The Floating Press imprint: 2252 books

Samuel Hopkins Adams was an American fiction writer and journalist who was interested in the lives and struggles of everyday folk. That overarching concern is on full display in this charming series of short stories, all of which are told by a legendary yarn-spinner whose favorite spot in the world is a New York City park bench.

In the mid-nineteenth century, newspaper columnist Fanny Fern was one of the leading literary luminaries of the United States. Millions of readers obsessively read her weekly missives, and her book-length collections of her columns were perennial bestsellers. This collection brings together a number...

After falling victim to a series of tragedies at a tender age, a little French-English girl named Doris makes her way to America to settle in with a new adoptive family. It's quite an adjustment, but Doris is fascinated by the sights and sounds of Boston, one of the oldest cities in the American colonies. Younger readers will relish this unique glimpse into early American history.

Part of Amanda Douglas' delightful Little Girl series of juvenile chapter books, this volume has young protagonist Laverne escaping privation and hardship in New England to find happiness in what the author calls the Queen City of the Western Coast. It is sure to be a hit with young readers who have an interest in American history.

Protagonist Virginia Deering has always enjoyed an affluent and privileged lifestyle. But when a chance encounter with a less fortunate soul opens Virginia's eyes to the pain, suffering and poverty that abounds just outside her front door, she vows to take matters into her own hands and change things for the better.

What if you were wrongfully accused of a crime, and your growing anxiety about the mix-up served only to make your accusers more certain of your guilt? That's the fate that befalls the unlucky protagonist of Edward Bellamy's Kafkaesque short story "Two Days' Solitary Imprisonment," whose recurring dreams of being unjustly persecuted finally come to pass in real life.

In this charming short story from Edward Bellamy, a young couple makes the most of the magic of a summer's night when they get an unexpected opportunity to perform an impromptu vignette -- and in the process, they help to rekindle a long-dormant romance.

Edward Bellamy is best remembered for the utopian novel Looking Backward, which had a profound cultural impact when it was published, inciting many readers to form organizations seeking to put the book's ideas into practice. The charming short story "Hooking Watermelons," chock-full of local color, illustrates...

Over the course of his career, author Percy F. Westerman penned dozens of action-adventure tales, many of which were set during World War I. However, the book that launched his literary career, A Lad of Grit, is set in the mid-seventeenth century. Readers of all ages will enjoy this tale of an intrepid young man who proves his mettle in a series of dangerous situations.

If you are a fan of classic action-adventure stories who loved Anthony Hope's The Prisoner of Zenda, A Man of Mark should be right up your alley. Set amidst a political uprising in the fictional country of Aureataland, this fast-paced romp is a rip-roaring read.

British novelist Anthony Hope is best remembered for his swashbuckling action-adventure novels, most of which include a side dish of budding romance. Father Stafford sets aside the sword play and daring last-minute escapes and focuses instead on the thrills and perils of a complicated love quadrangle....

A chance invitation to spend time at the luxurious manse of the Count of Fieramondi sparks a mystery that ensnares the dashing Captain Dieppe, a French gentlemen who seems to have a preternatural ability to sniff out intrigue and dastardly deeds. Can Dieppe put things right before it's too late?

With tales that run the gamut from not-so-successful run-ins with the aristocracy to potentially devastating runs on financial institutions, this collection of charming short stories from British author Anthony Hope is a pleasant way to pass an idle afternoon.

One of the unlikeliest fictional detectives ever brought to life in print, Max Carrados is a sophisticated private detective who was blinded in a tragic horse-riding accident. To compensate for this disability, he has sharpened his other senses to nearly supernatural levels of acuity, and he calls on his remarkable skills in all four of the pulse-pounding tales collected in this volume.