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With a Bare Bodkin

England is in the grip of the Second World War and the Blitz has forced the evacuation of various government offices from London. Francis Pettigrew, an unsuccessful barrister and amateur detective, accompanies his ministry to the distant seaside resort of Marsett Bay where the civil servants must make the best of their temporary home. In this strange atmosphere, Pettigrew begins to fall in love with his secretary, Miss Brown, who is also being courted by a widowed man who is much older than her. Bored and restless, the ministers start playing a light-hearted game of 'plan the perfect murder' to pass the time. Pettigrew, caught up in his love for Miss Brown, remains detached from the silliness - until a real murder happens, and he is drawn into solving the mystery. 'One of the best detective stories published for a long time.' Spectator
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The Pedestrian: A Fantasy in One Act

Рассказ вошёл в сборники: The Golden Apples of the Sun (Золотые яблоки солнца) S Is For Space (К значит Космос) Bradbury Stories: 100 of His Most Celebrated Tales (Сборник ста лучших рассказов)
Views: 222

Bertolt Brecht: Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder 1

Widely considered one of the great dramatic creations of the modern stage, "Mother Courage and Her Children" is Bertolt Brecht's most passionate and profound statement against war. Set in the seventeenth century, the play follows Anna Fierling -- "Mother Courage" -- an itinerant trader, as she pulls her wagon of wares and her children through the blood and carnage of Europe's religious wars. Battered by hardships, brutality, and the degradation and death of her children, she ultimately finds herself alone with the one thing in which she truly believes -- her ramshackle wagon with its tattered flag and freight of boots and brandy. Fitting herself in its harness, the old woman manages, with the last of her strength, to drag it onward to the next battle. In the enduring figure of Mother Courage, Bertolt Brecht has created one of the most extraordinary characters in the literature of drama.
Views: 222

The Rolling Stones

It doesn’t seem likely for twins to have the same middle name. Even so, it’s clear that Castor and Pollux Stone both have "Trouble" written in that spot on their birth certificates. Of course, anyone who’s met their grandmother Hazel would know that they came by it honestly… Join the Stone twins as they connive, cajole, and bamboozle their way across the Solar System in the company of the most high-spirited and hilarious family in all of science fiction. This light-hearted tale has some of Heinlein’s sassiest dialogue (not to mention the famous Flat Cats incident!). Oddly enough, it’s also a true example of real family values–for when you’re a Stone, your family is your highest priority.
Views: 222

Doctor Who and the Dinosaur Invasion

The Doctor and Sarah arrive in London to find it deserted. The city has been evacuated as prehistoric monsters appear in the streets. While the Doctor works to discover who or what is bringing the dinosaurs to London, Sarah finds herself trapped on a spaceship that left Earth months ago travelling to a new world... Against the odds, the Doctor manages to trace the source of the dinosaurs. But will he and the Brigadier be in time to unmask the villains before Operation Golden Age changes the history of planet Earth and wipes out the whole of human civilisation? This novel is based on a Doctor Who story which was originally broadcast from 12 January–16 February 1974.Featuring the Third Doctor as played by Jon Pertwee with his companion Sarah Jane Smith and UNIT
Views: 222

The World of Rosamunde Pilcher

Rosamunde Pilcher's worldwide best-sellers, The Shell Seekers, September, and Coming Home, enchanted millions with their beguiling descriptions of the coasts of Cornwall, the Highlands of Scotland, and the society of London.  Now, in this lavishly illustrated, full-color book, Rosamunde Pilcher invites people to share with her the breathtaking views and tranquil places that have inspired her writing. Rosamunde Pilcher's journey begins in Cornwall where she grew up.  The dreamy villages, stout cottages, and beautiful gardens of her childhood stand out amidst the artists' studios, galleries, and cafes.  This is the landscape that readers of the Shell Seekers, The Empty House, and Coming Home know and love. Then there is the world of September and Wild Mountain Thyme--Rosamunde Pilcher's Scotland.  Her home after marriage, the Scottish hills overflow with heather and clear streams running with trout.  It's a place of country houses and annual balls that preserve the warmth of family and a stately pace of life. London has always been a welcome contrast to Rosamunde Pilcher's peaceful country life: socializing in the elegant Kensington town houses, afternoon tea at the Ritz, and parties in Chelsea are all familiar rituals that evoke the mood of a time now past. With an introduction by the author, snapshots from family albums, mouth-watering recipes from her own kitchen, and extracts from her unforgettable novels and short stories, the World of Rosamunde Pilcher will be treasured by her millions of loyal fans.  Moreover, as with Rosamunde Pilcher's novels, the beautiful places within these covers are testaments to the gorgeous landscape and glorious cultural heritage of Britain.
Views: 220

