The Purple Flame

Snell, Roy J. (Roy Judson), 1878-1959Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.5

Word count: 229K words
Chapters: 23

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 Purple Flame by Roy J. SnellAuthor: Snell, Roy J. (Roy Judson), 1878-1959,Language: English, Class: PZ: Language and Literatures: Juvenile belles lettres, Release Date: Feb 4, 2013

Editor's review

The Purple Flame is a young adult novel by Roy J. Snell, released as a public-domain eBook by Project Gutenberg. Classified as juvenile literature, it serves as a sample of early English-language youth narrative style. Such works typically drive the plot through suspense and action, with chapter lengths suited to segmented reading and friendly to English extensive readers. As an eBook, its advantage is searchability and excerptability, helping readers trace character relationships and plot development. Read it not as a literary classic to be studied, but for its storytelling craft: how suspense is set, how scenes shift, how young characters act. For classroom or book-club use, discuss narrative pacing and character choices while noting the work's historical context.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers looking for short English young adult novels for extensive reading
Young readers who enjoy suspense- and action-driven plots
Enthusiasts studying the narrative style of early English juvenile literature
Organizers who need public-domain electronic texts for reading activities

Not a good fit for

Readers who prefer deep literary analysis and complex character development
Readers seeking contemporary realistic young adult fiction
Readers unused to reading English originals with no available translation

Reading tips

Read chapter by chapter; after each, retell the plot in two or three sentences to practice English summarizing.
Note where suspense arises and is resolved, observing how the author sustains reader interest.
Compare with contemporary youth adventure novels and discuss similarities and differences in how young characters act.
For a book club, select a key scene for reading aloud and discussion of the character's choices.

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 suitable for English beginners?

It is an early English young adult novel with fairly traditional narration, better suited to readers with at least basic English reading ability. Beginners can first use chapter titles and plot summaries to grasp the main thread, then move gradually into the original rather than starting with word-by-word intensive reading.

What are the main highlights of this book?

As juvenile literature, its highlights are mainly the setup of suspense and the drive of the plot, along with how the young characters act and choose amid events. Read it as a sample of early English youth narrative technique, without expecting complex psychological portrayal.

What should I keep in mind when reading the public-domain eBook?

Public-domain eBooks often retain older formatting and wording habits; don't pause too long over occasional old-fashioned expressions. Read through the chapters first to grasp the plot, then return to language details, and keep the work's historical context in mind.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Snell, Roy J. (Roy Judson), 1878-1959 Author

Roy Judson Snell (1878–1959) was an American writer of adventure fiction for children and young adults, though public information about his life is limited, and his exact birth and death dates and nationality are not fully confirmed in our records. The library holds forty of his works, spanning aviation adventure, mystery and detection, and adventure stories for girls. Representative titles include The Crimson Flash, White Fire, Riddle of the Storm, The Crimson Thread: An Adventure Story for Girls, Red Dynamite, The Galloping Ghost, Curlie Carson Listens In, and Lost in the Air. His writing is known for its brisk pacing and tightly woven plots, often placing young readers in tense settings such as flight, storms, and mysterious events, using suspense to drive the story while emphasizing courage, quick thinking, and teamwork. Some works were explicitly aimed at girl readers, giving him a modest place in early juvenile genre fiction.