Orphaned John Trenchard grows up in the village of Moonfleet with his aunt, entranced by the local legend of the ghostly Blackbeard, who rises each winter night to search for his lost diamond. While conducting his own hunt for the treasure, John is trapped in the church crypt and discovers the true secret of the village: smuggling. Taken under the wing of the gruff innkeeper and chief smuggler, Elzevir Block, John begins a dangerous adventure which will see him in a hair-raising chase alon...

Richard Hannay, Buchan’s hero in this classic 1915 thriller, stumbles across a terrorist plot to destabilize Europe. A British spy in the mold of James Bond, Hannay is an action man with a polished veneer. After a series of murders, Hannay takes up the cause when he has to go on the run. An action-packed series of events come to an exciting conclusion.

One of the first spy novels ever written, The Riddle of the Sands had an enormous impact upon its publication in 1903. Author Erskine Childers-a Boer War veteran and expert yachtsman-crafted a riveting tale of two men who sail close to the German coast and observe secret preparations for an invasion of England. The novel sparked intense concern over British preparedness for war, and one critic accused Childers of almost single-handedly plunging Europe into a conflagration.

When a strange coded message arrives at 221B Baker Street, sent by a member of Professor Moriarty’s criminal organization, Sherlock Holmes soon deciphers it and finds a warning: someone is about to be murdered. A visit from a Scotland Yard inspector confirms that one John Douglas has been mysteriously killed in Sussex. Even Sherlock Holmes, well accustomed to the bizarre, finds the elements of this case unusual. John Douglas lived at Birlstone Manor House, built on the ruins of a castle su...

Taking place ten years after Little Men, Louisa May Alcott's Jo's Boys, and How They Turned Out is the third and final book in the Little Women trilogy. Originally published in 1886, two years before the author's death, Jo's Boys follows the lives of the young men readers came to love and cherish in its prequel. In it, we learn the fates of Jo's sons, Rob and Teddy, along with the other boys at Plumfield Estate School.Written in classic Alcott style, we s...

The Doones are a clan of murdering thieves, and among their victims is John Ridd’s father. The strong, noble Ridd determines to avenge his father’s death; but his plans are complicated when he falls in love with one of the hated family the beautiful Lorna. Lorna is promised against her will to another; and that other will not let her go lightly. Set amid the political turmoils of the late 17th century, Lorna Doone brings West Country history and legends alive with wonderfully imaginative f...

In The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Anne Brontë created a strong, modern heroine who challenged the prevailing morals and politics of the Victorian era. When Helen Graham shut her bedroom door on her abusive, drunken husband, it was a door-slam heard around the world. Escaping to Wildfell Hall after a loveless marriage, Helen, the mysterious tenant, lives in quiet seclusion, but her reclusive nature quickly becomes the subject of local gossip. Gilbert Markham, a young farmer, becomes intrigued...

Rob Roy is a captivating novel of chivalry and romance set in the Scottish Highlands of the 18th century. After rejecting the life his father has laid out for him, Frank Osbaldistone is sent to live with his uncle in the north of England. When his father’s wealth and reputation are threatened, he travels to the Scottish Highlands, aiming to retrieve a set of stolen documents. It is here that he is pulled into a number of skirmishes relating to the Jacobite uprising of 1715, and where his p...

Will is the last-born of the Old Ones, immortals dedicated to saving the world from the forces of evil. And now it is Will's task to wake--with the golden harp--the six who must be roused from their long slumber in the Welsh hills to prepare for the last battle between the Dark and the Light.

Gathering together in one volume the later exploits of Sherlock Holmes, the world's first consulting detective, His Last Bow includes tales published individually between 1908 and 1917. It also contains one early story, 1892's "The Adventure of the Cardboard Box," which, with its themes of adultery, was previously considered too "scandalous" for American audiences.Here, Holmes must contend with mysterious bearded men, stolen secret submarine plans, a missing lady aristocra...

The final volume of Susan Cooper's brilliant and absorbing fantasy sequence known as The Dark Is Rising.The Dark is rising in its last and greatest bid to control the world. And Will Stanton--last-born of the immortal Old Ones, dedicated to keeping the world free--must join forces with his ageless master Merriman and Bran, the Welsh boy whose destiny ties him to the Light. Drawn in with them are the three Drew children, who are mortal, but have their own vital part in the ...

Twelve-year-old Katy Carr was always dreaming of the time when something would happen to make her famous. But when it does happen, it’s not at all what she wants.This is the moving story of how Katy Carr overcomes her tragic accident and learns to be as loving and as patient as the beautiful invalid, Helen.Susan Coolidge’s famous story, set in the small nineteenth-century American town of Burnet, has charmed generations of children all around the world.