James Lawrie

For centuries, the Murgatroyd family, the Baronets of Ruddigore, have been under a witch's curse — commit a crime every day, or die in agony. Sir Ruthven Murgatroyd, the rightful heir, has run away to live as innocent peasant Robin Oakapple in the Cornish village of Rederring, sticking his brother Despard with the curse. But on the very day that "Robin" is to marry sweet, beautiful Rose Maybud, it all falls apart. Can Sir Ruthven outwit a picture gallery full of his ancestors' ghosts to save the day?

Tod is a motherless boy, who is mistreated by his violent father. He eventually finds happiness with kindly foster parents.

Life is strange and worrying for a cadet who arrives in the Pacific in the colonial service. And the testy resident commissioner, who had been expecting an experienced man, soon shows his disapproval.