Arthur Conan Doyle - The Adventure of the Empty House

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859 – 1930)

Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. He studied medicine at Edinburgh, but later gave it up. He wrote A Study in Scarlet (1887), The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1891–3), The White Company (1890), The War in South Africa (1902). 

It was in the spring of the year 1894 that all London was interested, and the fashionable world dismayed, by the murder of the Honourable Ronald Adair under most unusual and inexplicable circumstances.  The public has already learned those particulars of the crime which came out in the police investigation; but a good deal was suppressed upon that occasion, since the case for the prosecution was so overwhelmingly strong that it was not necessary to bring forward all the facts... The crime was of interest in itself, but that interest was as nothing to me compared to the inconceivable sequel, which afforded me the greatest shock and surprise of any event in my adventurous life.  Even now, after this long interval, I find myself thrilling as I think of it, and feeling once more that sudden flood of joy, amazement, and incredulity which utterly submerged my mind. Let me say to that public which has shown some interest in those glimpses which I have occasionally given them of the thoughts and actions of a very remarkable man that they are not to blame me if I have not shared my knowledge with them, for I should have considered it my first duty to have done so had I not been barred by a positive prohibition from his own lips, which was only withdrawn upon the third of last month.

Kate Chopin - The Awakening (+VideoBook)

Kate Chopin (1850 – 1904)

Born in St Louis, Missouri, USA. Educated in St Louis, she wrote At Fault (1890), Bayou Folk (1894), A Night in Acadie (1897), The Awakening (1899).

A green and yellow parrot, which hung in a cage outside the door, kept repeating over and over: Allez vous-en!  Allez vous-en!  Sapristi!  That’s all right!

Benjamin Franklin - The Autobiography

Benjamin Franklin (1706 – 1790)

Born in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1723 he moved to Philadelphia where by 1730 he had become sole owner of a successful business. In 1757-1762/1764-1775 he worked as a diplomat in England, helped negotiate a peace treaty with Great Britain to be signed in 1783. He was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. Published Poor Richard's Almanac, The Way to Wealth, The Autobiography.

About this time I met with an odd volume of the Spectator. It was the third. I had never before seen any of them. I bought it, read it over and over, and was much delighted with it. I thought the writing excellent, and wished, if possible, to imitate it.

Lilyan Stratton - Reno - A Book of Short Stories and Information

Lilyan Stratton (1882-1928)

Born in Crisfield, Maryland, USA. Started as a newspaper agent, later became an actress, an investor. Wrote four novels: Reno, Homing, Feminine Philosophy, The Wife's Lesson.

«Dull in Reno?  Why no; how can one be bored in this delightful “big little city,” when here you will find a concentration of all the most picturesque phases of life—­a conglomeration of gaiety and tragedy, humor and drama, frivolity and learning!  What a fertile field for the psychologist and sociologist.

John Strachey - The Adventure of Living

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John St Loe Strachey (1860 – 1927)

Born in Britain. A British journalist and newspaper proprietor.

But though I was so fully convinced that the doors of The Spectator were shut against me, I was, of course, determined that my two reviews should, if possible, make the editors feel what a huge mistake they had made and what a loss they were incurring.  But, alas! here I encountered a great disappointment.  When I had written my reviews they appeared to me to be total failures!  I was living at the time in an “upper part” in South Molton Street, in which I, my younger brother, Henry Strachey, and two of my greatest friends, the present Sir Bernard Mallet and his younger brother Stephen Mallet, had set up house.  I remember to this day owning to my brother that though I had intended my review of Gulliver’s Travels to be epoch-making, it had turned out a horrible fiasco.  However, I somehow felt I should only flounder deeper into the quagmire of my own creation if I rewrote the two reviews.  Accordingly, they were sent off in the usual way.  Knowing my father’s experience in such matters, I did not expect to get them back in type for many weeks.  As a matter of fact, they came back quite quickly.  I corrected the proofs and returned them.  To my astonishment the review of Swift appeared almost at once.  I supposed, in the luxury of depression, that they wished to cast the rubbish out of the way as quickly as possible.

Joseph Conrad - The Secret Agent (+Movie Trailer)

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Joseph Conrad (Josef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski) (1857 – 1924)

Born in Berdichev, the Ukraine. After his service in the British merchant navy he got the British citizenship in 1886. He wrote Almayer's Folly (1895), The Nigger of the Narcissus (1897), Lord Jim (1900), Nostromo (1904), The Secret Agent (1907), Under Western Eyes (1911), Chance (1914)and many short stories.

Mr Verloc, going out in the morning, left his shop nominally in charge of his brother-in-law.  It could be done, because there was very little business at any time, and practically none at all before the evening.  Mr Verloc cared but little about his ostensible business.  And, moreover, his wife was in charge of his brother-in-law. The shop was small, and so was the house.  It was one of those grimy brick houses which existed in large quantities before the era of reconstruction dawned upon London.  The shop was a square box of a place, with the front glazed in small panes.  In the daytime the door remained closed; in the evening it stood discreetly but suspiciously ajar.

George Orwell - Animal Farm (+Cartoon)

George Orwell (Eric Arthur Blair) (1903 - 1950)

Born in Motihari, Bengal, India. He studied at Eton, served in Indian Imperial Police, and soon moved to London, later to Paris. He fought for the Republicans in Spain, worked a war correspondent in the World War II period. He wrote Down  and Out in Paris and London (1933), Burmese Days (1934), A Clergyman’s Daughter (1935), Keep the Aspidistra Flying (1936), The Road to Wigan Pier (1936),  Homage to Catalonia (1938), The Lion and the Unicorn (1941), Animal Farm (1945), 1984 (1949).

All the animals were now present except Moses, the tame raven, who slept on a perch behind the back door. When Major saw that they had all made themselves comfortable and were waiting attentively, he cleared his throat and began:

Winston Churchill - Richard Carvel

Winston Churchill (1871 – 1947)

Born in Missouri, USA. Served in the navy, became an editor, later a novelist. He wrote The Celebrity (1898), Richard Carvel (1899), The Crisis (1901), The Crossing (1904), Coniston (1906), Mr.Crewe's Career (1908), others.

I take no shame in the pride with which I write of my grandfather, albeit he took the part of his Majesty and Parliament against the Colonies.  He was no palavering turncoat, like my Uncle Grafton, to cry “God save the King!” again when an English fleet sailed up the bay.  Mr. Carvel’s hand was large and his heart was large, and he was respected and even loved by the patriots as a man above paltry subterfuge.