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Sasquatch | Roland Smith | null | When Dylan accompanies his father to a meeting of the Bigfoot International society, he's sure that it's just another of Dad's odd hobbies. Soon after, his father joins the society's sinister leader in an expedition to hunt down a Sasquatch specimen, and Dylan decides to go along. He hooks up with an old hermit who seems to be familiar with the area and the legend. When it appears that someone is following the old man, Dylan begins to suspect that his companion may be hiding a mysterious past. In addition, evidence that the Sasquatch may be more than a legend begins to accumulate and Dylan realizes he must prevent the society from killing them. With an exciting climax set amid a Mount Saint-Helens eruption, this fast-moving, suspenseful story provides lots of action and appeal. |
The Temple of the Ten | H. Bedford-Jones | 1,973 | The novel adventures in the realms of Prester John. |
The Judas Boy | null | null | The story takes place in 1962. Tom Llewyllyn have been working at the BBC for some years. He engages Fielding Gray to do a documentary about Cyprus. Gray, who had his face disfigured on that very island is reluctant but gives in since he hopes to find some facts that will give him some kind of revenge. Llewyllyn is not terribly happy in his marriage with the sloppy and not 100% mentally stable Patricia. Her sister Isobel, on the other side, is very happily married to Gregory Stern. The publisher Stern has lately become very interested in his Jewish heritage and neglects his publishing a bit. When Gray goes by train to Greece he meets Leonard Percival, who warns him to continue the trip on that particular train. A nervous Gray eventually jumps of the train in Yugoslavia right before it crashes off a bridge, killing all aboard. Gray, who is unharmed, is transported to Athens where he meets friend and colleague captain Detterling. Meanwhile, Somerset Lloyd-James and Lord Canteloupe, scared that nasty things about the British engagement on the island will be revealed, are trying to prevent Llewyllyn and Gray from making their documentary. Gray and Detterling also meet the couple Max de Freville and Angela Tuck. De Freville is trying to make a comeback as a gambler and tells some interesting things about Cyprus. Gray has sex with Angela and they discus memories from the summer of 1945. Leonard Percival arrives also and confirms that forces on Cyprus wanted to kill Gray. An important person in this group is Earl Restarick, an American spook working for the CIA. De Freville can, however, prove that this man has been involved in killings on Cyprus since he left a handkerchief near the body of a murdered boy. Gray, after arriving at Cyprus, manages to find the body and the handkerchief. To get more proof against Restarick, Gray wants an interview with the famous guerrilla leader colonel Georgios Grivas. Restarick, who has been following the affair, has his own interview with Angela Tuck and she reveals some of Grays’s weaknesses. Somerset Lloyd-James is trying to drag Tom Llewyllyn down by using Maisie but she refuses, and even tells Llewyllyn about the dodgy business. Restarick sends out the beautiful Greek boy Nicos to catch Gray, and he manages quite well. The somewhat confused Gray takes him for his dead lover Christopher. Nicos manages to keep Gray away from Athens and Grivas and Gray forgets about all his duties. Meanwhile, Tom Llewellyn is fired from the BBC since it turns out that he hasn’t had a National Insurance Card for years and didn’t even know about it. Tom has even lied about the card since he wasn’t that interested in the matter. When Restarick hears about this he recalls Nicos, who unceremoniously dumps the devastated Gray. At that moment Isobel Stern is having a miscarriage in London. Gray stays in Argos and drinks very heavily for a week but Max de Freville, a somewhat decent fellow, sends his friend Harriet Ongley to pick him up and get him in shape. Tom is invited to take up a Namier Fellowship at Lancaster College and accepts - right at the moment when his wife Patricia finds she’s pregnant for the second time. sv:The Judas Boy |
Éramos Seis | Maria José Dupré | 1,943 | Éramos Seis chronicles the struggles of a middle-class family in São Paulo through the eyes of its matriarch Dona Lola. |
Chandler College | null | null | Sophomore Tom Brautigan couldn't wait to get back to Chandler College. Away from his parents' divorce. Away from his suicidal brother. Back to the relative insanity of dorm life. Senior Elsie Barnum is just a few months away from graduation. After a string of bad decisions, including sleeping with a professor, Elsie grows increasingly desperate in her outlook on life. Both Tom and Elsie are searching for something at Chandler College...is it each other? |
Almuric | Robert E. Howard | null | The novel is a planetary romance in which Esau Cairn, a former boxer seeking a life strenuous enough for his great strength and violent nature, is transported from Earth to the planet Almuric to escape the clutches of a corrupt city government. Cairn finds ape like human tribes in fortified towns and fights other apelike humans, winged demons, and various monsters. By the end of the novel, he and his friends from the towns Khor and Koth capture Ugg - citadel of the winged Yaga demons. |
Oreo | Fran Ross | 1,974 | Born to a Jewish father and black mother who divorce before she is two, Oreo grows up in Philadelphia with her maternal grandparents while her mother tours with a theatrical troupe. Soon after puberty, Oreo heads for New York with a pack on her back to search for her father; but in the big city she discovers that there are dozens of Sam Schwartzes in the phone book, and Oreo's mission turns into a wickedly humorous picaresque quest. The ambitious and playful narrative challenges accepted notions of race, ethnicity, culture, and even the novelistic form itself; its quest theme is inspired by that of the Greek tale of Theseus. Ross uses the structure of the Theseus myth to both trap Oreo and allow her to reinvent it. Oreo's white father, who abandoned her, forces her to live out this inherently white, male narrative. However, the trope of lost patriarchy is essential in black cultures so Oreo can reappropriate the myth and make it entirely non-foreign. Furthermore, Oreo reinvents the archaic myth by living a black narrative through it, suggesting that blacks can reappropriate themes from the white culture they are forced to live in. The search for paternity within the Theseus myth is essentially futile since Oreo gains nothing from finding her father, which undermines the importance placed on the search for paternity. |
House of Many Ways | Diana Wynne Jones | null | Charmain Baker has led a respectable, sheltered life. She has spent her days with her nose in a book, never learning how to do even the smallest household chores. When she suddenly ends up looking after the tiny cottage of her ill Great Uncle William she seems happy for the adventure, but the easy task of house-sitting is complicated by the fact that Great-Uncle William is also the Royal Wizard Norland and his magical house bends space and time. Though she is supposed to clean up the mess Great-Uncle William has left the house in, Charmain knows next to nothing about magic, and yet she seems to work it in the most unexpected way. The house's single door can lead to almost any place - from other rooms like the kitchen, to faraway places like the Royal Palace, and even other time periods. In her first days in the magical house she ends up looking after a magical stray dog named Waif, had an encounter with a horrible lubbock, has to share a roof with a confused young apprentice wizard named Peter, tries to work some spells from her Great Uncle William's library, and has to deal with a clan of small blue creatures called Kobolds. When Charmain is caught up in an intense royal search to remedy the kingdom's financial troubles, she encounters Sophie Pendragon, her son Morgan, a beautiful child named Twinkle (who is really Howl in disguise), and their fire demon Calcifer. One of the messes Twinkle gets Charmain into results in Twinkle climbing onto the roof of the Royal Mansion. She is soon involved in curing the kingdom of its ills and rediscovering the long-lost Elfgift. |
The York Realist | Peter Gill | null | It is set in the early 1960s and revolves around George (a Yorkshire farm labourer involved in a production of the York Mystery Plays who withdraws from the production), John (the production's shy assistant director who tries to convince him to come back), the love affair between them, and the clash between regional and London culture. |
In Good King Charles's Golden Days | George Bernard Shaw | null | A discussion play, the issues of nature, power and leadership are debated between King Charles II ('Mr Rowley'), Isaac Newton, George Fox and the artist Godfrey Kneller, with interventions by three of the king's mistresses (Barbara Villiers, 1st Duchess of Cleveland; Louise de Kérouaille, Duchess of Portsmouth; and Nell Gwynn) and his queen, Catherine of Braganza. |
The Bowl of Baal | Robert Ames Bennet | 1,975 | The novel adventures in the lost world of Baal in Arabia, which is inhabited by dinosaurs. |
The Writing on the Hearth | Cynthia Harnett | 1,971 | Stephen, whose father was bodyguard to his Lord of Suffolk, is under taken into the Lord's household when his stepfather remarries and his sister enters a convent. Stephen is keen to learn and to enter the University at Oxford under the patronage of his Lordship's chaplain, but he becomes embroiled in some mild political intrigue when he believes he has let a copy of an indiscreet letter fall into the hands of his Lordship's enemies. |
Pack Animals | null | null | Gwen witnesses a Weevil attack at a shopping centre, Ianto is injured by alien tech at the zoo and aliens are invading on Halloween. Torchwood may be able to control small alien threats, but someone is allowing a large pack of predators to hunt on Earth... <!- |
SkyPoint | null | null | SkyPoint is a brand new high-rise block of flats, popular with young Asian couples. However, Torchwood soon discover that residents are going missing and something is coming out of the wall... This is the last novel in which Owen and Tosh are featured, as after this it's the series two finale... <!- |
Almost Perfect | null | null | A woman has a new weapon to aid her search for Mr. Right and it has made her almost perfect. Meanwhile, Ianto wakes up with no memory of the previous night, in the body of a woman. <!- |
Lords of the Bow | Conn Iggulden | 2,008 | Under the name Genghis, the protagonist unites the Mongol tribes, finally defeating the last alliance against his rule. After the killing of the Khan of the alliance, the defeated shaman decides to tie his fate to that of the new Mongol nation. Genghis orders all of the tribes to assemble the following summer in the pastures around the Black Mountain. The following summer sees the tribes gathered, waiting for Genghis to lead them where he will. They are anxious to be off, but he is determined to wait for the Khan of the Uighur to show up with the five thousand soldiers he wishes to have. While stuck in one place, the new Nation becomes impatient and tempers flare. In one incident, Genghis' brother Hasar is forced to defend his honour against the sons of a lesser Khan. He is helped by the young Tsubodai, who is rewarded later in the book. When his brother, Temuge, tries to intervene, he is forced to his knees. Genghis shows up on the scene, and tries to sort out the situation. Almost everyone has their honour satisfied, except for Temuge, who complains that he was made to kneel. Genghis uses his sword to cut the Khan's thighs, so he cannot stand in return. Close to the end of the summer, the Uighurs arrive. Their Khan submits privately to Genghis, which is taken as even more binding than the public oaths the entire Mongol nation takes under a ceremony presided over by the shaman. As the price for this support, Genghis promises the Khan of the Uighars that he will march against the Xia, and the Uighars will receive the assorted libraries of the conquered people. As well as military support, Genghis negotiates that his shaman and his brother Temuge be taught to read and write. The entire Mongol nation then begins to march southwards, to take the kingdom of the Xia. Facing them is the arduous crossing of the Gobi desert. Having crossed the desert the Mongol hordes attempt to take the kingdom of Xi Xia, the Mongols inexperience in siege craft shows when they are held at bay by the walls of Xi Xia, the division between the kingdom of Xi Xia and the Chin empire is also highlighted at this time. Eventually the Xia kingdom capitulates and Genghis wins a princess of the city as his bride as well as many other spoils of war. From this point on there is tension between Borte (Genghis' first wife) and Genghis' second wife. Also highlighted in this book is Genghis' estrangement from his eldest son Jochi (who's legitimacy Genghis doubts) and the strife within Genghis' family that this estrangement causes. Khasar and Temuge are also featured greatly in this book as they take a trip with a captured Xi Xia officer down the Yellow River to a Chin city to find masons to help them break city walls. On their adventures they come across the leader of the Blue Tong (a criminal fraternity) who helps Ghengis' brothers in exchange for a promise that he will be leader of his city after it is conquered by the Mongols. Another character of note is introduced in this book Kokchu a shaman who smells of blood and is very self-serving, he gains Genghis' trust and starts to teach Temuge the ways of a Shaman, during the course of Temuge's lessons he becomes addicted to Opium which Kokchu provides for him. |
Worldbinder | Dave Wolverton | 2,007 | Fallion returns to Castle Coorm in Mystarria, following his defeat of Shadoath. There he finds The One True Tree reborn, but it is surrounded by a twisted Seal of the Inferno. Fallion tries to heal the rune, only to discover that it was a trap left by the Queen of the Loci, in the form of Shadoath. The only thing he can do to save himself is to combine his world with the other linked to the Seal of the Inferno. The two worlds crash together with some unexpected results. Some people who happen to be standing in the wrong place recover from the melding of the two worlds to discover that they have a vine growing through their hand. Some combine with the version of themselves from the other world to produce a hybrid, but those whose other self has died or was never born are weakened. In this new world men, who are several feet taller than the men from Fallion's world, are locked in a mortal struggle with a race called wyrmlings. The wyrmlings are light-sensitive, and are approximate to the Inkharrans from Fallion's world and they carry parasitic wyrms inside them (like the loci of Fallion's world). They are led by Death Lords and Knights Eternal, undead creatures that perform the will of the Queen of the Loci. The battle between wyrmlings and men is at an uneasy truce because each holds a captive of the other race—the wyrmlings hold the prince Areth (the equivalent of Fallion's father, Gaborn, the Earth King) and the men hold the princess of the wyrmlings, Kan-hazur. Even though the Knights Eternal are rumored to be impossible to slay except in daylight, Fallion and Jaz manage to kill one before they are taken captive by one named Vulgnash. This earns them the respect of the warrior men of that world. Those men, led by High King Urstone (who is the equivalent of Fallion's grandfather on this world), mount a rescue of Fallion and his companions. The legendary Daylan Hammer is present on this new world and he convinces the King to try to exchange hostages with the wyrmlings because it is immoral to keep the princess hostage. The wyrmlings pretend to make the exchange and then ambush the men. This is followed by an all-out attack on the main fortress of the men, Caer Luciare. During this battle the High King is slain, as well as Jaz, and Fallion is again taken by the Knight Eternal, Vulgnash. The wyrmlings make a deal with Prince Areth to spare his people if he'll accept a wyrm. The Queen of the Loci accepts him as her host and then uses his power as Earth King to Choose all of the wyrmling horde for the Earth. |
Let Freedom Ring: Winning the War of Liberty over Liberalism | Sean Hannity | 2,002 | According to the publisher, in the book "Hannity offers a survey of the world — political, social, and cultural — as he sees it." The book has been described as "an unapologetic diatribe against liberalism, questioning its logic and posing questions about the outcome of its agenda for Americans". The book's publisher, ReganBooks, a division of HarperCollins, was owned by Rupert Murdoch, owner of Fox News. |
Peony in Love | Lisa See | 2,007 | Peony's father, a wealthy, cultured man with important political contacts, is planning a performance of The Peony Pavilion on his estate. This is seen by many as controversial because the opera may influence young women into imitating Liniang, starving themselves to death in hopes of finding love. Unfortunately, this is just what happens to Peony. She is deeply moved by the text and performance of The Peony Pavilion, having extensively written about her feelings and reactions to love in her copy of the text. On the evening of the opera performance, Peony accidentally meets a handsome young man. After three nighttime meetings, Peony falls in love, but she also falls into deep despair, feeling doomed because of being trapped in an arranged marriage. Following the example of Du Liniang, she starves herself to death, only to learn right before her death that the man her father has picked for her is Wu Ren, the man she loves. Most of Peony in Love takes place after Peony's death. Because her funeral rituals are not concluded properly, she becomes a "hungry ghost", who wanders far beyond the inner world of women that constrained her in her youth. In the process, she encounters a number of women writers who lament the difficulty of getting their voices heard in a male-dominated world. From her dead grandmother, she learns many painful details about her family's past as the Qing Dynasty violently replaced the Ming Dynasty, details later amplified by Peony's mother. Peony comes to learn about the courage and extreme suffering both older women experienced during the fighting and that the sternness her mother treated her with as a girl was only her attempt to protect her daughter from the evils of the outside world. Peony shows her enduring love for Ren by her influence on his second and third wives, who add their personal responses to The Peony Pavilion, thus becoming sister wives, although Peony remains first wife. Given the appropriate funeral rites at last, Peony is no longer a hungry ghost but a spirit who looks forward with great joy to meeting her husband again in the afterworld. |
Daz 4 Zoe | Robert Swindells | 1,990 | 'Subbies' live in the suburbs of Silverdale, a large fictional city. 'Chippies' live in the run-down city. The subbie children like to go out 'chippying' (visiting nightclubs in Rawhampton). This prompts adverts on TV about the dangers of chippying. Zoe is friends with Tabitha, the daughter of a very wealthy property developer. She encourages Zoe to go chippying with her, Ned and Larry. Ned drives them to the Blue Moon nightclub, where Daz is as well. In order to leave the suburb, they tell the guard on duty that they are visiting Zoe's cousin in the next suburb and are made to show their ID cards to the bouncers who guard Silverdale.. Zoe and Daz fall in love when they first set eyes on each other, although, at first, Zoe thinks it may be the 'lobotomizer' (coke, rum and 'a couple of other ingredients') that she has been drinking. Larry spots an attractive chippy girl and subtly tries to call her over to him. She smiles out of embarrassment, but he thinks she fancies him. Eventually he shouts her loudly, his outburst coinciding with a pause in the music. Her boyfriend picks up a chair and goes over to Larry. A policeman steps between them. The chippy throws the chair, which Larry deflects with his arm. Daz comes over to rescue Zoe, taking Larry by the arm and telling the group to run and save themseves. |