Hunger

One of the most important and controversial writers of the 20th century, Knut Hamsun made literary history with the publication in 1890 of this powerful, autobiographical novel recounting the abject poverty, hunger and despair of a young writer struggling to achieve self-discovery and its ultimate artistic expression. The book brilliantly probes the psychodynamics of alienation, obsession, and self-destruction, painting an unforgettable portrait of a man driven by forces beyond his control to the edge of the abyss. Hamsun influenced many of the major 20th-century writers who followed him, including Kafka, Joyce and Henry Miller. Required reading in world literature courses, the highly influential, landmark novel will also find a wide audience among lovers of books that probe the "unexplored crannies in the human soul" (George Egerton).
Views: 220

The Warlord of the Air

Suppose that a few of our present inventions had been made earlier, and others not discovered at all? How would the last century have evolved differently? This is the story of Oswald Bastable, a Victorian captain who found himself in such alternate worlds. It is based on notes handed down to Michael Moorcock from his great-grandfather. It's a story of a world of empires secured by airships, and a Chinese genius who invented the means of overthrowing the West's power!
Views: 220

The Secret of the Time Vault

EDITORIAL REVIEW:While Perry Rhodan has been away Allan D. Mercant has succeeded in merging all the secret services of the Earth into the Terran Defense Federation (TDF). Arriving on Terra, Perry Rhodan mans the understaffed STARDUST II and its hunter fleet. Then a call for help arrives from the Vega system. The Topsiders have begun their attack on Rofus, where the Thort is exiled.  John Marshall, who checks out the Thort of the Ferrones, finds out that he is loyal to the Terrans, but concealing something about the material transmitters. The Ferrones did not manufacture them, for they are not capable of thinking in five dimensional terms. They were given to them by beings that live longer than the sun. There is also a reference to the hidden vault on Ferrol, which is locked with five-dimensional locks.  What is... THE SECRET OF THE TIME VAULT?
Views: 220

Kristin Lavransdatter

In her great historical epic Kristin Lavransdatter, set in fourteenth-century Norway, Nobel laureate Sigrid Undset tells the life story of one passionate and headstrong woman. Painting a richly detailed backdrop, Undset immerses readers in the day-to-day life, social conventions, and political and religious undercurrents of the period. Now in one volume, Tiina Nunnally's award-winning definitive translation brings this remarkable work to life with clarity and lyrical beauty. As a young girl, Kristin is deeply devoted to her father, a kind and courageous man. But when as a student in a convent school she meets the charming and impetuous Erlend Nikulaussøn, she defies her parents in pursuit of her own desires. Her saga continues through her marriage to Erlend, their tumultuous life together raising seven sons as Erlend seeks to strengthen his political influence, and finally their estrangement as the world around them tumbles into uncertainty. With its captivating heroine and emotional potency, Kristin Lavransdatter is the masterwork of Norway's most beloved author, one of the twentieth century's most prodigious and engaged literary minds and, in Nunnally's exquisite translation, a story that continues to enthrall.
Views: 219

May We Borrow Your Husband & Other Comedies of the Sexual Life

ISBN 0140030301 Famous author William Harris is spending the fag-end of the season at Antibes finishing his first attempt at historical biography, but he becomes more interested and involved in the antics of two homosexual interior decorators intent on stealing Poopy Travis’s honeymoon husband. Which leaves him free to fall in love with Poopy herself. A widow and a divorcee tipsily discuss the inadequacy of men in general and their husbands in particular, deciding that women have much more to offer each other by way of variety in sexual love. A wife holidays alone in Jamaica’s cheap season idly hoping for excitement but finding the only man she can have an affair with is far too old and frightened of the dark. Affairs, obsessions, grand passions and tiny ardours . . . this collection contains some of Greene’s saddest observations on the hilarity of sex.
Views: 219