4.5 out of 5 stars
Belinda’s aunt sends her to stay with Lady Delacour, the most popular lady in all of London, hoping that Belinda will meet lots of wealthy young men and make a brilliant match. Although Lady Delacour spends her nights at various sparkling high society events, her days are full of misery and despair. Belinda discovers that there is a rift between Lord and Lady Delacour, and Lady Delacour is hiding a terrible secret.
classic books
Book Review: Little Girl Lost
Little Girl Lost
by Temple Bailey
Araminta is barely nineteen when she agrees to elope with Barney. But she doesn’t really love him; she just wants to get away from her stepsisters at home. Araminta is also trying to forget about Jan, the gentleman who broke her heart two years before. But when she unexpectedly sees Jan on the night before the wedding, Araminta calls off the elopement and decides to take up a career as an actress in New York. The critics think she has some talent and Araminta throws herself into her acting career, working herself to death trying to forget both Barney and Jan. Through the course of a year, she tries to make sense of her own heart and find her way back to the man she truly loves.
Continue readingBook Review: Silver Slippers
Silver Slippers
by Temple Bailey
Joan thinks she has found her true love when she meets Drew, and she readily agrees to an engagement. But Drew is selfish and jealous, and he laughs at what he calls her “prudish morality.” Joan is so unhappy that she turns for advice to a new acquaintance, Giles, a young man who owns a bookshop in town. Giles quickly recognizes Joan’s innocence and sweetness, and vows that he will help her get away from greedy high-society people like Drew. But Joan finds herself fascinated with Drew, despite his faults, and she can’t make up her mind to leave him. At the same time, she trusts Giles’ wisdom, and wishes that Drew could be so steady and faithful.
Continue readingBook Review: Heart of Midlothian
The Heart of Midlothian
by Walter Scott
Jeanie Deans is horrified to learn that her sister, Effie, has been arrested on a charge of child-murder. Effie insists that she is innocent and that her baby was taken from her immediately after his birth. Effie refuses to tell anyone who the father is. The lawyers assure Jeanie that there is a loophole in the law and that if Jeanie will only testify that her sister told her about the pregnancy before the child was born, then Effie cannot be prosecuted under the law. But Jeanie is from a staunchly religious family and she feels that she cannot tell a lie under oath. Effie is condemned to death, and Jeanie undertakes a long and dangerous journey to London to seek a pardon directly from the king.
Continue readingSherlock Holmes Children’s Collection
The Engineer’s Thumb (The Sherlock Holmes Children’s Collection, #14)
by Stephanie Baudet (Adapted by), Arianna Bellucci (Illustrations)
An engineer comes to Holmes with a terrible story to tell. He was lured to a house in the middle of the night and attacked, and his thumb was cut off! Holmes and Watson listen to his story with horror, and they quickly get the police on the track of the criminals, but only Holmes can make sense of the strange circumstances.
A Scandal in Bohemia (The Sherlock Holmes Children’s Collection, #11)
by Stephanie Baudet (Adapter), Arianna Bellucci (Illustrations)
When the royal family of Bohemia needs help, Holmes is on the case tracking down a photograph being used for blackmail. The blackmailer is the beautiful Irene Adler, and she might be the only person to ever fool Holmes and beat him at his own game.
Continue readingBook Review: The Hermit of Far End
The Hermit of Far End
by Margaret Pedler
Sara is left alone when her adopted uncle dies, but she befriends his cousin, Elizabeth, and her son, Tim. Tim promptly falls in love with Sara, but she feels only friendship for him. So she goes away to make her own way in life in a small seaside town where she rents rooms in the household of the local doctor. She learns that there is a wealthy man, Garth Trent, living in a big house on the cliffs who lives the life of a hermit, never entering into the social events of the neighborhood.
Continue readingBook Review: Blue Anchor Inn
Blue Anchor Inn
by Edwin Bateman Morris
Roger Brooke is down to his last dollar when he meets a lawyer friend who suggests a way that Roger could make some money – get married to a wealthy heiress that very night! The heiress has to fulfill a legal clause to be married within a few days or she will lose her inheritance. When they meet, the bride wears a heavy veil so that Roger won’t be able to recognize her, and they part ways after the marriage ceremony, planning to get a divorce one year later. One year later, Roger is still married and hasn’t heard anything about the planned divorce. He is vacationing with friends on an island at Blue Anchor Inn, when a lady calling herself Mrs. Brooke arrives on the island, and Roger wonders if it could be his wife!
Continue readingBook Review: Strawberry Acres
Strawberry Acres
by Grace S. Richmond
When four siblings inherit a run-down farm, they aren’t sure whether to sell it or try to live there. Max opposes every plan to live in the farmhouse, since it will need extensive repairs, and it’s so large that they could never afford to furnish it. But Sally has her heart set on a peaceful country life, and she tries to persuade her brothers that they could make a living growing strawberries in the fields. Although the guys hate their stuffy city office jobs, they can’t imagine themselves as rugged farmers. They argue back and forth until finally, a disaster in the family compels them to make use of the farm, and they discover that they love living in the country.
Continue readingBook Review: Thomas Wingfold, Curate
Thomas Wingfold, Curate
by George MacDonald
4.5 out of 5 stars
Thomas Wingfold started a career in the church as a curate, but when he is asked whether or not he really believes there is a God, it starts him on a spiritual journey to discover what he truly believes and whether or not Christ is real. In the meantime, he continues preaching, sharing with his congregation the difficulties of his spiritual doubt and how he is searching for truth in the Bible.
Book Review: As You Like It
As You Like It
by William Shakespeare
Rosalind sees a young man, Orlando, fighting in a wrestling match and falls in love. Orlando is equally smitten by her loveliness. Rosalind is banished from the court by her uncle who has usurped the dukedom. Rosalind’s cousin, Celia, cannot bear to be parted from her, so the two ladies escape together searching for Rosalind’s banished father in the Forest of Arden. Orlando is fleeing for his life, after his own brother has tried to have him killed, and he also escapes into the Forest of Arden. Hilarity ensues.
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