Fortune by Land and Sea | Thomas Heywood | null | The play relates the story of two interlocked rural families — two patriarchs, known simply as Old Forrest and Old Harding, each of whom has three children. Forrest has two sons and a daughter, and Harding has three sons. Through the course of the play, it is revealed that the families have endured contrasting reversals of fortune: when the two patriarchs were young men, the Forrest family was prosperous and land-rich, while the Hardings were their tenant farmers. Over the course of the two men's lives, the Forrests were reduced to comparative poverty while the Hardings flourished. Their contrasting fortunes may be the result of the two men's characters: Old Forrest is a mild-mannered and moral gentleman, while Old Harding is grasping and ruthless. In the opening scene, Old Forrest tries dissuade his headstrong elder son Frank from carousing with his fair-weather friends, a "quarrelsome gentleman" named Rainsford and his hangers-on Foster and Goodwin. Frank Forrest ignores his father's sententious advice; but during the evening Rainsford insults Old Forrest to his son's face, calling him a "fool" and "dotard." The two draw their swords and fight, and Frank Forrest is killed. His family recover his body, but cannot prove the crime against Rainsford, who has powerful connections with the nobility. Meanwhile, Old Harding has just married a new young wife. Harding's younger sons William and John, unhappy at this development, are hostile to their new stepmother, until Old Harding makes his displeasure plain; then the two young men grow more respectful. When Old Harding learns that his eldest son Philip has married Susan Forrest, a young woman of virtue but no dowry, he rejects the match and refuses the young couple all support. To survive, Philip and Susan must become servants in Old Harding's household. The new Mrs. Harding treats the couple with compassion, though brothers William and John are harsher toward their fallen older brother and his wife. Another Harding family servant is the play's Clown, who provides the comic relief. Old Forrest's second son, known simply as Young Forrest, seeks out Rainsford and challenges him to a duel. The two fight, and Rainsford is killed. Young Forrest is pursued by the authorities and by Rainsford's friends Goodwin and Foster; fleeing, he leaps the Hardings' garden wall and confronts Mrs. Harding. Hearing his story, she feels compassion for him; she conceals him for a week, then sends him to her brother, a London merchant. He is similarly taken by Young Forrest's good nature, and helps the young man to travel abroard on one of his ships. The Merchant leaves for a voyage of his own shortly after. At sea, the Merchant's ship is waylaid and overcome by two notorious English pirates, Purser and Clinton. Young Forrest has the opposite success: he is elected to lead the crew of his vessel when their captain dies, and conducts a successful campaign against Spanish shipping, taking several prizes. Eventually Young Forrest and his crew engage Purser and Clinton in a sea fight, and emerge triumphant; Young Forrest releases the Merchant from captivity and restores his goods and profits. At home, Philip and Susan must endure the oppression of service in the Harding house. The Clown almost tricks Foster and Goodwin into loaning Philip Harding the money he needs to set up his own farm; but Philip's naive honesty makes the trick fall through. Old Harding is prepared to sign the papers that will disinherit son Philip permanently and settle his estate upon younger brothers John and William; but a sailor arrives with the news of the Merchant's original capture by the pirates. Old Harding is heavily invested in the Merchant's venture, and the bad news strikes him so hard that he collapses. The Clown brings word of the old man's sudden death with comic distress: ::O, my master, my master! what shall I do for my poor master? the kind churl is departed! never did poor hard-hearted wretch pass out of the world so like a lamb! alas! for my poor, usuring, extortioning master! many an old widow hast thou turned into the street, and many an orphan made beg for bread! Oh, my sweet, cruel, kind, pitiless, loving, hard-hearted master! he's dead; he's dead; he's gone; he's fled; and now full low must hang his head! Oh, my sweet vile, kind, flinty, mild, uncharitable master! Old Harding has died before the inheritance documents are signed. From the lowly position of a servant, Philip Harding now inherits his father's estate, leaving his younger brothers dependent upon his goodwill. Better news, of Young Forrest's triumph and the Merchant's rescue, quickly arrives; far from taking a large loss, the Harding estate is now wealthier than ever. Philip and Susan are grateful to Mrs. Harding for the favor she showed them in their servitude. By law, Mrs. Harding receives a third of Old Harding's estate, and her investment in her brother's voyage has made her even richer. Young Forrest earns a pardon for Rainsford's death through his defeat of the pirates. Purser and Clinton are shown on their way to execution; they reminisce romantically about the drama and success of their careers in piracy, before they are led off to the gallows. Young Forrest and the Merchant return home to a welcome from their Forrest and Harding relations; the impetuous Young Forrest asks Mrs. Harding to marry him almost as soon as he meets her. The play ends with a general reconciliation; the two younger Harding brothers, and Goodwin and Foster too, have all been reduced to beggary by loose living and ill luck — but the generous and forgiving Philip Harding offers to relieve their wants. |
School Days | Robert B. Parker | 2,005 | Months after a school shooting at an elitist prep school in small-town Massachusetts leaves fifteen students and faculty dead, Spenser is hired by the grandmother of one of the alleged killers, a rich old lady who firmly believes in her grandson's innocence: she is convinced that he is not the one of the two shooters who never lifted his ski mask in front of their victims and who somehow managed to disappear in the crowd without being identified. Both suspects are now in custody but unwilling to talk to anyone. Wherever Spenser turns, people are reluctant to co-operate with him, if not outright hostile. The local police chief considers the case closed as both perpetrators are under arrest, awaiting trial and have already confessed to the crime. The head of the school is concerned with the school's reputation, bans Spenser from the school premises, and prohibits students to talk to him should he accost them anywhere in town. Even the boys' parents and their respective lawyers do not wish to throw any more light on the matter. For Spenser, however, three decisive questions have not been answered yet: where the two youngsters got the weapons from and how they were able to pay for them; where and from whom they learned to shoot; and why they planned and carried out the massacre in the first place. The pupils Spenser meets at one of their hangouts, however, are thrilled to disobey their head teacher and collaborate with a private eye. This is how Spenser learns where the less fortunate youngsters in town who attend the local public school usually meet, that a young man of mixed ethnicity supplies them with drugs, and that he might also have sold weapons to the shooters. Spenser is soon able to answer his first two questions, but for the time being he sees no way to find a good reason why two 17 year-olds with no criminal record should go ahead and cause a bloodbath. Gradually, however, he realizes that the motive is more to do with parents and teachers than anyone is prepared to admit. In School Days, Spenser's close friend Hawk does not appear but is mentioned. Susan Silverman is away at a conference and only returns at the end of the novel to celebrate the successful conclusion of the case. Pearl, however, having been left behind by her mistress, is constantly present. |
Adeline's Dream | Linda Aksomitis | 2,006 | The narrative follows the story of twelve-year-old Adeline Mueller as she moves with her mom and five-year-old brother to Canada from their German home to move in with her father to start a new life. Adeline has not seen her father since she was eight and she is expecting a great and wonderful life in Canada from the description in the letters she has received from her father. But Adeline's relationship with her father has been strained ever since he left her and the rest of the family to move to Saskatchewan. Her father worked in a bank in Germany and then, after being fired, decided to find a better life for the rest of the family in Saskatchewan. Finally Adeline's father had reported that he has started a splendid new life for the family. The book begins with Adeline, her mother, and her brother Konrad traveling by steamship and then by train from Germany to Saskatchewan. The family then arrives at Qu'Appelle. When Adeline arrives, the truth is revealed. Adeline's father now works on a farm bagging flour and doing the accounts which does not make enough money to provide a home. So the family lives in a soddle made of grass and earth. All her life Adeline had dreamed that one day she would be a singer but she feels that because her father has brought her into these horrible conditions, that her dream will be ruined making their relationship even more strained. Adeline soon learns that the richer townspeople do not take kindly to the immigrants that move to the area. But through all the prejudice, Adeline makes two friends, Kat and Henery, who are also immigrants. Kat helped Adeline fight off prejudiced bullies at their school. One day the farm where her father was employed is burned down and her father is forced to get a new job. Kat's family moves and Adeline is left to fight the bullies, especially a girl named Sarah: a girl who sings just like Adeline and takes her solo in the Christmas play. By the time of the play, Adeline has begun to get along with her father and Sarah allows Adeline to have the solo at the play and Adeline's dreams start to come true. |
The Morning Gift | Eva Ibbotson | 1,993 | The Morning Gift tells the story of Ruth Berger, whose family is part of the Jewish Intelligentsia in Vienna. When the Nazis take over, the Bergers organize a student visa for Ruth to be sent ahead to England, not realizing that she will not be allowed to leave Austria because of her political leanings as a Social Democrat. When her father is suddenly arrested by the Gestapo, he is told to leave Austria within a week and while his family is able to escape to London, Ruth on a separate transport is stopped on the boarder by the SS and sent back to Vienna. Quinton Somerville, an English professor and scientist who worked with Professor Berger in the past, arrives in Vienna for an award ceremony and learns that Professor Berger has been dismissed. Trying to contact the family, he visits Bergers' home and discovers Ruth, who is desperate to find a way to escape to England. Several attempts to get a valid visa for Ruth fail and Quin realizes that the only way to get her out of the country quickly is through a marriage of convenience. The marriage has to stay a secret until Ruth receives British citizenship, but once safe in London, the annulment of the marriage takes much longer than expected. Ruth and her family try to re-establish their life in the world of refugees, using their humour to keep the terror and desolation at bay. When the university that Ruth is set to attend is forced to transfer her, the Quakers enrol her into Quinton's University. She ends up being lectured by her own husband by coincidence, alongside the snobbish and clever Verena Plackett, who has ambitiously set her sights on Quinton. Unaware of Ruth's marriage of convenience, her real fiance Heini, a talented pianist from Budapest, escapes to England, and the unfolding events put Ruth and Quinton's secret marriage of convenience on the verge of being discovered and betrayed. Desperately trying to cling to their moral values, Ruth and Quin deny their growing attraction for each other - then WWII breaks out and personal intentions become insignificant. |
If you're reading this, it's too late | Pseudonymous Bosch | 2,008 | For 500 yearses, the secret society of the Midnight Sun has been waiting for the homunculus, the man-made man, to rise, and now the evil Dr. L and Ms. Mauvais are going to throw Cass and Max-Ernest to the sharks unless they tell them where he resides. After going on an excursion with their science teacher, the two are tricked by Dr. L after receiving a note from Pietro saying he will meet them on a ship, from which they barely escape. After finding out their teacher is really Owen, the accent changing member of the Terces Society, they are introduced to the great magician himself, Pietro, who gives them a mission. find the homunculus before the Midnight Sun does. Max-Ernest also finds out that 'Terces' is "secret" backwards. Cass is grounded when she returns home, because she was missing for too long. While on the Midnight Sun ship, Cass and Max-Ernest discover a strange ball [also called the sound prism], which enables her to hear all types of sounds by putting it to her ear and makes wonderful music when thrown in the air carefully. Cass also discovers a birth certificate. The name is unrecognizable, thus making Cass wonder if she was the wrong girl the Terces Society wanted. She ignores it, even though it pains her, and continues her mission. Later Cass finds out she is really adopted and was delivered in a box on her grandfathers' doorstep. This time teaming up with a new classmate named Yo-Yoji, the three need to escape the grasp of their parents, and find the alchemist's grave. Cass convinces her grandparents to take her, Max-Ernest, and Yo-Yoji camping to find the homunculus, When they find the homunculus, they take it back to Terces, but it runs away when they find out they don't have good food. Meanwhile, Amber gets to meet the Skelton Sisters, who are in cahoots with Midnight Sun, and they ask her to do something for her. Later that night, Amber is hidden in Cass' bushes, and Cass hears noises. She goes outside and plays the Sound Prism, thinking it's Mr. Cabbage Face. Amber records the song from the sound prism, which attracts the homunculus, and gives it to the Skelton Sisters. They play it at a concert, and end up trapping the homunculus and Cass. They end up back near Whisper Lake, where they went camping. The Midnight Sun took them there because Lord Pharaoh's, the nasty man who created Mr. Cabbage Face, the homunculus, grave is there, and with it, all of his alchemist things, which is what Ms. M and Dr. L want in order to help their mission, in receiving immortality. The Midnight Sun and Terces Society members engage in combat, while Max-Ernest and Yo-Yoji are up on a mountain, with the Sound Prism and a whip. They're plan is to create a sonic boom with it, and make the mountain avalanche onto the Midnight Sun/seal the coffin in the ground. When only a huge ball falls off the mountain from the s. boom, Cass and Mr. Cabbage Face, now freed, are trying their own efforts to put the coffin back in the grave, but Mr. Cabbage Face screams to Cass to get out of the way, because the ball was heading towards her. He pushes her out of the way, and gets pummeled. The homunculus dies, due to, and is sealed with his maker in that grave forever. Midnight Sun members disperse, not before Dr. L can have a nice chat (surprisingly) with his brother/old friend. At the end, Max-Ernest, Cass and Yo-Yoji take the Oath of Terces, created by the Jester, the homunculus' only friend 500 years ago, and Cass' father's father's father's father's father... |
Dating Hamlet | null | 2,002 | The novel is a retelling of Hamlet from Ophelia's point of view. |
The Martian General's Daughter | Theodore Judson | 2,008 | As with his previous work Fitzpatrick's War, The Martian General's Daughter borrows heavily from classical history; in this case, the setting is reminiscent of the Roman Empire during the reign of Marcus Aurelius and his son, Commodus. Unlike Fitzpatrick's War, Judson provides little background to explain how the world evolved into the shape set forth in the novel. The story takes place in the late twenty-third century, in which much of the Northern Hemisphere, as well as extraplanetary colonies on Mars and Jupiter, are dominated by the Pan-Polarian Empire, which is implicitly descended from the United States of America (though this is never expressly stated, references are made to the "old capital" near Maryland.) Pan-Polarian society is based on that of Imperial Rome, including an imperial cult and a variety of polytheistic and monolatric religions that have largely replaced the major religions of our time, including the cults of "El Bis" and the goddess Marilyn. The Empire's primary rivals are Persia and China, but which also fights against a number of enemies in Africa and South America. A nano-engineered plague has been released by one of the warring parties which causes metal to corrode and become useless; as a result, advanced technology is beginning to fail and the world is quickly degenerating to pre-industrial technology. The setting alternates between chronicling the career of General Black (and his daughter's career as his aide-de-camp) during the 2270s and 2280s and his attempt to seize the Imperial throne in the 2290s during a multi-party struggle resembling the Year of the Four Emperors and the Crisis of the Third Century. General Black makes his career fighting under philosopher-emperor Mathias the Glistening, who perishes when his cybernetic implants become infected with the nano-plague. Mathias is succeeded by his sociopathic son, Luke Anthony, whose behavior becomes increasingly erratic over time. Justa relates the excesses of Luke's regime, including his execution of perceived enemies, financial corruption, sexual perversion, etc. General Black is made governor of Anatolia but is periodically recalled to provide various services to Luke. As a result of personally witnessing the Emperor's madness, General Black becomes more and more disillusioned and his health begins to suffer. Ultimately Luke is murdered and a struggle ensues between various short-reigned barracks emperors. By this time General Black and Justa are stationed on Mars, but when one of Black's political rivals seizes power, kills Black's family on Earth and infects Mars with the metal-eating nanoplague, Black's troops (many of them Boers, who are described as largely nomadic in the twenty-third century) declare him emperor and he leads an invasion force back to Earth. Although victorious in battle, the nanoplague renders the conflict moot as technology will no longer support an empire as large as the Pan-Polarian state, which crumbles into a myriad of ethnic and regional successor states. Ultimately, Justa and her father settle in Amsterdam, which has regained the prominence it enjoyed in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and is the center of a prosperous successor state, where Justa marries, has children, and assiduously avoids politics. |
Cowboys for Christ | Robin Hardy | 2,006 | Beth is a successful pop music singer and a devout Protestant Christian from Texas, USA. She and her boyfriend Steve both belong to a group known as the "Cowboys for Christ", who travel to "heathen areas" of the world to preach Christianity. They travel to Glasgow, Scotland, hoping to save some souls once there. However, they are shocked when they receive a very negative reception, Beth even being set upon by a large dog. After performing a concert at a local cathedral, the duo are approached by Lord Lachlan and his wife Delia, aristocrats from the small village of Tressock in the Scottish lowlands. They invite Beth and Steve to come back with them to Tressock in order to preach. Meanwhile, detective Orlando is sent to Tressock, posing as the local police officer, in order to secretly investigate reports of a pagan cult. Beth and Steve decide that they shall begin their preaching at the May Day celebrations in the village. Meanwhile Orlando discovers that the people of the village worship the ancient Celt goddess Sulis. In an attempt to impress the locals, Steve and Beth agree to becoming the local Queen of the May and the Laddie for the festival. In this role, they must split up for the day, and it is during this that the Laddie is devoured by the locals on an island in the middle of the river Sulis. Beth discovers this, and tries to escape, but is captured and embalmed. |
All Quiet on the Orient Express | Magnus Mills | 1,999 | The narrator is spending a few weeks camping in the Lake District before setting out on a motorcycle trip to India. He agrees to help the campsite owner, Tom Parker by performing a simple chore, painting a gate but one thing inexorably leads to another and he finds himself drawn in to a succession of disparate tasks, each more complex and time-consuming and from which there appears to be no escape... |
Equality | Edward Bellamy | 1,897 | The story takes up immediately after the events of Looking Backward with the main characters from the first novel, Julian West, Doctor Leete, and his daughter Edith. West tells his nightmare of return to the 19th century to Edith, who is sympathetic. West's citizenship in the new America is recognized, and he goes to the bank to obtain his own account, or "credit card", from which he can draw on the annual stipend all citizens receive. He learns that Edith and her mother do not normally wear the long skirts he has seen them in (they have been wearing them so his 19th century sensibilities will not be shocked), and when Edith learns that he would not be shocked to see them dressed otherwise, immediately runs into the house and comes out dressed as a modern woman in a pants suit. Clothing varies widely, since it is made of strengthened paper, and is recycled when dirty and replaced at very small expense (shoes and dishes are made of variations on the same substance). Julian learns that women are free to compete in many of the same trades as men; the manager of the paper factory he goes to view is a woman. Edith herself is in the second year of the three year general labor period required of everyone before choosing a trade, but is on leave from that employment. The two tour a tenement house, in which no one now lives, kept as a reminder of things how used to be and a reminder not to go back to them. Julian opens his safe (a device unknown in 2000 outside museums). Dr. Leete sees his mortgages and securities not as long-obsolete claims to ownership interest in things, but rather in people and their labor. The papers are worthless except as antiquities, as most of such papers were burned at the conclusion of the economic transition, in a great blaze on the former site of the New York Stock Exchange. The gold coins in the safe are admired for their prettiness, but are also worthless. Julian learns more about the world of the year 2000. Handwriting has been virtually replaced by phonograph records, and jewelry is no longer used, since jewels are now worthless. Julian is amazed by a television-like device, called the electroscope. World communication is simplified, since everyone now speaks a universal language in addition to his native tongue. Not only are there motor cars, but also private air cars. Everyone is now vegetarian, and the thought of eating meat is looked upon with revulsion. The book concludes with an almost uninterrupted series of lectures from Dr. Leete and other characters, mostly concerning how the idyllic state West has arrived in was achieved. |
Return to Mars | Ben Bova | 1,999 | Navajo geologist Jamie Waterman returned to Earth as a hero, travelling the globe, giving speeches on Mars, and supporting a return voyage. Now six years later, Waterman gets to return to his beloved red planet, and to the mysterious dwelling in the Valles Marineris region. However, the second voyage has sponsorship not from governments, but from corporations, most notably from millionaire Daryl Trumball, whose son is sent on the mission to make his father proud... and money. Now, Jamie finds himself locked in a war between Trumball's wishes of exploiting the planet, his job as mission director, and his own desires to explore the cliff dwelling that could hold the key to discovering the planet's past inhabitants. |
The Three Palladins | Harold Lamb | 1,977 | The novel is an adventure story about the rise of Genghis Khan and the fabled kingdom of Prester John. |
