Cranston Public Library

"Lady Susan was the first of Jane Austen's novels to be completed. An epistolary novel in 18th century style, it tells the story of the recently-widowed Lady Susan Vernon, intelligent but highly manipulative, who is intent on gaining financially secure relationships for herself and her wayward but shy teenage daughter Frederica"--Cover.

"When Edward Sydney is found abandoned as a baby, local landowner Mr. Hasleden claims him as his own, and Edward grows up believing Hasleden to be his father. However, after his protector's death, Edward becomes filled with curiosity about his true origins, and sets off on a pilgrimage to Verdopolis - Bronte's mythical kingdom - where he hopes to discover evidence of his real name and the circumstances of his birth. Yet he soon realises that the inhabitants...

Near their residence, Branksome, is The Cloomber Hall, for many years untenanted. After a little while it is settled in by John Berthier Heatherstone, late of the Indian Army. General Heatherstone is nervous to the point of being paranoid. As the story unfolds, it becomes evident that his fears are connected with some people in India whom he has offended somehow. People hear a strange sound, like the tolling of a bell, in his presence, which seems

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Alvan Hervey passed through the ticket gate. Between the bare walls of a sordid staircase men clambered rapidly; their backs appeared alike—almost as if they had been wearing a uniform; their indifferent faces were varied but somehow suggested kinship, like the faces of a band of brothers who through prudence, dignity, disgust, or foresight would resolutely ignore each other; and their eyes, quick or slow; their eyes gazing up the dusty steps; their...

"Travelling in the retinue of an impoverished Russian General, young teacher Alexei seeks solace in the dream of a life-changing win at the roulette table. As the general sinks deeper into debt and the long-awaited inheritance from his ailing grandmother fails to materialise, Alexei's frustrated financial and sentimental aspirations gain momentum. When Grandmama herself turns up at Roulettenburg and starts gambling away her family possessions with...