Books like Miss Melville's revenge by Evelyn E. Smith

"The Goldfinch is a rarity that comes along perhaps half a dozen times per decade, a smartly written literary novel that connects with the heart as well as the mind....Donna Tartt has delivered an extraordinary work of fiction."--Stephen King, The New York Times Book Review Composed with the skills of a master, The Goldfinch is a haunted odyssey through present day America and a drama of enthralling force and acuity. It begins with a boy. Theo Decker, a thirteen-year-old New Yorker, miraculously survives an accident that kills his mother. Abandoned by his father, Theo is taken in by the family of a wealthy friend. Bewildered by his strange new home on Park Avenue, disturbed by schoolmates who don't know how to talk to him, and tormented above all by his unbearable longing for his mother, he clings to one thing that reminds him of her: a small, mysteriously captivating painting that ultimately draws Theo into the underworld of art. As an adult, Theo moves silkily between the drawing rooms of the rich and the dusty labyrinth of an antiques store where he works. He is alienated and in love-and at the center of a narrowing, ever more dangerous circle. The Goldfinch is a novel of shocking narrative energy and power. It combines unforgettably vivid characters, mesmerizing language, and breathtaking suspense, while plumbing with a philosopher's calm the deepest mysteries of love, identity, and art. It is a beautiful, stay-up-all-night and tell-all-your-friends triumph, an old-fashioned story of loss and obsession, survival and self-invention, and the ruthless machinations of fate.

Despite their differences, sisters Vianne and Isabelle have always been close. Younger, bolder Isabelle lives in Paris while Vianne is content with life in the French countryside with her husband Antoine and their daughter. But when the Second World War strikes, Antoine is sent off to fight and Vianne finds herself isolated so Isabelle is sent by their father to help her. As the war progresses, the sisters' relationship and strength are tested. With life changing in unbelievably horrific ways, Vianne and Isabelle will find themselves facing frightening situations and responding in ways they never thought possible as bravery and resistance take different forms in each of their actions.

"It's 1947 and American college girl Charlie St. Clair is pregnant, unmarried, and on the verge of being thrown out of her very proper family. She's also nursing a fervent belief that her beloved French cousin Rose, who disappeared in Nazi-occupied France during the war, might still be alive somewhere. So when Charlie's family banishes her to Europe to have her "little problem" take care of, Charlie breaks free and heads to London determined to find out what happened to the cousin she loves like a sister. In 1915, Eve Gardiner burns to join the fight against the Germans and unexpectedly gets her chance to serve when she's recruited to work as a spy for the English. Sent into enemy-occupied France during The Great War, she's trained by the mesmerizing Lili, the "Queen of Spies", who manages a vast network of secret agents, right under the enemy's nose. Thirty years later, haunted by the betrayal that ultimately tore apart the Alice Network, Eve spends her days drunk and secluded in her crumbling London house. Until a young American barges in uttering a name Eve hasn't heard in decades, and launching them both on a mission to find the truth ... no matter where it leads"--

A stunning work, first published in 1933 by Obelisk Press (Jack Kahane's legacy), The Young and the Evil is a non-judgmental depiction of gay life and men who earn their living there, told through characters like Julian (modeled on Ford) and Karel (based on Tyler). With the added interracial connotations (book was set in Harlem and Greenwich), err, anyone surprised that this title didn't clear customs across the Channel or the Pond? Girodias later republished this work as part of the Traveller's Companion series. Authors such as Djuna Barnes and Gertrude Stein praised it unflinchingly.

When Paige Turner and her family move to New York City from rural Virginia, she tries to make sense of her new life through her sketchbook, and it helps bring her true personality into the open, a process that is equal parts terrifying and rewarding.

When her health begins failing, the mysterious author Vida Winter decides to let Margaret Lea, a biographer, write the truth about her life, but Margaret needs to verify the facts since Vida has a history of telling outlandish tales.

While Hijiri Masumi's school is performing in Moscow before the leaders of the Bolshoi Ballet, one of the leading ballerina's suffers an injury. The future of Japanese ballet hangs on the performance of an injured dancer--unless Masumi can take her place.

What can a woman do? Susan Melville's trust fund is dwindling, her teaching job is terminated, her lover is abroad for the season, and her apartment is going co-op. So naturally Miss Melville decides to shoot herself at a posh society party. Unfortunately, she misses -- and kills the guest of honor instead. When she slips out the door, a stranger follows. He thanks her for doing the job for him, and Miss Melville's new career is born. Of course she has scruples. Miss Melville won't kill just anybody, but she's about to face a job that even she will find a challenge of the most dangerous order, an assignment she just might regret -- for good

What can a woman do? Susan Melville's trust fund is dwindling, her teaching job is terminated, her lover is abroad for the season, and her apartment is going co-op. So naturally Miss Melville decides to shoot herself at a posh society party. Unfortunately, she misses -- and kills the guest of honor instead. When she slips out the door, a stranger follows. He thanks her for doing the job for him, and Miss Melville's new career is born. Of course she has scruples. Miss Melville won't kill just anybody, but she's about to face a job that even she will find a challenge of the most dangerous order, an assignment she just might regret -- for good