Firebird | Mercedes Lackey | 1,996 | The story revolves around the life of a clever young man named Ilya, who is one of the eight sons of a powerful Tsar (Russian prince) named Ivan. Being in a household where the philosophy is 'survival of the fittest', Ilya has to contend with his jealous and overcompetitive brothers, who fear him for his intellect and abuse him constantly. His only friends are a priest and a shaman, who are both as unwanted as he is, and an elderly woman who runs the dairy. His already dismal life takes a turn for the worse when the legendary Firebird, an enormous hawk of fire similar to the phoenix, visits his father's prized cherry tree orchard and eats all of the ripe cherries. Days pass on and more cherries disappear, causing Ivan great anger as the culprit remains unknown and free. In a fit of rage, he promises a great reward to whoever catches the thief and brings them to him. However, this proves to be useless as well for none are able to catch the culprit without falling asleep. Curious, Ilya spends the night at the orchard and, through the use of charms and some clothespins, manages to stay awake enough to see the Firebird. Shocked at what he found, Ilya remains quiet about his discovery and is soon rewarded for his silence with the gift to speak with animals. He is, however, cursed with terrible luck afterwards, which leads to him losing his horse and wandering the forest in early winter. He soon stumbles upon the castle of Kashchei the Immortal and finds himself within reach of Princess Tatiana, the most beautiful girl in the world. Pretending to be a half-witted fool, Ilya must use all his wits to win the Princess’ freedom. But once he saves Tatiana, he realizes that he isn't in love with her. |
Of Missing Persons | Jack Finney | 1,956 | The story is framed as a one-sided conversation between two people, with Charley doing all of the talking. Charley recounts how he had fallen into a similar conversation with another man in a bar years before, and that man had told him to go to Acme Travel Bureau, a small travel agency located on the 200 block of West 42nd Street in New York City, and hint to the proprietor that he would like to "escape" from Earth and its ever-growing list of problems. Charley seeks out the travel agency and strikes up a conversation with the proprietor, who remains nameless. After taking some time to assess Charley, the proprietor of the travel agency confides that "just as a sort of little joke," he had printed up a travel brochure for a supposedly fictional planet named Verna, whose inhabitants had evolved some time prior to humans, but were physically very similar to humans. As opposed to the warlike ways displayed by humankind through the years, the Vernans had advanced to a peaceful society on an idyllic forested planet. When the Vernans discovered Earth, they observed it for an unstated period of time, even going so far as to put one of their people on Abraham Lincoln's cabinet. In 1913, just before World War I erupted, they chose to go from passive observation to active intervention, picking a small number of humans over time to invite to Verna. In discussing the Vernans' motivations, the proprietor reasons to Charley, "If you saw a neighbor's house on fire, would you rescue his family if you could? As many as you could, at least?" Over time the Vernans opened branches of Acme Travel Bureau in every major city and invited people from all over the earth, including Ambrose Bierce and, speculates Charley, Judge Crater. When Charley asks him, "when does it stop being a joke?", the proprietor tells him, "Now. If you want it to." He gives Charley a bus ticket and asks him for whatever money he has on him — "two five-dollar bills, a one, and seventeen cents in change" — as payment, saying that he wouldn't need it on Verna and that it would help to pay the light bills and rent for Acme Travel. When Charley questions the price, the proprietor says that an identical ticket had sold earlier for $3,700 and another for $.06. The proprietor then directs him to Acme Depot, from which a bus will take him to the departure point. He arrives at a small bus station "on one of the narrow streets west of Broadway" occupied by a few other people. They all board a decrepit bus and drive out to rural Long Island, where they are deposited at a dilapidated barn and told to wait for departure to Verna. As he sits and waits in the dark barn, Charley descends into a rage after he concludes he has been played for a fool. He storms out of the barn, but just as he crosses the threshold, he looks back and briefly glimpses, in a flash of light, the planet Verna through the back window of the barn before the barn door slams shut. By the time he gets the barn door back open, the people he left in the barn are gone, taken to Verna. Returning to the travel agency some time later, Charley is greeted by the proprietor, who hands him his money and says, "You left this on the counter last time you were here. I don't know why." The story ends with Charley telling his new acquaintance how to find Acme Travel, what to say, and how to act. He then emphasizes to the other person not to back out at the last minute, since no one gets another chance to emigrate to Verna, no matter which branch of Acme Travel they go to, because, in his words, "...I've tried. And tried. And tried." |
Places Where They Sing | null | null | The story takes place in Lancaster College in 1967. The board discusses what to do with a surplus of money. One proposal is to create a building on a nearby meadow to be able to let in more students. Undergraduate Hugh Balliston is drawn into revolutionary activities by Fellow Tony Beck and the unknown revolutionary Mayerston, much to the dismay of his girlfriend Hetta Frith. Tom Llewyllyn, a fellow of the college since 1963, has become impotent and has an unhappy marriage with Patricia. Daniel Mond, the mathematician who was the protagonist of The Sabre Squadron (15 years earlier) is a (literally) quiet man who can only speak in whispers because of a self-inflicted injury to his throat, but who is still teaching mathematics. Among other teachers is the odd Lord Beyfus and his friend, the somewhat radical Mona Corrington. Through Hugh, Mayerston is trying to start violent protests on the campus but most of them end up as fiascos since the Provost of the College, Robert Constable, treats them with a mixture of contempt and tolerance. Isobel advises Patricia to take a lover and she ends up in bed with Hugh who she, in a farcical scene, must shut in the wardrobe when her daughter unexpectedly comes home. Llewyllyn and Mond invite old friend Fielding Gray to the college but he is rather soon picked up by his over-protective mistress Harriet Ongley. Hetta, who has left Hugh, cries on the shoulder of lord Beyfus, who very much likes to comb her hair. The atmosphere in the school turns to the worse and Mayerston uses more violent methods. During a ceremony in the Chapel (with several of the known characters attending) he and his followers burst in to the building and try to destroy the altar and the statue of Henry VI. Tom Llewyllyn saves the statue by use of force and Hetta, fed up with the revolution, protects the altar with assistance from Lord Canteloupe and some other people. During the tumult she is, however, killed by a blow to the head. This tragedy kills also the revolutionary atmosphere of the college. Tony Beck and Mayerston disappear. Constable makes note of how the conservative side have gained a “martyr” in Hetta and find this of some use to keep things calm. Lord Canteloupe comforts the sad Lord Beyfus by giving him the address of the whore Maisie. Patricia comforts Hugh, forgiven for his revolutionary mistakes, in bed. sv:Places Where They Sing |
Genius Squad | Catherine Jinks | 2,008 | The book begins roughly 5 months after the events of Evil Genius. Cadel is now living with foster parents,in a state of legal limbo. Not knowing where he was born, his true father or where he was born. His life is made even worse due to his foster brother "Mace" (real name: Thomas) constantly bullying him. With no school to go to due to his questionable legal status, Cadel spends his time either on the computer, idling or visiting Sonja. The police,and FBI also occasionally turn up to question him on what he knows about Dr Darkkon, Prosper English and the Axis Institute. During these questionings Cadel meets Saul Greniaus, a detective who is now in charge of his case. His style puts him in conflict with Cadels social worker Fiona Currey. On his second visit to Sonja he is confronted by Trader and Judith.Trader and Judith attempt to convince Sonja and Cadel to join Genius Squad. An organisation formed to take down GENOME [a corporation founded by Darkkon] and which is funded by Rex Austin, an American millionaire who suspects the company murdered his son. Despite Cadels initial suspicions they may be working for Prosper, Cadel and Sonja agree to join Genius Squad. They learn that Genius squad is disguised as a youth home and they have other kids also working for the squad. While Saul and Fiona initially object, but they relent after a particularly heated confrontation with "Mace". Cadel arrives at the youth home, Saul and Fiona help him move his belongings. Cadel is introduced to Devin and Lexi[the Twins],Hamish Primose, Dot[the sister of Com from Evil Genius] and the rest of the adult staff. While genius squad works away, trying to avoid notice by Cadel's various body guards,they uncover a web of deceit, crimes and cerebral implants. During this time, "Mace" finds the address of the Genius Squad foster house and attempts to frame Cadel for theft by planting a stolen watch on him (a plan which ultimately fails and leads to Mace's arrest). Cadel also finds that Gazo Kovacs has made contact with GENOME, unaware of their sinister intentions. Unfortunately, GenoME manages to spring Prosper from jail and he immediately moves to kidnap Cadel. Cadel is taken to the house of Judith, one of the other members of Genius squad. From here, Prosper flees to a private air strip to leave the country after Cadel attempts to contact Saul for help. Saul gets a group of police officers down to the airport in time to save Cadel, but Prosper manages to get away. At this point, paternity tests show that Prosper English isn't really Cadel's father, even though he thought he was. Cadel's real father is Chester Cramp who runs Fountain Pharmeceuticals, another Darkkon corporation. However, with Chester sitting in an American Jail. Cadel agrees to being adopted by Saul and Fiona, who happened to be getting married. Saul finally finds out about Genius Squad, and though he is very upset that Cadel lied to him for so long, he agrees to let Genius Squad live on. His reasoning for this, is that he believes that Genius Squad might just be their best chance of finding Prosper and bringing him down once and for all. |
Pagan Babies | Elmore Leonard | 2,000 | The novel begins in Rwanda. The protagonist is a priest named Terry Dunn. It is a few years after the genocide of the Tutsis by the Hutus. Father Terry Dunn lives in Rwanda with his girlfriend Chantelle. He doesn't have qualms about substituting punishment for penance. If that means killing four Hutu murderers who slaughtered his Tutsi congregation, so be it. After being an instrument of divine wrath Dunn breaks camp and heads for Detroit. He wants to raise money for "Pagan Babies" — the children orphaned during the genocide. Dunn's brother Fran specializes in lawsuits for personal injuries. He is helping Debbie, a woman who spent three years in jail for deliberately hitting her ex-husband Randy with a Ford Escort. Debbie is trying to have a career as a comedian. In the meantime we learn more about Terry's past and his problems with the IRS, which was the reason for his fleeing to Rwanda to help his uncle. Debbie's ex-husband Randy now owns a restaurant and is involved with some of the same gangsters that Terry once knew. Debbie and Terry begin a relationship. Randy stole sixty-seven thousand dollars from Debbie and now it's only a matter of time before Debbie's desire for cold, hard cash and Dunn's fundraising for Rwandan orphans join forces in a carefully plotted financial assault on Randy. They want to receive a donation of 250.000 dollars from Tony Amilia, the local wise guy for the 'Pagan Babies'. Now in the Randy's restaurant all of the local wise guys, hit man, scam artists twist and twirl around each other for the money and for their lives. Who will survive... |
The Butcher's Boy | null | null | The Butcher's Boy features an unnamed hitman as primary protagonist. Murder is a craft for the "Butcher’s Boy", a reference to the man's foster father, "Eddie the Butcher", who raised him in the trade. After the contract killer successfully completes a series of hits in the American west, he arrives in Las Vegas, Nevada to pick up his fee. Once there, however, he learns that he has become a liability to his shadowy Mafia employers, faces an attempt on his own life, and begins to violently improvise as he seeks to escape the criminal organization. The initial hits completed by "The Butcher's Boy" attract the attention of U.S. government specialists on organized crime. Elizabeth Waring, a bright young analyst in the Justice Department, begins to see a pattern in the killings, and as the violence escalates around the United States, works her way closer to the identity of the murder "specialist". The book features sections from the viewpoint of both major characters and draws the reader into the minds of the killer and investigator. Most critics reported that readers hope the "Butcher's Boy" will succeed in evading both his Mafia pursuers and the government agents. |
Tiny the Bee | null | 2,002 | Tiny the Bee is about a young bee who is forced to face the perils that accompany tolerance, friendship, patience, kindness, and hopelessness, to name a few. As he travels through his journey, he meets new and interesting characters who force him to face different aspects of acceptance. It is through these encounters that Tiny learns to accept who he is and truly soar above and beyond expectations. Because of the size of his wings, Tiny is, at first, shunned by his friends. After being unable to continue on his expected journey, Tiny decides to find his own path in life. He travels for many days, after which, he meets new friends, who accept him for exactly who he is inside; the size of his wings are no matter. Tiny learns from them true friendship and, unbeknownst to him, grows from this knowledge. He is finally able to return home to realize his dreams. |
Cause Celeb | Helen Fielding | null | Rosie Richardson works in marketing at a publisher's, when she starts dating Oliver Merchant, and falls in love with him. Oliver is the host of the TV show called SoftFocus where they tackle mostly cultural and political topics. Their relationship is formed by his erratic behaviour, like one day telling her he loves her and then not calling for days. When Rosie has to go to Nambula on a business trip, the poverty and general environment shock her into the realisation that she wants to spend her life doing something meaningful. So she breaks up with Oliver and leaves to go to Nambula and work at a refugee camp, organised by Sustain. Four years later, she's running the camp and feels attracted to a new doctor, Robert O'Rourke. Unfortunately, rumours about a locust invasion spread and about the shipping of food that will be late. So Rosie decides that she has to take matters into her own hands. She flies back to England and gets in touch with Oliver and his circle of famous friends to raise funds. After some convincing, the stars and Rosie fly to Nambula for a one hour fundraising show. In the meantime, Oliver tries to get back together with Rosie, who refuses him. After they handle some catastrophes, the show airs and is a full success. Food is delivered, the stars fly back and Rosie gets together with O'Rourke. |
Come Like Shadows | null | null | Tom Llewyllyn and Somerset Lloyd-James (the latter by mistake) have been engaged to write the script of a movie version of The Odyssey, to be shot on Corfu. After some wrangling they ask Fielding Gray to help, since he is a man with knowledge of Greek and the classics in general. The shooting has many comic turns since the movie team wants to do a sexy story while the foundation supplying the money demands something more radical that will substantially alter the story. Left-wing actress Sasha Grimes, who is to be the foundation's "watcher" during the shoot, suggests, for example, that Odysseus give away his land to the poor. Gray works hard to keep the original story and even starts a sexual relationship with Grimes to be able to control her better. Max de Freville and his friend Lyki are also engaged in the movie and make visits during the shooting. They also bring Angela Tuck, suffering from terrible obesity in later years. When Angela, in a deal with Fielding, watches him having sex with Sasha, she has a heart attack and dies. Fielding, thinking about old age, is trying to blackmail producer Foxy Galahead for £50,000 to continue to keep Sasha Grimes under control. Galahead, Max, Lyki and director Jules frame Fielding and he is arrested by Earle Restarick during a trip to Zurich. Restarick and his thugs keeps Fielding prisoner in Athens and since the film team told them another story Restarick believes that Gray once again is digging in the things told in The Judas Boy. Restarick threatens to turn Fielding into a junkie to make him confess. Galahead throws a Christmas party for a number of guests, among them Lord Canteloupe, Somerset Lloyd-James and Captain Detterling. When Galahead brags to actress Elena about how he framed Fielding, she tells the three Englishmen at the party, and they decide to rescue Fielding. Canteloupe, infuriated by the thought that an Englishman be kept prisoner in a country of no importance (like Greece), bursts into the villa where Fielding is (officially) being nursed after a "mental breakdown" and takes him home to England. When Fielding arrives home Harriet is not there. At peace, he begins on a number of new commissions given him by Gregory Stern. sv:Come Like Shadows |
The Revenge of Dracula | Peter Berresford Ellis | 1,978 | The novel concerns the story of Count Dracula in England and is set before the events in Bram Stoker's novel Dracula. |
Act of Providence | Joseph Payne Brennan | null | The novella features Brennan's supernatural detective Lucius Leffing and is set during the first World Fantasy Convention in Providence, Rhode Island in 1975. |
The Black Wolf | Galad Elflandsson | 1,979 | The novel is a Lovecraftian story of werewolves. |
Etty Hillesum and the Flow of Presence: A Voegelinian Analysis | Meins G. S. Coetsier | null | Etty Hillesum and the Flow of Presence: A Voegelinian Analysis is an account of the life, works and vision of two prominent mystical thinkers, Etty Hillesum and Eric Voegelin, whose lives were shaped by the totalitarian Nazi-regime. This book explores how mystical attunement to the flow of presence is the key to the development of Etty Hillesum’s life and writings. Eric Voegelin’s analysis of the history of order is focused on the responses of individuals and societies to the divine presence. Etty Hillesum’s The Letters and Diaries illustrates her heroic struggle to come to terms with her personal life in the context of her gradual response to the flowing presence. Etty Hillesum died at the age of twenty-nine in Auschwitz midway through World War II. All her energy had been absorbed in a daily search for the meaning of her life, for an understanding of her relationships with others, and for an insight into the ultimate purpose of each individual’s contribution to the well being and maintenance of the human spirit. Eric Voegelin’s philosophical symbol "the flow of presence" ("the intersection of time with the timeless") is designed to “catch’’ changes and shifts in the mode of human responsiveness to the divine presence and it is especially helpful in clarifying what is taking place in the soul of Etty Hillesum. Her response to the flow of presence while she was undergoing significant breakthroughs in her spiritual life in the context of a period of overwhelming social disorder, amounts to a testament of great courage. It is an inspiration and an affirmation of the indestructible wonder of life. In one of his final conclusions Coetsier writes: “The complexity of the human condition will require the ability to be human in transcending our immediate and simply given context through an attunement to the flow of presence.” Etty Hillesum and Eric Voegelin have provided a welcome antidote to the restless and wandering spirit of a complex and turbulent era and this book guides the reader to the heart of their mystical thought. With the current explosion of interest in inter-religious dialogue, peace studies, Judaism, the holocaust, gender studies and mysticism, it is an attempt to respond to the signs of the times. Accompanying the treatment of Voegelin’s and Hillesum’s writing, this book includes an extensive bibliography of international scholarship on both authors. |
Against the Tide of Years | S. M. Stirling | null | As the series progresses, it becomes clear to Nantucket's government that sitting back and adopting isolationism will only profit those renegades who, under the leadership of ex-Coast Guard lieutenant William Walker (inspired directly by William Walker), have fled the island to exploit the Bronze Age peoples of Europe and the Middle East. Walker—who, unfortunately, is as smart as he is callous—exploits the "magic" of gunpowder, iron-forging, and the spinning jenny to build up an empire of his own, one that threatens to conquer the entire world unless the people of Nantucket build an army, a navy, and a web of foreign alliances to take the fight to Walker. Against the Tide of Years takes place approximately 10 years after the events of the first book. The leadership of the Republic of Nantucket has invested a great deal of time and effort into building up a substantial military force, both a deep-water navy and a Marine Corps, but the bulk of Nantucket's population are more interested in commerce and exploration than in bringing the renegade Walker to justice. A sneak attack on Nantucket itself by the nation of Tartessos, led by an ally of Walker, unites the factions of the Republic behind an all-out effort to topple Walker's growing empire, centered in Achaea (Greece), in a two-pronged campaign, attacking Tartessos and opening a second front in the Middle East (through an alliance with Babylon, Hittite Empire and Mitanni). |
