In Luck at Last

Besant, Walter, 1836-1901Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.1

Word count: 337K 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.In Luck at Last by Walter BesantAuthor: Besant, Walter, 1836-1901,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Jun 25, 2005

Editor's review

In Luck at Last is a novel by the prolific nineteenth-century British writer Walter Besant, now circulating as a free eBook through Project Gutenberg. Like his contemporary Trollope and others, Besant was skilled at depicting Victorian middle-class life and turns of fate in a gentle tone, and the title itself suggests a story built around luck, opportunity, and the ups and downs of life. For readers familiar with nineteenth-century British fiction, this work can serve as supplementary reading beyond the major classics, helping them appreciate the narrative rhythm, characterization, and moral concerns of popular fiction of the period. The Project Gutenberg edition preserves the original English text and is suitable both as English reading material and as a textual sample for enthusiasts studying Victorian popular literature. Note that this is a public-domain eBook without modern annotations or an introduction; readers should orient themselves by considering the historical background.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who love nineteenth-century British fiction and want to broaden their reading beyond the classics
English learners who need public-domain English texts for long-form reading practice
Enthusiasts studying Victorian popular literature and middle-class narrative
Readers who habitually use e-readers and prefer free public-domain books

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking a modern annotated edition or a version with introduction and analysis
Readers who prefer fast-paced plots and have limited patience for classical narrative
Readers who need a Chinese translation and are unused to reading the English original

Reading tips

Read the opening chapters first to gauge the narrative pace and character relationships before deciding whether to read through or select portions.
While reading, note character identities and plot turns to help clarify the threads of a nineteenth-century novel.
Read alongside background materials on Victorian British society to understand the work's historical context.
If using it for English study, read a fixed amount closely each day and organize unfamiliar words and long sentence structures.

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 book is in the original English, released as a free eBook by Project Gutenberg; the materials provide no information about a Chinese translation. Before reading, make sure you are comfortable with the English original or prepare a dictionary and supporting tools.

Does the Project Gutenberg edition have annotations or an introduction?

Project Gutenberg mainly provides electronic texts of public-domain works and usually does not include modern scholarly annotations, introductions, or analysis. If background knowledge is needed while reading, consult materials on Victorian British literature and society.

Can I read this directly without having read the author's other works?

Yes. This is a standalone novel, and the materials do not indicate that it belongs to a series that must be read in order. Reading it directly will not prevent understanding due to lack of prior works, though familiarity with common conventions of nineteenth-century British fiction will help.

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About the author

Besant, Walter, 1836-1901 Author

Walter Besant (1836–1901) was an English author whose writings span fiction, history, and works on the city, with 23 titles held in this collection. Judging from the works listed here, his writing is clearly centred on the local history and urban memory of London. He produced a two-volume Mediæval London, covering its historical and social as well as its ecclesiastical aspects, and period-based surveys such as London in the Time of the Stuarts and Early London: Prehistoric, Roman, Saxon and Norman. He also devoted separate books to particular districts—Westminster, East London, and London City—and wrote The History of London. These works are marked by solid local antiquarian research and a wealth of anecdote, and will appeal to readers interested in London's urban development and British social and cultural history. Public information on the details of his life is limited, so no conjecture is offered here.