Books published by publisher Echo Library (2007-05-01)

McAllister (1827-95) was the self-appointed arbiter of New York society from the 1860s to the early 1890s. He coined the phrase "The Four Hundred" which, according to him, was the number of people in New York who really mattered, and named the official list in the New York Times on February 16 1892. This memoir published in 1890, along with his hunger for media attention, did little to endear him to the old guard who valued their privacy.

Adapted from the novel by Mary Webb, "Gone to Earth is the story of a free-spirited country lass, who is loved both by the wicked squire and the altruistic minister. Edmundson has incorporated folk-dance, song and dialect into the rural Shropshire setting. It is a style well-suited to Shared Experience, the company that produced Edmundson's acclaimed adaptations of "Anna Karenina and "The Mill on the Floss.

Mary Mapes Dodge (1831-1905) was an American children's writer and editor best known for her novel Hans Brinker, or The Silver Skates (1865). She took up writing and editing in 1859 having been left a widow with two young children, initially working with her father on two magazines. Following the success of a collection of stories a novel was solicited, resulting in Hans Brinker which was an instant bestseller. Later in life she was an associate editor of Hearth and Home, edited by Harriet Beecher Stowe, then became an editor in her own right with St Nicholas Magazine, one of the most successful children's magazines of the second half of the 19th century. This novel was first published in 1883.

James Thorne Smith Jr. (1892-1934), was an American writer of humorous supernaturnal fantasy fiction. Best known today for his creation of Topper, Smith's comic fantasy fiction (most of it involving sex, lots of drinking, and supernatural transformations, and aided by racy illustrations) sold millions of copies in the early 1930s. Smith drank as steadily as his characters; his appearance in James Thurber's The Years With Ross involves an unexplained week-long disappearance. Smith was born in Annapolis, Maryland the son of a Navy commodore, attended Dartmouth College, and after hungry years in Greenwich Village working part-time as an advertising agent, Smith achieved meteoric success with the publication of Topper in 1926. His other works include: The Stray Lamb (1929), Turnabout (1931), The Night Life of the Gods (1931), Topper Takes a Trip (1932), The Bishop's Jaegers (1932), Rain in the Doorway (1933), Skin and Bones (1933) and The Glorious Pool (1934). He died of a heart attack while vacationing in Florida.