The Other Place | Monica Hughes | 1,999 | 16-year-old Alison Fairweather and her family are living in a not-so-distant future when they are taken from their homes and forced to stay in a penal colony, Habitat W, for five years because of a crime against WOGPO, the World Government. Within a month, Gordie Fairweather, Alison's 8 year-old brother, starts having dreams about "Xanadu", a paradise he believes existed behind the walls of their prison. Gordie succeeds in finding Xanadu, and Alison follows him. In Xanadu, Gordie and Alison meet Jay, the supposed leader of Xanadu. Alison finds that all of Xanadu's inhabitants, besides Jay, are young children. At first, the children do not approve of Alison because of her age, but they become familiar with Alison, and accept her. One day, when Alison and the children are eating dinner, Alison catches sight of a wild-looking young woman her age. She discovers that the woman is Kristin, her long-lost friend, who was among the inhabitants of the Habitats. Kristin was not accepted as part of the "Xanadu Family", and has been living in Xanadu, but as an outcast. Kristin does not like Jay, so she and Alison try to follow Jay into his underground home, which he stays in at night. Kristin and Alison find that Jay was the one calling the children to go to Xanadu, and for each child he named the paradise differently. They also find out that Jay was the one who had the idea of Xanadu, which was originally the "Botany Bay Project". Jay catches Kristin and Alison, but still lets them stay in Xanadu, both as regular inhabitants. The children living in Xanadu learn to adapt, and Jay is pleased. Also, Jay reveals to Alison and Kristin that he is really a psychologist. As soon as everyone in Xanadu learns to become a real community, Jay leaves to tell WOGPO that everyone in the prison has died. Xanadu is therefore renamed "Jay's World". |
Ghoul | Brian Keene | 2,007 | Timmy Graco and his best friends Barry Smetzler and Doug Keiser are looking forward to a summer they will never forget; they have made the perfect secret underground clubhouse in the local cemetery known as "the dugout." The book opens with two high school seniors having sex in the cemetery. As they finish the boy realizes a figure has been watching them. The ghoul lashes out with rage, repeatedly smashes the boy's head against a tombstone until he dies; the chapter ends as he approaches the helpless girl. Another figure comes before sunrise and cleans up the mess. Timmy's grandfather (Dane Graco) dies the next day, the first Saturday of the summer. His family buries him in the local cemetery; the same one that also houses Timmy's secret hideout and the ghoul. Timmy sees his longtime crush Katie Moore whose older sister has gone missing. While walking through the cemetery with Katie and her father, the local pastor, they find a broken sigil stone and Pastor Moore tells Timmie and Katie the legend of the ghoul that once terrorized the area. He was said to be bound by a Sigil Stone under the ruins of the old church. They all notice that the cemetery grounds are dilapidated as headstones are falling over and sinking into the ground. Barry's father is the caretaker of the cemetery and after the funeral he and Barry bury Dane Graco. It is then revealed that Barry's father Clark is in cahoots with the ghoul acting as his familiar. Clark even kidnaps a local woman as a mate for the ghoul. The ghoul believing himself to be the last of his kind is mating with this woman and the older Moore sister. At the same time you learn that as a commandment from "Him" that the ghouls may not taste fresh meat. Anyone he kills he must let fester for several days. The town becomes very suspicious with six missing people in less than a week and the boys' families will no longer let them play in the cemetery woods. The boys begin to notice sinkholes forming all over the graveyard. Barry's father has told him he believes there is a cave under ground responsible for all the damage to the grounds. The boys find a hole large enough to enter but do not have time to explore it just then. The boys' local rivals see them discover the entrance and assume it is the dugout. That night they go into the graveyard under the cover of a storm and enter the cave hoping to trash the dugout. The ghoul kills two of the boys underground as the ringleader attempts to escape. Clark stumbles across him fighting his way out of the ghoul's grasp halfway in the entrance to his warren. Clark recognizes him from a scuffle between him and his own son. He steps on his hand causing him to fall into the hole where the ghoul violently kills him. That night Doug spends the night at the Graco house and tells Timmy about how his mother sexually abuses him on a nightly basis. Comparing his stories to the obvious physical abuse Barry receives from his father he decides that adults are the real monsters. Clark then bans Doug and Timmy from the graveyard and will only allow Barry to work there in daylight. He catches the kids trying to sneak into the shed where the other boys entered the cave and attacks them both physically and mentally. They then take a long walk into the woods beyond the graveyard and find the remains of Katie's older sister's boyfriend in his car, squashing the rumor they ran away together. Doug badly wants to spend the night at Timmy's house to avoid the advances of his mother. Timmy's mom will not allow him to so he goes home and locks himself in his room only to be woken up by his mother who has snuck in through the window and is attempting to molest him. At the same time Barry's father beats him nearly to death (at this point Barry notices Dane Graco's Freemason ring on his father's hand.) Timmy tells his dad he believes there is a ghoul on the loose in the cemetery and he believes that it has eaten his father's corpse. His father becomes very angry and take Timmy and his prize comic book collection into the basement and forces him to watch him rip them apart one by one. Doug leaves his house to go to Timmy's but sees all the lights off and decides to sleep in the dugout. Upon entering the cemetery he sees Clark and the ghoul arguing loudly. Doug flees but his bike's kickstand rattles and the ghoul begins to chase him but he escapes. The ghoul goes back and attempts to kill Clark by slashing him across his neck and face with his claws. He smells Doug returning and goes to meet him at the dugout. Doug begins editing a map of the forest and eating a Kit Kat when the ghoul bursts through the bottom of the dugout and Doug falls into the grasp of the ghoul who decides to forgo the commandment not to eat fresh meat. Barry decides to run away from home to escape the abuse of his father, he goes to say goodbye to Doug who is not home and then to Timmy who tells him his suspicions of the ghoul and what his father did. The two form a plan and go to the dugout which they find collapsed into the ghoul's warren. Timmy ventures in and finds Doug's map freshly smeared with Kit-Kat and realizes the ghoul has taken him. He instructs Barry to go start the cemetery's backhoe and start digging the cave up. Barry finds his father mortally wounded bleeding and unconscious as a result of the Ghoul's attack and uses bungee cord to tie him to a stump. He retrieves the backhoe and begins digging. Timmy finds Karen Moore and the kidnapped woman bound to the walls inside the cave. He frees Karen but the other captive's mind is gone from the trauma of the Ghoul kidnapping and raping her. The ghoul appears holding Doug's head. Timmy and Karen are able to escape and run blindly through the tunnels. Above ground Clark regains consciousness and frees himself and climbs onto the backhoe. As he and Barry struggle the backhoe collapses though the top of the cave and crushes Clark beneath it. Timmy and Karen escape through the hole made by the backhoe and the ghoul follows them out into the sunlight where he melts. The book then goes to an epilogue twenty years later where Timmy's father is being buried in the cemetery and Barry is now the caretaker. His son has bruises consistent with abuse and Timmy realizes ghoul was not the only monster in the cemetery. |
Hugo Pepper | Paul Stewart | 2,006 | This novel is set in the same world as Fergus Crane and Corby Flood. It stars Hugo Pepper, a young boy who was raised by reindeer herders after his parents were eaten by polar bears. When Hugo discovers that his parents' sled has a very special compass which can be set to 'Home', he sets off to find where his true home is.As he does this, he unravels the mystery of 'The Firefly Quarterly's' Institute disaster and where the treasure of his Great great grandmother , Brimstone Kate... |
Fergus Crane | Paul Stewart | 2,004 | Fergus Crane is a young boy, who lives in the Archduke Ferdinant Apartments with his Mother Lucia. A mysterious little flying box arrives at his house three different times at his house and he find letters in it, from his 'long lost uncle Theo' warning him that he is great danger and is sending help. After this, a flying horse arrives at his window and takes him to a magnificent mountain chalet, where his adventures begin. |
I, Coriander | Sally Gardner | 2,005 | It tells the story of a girl named Coriander, and her childhood. Coriander starts an adventure she cannot stop when she slips on a pair of silver shoes from an anonymous person. Her mother insists that she must not have them, whilst she herself insists she must. Eventually, her father gives into them and her world begins to fall downhill. Coriander's dad is arrested and is left with her step mother and step sister. The step mother has sacked Coriander's favorite servant as well as friend. After hiding a doll in the cupboard Coriander's step mother is mad.Coriander cannot wait until her dad's return. But is he going to? It all starts to slowly change, a thread that never ends, and one that Coriander cannot control. She soon finds out all her mother's deepest secrets and must fight the evil Queen Rosmore, her grandfather's 2nd wife who has put him into a trance. To save her mother's beautiful, yet deadly power and her father's faith, she falls in love with Tycho, a fairy prince from the other world, a dangerous thing for her to do. As all things she once knew vanish, she must fight the horrors of the angry, puritan world in which she lives, and those of the world of magic, which holds the secret of time and all things possible. But as a death draws nearer, there is another question to answer. Whose is it? |
The Whispering Road | Livi Michael | 2,005 | The Whispering Road documents the stories of Joe, a young, orphaned boy who loves to tell fantastical stories, and Annie, his younger sister who can contact the dead. Since their mother left them on the front step of the local workhouse, Joe and Annie have been searching for her, but to no success. At the beginning of the novel, they work for a cruel master and mistress, whose chores they complete. An abusive old man named Old Bert supervises them constantly and punishes them for the least mistake. Old Bert forces Joe and Annie to sleep in the chicken coop, and threatens to kill Joe if they wake him up. After Annie becomes cold, Joe, angered at the people of the farm, makes the decision to run away; he tries to catch one of the chickens. Joe's perturbed efforts wake up most of the chickens, attracting Old Bert, who Joe hits over the head with a shovel. Young Bert sends the farm owner's hounds upon the siblings, who make for the nearby fence separating the estate from the woods. It is assumed that they escape and fall asleep somewhere in the woods, thus, when they wake up, they are greeted by a hobbit-like man who seems warm and kind. He names himself as Travis, and tells them many stories about his adventures in the woods, such as meeting Dog-woman, an outcast angel. Joe and Annie travel far and wide searching for their mother. Soon they meet other outcasts in a traveling circus. Joe sells Annie and sets off for Manchester, where he meets a street gang. He becomes a member and stays with them for a while. They taught him about Manchester and he taught them how to use a sling. Suddenly, an epidemic spread through the gang. A member, called Lookout, becomes sick and soon dies. |
Spilled Water | Sally Grindley | 2,004 | The story is told in three parts : early childhood, life as a domestic servant and life working in a factory. It is told through the eyes of Lu Si-Yan, an eleven year old girl. Her early childhood is described as a rural idyll. She has a doting father who works growing vegetables on a small strip of land. A baby brother is born, whom Si-yan loves. Unfortunately, the father is killed in a road accident and Si-yan's mother, overwhelmed by grief, cannot keep the family going when faced with one disaster after another. Disapproving Uncle Ba takes Lu Si-yan to market to sell her, calling her "Spilled Water" : a waste because she is not a boy. She joins the Chen household as an unpaid domestic servant. She is well fed and well clothed but works very hard. Si-yan is constantly criticised by Mrs Chen. The only people in the household who keep her going are Xiong Fei, an art student employed as a cook, who is also a fun loving young man; and Mr Chen's wheelchair bound mother Mrs Hong. Lu Si-Yan is frightened by the Chen's son Yi-mou, whom she is told she must marry. He acts strangely because he has a brain damage. Mrs Hong finds out what the Chen's are up to, gives Lu Si-Yan money and helps her to escape. Lu Si-yan goes to catch the boat up river, but discovers she had been robbed. A couple, Mr and Mrs Wang, offer to pay her boat fare and to give her a job in their factory. The factory creates toys. The employees work under harsh conditions. They are never paid what they are owed and are forced to work long hours and even overtime. They are only paid a fraction of from their pay. Lu Si-yan is befriended by a group of young women who are optimistic despite being in the same state as Si-yan -- trapped in the factory. Eventually, Lu Si-yan becomes so ill and frail, due to overwork and the poor working conditions, that she is hospitalised. When she regains consciousness, Uncle Ba is by her bedside in the hospital and is terribly remorseful. He brings unlucky news that her Mother has died and he plans to take her and her brother into his home, look after them properly and gain their forgiveness. Lu Si-yan realises that her only option is to go back with Uncle Ba. Si-yan also longs to see her brother. The Uncle promises to send her to school and receive good education. Li Mei, the best of her new factory friends, manages to get some money for Lu Si-yan and enough for Si-yan's trip back home, from the Wongs. The Wongs pay their workers the money that the workers are owed. They are terrified that their poor working conditions and exploitation of minors will be exposed to the public. The main themes of the book are the portrayal of rural versus town life in China, domestic servitude, sweatshops and the role of women. It is also simply and beautifully written. It is rather very exciting, with a few climaxes and twists. I would highly recommend those who haven't read the book yet to quickly get this book and read it! |
Cloud Busting | Malorie Blackman | 2,004 | The story begins when Mr Mackie, the teacher, assigns the homework to the class – to write a poem. Sam wants to write his poem about Davey. Alex, his ex-best friend, mocks him for doing so. Sam quotes: "I want to write my poem about Davey Because now he's gone And I can't get him out of my head." Davey, or 'Fizzy Feet', is a new boy. Everyone (except Alicia) hates him. He has holes in his jumper, and strange ideas fill his mind. Sam, the school bully, makes fun of him. He dislikes Davey as much, if not more, than everyone else. That is, until Davey saves his life, pulling him from in front of a speeding vehicle. The two soon become friends. Davey's way of looking at life begins to seem fun. Sam learns that Davey has an allergy to peanuts, and Davey tells him to keep it a secret as he didn't want a fuss. But, in front of his ex-best friend, the bully, Alex, he accidentally lets it slip – big mistake. Alex, as a joke, offers Davey a part of his sandwich, with a peanut slipped inside. Davey immediately has an allergic reaction, and Mr Mackie is forced to use the epipen. Davey regains consciousness and is whisked to hospital. Davey begins to avoid Sam, after letting his secret slip. He loses his eccentric imagination. What should have happened: The two go to the park cloud busting together, and become best friends again - this time not in secret. What did happen: Sam goes cloud busting alone. Davey, telling no-one, slips away and leaves. |
The Fire-Eaters | David Almond | 2,003 | The novel is set 1962, before and during the Cuban missile crisis. Bobby Burns, who lives in a quiet coal-mining town near Keely Bay in Northumberland, has had a wonderful summer. But in autumn his father falls mysteriously ill, and he loathes his new school which is pervaded by bullying. Perhaps worst of all, Bobby is worried there will be a nuclear war. Bobby's wonder-working friend Ailsa Spink and McNulty the crazy fire-eater open Bobby's eyes to the possibility of miracles. |
On Pointe | Lorie Ann Grover | 2,004 | The story involves a girl named Clare who dances. Her best friend is Rosella. Her family's dream is for Clare to be in City Ballet, a program for very skilled dancers. There are only 16 positions in City Ballet. Things take a turn for the worse when her instructor tells her she's too tall, not only to be in City Ballet (although if she weren't as tall, she would have named it in), but to be in her own dance school! She is very upset at this. She is invited to dance with the adult class, where the adults dance, just to dance, but thinks the adult class is stupid. When her grandfather has a stroke, he loses the ability to talk and move his right side. When Clare finally steps up to take the adult class, everything changes. |
The Various | null | 2,003 | Midge is sent to stay with her Uncle Brian at Mill Farm in Somerset while her mother is on tour with the orchestra. She comes across a small winged horse which is trapped and injured: her first introduction to the hidden world of the "Royal Forest", an impenetrable thicket on a hill within the farm boundaries. Meanwhile, all the tribes who live in the forest, the Ickri, Naiad, Wisp, Troggles and Tinklers, unite to send a group to search for the missing horse, Pegs. The adventures of the group demonstrate the dangers posed to the Various by the Gorgi world, as Lumst is killed by the ferocious tomcat Tojo. While Midge is accepted by the queen and her advisers as the saviour of Pegs, despite the news she brings of her uncle's plan to sell the forest land, Scurl and his archers believe that she is herself a danger to the tribes and intend to kill her. At the climax of the novel the archers attack the farm when Midge and her cousins are there alone. Throughout the novel Midge senses another presence, the girl in the photograph on the kitchen wall: it is Celandine, who once lived at the farm and was thought mad for believing she had seen fairies. The story of Celandine is told in the second book of the trilogy, and the bond between her and Midge is explored in Winter Wood. |
Fangland | John Marks | 2,007 | The story begins with Evangeline Harker, an associate producer of the television news program, The Hour, and the daughter of a rich Texan magnate, is engaged to her boyfriend Robert, looking forward to their honeymoon. When she is given an assignment to investigate the Eastern European crime lord Ion Torgu in Romania, she worries about it. However, she accepts anyway. Arriving at Romania, she meets a young companion named Clementine Spence. Together, they travel to a disclosed location. There, Evangeline disappears after meeting with Torgu. She is then infected with vamparism; she then kills Clemmie by slicing her throat and drinking her blood; she disappears. The staff at The Hour is filled with guilt and dismay. Mysterious tapes appear, infecting the entire audio system with a weird noise. Two months later, Evangeline is found. Her memories are scrubbed, but slowly return. However, their terror only drives her insane. She is forced to attack anyone. Robert, meanwhile gets attacked by Torgu. However, Evangeline defeats Torgu in the final battle. |
Tom Swift in the Land of Wonders | Victor Appleton | 1,917 | Professor Bumper, introduced in the previous volume, is on the trail of another lost city, this time the lost city of Kurzon, somewhere deep in Honduras. The Professor has come into some documents which he thinks will help him locate the city, and the documents make mention of a huge idol made of solid gold. Professor Bumper would very much like Tom Swift to accompany the expedition. As circumstances would have it, Professor Bumpers rival, in the form of Professor Fenimore Beecher, is also on the trail of Kurzon. Unfortunately for Tom Swift, Professor Beecher is also trying to win the heart of Mary Nestor, Tom Swift's sweetheart! Envy, rather than fame or fortune, drive Tom to finally accompany the expedition to Honduras, as Tom hopes to prevent Professor Beecher from discovering the idol and presenting some of the gold to Mary Nestor as a betrothal gift. |
The Earth House | Jeanne DuPrau | 1,992 | They hadn't pictured themselves as the sort of people to take up Eastern spiritual practice, but on their first visit to a zen center, two women discover something that speaks to them on a level deeper than their everyday experience, and they begin to make a new plan for their lives. They begin to consider giving up their suburban comforts and build a house beside a monastery in the mountains. As the walls of the house go up, the two women make and re-make plans, wrestle with a chainsaw, learn to make windows, and set up a computer powered by the sun. Their spiritual practice transforms their vision of the house, and the building of it transforms them both. |
