Ghosts & Gamblers - Oppenheim E. Phillips

Enter the world of romantic intrigue from the Prince of Storytellers. E. Phillips Oppenheim published over 150 books in his lifetime, and here we present one of his very rare romantic thrillers from 1896, The Modern Prometheus, coupled with another collection of previously unreprinted stories and autobiographic pieces, including six stories featuring gentleman adventurer, Andrew Thesholm.

The Modern Prometheus is the story of two struggling artists, Francis and Marcia, thrown together by desperation and poverty in a Chelsea boardinghouse. After being forced to give up hope, Francis burns his manuscript, sells the last of his possessions and strikes out for the colonies. He cannot take Marcia and leaves her behind as he vows to find either riches or death. Ten years later, Francis returns as Sir Francis Kernham, fabulously wealthy and famous throughout England. He searches everywhere for Marcia, fearful of what she may have become, only to discover by chance that she is now Princess of Hohenmahn. Will they now find love and happiness together, or has time and truth forged bonds of a different sort?

The Reluctant Gambler gives us a new Oppenheim hero, the rakish and wealthy Andrew Tresholm. In these six never-before-reprinted stories, we see this curiously brave and moral adventurer mixing himself up in the problems of friends and acquaintances as he gambles on himself and others to overcome their personal tragedies.

We also offer 12 stories published in various newspapers from 1896 to 1916 but which have never before been collected into book format—stories of espionage, romance, adventure, and comedy—including a speech to his alma mater to round out the collection. All this plus editor Daniel Paul Morrison’s latest, and certainly his most definitive, bibliography of the many and varied works of E. Phillips Oppenheim, an absolute boon to collectors.