Looking at the views and experiences of three generations of indigenous Australians, this autobiography unearths political and societal issues contained within Australia's indigenous culture. Sally Morgan traveled to her grandmother's birthplace, starting a search for information about her family. She uncovers that she is not white but aborigine—information that was kept a secret because of the stigma of society. This moving account is a classic of Australian literature that finally frees the tongues of the author's mother and grandmother, allowing them to tell their own stories. Views: 64
After five hundred centuries of war, Velmeran, a Starwolf pilot, plans a daring mission to recover important data that could lead the Starwolves back to their home planet Views: 64
Publisher's WeeklyHer storytelling skills displayed with panache in this captivating historical novel, British author Laker ( The Silver Touch ) should gain an appreciative audience here. Set during the reigns of Louis XIV and Louis XVI, the sweeping saga takes place mainly in the Chateau of Versailles and the surrounding town from which the magnificent edifice took its name. The narrative is enriched with intriguing period details, and beautifully paced with fast-moving events, drama and romance. Spanning four generations, the protagonists are the women of one family, named, in turn, Marguerite, Jasmin, Violette and Rose, all of whose destinies are entwined with those of their monarchs as well as the dashing men who bring them love and heartache. Involving her heroines in the art of fan-making, Laker interpolates fascinating information about the fashions of the time and the codes of social etiquette. The sybaritic luxuries of the French Court are set against the brutalities of the Huguenot persecution and the barbaric excesses of the Revolution. If the ending is a bit pat, with a destined love affair coming full circle, readers enraptured by Laker's romantic imagination will not care. Literary Guild dual main selection; major ad/promo. Library JournalLaker's paean to Versailles is the story of several generations of two families: the French royal family from the reign of the Sun King through Louis XVI, and that of a fan maker from the nearby village. But the main character is Versailles itself. While not all the action takes place at the palace, it is the focal point of the novel. The novel is also a romance that comes full circle during the French Revolution. In between are great loves and losses, as the fan maker's descendants are drawn into court life and the family fortunes rise. Nicely done and certain to please readers of Laker's earlier books (e.g. , Banners of Silk, The Silver Touch) , as well as win new fans. Literary Guild dual main selection. Andrea Lee Shuey, Dallas P.L. Views: 63
From Publishers WeeklyIn this suspenseful sequel to Go Saddle the Sea and Bridle the Wind , both set in early 19th century Spain, a mature Felix returns, prepared for adventure. Three children have been kidnapped by their father, an escaped political prisoner who is hiding in the mountains. Will Felix be able to free them? Even knowing these are "wild and heartless times" because of King Ferdinand's terrible reign, he agrees to try. The trip will give him a chance to see his love, Juana. From the start, it seems that the little party is being followed. The horses are poisoned, and there are further ominous signs of a plot. Whom can they trust? Have they been sent into a trap? Intrigue is Aiken's stock-in-trade, and there is plenty to be found in this novel. While readers may sense a lack of underlying theme and wish for a greater development of Felix's affection for Juana, they could hardly ask for a more diverting, action-filled plot. As usual, Aiken writes with endless inventiveness and ease. Ages 12-up. Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. From School Library JournalGrade 7 Up A stirring continuation of the adventures of the resourceful orphaned heir who, at 12, ran away from his Spanish grandfather's estate to seek his English father's people in Go Saddle the Sea (Doubleday, 1977; o.p.); and a year later made a shipwrecked return, in Bridle the Wind (Delacorte, 1983). It is a more mature Felix, now 18, who develops an understanding of his responsibilities as he meets physical dangers and political intrigues when his studies are interrupted and his help asked in regaining custody of children kidnapped by their mad fatheran escaped political prisoner. His elderly aunts fear that it is all a political trap to confiscate the estates, as grandfather is a known liberal, whose friends and views are out of favor with the restored monarch turned reactionary. But one member of the rescue party is Juana, the Basque girl whom Felix lovesrespectfully, since she has entered a conventand hopefully, since she has not taken final vows. Full of action, interesting characters, and made-real places, this forms a well-meshed conclusion to earlier episodes and an intriguing glimpse into Spain in the 1820s. (Author's historic notes and reading list are appended.) These books get better with each reading; share them with the adults. Ruth M. McConnell, San Antonio Public LibraryCopyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. Views: 63