Ombria in Shadow | Patricia A. McKillip | 2,002 | In the beginning of Ombria in Shadow, Royce Greve, ruler of Ombria, has just died and his mistress Lydea is being thrown out of the castle by the ancient, evil, and powerful Domina Pearl who wishes to gain control over the court by acting as regent for Royce's young son Kyel. Lydea flees through the dangerous night-time streets and eventually, with some aid from a mysterious source, reaches the tavern of her father. Meanwhile, beneath Ombria, Faey, a sorceress who can wear any face she likes, and her assistant Mag, who helped Lydea survive her flight from the castle, work on magical potions and charms for the wealthy of the city, including Domina Pearl. In the castle Ducon Greve, Royce's bastard nephew, tries to support Kyel against the machinations of Domina Pearl in an increasingly paranoid climate. Various nobles, unhappy with Domina's ruthless rule, attempt to convince him to work against her and set himself up as the new prince of Ombria. Unwilling to go down such a dangerous route and concerned that it could have dire consequences for Kyel, Ducon manages to foist them off, escaping through the vast network of secret passageways and rooms that permeate the castle. Faey is hired by one of Ducon's enemies to kill him; she makes a magical piece of charcoal that is imbued with poison. Mag, who has been observing Ducon, does not want him to die and searches for a way to undo the spell. However, she becomes trapped in the castle, eventually freed by the historian Camas Erl on the promise that she will bring him to meet Faey, who has been alive for ages, and whose history is entwined with the city's. Ducon uses the charcoal to sketch a man who looks just like him, who seems to come to life. Pursuing him, but delirious from the poison, he inadvertently falls into Faey's lair. Lydea, there to seek Faey's help, insists that Faey cure him. With Ducon and Faey's help, Lydea is able to return to the castle where she works as Kyel's tutor alongside Camas Erl, who is obsessed with discovering the secret to Ombria's shadowy underworld. After being introduced to Faey, Camas wanders the underworld, trying to find out about the Shadow City and how Ombria has been changed in the past by its manifestation. Mag is given a pendant by Faey, which had been left with her as a baby on Faey's doorstep. Using the small piece of charcoal that she finds inside, Mag begins to draw random shapes. The drawings are able to destroy various parts of Domina's body. Domina, enraged by what she considers Faey's betrayal, captures Ducon and Lydea along with Mag, bringing them to the secret room where she keeps her regenerative bed, the reason that she has lived so long. Faey leaves the underworld, and the stirrings of the incredibly powerful sorceress are the trigger for the manifestation of the Shadow City. While Ducon fights Domina, Lydea escapes with Kyel by running through a rift into the Shadow City shown to her by the same mysterious man seen earlier by Ducon. Ducon kills Domina, and then meets the man who looks like him - His father. From Ombria's reflection, years ago he fell in love with Royce's sister, and tarried with her long enough to get her with child. The shadow transition eventually finishes, and Ombria has changed. No one has memories of the previous Ombria but for Faey and Mag. Ducon is now Prince and Lydea his love, Kyel is his heir and Mag is Kyel's tutor. All is happy. |
Tempted | Cecily von Ziegesar | 2,008 | After two weeks of being back at Waverly for almost being expelled, Jenny Humphrey has now become the new it girl (first it was Tinsley Carmichael). At the upcoming Halloween masquerade Jenny decides to dress up as Cleopatra and beats Tinsley for the best costume award. Meanwhile, Callie attempts to win back Easy in a Cinderella costume with a secret proving that she's a good person. But it backfires when Callie's costume reminds Easy of the snobby princess she is. After Easy tells her off, Callie runs away to a "health spa" set up by her mom. During the masquerade, Brett and Jeremiah reunite after Brett lies to him about Kara, her very friendly friend. After the masquerade, Easy climbs and accidentally collapses an oak tree, leaving first floor Dumbarton residents (like Kara) homeless. Tinsley, being the "angel" that she is, gives Kara a home, creating a very awkward rift with Brett in the room. Meanwhile, Callie finds out that the supposed health spa her mother set up for her is actually some kind of rehab-work camp. Luckily, through group confessions, she learned to get over, and let go of Easy. Easy, in an attempt to get over Callie and be able to stay in Waverly, searches for an extracurricular activity, but instead finds himself in Heath's club, Men of Waverly. While Callie's away, Jenny will play, with Drew that is, her supposed savior who paid for her re-admittance by paying off the owner of the burned barn. While going through Callie's things, Jenny finds out that it was Callie who paid for the burned barn fiasco. Once Jenny realizes it was Callie who saved her, she sees that Callie is a good friend after all. She leaves Drew and hides trying to stay away from her room. Meanwhile Tinsley has just gotten an email from Callie telling Tinsley where she is and that she needs help. Tinsley, feeling lonely and desperate now that she's a nobody, decides she needs to go rescue Callie but she can't do it alone. On her way out she bumps into Jenny and they formulate a plan putting their differences aside to help Callie. By getting Sebastian's car, Drew's roommate and also the guy Brett is supposed to tutor, Tinsley and Jenny head off to Maine. Heath and Kara have broken up when he told everyone about Brandon's baby blanket because Kara feels that he is insensitive and said it reminded her that he used to tease her. At the next Boy of Waverly (BoW) meeting, Heath is still trying to get over his breakup with Kara. Jeremiah and Brett later show up to the meeting and Jeremiah soon finds out the truth about Brett and Kara. Jeremiah then breaks up with Brett saying that it's for good. While on the drive to Maine, Sebastian's car breaks down leaving Jenny and Tinsley stranded.Jenny takes out her cell and texts Easy telling him what a good person Callie is. Easy, once getting the message, takes a charter plane straight to Maine to rescue Callie. At the rehab facility Callie has been trying to get over Easy and was put on a survival test out in the woods which turned out to be only fifty yards from the campus. Easy finds her and takes her back to the airport where they make up and get back together. But their reunion is short lived because when they get back the principal and Easy's guidance counselor are waiting for them. Easy broke his probation by leaving the school grounds without permission and the author makes it unknown if Easy will get expelled. Tinsley and Jenny go to sleep in Sebastian's car and when they wake up, they find that they were right next to a country club.It is later shown in the last IM conversations of the book that on the trip that the two become friends. |
The Other Side of the Sky: A Memoir | null | 2,005 | Farah Ahmedi was born in Kabul, Afghanistan near the end of the Soviet war in Afghanistan. When she was in second grade, she stepped on a land mine while taking a shortcut through a field to school. Farah was transferred to Germany where her leg was amputated. After over eighteen months in Germany, she returned to her home in Kabul. Shortly after she returned home, her father and sisters were killed by a stray rocket while Farah and her mother were shopping for fabrics, and her two brothers left Afghanistan in order to avoid a draft. Fearing for their lives, Farah and her mother fled to Pakistan where they endured harsh conditions in refugee camps for a couple years before World Relief rescued them and provided them a home in Chicago, Illinois. In Chicago, Farah and her mother began to adjust to their new life in Chicago, with major help from Alyce Litz, one of Farah's new friends. |
Ender's Homecoming | Orson Scott Card | null | When Ender’s mother, Theresa Wiggin first gets a letter from Colonel Hyrum Graff she is shocked to learn that he thinks that Ender might need protection. However, as she thinks about it and discusses it with her husband, John Paul Wiggin she realizes that Ender would never be safe on Earth. Since they cannot come right out and say that they want their son to stay in space they decide to get their super-genius children to help persuade people that this is the best thing to do. Theresa sends the letter from Graff to Ender’s sister Valentine which helps her to realize that Ender won’t be safe on earth. John Paul makes a comment to Peter to suggest that he will always be in Ender’s shadow if he returns to earth. As a result Valentine and Peter begin a media campaign to keep Ender in space. Valentine then writes a letter to Graff asking to be sent into space to be with her brother. In the final pages Card reveals that there is no end conceived for the Ender story line. |
Bring Forth the Body | null | null | This part of the sequence revolves around the life of Somerset Lloyd-James but tells in part also the story of Captain Detterling and Leonard Percival, who investigate the death of Lloyd-James. When the story opens on May 10, 1972, Captain Detterling arrives at Somerset Lloyd-James's to discuss the health of Lord Canteloupe, since the Minister of Commerce seems broken down by his heavy work routine. Dolly, the housekeeper, who is in a state of shock, shows the captain the body of Lloyd-James in a bathtub filled with blood. Everything seems to indicate a suicide. The police explain to the captain that the affair officially will be regarded as a suicide caused by exhaustion. The government don’t want the police to look too deeply into the matter since some scandal may be revealed. However, the police agree to let Detterling be part of a silent investigation to find the truth about why Lloyd-James killed himself. In the evening the captain has a rather boozy dinner with his distant cousin Canteloupe who seems to be in rather good health, despite the rumours, but drinks more than ever. Detterling suggests that Canteloupe make Peter Morrison his new under-secretary. At the time of his death Lloyd-James helped Canteloupe to sell a new kind of light metal for a British company and also planned how to blacken the name of competing companies. Detterling talks the always ”moral” Morrison into accepting the job. Detterling and Leonard Percival, who suffers from stomach ulcers, attend the funeral of Lloyd-James and start their investigation right after the service. During this investigation a number of people are visited by the couple and the first is Maisie Malcolm (whose surname is revealed here for the first time), the prostitute frequented by Lloyd-James for many years. She has nothing to tell, except stories of a sexual nature. After this, they go to Corfu to interview Max de Freville and also see the grave of Angela Tuck, turned into a bizarre mausoleum by the heartbroken Max. Detterling and Percival discuss many issues during the investigation and for the first time Captain Detterling reveals why he, after so many years in the army, never reached a higher rank than that of captain. During the war, he had signed an order for gasoline, without checking the number of gallons. Another officer had apparently sold much of this gasoline on the black market and, through his negligence, Detterling became a suspect when this affair was revealed. Eventually he was let off the hook but in reality his career came to a halt. After this story they visit Lloyd-James's mother, who mentions that she hadn’t had “real” connection with her son since he was twelve even though he visited her once or twice a year. Roger Constable, provost of Lancaster, is the next person on the list and he reveals a story about how Lloyd-James stole the contents of an essay he was given a prize for from an unpublished essay written some 20 years earlier. However, nothing could be proved. Tom Llewyllyn, who lives with his odd daughter “Baby” at the college, also discusses this essay. When Detterling and Percival visits Fielding Gray he talks about the party that took place in 1945 which ended with Lloyd-James being sick and passing out. During a pause there is held a memorial (and, indeed, memorable) dinner for Lloyd-James with nine guests: Carton Weir, Tom Llewyllyn, Peter Morrison, Jonathan Gamp, Gregory Stern, Kapten Detterling, Lord Canteloupe, Fielding Gray and Maisie Malcolm. During this dinner Peter Morrison reveals a story he has just been told by old schoolmate Ivan Blessington who heard it from Lloyd-James himself recently: after the infamous party in 1945 the mean Lloyd-James had left half a crown instead of the ordinary five shillings for cleaning up. The outraged housekeeper, a young woman, had gone searching for Lloyd-James and found him sleeping. As it turned out the two of them had sex and she became pregnant. Lloyd-James didn’t know of this until recently when she wrote to him, telling him she had born him a son (officially with another) in 1946. She was now a widow and lived in poor circumstances and therefore asked Lloyd-James for some help. According to Blessington, Lloyd-James had been happily surprised and had been looking forward to meet his son. Percival and Detterling trace the woman in question, Meriel Weekes, and visit her. It was her shop that Lloyd-James had been visiting on his last day. Her son is living with her and this young man, James Weekes, has become physically disfigured and mentally retarded after a car crash. Before that he was involved in crime, and crashed when he was chased by the police. Meriel Weekes tells Detterling and Percival about how shocked Lloyd-James had been during the meeting though he had provided them with some money. In the last discussion between Detterling and Percival they understand how the somewhat religious Lloyd-James had been broken down by what he considered to be a cruel joke on God’s part. sv:Bring Forth The Body |
The Blurred Man | Anthony Horowitz | 2,003 | The story opens with the Diamond Brothers being hired by the American crime author Joe Carter, who finances Lenny Smile's children's charity Dream Time. Lenny Smile apparently died in a tragic accident when he was run over by a steamroller just before Carter was due to meet him for the first time. The American wants them to find out what really happened to the reclusive philanthropist he so much admired. He shows them his only photograph of Lenny, in which the man's features are blurred. Tim and Nick interview Lenny's two assistants at the charity offices and his neighbour, and visit his grave. At the cemetery, Nick spots someone who looks like the Lenny Smile in the photograph, and wonders if he could still be alive. They visit the Steamroller driver who is in a mental hospital, but due to Tim's words, like 'The clues are a bit thin on the ground,' the man loses more of his sanity. The brothers discover that a balloon seller advertising the Russian circus may have witnessed the accident, but when they go to the circus to speak to him, Nick again sees someone who looks like Lenny Smile, and they find the balloon seller has just been stabbed to death. Tim foolishly picks up the knife and the circus performers assume he is the murderer, partly due to Tim trying to correct a clown's grammar. A bizarre chase across the fields ensues, before a Police Car driven by Snape saves the Brothers. After hearing that the charity is under investigation for fraud, Nick finds out about the missing investigator and decides to visit the grave of Lenny Smiles again. It is there he realizes that the corpse is not of the Lenny but the investigator. In a thrilling finale at the London Eye, Nick deduces that 'Lenny Smile' is simply an assumed name that could be used by Lenny's 'assistants' as cover for their own crimes. They then reveal the compartment was bugged, and the Police are in compartments on either side. |
Fields of Sleep | E. C. Vivian | 1,923 | The novel concerns English adventurer Victor Marshall who is hired to find a fellow Englishman who is lost in Asiatic Sapelung. Marshall discovers a hidden valley and is imprisoned by its inhabitants who are descended from ancient Chaldean colonists. The inhabitants are dependent on a narcotic flower whose fragrance produces ecstasy. Marshall finds his countryman living among the inhabitants. After a flood, the flowers are destroyed and without it, the inhabitants including Marshall's countryman perish. Not dependent on the flower, Marshall survives. |
Fateful Harvest | Duff Wilson | 2,001 | The story begins with farmer Dennis DeYoung outside of Quincy, who in 1985 buys fertilizer from the local Cenex/Land O'Lakes corporation, and subsequently experiences yields one-tenth of usual (21). DeYoung, who keeps his bills, notes later that he paid prices varying from 2.5 to 9 cents a pound for nitrogen fertilizer. (In 1985 the average price for nitrogen fertilizer was 11 cents.) In 1986 Washington begins to pass stricter laws against dumping toxic waste. Cenex, the local agricultural company, begins to dump its excess chemicals into a concrete rinsate pond rather than on vacant land. The pond fills up quickly. Len Smith, who worked there for a summer dumping cans into the pool, recounts seeing its levels drop mysteriously overnight (23). By 1990, however, Cenex develops spreading technology which allowed it to use all its chemicals on farms and the corporation wanted to get rid of the rinse pond. Given the choice between spending $170,000 to put it in the Arlington, Oregon hazardous waste facility, or "sell" the mixture as fertilizer, the company's managers chose the latter. Later company officials claim under oath that state officials (whose names could not be remembered) had told them it was OK to dump the waste as fertilizer. The company avoids testing the pond for anything but fertilizers and pesticides. Cenex pays DeYoung to apply the "fertilizer" to his land, and then attempts to dilute it with massive amounts of water. The spreader, Dane Lindemeir, remembers objecting to the spreading of what he was told was a mix of fertilizer, atrazine, and trifluralin, because it didn't look healthy and it didn't make sense to apply both atrazine, which kills beans, and trifluralin, which kills corn, together (28). Later that year, Cenex salesman Nerpel, a friend of DeYoung, tells DeYoung that he should check into the fertilizer. The corn planted hardly grew, and what was grown was sold as animal feed. DeYoung, worried about the liability of the toxic waste, tries to get Cenex to take over the land, which they reluctantly do. Cenex plants Sudan grass, known for soaking up heavy metals, but the "extremely rank stand" of Sudan grass only covers 22 percent of the land (41). Although Cenex claims it will not sell the grass, its Quincy manager John Williams sells it to a neighbor for her horses. Several of the horses die. Meanwhile, DeYoung hires lawyers, but does not make much headway against Cenex, which has the state government on its side (53). Another farmer purchasing from Cenex, Tom Witte, finds that his fields yielded substantially less, and his cows begin getting cancer. His field man gets muscular distrophy, and in 1991 he files for bankruptcy. This draws the attention of several community members, led by Patty Martin. When Patty Martin calls the EPA, she is confused with Senator Patty Murray and the EPA descends upon the city for a thorough investigation. It finds that the rinsate pond used to dump excess fertilizer and pesticides, and then later sold as fertilizer, has beryllium levels over 6 times toxic levels (1.39 ppm), cadmium over 12 times toxic levels (25.2 ppm), and chromium 3.6 times toxic levels (360 ppm), as well as a variety of other metals and materials. Titanium levels "hundreds of times higher than the highest level of titanium found in uncontaminated soil" (76) are also found in several fertilizer tanks used by the affected farmers. The farmers have their fertilizers and crops tested independently and find that they are full of lead and arsenic (94). Martin and other farmers' families have their children's hair tested, and find high levels of all the metals previously mentioned. The homoepath testing them claims that the families' have the highest levels he's ever seen (121). The affected farmers are largely bankrupted, and lose their court cases. One case loses because a memo to the regional manager saying that Cenex could save $170,000 in hazardous waste costs by selling the waste as fertilizer is discovered too late (82). Instead, in 1995 Cenex receives a $10,000 fine for using a pesticide for an unapproved purpose, which has a maximum penalty of $200,000 (91). It appears to the farmers that having toxic metals in fertilizer is not against the law, although Tom Witte later cites a $1,000 fine for adulterating fertilizers. Alarmed by this issue, Patty Martin runs for mayor. She and her bankrupt farmer friends begin to research the mysterious origin of metals in fertilizer. They eventually discover that the ubiquitous practice of mixing tailings and other industrial waste with fertilizer is an accepted and even encouraged way to recycle waste with some zinc or iron (97). Exploding landfill costs had exacerbated this trend. Patty Martin discovers, for example, a proposed state rule for disposing of cement kiln dust by using it as agricultural lime. They also discover that Alcoa sold waste product as a fertilizer or road deicer through L-Bar, a smaller company. The product received at least two lawsuits in Oregon, where farmers settled out-of-court (105). She also believes that cancer rates are higher in Quincy, but the state toxicologist dismisses her claims, although Martin believes that is because the state tracks deaths, not illnesses, and tracks it by place of death when many of the victims' travel out of county to die in advanced hospitals. Later, five people in Quincy come down with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, and Dr. Ganesh Raghu tells Wilson that this phenomenon strongly suggests environmental factors, as the disease is extremely rare (167). The group contacts Duff Wilson in 1996, and he begins investigating. He finds that most government agencies don't know much about fertilizer, but he's eventually referred to EPA scientist Alan Rubin, "the king of biosolids". Rubin comments in 1997 that while the purely organic, heavily studied and regulated biosolids are vilified, there is "almost no federal regulation on fertilizer" and that "I have never seen a state or federal limit on heavy metals in fertilizer" (105). Wilson discovers that the only group researching these health risks, the Heavy Metal Task Force, was industry-funded despite being established by the state of California. The group was concerned about California's Proposition 65, which required that people be informed if they were being subjected to toxins. However, the group crafted a loophole to get around laws on hazardous wastes. Products were not waste: thus the limits of heavy metals in wastes did not apply to fertilizers, which were products rather than waste (133). One of the particular loopholes is electric arc furnace dust K061 (its hazardous waste ID), which is "simply not considered hazardous waste if it was [is] used to make fertilizer" (154). Wilson and a couple others travel to a meeting held in February 1997. They count 15 industry officials and 5 state officials. The meeting begins with fly ash; one of the men claims that 4 million tons of coal ash and 2.1 million tons of flue dust was recycled into agricultural fertilizer and sold under names such as Lime Plus. Also in attendance is Dr. John Mortvedt, a researcher whose study which found that cadmium did not build up in soils because it was absorbed by growing plants (173). At the meeting, one of the members suggests that Wilson examine Bay Zinc Company in Washington state, a leading manufacturer of the recycled "fertilizer". Before meeting with Dick Camp Jr. of Bay Zinc, Wilson looks online and finds Cozinco, whose founder Kipp Smallwood is concerned about the metals in zinc fertilizers. The company has a comparison table