The Lifted Veil


George Eliot - 1859
    Published the same year as her first novel, Adam Bede, this overlooked work displays the gifts for which George Eliot would become famous—gritty realism, psychological insight, and idealistic moralizing. It is unique from all her other writing, however, in that it represents the only time she ever used a first-person narrator, and it is the only time she wrote about the supernatural. The tale of a man who is incapacitated by visions of the future and the cacophony of overheard thoughts, and yet who can’t help trying to subvert his vividly glimpsed destiny, it is easy to read The Lifted Veil as being autobiographically revealing—of Eliot’s sensitivity to public opinion and her awareness that her days concealed behind a pseudonym were doomed to a tragic unveiling (as indeed came to pass soon after this novella’s publication). But it is easier still to read the story as the exciting and genuine precursor of a moody new form, as well as an absorbing early masterpiece of suspense.The Art of The Novella SeriesToo short to be a novel, too long to be a short story, the novella is generally unrecognized by academics and publishers. Nonetheless, it is a form beloved and practiced by literature's greatest writers. In the Art Of The Novella series, Melville House celebrates this renegade art form and its practitioners with titles that are, in many instances, presented in book form for the first time.

The Mudfog Papers


Charles Dickens - 1837
    Originally published monthly in Bentley's Miscellany from 1837-38, "The Mudfog Papers" makes use of Parliamentary reports, memoirs, and posthumous papers, as did Dicken's earlier comic success, "The Pickwick Papers."

Cabin Fever


B.M. Bower - 1918
    Either you will hate each other forever afterwards, or emerge with contempt tinged with a pitying toleration -- or you will be close, unquestioning friends to the end of your days.

The Death of Olivier Becaille


Émile Zola - 1884
    He was a major figure in the political liberalization of France and in the exoneration of the falsely accused and convicted army officer Alfred Dreyfus, which is encapsulated in the renowned newspaper headline J'Accuse. Wikipedia

The Sargasso of Space


Edmond Hamilton - 2009
    Helpless, doomed, into the graveyard of space floats the wrecked freighter Pallas.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button


F. Scott Fitzgerald - 1922
    Scott Fitzgerald is known for his novels, but in his lifetime, his fame stemmed from his prolific achievement as one of America's most gifted story writers. "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," a witty and fantastical satire about aging, is one of his most memorable stories. In 1860 Benjamin Button is born an old man and mysteriously begins aging backward. At the beginning of his life he is withered and worn, but as he continues to grow younger he embraces life -- he goes to war, runs a business, falls in love, has children, goes to college and prep school, and, as his mind begins to devolve, he attends kindergarten and eventually returns to the care of his nurse. This strange and haunting story embodies the sharp social insight that has made Fitzgerald one of the great voices in the history of American literature.

A Little Book of Christmas


John Kendrick Bangs - 1912
    Also includes a few Christmas poems by the author.

The Haunted Woman


David Lindsay - 1922
    Their travels take them to the downlands of Sussex, to Runhill Court, an ancient home owned by Henry Judge. There Isabel discovers a strange staircase few can see, which leads upwards to three doors. She chooses one, which opens onto a room that appears to exist only part of the time; what might lie behind the other doors remains a mystery. In the room she reencounters Judge. There they find new insights and are able to express themselves in new ways, but are unable to recall what has transpired there when they leave...

Four Max Carrados Detective Stories


Ernest Bramah - 1914
    Purchasers are entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Subjects: Fiction / Mystery