-08:002013-11-18T16:19:58.818-08:00<strong>The Brass Bowl</strong> - 1907<br />
Louis Joseph Vance<br />
137 pages<br />
genre - Adventure<br />
my rating - 4 out of 5 stars<br />
<br />
The hero of the story is Daniel Maitland,"whose somewhat somber but sincere and whole-hearted participation in the wildest of conceivable escapades had earned him the affectionate regard of the younger set, together with the sobriquet of 'Mad Maitland'."<br />
<br />
<a href="http://img2.imagesbn.com/p/2940016269351_p0_v1_s260x420.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://img2.imagesbn.com/p/2940016269351_p0_v1_s260x420.JPG" width="142" /></a>Dan and some friends have just arrived back in New York City after being gone for several weeks. The friends have planned out the activities for the evening, and Dan isn't thrilled. In fact, he knows it will be quite boring. <br />
<br />
When Dan's friends drop him off at his apartment building, someone catches his eye - "a young and attractive woman coming out of a home for confirmed bachelors." And upstairs in his own flat, he finds a handprint on his dusty desk, just the size he would expect from that young and attractive woman's hand.<br />
<br />
So begins a fantastic couple of days for Dan. He encounters burglars, pushes a car out a creek, engages in some fisticuffs, meets an imposter, lies to the police, speeds through the New York streets, hotwires an elevator and then gets in a shoot out. A cracking good time for "Mad Maitland'. <br />
<br />
I thoroughly enjoyed this story. It would make an awesome movie. Hmmm, who would I cast as 'Handsome Dan' (as he was known during his college years)? In fact, it was made into a movie back in 1924. It's time for a new one. This one will have sound and be in color!<br />
<br />
Amazon says its ebook is only 137 pages. I think it was much longer than that. The original hardback was 380 pages. It felt like what I read was around 250 pages. <br />
<br />
<strong>About the author</strong> - <br />
<br />
Louis Joseph Vance was born in Washington, D. C. on September 19th, 1879. Vance was educated at Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute. He wrote short stories and verse after 1901, then composed many popular novels. <br />
<br />
His character "Michael Lanyard", also known as "The Lone Wolf", was featured in eight books and 24 films between 1914 and 1949, and also appeared in radio and television series.<br />
<br />
Vance was found dead in a burnt armchair inside his New York apartment on December 16th, 1933; a cigarette had ignited some benzene (used for cleaning his clothes or for his broken jaw) that he had on his body and he was intoxicated at the time. The death was ruled accidental.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10775712817472553225noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2015858322018081994.post-18785246402849548912013-11-12T08:21:00.000-08:002013-11-12T08:21:17.447-08:00<strong>My Books and I</strong> - 1917<br />
Edgar Guest<br />
genre - poetry<br />
3 stanzas - 24 lines<br />
my rating - 3 out of 5 stars<br />
<br />
What authors or books do you reach for when you are in a particular mood? There have been times when I stand in front of my bookshelf for a few moments contemplating my choices and my state of mind. I definitely have my favorites that I turn to in those times.<br />
<br />
In his book of poetry called <em>Just Folks</em>, Edgar Guest shares his go-to authors:<br />
<br />
"Just suited for my merry moods<br />
When I am wont to play.<br />
______ ______ comes down to joke with me..."<br />
<br />
<br />
"When I am in a thoughtful mood,<br />
With __________________ I sit..."<br />
<br />
"And should my soul be torn with grief<br />
Upon my shelf I find<br />
A little volume, torn and thumbled,<br />
For comfort just designed.<br />
I take ____ ________ ________ down..."<br />
<br />
How would you fill in those blanks?<br />
<br />
<strong>About the author</strong> - <br />
<a href="http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/biography/images/guest_e02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/biography/images/guest_e02.jpg" width="133" /></a>Edgar Albert Guest was born on the 20th of August 1881, in Birmingham, England. <br />
<br />
In 1891, Guest came with his family to the United States from England. After he began at the <i>Detroit Free Press</i> as a copy boy and then a reporter, his first poem appeared 11 December 1898. He became a naturalized citizen in 1902. <br />
<br />
From his first published work in the <i>Detroit Free Press</i> until his death in 1959, Guest penned some 11,000 poems which were syndicated in some 300 newspapers and collected in more than 20 books. <br />