and offers a free test, while claiming that most zinc fertilizers are 3 percent lead (148). Wilson later cites Zinc Nacionale, a Mexican recycling company, as another source of good zinc through high-temperature purification. Wilson reports that the Bay Zinc Company, founded by Dick Camp Sr., is a pioneer in the recycling of industrial byproducts into fertilizer. Dick Camp Jr. recounts that his dad may have been the first to use flue dust from steel smokestacks, which is higher in heavy metals than the previously used zinc skimmings. Wilson finds that in 1988 Camp had been instrumental in creating the loopholes in the which allowed heavy metals in fertilizers to go unregulated. Wilson discovers that between 1990 and 1996 Bay Zinc took in roughly one and a half million pounds of lead, eighty-six thousand pounds of chromium, and nineteen thousand pounds of nickel. However, Wilson notes that Bay Zinc is relatively small in comparison to Alabama-based Frit Industries, the leader, which connected one its major factories to Nucor Steel. Together eight companies process 120 million pounds of industrial byproducts into fertilizer, roughly half of the total zinc fertilizer sold in the country (157). Wilson says this trade is facilitated by state industrial material exchanges (IMEX) and that twenty-six states have them. Later Wilson goes to see what he calls Monsanto Mountain -- Monsanto had decided in 1994 that it no longer wanted the liability of using its industrial byproducts as fertilizer. Wilson finds that there are two major scientists: Dr. John Mortvedt, and USDA scientist Dr. Rufus Chaney. Mortvedt studied the uptake of cadmium by plants and found that in acidic soil, plants absorbed cadmium quickly. He believes that the cadmium amount in the foods was small enough to be safe, and cautions that the soil should be kept alkaline. Chaney disagrees with Mortvedt. Wilson writes that Chaney, an expert in phytoremediation, believes that a high zinc-to-cadmium ratio (at least 100 to 1) is important for avoiding the toxic effect of cadmium. Chaney also notes that "heavy metals persist in surface soils for centuries to millenia in absence of erosive loss" (176). Chasey also brings up a case in Georgia, where over of peanuts were decimated when the pH dropped. The fertilizers had been bought from SoGreen. Wilson is forced to publish the story when he heard that the Seattle Post-Intelligencer is working on it. He says that the New York Times ignored it, and most of the other newspapers relegated it to the last pages, but the story resonated with many people, including experts such as an immunologist, several EPA officials, Congress members, and assorted other people. It also drew the attention of industry, who discuss the ugly details of labeling. Some fertilizer companies, such as IMC Global, become aware of the problem with using these wastes and stop the practice. The Environmental Working Group publishes a report on the issue. Governor Locke of Washington initially seems willing to tackle the problem, but Washington state ends up with an industry-written bill with no labeling requirements (toxicity information would be put on websites) and looser standards than Canada (253). Washington state's new regulations lead to 56 stop-sale orders, 45 denied license applications, and 10 companies with cleaned up materials. One of these stop-sales goes against Siemens AG, which previously sold nuclear fuel processing waste as fertilizer (253). No other state passes a law as strong as Washington. Chaney remarks that keeping the regulations at the state level is the most effective way to block effective regulation. Dennis DeYoung, whose court judgment was overruled gets a retrial in which the jury gets to decide only damages, but a local jurors are sympathetic to Cenex and think DeYoung was just an incompetent farmer, so they award him nothing. Other farmers face similar defeats, and they are denied the right to a class-action lawsuit. |
That Pesky Rat | Lauren Child | 2,002 | The story is narrated by a rat who wishes he could live the life of a proper pet. He visits several friends who are proper pets, including a chinchilla and a cat. However, he doesn't like the way any of them live. In the end, he puts up signs, asking if there is any one who wants a rat as a pet, and goes to a pet store. He is finally taken home from the store by an old man with poor eyesight sees him in the display window and mistakes him for a cat. In the end, the rat says that he doesn't mind pretending to be a cat and that he likes his life as a pet. |
Stop the Train | Geraldine McCaughrean | 2,001 | During the Oklahoma Land Run, Cissy and her parents arrive from the east to settle in Florence Town, a new settlement. Within a few days, it becomes apparent that a local railroad company wants to use the land for itself and attempts to purchase it from the people of the town. The townspeople don't want to sell their land, and after falling foul of the railroad company, the director announces that no trains will stop at the town. Suffering hardship through having no railroad connection, the townspeople decide to make efforts - both legal and illegal - to stop the train that passes through their town. The story documents the life of Cissy as she grows and people in the town struggle to make some sort of living. Rumours of a young girl's death under the wheels of a train sparked a sabotage of the railway removing a length of rail, and blocking the road crossing. Realising what damage to human life they might cause, the townspeople manage to reconstruct the track before the train comes through, thereby averting disaster. Deciding that they should take a more peaceful approach to persuading the trains to stop, the townsfolk hold a fair to show their community off to a trainload of passengers, hijacked by a group of the town's men. Following the success of the Florence Fair, and the overwhelming response from the passengers pressuring the railroad company to stop ignoring Florence, trains begin to stop at the town after that, which allows the town to grow. To pay tribute to the town's new start, and in a gesture of reconciliation towards the railroad company, it is renamed Olive, hence the "Olive Branch Line". The book may be partly influenced by the Enid-Pond Creek Railroad War, and is dedicated to the people of Enid, "who did stop the train". |
The Survivors | null | null | The story takes place in Venice during the autumn of 1973. Detterling, Fielding Gray and Mr. and Mrs. Stern take part in a meeting of the International PEN Club. Tom Llewyllyn and his daughter "Baby" are also attending. Right after the conference the company are told of the death of Lord Canteloupe, Minister of Commerce. Since the lord has lost his son (as told in Sound The Retreat) and his male siblings are dead, Captain Detterling will inherit the title being the closest male relative. Peter Morrison succeeds Canteloupe as minister of Commerce. Tom Llewyllyn mentions that he is waiting for Daniel Mond but does not reveal that Mond is dying and wants to spend his last days in Venice. The company also meets Max de Freville and Stratis "Lyki" Lykiadopolous, who are about to open a casino in the city. With them is a young Sicilian by the name of Piero. Max and Lyki live in Palazzo Albani which they are renting from the absentee owners. Detterling arranges so Tom and Daniel can live in the tower of the palazzo. During a dinner the company discusses the family portraits of the house, including one of an unknown young man. Captain Detterling brings Baby back to England and they become friends. Together with her aunt Isobel, Detterling helps Baby into a school more to her taste. Isobel and Gregory tell Detterling the story of how Baby's mother Patricia ended up in a mental hospital. Piero, who has become friends with Daniel, makes small trips with him, at one time to a monastery on the island called San Francisco del Deserto. While there, Daniel recognizes one of the Franciscan friars as former undergraduate Hugh Balliston (from Places Where They Sing). Balliston deeply regrets his actions of 1967 and has become a monk. Meanwhile, Lyki and Max have troubles with rich Arabs who play with high stakes in their casino, which means the partners must have lots of money at hand. Piero finds an old manuscript from the late 18th century, with part of the story about the Albani family. Fielding Gray discoversd that the young man on the painting is a certain Englishman by the name of Humbert FitzAvon. After having found another manuscript Fielding realizes that FitzAvon, who in 1797 was hanged by a mob of peasants, was son of the first Lord Canteloupe. He had corrupted the Albani family and married a peasant girl he had made pregnant before being lynched. Gray understands that if male descendants of FitzAvon and the girl still live, one of them is really the rightful Lord Canteloupe. With Tom and Piero Fielding heads off to the place where FitzAvon is buried and meets Jude Holbrook, who lives in the area with his mother. With the help of Holbrook the company finds a living male descendant, an imbecile little boy by the name of Paolo Filavoni. No-one wants to reveal the secret since this would mean trouble to Detterling but Piero eventually tells Lyki. Fielding uses the story in a novel but changes the facts radically. Daniel, who has been investigating a tool that has been used in the casino, dies. Piero talks to Hugh who agrees to their burying Daniel on his island. A magnificent funeral procession by boat for Daniel ends the story. The major characters are all participating, except for Fielding Gray and Leonard Percival, who watch the procession from a bridge. Many people from the life of Daniel (and the novel sequence in general) attend too: Robert Constable, Jacquiz Helmut, Balbo Blakeney, soldiers Chead and Bunce, journalist Alfie Schroeder and even Mond's old nemesis, Earl Restarick. During the procession Lyki tries to blackmail Detterling about his title since he needs money. Detterling reveals that Daniel had found out that the instrument he was studying is used for cheating in the casino. Detterling promises to keep quiet about this if Lyki does the same. The funeral ends and the participants strike up small conversations in their boats on the way back. Only Piero, who is about to become a friar himself, notices a black stain spreading across the water of the lagoon. |
Operación Masacre | Rodolfo Walsh | null | The novel details the Jose León Suárez massacre, which involved the 1956 capture and shooting of Peronist militants, including rebel leader Juan José Valle. These events followed a 1955 military coup, known as the Revolución Libertadora, which deposed Argentine president Juan Perón and eventually brought the hard-line general Pedro Eugenio Aramburu to power. |
Songs of the Humpback Whale | Jodi Picoult | 1,991 | Jane Jones, a speech pathologist, has been married to Oliver Jones for almost twenty years. Together, they have a teenage daughter named Rebecca. Oliver, a world-renowned marine biologist, has a history of being emotionally abusive and unavailable. After an argument that culminated in Jane slapping Oliver, Jane calls her brother, Joley, who is living and working on an apple orchard in Massachusetts. Through a series of letters, he guides her and Rebecca across the country until they are reunited, while Oliver begins tracking them down. The orchard is owned by Sam, who employs and lodges his friend, Hadley, as well as Jane's brother, Joley. Soon, Jane and Sam begin an affair, and a relationship develops between Rebecca and Hadley. This is controversial, because Hadley is 25 and Rebecca is 15 (Jane is 35 and Sam is 25). Jane is worried about Rebecca and persuades Sam to chase Hadley away. Sam agrees reluctantly. Eventually, Oliver is able to track Jane and Rebecca to the orchard. He arrives there with the intention of bringing them back to San Diego. However, Rebecca, afraid of being separated from Hadley, runs away to his mother's house where he is staying. They are discovered one morning on top of a mountain and confronted by Oliver, along with Sam and a park ranger. Hadley falls from the mountain to his death. Sick with pneumonia from spending the night outside, Rebecca has no choice but to return to the farm. Confronted with the consequences of her actions, Jane returns home with Oliver and Rebecca. |
Potshot | Robert B. Parker | 2,001 | Spenser is approached by a beautiful blonde widow who wants him to find the identity of the murderer of her late husband. He agrees, but this case will take him away from Boston to Arizona and the resort town of Potshot. Questioning all of the victim's acquaintances yields little information. However, the couple had just recently moved from Los Angeles, so Spenser heads there to talk to their old neighbors. His visit there is very fruitful, but raises as many questions as it answers. Returning to Potshot, Spenser follows-up on what he found out from old neighbors in LA. Meanwhile, he is investigating a band of thugs that live on the outskirts of town in an area called "The Dell". Everyone is convinced that they killed the victim, and had publicly threatened him. "The Dell" gang is led by a man who calls himself The Preacher. He organized the gang from a ragtag group of drunks and junkies. Now, with leadership, they are bullying the townspeople and extorting protection money from local businesses. After a public confrontation with the gang, the town's leaders ask Spenser if he can rid the town of the menace. They agree to pay a healthy sum for the service, so Spenser forms a small private band of mercenaries composed of several associates, most of them criminals or people with criminal backgrounds. But he hires them for their shooting skills, which will be needed for the coming battle. The further Spenser digs, however, he finds that all is not what it seems in Potshot and the killing of the widow's husband may just be the tip of the iceberg of a much larger conspiracy. |
Durandal | Harold Lamb | 1,981 | A Crusader, betrayed by a scheming emperor and pursued by Muslim swordsmen, discovers the sword of Roland. |
Twenty-Six | Leo McKay, Jr. | 2,003 | Set in the fictional town of Albion Mines, Nova Scotia, the novel takes place against the backdrop of a coal mine explosion that kills twenty-six miners, loosely based on the real-life Westray Mine explosion of 1992. Like the real-life incident, the novel's Eastyard mine disaster has themes of government corruption and the greed of the mine operator. The story primarily revolves around the family of Ennis Burrows, a former union organizer. His sons, Ziv - a college drop-out now working at the local Zellers - and Arvel, a miner who has followed in his father's footsteps. Their stories and those of other supporting characters unfold from the novel's beginning with the mine explosion, and working backward to show how the tragedy has fundamentally changed each of their lives. |
Maurice | null | null | In "Part I", a traveller arrives in Torquay, Devonshire. He sees a funeral procession passing by and notices a beautiful, distressed young boy taking part. The traveller goes to a local inn, where a countryman tells the story of Maurice and the late-dead Old Barnet. Old Barnet was a fisherman married to Dame Barnet. She had died a little over a year ago and Old Barnet was distraught; he had no wife to come home to. One day, Maurice showed up and volunteered to help him out around the house while he was out fishing. Poor and sickly, Maurice could not perform difficult tasks, but he was diligent. Old Barnet grew to love Maurice, as did the villagers. "Part II" opens with Old Barnet's brother informing Maurice that he must leave the cottage after one week. Maurice spends his days mourning the fisherman. One day the traveller returns to the village and seeks out Maurice; he stops at the cottage and asks to stay the night. He and Maurice talk and Maurice tells of his plans to leave the cottage and find work on a farm. He also tells the traveller of his poor family and how he does not want to be a bother to them, revealing that his father used to beat him because he did not believe Maurice was really ill. The traveller and Maurice sit together, enjoying nature, and discuss the pleasures of country life and reading. The traveller offers to care for Maurice and to educate him. The traveller explains in "Part III" how he is the son of an Oxford mathematics professor. When young, he loved to read outdoors and wanted to know how the world worked. He became an architect and travelled throughout Europe. Eventually he married a lovely woman with whom he had a son, Henry. One day the couple left their son with his nurse during an outing and she fell asleep. When they returned, their son was gone, and he could not be found. The traveller spent years searching the countryside for his son; one day he met the woman, Dame Smithson, who had stolen his son. To please her sailor husband who wanted a child, she lied to him and said she was pregnant. Before his return, she needed a child, so she stole the traveller's. Unused to the harsh life of a peasant, the child suffered and became sickly. As a result, the woman's husband disliked him and beat him, believing him to be worthless. Hearing this story, Maurice reveals himself to be the traveller's son; he had changed his name to avoid the person he believed to be his cruel father. Overjoyed to be reunited with his son, the traveller buys the cottage for him and they return every once in a while. Maurice is educated, grows up, and travels widely. He returns to see that the cottage has disintegrated; he builds a new one for another poor fisherman's family, beside the lot of the old one. |
Brothers in Arms | Don Perrin | 1,999 | Brothers In Arms begins where The Soulforge left off, after Raistlin Majere has passed the Test of High Sorcery. Raistlin and Caramon Majere have decided to be hired as mercenaries, and are attempting to go to Langtree, the base of the army of Baron Ivor of Langtree. Antimodes goes with them part of the way. On the way, Raislin's horse throws him while fording a river, and Raistlin catches pneumonia. He is taken to Haven, where he is healed by his friend, Lemuel. Antimodes leaves the brothers there. They winter in Haven, setting out in the spring towards Langtree. At the same time, Kitiara uth Matar, the twins' sister, is in Sanction, trying to advance in the ranks of the Dragonarmy. To prove her worth, Ariakas sends her on a special mission: convince the red dragon Immolatus to come to Ariakas in Sanction, where he will receive orders from him. Kitiara succeeds, and the orders are to go to the city of Hope's End, and find the hiding place of the Gold and Silver Dragon Eggs. Meanwhile the twins have joined the Army of the Baron Ivor, and are trained: Raistlin as a war mage by Master Horkin, Caramon as a warrior. They also meet Scrounger, a half-kender and fellow recruit, and forge a friendship with him. Finally, they receive marching orders: the army has been hired by Good King Wilhelm of Blodehelm to destroy the city of Hope's End whose citizens have rebelled against the king. |
The Kill-Off | Jim Thompson | 1,957 | Manduwoc, a small seaside resort town (located "a few hours train-ride from New York City" (6)) has been suffering financially from gradual loss of its tourist trade, and morally from gossip spread by Luane Devore about the seedy activities of the town's inhabitants. Before the murder even happens, numerous characters are viewed as potential suspects, notably the psychotic Bobbie Ashton, whose future was ruined when Luane revealed him as the bastard offspring of a mixed-race relation. Also involved in the potential crime is the suspected hoard of money Luane keeps from her husband Ralph's earnings. When finally Luane is found dead, having fallen down a flight of stairs, the characters scramble to establish their alibis. Ultimately local businessman Pete Pavlov confesses to unintentionally having pushed Luane down the stairs during a confrontation, although he suspects that Luane did not die immediately but was killed by a third person. |
8th Confession | James Patterson | 2,009 | From the bookjacket "As San Francisco's most glamorous millionaires mingle at the party of the year, someone is watching--waiting for a chance to take vengeance on Isa and Ethan Bailey, the city's most celebrated couple. Finally, the killer pinpoints the ideal moment, and it's the perfect murder. Not a trace of evidence is left behind in their glamorous home. As Detective Lindsay Boxer investigates the high-profile murder, someone else is found brutally executed--a preacher with a message of hope for the homeless. His death nearly falls through the cracks, but when reporter Cindy Thomas hears about it, she knows the story could be huge. Probing deeper into the victim's history, she discovers he may not have been quite as saintly as everyone thought. As the hunt for two criminals tests the limits of the Women's Murder Club, Lindsay sees sparks fly between Cindy and her partner, Detective Rich Conklin. The Women's Murder Club now faces its toughest challenge: will love destroy all that four friends have built?" |
Hallucinating Foucault | Patricia Duncker | 1,996 | A postgraduate student writing a thesis on the French writer Paul Michel starts a relationship with the Germanist, a girl he meets in the library, at Cambridge University. She encourages him to look at his biography more closely rather than only focus solely on the texts. They have dinner with her father; later in London he meets Jacques Martel, a friend of her father's who knows Paul Michel. He then decides to move to Paris to find him, and reads his letters to Michel Foucault in the library. He finds out Paul Michel lives in an asylum in Clermont-Ferrand. He arrives there at night and finds accommodation in Romagnat. He starts meeting with Paul Michel. Soon enough, they are allowed to spend whole days out in the gardens. Eventually, they manage to winkle a day outside of the premises. Michel gets attacked by a man in a bar and fights back. He then kisses the protagonist. Michel manages to trick the restaurant into believing they are with the town major and thus get off without being reported for the fight. Paul Michel is later granted two months away from the madhouse since the protagonist's visits have improved his condition considerably. The protagonist drives him down to Nice, where they stay with an old friend of his, Alain Legras, and his wife. During their stay they finally become lovers when Michel reassures the protagonist he needn't worry about his virtue and the protagonist argues asking if his opinion on the matter doesn't count. While the protagonist wants Michel to start writing again as part of his "recovery" Michel is, like the Germanist predicted, unable to do so because Foucault, his reader, is dead. Michel tells him about his relationship with Michel Foucault and claims that their relationship cannot last, that the protagonist must go on to write his thesis about him. Eventually, Michel gets up one night, takes the car and he kills himself, under the influence of drugs and alcohol. Although it is clear to all it was intentional. After the funeral, the protagonist returns to England, writes his thesis and becomes the foremost expert on Paul Michel's writing, but fails to expand on the writer's life. His relationship with the Germanist, who flew to France to help him after the accident and got him through the funeral, ends after that, even though they move in similar academic circles. |
