Teresa of Avila was major figure of the Catholic Reformation - a prominent mystic, writer, and reformer. At age seven she ran away from home to 'find martyrdom amongst the Moors'. At twenty she joined the Carmelite nuns. She resolved to found a new convent based on the principal of absolute poverty and renunciation of property. This, and the three kinds of ritual flagellation used at services, disturbed the laity. Later, the Carmelites tried to suppress her movement. After Don Quixote this is Spain's mode widely read prose classic.

This was Goethe's first major success, though it also lead to some difficulties. It started "Werther Fever"; some young men so identified with Werther that that they began dress like him. It also lead to more than 2,000 copycat suicides. The problem became so concerning to the authorities that a rival 'happy ending' was published by Friedrich Nicolai, another author. Goethe was incensed and published a poem in which Nicolai defecates on Werther's grave, starting a literary war that lasted all his life.

The Underground Railroad says of itself: "An authentic record of the wonderful hardships, hairbreadth escapes, and death struggles which mark the track from slavery to freedom in the United States." The Underground Railroad was a network of secret routes helping African Americans escape to 'free states' or Canada. Between 1810 and 1850 the Railroad may have moved as many 100,000 people to freedom.

Publishers Weekly #1 Best Seller for 1909.

This story of a French Irish girl whose husband is killed in a duel was originally published anonymously.

Publishers Weekly #1 Best Seller for 1910.

"A delightful love story of English Life -- a love story conducted along lines that are refreshingly novel. The story is told with a charm of style that will captivate the reader." -- Publishers Weekly 1909

Sienkiewicz received the 1905 Nobel Price in Literature for his "outstanding merits as an epic writer".

The novel follows the developing love between a Christian woman and a Roman Patrician in the time of Nero. The romantic story arc is set against the conflict of the moral systems of the long established Roman Empire and the developing Christianity. Sienkiewicz uses this setting to explore morality and power, and his observations remain relevant today.

The novel is based on extensive historical research and gives a good view of life in those times.

An account of Ruhl's experiences in almost all WWI's hot spots.