I share my thoughts on a collection of twelve short stories by Arthur Conan Doyle, featuring his fictional detective Sherlock Holmes.
19th Century Literature
THE CLASSICS CLUB: Treasure Island
A voyage for buried treasure spells trouble for cabin boy Jim Hawkins, who finds himself in the middle of a mutiny with some of the nastiest pirates to ever sail the seven seas.
BOOK REVIEW: The Brontë Family: Passionate Literary Geniuses
An immensely enjoyable biography of the Brontë sister’s unconventional lives, astounding literary talents and tragic deaths.
THOUGHTS ON: Around the World in Eighty Days
One ill-fated evening at the Reform Club, Phileas Fogg rashly bets his companions £20,000 that he can travel around the world in 80 days – and he is determined not to lose!
Remembering Amy Levy
It is 130 years since the publication of Reuben Sachs by Amy Levy, a novel about the unfulfilled lives of Victorian women. We look back at the short but controversial life of its author.
BOOK REVIEW: In Search of Mary Shelley: The Girl Who Wrote Frankenstein
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley is remembered above all for creating a monster – the grotesque but perceptive creature from her 1818 novel, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus.
THOUGHTS ON: Grimm’s Fairy Stories
Taken from the East European oral tradition, these stories were originally collated and published in Germany by the Brothers Grimm.
THOUGHTS ON: Nightmare Abbey
Set in a former abbey whose owner is host to an eccentric gathering of visitors.
THOUGHTS ON: The Awakening: And Other Stories
This short but impassioned novel, first published at the turn of the 19th century, portrays a new way of thinking; a dissension among the women of North America and Europe, which caused excitement and consternation in equal measures.