Friday, April 24, 2020

Twenty Vintage Classics that are Free for Kindle

Hundreds of vintage authors have not stood the test of time because they are overly sentimental or their writing lacks literary quality. You can read most of them for free on your Kindle, but which ones are worth your time? Here are twenty of my favorites titles.

General Titles
Penny Plain by O. Douglas is a charming domestic drama set in Scotland in the 1920's.
Fair Harbor by Joseph Crosby Lincoln. In the midst of gossiping busy-bodies, bickering lovers, and money-grabbing scoundrels, stands Captain Kendrick, a man of sterling character who is eager to do what is right even at the cost of his own happiness. 
Lilac Girl by Ralph Henry Barbour is a sweet, non-syrupy romance with some fun humor woven in.
The Rich Mrs. Burgoyne by Kathleen Thompson Norris is much more than a romance. It's a treatise on the value of motherhood.
Dandelion Cottage by Caroll Watson Rankin is a lovely story of 4 little girls, similar to the Betsy-Tacy books.
Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery (a few of her other titles are free)
Freckles and Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton Porter
Three books in the Little Women series by Louisa May Alcott (some of her other titles are also free.)

Cozy Mysteries
Father Brown mysteries by G.K. Chesterton
The Red House Mystery by A.A. Milne
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
Arsene Lupin by Maurice LeBlanc (French gentleman thief)
A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Lady Audley's Secret by (A Victorian page turner)
The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan (the first of four spy novels)
The Woman in Black by E.C. Bentley

Unfortunately Amazon charges for the most popular vintage authors (Rumer Godden, Georgette Heyer, Elizabeth Goudge, D.E. Stevenson, Miss Read). Some, like Agatha Christie and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, have only their less famous titles for free. Another of my favorite vintage story-tellers is James Hilton, but his cheapest (and most famous) book is 99 cents.

I hope you find a comforting book in these days of self-quarantine. The book of Psalms has been a source of solace for me, but I have enjoyed some escapist fiction as well.

 (All of these books were free at the time of this posting. Please let me know if you find a discrepancy.)

Blessings,

2 comments:

Barbara Harper said...

Thank you! I just got several of these. All the ones I looked at were still free, but the James Hilton one was $1.99 rather than 99 cents.

Julia said...

Thank you for the list of free books from Amazon. I got several of them today and they were all free. I appreciate your reviews and usually read a number of the books. I am now able to get some D E Stevenson and Ann Tatlock books to read on Kindle Unlimited.