Searching for: "George MacDonald"
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Flashman must choose – politcs in London or slave trading in Africa – not that it matters really in this hilarious third installement of the Flashman Papers When Flashman was inveigled into a game of pontoon with Disraeli and Lord George Bentinck, he was making an unconscious choice about his own future – would it lie in the House of Commons or the West African slave trade? Was there, for that matter, very much difference? Once again Flashman’s charm, cowardice, treachery, lechery and fleetness of foot see the lovable rogue triumph by the skin of his chattering...read more
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The Princess and the Goblin is a children's fantasy novel by George MacDonald. Eight-year-old Princess Irene lives a lonely life in a mountainous kingdom, with only her nursemaid, Lootie, for company. Unknown to her, the nearby mines are inhabited by a race of goblins, long banished from the kingdom and now anxious to take revenge on their human neighbours. One rainy day, Irene explores the castle and discovers a beautiful, mysterious lady, who identifies herself as Irene's namesake and...read more
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The Princess and the Goblin is a children's fantasy novel by George MacDonald. Eight-year-old Princess Irene lives a lonely life in a castle in a wild, desolate, mountainous kingdom, with only her nursemaid 'Lootie' for company. Her father the king is normally absent, and her mother is dead. Unknown to her, the nearby mines are inhabited by a race of goblins, long banished from the kingdom and now anxious to take revenge on their human neighbors. One rainy day, the princess explores the castle and discovers a beautiful, mysterious lady, who identifies herself as Irene's namesake and great-great-grandmother. The story quietly suggests the ideas of courage and honor in every incident. It...read more
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In this sequel to The Princess and the Goblin, Curdie has returned to his life as a miner and has dismissed the supernatural happenings of the past, believing them to have been a dream. When Curdie callously wounds a pigeon, his conscience leads him to Princess Irene's mystical great-great-grandmother for help. She has him plunge his hands into a pile of rose petals that burns like fire. Extraordinarily, this grants him the power to see what kind of 'animal' a person is at heart. She then sends him on a quest, accompanied by a peculiar doglike creature named Lina, who was once a human. However, Curdie must resolve his own skepticism before he can use the powers granted him to defeat the...read more
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Young Princess Irene is sent to the country to be raised in a half-farmhouse, half-castle located in the side of a mountain. While exploring the top of the castle, Irene becomes lost and inexplicably finds her way to a mystifying and beautiful woman spinning a thread. Princess Irene discovers that this woman to which she is drawn is her great-great-grandmother. But after she returns, her nurse, Lootie, refuses to believe in the old woman's existence, and the young princess cannot find the way back to her great-great-grandmother. Days later, while on an outing with Lootie, Princess Irene believes that she detects a goblin. They meet a young miner, Curdie, who confirms her sighting. Soon...read more
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This story of a young motherless boy growing up with his brothers in a Scottish manse is full of delightful characters. There is Kirsty, an enchanting Highland storyteller, Turkey, the intrepid cowherd, the evil Kelpie, and the lovely Elsie Duff. Throughout the twists and turns of his escapades and adventures Ranald learns from his father the important lessons of courage and...read more
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Plenty of princesses have been cursed by wicked witches, but the curse placed on this princess by her evil aunt is an unusual one: it removes all the princess's gravity. What can break the curse before the princess floats away? Perhaps the best thing for her would be to fall in love, but how a person with no gravity can fall in anything is just the problem. (summary by...read more
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Also known as "A Double Story" or "The Wise Woman." The story of two very spoiled girls, a princess and a peasant, who are kidnapped by a strange woman for a lesson in life. They may not emerge the same... but will their parents be changed for the better too? (Summary by...read more
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Republished in modern times as "The Curate's Awakening". A young man (Thomas Wingfold) "enters the church" through no real faith and only for want of something to do. After an encounter with a brash young atheist, he is thrown into an emotional, spiritual, and vocational crisis. Through his own doubts and through developing clarity gained from the counsel of a singular friend, he begins a slow journey toward faith, or - as he would put it - "a lovely hope." (Summary by John Schuurman &...read more
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This is Second book of Three series. All the same characters from the first book, just with a few new friends and family members. The Pastor moves up by the Sea and starts preaching at the Parish there. He and his wife have two daughters by now, who he loves so much. One of his daughters is ill, so they go to the Sea thinking the fresh air air will improve her health. While they are there, they meet an Artist whose gentlemanly ways, and strong personality wins the family's hearts, especially one of the daughter's heart. They have many adventures in the Parish. Filled with many heartwarming moments, and daring...read more
