Grant Allen

South African businessman Sir Charles Vandrift rose to the pinnacle of his field through his keen instincts and superb acumen -- but the roguish swindler Colonel Clay (Vandrift's longtime nemesis) is just smart enough to stay one step ahead. In this linked story cycle, the dashing Clay endeavors to relieve Vandrift of his money and property in a variety of amusing vignettes.

Falling in Love (1889) is a brilliant collection of essays by innovative Canadian writer Grant Allen. His wide-ranging interests and unique, personal tone present science in a style that not only makes difficult concepts digestible to the average reader, but also presages the popularity of New Journalism in the latter half of the twentieth century. In the title essay, Allen moves from analysis of the evolutionary implications of love to a blistering...

A fascinating look into what life was like in Britain at the beginning of the formation of the English people: the Anglo-Saxons.

Excerpt: "Of its eminently conservative and even upward tendency very little doubt can be reasonably entertained. We do fall in love, taking us in the lump, with the young, the beautiful, the strong, and the healthy; we do not fall in love, taking us in the lump, with the aged, the ugly, the feeble, and the sickly. The prohibition of the Church is scarcely, needed to prevent a man from marrying his grandmother. Moralists have always borne a special...

Kurz vor Weihnachten 1889: Die junge Maisie Llewelyn erhält von der Millionärin Mrs. West eine Einladung nach Wolverden Hall in Kent, einem der schönsten und besterhaltenen Herrenhäuser der elisabethanischen Zeit. Manch düsteres Geheimnis aus vergangenen Jahrhunderten haben sich die Gebäude auf dem weitläufigen Gelände noch immer erhalten