The Long Road Home | null | null | Gabriella Harrison, a child of the fifties suffers abuse from the hands of her mother, Eloise, who explains her abuse as disciplining Gabriella for being so bad. Frequent beatings mar her life. Her father scared of annoying her mother plays a spectator to all the evil happenings. Before Gabbie turns thirteen her father, tired of his wife's constant abuse towards their daughter, leaves. Her mother as always accuses Gabbie's badness for her father's departure. She says it's only because of her badness that her parents hate her, and that is exactly why her father has left them. Gabbie is then gotten rid of at a nunnery to finish out her education by her mother so she can abandon the biggest disappointment in her life. While there, Gabriella decides she wants to become a nun. In the course of being a postulant, she falls in love with a priest, Father Joe Connors. They want to move in to the real world to live their life loving each other, but the priest is not confident about making it in the real world for Gabbie and the symbol of their love growing in Gabbie's womb. Incidentally the priest commits suicide with a turmoil for he cannot break the promise made to the brotherhood of serving the needed, and for he cannot live without Gabriella. Gabriella thus loses her love, and then their child in a miscarriage. Ultimately she is compelled to leave the convent for the sin committed. Cast out into society, Gabbie is determined to move on and finds an apartment where the tenants welcome the young woman lovingly, particularly an old professor. Everything seems to be going well; Gabbie has a job at a pastry shop, but loses it when she defends a child whose mother dislocates her arm in a fit of impatience. Eventually she finds a job at a book store whilst buying a Christmas present to her doting friend, the old professor. Gabbie also meets a new tenant named Steve Porter in the boarding house. She initially does not approve of him, but eventually falls for him. She has a long relationship with him. He does not have a job and is constantly after Gabbie to give him money. She obliges, until the day he steals from her. He turns out to be a con artist, wanted by the police for stealing money from several people. When she comes to know of this, he demands she give him most of the money the old professor leaves her when he dies. She refuses to give him any money after learning his true face and about him being responsible for the professor's death. He then beats her up, nearly killing her. Gabbie is taken to a hospital, where she becomes friends with a Doctor Peter presiding over her. They like each other. But before moving on with her life with Peter, Gabriella decides to meet her parents and ask them the long avoided question - why they abandoned her and never loved her. Towards the end of the book Gabbie visits her father hoping to get some answers on why he allowed her mother to treat her so horribly. Her father offers no answer except that he was weak. Gabbie then visits her stepfather and his new wife where it is learned that her mother never changed her bitter ways till the end and even went so far as to verbally abuse her new husband until she died of cancer. At last, after realizing that it was not her fault that her parents never loved her, she lets go of the past and moves on with her life with her new love - the doctor by her side. pt:The Long Road Home fi:Kotimatka (Danielle Steelin romaani) |
The Insatiate Countess | John Marston | null | As the play opens, Countess Isabella is at her house in Venice, where she observes the customary period of mourning for her recently-deceased husband Viscount Hermus. Her state of mind is far removed from what society expects: instead of grieving over her husband's death, she wishes he had died much sooner. She quickly strikes up a new romance with Roberto, the Count of Cyprus; they violate mourning with a sudden marriage. A masque is staged at their wedding feast — and the wanton Countess is attracted to one of the dancers in the masque, Count Massino. She writes him a love letter; they meet and quickly flee together to Pavia. There, Isabella meets Massino's friend Gnaica, the Count of Gazia, and just as precipitously she conceives a passion for him. Gnaica resists her advances at first, unwilling to betray his friend; but the Countess's appeal soon overwhelms his scruples. Massino returns from hunting, only to be denied admission to Isabella's presence. He denounces her uncontrolled lust in satiric verses; she, outraged, solicits Gnaica to kill Massino. The two meet and duel — but soon find that their hearts aren't in the matter. They talk over the situation, and part amicably. Isabella is even more outraged by this, and determines to work the deaths of both men. A Spanish colonel named Don Sago falls in love with her on first sight; she uses him to kill Count Massino. Sago is captured and brought before the Duke of Medina; he confesses fully. As a result, Isabella is condemned to death. Her husband Count Roberto, disguised as a friar, visits her on the scaffold, to offer her his forgiveness and bid her a final farewell. Isabella's lustful career is contrasted with the three virtuous women of the play's subplot. Two foolish citizens, Mizaldus and Clardiana, are determined to continue a family feud begun by their grandfathers; even on their mutual wedding day, the two quarrel in the street. Their new brides, Thais and Abigail, are old friends, and decide to teach their silly husbands a lesson. The two men are not brave enough to fight an actual duel; each tries to gain advantage on his rival by seducing the rival's wife. Thais and Abigail use this circumstance to stage a doubled version of the bed trick that is so common in English Renaissance drama. Both Rogero and Clardiana have sex with their own wives, each mistakenly thinking that he is a successful seducer. Meanwhile, the virtuous widow Lady Lentulus is being pursued by her own would-be seducer, Mendoza Foscari, nephew of Duke Amago of Venice. When Mendoza tries to climb to the widow's balcony, his rope ladder breaks under him. Mendoz is injured in the fall; he crawls away from the Lady's house, and is apprehended by the night watch. The watch assume that the Duke's nephew has been assaulted, and scour the city for suspects; they find Clardiana and Rogero in each other's houses, and arrest them both. The two silly men are ready to be wrongfully condemned, rather than admit publicly that they've been cuckolded (as they now believe); Mendoza, wanting to spare Lady Lentulus dishonor, claims that he was climbing to her apartment to steal her jewels. The exasperated Duke sentences all three men to death, hoping that the move will shock someone into telling the truth. On the day appointed for the executions, Abigail and Thais come forward to explain the double bed trick; their husbands, now realizing that they are not cuckolds, retract their confessions and are released. (Mendoza's part of the story is never resolved.) |
Child of the Northern Spring | Persia Woolley | 1,987 | The novel begins on the night before Guinevere's departure from her home, the kingdom of Rheged to Logres, in order to marry King Arthur. Along the journey, Guinevere recalls scenes from her childhood. Later, Bedivere retells the story of Arthur's ascension as High King, focusing on the events that surround Arthur meeting his father Uther, his investiture of Excalibur by Vivien the Lady of the Lake (and her subsequent death at the hands of Sir Balin) and the subsequent war with King Lot of Lothian. Afterwards, Guinevere retells how the war with Lot affected Guinevere's people directly. The book continues to show episodes of her youth and several proposed offers of marriage, including, among others, Gawain, Uwain, her cousin Maelgwn (who was willing to put aside his own wife in order to marry her), Gildas and King Mark of Cornwall (made on his behalf by his nephew Tristan). Arthur and Guinevere's marriage is a hasty affair, due to an invasion that was timed to coincide with the wedding celebrations, an act attempt at catching Arthur unaware. During this time Guinevere is left with Igraine and Morgan le Fey, the latter leaves when Guinevere discovers her and her paramour Accolon. Following Arthur's return there is the first meeting of the Round Table, which is a suggestion of Guinevere's. |
As It Is Written | De Lysle Ferree Cass | 1,982 | The novel concerns the adventures of Datu Buang who discovers a lost city and battles with ape-like creatures. |
Fair Stood the Wind for France | H. E. Bates | 1,944 | The story concerns John Franklin, the pilot of a Wellington Bomber who badly injures his arm when he brings his plane down in Occupied France at the height of the Second World War. He and his crew make their way to an isolated farmhouse and are taken in by the family of a French farmer. Plans are made to smuggle the them back to Britain via Vichy controlled Marseilles but Franklin's conditions worsens and he remains at the farm during the hot summer weeks that follow and falls in love with the farmer's daughter Françoise. Eventually they make the hazardous journey together by rowing boat and bicycle... |
Behind the Attic Wall | null | null | This is a story about a twelve-year-old girl named Maggie who has been kicked out of many boarding schools and foster homes. She is sent to live with her two great-aunts Lillian and Harriet and her uncle Morris. Maggie is at first rebellious and disobedient. It is not until she ventures behind the attic wall and discovers a pair of dolls that can walk and talk like real people that she begins to change. Maggie is loved unconditionally by her new friends and she in turn learns to love. Not until later do the readers and Maggie find out that the dolls are not ordinary dolls but once were the head mistress and headmaster of the boarding house. |
A More Perfect Union: Advancing New American Rights | Jesse Jackson, Jr. | null | The title of the book comes from the Preamble to the United States Constitution. The preamble includes the phrase "in Order to form a more perfect Union" as the first specifically mentioned purpose of the United States Constitution. The book has several sections. The first four chapters relate autobiographical details to his experience in touring the Civil War battle sites. In the subsequent section, he discusses federalism. In the third section he describes his economic plan. Then, Jackson outlines eight constitutional amendments. In the final section, he discusses achieving these policy goals set forth in the third and fourth sections. On March 4, 2003, Jackson proposed these eight amendments. The book includes full chapters for each amendment. The eight amendments are as follows: #the right to public education of equal high quality; #the right to health care of equal high quality; #equal rights for women; #the right to decent, safe, sanitary and affordable housing; #the right to a clean, safe and sustainable environment; #the right . . . to full employment and balanced economic growth; #the explicit fundamental right of citizens to vote; and #an amendment regarding taxing the people of the United States progressively. The Education Amendment which reads "(1) All persons shall enjoy the right to a public education of equal high quality; and (2) The Congress shall have the power to enforce and implement this article by appropriate legislation," has received public attention for several years. Jackson feels that his amendment is a natural response to San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez, , which determined that an education is not a constitutionally protected fundamental right. An important theme of the book is the North-South relationship as it influences the extent of federalism in the United States. The book describes how from before the Civil War to well after the Civil Rights Movement the balance of power between protectors of state's rights and defenders of the federal government have battled over resources and power along North-South alliances. Jackson is a detractor of state's rights and feels that the extensive power given to states has slowed our broad distribution of social goods by perpetuating inequality and thus unrest. Dyson also notes that Jackson attempts to bring class to the forefront of the discourse in an effort to offer a political vision toward social equity and equality. He says Jackson views race as the lens to optimally view American history and views economic issues as the hearing aid through which the politics of today can best be heard. |
Terminal Freeze | Lincoln Child | 2,009 | The events take place in Alaska, north of the Arctic Circle. Evan Marshall, a paleoecologist, is a team member from Northern Massachusetts University studying the effects of global warming on a receding glacier near the fictional Mount Fear. The expedition discovers a monstrous ancient animal, presumed to be a preserved example of Smilodon populator, frozen in solid ice inside a lava tube made into an ice cave. The expedition's corporate sponsors, sensing huge publicity, decide to have the beast cut from the ice, thawed, and revealed live on television. Meanwhile, local Tunit try to warn the scientists that they do not understand what they have found. Specific warnings are that the animal only exists to kill and that they (the Tunit) do not believe that it is dead. A fanatical documentary producer continues his attempt to capture the events of the discovery, even after the animal exceeds any expectations of its capabilities. (Tunit was the name assigned to the Dorset People in Greenland by the early Thule proto-Inuit. The last Dorset survivors died in 1902 and no Dorset People ever lived in Alaska, being resident in eastern Canada and Greenland.) |
A Ghost in the Machine | null | null | Midsomer resident Dennis Brinkley, an enthusiastic collector of old war machines and torture weapons, suffers a gruesome death after being crushed by one of his own devices. Although his demise is initially regarded as an accident, his best friend Benny believes otherwise, and her suspicions are only confounded by local psychic Ava Garrett, who tells her that she will ask Derek to identify his killer at her next seance. However, the elusive murderer silences her before the event can go ahead, leaving Chief Inspector Barnaby, accompanied by his Sgt Gavin Troy, with two gruesome slayings and an increasingly complex mystery to unravel... |
Hanging Curve | null | null | Mickey Rawlings has just been traded from the NL Cincinnati Reds to the AL St. Louis Browns, a proverbial team on the rise, but is stuck on the bench. Melvin Greene approaches him to play in an exhibition under an assumed name (Mickey Welch) for Enoch's Elcars, a semipro team from East St. Louis, Illinois. Mickey agrees, but comes to regret it after going 0 for 4 with 3 strikeouts against Slip Crawford, a ringer for the Elcars' opponents, the East Saint Louis Cubs, who win the game 9-5 despite several unsavoury incidents. As the Browns open a promising season with victory over the Chicago White Sox, East St. Louis marks the passing of Crawford, apparently lynched by a mob of white men after J.D. Whalen, who looked terrible against him in the exhibition, said he heard him insult a white woman. Most of the Elcars and Enoch are members of the Ku Klux Klan. Mickey is recruited by Karl Landfors and Franklin Aubury to investigate the crime. Rawlings is performing terribly at the plate, is temporarily abandoned by live-in girlfriend Margie Turner after she reveals she had married someone else when she was younger on a dare (and therefore could not marry him), and as worse comes to worst, is suspended for fifteen days after his participation in the semipro game is revealed. But his investigation introduces him to the world of Black America, as revealed in his interactions with Aubury, Bell and other black men. Rawlings' investigations take him to Indianapolis and Evansville, Indiana, even as the Klan try to get him on their side. There are back and forth incidents of retaliation, including the destruction of Enoch's car service, the burning down of Cubs Park and the beating up of Enoch's son. Finally, after a memorable day on the field, Rawlings is beaten with a bullwhip by six Klansmen, prompting him to fight back. Rawlings learns that the reason for Crawford's death leads back to the riots of 1917 in St. Louis. J.D. Whalen, while he thought he was alone, killed a white co-worker, Tim Lowrey, who he thought was muscling in on the chance to succeed Enoch and marry his unattractive daughter Jessalyn. Unbeknownst to Whalen, Crawford saw him do it and at the game, mentioned it to him, causing Whalen to panic and stir up a mob against Crawford to kill him. After confronting Whalen, Rawlings goes to Enoch with his findings and a few days later, Whalen is found dead on the train tracks. |
The Coffin Quilt | Ann Rinaldi | 1,999 | Rinaldi tells the story of the Hatfield-McCoy feud in the late 19th century through the eyes of Fanny, a young female member of the McCoy clan. Set against the backdrop of the Civil War, Rinaldi illustrates the fervent code of honor in the mountains of Kentucky and West Virginia as her protagonist struggles to understand the superstition and loyalty fueling the cycle of violence in Tug Valley. In the end, Fanny must choose between her family and her future to escape the feud. When Fanny’s sister, Roseanna, the “purtiest girl in the county,” has an affair with Johnse Hatfield, the slow brewing hatred between the Hatfield and the McCoys erupts. As the families take the law into their own hands through dubious pacts and midnight raids, Fanny follows her sister Roseanna into a nest of secrets. Pregnant and estranged from her lover, Roseanna sews a coffin quilt to preserve the family members so quickly disappearing from Tug Valley. Fanny disapproves of the quilt despite her loyalty to her sister and evolves from innocent bystander to judicious dissenter as the violence escalates. With the help of her mysterious “Yeller Thing,” Fanny learns to overcome the petty hatred plaguing both families. |
Pygmy | Chuck Palahniuk | 2,009 | The plot revolves around a 13-year-old boy named Agent Number 67 from an unnamed, totalitarian state described as a "mash-up of North Korea, Cuba, Communist-era China, and Nazi-era Germany", as an exchange student to live with an American family from an unnamed Midwestern location as a sleeper agent to execute a terrorist attack on the United States codenamed "Operation Havoc". Nicknamed "Pygmy" by his American family for his diminutive size, he is introduced into the rituals of modern American life such as enrolling in public school, and going to church. On a trip to Wal-Mart with his host brother, in the bathroom he sodomises a bully who had been victimising his host brother. The scene is described in graphic detail. This is only the first of many acts committed by the operative in order to adjust to American life, while preparing with his fellow operatives, also masquerading as exchange students, to execute "Operation Havoc". |
The Elfin Ship | null | null | The story centers on a river trip organized when trading ships with Christmas items inexplicably fail to arrive. Unknown to the heroes, their route downriver to a seaside trading center will take them through areas under siege from evil forces including crazed goblins, malevolent witches, and the sinister dwarf Selznak. Professor Wurzle provides somewhat misguided explanations and histories for events as they arise. The youngest character, Dooly, is given to wild fantasies and stories. This frequently leaves the inexperienced adventurer, cheesemaker Jonathan Bing, with competing and implausible explanations as to what is actually going on. (As the story progresses, it becomes evident that many of Dooly’s apparently wilder statements are true.) Downstream, they encounter Miles the Magician, the carefree link men, and the elves at Seaside running the mysterious elfin ship, which is seen at rare, inexplicable moments. These friends are needed to thwart Selznak’s plans, which are entwined in their own in ways that only slowly become evident. Dooly’s piratical grandfather is hunted down at his fantastic submarine, and forced to reveal his role in assisting Selznak. They decide how to deal with the various threats, Bing, Wurzle, Dooly and Dooly’s grandfather heading back upriver to confront Selznak in his castle lair. |
The Man in the Moon | James Blaylock | 2,002 | The story centers on a long river trip organized when trading ships with Christmas items inexplicably fail to arrive. Unknown to the heroes, their route downriver to a seaside trading center will take them through areas under siege from evil forces including crazed goblins and malevolent witches. Professor Wurzle provides somewhat misguided explanations and histories for events as they arise. The youngest character, Dooly, is given to wild fantasies and stories. This frequently leaves the inexperienced adventurer, cheesemaker Jonathan Bing, with competing and implausible explanations as to what is actually going on. Downstream, they encounter Miles the Magician, the carefree link men, and the elves at running the mysterious elfin ship, seen at inexplicable moments. (Here, the plot diverges significantly from the rewrite, The Elfin Ship. Editor Del Rey described the plot as having gone "haywire".) The heroes from the downriver trip are taken in an elfin airship to the moon. There, amid lush valleys, the elves have a kingdom. They begin to look into the activities of Dooly’s mysterious grandfather, but before significant conclusions are reached, they decide to test the curious object carried by the Professor. Discovered in an elfin ship, and believed by him to be a weapon, it is actually a treasure-hunting device. Following minor misadventures, a treasure is found, and the heroes return home to distribute their shares of the treasure to the townspeople. |
