USED BOOK. MAY CONTAIN MARK-UP

By Max Byrd

FROM THE COVER: “It is 1784, and Jefferson, the newly appointed American ambassador to the court of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette, has just arrived in Paris-a city adrift in intrigue, upheaval, and temptation that will challenge his principles, incite his passions, and change Thomas Jefferson forever.... Through the eyes of his impressionable young secretary, William Short, we watch as the future president builds his dream of an America with fellow patriots John Adams and Ben Franklin, and as he struggles between political ambition and an unexpected crisis of the heart with a woman who has the power to destroy him. And we discover-behind the face the complex Virginian shows the world -an enigmatic statesman who fights for individual liberty even as he keeps slaves, who champions free will even as he denies it to his daughters, and who holds men to the highest standards of honor-even as he embarks on a shadowy double life of his own.”

"A Novel To Be Admired And Enjoyed,The Best Fictionalized Life Of Jefferson Yet!' -Jack McLaughlin,

NY. Bantam. 1994. 470p.

By Henry James

The Bostonians is a novel by Henry James, first published as a serial in The Century Magazine in 1885–1886 and then as a book in 1886. This bittersweet tragicomedycentres on an odd triangle of characters: Basil Ransom, a political conservative from Mississippi; Olive Chancellor, Ransom's cousin and a Boston feminist; and Verena Tarrant, a pretty, young protégée of Olive's in the feminist movement. The storyline concerns the struggle between Ransom and Olive for Verena's allegiance and affection, though the novel also includes a wide panorama of political activists, newspaper people, and quirky eccentrics.

• More...

  Henry James originally entered into an agreement with the Boston publisher James R. Osgood & Co. to publish the book in the United States for $4,000. Osgood made a separate agreement with The Century for the magazine to serialize the novel. In May 1885, before the serialization had finished and James had been paid any of the money owed to him, Osgood's firm went bankrupt.[1] James was able to recover part of the lost sum by selling the copyright to Macmillan and Co., which published The Bostonians in a three-volume edition in Britain in February 1886, and in a one-volume edition in the US in May 1886.[1] James was not, however, able to recover any money for the serialization in The Century.[2]

• Plot...

  Mississippi lawyer and Civil War veteran, Basil Ransom, visits his cousin Olive Chancellor in Boston. She takes him to a political meeting where Verena Tarrant delivers a feminist speech. Ransom, a strong conservative, is annoyed by the speech but fascinated with the speaker. Olive, who never has set eyes on Verena, is equally fascinated. She persuades Verena to leave her parents' house, move in with her and study in preparation for a career in the feminist movement. Meanwhile, Ransom returns to his law practice in New York, which is not doing well. He visits Boston again and walks with Verena through the grounds of Harvard College, including the impressive Civil War Memorial Hall. Verena finds herself attracted to the charismatic Ransom. Basil eventually proposes to Verena, much to Olive's dismay. Olive has arranged for Verena to speak at the Boston Music Hall. Ransom shows up at the hall just before Verena is scheduled to begin her speech. He persuades Verena to elope with him, to the discomfiture of Olive and her fellow-feminists. The final sentence of the novel shows Verena in tears – not to be her last, James assures us.

London. Macmillan . 1886. 419p.

By Geraldine Brooks

An extraordinary novel woven out of the lore of American history—by the author of the international bestseller Year of Wonders. Winner of the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

From Louisa May Alcott’s beloved classic Little Women, Geraldine Brooks has animated the character of the absent father, March, and crafted a story "filled with the ache of love and marriage and with the power of war upon the mind and heart of one unforgettable man" (Sue Monk Kidd). With"pitch-perfect writing" (USA Today), Brooks follows March as he leaves behind his family to aid the Union cause in the Civil War. His experiences will utterly change his marriage and challenge his most ardently held beliefs. A lushly written, wholly original tale steeped in the details of another time, March secures Geraldine Brooks’s place as a renowned author of historical fiction. Winner of the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

Australia. Harper Collins. 2005. 365p.

By E. Phillips Oppenheim.

“An Englishman is enjoying his dinner at Stephano's, at which he is a regular diner. A man enters quickly, sits at his table, starts eating his food, and hands him a packet underneath the table! So begins Paul Walmsley's acquaintance - and adventures - with American adventurer Joseph H. Parker and his lovely daughter, Eve.”

Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1916.341p.

By E. Phillips Oppenheim.

“… Opposite him, at the other end of the table, sat his wife, Mrs. Barnes, a somewhat voluminous lady with a high colour, a black satin frock, and many ornaments. On her left the son of the house, eighteen years old, of moderate stature, somewhat pimply, with the fashion of the moment reflected in his pink tie with white spots, drawn through a gold ring, and curving outwards to seek obscurity underneath a dazzling waistcoat.”

Boston: Little, Brown, 1912. 424p.

By G.K. Chesterton.

When two men decide to fight for their respective beliefs, they discover to their astonishment that an unbelieving world won’t let them, and they find themselves partners and fugitives from the law in this steampunk satire. Penned by G.K. Chesterton in 1909, this whimsical and biting novel eerily foreshadows a world in which “tolerance” is the only god and all those who believe ideas are worth dying for are forced to stand together to defend freedom of speech and belief.

New York: J. Lane, 1909. 436p.

By G.K. Chesterton.

It is very difficult to classify The Man Who Was Thursday. It is possible to say that it is a gripping adventure story of murderous criminals and brilliant policemen; but it was to be expected that the author of the Father Brown stories should tell a detective story like no-one else. On this level, therefore, The Man Who Was Thursday succeeds superbly; if nothing else, it is a magnificent tour-de-force of suspense-writing. However, the reader will soon discover that it is much more than that. Carried along on the boisterous rush of the narrative by Chesterton’s wonderful high-spirited style, he will soon see that he is being carried into much deeper waters than he had planned on; and the totally unforeseeable denouement will prove for the modern reader, as it has for thousands of others since 1908 when the book was first published, an inevitable and moving experience, as the investigators finally discover who Sunday is.

Bristol: J.W. Arrowsmith, 1908. 329p.

By Gaston Leroux.

Young engineer Raymond Ozoux, accompanied by his uncle, arrives in Peru to meet his fiancée, Marie-Thérèse. Meanwhile, descendents of the Incas are preparing a great feast during which a virgin will be sacrificed to the Sun, walled up alive in a secret temple. At the same time, a mysterious Inca bracelet is sent to Marie-Thérèse purporting to be a gift of the Sun to his future bride.. The young girl is then kidnapped by the Incas and Raymond, his uncle and Marie-Thérèse's father set out on a trek across Peru to free her while a revolution shakes the country.

NY. Harrow and Heston Classic Reprint. (1912) 177 pages.