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The Kingdom of Earth
Excerpt from The Kingdom of Earth
Hey sat side by side on one of the many seats which fringed the tiny lake high up among the mountains. The sun shone down upon them from a cloudless sky. A little band on the balcony played the liveliest of music. The people around laughed and talked and flirted. The hum of the skates upon the clear, black ice was a music in itself. The man and the girl were perhaps the soberest couple there.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
Hey sat side by side on one of the many seats which fringed the tiny lake high up among the mountains. The sun shone down upon them from a cloudless sky. A little band on the balcony played the liveliest of music. The people around laughed and talked and flirted. The hum of the skates upon the clear, black ice was a music in itself. The man and the girl were perhaps the soberest couple there.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
366 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1907
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 19, 2024
Oh for the idealism of the pre-WWI years, where a potboiler Ruritanian romance can have an “advanced socialist” heroine with a degree from Wellesley and an acting career, and a prince who plays the outrageous and dissipated rake in order to discredit the monarchy all the while secretly funding and masterminding a non-violent socialist-republican revolution. (But don’t worry—she’s still rich and aristocratic, and he’s perfectly willing to turn his sword on rioters in order to protect a lady when his “attitude of authority and domination” doesn’t secure their dispersal.)
4 stars for the novelty and also the hero’s one-liners as he enjoys shocking everyone by being a bored playboy idiot prince who apparently doesn’t even care that the country is about to abolish the monarchy.
4 stars for the novelty and also the hero’s one-liners as he enjoys shocking everyone by being a bored playboy idiot prince who apparently doesn’t even care that the country is about to abolish the monarchy.
October 31, 2024
This book seemed to run on forever, and I think as much as anything it was because the author fell madly in love with his main character. "John Peters" good-looking, absolutely distinguished, entirely mysterious is so heroic he practically levitates throughout the book. He's described as a man of iron without human weakness, far above the commoners who inhabit the kingdom of earth, he instead belongs to the race of those who understand. He's brave, he's fearless, he faces down angry mobs on several occasions; but he's also brilliant and has some of the finest ideas that have ever been expressed on the relative position of the state and the people. And naturally, he's irresistible to women. In fact, he's flawless, and his every move is chronicled in minute detail throughout three-hundred-plus pages. Maybe if the novel had been tightened by a third or more, it would have been more entertaining—although the politics of it was pretty confused: he starts a socialist campaign throughout the country and thinks to end up with a republic? Really? All in all, not one of my better choices.
December 28, 2013
The Pimpernel takes the Other Side
John Peters is the dissolute Crown Prince of Bergeland. The nephew of the rapacious and immoral King.
Grace Pellisier is an English American actress (whose mother is from Bergeland?) who meets a thoughtful, serious, hiker in the mountains of Switzerland.
Bernhardt is the energetic Chief of the Secret Service, protecting the aging King, and constantly searching for "The Watcher," the leader of the revolutionary republicans.
At first, this novel seems like a standard Oppenheim puff piece favoring the aristocracy. Yet it was written in 1907, just two years after Baroness Orczy published The Scarlet Pimpernel. In a clever twist, it is the aristocratic Crown Prince who becomes the author of reform.
Written during a period of intense anti-monarchy which saw the end of the Russian Tzar, and many other reigning Royal Families, Oppenheim is using the politics of Europe to imagine an alternative path to bloody revolution,.
Written as "Anthony Partridge."
John Peters is the dissolute Crown Prince of Bergeland. The nephew of the rapacious and immoral King.
Grace Pellisier is an English American actress (whose mother is from Bergeland?) who meets a thoughtful, serious, hiker in the mountains of Switzerland.
Bernhardt is the energetic Chief of the Secret Service, protecting the aging King, and constantly searching for "The Watcher," the leader of the revolutionary republicans.
At first, this novel seems like a standard Oppenheim puff piece favoring the aristocracy. Yet it was written in 1907, just two years after Baroness Orczy published The Scarlet Pimpernel. In a clever twist, it is the aristocratic Crown Prince who becomes the author of reform.
Written during a period of intense anti-monarchy which saw the end of the Russian Tzar, and many other reigning Royal Families, Oppenheim is using the politics of Europe to imagine an alternative path to bloody revolution,.
Written as "Anthony Partridge."
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews