Ralestone Luck

Andre Alice NortonProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.3

Word count: 330K words
Chapters: 34

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Ralestone Luck by Andre NortonAuthor: Norton, Andre, 1912-2005,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Jul 13, 2006

Editor's review

This is an early work by Andre Norton, belonging to the treasure-hunting adventure genre in American popular literature. The story revolves around family fortune and heirlooms, with a brisk suspenseful pace and a mild coming-of-age flavor; it serves as a good introductory read for understanding the landscape of American genre fiction in the first half of the twentieth century. Norton later became famous for science fiction and fantasy, and this book better reveals her basic skills in building atmosphere and setting puzzles. The Project Gutenberg edition is convenient for reading on electronic devices at any time, suitable for fragmented reading time such as commuting or before bed. Note that this is a public-domain book in the original English, with no Chinese translation; the language bears the marks of its era, and some expressions are somewhat distant from contemporary English. Overall, its value lies not in literary depth but in its highly readable adventure narrative and its reference significance for the history of genre literature.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who want to enjoy an English original adventure novel casually
Readers interested in early twentieth-century American popular literature
Readers who enjoy family treasure-hunting and puzzle-solving themes
People who want to practice extensive English reading with public-domain ebooks

Not a good fit for

Readers who need a Chinese translation or a bilingual edition
Readers expecting complex literary structure and profound themes
Beginners with little patience for early English expressions

Reading tips

Read the first two chapters first to gauge the language difficulty, then decide whether to read intensively or extensively.
Jot down character relationships and family background as you go to keep the clues straight.
Don't look up every unfamiliar expression; follow the plot first.
After finishing, compare with Norton's later works to observe changes in her narrative.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book in Chinese or English?

This is the original English public-domain ebook released by Project Gutenberg; the text is in English, with no Chinese translation. It suits readers with some English reading ability who are willing to engage directly with the original text.

Can I read it without having read other works by Norton?

Yes. This is a standalone story that does not depend on prior events from other works. It belongs to the adventure treasure-hunting genre, with a relatively straightforward plot, so readers new to Norton can still get into it.

What should I pay attention to when reading the electronic edition?

The layout of public-domain ebooks varies by reading device; it is advisable to choose reading software with adjustable fonts and to note chapter breaks. The original English occasionally contains period expressions, which you can understand with the help of a dictionary function.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Andre Alice Norton Author · American · 1912–2005

Andre Norton (1912–2005), born Alice Mary Norton, was an American science fiction and fantasy writer. She worked as a children's librarian at the Cleveland Public Library for eighteen years and published her first work under a pen name in 1934. Over her career she wrote more than 130 novels, and is best known for the Witch World series; in 1983 she received the Grand Master Award from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. The library holds fourteen of her works, including The Time Traders, Star Born, Key Out of Time, Plague Ship, The Gifts of Asti, Star Hunter, Ride Proud, Rebel! and The Defiant Agents. Her writing often explores interstellar exploration, alien civilizations and adventurous coming-of-age, with brisk storytelling and vivid imagination, and has had a lasting influence on the development of American science fiction and fantasy.