Search

Fans of geography and travel writing should definitely spend some time with Alfred Russell Wallace's fascinating volume The Malay Archipelago. Compiled through decades of research, this book provides an exhaustive account of Wallace's experiences and observations on the large group of islands situated between Australia and Southeast Asia, including his interactions with the indigenous people and theories about the development of the flora and fauna of the region.

In the preface to the fascinating volume Woman in Prison, author Caroline H. Adams explains the chance encounter with a classified advertisement that changed the course of her life. It was a help-wanted ad soliciting applicants for the role of prison matron, a type of female warden who oversees the logistical and housekeeping aspects of running a correctional facility. Seeing the job as a chance to simultaneously earn money and help those in dire straits, Woods jumped at the chance. She recounts her experiences in this book.

The author, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, recounts the adventures of the First Carolina Volunteers, a black regiment mustered into the Army of the United States during the Civil War. Colonel Higginson was convinced that these eight hundred men could drill and perform as well as the best of the white regiments. Transformed from slaves into soldiers, many of whom could not read or write when enlisted, this battalion was watched with microscopic scrutiny by friends and foes as a spectacle of daring innovation.Appendices include a list of the Officers, General Saxton's Instructions, and their struggle for pay.

Volume 1 of 2. The author of this book was commander of'G'Troop, Royal Horse Artillery, in Wellington's army, who jotted down notes on the events of the day each evening. It is an account of what he saw and felt from leaving Colchester for Belgium on 8 April 1815 to his final return to England at the end of January 1816. It is a remarkable and compelling account, especially of the three days which ended the career of Napoleon. Mercer's troop was at Quatre Bras, where he got off a few rounds at Napoleon himself, and at Waterloo. There are graphic descriptions of the battles and of his tour over the battlefield the day after, with its appalling scenes of carnage and the sight of the locals looting the dead, and the not-quite dead. It is an outstanding example of the literature of the Napoleonic wars, and it has a rarity as the memoir of an artillery officer, and a troop commander at that.

This early science fiction novel offers a fascinating vision of a shadowy underworld populated by strange and beautiful creatures who closely resemble the angels described in Christian lore. These beings, known as Vril-ya, live underground, but are planning soon to claim the surface of the earth as their own -- destroying humankind in the process.

He may have vast stores of family money at his disposal, but no one would accuse sleazy Walter Longcluse of being a noble gentleman. After worming his way into the good graces of the genteel Arden clan, Longcluse develops an unsettling obsession with their daughter, Alice. Will his ulterior motives be revealed before it's too late?

King Alfred's West-Saxon Version of Gregory's Pastoral Care (1871) is a key Anglo-Saxon text. Preserved in two manuscripts written during Alfred's lifetime, it affords data of the highest value for fixing the grammatical peculiarities of the West-Saxon dialect of the ninth century.

Irish writer Sheridan Le Fanu gained fame as a master creator of horror stories. Indeed, many critics cite Le Fanu as being central to the skyrocketing popularity of the genre during the late Victorian period. The two short stories collected in this volume highlight Le Fanu's formidable talents in evoking all things eerie, spooky, and uncanny.

Irish master of gothic horror Sherdian Le Fanu does it again with the two stories collected in this volume. Though both are distinct tales that will leave your spine tingling, they share a common theme: an ordinary person is doggedly pursued by a strange being. Are the hauntings supernatural, or merely the byproduct of a diseased psyche?

At the tail end of the Napoleonic Wars, wealthy British heir Richard Beckett decides to spend some time in France. On his way there, he stumbles across an overturned carriage and encounters two people who will alter the course of his life. Afterwards, he makes his way to a nearby inn -- and unknowingly checks himself into a room that is believed to be cursed.

Known for such novels as Tess of the d'Urbervilles and Far from the Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy delves deeper into the genre of historical romance in this stirring portrait of the various entanglements and amorous intrigues that arise among a group of church musicians in rural England. Hearts are broken along the way, and though the novel ends with a wedding, did the right pair find each other in time? Under the Greenwood Tree is an engaging read that fans of historical romance will enjoy.

Times were tough for tomboys in nineteenth-century America. In an era during which the prescribed notions of proper behavior for women and girls were much stricter than they are today, the rough-and-tumble types who couldn't get enough of team sports and the great outdoors were often shunned. This fun and engaging juvenile novel is a great introduction to the period for young readers and adults alike.

Sheridan Le Fanu's final novel Willing to Die is an emotionally evocative look at the most vexing of all mysteries: suicide. In what some critics regard as his most ambitious work, Le Fanu leaves behind the sometimes conventional plot constructions of his earlier career and attempts something much more interesting, bringing together a fragmented jumble of clues and puzzle pieces to get at the truth of a tragic life that ended much too soon.

Translated from the Italian by William Thomas, Clerk of the Council to Edward VI, and by S. A. Roy, Esq., and Edited, with an Introduction, by Lord Stanley of Alderley. Originally bound together with 49b but separately paginated. This is a new print-on-demand hardback edition of the volume first published in 1873.

Incorrigible tomboy Katy had a hard time living up to the expectations placed on girls in nineteenth-century America long before she started school, as depicted hilariously in the first novel in this delightful series. The follow-up novel What Katy Did at School tracks the protagonist's often disastrous attempts to follow classroom rules and playground codes of behavior.

Rosamund Treverton has it all -- an affluent lifestyle, a loving mother who dotes on her, and a seemingly bright future. But a deathbed confession from her mother makes it clear that Rosamund's past hides a dark secret. This suspenseful family mystery will keep readers entranced until the very last page.

One of Henry James'specialties is the longish short story that delves into philosophical questions via detailed character studies, and'Eugene Pickering'is a perfect example of this. In it, James compares and contrasts two archetypes: a bookish scholar who has remained largely sheltered for most of his life and a streetwise'doer'who is deeply engaged with the world around him. Which of these approaches represents the best way to live? As always, James entrusts the final judgment to his readers.

Canadian-born writer May Agnes Fleming was one of the first female authors in North America to emerge as a major literary star and to earn a lucrative income from her fiction. The Gypsy Queen's Vow is a sweeping epic that will enthrall readers with its perfect amalgamation of adventure and romance.