The Madonna of Excelsior

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Hella S. Haasse

Een Nederlandse theeplanter isoleert zich aan het eind van de negentiende eeuw steeds verder op zijn afgelegen theeplantage op Java.

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Mary Davis

Martha "Marty" Rawlings is not the typical, graceful young woman of the 1880s. Having been reared by three older brothers, she is merely "one of the boys," and goes out of her way to prove it. When her twin nine-year-old nieces are kidnapped, Marty doesn't hesitate to track them alone--ready to confront whatever dangers lie in the way of bringing them safely home. Reece Keegan, an accomplished lawyer, is drawn to the spirited Marty. His hopes have many obstacles to overcome, however-not the least of which is repairing the damage done when he, as a court appointed official, took Marty's nieces. If he can earn her trust, maybe he can win her heart as well. But this proves difficult when Reece keeps finding himself at the wrong end of her gun. Marty has learned to trust only herself. Can she begin to trust anyone else--even God?

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Pierre Louÿs

This was "the only only complete English version extant" of a novel originally in French about a courtesan living in ancient Alexandria. The book is lavishly illustrated, but is sloppy in other ways. For instance, every time there is a full page illustration (and there are many) the page numbering skips, and the margins of the page are not evenly wide. This is the kind of book that you had to cut the pages with a knife before you could read it. You could call the story erotica, but it is no worse than The Decameron or Chaucer. It must have been pretty hot reading in 1906. The book has a page stating "This Edition on Large Paper is limited to 1000 copies of which this is No......" but nobody bothered to fill in the number, so I would guess that more than 1,000 of these were printed.

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Barbara Cartland

The Prince of Wales buys for Carlton House an exquisitely painted 15th century picture of "The Virgin of the Lilies" by Stefan Lochner. Both he and his close friend the Marquis of Fane are entranced by it. They are, however, stunned when the dealer brings them a picture by Van Dyke painted a hundred and fifty years later, and the Madonna in it has the same beautiful face as the Lochner. How the Marquis is determined to track down the forger. How he discovers Cyrilla and how their love for each other brings them both misery and frustration until eventually they find happiness. About a girl who forges art and gets caught. The Marquis put his arm around her, kissing her passionately, possessively, until she turned her face away. "I will not frighten you," he said, imploring, "but, my darling, you are not only divine and ethereal, but also human. Let me take you away -- find a house -- we will be alone!" He kissed her once again and departed. It was then she gave a cry that seemed to come from the very depths of her being, "I love him," she sobbed, "I love him. But... I am not a... I cannot do... what he asks!"