Zusammenfassung
Zusammenfassung von Das Zeichen der Spinne
Free for 3 months
Get the full summary of Das Zeichen der Spinne, free
- 200,000+ classics as eBooks, audiobooks and 15-minute summaries, and print and large print at cost
- Up to 5 readers in your home on one plan
Für wen es gedacht ist
This book is for lovers of Victorian adventure, gold rush towns and hidden kingdoms, and for readers who enjoy a sharp-witted cynic who meets love and danger in southern Africa.
Worum es in diesem Buch geht
Picture a man so worn down by a shabby suburban house and a sharp-tongued marriage that he buys a ticket to Johannesburg and gives his wife two days to say all she wants. That man is Laurence Stanninghame, hero of The Sign of the Spider, an adventure novel by Bertram Mitford. He is middle aged and broke, and he is sure that tender feelings are luxuries he cannot afford.
The book gives you a cynic's voyage, a love affair that begins with a joke about a name, a stock market that collapses, and a journey into central Africa where every rule of the old life stops working. A small keepsake, a monogram and a hidden mountain people all seem to belong together.
In dieser Zusammenfassung
- 1A ruined man buys a ticket southFree
- 2A cynic meets a woman named Lilith
- 3Johannesburg gambles and shuns the Pirate
- 4Ruin brings him to the brink
- 5A secret trade and a last farewell
- 6The slave road and the cruel years
- 7Among the People of the Spider
- 8Money decides every rule Laurence keeps
- 9Love is the one force that protects
- 10A watchful narrator and a web of symbols
Punkt 1 von 10
A ruined man buys a ticket south
The book opens in a shabby suburban house on a murky autumn morning. Laurence Stanninghame sits at breakfast while his wife talks at him, praising other women's husbands and sighing over his failings. He has endured this for about thirteen years. Then he tells her calmly that he sails for Johannesburg in two days.
He has no steady income, and his small capital is draining away. His inventions made money for other people, and publishers turned away his bitter writing. He calls the boom kill or cure, and says he would rather go down fighting than put a bullet through his head at home. Mitford does not make the wife a villain. She is kindhearted and a devoted mother, yet her will is as strong as his.
One small scene shows the soft spot beneath his hard shell. His ten-year-old daughter Fay longs for a clockwork engine, and the one he buys her arrives the evening before he goes. Even then he tells himself that feeling is a luxury. Desperation, more than greed, sends this man south.
That’s 1 of 10 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
- Nothing to pay today · Renews every year
- We email you before you pay
- Cancel online in two clicks
Take this summary with you
Send to Kindle downloads the file and opens Amazon's page: drop the file there.
Go deeper: the whole of Das Zeichen der Spinne
About 6 h to read.Starten Sie 90 Tage kostenlosPaperback, hardcover and large print, printed for you at cost, are on their way.Email me when it is printed
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 82,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 5 h 45 min
Questions about Das Zeichen der Spinne
What is The Sign of the Spider about?
It follows Laurence Stanninghame, a ruined Englishman who sails to Johannesburg to make a fortune. He falls in love, joins a dangerous trading partnership inland, and finds himself among a powerful hidden nation known as the People of the Spider.
Who is Hazon in The Sign of the Spider?
Hazon is a dark, scarred and feared trader nicknamed the Pirate. He befriends Laurence in Johannesburg and offers him a way out of ruin through a secret expedition into central Africa. Rumour says that his earlier partners never returned.
What does the Sign of the Spider mean?
It is a mark linked to the Ba-gcatya, a Zulu-speaking nation whose name means the People of the Spider. The sign also ties to a small keepsake with a sprawling monogram that Laurence carries as a charm from the woman he loves.
Is The Sign of the Spider a true story?
No, it is a work of fiction by Bertram Mitford. It is set during the Johannesburg gold rush and draws on the author's knowledge of southern Africa, but its characters, hidden kingdom and events come from his imagination.
Is The Sign of the Spider easy to read?
Yes is not needed to say it plainly: the chapters are short and titled, the dialogue is witty and lively, and the action moves from voyage to gold town to siege and mountain kingdom with a clear sense of direction.
Cite this edition
Mitford, Bertram. The Sign of the Spider. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-sign-of-the-spider.
Mitford, B. (2026). The sign of the spider. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-sign-of-the-spider (Original work published 1896)
Mitford, Bertram. The Sign of the Spider. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-sign-of-the-spider.
@book{mitford2026sign,
author = {Mitford, Bertram},
title = {The Sign of the Spider},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-sign-of-the-spider},
note = {First published 1896}
}
Free for 3 months
Get the full summary of Das Zeichen der Spinne, free
- 200,000+ classics as eBooks, audiobooks and 15-minute summaries, and print and large print at cost
- Up to 5 readers in your home on one plan
