hidden talent rediscovered Bello is a digital only imprint of Pan Macmillan, established to breathe life into previously published classic books. At B……

Born in Cardross, Scotland, A. J. Cronin studied at the University of Glasgow. In 1916 he served as a surgeon sub-lieutenant in the Royal Navy Volunte……

Holding Mama’s hand tightly, I came out of the dark arches of the railway station and into the bright streets of the strange town. I was inclined to t……

Downstairs, Mr. Leckie, Kate and Murdoch had come in and, with Mama, were awaiting me in the kitchen, their sudden silence, which immobilized the room……

Grandpa was a difficult sleeper, snoring loudly, tossing on the lumpy flock mattress, squeezing me flat against the wall. In spite of this, I slept he……

I think it was Mama’s strategy, at this early stage, to keep me out of the way of the other members of the household. Often I did not see Papa until t……

The old greystone Academy, with its high square clock tower, worn stone steps, long damp corridors, and hot classrooms filled with the smell of chalk ……

Calmed at last and seated on Grandpa’s knee—joyful proof of our reconciliation—I poured out my heart. He listened to me in silence. Then, with a firm ……

In the wintry weeks which followed, with hard frost and long dark evenings, the feud between my two great-grandparents, which had its origin in differ……

Spring came quickly that year and the three chestnut trees in front of the house nodded their white plumes before a boy dazzled by freedom, intoxicate……

And still the spring continues. Giving off Drumbuck Road to a blind ending was a short unobtrusive street of smaller cottages which bore the disappoin……

July came, with the prospect of the summer holidays and hot winds which swayed the yellowing corn. I ran barefooted with Gavin after the watering cart……

Grandpa was seated, with his face screwed scientifically to the microscope, when I burst upon him. And in this academic position he heard me, in silen……

Corpus christi has come and the morning sky is grey, grey as the body of the dead Christ when they took Him from the Cross. I have spent a fitful nigh……

We are marooned, in August, amidst fields of scorched stubble and dusty hedgerows, the few vagrant airs which stir the drooping trees producing only a……

The next morning I was out early. I had promised to return to Angelo a bundle of magazines which he had loaned me and I wished to be free, as soon as ……

The week of Murdoch’s tests has come and that faithful student of seed catalogues stands in the lobby in his best boots and Sunday clothes being brush……

Grandpa’s philosophy, based no doubt on sad experience, was that we must pay for all our pleasures: he would warn me when I was unduly elated: “Man, y……

On the following Tuesday, the summer recess ended: Kate resumed her teaching at the “ Elementary” and I went back to the Academy. I remember the day v……

The chestnut trees, spreading more widely, were again in flourish, the setting sun was sending up a faint incense behind the Ben as, full of excitemen……

Still restless and excited, I ran downstairs. I was free until eight o’clock in the evening, when I had a special and unbreakable engagement. I though……

Quickly, my heart lifting at every step, I returned to Drumbuck Road; then, with a sudden quickening of my pulse, entered Sinclair Drive, a narrow str……

That sweet parting should have been the ending of my day. But alas, there remained the strange and tortuous process of getting to my bed. And to-night……

Morning comes early and joyfully upon a holiday. On Monday, before the white sky showed its first signs of brightening, I was out of the house quietly……

Next morning we slept late in our bunks at the fishing bothy, and when Mrs. Glen had given us breakfast Gavin took his father’s hunting knife and in t……

The days dragged on and I was in despair. On Thursday, shortly before the close of the Easter vacation, I was mowing Mrs. Bosomley’s back green—Papa h……

At the beginning of June an event occurred, trivial in itself, yet so helpful to my purpose I felt it as an intervention of Providence upon my behalf,……

Immediately Papa and Mama departed, Grandpa moved my table and all my books into the parlour, which was never used, maintained solely as a patent of g……

It was a hot, still afternoon, with a threat of thunder in the air. Only four days remained before the examination and I was overwrought, my nerves pa……

The morning of the examination was wet. On the afternoon of Thursday, the day before, Jason had taken all my books away and hidden them. “Only the sec……

Once the acute inflammation has subsided, and the membrane begins to slough from the throat, diphtheria is neither painful nor prolonged. Following th……

As I came through the Works gates one February evening, the ground hard under my nailed boots and the street lamps wearing frosty haloes, I caught sig……

The concert was not one of the ordinary performances given every Thursday during the winter by the Levenford Orchestral Society, but a gala affair arr……

My work at the boiler shop was not that melodramatic toil one reads of in novels, but I was not cut out for manual labour and I found it hard enough. ……

That winter the Levenford Philosophical Club was making an effort to recover from the run-down condition which, at an earlier date, had provoked Reid’……

The winter continued damp and wet. I was now in charge of a light turning-lathe and, resigned to a future at the Works, I tried to take an interest in……

In May we had a Late Frost followed by a thaw which turned everything to slush. Yet one evening, two weeks before the Trades Holiday, as I trudged hom……

Levenford, as Mama had once said, was a smoky old town, but the woods, lochs and mountains round about were beautiful. There were all sorts of local R……

The last Saturday in July … Preoccupied by my own woes, I had forgotten that this was the date of the Flower Show, and only recollected the fact at no……

Sunday; and nearly midnight. This time there is no mistake; the old man is dying. The consciousness of this pervades his room where I sit watching him……

On Tuesday we all sat down in the parlour to a ham-and-egg tea after the funeral, which though not lavish was, at Papa’s command, done handsomely, by ……