18 books like The dead secret
Adam Bede
Adam Bede is a hardy young carpenter who cares for his aging mother. His one weakness is the woman he loves blindly: the trifling town beauty, Hetty Sorrel, whose only delights are her baubles-and the delusion that the careless Captain Donnithorne may ask for her hand. Betrayed by their innocence, both Adam and Hetty allow their foolish hearts to trap them in a triangle of seduction, murder, and…
Shares: Illegitimate children in fiction, Illegitimate children, England in fiction, Social life and customs
Ruth (volume II)
Ruth Volume 2 By Elizabeth Gaskell A sensitive portrayal of relationships within small towns and an exploration of seduction and illegitimacy within a small Dissenting community where tolerance and rigid morality clash.
Shares: Unmarried mothers, British and irish fiction, Social life and customs, History
The Scarlet Letter
A stark and allegorical tale of adultery, guilt, and social repression in Puritan New England, The Scarlet Letter is a foundational work of American literature. Nathaniel Hawthorne's exploration of the dichotomy between the public and private self, internal passion and external convention, gives us the unforgettable Hester Prynne, who discovers strength in the face of ostracism and emerges as a…
Shares: Illegitimate children in fiction, Illegitimate children, History
The Magnificent Ambersons
Major Amberson had "made a fortune" in 1878, when other people were losing fortunes, and the magnificence of the Ambersons began then. Magnificence, like the size of a fortune, is always comparative, as even Magnificent Lorenzo may now perceive, if he has happened to haunt New York in 1916; and the Ambersons were magnificent in their day and place. Their splendour lasted throughout all the years…
Shares: Inheritance and succession in fiction, Inheritance and succession
All That Glitters
Driven from the Dumas mansion back to her beloved bayou, Ruby's only hope is that fate will let her begin anew....
Living again in a humble shack, Ruby is determined to make a secure and happy home for her precious infant daughter, Pearl. Paul Tate -- her first love, whom she was forced to abandon -- is at her side once more, now a man of dazzling wealth. When he whisks her into his grand house,…
Shares: Mothers and daughters in fiction, Mothers and daughters
Mr. Scarborough's Family
It will be necessary, for the purpose of my story, that I shall go back more than once from the point at which it begins, so that I may explain with the least amount of awkwardness the things as they occurred, which led up to the incidents that I am about to tell; and I may as well say that these first four chapters of the book - though they may be thought to be the most interesting of them all…
Shares: Inheritance and succession, British and irish fiction, Social life and customs
Summer Island
Years ago, Nora Bridge walked out on her marriage and left her daughters behind. Now she is a famous talk show host. Her daughter Ruby is a struggling comedienne. The two haven’t spoken in more than a decade. Then a scandal from Nora’s past is exposed, and Ruby is offered a fortune to write a tell-all about her mother. Reluctantly, she returns to the family house on Summer Island, a home filled…
Shares: Mothers and daughters in fiction, Mothers and daughters
Bleak House
As the interminable case of Jarndyce and Jarndyce grinds its way through the Court of Chancery, it draws together a disparate group of people: Ada and Richard Clare, whose inheritance is gradually being devoured by legal costs; Esther Summerson, a ward of court, whose parentage is a source of deepening mystery; the menacing lawyer Tulkinghorn; the determined sleuth Inspector Bucket; and even Jo,…
Shares: Illegitimate children, Inheritance and succession, Social life and customs, History
Flirting with Pete
Psychologist Casey Ellis never met her father -- but that didn't stop her from following in his professional footsteps. Now he has died, and Casey is shocked to have inherited his elegant Boston town house, complete with a maid and a handsome, enigmatic gardener. When she finds a manuscript that could be a novel, a journal, or a case study of one of her father's patients in her new home, she…
Shares: Inheritance and succession in fiction, Inheritance and succession
Jude the Obscure
Hardy's last work of fiction, Jude the Obscure is also one of his most gloomily fatalistic, depicting the lives of individuals who are trapped by forces beyond their control. Jude Fawley, a poor villager, wants to enter the divinity school at Christminster. Sidetracked by Arabella Donn, an earthy country girl who pretends to be pregnant by him, Jude marries her and is then deserted. He earns a…
Shares: Illegitimate children, Social life and customs, History
Reason and Romance
"Smith shows her expertise with Jane Austen's work. . . . A fun and well-crafted romance through and through."--RT Book Reviews on Reason and Romance
Reason and Romance: A Contemporary Retelling of Sense and Sensibility
Sisters Elaina and Anna Woods find themselves caught up in whirlwind romances. But when both are confronted with heartbreaking revelations, can their bond withstand the strain…
Shares: Inheritance and succession, Mothers and daughters
Orley Farm
When Joseph Mason of Groby Park, Yorkshire, died, he left his estate to his family. A codicil to his will, however, left Orley Farm (near London) to his much younger second wife and infant son. The will and the codicil were in her handwriting, and there were three witnesses, one of whom was no longer alive. A bitterly fought court case confirmed the codicil.
Twenty years pass. Lady Mason lives…
Shares: Inheritance and succession, British and irish fiction, Social life and customs
The Queen of Hearts
The queen of hearts is a playing card in the standard 52-card deck.
Shares: British and irish fiction, Mystery
My Lady's Money
Old Lady Lydiard sat meditating by the fireside, with three letters lying open on her lap.
Shares: British and irish fiction, Mystery
Howards End
Howards End is a novel by E. M. Forster about social conventions, codes of conduct and relationships in turn-of-the-century England. A strong-willed and intelligent woman refuses to allow the pretensions of her husband's smug English family to ruin her life. Howards End is considered by some to be Forster's masterpiece
Shares: Illegitimate children, Inheritance and succession, Social life and customs
The werewolf principle
Andrew Blake is found in a space capsule on a distant planet and is brought back to an unfamiliar Earth, where antigravity devices have replaced the wheel, and houses talk and even fly!
Yet nothing is as strange as Blake's own feelings. Tormented by eerie sensations and loss of memory, he doesn't know who he really is or exactly where he has come from. His destiny only begins to grow…
Shares: Identity, Mystery
The Weaver's Inheritance
Roger the Chapman series #8
Chapman 08 - The long-lost son of a wealthy weaver, thought murdered six years before, has reappeared, to the joy of the old man but to the indignation of Alison Burnett, who refuses to believe the stranger is her brother. When she is disinherited she appeals to Roger the Chapman to prove her suspicions right.
Shares: Inheritance and succession, Social life and customs, History
The uncommercial traveller
A collection of seventeen sketches which grew out of Dickens' insomnia. He took long walks through London at night and his observations resulted in these sketches.
Shares: British and irish fiction, Social life and customs, History