Nerve | null | null | Robert Finn watches a fellow steeplechase jockey blow his brains out in the parade ring at Dunstable races, just before a race. As Finn and the other jockeys cope, some better than others, with the stress of their jobs, other incidents lead him to conclude that someone is trying to destroy the lives of jockeys all over England. Finn is not the average jockey. The only child of famous virtuoso musicians, and the single family member to not be gifted musically, he has followed a different path than that of his family's vocation. He has inherited other skills that will help him as he unravels a sad and warped trail. And he has been remarkably successful jockey for a man with only 2 years experience. Soon, he is the next target. A losing streak that lasts weeks threatens his job until he takes it upon himself to do a little sleuthing, and uncovering the identity of the culprit. Now, Finn wants his revenge, and he takes his time setting it up. |
My Sister Jodie | Jacqueline Wilson | null | Pearl and Jodie are sisters. Jodie, 13, is very protective of her younger sister, Pearl. Jodie is boisterous, mischievous and dresses in a flamboyant manner. Pearl, 10, is shy and loves to read books. She also admires and looks up to Jodie. Their mother and father, Sharon and Joe, decide to move to Melchester College, where they have both been offered new jobs as a cook and caretaker, respectively. Their motivation is to give the girls an opportunity to receive an excellent education. Jodie does not want to move because her mother says she will have to retake Year 8 because her current school is not giving her a proper education. Pearl, however, is glad because she is the victim of constant bullying at her school. She views the move as an opportunity to have a fresh start at a different place. When family moves to the college, Jodie is grumpy and says that she is only joining everyone else because she needs to look after Pearl. Once they reach their destination, Miss French, the school secretary, comes to meet them at the gate. The family seems to like her because of Miss French's friendly nature. On their first night at the school, they meet Mr Wilberforce, the Headmaster, as well as his wheelchair-using wife Mrs Wilberforce. They eat dinner in the Wilberforces' bungalow where Miss French is also an invited guest. As it is the summer holidays, very few students reside at the school. The sisters meet tall, badger-watching Harley, with whom Pearl makes very good friends. They are also introduced to three little children: Zeph, Dan and Sakura. Out of the three, Pearl prefers Sakura. They also meet other members of staff, the under matron Miss Ponsonby ("Undie") and the gardener, Jed. Jodie begins a serious relationship with Jed almost immediately, even though he is five years older than she is. Jodie likes Jed because of his 'bad boy' nature. At first, Jed does not appear to be interested in Jodie. When Pearl turns eleven, she receives several lovely presents. Mrs Wilberforce gives Pearl a manuscript book and tells her that she has to write her own story in it. Harley gifts her with a torch, and they go out to badger watch together every night. One night, much to Pearl's pleasure, they even hold hands. When Pearl comes home, Jodie demands to know what's going on because she gets the wrong idea and thinks that they are being romantic. Pearl tells her they have been watching badgers and did not want her to come because she was too noisy. When term starts, Pearl makes friends with a group of girls: Harriet, Sheba, Freya and Clarissa. She enjoys her lessons and for once in her life, is not bullied. Pearl also continues to do well in her schoolwork. Jodie, however, has a difficult time. The other boys and girls in her year call her a "tart" and make her life miserable. When she goes off into the woods with two boys, her reputation gets even worse, although she tells Pearl she did not do anything with them. Furthermore, Jed the gardener is being romantically pursued by some other girls in Jodie's year. Pearl becomes increasingly concerned about her sister's behaviour. As a consequence of the fact that Jodie's classmates refer to her as a 'Ginger Minger,' Jodie dyes her hair dark black, but it goes wrong and comes out purple. Another unfortunate incident occurs when Jed runs over a baby badger, one of two cubs Pearl and Harley have been watching. When it dies, Jodie, Pearl and Harley are disgusted with Jed's uncaring behaviour towards the badger cub. Jodie dumps Jed for the final time. She soon sees Jed with the cleaner's daughter, Tiffany Colgate. Pearl becomes even more worried when she finds a pregnancy test in the bathroom and confronts Jodie, thinking it belongs to her which Jodie strongly denies. At the Halloween party, Jodie dresses up and plays with the children at the Halloween party. She then takes the little boys back to their dormitory. Pearl takes the little girls to their dormitory and tells them stories about a pumpkin fairy. Jodie, however, conjures up a frightening horror story that scares the little boys to death (figuratively). Many of the boys fall ill and have terrible nightmares. As a punishment for scaring the boys, Jodie has to stand in front of all the children at school and tell them that the 'sad white whispering woman' who lives in the tower is not real. Everyone laughs at her but Jodie does not seem to care. Everyone is being extremely cruel to Jodie. For example, one of her classmates keeps teasing her about the 'sad white whispering woman.' On Guy Fawkes Night (Bonfire Night), Jodie climbs up to the tower and dresses up as the ghost, causing several people (even the seniors) to become frightened. Jodie then realizes that little Dan, for whom Jodie has a soft spot, is very scared. She pulls the dress off and attempts to open the window and call out that it is only her. She tugs too hard, then disaster strikes, and Jodie falls out of the window, breaks her neck and dies tragically. Pearl and her parents are devastated. Newspapers claim Jodie committed suicide (although she did not). They leave Melchester College to live in a flat in London, because they say that they would not be able to face Melchester College ever again. Before they move, Sharon reveals she is having a baby, meaning the pregnancy test was hers. Pearl is not keen at first but soon grows to love her new sister May, even using the book that Mrs Wilberforce gave her to write about the story of her and Jodie, so that May can read it when she is older. At the conclusion of the book, Pearl states that while she will be a good big sister to May, however, she'll never be as good as Jodie. |
The 3 Mistakes of My Life | Chetan Bhagat | 2,008 | Each has a different motive: Govind's goal is to make money; Ishaan desires to nurture Ali, a gifted batsman; Omi just wants to be with his friends. Govind is the narrator and the central character of the novel, and the story revolves around the three mistakes caused by him and the religion |
The Secret Order of the Gumm Street Girls | Elise Primavera | 2,006 | At the start of the novel, Franny Muggs is surveying Gumm Street, scowling at the thought of Pru and Cat when she spots a new family moving to #5 Gumm. She’s immediately intrigued and scurries down her steps to greet her new neighbors. She is greeted by former beauty queen, Pearl Diamond, and her daughter, Ivy. Pearl fusses over a piano arriving as Mr. Staccato introduces himself lavishly with his two dogs, Fred and Ginger. He offers to teach Ivy piano lessons in light of their new instrument. Ivy accepts the offer and quickly makes friends with Franny. Ivy and Franny soon discover a letter tucked into a creepy portrait of Aunt V (the relative that left the Diamond family the house) saying that she faked her death to avoid a run-in with taxes. Pearl excuses it as simply Aunt V losing her marbles and Ivy discards the letter. As the novel progresses, Ivy quickly learns from Franny the social situation on Gumm Street. Pru hates Cat, Cat hates Pru, they both don’t like Franny and Franny doesn’t like either of them. Cat’s stuck-up and thinks she’s “all that” with her ESP and Pru is a coward thinking of nothing but books. Franny points out that Ivy should try her hardest to get into Liverwurst, a class at Sherbet Academy,because she is in Liverwurst. Cat and Pru being the “stuck-up know-it-alls they are” are in Tuna-on-Rye. The origin of this class system goes back to Heironymus Gumm, the founder of Sherbet Academy. He named the classes after his favorite sandwiches: Egg Salad, Bacon Lettuce and Tomato, Liverwurst, and Tuna-on-Rye. Abiding by Franny’s request, Ivy does her best to take the placement test to get herself into Liverwurst. However, when the door opens, she’s introduced to the Tuna-on-Rye class. Cat immediately sees Ivy’s Jinx, freaks out, and is sent out of class because of her disruption. Pru, however, take the opportunity to introduce herself to Ivy, for any enemy of Cat’s is a friend to Pru. Much to Pru’s dismay, she finds that Ivy is too strange too hang out with her group of friends. After learning Ivy made it into Tuna-on-Rye, Franny abandons her and Ivy is once again left alone to curse her Jinx. After a depressing day, she makes it over to Mr. Staccato’s for her first lesson at # 7 Gumm Street. She’s greeted by the strangely human terriers, Fred and Ginger, and first sees the glamorous Ruby-Red slippers from the MGM film, The Wizard of Oz. Mr. Staccato teaches Ivy middle C on the piano because this is where “it all starts” or sometimes “where it all ends.” During the lesson, Ivy learns about Mr. Staccato’s past and his involvement in The Wizard of Oz film. After a few days of misfortune, Ivy discovers that Mr. Staccato’s house is the only place she feels safe and away from her Jinx. Ivy asks Mr. Staccato if, after school everyday, she can clean his house as a job. He agrees and offers that in exchange for teaching her lessons for free. The days slip by until Franny begins talking to Ivy again. She exclaims that she’s going to be in Liverwurst (as a result of Ivy failing Tuna-on-Rye). The time of the ever ominous piano recital comes and Pru plans to beat out Cat and be the star of the whole show. Cat has no worries about the event; only, she’s having uneasy feelings and consults her I Ching. It warns her to pack up and leave town as well as beware of hurricane Cha Cha. She dismisses the warning as ludicrous. She also unknowingly conjures a wizard in a balloon that tells her “Heironymous Gumm... Behind” and to watch out for a backwards tidal wave. On the actual day of the recital, Ivy and Franny are at #5 Gumm and Franny gives Ivy a shirt with “Carpe diem” written on it. Ivy then wishes her hair wasn’t so stringy, and Franny offers to cut it. Unfortunately, it turns out to be a choppy disaster. With no time to fix it, Ivy and Franny whisk off to the recital. The two crash in during Pru’s performance, ruining it, and much to Pru’s horror, Cat uses the opportunity to ridicule her. Ashamed, she storms out of the room. Ivy then gives a lukewarm performance and after going offstage, Pearl spots her is mortified at the sight of her daughter’s new haircut. Misplacing her anger, she takes it out on Franny and demands that Ivy come home. Mr. Staccato scolds Cat for her cruelty towards Pru; shortly after, Cat apologizes along with Franny and Ivy for ruining her performance, but Pru accepts none of it. She vows never to speak to any of the girls again. Humiliated and guilt-ridden, Ivy begins to cry whereupon Mr. Staccato’s tells her, her unique talent: strength. Mr. Staccato also reveals to her the origin of the ruby slippers. He also tells her that she is the true owner of the slippers, also warning her never to give them up. Sherbet’s first hurricane strikes during the conversation. They receive a phone call from Pearl; Ivy speeds off home at the thought of her mother’s wrath, but Staccato has more to tell her. Regardless, she promises to visit him tomorrow. At #3 Gumm, Franny once again observes the street through her binoculars when she spots Mr. Staccato’s form levitating in the sky. He tells her, “You make a better door than a window” and disappears into the stormy clouds. Shocked, Franny wakes up Ivy and tells her the Mr. Staccato’s dead. Shortly after, Fred and Ginger show up on her doorstep crying. The next day, the hurricane dissipates and the two friends make their way over to #7 Gumm. Ivy takes the Ruby Red Slippers. Just then, Cha Cha, a glamorous woman claiming to be Mr.Staccato’s sister, then niece, appears demanding ownership of the shoes. She also threatens to call Judge Gumm if Ivy doesn’t cooperate. Ivy and Franny manage to escape and in Ivy’s room, they discover that the ruby red paint is rubbing off of one of the slippers, revealing its true silver color. Ivy and Franny both realize the seriousness of this predicament and agree to call Pru for help. She refuses to even consider helping Ivy, but at the thought of Cat coming too, changes her mind joins them. Once there, she reads passages from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. They all conclude that Ivy, whose mother’s middle name is Gale, is a descendant of Dorothy, and that Fred and Ginger are related to the famous terrier, Toto. Despite Pru’s protest, they agree to call Cat and ask for additional assistance. However, before she can provide much help, the four Gumm Street Girls hear Cha Cha entering the house. Ivy ushers them into her closet, for she doesn’t wish for them to get into trouble either. Cha Cha, once again, request she hand over the silver shoe, even offering to make Ivy a deal. If she gives her the shoe, she’ll take the Jinx off her hands forever. Holding out still, Cha Cha tries to take them by force and is electrocuted across the room. Cha Cha then discloses she meant to give the Jinx to Pearl in the first place, and threatens to do so now. Backed into a corner, Ivy gives up the shoe. Still unsatisfied, Cha Cha asks where the other one is located. Truly clueless, Ivy says she doesn’t know. Cha Cha makes her exit, as the Jinx becomes one with Ivy’s shadow once again. The closet door opens, revealing a passed out Pru. They’re all abuzz about their situation and Cat suggests that this villainous Cha Cha is the Wicked Witch of the West or someone related to her. Cat then explains how she conjured up the Wizard that said “Heironymus Gumm... Behind.” Pru starts up an argument again, saying that the girls wouldn’t have believed her if she was saying all this. Cat consults the I Ching, which brings more ambiguous bad news. Franny gets excited and says they should start a secret club appropriately named, “The Secret Order of the Gumm Street Girls.” They see the idea as either lame or unimportant. Ivy insists she can handle this on her own, but Franny points out the eye on her hand (which she got from first touching the shoe) and that she has a witch after her! Franny persuades the girls to put their differences aside and ‘stick together’ to help Ivy. Meanwhile, Cha Cha has enchanted all of Sherbet with her stylish clothing and tips on fashion. Even the girls’ parents, including Pearl, find her to be simply fabulous. The Gumm Street Girls all come up with a plan to solve their witch problem once and for all. They pack up a few things in backpacks and disguise an ordinary high heel with silver paint in a false surrender to Cha Cha. At the Colossal Candy Bar, the girls’ plan backfires and Cha Cha ends up trapping them in a champagne-colored Cadillac filled with jellybeans, sending them off in a “backwards tidal wave.” They speculate whether or not they’re going to end up in Oz. Franny, Ivy, Cat, Pru and Fred and Ginger wake up to find themselves in a place called Spoz. The peculiar place is covered ceiling to floor with the color pink. Small pink people they conclude are munchkins walk about ignoring the visitors. The girls realize they’re actually underground with no running water and meet the vicious teens, Bling Bling and Coco. They introduce themselves with a string of insults and their title as Cha Cha’s nieces (or the Wicked Witch of the West's daughters). The sisters find themselves in a predicament as well. Without Cha Cha, their beauty and “visibly firm skin” will all disappear and are not content with waiting until their aunt returns. Both are eager to try the Beautyliator, an odd machine used to transform raisins into grapes, on humans. Unwilling to be insubordinate with Cha Cha, they enslave the girls and send them to harvest potatoes and make French fries for them for the rest of the summer. The four girls and two terriers agree to stick together and see each other through this. With most of the summer worked away peeling potatoes and properly disposing of toenail clippings, the girls’ situation doesn’t seem to be getting much better. One day, Pru is caught by Coco under her bed. Pru is shocked to discover that Coco has transformed into an old hag with many fine lines and thick ankles. In a desperate attempt to save herself from being thrown into the Beautyliator, she offers to go pick up Coco’s vitamins in Spudz (the mysterious place the sisters have been threatening the girls with all summer). However, before Pru can make her daring journey, Cat and she wake to find that Ivy and Franny are missing. It turns out that Ivy decided to face her Jinx once and for all and in doing so, she injures her arm and ends up in the dreaded Spudz. Franny wakened to find Ivy gone and followed after her. Coco grows tired of waiting for their aunt’s return and makes to throw Cat and Pru in the Beautyliator. Cat pushes Coco inside instead and Pru pushes the button for her to be “beautified.” The escapees flee to Spudz after Ivy and Franny. Ivy meets the fearful and unfriendly, Dr. Iznotz, a giant potato with several eyes and roots for hair. He doesn’t give her medicine for her arm nor Bling Bling’s vitamins. He does, however, give her witch vanishing potion, for he fears that Ivy herself is a witch and her Jinx. She asks where she can find the other silver shoe and quickly suggests talking to someone named Maz in Wormz Pock. On her way there, she’s intercepted by Maz and meets up with Franny. Being the motherly spud she is, Maz gives the two girls a thick liquid that tastes like hot chocolate and heals Ivy’s arm. They fall asleep and when Ivy wakes up, she sees Franny eating pancakes exclaiming that Maz knows everything about Staccato, the shoes and even her Jinx! Maz’s story consists of the history of the silver slippers and how they came to be lost in the desert. Her tale also suggests that the shoes are capable of time travel and unknown power. Ivy asks about her Jinx and Maz says that he will never leave her. “Your Jinx dozz not like being a Jinx.” Cat and Pru make their way up a potato mountain with Fred and Ginger in search for their friends when they get into an argument over directions. They temporarily stop speaking to each other and sit in discontent. Under Maz’s instruction, Franny and Pru make their way through the Ooze where they encounter the “zombie” of Aunt V. In the letter, it said she’d faked her death, but it turns out, she met her accidental demise when she electrocuted herself with a fork and toaster. Reminiscent of Cha Cha, Aunt V asks where the shoes are and Ivy refuses to answer. Aunt V proposes that they can be a good team together. Before Ivy and Franny can run off the Jinx grabs Ivy and plunges into the ooze. Franny dives after her. In their silence, Pru discovers that they were close to the “sky” of Spudz. There was a hole in this sky and she asks Cat for a boost. Much to Cat’s surprise, Pru isn’t afraid. Setting their anger aside, they make their way through the discovered tunnel and along with Fred and Ginger, meet up with Ivy and Franny as they shoot out of the ooze. With the six reunited companions together again, they come across light and find a gingerbread cottage with a picture of Heironymous Gumm inside. There, they catch up on what Franny and Ivy have learned from Maz and Aunt V run-in. They also grieve over Mr. Staccato and decide to name the small house “Middle C Cottage” in honor of their piano teacher. After a day of being in Middle C, they find a secret passage behind the picture of Heironymous Gumm (Heironymous Gumm... behind) and at the end of it, a safe just like the one at #7 Gumm Street with the title “What is My Unique Talent?” Ivy asks Franny what Mr. Staccato said to her when his spirit was floating in the sky. “You make a better door than a window.” With the words spoken, the safe opens and inside they find the missing silver shoe. The Gumm Street Girls find themselves in Mr. Staccato’s museum room. Pru finds a newspaper and spots an article on them! Cha Cha had fabricated a story of how the girls were sent off to a special music school for the summer to make sure they weren’t missed. Cha Cha makes her entrance and demands for the shoes. The girls had already prepared the witch vanishing potion, but before it could be used, Cha Cha flings Franny across the room and dumps the potion down the drain. Fred, Ginger, Ivy and the rest run to # 5 Gumm to escape Cha Cha. They smell something burning and realize the house is on fire. Barely making it out, the girls watch the ill-fated house fall on Cha Cha and the Jinx positions himself to attack Ivy. Ivy takes the silver shoes and braces herself. Instead of killing Ivy, the Jinx hugs her and transforms into someone Ivy hasn’t seen in seven years: her dad. After a week of being back in Sherbet, the Gumm Street Girls rest and prepare for the first day of school. Cat consults her I Ching and it predicts “your work has just begun” while Pru spent the last week of vacation in her room reading books. The reunited Diamond Family found a will of Mr. Staccato’s and discovered that he left his home and all his possessions them. Now, at #7 Gumm, the Diamonds and Fred and Ginger make their home. Ivy, being ever so cautious though, keeps the two silver shoes separated and hidden as Staccato did. The novel ends with the foreshadowing of Bling Bling’s reappearance and the actual reappearance of the suspicious Aunt V. Franny spotted her through her binoculars and immediately called for a meeting of the Secret Order of the Gumm Street Girls the next day. |
Toby Tyler; or, Ten Weeks with a Circus | James Otis Kaler | null | Toby Tyler tells the story of a ten year-old orphan who runs away from a foster home to join the traveling circus only to discover his new employer is a cruel taskmaster. The difference between the romance of the circus from the outside and the reality as seen from the inside is graphically depicted. Toby's friend, Mr. Stubbs the chimpanzee, reinforces the consequences of what happens when one follows one's natural instincts rather than one's intellect and conscience, a central theme of the novel. |
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