AustLit

Tragic romance set in rural England between beautiful Eleanor Dalgleish and Lawrence Hilliand, son of an English doctor and a Spanish-Mexican mother. A betrothal ring from an heirloom cross of gold and opals is pronounced bad luck by friends - and when Lawrence disappears on the wedding day it seems true. Eleanor finally discovers Lawrence's body in a disused well - and dies herself within the year. Odd mixture of the exotic, the continental and the gothic; competently written. (PB)

A tired horse refuses to budge for any inducement until 'Little Annie Rooney' is sung to him. Slight. (PB)

Convoluted English romance involving an unsolicited letter refusing a proposal that was never made; a proud Cinderella cousin living on the charity of her aunt and cousin; a separation; and a meeting in Scotland where hearts long disguised are finally revealed. Light; includes women's jealousy and plots. (PB)

Legend of a Mediterranean convent in the Middle Ages, the elopement of a young nun with a wounded knight, her life of disillusion and dishonour, and her return to the convent to die. On her return she finds Mary has served in her place for her, so that she can take up her old identity as if she had never left - thus God's true forgiveness of her. (PB)

A schoolteacher rejects her lover's high flown proposals until he speaks of his savings etc. Humour. [Published earlier in the AJ, around the mid-1880s?](PB)

A father's tender reflections on looking at his children's worn shoes lined up together. Warm. (PB)

The narrator, a westerner, recalls two encounters with a failed Japanese wrestler who hates him malignantly. He beats him off in a street attack the first time but it is only an earthquake that saves him from blindness and a terrible death the second time. Competent suspense, exotic setting, etc. (PB)

English light romance. An heiress and an impecunious soldier break off their romance soon after the lady's diamonds are stolen. Only years later does he confess he saw her take and hide them, and she confesses she suspected him. All is reconciled ... (PB)

Heartlessness of an Englishman, a fallen ex-Etonian, who extorts money from a school friend's mother by telling her her son in Canada is a murder suspect. She dies and he rues only his lost money. (PB)

Tale of a Chinese emperor and the clever son of a nobleman who saves his father's life and his own, marries an imperial princess and gains the Emperor's Treasure. (PB)

A clerk's account of his seven year bloody apprenticeship to learn to shave himself. His misadventures, expenses etc. Light humour. (PB)

US tale of a theatrical property man and his secret love for his boy who had died of scarlet fever several years before. Warm sentiments. (PB)

Domestic tale. Misunderstanding and pride nearly destroy a young marriage - until a separation with the husband travelling to Australia teaches them to value their love. Slight. (PB)

Nostalgia for childhood and home strikes a shearer when he hears another singing an old familiar song. Hopes and romance faded with wandering and brandy. Slight; sketchy. (PB)

Light romance. Mature lovers separated for many years by a misunderstanding are reunited through a diamond pin. It is worn by Martha Cramer's niece at a city ball, and mistakenly identified as that belonging to Max Carleton by a detective - and so contact is re-established. (PB)

Small town murder. A strongly attractive woman is about to be married to an old rich man when her former fiancee, and a Jewish peddler selling jewellery to whom the girls owes 90 pounds for a bracelet, arrives in town. Her death later leads to the Jew's arrest but it is an old and betrayed fiancee whose anger is strongest. Includes a sub-plot of a 'romance' between a 30 year-old housekeeper and a young ostler. (PB)

Tale of suicide, assassination and a British monarch's kindness. A stranger saves an unemployed carpenter from suicide and helps him find a job. The same carpenter months later is involved in a plot to blow up the king at the opening of an exhibition but changes his mind and commits suicide instead when he recognises the king as his kindly stranger. Slight; sketchy. (PB)