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This delightful story begins in a little town called Marshmallows, where a young man, the new vicar, Harry Walton, has just arrived. As he begins his work Harry realizes that everything is not quite 'right' in his little parish and it all seems to center around Oldcastle Hall. As he wins the affection of the people secrets begin to unfold, and Harry Walton attempts to free them from guilt of the past, help them overcome pride and while he is at it, he falls in love with a woman whose past is the most mysterious yet, and whose tyrannical mother is the mistress of Oldcastle Hall. This Is a wonderful, heartwarming romance and a unique mystery, told from the viewpoint of the young vicar....read more
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It's the Advent season in London but all is not well in the Greatorex household. All this will change with a surprise on Christmas morning. (Ann...read more
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This is a beautiful, moving tale from the bestselling author of the 'Flashman Papers'. To the young Lady Margaret Dacre, raised in the rich security of Queen Elizabeth's court, the Scottish border was a land of blood and brutal violence, where raid and murder were commonplace, and her broad inheritance lay at the mercy of the outlaw riders and feuding tribes of England's last frontier. Beyond the law's protection, alone but for her house servants and an elderly priest, she could wait helpless in her lonely manor, or somehow find the means to fight the terror approaching from the northern...read more
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Now available in ebook format, ‘The Pyrates’ is a swashbuckling romp of a novel. The Pyrates is all the swashbucklers that ever were, rolled into one great Technicoloured pantomime – tall ships and desert islands, impossibly gallant adventurers and glamorous heroines, buried treasure and Black Spots, devilish Dons and ghastly dungeons, plots, duels, escapes, savage rituals, tender romance and steaming passion, all to the accompaniment of ringing steel, thunderous broadsides, sweeping film music, and the sound of cursing extras falling in the water and exchanging period dialogue. Even Hollywood buccaneers were never like...read more
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Harry Flashman: the unrepentant bully of Tom Brown’s schooldays, now with a Victoria Cross, has three main talents – horsemanship, facility with foreign languages and fornication. A reluctant military hero, Flashman plays a key part in most of the defining military campaigns of the 19th century, despite trying his utmost to escape them all. Many have marvelled at General Napier's daring 1868 expedition through the treacherous peaks and bottomless chasms of Abyssinia to rescue a small group of British citizens held captive by the mad tyrant Emperor Theodore. But the vital role of Sir Harry Flashman, V.C., in the success of this campaign has hitherto gone unrecorded. ...read more
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Harry Flashman: the unrepentant bully of Tom Brown’s schooldays, now with a Victoria Cross, has three main talents – horsemanship, facility with foreign languages and fornication. A reluctant military hero, Flashman plays a key part in most of the defining military campaigns of the 19th century, despite trying his utmost to escape them all. In addition to the other famous adventures come three episodes in the career of this eminent if disreputable adventurer. Plumbing the depths of dishonour, Flashman’s up to his old tricks again. Whether embroiled in a plot to assassinate Emperor Franz-Josef, saving the Prince of Wales from scandal, or being chased by...read more
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Harry Flashman: the unrepentant bully of Tom Brown’s schooldays, now with a Victoria Cross, has three main talents – horsemanship, facility with foreign languages and fornication. A reluctant military hero, Flashman plays a key part in most of the defining military campaigns of the 19th century, despite trying his utmost to escape them all. ‘When all other trusts fail, turn to Flashman’ Abraham Lincoln In China in 1860, a lot of people mistakenly put their trust in Flashman: the English vicar’s daughter with her cargo of opium; Lord Elgin in search of an intelligence chief; the Emperor’s ravishing concubine, seeking a champion in her struggles for...read more
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Harry Flashman: the unrepentant bully of Tom Brown’s schooldays, now with a Victoria Cross, has three main talents – horsemanship, facility with foreign languages and fornication. A reluctant military hero, Flashman plays a key part in most of the defining military campaigns of the 19th century, despite trying his utmost to escape them all. If only Flashman had got on with his dinner and ignored the handkerchief dropped by a flirtatious hussy in a Calcutta hotel … Well, American history would have been different, a disastrous civil war might have been avoided, and Flashman himself would have been spared one of the most hair-raising adventures of his misspent life. ...read more
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Harry Flashman: the unrepentant bully of Tom Brown’s schooldays, now with a Victoria Cross, has three main talents – horsemanship, facility with foreign languages and fornication. A reluctant military hero, Flashman plays a key part in most of the defining military campaigns of the 19th century, despite trying his utmost to escape them all. What caused the Indian Mutiny? The greased cartridge, religious fanaticism, political blundering, yes – but one hitherto unsuspected factor is now revealed to be the furtive figure who fled across India in 1857 with such frantic haste: Flashman. Plumbing new depths of anxious knavery in his role as secret agent...read more
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Harry Flashman: the unrepentant bully of Tom Brown’s schooldays, now with a Victoria Cross, has three main talents – horsemanship, facility with foreign languages and fornication. A reluctant military hero, Flashman plays a key part in most of the defining military campaigns of the 19th century, despite trying his utmost to escape them all. Celebrated Victorian bounder, cad, and lecher, Sir Harry Flashman, V.C., returns to play his (reluctant) part in the charge of the Light Brigade in this of the critically acclaimed Flashman Papers. As the British cavalry prepared to launch themselves against the Russian guns at Balaclava, Harry Flashman was...read more
