The Refugees

Doyle, Arthur Conan, 1859-1930Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.7

Word count: 666K words
Chapters: 67

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 Refugees by Arthur Conan DoyleAuthor: Doyle, Arthur Conan, 1859-1930,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Mar 1, 2004

Editor's review

The Refugees is a historical novel by Arthur Conan Doyle, released in electronic form by Project Gutenberg. Doyle is famous for the Sherlock Holmes series, but he also wrote several historical novels, of which this is one; it is set where seventeenth-century France meets the North American colonies and revolves around refugees, adventure, and the conflicts of the age. Its value lies in showing another side of the master of detective fiction: a stronger emphasis on historical atmosphere, human fate, and moral choice, with a plot that moves at the unhurried pace of an old-fashioned adventure novel. For readers familiar with Sherlock Holmes, it rounds out their picture of his creative range; for lovers of historical adventure fiction, it is an eminently readable work. Note that it is an English-language original, and historical novels often assume some basic knowledge of the period, so first-time readers may need to slow down.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who like Conan Doyle and want to explore his historical fiction
Readers of historical fiction interested in seventeenth-century Europe and the North American colonies
Readers of English originals who enjoy adventure interwoven with human fate
Students studying the range of Doyle's work or the craft of historical fiction

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting Holmes-style detective solutions
Beginners who need a Chinese translation or detailed historical notes
Readers who prefer fast-paced suspense and strong plot twists

Reading tips

Before starting, learn the broad outlines of seventeenth-century French and North American colonial history; this greatly reduces the effort of understanding the background.
Read the novel alongside Doyle's other historical fiction and note how he handles the relationship between real history and invented characters.
Where relationships become complex, make a simple list of characters to track changing allegiances and motives.
After finishing, revisit the key moments of choice and consider how the author uses historical background to drive his characters' fates.

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 a Sherlock Holmes book?

No. It is a historical novel by Conan Doyle, different in subject and method from the Sherlock Holmes stories. It does not center on deduction and detection but uses a historical setting to develop human fates and an adventure narrative; read it as a historical novel, not a detective story.

Do I need to know the history first to read it?

Not strictly, but it helps. The background involves seventeenth-century Europe and the North American colonies, and complete unfamiliarity may make characters' positions and the causes of events hard to follow. Spend a little time on the period's outline beforehand, or look up key events as you read.

How difficult is the English?

As a novel from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, its language is generally refined and its narrative clear, but sentences tend to be long and historical terms and old-fashioned expressions are frequent. University-level English reading ability is enough to attempt it, and a dictionary makes it smoother; for easier reading, start with a shorter historical novel.

Does the electronic edition contain the complete original text?

This edition is released by Project Gutenberg and is generally an electronic transcription of a public-domain work. Check the file's notes and table of contents for completeness, verify the number of chapters and whether the ending is intact, and compare with other public-domain editions if necessary.

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About the author

Doyle, Arthur Conan, 1859-1930 Author

Arthur Conan Doyle (Doyle, Arthur Conan, 1859-1930) was a British writer best known for creating the detective Sherlock Holmes. The library records list his birth and death years and nationality as unknown, and public information is limited, so his biography is not speculated upon here. The collection contains 95 of his works, including The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, The Hound of the Baskervilles, and The Sign of the Four, along with different editions and multilingual translations. His writing is distinguished by rigorous logical deduction, vivid detective characters, and tight narrative pacing; he shaped and deeply influenced the modern detective fiction tradition, and Sherlock Holmes has become a classic figure in popular culture, still widely adapted and read today.