A Victorian gentleman is forced by illness to entertain himself with the family archive, and he uncovers the Regency-era correspondence and diaries of one Miles Lufton, MP - apparently a black sheep of the family, connected with a scandal long buried. But through the pieced-together artefacts from the past, a fuller picture emerges of a man torn between two personalities - Miles, serious, studious and penniless, and 'Pronto', flirt, political mover and eternal 'extra man'. Miles longs to dispose of his disreputable alter ego, but that way lies calamity... Views: 152
(Knox is a pseudonym for Robert Silverberg.)A classic search for a long-lost, almost forgotton Earth. Views: 151
One of Ngaio Marsh's most ingenious novels. The April Fool's Day had been a roaring success for all, it seemed – except for poor Mr Cartell who had ended up in the ditch – for ever. Then there was the case of Mr Percival Pyke Period's letter of condolence, sent before the body was found – not to mention the family squabbles. It was a puzzling crime for Superintendent Alleyn... Views: 151
An independent island state in the North Atlantic has fallen under the sway of Rolph Mylchraine, a landowner who has gained ascendancy by stage-managing witchcraft orgies and purveying cheap liquor. Opposing him is Keig, a peasant of extraordinary physical strength, resulting in a guerrilla war.In The Strong Man, Keating has produced a unique and original cast of characters to illustrate the fatal tendency of power to corrupt. Views: 151
David Bosworth and Penelope Lorrimer seem to have everything against them. He is a penniless undergraduate at Oxford with a head full of dreams; she is the daughter of a well-to-do Edinburgh family who have great ambitions for her. Nevertheless their friendship defies the gulf between their social backgrounds, and the opposition that they encounter draws them closer than any love more easily won.About the AuthorHelen MacInnes (1907-1985) was the Scottish-born American author of 21 spy novels. Dubbed "the queen of spy writers", her books have sold more than 25 million copies in the United States alone and have been translated into over 22 languages. Several of her books have been adapted into films, such as Above Suspicion (1943), with Joan Crawford, and The Salzburg Connection (1972). Views: 150
Paul Haydn was on his way home at last, to New York and the civilian life he longed for, after years of War. Yet he would never forget the tormented people, desperate for refuge in Berlin. They had survived the War - but now a new, sinister presence threatened them, their families, the whole of society.Now he discovered that, back home, some of his former colleagues had dangerous political sympathies, that someone was trying to discredit the woman he had once loved. The pattern seemed suddenly familiar. He began to realise why there was such interest in his counter-propaganda skills.Review"Electrifying... terrifying" (Chicago Tribune)" About the AuthorHelen MacInnes (1907-1985) was the Scottish-born American author of 21 spy novels. Dubbed “the queen of spy writers”, her books have sold more than 25 million copies in the United States alone and have been translated into over 22 languages. Several of her books have been adapted into films, such as Above Suspicion (1943), with Joan Crawford, and The Salzburg Connection (1972). Views: 149
First published in 1955, The Violent Bear It Away is now a landmark in American literature. It is a dark and absorbing example of the Gothic sensibility and bracing satirical voice that are united in Flannery O'Conner's work. In it, the orphaned Francis Marion Tarwater and his cousins, the schoolteacher Rayber, defy the prophecy of their dead uncle--that Tarwater will become a prophet and will baptize Rayber's young son, Bishop. A series of struggles ensues: Tarwater fights an internal battle against his innate faith and the voices calling him to be a prophet while Rayber tries to draw Tarwater into a more "reasonable" modern world. Both wrestle with the legacy of their dead relatives and lay claim to Bishop's soul.O'Connor observes all this with an astonishing combination of irony and compassion, humor and pathos. The result is a novel whose range and depth reveal a brilliant and innovative writers acutely alert to where the sacred lives and to where it does... Views: 149
Bill Waltham has a sneaking suspicion that a few important details were purposely withheld from him when he receives his assignment to the planet Dilbia. At first, the project - to teach the planet's bear-like inhabitants basic agricultural skills - seems a straightforward, though boring, undertaking for a young engineer on the rise. But Bill immediately senses a very keen hostility from the Dilbians toward interfering humans. And in trying to solve a major crisis on the planet, he finds himself involved in a knock-down, drag-out brawl that has all the undertones of a David-and-Goliath battle revisited. Views: 147
John Dos Passos, the distinguished American novelist and historian has been personally interested in Brazil for the last fifteen years. He first visited the country in 1948, and returned again in 1956 and 1962. This book, which is based on his experiences in Brazil, presents the people and landscapes of a young country on the move. Here you will find several extraordinary reports on Brasilia, first in the planning stage, second in the wildly frantic period when it was a half-finished group of buildings, and, finally, as it appeared to Mr. Dos Passos in the summer of 1962 when it was at last beginning to function as a city. Here, too, is the story of Brazil's great road building program designed to unify the country, and of the political battles in this enormous country which totters on the verge of a Communist takeover.From traveling the length and breadth of the land and from interviewing all kinds of people: politicians like Carlos Lacerda and religious leaders like Bishop Sales, Mr. Dos Passos has been able to transmit some of the flavor of the most important of Latin American nations.Mr. Dos Passos himself is of Portuguese descent, and he speaks Portuguese as well as Spanish. He begins this readable and fascinating book with a much needed short sketch of the history of Brazil and how the Portuguese tradition differs from the Spanish in South America. Views: 147
