The Wanderers

Johnston, Mary, 1870-1936Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.3

Word count: 678K words
Chapters: 68

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 Wanderers by Mary JohnstonAuthor: Johnston, Mary, 1870-1936,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Jul 13, 2018

Editor's review

The Wanderers is by the American author Mary Johnston and likewise belongs to the Project Gutenberg public-domain ebook series. Johnston was born in 1870, and her work spans fiction and historical subjects, often focusing on how characters fare and choose in changing circumstances. The title suggests migration, drifting, or spiritual searching, with a blend of romanticism and realism. As a sample of early twentieth-century American literature, its value lies in showing how writers of the time handled motifs such as walking and belonging; the language retains an old-fashioned narrative texture and rewards slow, careful reading. Since the available information contains only bibliographic details and no specific chapters or character setups, readers should enter the text with an exploratory mindset, treating it as a journey through literary history rather than relying on ready-made interpretations. For general English readers, it is also a freely available, moderately long practice text.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in early twentieth-century American literature and themes of wandering
Learners who want to expand their English extensive reading through public-domain ebooks
Literary readers who prefer a slow pace and value the texture of language
Organizers who need free English texts for book-club discussion

Not a good fit for

Readers who want a detailed content summary before deciding whether to read
Those used to fast-paced modern narrative and with little patience for older prose styles
Younger readers who need a Chinese translation or annotations for support

Reading tips

Read the opening chapters first to gauge the narrative pace, then decide on a fixed number of pages per day to stay consistent.
Jot down passages related to wandering and belonging as you read, then connect the themes after finishing.
Pair the reading with brief material on Johnston's life and the historical background to help understand the context.
If reading with a book club, divide the work of mapping character relationships and geographical movement to aid discussion.

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 the public domain, and can I read it freely?

Yes. Published by Project Gutenberg, it is a free public-domain ebook that readers may legally access and read without payment or commercial licensing concerns.

What does the wanderer in the title refer to?

The available information gives no specific character setup, so the exact reference cannot be confirmed. Judging from the title and Johnston's tendencies, it may point to characters who migrate through space or seek a way out spiritually; readers must identify the specific meaning in the text itself.

Do I need to know American history before reading?

No systematic prior study is necessary. Basic general knowledge of the period is enough; when passages touch on social background, you can look them up as you go. Focus on the characters' circumstances and the narrative language, and fill in background knowledge gradually during reading.

Comments

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About the author

Johnston, Mary, 1870-1936 Author

Mary Johnston (Johnston, Mary, 1870-1936) was an American novelist, with 18 of her works held in this collection. Public information about her is limited, and many details of her life are difficult to verify, yet her fiction is fairly consistent in subject matter: she was skilled at narrative set against historical backgrounds, especially the society and fates of characters in colonial Virginia. Prisoners of Hope: A Tale of Colonial Virginia, By Order of the Company, and 1492 all draw on the early colonial and maritime era, while The Long Roll and Cease Firing concern the American Civil War. Her writing often uses love, loyalty, and conflict as threads, placing individual lives within large historical change; her plots move briskly and the atmosphere of the period is distinct. Representative works such as To Have and to Hold and Lewis Rand had some influence among readers of popular historical fiction at the time, making her one of the notable writers of early twentieth-century American historical romance.