Margaret is The Other Dashwood Sister, the youngest of the three Dashwood girls whose older sisters’ love affairs were chronicled in Jane Austen’s “Sense and Sensibility”. In that classic tale, 13-year-old Margaret was merely an observer of the household drama; in 1929, Austen’s great-great-niece, Edith Hubback Brown, took up her pen to move the story ahead four years and place Margaret center stage.

Life at Barton Cottage with her mother is quiet, which suits Margaret. Their days are varied by visits to Elinor’s and Marianne’s homes as well as to Norland Park, where her brother John and his wife Fanny live and where Margaret grew up. Her shy nature is somewhat plagued by the interference of her loquacious neighbors, Sir John Middleton and his mother-in-law, Mrs. Jennings, who are determined to tease and ferret out any hints of Margaret’s love interests.

Even Margaret’s brother John has plans to promote a marriage between her and the new, somewhat obnoxious clergyman, Mr. Atherton. But Margaret has met a handsome naval officer on several walks that no one knows anything about. She prefers to have it remain so.

Of course, Elinor and Marianne, when made aware of this possible attachment, are determined to involve themselves. Elinor, ever wary, wonders if he can be trusted. Marianne, with all the romantic feelings of her nature, is vastly interested and encouraging.

How Margaret manages all this interference from friends and family while questioning her own heart is the story. Commander Pennington has set sail and has been away for months. How does she feel about him, and how does he feel about her? All questions are resolved by the very clever Mrs. Brown, who has successfully adapted her great-great-aunt’s style.

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Constance Wetherill’s world has collapsed. The young socialite has discovered that her late uncle has squandered the family fortune, and she is left with $5000 and the care of her elderly grandmother.

Having no experience in the world of work, Constance takes a chance. In an out-of-the-way town, far away from anyone she knows, she finds a rambling house with cheap rent where she hopes to open a tea room.

Is the place haunted? The townspeople think so because there have been sightings of a lady in white roaming the house and grounds. A young boy and the local minister help Constance dispel the fears. But the neighborhood bootlegger has other ideas….

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Jill Mariner’s life as a London debutante is perfect: she has money, friends, and is engaged to a handsome Member of Parliament. But it all comes crashing down when her unreliable uncle squanders her fortune. Then there is the incident of plucky Jill hitting a man with a stick while he was attacking a parrot. The MP, appalled by her arrest, breaks off the engagement.

So Jill and Uncle Chris depart for New York City, where Jill meets an acquaintance (the owner of the aforementioned parrot) who encourages her to try out for the same job she has: a chorus girl in an upcoming Broadway musical. Thus the stage is set for a potpourri of Wodehousian characters including formidable matrons (one on each side of the Atlantic), a hapless swain, and a near-replica of the author’s most famous creation, Bertie Wooster.

Written in 1920, “Jill the Reckless” reflects PG Wodehouse’s own experiences as a librettist with the composer Guy Bolton. They wrote several popular Broadway musicals in the teens and 20s, full of happy toe-tapping numbers that delighted audiences. From this world we find the unscrupulous theater managers, anxious writers, overworked chorus girls, and the ever-present worry that the show might not be a hit.

And what of Jill? She learns the dance steps and soldiers on despite her broken heart. But you can’t keep a good girl down. And doesn’t every 1920s Broadway comedy have a happy ending?

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Emil Tischbein’s adventure begins when he is traveling by train from the small town of Neustadt to visit his grandmother in Berlin. His hardworking mother has given him 140 marks in an envelope which is securely fastened with a pin to his inside pocket. Unfortunately for him, he’s sharing a railway carriage with a man in a bowler hat who, taking advantage of Emil’s sleepiness, has robbed him.

While Emil secretly follows the villain through the bustling streets of Berlin, he realizes that no policeman will believe him. He has no proof! But when a band of children hear his story, they join him and take on the role of detectives to capture the thief.

Generations of children have enjoyed Emil’s story and its lessons of teamwork and integrity. The man in the bowler hat has stolen his money, so would it be right for the detectives to steal the money from him?

“No,” they decide, “that would be stealing too!”

So they come up with an ingenious plan….

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Sixteen-year-old Nancy Drew thoroughly enjoys helping her Dad, lawyer Carson Drew, with his cases. Her talent for following clues comes in handy when looking for a will hidden by the wealthy Josiah Crowley.

Josiah told several relatives and friends—all in need of financial assistance—that they would be mentioned in his will. But after his death, the will bequeaths everything to his cousins, the Topham family. Nancy Drew knows the social-climbing Tophams and wonders why kindly Mr. Crowley would overlook his more needy relatives in favor of them. Surely, there must be another will! But where did the eccentric old man hide it?

Her determination leads to danger and adventure for the brave young sleuth. Will Nancy be able to solve her very first mystery?

This is the original 1930 edition of Nancy’s first adventure. The story has been updated many times over the years but this Nancy, a very independent young lady of her time, demonstrates why she became such an icon for young girls.

