7 h 1 minAudiobook11 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
In a city where you can invent a past, how do you know whose face to trust?
Arthur Hornblow’s The Mask brings mystery and deception into the drawing rooms of Edwardian New York. This is a city of newcomers, new money and curious eyes, where a person can arrive without a past and build another. Behind the face shown in public lies the question that drives the story: what is being hidden, and why?
A false identity puts more than one reputation under pressure. Friends, lovers and rivals can find themselves caught in a lie they do not understand. Hornblow brings his experience of the theatre to a tale of clear scenes, strong turns and rising tension. The pull comes from watching appearances strain under the weight of secrets.
What you’ll discover
- A face that hides Follow a mystery built around the uneasy distance between public appearance and private identity.
- New York before the war Enter a city where newcomers can build fresh lives and leave their pasts behind.
- Drawing rooms under pressure Step into society rooms where uneasy secrets make the work of keeping up appearances harder.
- The cost of deception Consider how one hidden identity can draw friends, lovers and rivals into its consequences.
- A playwright’s sense of tension Enjoy clear scenes and strong turns that favour mounting suspense over long inward reflection.
Who will love it
Readers who like old-fashioned suspense, detective chases, secret identities and a love story tested by danger will find plenty here. It suits anyone drawn to Edwardian New York, diamond fields and fast, cliffhanger chapters.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A Wife's Dread Before the Voyage
- A Valet Who Listens at Doors
- The Sailing and the Fencing Master's Insult
- Two Starving Men on the Veld
- Brothers Meet and a Dark Idea Forms
- Parties, Detectives and a Dreadful Cable
- A Husband Who Is Not Quite Himself
- Suspicion Grows Around the Dinner Table
- The Master Criminal's Den in the Bronx
- What the Story Is Really About
Who’s who
- Helen TraynorA loving, principled young wife who senses that the husband who returns from Africa is not the man she married.
- Kenneth TraynorA tall, honest Wall Street promoter who sails to South Africa to bring home two huge diamonds for his company.
- Handsome JackA ragged gambler on the South African veld who looks exactly like Kenneth and wants the life he never had.
- Signor KeralioA smooth, dangerous fencing master and criminal mastermind who hates Helen for rejecting him and wants her humbled.
- FrançoisKenneth's sly French valet, who spies for Keralio and sets the plot against his master in motion.
- Wilbur SteellA rising New York lawyer and old friend of Kenneth, engaged to Ray and determined to unmask Keralio.
- RayHelen's lively younger sister, who loves mysteries and arguments, and is falling in love with Steell.
- Dick ReynoldsA young lawyer with a gift for detective work who tracks Keralio and the valet through the city.
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- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 7 h 1 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 11 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Die Maske
A New York promoter sails for South Africa to fetch a million-dollar diamond, and his wife fears for him.
Easy read5–10 hours to read25 languages
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In short
The Mask is a New York thriller by Arthur Hornblow, set in the years before the First World War. It follows a rich Wall Street promoter named Kenneth Traynor, his devoted wife Helen, and a plot that grows around a pair of enormous diamonds.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A Wife's Dread Before the Voyage
The story opens at breakfast in the Traynor home on Gramercy Park. Kenneth reads of a huge diamond found near the land his company, the Americo-African Mining Company, is buying. He must leave at once on the Mauretania to secure options and bring the stone home. Helen, pale and tearful, begs him not to go.
She also tells him she was upset at dinner by Signor Keralio, his fencing master, who watched her all evening. Kenneth laughs it off. He explains that he has money tied up with Keralio in a Mexican silver mine and cannot afford a quarrel. Helen answers that she trusts the man no more than she trusts his face.
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What is The Mask by Arthur Hornblow about?
It tells of a New York promoter who goes to South Africa for two giant diamonds and meets his long-lost twin. Back home, his wife senses that the husband who returns is not the man she married, while a lawyer hunts a criminal.
Who is Signor Keralio in The Mask?
Keralio is the polished fencing master Kenneth takes lessons from. Helen distrusts him from the start. Detectives find that he is a wanted criminal with many aliases, and he plans to win Helen by force and revenge.
Why does Kenneth Traynor have a white lock of hair?
It is a natural oddity of his hair, a single white lock in the centre of his forehead. Kenneth jokes that it is his trademark. It becomes the main sign by which others recognise him, and it matters later in the story.
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