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Review: The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
A series of unfortunate circumstances and unfaithful friends combine to cause the bright and promising young Edmund Dantes to be thrown into prison just as the best part of his life is about to begin. Confined to a dank dungeon cell, Dantes loses everything: his prospects, his family, his fiancée, and even his name — he becomes only prisoner 34. Despite his dire position, Dantes makes an unexpected and valuable friend: Abbé Faria, the prisoner in the cell beside his, a wise and knowledgeable old man from whom Dantes learns much — including the location of a secret treasure. Many years later, when he emerges from the prison, the positive…
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Review: Dracula by Bram Stoker
Solicitor Jonathan Harker travels to Transylvania to assist Count Dracula in the purchase of a property in England; when he arrives, however, things are very different from what he expected. The locals seem fearful when he tells them where he is headed, and his journey there is strange and fraught with danger. When he arrives, he is welcomed by Count Dracula into his dilapidated castle — but Jonathan soon learns that getting out might be much harder than getting in. Back home in England, Jonathan’s fiancé, Mina, and her friend, Lucy, are beginning to worry about his lengthening silence. When a strange ship washes up into their harbour in the…
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Review: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Victor Frankenstein, an ambitious and ardent young science student, stumbles upon the secret of ‘bestowing animation upon lifeless matter’; rather than bringing him the glory he seeks, however, the discovery leads him down a dangerous path. In the testing of his theory, Frankenstein creates a creature assembled from parts of the deceased, and brings it to life, but he immediately feels horrified by the being he has created. To his relief, the creature soon vanishes. Betrayed by the rejection and embittered by his treatment at the hands of society, the creature seeks retribution, and as Victor’s life begins to fall apart, bit by bit, he is driven to extreme lengths…
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Review: The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle
The outlaw Robin Hood and his band of merry men dwell in Sherwood Forest, stealing from those who have too much and helping those who have little. Their lives are filled with rollicking adventures, fights, fairs and feasts, all the while dodging the danger of getting caught by King Henry or the vengeful Sheriff of Nottingham. This book recounts some of those adventures, including how Robin met his right-hand man Little John, his minstrel Allan a Dale, and the jolly Friar Tuck, who all join his band; how he rescues some of his men from out of the clutches of the sheriff, and dodges all the agents sent to catch…
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Review: Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
One July day in London, Clarissa Dalloway is preparing to give a party. As she goes about her business, her mind floats back to the past, and to the people and places that have mattered to her. Elsewhere in the same city, others also go about their lives; Peter Walsh, who once proposed to Mrs. Dalloway and was turned down; Septimus Smith and his wife Lucrezia, who are struggling with the impact of Septimus’ spiralling mental state; and several others, whose lives, inner and outer, are touched on throughout the course of this one day. Mrs. Dalloway is beautifully written, in a lyrical style that draws you in, despite the…
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Review: My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier
The orphaned Philip Ashley is brought up by his cousin, Ambrose, on his Cornish estate. The two form a strong bond, and when Ambrose’ health forces him to spend his winters in Europe, leaving Philip in charge of the estate, they both feel the separation sorely. One winter, Ambrose fails to return home from his trip to Italy, instead informing his heir that he has met and married Rachel, a distant relation of theirs. Strange and troubling letters from Ambrose soon begin to arrive, and Philip’s suspicions are aroused — he makes the journey to Italy, only to find that he is too late: Ambrose has died suddenly, and cousin…
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Review: King Solomon’s Mines by H. Rider Haggard
Allan Quatermain has heard rumours and stories of King Solomon’s mines, and the indescribable richness of diamonds therein, for decades, but has always thought them to be tall tales. One day, he runs into Sir Henry Curtis and Captain John Good, who are looking for an acquaintance they think may have gone in search of the mines. Determined to find him, they soon draw Quatermain into their plans — and so begins the adventure of a lifetime, one not even the seasoned elephant-hunter Allan Quatermain has ever experienced or could ever foresee, and which he relates faithfully in this tale of danger, daring, and untold treasures. I read this book…
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Review: Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie
Linnet Ridgeway has everything — beauty, intelligence, and a large estate and fortune. Her friend Jackie, however, has fallen on bad times, and in order to marry her fiancé, Simon, who is also poor, Jackie begs Linnet to give him a job on her estate. However, things don’t go all to plan when Simon ends up marrying Linnet instead of Jackie… The great detective Hercule Poirot is taking a rare holiday in Egypt, when his cruise down the Nile coincides with the route of a couple on their honeymoon; but when a jealous ex shows up, it soon becomes evident that all is not well with the group. What’s more,…
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Review: A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Two men who bear a startling resemblance to one another — Charles Darnay, a frenchman, and Sydney Carton, an English lawyer — have their lives collide and intertwine between their two countries in the years before and during the French Revolution. The two meet by chance during Darnay’s treason trial in England, and both fall in love with the same woman — Lucie Manette, the daughter of a French doctor called to witness at the trial. Years later, the chaos of the French Revolution threatens their doorstep, and they each make a difficult decision that sets them on the path to their ultimate fate. This book has made me tear…
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Review: Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
While on holiday in Monte Carlo, a young traveling companion with very little to her name catches the eye of Max de Winter, a rich widower and the owner of the Manderly estate in England. Weeks later, after a short and unlikely romance, Maxim proposes marriage. But problems begin to arise upon their arrival at Manderly. The new Mrs. de Winter discovers that life at the estate is not all she imagined it would be; instead, she finds a distant husband, cold staff, and a dark mystery that hangs over the house and haunts the daily lives of its inhabitants. Loneliness, curiosity, and jealousy soon begin to cloud the happiness…
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