Hero Herbert Carr is the son of a war widow who had assumed her husband's place as postmaster of the small rural town in Waynesboro. Widow Carr is upset because Squire Walsingham is using his political influence to take the post away from the widow to put into the hands of his nephew, Ebenezer Graham, the local miser and shopkeeper. Walsingham succeeds in his efforts and the post is given to Mr. Graham. Since Mr. Graham is uncertain of how to run a post office, he offers to hire Herbert for a pittance to run things until he learns what must be done. However, Mr. Graham's son, Eben Graham, a...

Philip lives with his stepmother and presumed half-brother. In a non-stunning twist, it turns out that Philip was left at his presumed father's inn years ago, and the man he has thought was his father all his life wasn't. Philip doesn't care to be beholden to his father figure's second wife, who has always disliked him, so he strikes out on his own.

Shirley is an 1849 social novel by the English novelist Charlotte Bronte. It was Bronte's second published novel after Jane Eyre (originally published under Bronte's pseudonym Currer Bell). The novel is set in Yorkshire in the period 1811-12, during the industrial depression resulting from the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812. The novel is set against a backdrop of the Luddite uprisings in the Yorkshire textile industry. The novel's popularity led to Shirley's becoming a woman's name. The title character was given the name that her father had intended to give a son. Before the publication...

Wuthering Heights is Emily Bronte's only novel. Written between October 1845 and June 1846, Wuthering Heights was published in 1847 under the pseudonym "Ellis Bell"; Bronte died the following year, aged 30. Wuthering Heights and Anne Bronte's Agnes Grey were accepted by publisher Thomas Newby before the success of their sister Charlotte's novel, Jane Eyre. After Emily's death, Charlotte edited the manuscript of Wuthering Heights, and arranged for the edited version to be published as a posthumous second edition in 1850. Although Wuthering Heights is now widely regarded as a classic of English...

Agnes Grey is the debut novel of English author Anne Bronte (writing under the pen name of Acton Bell), first published in December 1847, and republished in a second edition in 1850. 1] The novel follows Agnes Grey, a governess, as she works within families of the English gentry. Scholarship and comments by Anne's sister Charlotte Bronte suggest the novel is largely based on Anne Bronte's own experiences as a governess for five years. Like her sister Charlotte's novel Jane Eyre, it addresses what the precarious position of governess entailed and how it affected a young woman. The choice of...

The Secret Garden is a novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett. It was initially published in serial form beginning in 1910, and first published in its entirety in 1911. It is now one of Burnett's most popular novels, and considered a classic of English children's literature. Several stage and film adaptations have been made.

Have you ever wondered what happened to Cinderella after she married the prince? Have you ever asked yourself if it was really "happy ever after?" Actually, in this Victorian melodrama, it's not. 35-years-old Emily Fox-Seton, quite penniless and a little lonely, saves herself from becoming an old maid by agreeing to a marriage proposal from the marquess of Walderhurst, thus becoming "one of the richest Marchionesses in England." She is naive, kind and good. She doesn't believe that people are really willing to hurt her, but why are all these strange accidents happening? This novel is divided...

This book is about Marco Loristan, his father, and his friend, a street urchin called "The Rat." Marco's father, Stefan, is a Samavian patriot working to overthrow the cruel dictatorship in the kingdom of Samavia. Marco and his father come to London where Marco strikes up a friendship with a crippled street urchin known as The Rat. The friendship occurs when Marco overhears The Rat shouting in military form. Marco discovers he had stumbled upon a club known as the Squad, where the boys drill under the leadership of The Rat, whose education and imagination far exceeds their own. Stefan,...

The Head of the House of Coombe is a 1922 novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett. The Head of the House of Coombe follows the relationships between a group of pre-World War One English nobles and commoners. It also offers editorial commentary on the political system in prewar Europe that Burnett feels bears some responsibility for the war, and some pointed social commentary. Burnett wrote a 1922 sequel to The Head of the House of Coombe, Robin, which completes the story of Robin, Lord Coombe, Donal and Feather.

The White People is a novella by the English-American author of the bestselling classics Little Lord Fauntleroy and The Secret Garden, among other titles. Frances Hodgson Burnett dedicates the present work to the soul of her lost son Lionel. Burnett's biographers agree that after this loss Burnett's depression made her resort to spiritualism. Narrated in the first person, the story is basically a contemplation of existential questions such as the meaning of life and death and the belief in life after death. The White People is set in the Muircarrie Castle in a remote misty region of Scotland...