<br />
Guest was made Poet Laureate of Michigan, the only poet to have been awarded the title.<br />
<br />
His popularity led to a weekly Detroit radio show which he hosted from 1931 until 1942, followed by a 1951 NBC television series, <i>A Guest in Your Home</i>.<br />
<br />
Guest died on August 5th, 1959. He was buried in Detroit's Woodlawn Cemetery.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10775712817472553225noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2015858322018081994.post-60501549497716084582013-11-08T09:02:00.000-08:002014-03-19T09:41:15.017-07:00<strong>The Palace in the Garden</strong> - 1887<br />
Mrs. Molesworth<br />
314 pages<br />
genre - Young Adult<br />
my rating - 4 out of 5 stars<br />
<br />
Three orphan siblings get a tremendous surprise one morning when their grandfather announces that he is closing up their London home. Grandpapa will live at his club, and Tib (age 11), Gussie (age 10) and Gerald (age 7) will move out to the countryside to live in a cottage by the name of 'Rosebuds'.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Gerald says, "I don't like cottages with roses growing over them. There are always witches living in cottages like that, in the fairy tales. There is in <em>Snow-white</em> and <em>Rose-red</em>."<br />
<br />
Grandpapa gives them three rules that they must obey.<br />
1 - Do not make any friends.<br />
2 - Do not go into other people's houses.<br />
3 - Do not chatter to strangers.<br />
<br />
In the gardens around the lovely cottage, the children find a locked door in a garden wall. Gussie has found a mystery.<br />
<br />
I can't decide which line is my favorite, so you're going to get both:<br />
<br />
"If [Tib] were going to write a story, she would make it like poetry, very difficult to understand, and awfully long words, and lots about feelings and sorrow and mysteries."<br />
<br />
"We can't help our minds wondering - they're made to wonder."<br />
<br />
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was very well written. I completely understand why the author was called "the Jane Austen of the nursery". In Agatha Christie's book <em>Postern of Fate</em>, Tommy and Tuppence say that two of Molesworth's books to be their childhood favorites. <br />
<br />
<br />
<strong>About the author</strong> - <br />
<br />
Mary Louisa Stewart was born on 29th of May, 1839, in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. She was a daughter of Charles Augustus Stewart and Agnes Janet Wilson. Mary had three brothers and two sisters. <br />
<br />
She was educated in Great Britain and Switzerland, though much of her girlhood was spent in Manchester, England. In 1861 she married Major R. Molesworth; they separated legally in 1879.<br />
<sup></sup><br />
Molesworth is best known as a writer of books for the young. She also took an interest in supernatural fiction. In 1888, she published a collection of supernatural tales under the title <i>Four Ghost Stories,</i> and in 1896 a similar collection of six tales under the title <i>Uncanny Stories.</i><br />
<em></em><br />
Molesworth died in 1921 and is buried in Brompton Cemetery, London.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10775712817472553225noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2015858322018081994.post-30374102946216045022013-11-05T11:53:00.000-08:002014-03-19T09:47:32.586-07:00<strong>Under the Liberty Tree</strong> A Story of the "Boston Massacre" - 1896<br />
James Otis<br />
126 pages<br />
genre - Historical Fiction, Young Adult<br />
my rating - 2 out of 5 stars<br />
<br />
<a href="http://img1.imagesbn.com/p/2940011870736_p0_v1_s260x420.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://img1.imagesbn.com/p/2940011870736_p0_v1_s260x420.JPG" height="200" width="132" /></a>Sometimes the best way to learn about history is to read about the events in a fictional setting. I believe that is what the author intended to do with this book.<br />
<br />
At the beginning of the story, a group of boys have gathered together to discuss the newest outrage. One of the shopkeepers "had failed to keep the promise not to import British goods...[he] has openly declared it was his intention to sell whatsoever he pleased."<br />
<br />
The boys decide to erect an effigy in front of the store with a sign naming all the shopkeepers so far who have gone back on their promise. It is to be a warning. <br />
<br />
Events quickly escalate, and the 'Bloody Massacre' or the 'State Street Massacre' occurs.<br />
<br />
