The Clock Struck One cover

The Clock Struck One

Rating 2.9
Word count
335K words
Chapters
34

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 Clock Struck One by Fergus HumeAuthor: Hume, Fergus, 1859-1932,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Oct 7, 2017

Editor's review

Fergus Hume was a late-19th-century British popular novelist, known for intricately plotted detective and suspense stories. The Clock Struck One follows his typical suspense formula, with the narrative unfolding around the moment the clock strikes, and the title itself hints at the crucial link between time and the case. This book comes from Project Gutenberg as a public-domain electronic text, easy to access and undemanding to read, making it a suitable introductory sample for understanding late-Victorian English popular suspense fiction. Its value lies not in literary experimentation but in showcasing the tastes of mass reading in that era: coincidence, secrets, and layer upon layer of unfolding mystery. Readers can treat it as lightweight original-language reading, dipping into it in segments on the commute or before bed, experiencing both the rhythm of old-fashioned English narrative and observing the structural conventions of early genre fiction. If you are looking for an original novel that requires little effort yet keeps suspense pulling you along, this can be a candidate.

Who it's for

A good fit for

  • Readers who enjoy Victorian-era English mystery fiction
  • English learners who want to practice reading with public-domain originals
  • Readers interested in the structure of early detective genre fiction

Not a good fit for

  • Mystery readers who prefer fast-paced modern storytelling
  • Beginners who need a Chinese translation or annotated edition

Reading tips

  1. Read a chapter or two first to get a feel for the language rhythm, then decide whether to read the whole book
  2. Keep pen and paper handy to note characters and timeline clues so the mystery stays clear
  3. Read alongside detective fiction from the same era to observe how the genre evolved

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

FAQ

Is this book in Chinese or English?
This is the original English text, released as a public-domain ebook by Project Gutenberg. It contains no Chinese translation, so readers need some English reading ability.
Is it suitable for reading in short bursts on a phone?
Yes. The novel moves forward through suspense, and chapters are relatively self-contained, so it works well for reading in segments. If there are many characters and clues, though, it helps to jot down simple notes so you don't lose track.
Why does the description keep mentioning Project Gutenberg?
Because the book is distributed free by Project Gutenberg, and the description mainly introduces the platform's background rather than summarizing the plot. Readers shouldn't judge the content based on it.

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About the author

Fergus Hume (Fergusson Wright Hume) Author · English · 1859–1932

Fergus Hume (1859–1932) was a British novelist. Born in England, he moved with his family to New Zealand as a child, studied at the University of Otago and qualified as a lawyer. In 1885 he went to Melbourne, and the following year he published The Mystery of a Hansom Cab at his own expense, achieving instant fame; the book is regarded as a bestselling classic in the history of detective fiction. In 1888 Hume returned to England to settle, and thereafter devoted himself to detective and suspense fiction, producing more than a hundred works in his lifetime, of which 66 are held in this collection, including The Silent House, The Gentleman Who Vanished and The Spider. He died in Essex in 1932.

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