A Cabinet Secret

Boothby, Guy, 1867-1905Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.3

Word count: 345K words
Chapters: 35

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. A Cabinet Secret by Guy Boothby. Author: Boothby, Guy, 1867-1905. Language: English. Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature. Release Date: Jul 29, 2011

Editor's review

This work comes from the hand of Guy Boothby, a British popular novelist of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and belongs to the suspense-adventure genre he excelled in. As a free Project Gutenberg eBook, its primary value lies in giving contemporary readers zero-barrier access to the narrative rhythm and thematic interests of late Victorian popular fiction: strongly plot-driven and densely packed with suspense, it serves as a sample for understanding the landscape of English-language popular novels of the period. The electronic edition is easy to search and excerpt, and is also suitable as supplementary reading for comparative literature or genre fiction. It should be noted that public-domain eBooks usually lack modern introductions and annotations, so readers must grasp the historical context on their own; moreover, the work is in English, placing certain demands on vocabulary and historical background. Overall, it is better suited as leisure reading or research material than as a systematic textbook of literary history.

Who it's for

A good fit for

English-language readers who enjoy late Victorian suspense-adventure novels
Learners who want to expand their English reading with free public-domain books
Researchers studying late 19th-century British popular literary genres
Book club members who need lightweight English-language source material

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking a Chinese translation or bilingual edition
Beginners who need modern annotations and detailed background introductions
Readers who prefer slow-paced literary description over plot-driven narrative

Reading tips

Read the opening chapters first to judge the narrative pace, then decide whether to read the whole book.
Keep notes on unfamiliar words and historical background, checking as you read to reduce comprehension barriers.
Read it alongside other English adventure novels of the same period to observe genre conventions.
Use the electronic edition's search function to mark characters and key clues for easy review.

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?

According to the information, the book's language is English (Language: English). It is a public-domain eBook released by Project Gutenberg, with the main text in English and no Chinese translation.

Will it be hard to read without modern annotations?

Public-domain eBooks usually come without modern introductions or annotations, so readers need to look up vocabulary and historical background themselves. If your English reading foundation is average, it is advisable to use a dictionary and background materials, or try reading some chapters first before deciding.

Is it suitable for literary research?

It can serve as supplementary material for the genre of late 19th-century British popular fiction, but because it lacks scholarly annotations and edition information, it should not be used alone as the main basis for systematic literary history research; it is best used alongside authoritative anthologies or scholarly works.

Comments

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About the author

Boothby, Guy, 1867-1905 Author

Guy Boothby (1867-1905) was an English writer of popular fiction in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, though public information about the details of his life is limited. Sixteen of his works are held in this collection, mostly adventure, mystery and popular romance, commonly classified under inspirational growth. Representative titles include A Bid for Fortune; or, Dr. Nikola's Vendetta, Pharos, The Egyptian: A Romance, Long Live the King! and My Strangest Case, whose titles reveal his fondness for exotic settings, mysterious figures and tightly paced plots. Boothby was skilled at driving narrative through sustained suspense and created memorable characters such as Dr. Nikola; his works found a wide readership in their day and had some influence on later adventure and thriller writing.