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The only survivors of a shipwreck off a Pacific island are Cambridge professor Edward Bowden and an orphaned baby girl.

When Valentine Ryven is discovered 20 years later, Edward has recently died, and she is relieved and excited to be taken to England, where she believes her loving family awaits. Valentine is sure of a warm welcome because among the papers retrieved from the wreck is a letter from her Aunt Helena saying so. But in 20 years things change … especially when money is involved.

Valentine is an heiress, but because of her presumed death, the money has gone to her chilly cousin Eustace, Aunt Helena’s son. To complicate matters, the law does not allow her to give the money to Eustace to continue his good works until she is 25 years old. Instead of a warm embrace, Valentine is met with coldness and resentment in this strange new world.

Patricia Wentworth’s mysteries are celebrated worldwide. And this romantic adventure story is not without its surprising plot twists and revelations.

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Fun-loving socialite Tasha Endicott is stranded at a deserted small-town train station on her way to a house party. Caught in a fierce blizzard and poorly dressed for the weather (she loses a bejeweled party slipper in the snow), she’s saved from certain death when minister Thurley MacDonald appears and carries her home to his mother.

Thurley is a minister, and he and his loving mother adhere to strict interpretations of the Bible. It is a strange but intriguing world to Tasha, and when it’s time for her to leave, she finds her own life somewhat vacuous.

Meanwhile, Thurley has found her gold shoe in a snow drift, and somehow the two keep missing each other as he attempts to return it…

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Over the course of 47 years, Victorian writer Margaret Oliphant produced 120 novels, biographies, and histories, as well as hundreds of essays and book reviews. “She was of an intellect so alert,” wrote J. M. Barrie, “that one wondered if she ever fell asleep.” Widowed young, she was the sole support of her children and her nieces, whom her brother had abandoned: a powerful impetus for her prodigious output.

The two novels included here reflect the difficulties that Victorian wives had when their lives took unexpected turns. Eleanor Lycett-Landon (“Queen Eleanor and Fair Rosamund”) has the care of a large house in Liverpool and six children to occupy her. Her husband, Robert, is a partner in a thriving business that calls him from home to sort out the London office. When these absences become longer and she fears her husband is keeping a mysterious illness from her, she rushes to the big city in search of him. What she discovers will have repercussions for her and the entire family.

Joan Blencarrow (“The Mystery of Mrs. Blencarrow”) is a much-admired, well-to-do widow with a secret. When a gossiping neighbor stumbles upon incriminating information, she stands to lose everything she holds dear, including, because of the stringent laws of the time, the custody of her five precious children. Intriguingly, Mrs. Oliphant is said to have based this story on the much-discussed relationship between Queen Victoria and her personal attendant, John Brown.

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The Lycett-Landons are a well-to-do Victorian family living in a large, comfortable house across the river from bustling Liverpool. The father, Robert, is a partner in a thriving business; his wife Eleanor has the care of the house and six children to occupy her; and Horace, the eldest, is looking forward to moving to London to work in the family firm.

But trouble is brewing. The London office is in distress, and Robert must go there often to straighten things out. When the length of his visits becomes more extended, his family worries that he has taken ill and doesn’t want to concern them.

What Eleanor and Horace find when they rush to London in search of Papa will have repercussions for the entire family…

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Mrs. Blencarrow is a lovely middle-aged widow with five adoring children and a comfortable income with which to raise them. She holds a position of admiration and respect in her strictly Victorian village society. But the good lady who seems beyond reproach has a secret, and not all her neighbors wish her well.

When one of them stumbles upon incriminating information, Mrs. Blencarrow stands to lose everything she holds dear …

Originally published in 1890 by Margaret Oliphant, a keen and prolific chronicler of the strict laws and customs of her time.

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“Collision!” is the only explanation Gail Desmond hears as the ocean liner lists toward the sea. In the chaos that follows, she finds herself alone on deck with a stranger who lashes her to a makeshift raft. Moments later, she finds him floating unconscious and hauls him aboard.

Miraculously, they survive the storm, and she is determined to save the life of the man who saved hers.

With medical help, tenacity, and prayer, she succeeds. But when his old life calls him back to Washington, she heads to New York to make her way in the world.

And into a different kind of storm….

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When Agnes Blakiston and her maid Maggie take possession of a rental house for the summer, their idea of a tranquil stay is almost immediately upended.

First, there is the telephone. It rings late at night, just one ring, but there is never anyone on the line.

They begin to notice things have moved during the night. A candle has burned low, and a shawl has disappeared.

And then Maggie, spooked and suspicious, discovers a note. It’s a confession to a murder. But who has written it and, equally confounding, who has been killed?

Mary Roberts Rinehart, known as “the American Agatha Christie”, was a brilliant storyteller whose talent for building suspense is evident in this convoluted and clever tale.

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