The Quest

by Justus Miles Forman

[...]Arthur Benham, and he was rather a young fool but not downright vicious, I should think. I never knew him at all well, but I know he spent his time chiefly at the Cafe de Paris and at the Olympia and at Longchamps and at Henry's Bar. Well, he just disappeared, that is all. He dropped completely out of sight between two days, and though the family has had a small army of detectives on his trail, they've not discovered the smallest clue. It's deuced odd altogether. You[...]."

260 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1909

About the author

Justus Miles Forman (November 1, 1875 – May 7, 1915) was an American novelist and playwright.

His only play, The Hyphen, appeared in 1915 but did not receive the success Forman expected. The Hyphen was a topical drama about "German-Americans" and "Irish-Americans" whose patriotism and fidelity to the United States is questioned due to events in Europe during World War I. Forman hoped that the drama would do better business in a production in London and decided to book a first-class passage aboard the RMS Lusitania. Days before he was to board the liner, however, he received a mysterious phone call from a man with a thick German accent who warned him not to board the Lusitania[citation needed]. Forman ignored the phone call and embarked on the Lusitania on May 1, 1915. The Lusitania was torpedoed on May 7, 1915, and Forman was among the 1,198 passengers who perished in the sinking. His body was never recovered.

Reviews

[Jacob]

A heroic little adventure novel set in Paris in the decade before WWI. At first I nearly did not read it because I couldn't understand what the hero was getting at, being so odd, but the later scenes in the book were entertaining and well written, so it ended up being worth sticking through.

[Hannah]

I really enjoyed reading this! It is quite an unusual story, part adventure, mystery, and romance. Young Ste. Marie has always led a pampered life and enjoyed the regard of all who know him. He senses that there might be something better than idleness and hopes to find someone or something to spur him into adventure. When his friend Hartley introduces him to Miss Bonham, he is immediately smitten. He asks a chance to earn her love, and she allows him to embark on a quest to find her missing brother. Can he succeed?

[Laura]

Free download available at Project Gutenberg.