The Refugees - Softcover

Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1605973858 ISBN 13: 9781605973852

Publisher: Book Jungle, 2008

Synopsis

Although Arthur Conan Doyle is best known for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, he was a prolific writer whose other works include science fiction stories, historical novels, plays, romances, poetry, and non-fiction. The Refugees is an adventure tale about life in the Court of Louis XIV and French rule in Canada. The story shifts from France to North America. In 1690 the De Catinat family are Huguenots. Because they are French Protestants, the king has taken their wealth and titles. An American helps them escape from Paris to Canada. Even though they are far from France, they are not safe. A Jesuit priest is on their trail and there are warrants out for their arrest. They must flee Canada by traveling hundreds a miles through forest wilderness while being chased by the priest and having to avoid savage Indians. This adventure novel will keep the reader riveted until the very last page.

About this title

About the Author:

Arthur Conan Doyle was born in Edinburgh in 1859. Sent off to boarding school, he cut his teeth as a story-teller amusing his schoolmates with tales and writing letters home to his mother. He practiced medicine and, in 1900, volunteered as a medic in Africa during the Boer War – he was later knighted for his service. Doyle lost a son, two brothers in law, and two nephews to the Great War. He is remembered for the Sherlock Holmes stories and his novel The Lost World.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

Ever since my father died a few years ago, my mother and I had lived together politely. We shared a passion for words, but I preferred writing in silence while she loved to talk. She constantly fed me gossip and stories, the only kind I enjoyed concerning my father when he was a man I did not know, young and happy. Then came stories of terror like the one about the reporter, the moral being that life, like the police, enjoys beating people now and again. Finally there was her favorite kind, the ghost story, of which she knew many, some even first-hand.

Aunt Six died of a heart attack at seventy-six, she told me once, twice, or perhaps three times, repetition being her habit. I never took her stories seriously. She lived in Vung Tau and we were in Nha Trang, she said. I was bringing dinner to the table when I saw Aunt Six sitting there in her nightgown. Her long gray hair, which she usually wore in a chignon, was loose and fell over her shoulders and in her face. I almost dropped the dishes. When I asked her what she was doing here, she just smiled. She stood up, kissed me, and turned me towards the kitchen. When I turned around again to see her, she was gone. It was her ghost. Uncle confirmed it when I called. She had passed away that morning, in her own bed.

About this edition

• Publisher: Book Jungle
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 1605973858
• ISBN 13: 9781605973852
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336