12 h 35 minAudiobook10 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 12 h 35 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What happens to love when secrets and the shadow of war enter the same story?
In The Dark Star, Robert W. Chambers brings a love story into the world of spies. The First World War forms the backdrop, giving romance a darker edge. Love and espionage share the stage, inviting you to follow the pull of affection alongside the unease of secrets.
Published in 1917, the novel belongs to a time when Americans watch the fighting in Europe and wonder how close it might come. Chambers brings that atmosphere to popular storytelling. As you read, watch for questions of loyalty: what people owe a country, and what they owe another person.
What you’ll discover
- Romance under a shadow Follow a love story set against the troubling presence of the First World War.
- Love meets espionage Enter a tale where romance and the world of spies draw your attention together.
- Questions of loyalty Consider loyalty to a person alongside loyalty to a country as you read.
- The mood of an era Step into fiction shaped by wartime fears and hopes about a conflict across the sea.
- Chambers beyond eerie tales Meet the author of The King in Yellow through his romance and spy fiction.
Who will love it
Readers who love spy adventure, trains and ocean liners, a witty young hero and a gently growing romance, set against the glittering Paris of July 1914 and the first hours of the Great War.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A child, a box and a diary
- A poor girl dreams of drawing
- A smooth stranger offers a way out
- A wedding that may not be one
- A street fight and a flight into the night
- Letters from a growing girl
- The woman in the empty house
- Spies at sea and bombs in a stateroom
- Paris, a stolen box and a first morning of war
- What the book is really about
Who’s who
- Ruhannah CarewA poor missionary's daughter who draws to escape her dull village life and wants art lessons more than anything.
- Jim NeelandA cheerful, brave illustrator from Neeland's Mills who treats danger as a lark and is loyal to his friends.
- Princess Naia MistchenkaA witty Russian widow in Paris who serves her country's secret interests but grows fond of Rue.
- Eddie BrandesA New York gambler and promoter who wants a clean home and a wife, yet cannot stop gambling.
- Ilse DumontA German born spy and former singer who works for Turkey and keeps her word of honor to Neeland.
- Alak SengounA reckless Cossack officer called Prince Erlik who loves champagne, songs and the thought of a cavalry charge.
- Karl BreslauA famous international spy of many names who leads the plot to seize the box.
- Ben StullBrandes's pale, sour partner who warns him against foolish risks and follows him anyway.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet, computer or Kindle, with the type as large as you like.
- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 12 h 35 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 10 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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Read and hear La stella nera in 25 languages and switch at any time. Or read two side by side, paragraph by paragraph: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
La stella nera
by Robert W. Chambers · 1917
A girl's toy box holds fortress plans that could change a war, and a young illustrator is sent to carry them to Paris.
Medium level10–20 hours to read25 languages
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In short
The Dark Star is a novel by Robert W. Chambers, set in the summer of 1914, when Europe slides toward war.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A child, a box and a diary
The book opens in the sitting room of a poor missionary family. Little Ruhannah Carew plays with the olive wood box that belonged to Herr Conrad Wilner, a German engineer who died in Turkey. Inside are Kurdish daggers, old revolvers, photographs, linen scrolls covered in plans, and a bronze demon called Erlik, the Yellow Devil.
Her father, the Reverend Wilbour Carew, walks on crutches after a massacre at his mission in Trebizond. Each time she plays, he tells her how Wilner died in a mob at Gallipoli. Then he reads aloud from the dead man's diary.
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What is The Dark Star by Robert W. Chambers about?
It follows Rue Carew, a poor girl from upstate New York, and the illustrator Jim Neeland as they are drawn into a spy chase over a box of German fortress plans, ending in Paris as the First World War begins.
Who is the Yellow Devil in The Dark Star?
The Yellow Devil is an old bronze figure of Erlik, a Mongol demon and Prince of Darkness. It sits in the olive wood box, and characters say that trouble follows it wherever it goes.
Is The Dark Star a true story?
No, it is a novel. It was written during the First World War and uses real events of 1914, such as the murder of the archduke and the outbreak of war, as the background for invented characters.
The author
Robert W. Chambers
1865–1933 · American novelist and illustrator
Robert W. Chambers was an American writer whose 1895 collection The King in Yellow became a cornerstone of weird fiction, casting its influence over H.P. Lovecraft and generations of horror writers since. He was a successful popular novelist in his day, but this early work is what endures.
More by Robert W. Chambers
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