Chapter I: Front Matter

RONDAH;
OR,
THIRTY-THREE YEARS IN A STAR.

BY

FLORENCE CARPENTER DIEUDONNÉ.

“RONDAH; OR, THIRTY-THREE YEARS IN A STAR,” by Florence Carpenter
Dieudonné, is an exceedingly bright, clever and fascinating novel. It
is cast in a peculiar mould, and holds the reader as much by its weird
singularity as by its ingenious plot and striking incidents. The theme
is mainly the strange adventures and experiences of four people, three
men and one woman, who, in the midst of a storm, are cast from the
Earth to a small star, which is as yet in a volcanic state and but
partially cooled, Rondah, the heroine, being left behind. There they
remain for over thirty-three years, during twenty of which, the winter
season, they sleep, as is the habit of the inhabitants of the star,
who are mostly bird people with wings. These bird people are
vegetables and grow in enormous pods. The action never pauses and
surprise is followed by surprise. Love and jealousy are mingled with
mystery, forming a romance of decided interest and much power. The
heroine is afterwards brought to the star and takes part in a number
of startling episodes, notably the exploration of the wonderful Sun
Island. “RONDAH” is one of the best of the fanciful novels now so
popular.

PHILADELPHIA:
T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS;
306 CHESTNUT STREET.

Copyright:
FLORENCE CARPENTER DIEUDONNÉ.
1887.

Right to Dramatize Reserved.

_“Rondah; or, Thirty-three Years in a Star,” is one of the brightest,
most ingenious and most absorbing of the fanciful and mysterious class
of novels recently made so popular by H. Rider Haggard. It is much
better than “She” or “King Solomon’s Mines,” and will give greater
satisfaction. The plot is strange and weird and the incidents
surprising in the highest degree. The scene is laid chiefly in a
little star with subterranean volcanic fires and boiling seas. To this
small planet, not yet entirely fitted for human inhabitants, some of
the characters are conveyed by extraordinary means from the Earth
while a tempest is in progress. Their adventures during the luxuriant
summer and the icy twenty years’ winter are vividly and strikingly
depicted, love, hate, jealousy and enthusiasm entering largely into
their very peculiar and interesting experience. The heroine, who for a
time remains on Earth, has also a strange career. She eventually
reaches the star and plays a prominent part in the disclosure of the
mysteries of the Sun Island, a wonderful region of marvels and
magnificence. The romance is by Florence Carpenter Dieudonné, and is
finely written. It will be widely read and greatly liked._

TO MY FATHER,

WHO HAD FAITH IN MY

TALENT BEFORE IT WAS PROFITABLE,

THIS VOLUME IS LOVINGLY

INSCRIBED.

CONTENTS.

ROY LEE’S JOURNAL.
CHAPTER. PAGE.
I.— MONARCH OF FATE 23
II.— WHERE? 32
III.— A MONSTER 46
IV.— A LIVING ISLAND 58
V.— BLOSSOMS 74
VI.— WINTER 91

ISABELLA’S CHRONICLE.
VII.— THE TORCH 99

THE FURTHER HISTORY AS SET FORTH BY THE WHOLE PARTY AND WRITTEN BY THE
HISTORIAN.
VIII.— RED LIGHT 101
IX.— A TRIUMPH 106
X.— UNDER THE LIGHT OF TWO SUNS 114
XI.— AN OLD FRIEND 121
XII.— THE HEADLESS MEN 127
XIII.— CAN WE GO BACK? 133
XIV.— “HE HAS DONE THIS!” 137

RONDAH’S STAR “PARZELIA.”
XV.— GOLD AND GLITTER 144
XVI.— THE EARTH HOME 153
XVII.— “NOT RONDAH, WHO HAS NO STRENGTH!” 157
XVIII.— THE SUN ISLAND 167
XIX.— “HE IS NOT HERE!” 172
XX.— GOOD-BYE 179
XXI.— FORGETTING REGAN 186
XXII.— THE GREEN MOON 201
XXIII.— “FAREWELL” 205
XXIV.— THE MYSTERY OF THE SUN ISLAND 208

RONDAH;

OR

THIRTY-THREE YEARS IN A STAR.

BY FLORENCE CARPENTER DIEUDONNÉ.