Amazon | Project Gutenberg
...But why had he expected the door to be shut. He did not remember shutting it, but somehow he he was surprised to see it open now, to see Cayley through the doorway, just coming into the room. Something working subconsciously in his brain had told him that it was surprising. Why?
Humorist and children's author A.A. Milne only wrote one mystery novel, a sprightly, witty country-house murder mystery that leaves one rather wishing he'd written more. The owner of the Red House is found dead in a locked room, and his disreputable brother, who had been seen to enter the room with him, has disappeared—leaving a pair of friends to play amateur detective and figure out just what happened and how.
Amazon | Project Gutenberg
One of the best-known and beloved girls' classics, following the trials and triumphs of sisters Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy as they struggle with being poor, befriend lonely neighbors, battle their own besetting faults and eventually fall in love.
The free Kindle edition seems to be cleanly formatted, but on comparing it to a print copy I noticed that a number of the italics and hyphens are missing from the text.
Project Gutenberg
This lovely lesser-known novella by Elizabeth Gaskell follows the intertwining lives of two families, the wealthy Buxtons and the widowed Mrs. Browne and her two children of the moorland cottage, and the friendship that grows up between them—and a romance which grows out of it, and brings tumult to both families.
A free edition is not currently available on Amazon.
Amazon | Project Gutenberg
In Cooper's classic novel of adventure set during the French and Indian War, an American scout and his Indian companions, the two "last of the Mohicans" of the title, attempt to protect the daughters of an English officer from hostile Indians throughout the events leading up to and following the massacre at Fort William Henry.
An alternate Project Gutenberg edition includes the illustrations by N.C. Wyeth.
Amazon | Project Gutenberg
A collection of beautifully written, perceptive, occasionally humorous and sometimes melancholy short stories, mostly dealing with relationships and family life, set in Mansfield's native New Zealand during the Edwardian era.
Amazon | Project Gutenberg
"My suggestion, your Majesty," said the Chancellor, "is that for the present there should be merely an exchange of Stiff Notes; and that meanwhile we scour the kingdom for an enchanter who shall take some pleasant revenge for us upon his Majesty of Euralia."
A hilariously delightful satire of the classic fairytale that both children and adults will love, filled with side-splitting adventures—a king whose experimenting with seven-league boots starts a war, a princess whose suitor falls victim to a very awkward spell, and a scheming Countess who fancies herself able to write poetry.
Amazon | Project Gutenberg
The little priest was so much the essence of those Eastern flats; he had a face as round and dull as a Norfolk dumpling; he had eyes as empty as the North Sea; he had several brown paper parcels, which he was quite incapable of collecting...He had a large, shabby umbrella, which constantly fell on the floor. He did not seem to know which was the right end of his return ticket.
The first of four short-story collections featuring Chesterton's famous amateur detective Father Brown, the mild-mannered, insignificant-looking little English priest with a gift for recognizing the simple solutions to seemingly fantastic crimes.
Amazon | Project Gutenberg
Twain's classic, humorous tale of Tom Sawyer, who finds endless amounts of mischief to get into in his small Missouri town—earning scolding after scolding from his Aunt Polly, becoming smitten with new classmate Becky Thatcher, getting mixed up in a murder trial and searching for hidden treasure with ragged Huckleberry Finn.
Amazon | Project Gutenberg
When Miss Belinda Bassett's niece Octavia, daughter of a brother who left home to make his fortune in American mining towns, unexpectedly descends on her aunt for a visit, her fine clothes and free-and-easy manners turn the placid, convention-bound little English village upside-down! A charming short adult novel from the author of classic children's books.
