The Oak Staircase by Mary Lee

The Oak Stair case: Or The Stories Of Lord And Lady Desmond
Mary Lee
copyright 1872, 287 pages




Note: This is a FREE public domain book-you can download and read it yourself HERE.


My Review:
I downloaded this book simply because I liked the cover and with "Lord and Lady" in the title, I figured it was historical in nature.


The Oak Staircase was a harrowing and well written Young Adult Historical Fiction loosely based on a true event.  The "Maids Of  Taunton" and the  'Bloody Assizes' following the Monmouth Rebellion in 1685.


This was an exciting and unknown historical period for me, and one that so fascinated me from the story that I researched it after finishing the book. You can learn more about this period HERE and HERE. 


The period was one of the bloodiest in England and while the book does not go into the gorier details, the writer was talented enough that you will feel the terror these poor young girls must have felt during this time. 


The story is told in the vein of a almost bedtime story. It starts with two young descendants of Lord and Lady Desmond-who walk by their portraits on the Oak Staircase at the family estate many times, but know nothing about them. Their Uncle Algernon -who is writing a historical work, tells them of Lord and Lady Desmond's story, as though they had "come" to Algernon after death to share it with them. The story is told from the perspective of when Lord/Lady Desmond were children of 10 and 14, as this is when they were married (an event that happened sometimes to make an advantageous marriage amongst two noble families).


From Frances and Algernon's (Lord Desmond was also named Algernon) marriage, to Frances being sent to the boarding school which is to change her life forever, to Algernon's stint as one of the Queen's Page Boy attendants, The Oak Staircase was a fascinating, compelling read.


Don't let the fact that it's classified as Young Adult stop you from reading this. I didn't even realize it was young adult until after I finished it, and in no way hinders the stories believability or dealing with the dire aspects of the storyline. I'd recommend this to anyone, especially fans of Historical Fiction.


5 stars.

The Apple Tree Girl by George Weston

The Apple Tree Girl By George Weston

1918, 157 pages

Read For:
Public Domain Challenge
Reading My Shelf Challenge
Forgotten Treasures Challenge
Buck Stops Here Challenge

This is a FREE Public Domain book. You can download it here:


My Review:
Very sweet story of a "Plain Jane" girl who, after being orphaned in her teens, starts a series of adventures. She is tormented by her cousin, who is very pretty on the outside, but a horror inside. The cousin constantly drills into Charlotte that she is worthless because she is homely. Charlotte, who is very smart and self sufficient, sets out to prove her wrong. A wonderfully charming story from the Edwardian era.

2011 Public Domain E-book Challenge-REVIEWS

For Bloggers: please use Mr Linky to post the link to your review (either individual review or your thread for the entire challenge-your choice)

Non-Bloggers: add your reviews to the comments section below.

Thanks for participating!

2011 Public Domain E-book Challenge

January 1, 2011-December 31, 2011

(This is the first challenge I've ever hosted so please bear with me if I make any errors-any help/suggestions appreciated)

I received a Nook about 6 months ago and I love it. My favorite thing is discovering new (to me) book offerings under the various sites that promote their organization's scanning and saving of these otherwise vanishing books once they hit the "public domain". All of these books are FREE-a bonus to a thrifty reader.

A few sites with public domain books (there is lots of overlap between the sites):

Google Books-

to find the public domain books, search for a book under any subject, after the items come up, click "full view" on the left hand side of the page (these are the free books).

The Internet Archive-
Search under "Texts" header.

Manybooks.net-
Very "newbie" ereader friendly.
Note: after so many downloads they do have a non offensive "if you'd like to help please donate" pop up-that is up to you. (I'm in no way affiliated with this site.)

Project Gutenberg-
the site that started it all.

Project Gutenberg Australia

www.classicreader.com-

this site has almost 4000  public domain books that you can read on site-no downloading or ereader required:) (thanks Mommy Wants to Read)


The one problem I saw was that many or even most of these books-there is little to no information of what they are about, or even reviews to let others know what they are about. But, that's part of the fun!

I feel it behooves us as the reading community to help these volunteers "save" these books-simply by giving them "press". Read them, review them, and by doing so, get the word out to other readers about these undiscovered gems.

The Rules:


1-Pick a level of participation for the year:


    "newbie"level-read and review 3 public domain books (non bloggers will just post reviews in the reviews comments page)


    "advanced" level-read and review 6 public domain books (non bloggers will just post reviews in the reviews comments page)


That's about it-easy peasey:) You pick the book, genre, length, etc. Readers who don't own a e-reader are welcome as well (e-reader apps on phones, etc or just read on your PC). You can cross this over with other challenges as well.


After you read the book, just come back and either post the actual review or the link to the review on the review post below:

2011 DOMAIN CHALLENGE REVIEWS HERE

Use Mr. Linky below to sign up below or sign up in the comments for non-bloggers.


Thanks and let's have fun with this!




SIGN UP BELOW: