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Run to Earth: A Novel

by M. E. Braddon (1835–1915)

  • Free to read
  • 12 hours to read
  • 40 chapters
  • Reading level: 7th grade

"Run to Earth: A Novel" by M. E. Braddon is a classic fictional work likely written in the late 19th century. The novel unfolds a tale of intrigue, exploring themes of love, betrayal, and the darker elements of human nature through the eyes of its protagonist, Captain Valentine Jernam, as he navigates the perilous waters of fate and deception. The opening of "Run to Earth" introduces us to Captain Valentine Jernam and his loyal clerk, Joyce Harker, as they share a drink in a back room of a public-house in Shadwell. Jernam reflects on his past and his affection for the sea, while Harker expresses concerns about their surroundings, hinting at danger. When Jernam becomes entranced by the singing of a beautiful girl in the tavern, named Jenny Milsom, Harker's wariness intensifies, raising the tension of the narrative. As Jernam decides to pursue a chance meeting with Jenny, Harker’s apprehensions about the dangers lurking in their environment foreshadow the looming conflicts and challenges to come, setting the stage for a tumultuous journey marked by looming threats and unanticipated turns.

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  • English fiction

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Chapter I

Seven-and-twenty years ago, and a bleak evening in March. There are gas-lamps flaring down in Ratcliff Highway, and the sound of squeaking fiddles and trampling feet in many public-houses tell of festivity provided for Jack-along-shore. The emporiums of slop-sellers are illuminated for the better display of tarpaulin coats and hats, so stiff of build that they look like so many sea-faring suicides, pendent from the low ceilings. These emporiums are here and there enlivened by festoons of many-coloured bandana handkerchief's; and on every pane of glass in shop or tavern window is painted the glowing representation of Britannia's pride, the immortal Union Jack.

Two men sat drinking and smoking in a little parlour at the back of an old public-house in Shadwell. The room was about as large as a good-sized cupboard, and was illuminated in the day-time by a window commanding a pleasant prospect of coal-shed and dead wall. The paper on the walls was dark and greasy with age; and every bit of clumsy, bulging deal furniture in the room had been transformed into a kind of ebony by the action of time and dirt, the greasy backs and elbows of idle loungers, the tobacco-smoke and beer-stains of half a century.

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Contents

Show all 40 chapters
  1. Chapter I
  2. Chapter II
  3. Chapter III
  4. Chapter IV
  5. Chapter V: "Evil, Be Thou My Good."
  6. Chapter VI
  7. Chapter VII: "O Beware, My Lord, of Jealousy."
  8. Chapter VIII
  9. Chapter IX
  10. Chapter X: "How Art Thou Lost! — How on a Sudden Lost!"
  11. Chapter XI: "The Will! the Testament!"
  12. Chapter XII
  13. Chapter XIII
  14. Chapter XIV
  15. Chapter XV
  16. Chapter XVI
  17. Chapter XVII
  18. Chapter XVIII
  19. Chapter XIX
  20. Chapter XX
  21. Chapter XXI
  22. Chapter XXII
  23. Chapter XXIII: "Answer Me, If This Be Done?"
  24. Chapter XXIV: "I Am Weary of My Part."
  25. Chapter XXV
  26. Chapter XXVI
  27. Chapter XXVII: "Weave the Warp, and Weave the Woof."
  28. Chapter XXVIII
  29. Chapter XXIX
  30. Chapter XXX
  31. Chapter XXXI: "A Worthless Woman, Mere Cold Clay."
  32. Chapter XXXII
  33. Chapter XXXIII: "Treason Has Done His Worst."
  34. Chapter XXXIV
  35. Chapter XXXV
  36. Chapter XXXVI
  37. Chapter XXXVII: "O, Above Measure False!"
  38. Chapter XXXVIII: "Thy Day Is Come!"
  39. Chapter XXXIX: "Confusion Worse Than Death."
  40. Chapter XL: "So Shall Ye Reap."

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About this edition

This free edition of Run to Earth: A Novel by M. E. Braddon comes from Project Gutenberg eBook #9102, released 2005-10-01. It is in the public domain in the United States, so you can read it here in full at no cost, on any phone, tablet or computer. Genre: Crime, Thrillers and Mystery, Novels, British Literature.

Summary provided by Project Gutenberg (automatically generated).

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