I would have given this book a 3-star rating, but the author changed the names of some of the real participants. Why would he do that? <br />
<br />
Hardy Baker was really Edward Garrick<br />
Chris Snyder was really Christopher Seider<br />
Lt. Draper was really Captain-Lieutenant John Goldfinch<br />
<br />
It makes me wonder what else was changed. <br />
<br />
<strong>About the author</strong> -<br />
<br />
James Otis Kaler was born on March 19, 1848, in Winterport, Maine. He attended public schools, then got a job with the <i>Boston Journal</i> at 13, and three years later was providing coverage of the American Civil War. Later, he went on to work for various newspapers, superintendent at schools, and a publicity man at a circus.<br />
<br />
In 1880 Kaler authored his first, and still most famous book, <i>Toby Tyler, or Ten Weeks with a Circus</i>, a story about an orphan who runs away to join the circus. Following the book's success he went on to author numerous other children’s books, mostly historical and adventure novels. <br />
<br />
Like most writers of his era, Kaler was astonishingly prolific, and a total of nearly 200 books by him have been identified. Most were signed with the Otis name, but he also used the pen names Walter Morris, Lt. James K. Orton, Harry Prentice, and Amy Prentice. <br />
<br />
After spending several years in the southeastern states, he returned to Maine in 1898 to become the first superintendent of schools in South Portland. He married Amy L. Scamman on March 19 of that year, and they had two sons, Stephen and Otis. <br />
<br />
Kaler died on December 11, 1912, in Portland, Maine.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10775712817472553225noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2015858322018081994.post-72446394494610752242013-10-30T13:57:00.000-07:002014-03-19T09:58:19.166-07:00<strong>The Way of the Wind</strong> - 1911<br />
Zoe Anderson Norris<br />
134 pages<br />
genre - Literary Fiction<br />
my rating - 5 out of 5 stars<br />
<br />
I have been contemplating how to approach writing a review that would come close
to giving the praise and consideration that this work deserves. I am VERY
surprised that I have not heard of this book before, if not in a high school
English class, then I should have read it in one of my college literature
classes! It is that good.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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From the beautiful hills of Kentucky, a scared
young bride travels to barren unpopulated Kansas to join her husband, who has
been preparing their future home. To her dismay, there is only a dugout for a
house and the constant repressive winds.<br />
<br />
"The wind seemed to make sport of her, to laugh at her. It treated her as it would a tenderfoot. It tried to frighten her...It shrieked maniacally as if rejoicing in her discomfort. At times it seemed to hoot at her."<br />
<br />
Although there was little
conversation, it is relatively easy to read. The imagery of the wind, the tall
tales of the 'cyclones' in Kansas, the mystery of the wise men from the East,
and waiting to see if the young husband would prevail more than kept my
attention.<br />
<br />
This book inspired quite a conversation between my husband,
teenage daughter and me. Is it man vs. himself or man vs. nature? Is there a
greater significance to the wind? Who are the wise men from the East who would
come a build a magic city there where the rivers meet? I would encourage any
teacher to include this marvelous work in their curriculum.<br />
<br />
As far as I
can tell, Ms. Norris only wrote two other books. She was also a newspaper
reporter. I would strongly suggest that you look
up her "Interview with Mark Twain's Cat". Very cute!<br />
<br />
<br />
<strong>About the author</strong> - <br />
<br />
Here is a newspaper article reporting her death:<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<strong>Kentucky Woman Predicted Death in the Last Issue of Her Magazine</strong></div>
<br />
Harrodsburg, KY. - In the last issue of the little New York magazine, "East Side", Zoe Anderson Norris wrote: "I am going to take the journey to the undiscovered country very, very soon." Word had just been received that she is dead; that she died as she dreamed and predicted, "very, very soon". Mrs. Norris was Miss Zoe Anderson. She was born 47 years ago in this city. She was married to S. W. Norris, by whom she had one daughter, Mrs. Fletcher Chelf, who lives in Harrodsburg. Mr. Norris died several years ago. On the East Side, where she lived in a little five-room flat, Zoe Anderson Norris was beloved by many whose names are known in the social and literary registers of New York, and by hundreds whose condition in life led them by the narrow little ghetto world.<br />
Mrs. Norris had been a contributor to magazines, she had done active newspaper work, and five years ago she began the publication of the little magazine. She was best known of recent years by writers and newspaper people generally as the founder and spirit of the Ragged Edge club.<br />
<br />
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody>
<tr><td align="left" valign="top"></td></tr>
<tr><td valign="top">Zoe Anderson Norris died <br />
<br />
</td><td align="left" valign="top">Feb. 13, 1914.</td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2" valign="top"><img src="http://www.findagrave.com/icons2/trans.gif" height="13" width="3" /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10775712817472553225noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2015858322018081994.post-8817164440642068132013-10-22T09:41:00.000-07:002013-10-24T08:01:59.689-07:00<strong>The Old Man in the Corner</strong> - 1909<br />
Baroness Emmuska Orczy<br />
186 pages<br />
genre - Mystery<br />
my rating - 3 out of 5 stars<br />
<br />
Miss Polly Burton is at her favorite café, reading a newspaper when a man sits at her table and declares, "There is no such thing as a mystery in connection with any crime, providing intelligence is brought to bear upon its investigation."<br />
<br />
Polly "had never seen any one so pale, so thin, with such funny light-coloured hair...he looked so timid and nervous...he fidgeted incessantly with a piece of string..."<br />
<br />
The man proceeds to relate the facts of a recent crime, and how he was able to solve the mystery just by gathering information at the courtroom and from the newspapers. Polly is curious enough about the man and his ability to solve these cold cases that she continues to meet him at the café eleven more times. <br />
<br />
The 'old man in the corner' first appeared in <i>The Royal Magazine</i> in 1901 in a series of six "Mysteries of London". The following year he returned in seven "Mysteries of Great Cities" set in large provincial centers of the British Isles. The stories are told by an unnamed lady journalist who reports the conversation of the 'man in the corner' who sits at the same table in a teashop. For the book, twelve were rewritten in the third person, with the lady journalist now named Polly Burton.<br />
<br />
The Fenchurch Street Mystery<br />
The Robbery in Phillimore Terrace<br />
The York Mystery<br />
The Mysterious Death on the Underground Railroad<br />
The Liverpool Mystery<br />
The Edinburgh Mystery<br />
The Theft at the English Provident Bank<br />
The Dublin Mystery<br />
An Unparalleled Outrage<br />
The Regent's Park Murder<br />
The De Genneville Peerage<br />
The Mysterious Death in Percy Street<br />
<br />
<strong>About the author</strong> - <br />
<br />
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Emma Magdolna Rozália Mária Jozefa Borbála "Emmuska" Orczy de Orczi was born in Tarnaörs, Hungary, and was the daughter of Baron Felix Orczy de Orczi and Countess Emma Wass von Szentegyed und Czege. Her parents left Hungary in 1868. <br />
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In 1880, the family moved to London. Orczy attended West London School of Art and then Heatherley's School of Fine Art. It was at art school that she met a young illustrator named Montague MacLean Barstow, the son of an English clergyman; they married in 1894. <br />
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They had very little money, and Orczy started to work as a translator and an illustrator to supplement her husband's low earnings. John Montague Orczy-Barstow, their only child, was born on 25 February 1899. She started writing soon after his birth.<br />
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In 1903, Orczy and her husband wrote a play based on one of her short stories about an English aristocrat, Sir Percy Blakeney, who rescued French aristocrats from the French Revolution: <i>The Scarlet Pimpernel</i>. She submitted her novelization of the story under the same title to 12 publishers. While waiting for the decisions of these publishers, the play was performed in the West End. Initially, it drew small audiences, but the play ran four years in London. This theatrical success generated huge sales for the novel.<br />
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Orczy died in Henley-on-Thames on 12 November 1947.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10775712817472553225noreply@blogger.com0