Reprint of the original, first published in 1871. The publishing house Anatiposi publishes historical books as reprints. Due to their age, these books may have missing pages or inferior quality. Our aim is to preserve these books and make them available to the public so that they do not get lost.

In the novel 'Fenton's Quest', Gilbert Fenton, a successful businessman, meets Marian, a sweet and beautiful adopted daughter of a retired sailor, and falls in love with her. After they get engaged, Gilbert is called away to Australia for business, only to return and find Marian gone and her father dead. Determined to find her and uncover the truth, Gilbert embarks on a quest to track down his beloved and unravel the mystery of her disappearance. This epic tale will keep readers on the edge of their seats as they follow Gilbert's journey to find the woman he loves.

ÊA warm summer evening, with a sultry haze brooding over the level landscape, and a Sabbath stillness upon all things in the village of Lidford, Midlandshire. In the remoter corners of the old gothic church the shadows are beginning to gather, as the sermon draws near its close; but in the centre aisle and about the pulpit there is broad daylight still shining-in from the wide western window, across the lower half of which there are tall figures of the Evangelists in old stained glass. There are no choristers at Lidford, and the evening service is conducted in rather a drowsy way; but there is a solemn air of repose about the gray old church that should be conducive to tranquil thoughts and pious meditations. Simple and earnest have been the words of the sermon, simple and earnest seem the countenances of the congregation, looking reverently upwards at the face of their pastor; and one might fancy, contemplating that grand old church, so much too spacious for the needs of the little flock gathered there to-night, that Lidford was a forgotten, half-deserted corner of this earth, in which a man, tired of the press and turmoil of the world, might find an almost monastic solitude and calm. So thought a gentleman in the Squire's pewÑa good-looking man of about thirty, who was finishing his first Sunday at Lidford by devout attendance at evening service. He had been thinking a good deal about this quiet country life during the service, wondering whether it was not the best life a man could live, after all, and thinking it all the sweeter because of his own experience, which had lain chiefly in cities. He was a certain Mr. Gilbert Fenton, an Australian merchant, and was on a visit to his sister, who had married the principallandowner in Lidford, Martin ListerÑa man whose father had been called "the Squire." The lady sat opposite her brother in the wide old family pew to-nightÑa handsome-looking matron, with a little rosy-cheeked damsel sitting by her sideÑa damsel with flowing auburn hair, tiny hat and feather, and bright scarlet stockings, looking very much as if she had walked out of a picture by Mr. Millais. The congregation stood up to sing a hymn when the sermon was ended, and Gilbert Fenton turned his face towards the opposite line of pews, in one of which, very near him, there was a girl, at whom Mrs. Lister had caught her brother looking very often, during the service just concluded. It was a face that a man could scarcely look upon once without finding his glances wandering back to it afterwards; not quite a perfect face, but a very bright and winning one. Large gray eyes, with a wonderful light in them, under dark lashes and darker brows; a complexion that had a dusky pallor, a delicate semi-transparent olive-tint that one seldom sees out of a Spanish picture; a sweet rosy mouth, and a piquant little nose of no particular order, made up the catalogue of this young lady's charms. But in a face worth looking at there is always a something that cannot be put into words; and the brightest and best attributes of this face were quite beyond translation. It was a face one might almost call "splendid"Ñthere was such a light and glory about it at some moments. Gilbert Fenton thought so to-night, as he saw it in the full radiance of the western sunlight, the lips parted as the girl sang, the clear gray eyes looking upward.

Since the first publication of her groundbreaking sensation novel 'Lady Audley's Secret' in 1862, M. E. Braddon's works have gripped the imagination of readers across the world for over one hundred and fifty years. This comprehensive eBook presents the many diverse works of M. E. Braddon, with numerous illustrations, rare texts appearing in digital print for the first time, informative introductions and the usual Delphi bonus material. (Version 2) * Beautifully illustrated with images relating to Braddon's life and works * Concise introductions to the novels and other texts * 27 novels, with individual contents tables * Rare novels appearing here for the first time, including Braddon's first novel, last novel and her supernatural masterpiece GERARD, OR THE WORLD, THE FLESH AND THE DEVIL * Images of how the books were first printed, giving your eReader a taste of the original texts * Excellent formatting of the texts * The children's book THE CHRISTMAS HIRELINGS is also included, with all of the original festive illustrations * Braddon's first collection of short stories RALPH THE BAILIFF AND OTHER TALES, featuring many of the author's seminal tales — available in no other collection * Special chronological and alphabetical contents tables for the short stories * Easily locate the short stories you want to read * Includes one of Braddon's scarce plays * Features a memoir by the author, concerning the composition of her first novel * Ordering of texts into chronological order and literary genres * UPDATED with 5 more novels and improved texts CONTENTS: The Novels Three Times Dead (1860) Lady Audley’s Secret (1862) Captain of the Vulture (1863) Aurora Floyd (1863) John Marchmont’s Legacy (1863) The Doctor’s Wife (1864) Henry Dunbar (1864) Birds of Prey (1867) Charlotte’s Inheritance (1868) Run to Earth (1868) Fenton’s Quest (1871) The Lovels of Arden (1872) A Strange World (1875) The Cloven Foot (1879) Vixen (1879) Mount Royal (1882) Phantom Fortune (1883) The Golden Calf (1883) Wyllard’s Weird (1885) Mohawks (1886) Gerard (1891) All along the River (1893) London Pride (1896) His Darling Sin (1899) The Infidel (1900) Beyond These Voices (1910) Mary (1916) The Children’s Book The Christmas Hirelings (1894) The Shorter Fiction Ralph the Bailiff and Other Tales (1862) Milly Darrell (1873) Flower and Weed, and Other Tales (1884) The Short Stories List of Short Stories in Chronological Order List of Short Stories in Alphabetical Order The Play Marjorie Daw (1885) The Memoir My First Novel: ‘The Trail of the Serpent’ (1897) Please visit www.delphiclassics.com to browse through our range of exciting titles