Carolus Deene is summoned to a small Kentish village where the presence of a possible coven of witches lends an eerie aura to the presumed “accidental” death of a young local boy a year ago on Hallowe’en. Before his work is completed, Carolus Deene has the answers to this and two other deaths. Views: 63
A screenwriter becomes obsessed with a Hollywood child star murdered in the 1930s. Fifty years after his death he has the idea of making a movie that will bring him back to life. But the mirror he buys from his idol's house is possessed and those who tamper with it risk unleashing a terrible evil that threatens to overwhelm everything in its path...A fascinating tale, full of decadence, obsession and grotesque imagery. Alongside several well staged scenes of horror, there's an intriguing examination of what it might be like to step inside your own mirror-image. An engaging twist on Lewis Carroll's Through The Looking Glass. Views: 63
When Special Investigator Jeff McKeon was called hurriedly back to the Puget City DA's office, it marked the end of a beautiful vacation and the abrupt beginning of an ugly frame. For while Jeff's back had been turned, his political enemies had been busy laying plans to give him a permanent vacation—in jail.This time they had the DA on their side, for the evidence seemed quite foolproof. Jeff, they convincingly demonstrated, was the new front-man for the Syndicate's big push into town.And when Jeff realized he had to tackle the Syndicate itself to disprove that, he knew that his fate now lay in the fickle hands of The Duchess of Skid Row—a gal who had every reason to want him dead. Views: 63
Agastya Sen, known
to friends by the English name August, is a child of the Indian elite. His
friends go to Yale and Harvard. August himself has just landed a prize
government job. The job takes him to Madna, “the hottest town in India,” deep
in the sticks. There he finds himself surrounded by incompetents and cranks,
time wasters, bureaucrats, and crazies. What to do? Get stoned, shirk work,
collapse in the heat, stare at the ceiling. Dealing with the locals turns out
to be a lot easier for August than living with himself. English, August is a comic masterpiece from
contemporary India. Like A Confederacy of Dunces and The Catcher in the Rye, it is both an
inspired and hilarious satire and a timeless story of self-discovery.
Views: 62
With the capital city of Ar under the sway of the beautiful traitress Talena, a ruler placed in power by the Cosian invaders, Tarl Cabot and the Delta Brigade, the members of the underground force sworn to defeat Cos, must call upon the unique talents of master magician Boots Tarsk-Bit to recapture the precious Home Stone of vanquished Ar’s Station. For snatching the Home Stone from the enemy’s grasp may prove the vital ingredient in Tarl’s desperate and dangerous campaign to rouse the people of Ar to fight on to regain their freedom from the hated foe. In Magicians of Gor, Tarl Cabot and his allies must work a unique magic with illusions and sword blades to root out the treachery at the heart of a mighty empire. Views: 62
Johnny and Fergie are worried. Professor Childermass has been acting weird. Very weird. In this sixth Johnny Dixon mystery, the two boys sneak over to the professor's house to investigate, and what they find in the process is more amazing than usual—a talking statue, the ghosts of long-dead Crusaders and a rickety old trolley that turns out to be a time machine.Soon, our three heroes have traveled back to Constantinople in 1453. The Turks are invading and Professor Childermass has taken it upon himself to save the people trapped in the Church of Holy Wisdom. Johnny and Fergie must stop their friend from getting himself killed on his noble but doomed mission but, in doing so, do they risk their own lives? Will they all be lost in the past forever?"Spine tingling." —Publishers Weekly Views: 62
Caught in a radioactive rain storm, Martin Stone finds that he has entered a valley of death--where two flipped-out, murderous gangs are locked in a bloody struggle for control of the people and the land. Advertising in Soldier of Fortune magazine. Views: 61
