Plot summary (from the publisher): First published in 1985, The Cider House Rules is set in rural Maine in the first half of the twentieth century. The novel tells the story of Dr. Wilbur Larch–saint and obstetrician, founder and director of the orphanage in the town of St. Cloud’s, ether addict and abortionist. This is [...]
Plot summary (with spoilers): This is an epistolary novel consisting mostly of letters written from Werther to his friend Wilhelm (we never see Wilhelm’s replies). The letters detail how Werther falls head over heels in love with the already betrothed Lotte. They meet on the way to a dance, and despite having been warned that [...]
Plot summary (with spoilers): Well, it’s impossible to sum up a book of this length in any reasonable amount of space, so let me just give the barest outline possible. The book is mostly about a man named Jean Valjean, former convict who spent 19 years in the galleys for stealing a loaf of bread [...]
Plot summary (with spoilers): While visiting his cousin Olive Chancellor in Boston, Basil Ransom accompanies her to a political rally where a young woman named Verena Tarrant steals the show with an impassioned speech about women’s rights. Both Basil and Olive are immediately taken with the pretty Verena: Basil, because of the woman’s looks; and [...]
Plot summary (with spoilers): Nineteen-year-old Roy Hobbs is a highly skilled ballplayer on his way to Chicago to potentially sign a pro contract with the Cubs. Roy knows that with his abilities, he can become the best the game has ever seen, and he’s anxious to prove what he’s got. But he falls victim to [...]
Plot summary (with spoilers): Cedric Errol is the 7-year-old son of the deceased Captain Errol, a British subject, and Mrs. Errol, the Captain’s American wife. Captain Errol came from an aristocratic family with a long, distinguished lineage and immense land holdings in England. But he earned his father’s wrath for going to America and marrying [...]
Plot summary (with spoilers): Thomas Fowler is a British journalist covering the French Indochina War from Saigon. At the beginning of the novel, he enjoys a rather contented existence. He’s not at the front lines, and his home life is sweetened by his young Vietnamese lover, Phuong. Soon thereafter, however, Fowler meets a 30-something American [...]
Plot summary (from the publisher): (Note: This book was way too long for me to be able to sum up adequately, so I’ll just put the publisher’s blurb here.) “The Fountainhead studies the conflict between artistic genius and social convention, a theme Ayn Rand later developed into the idealistic philosophy knows as Objectivism. Rand’s hero [...]
Plot summary (with spoilers): Bleak House is one of Charles Dickens’s longest novels, which is definitely saying something about the length of this tome! It is a sweeping epic that covers lots of events and involves many, many characters. As such, it is practically impossible to talk about everything in my customary five-paragraph summaries. I [...]
Plot summary (with spoilers): This is the fifth novel in the beloved Anne of Green Gables series, and it continues the story of Anne Shirley’s charmed life. The book begins with Anne’s marriage to longtime sweetheart Gilbert Blythe, now a doctor. The wedding is held at Green Gables, and is the first one on the [...]