The Broken Thread cover

The Broken Thread

Rating 2.7
Word count
373K words
Chapters
38

Tags

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.The Broken Thread by William Le QueuxAuthor: Le Queux, William, 1864-1927,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Nov 23, 2012

Editor's review

The Broken Thread is an English novel by William Le Queux, classified under English literature and released free of charge by Project Gutenberg. Le Queux was known for popular suspense and international intrigue fiction, and this book likewise revolves around a severed thread, with the plot driven forward by suspense and intertwined character relationships. As a public-domain eBook, its significance is twofold: the text itself offers a sample of early 20th-century popular fiction narrative technique, and it embodies Project Gutenberg's tradition of free eBook distribution since 1971. When reading, note how the author uses the "broken thread" as a structural metaphor, and how characters judge and misjudge under incomplete information. The book suits readers interested in English popular suspense who are willing to read public-domain books on electronic devices. Because it is an English original from an earlier era, its language style differs from contemporary fiction; readers are advised to follow the plot and not dwell overly on individual archaic expressions, grasping the overall direction first before revisiting details.

Who it's for

A good fit for

  • Readers interested in early 20th-century English popular suspense fiction
  • Readers accustomed to public-domain eBooks who want to expand their reading list
  • Readers who enjoy narratives of broken clues and misaligned information
  • Learners who want to maintain a reading habit through light English fiction

Not a good fit for

  • Readers who need a Chinese translation to read comfortably
  • Readers who prefer contemporary fast-paced thrillers or crime fiction
  • Readers with little patience for early English expressions

Reading tips

  1. Read chapter by chapter, and at the end of each chapter summarize in one sentence "where the clue has advanced to."
  2. Prepare a brief character relationship chart and update it as you read, to avoid confusion when clues intertwine.
  3. Skip archaic expressions at first to keep your reading rhythm, then revisit key passages after finishing.
  4. Pause midway to guess what the "broken thread" refers to, then continue to test your judgment.

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.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38

FAQ

Is this book similar in style to the author's other works?
Le Queux's popular fiction often involves suspense, intrigue, and adventure, and this book continues the suspense-driven narrative approach. However, specific plot and character details should be based on the text itself; it is unwise to directly apply impressions from his other works.
Does the eBook version include annotations or an introduction?
According to the provided information, this book is a public-domain eBook released by Project Gutenberg, and the information does not mention additional annotations or an introduction. Readers who need background explanation may consult relevant materials on the author and the era themselves.
How difficult is the English roughly?
This book was written in the early 20th century, so its language style differs from contemporary English, but it is popular fiction and overall narrative-driven. Readers with intermediate English reading ability can make progress with the help of a dictionary and need not seek word-for-word understanding.

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

William Le Queux (1864–1927) was a British writer of popular fiction, with 74 of his works held in this collection. He is best known for invasion-scare and spy-adventure stories; The Invasion of 1910, which depicts a German invasion of Britain and the siege of London, drew considerable attention in its day, and The Great War in England in 1897 belongs to the same vein. His other works centre on mystery, intrigue and international espionage, such as The Zeppelin Destroyer, The Secrets of Potsdam, The Closed Book: Concerning the Secret of the Borgias and The Golden Face: A Great ‘Crook’ Romance, all marked by tight plotting and dense suspense. Le Queux often set fictional crises against real places to create a sense of urgency, and his work had some influence on the development of early spy fiction and thrillers. Public information is limited, so biographical details are not elaborated here.

More by the same author

Top rated in the same category