A sourcerer is born - a wizard so powerful that by comparison all other magic is just mucking around in pointy hats. And his very existence brings the Discworld, which is of course flat and rides through space on the back of an enormous turtle, to the very verge of all-out thaumaturgical war*. All that stands in the way is Rincewind, the failed magician, who wants to save the world, or at least that part of it which contains him. More new characters join the Discworld adventure: Conina the barbarian hairdresser, Nijel the Destroyer (whose mother still makes him wear woolly underwear) and possibly the first yuppie genie, who's into lamps as a growth area. This time the adventure goes east, or hubwards, or whatever. It doesn't simply draw heavily on "Omar Khayyam", "Raiders of the Lost Ark", the "1001 Nights" and every Arabian B-movie ever made, it scribbles on them as well. . . * A bad thing Views: 61
"Fitz" Fitzgilbert has survived the battlefield, personal tragedy and economic hardship; now all he wants is peace. He moves into an isolated, ramshackle house built--oddly--on an earthen mound. Then he uncovers a hidden passageway beneath the house and falls into another world. Views: 61
Fourteen-year-old Valentine Marsh has always known about her grandmother's remarkable magic powers. Val hasn't let her belief in Granny Gran's sorcery affect her everyday life at home and school, until the day she receives a phone call and a magic silver glove from her grandmother that brings her two worlds together with a crash. A powerful wizard has come to Earth to steal human souls, and Gran has been chosen to defeat him. Val can't believe that the wizard is actually masquerading as smooth-talking Dr. Brightner, her new school psychologist. But when her mother becomes a pawn in his deadly scheme, Val finds the courage to join Gran's fight. Together, armed with magic and the illuminating power of love, they face Brightner's seductive and dangerous illusions. Guided by instinct and urged on by fear, Val uses the silver glove to aid her in her mission— a mission to save not only her family but even the world from the forces of doom.From Publishers WeeklyFans of The Bronze King shouldn't miss this sequel, but those new to the proposed trilogy won't be left out by beginning with this one. Some time after the events of the earlier novel, Valentine Marsh finds herself willy-nilly cutting school, disobeying her mother and trying to save the world again. The threat: sinister Dr. Brightner, who is installed as the new school psychologist the same day Val's magic Gran runs away from her nursing home. A renegade wizard, Brightner is after souls, and he's been trying to get Gran to his clinic for "research." Val is horrified to find that he is trying to seduce her mother, who has long denied Gran's magic and doesn't see the threat. This is a book to relish; told in Charnas's nearly perfect first-person narration, Val's engaging personality of savoir-faire and innocence is judiciously mixed with a flying carpet, a deliciously scary Indian woman and a wonderful final confrontation in Central Park. Ages 12-up. Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. From School Library JournalGrade 5-8 In this sequel to The Bronze King (Houghton, 1985) , 14-year-old Valentine discovers that her grand mother, who has magical powers, has gone into hiding to escape a powerful rogue wizard'' who is stealing human souls to use as soldiers in another world. When the wizard turns up as Dr. Brightner, the new psychologist at Val's school, and begins to date her di vorced mother, Val realizes that she alone can oppose him directly. This she does with the help of a magical glove given her by Gran. The various magical elements, including an Indian Restau rant named after the Goddess Kali and Brightner'sClaw,'' which takes vari ous sinister shapes, do not form a smooth whole. However, the recurring image of a skating rink, on which the assembled souls whirl mindlessly, forms an effective link between epi sodes of the plot, which moves at a good pace. Characterization is lightly but effectively sketched. Brightner's gaining of power over Val's mother by using her loneliness is well-drawn, as is Val's reaction to it. In fact, it is the realistic tensions of this situation which will appeal to readers most strongly. Charnas has done a good job of fitting her fantasy into the everyday world of a young teenage girl. Ruth S. Vose, San Francisco Public LibraryCopyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. Views: 61
