Auzim adesea pe c?te cineva spun?nd, Via?a mea e un roman! Dar c??i dintre noi au curajul s? zugr?veasc? ?n cuvinte ?i s? pun? pe h?rtie ceea ce li s-a ?nt?mplat de-a lungul anilor?Elena Dican este unul dintre foarte pu?inii care ?i-au transformat amintirile ?ntr-un roman. Domnia-sa nu numai c? a trecut testul curajului, dar a ?i dovedit c? are toate calit??ile necesare pentru a duce un astfel de proiect la bun sf?r?it: u?urin?a de a construi scene memorabile, de a da via?? fiin?elor evocate, cre?nd personaje veridice, gata s? sar? din pagin? ?n via?a real?, precum ?i capacitatea de a medita pe marginea celor v?zute, auzite, experimentate ?i rememorate.?n acest fel, scrierea Elenei Dican creeaz? nu un jurnal al vie?ii sale, ci un adev?rat roman, cu toate valen?ele ?i atributele romanului, dar care p?streaz? ?n acela?i timp ?i valoarea de document al vremurilor ceau?iste ?i al vremurilor de azi. Prin mijloacele specifice acestei specii literare, autoarea direc?ioneaz? cu mare pricepere curiozitatea ?i imagina?ia cititorului c?tre mesajul pe care ?l are de transmis.Un mesaj plin de c?ldur?, de umanitate, de ?ncredere ?n via?? ?i de recuno?tin?? pentru ceea ce este frumos ?i atr?g?tor pe aceast? lume.

N?scut ?ntr-o clopotni??, ?ntr-un sat din Alpii Elve?ieni, Moses, fiul unei s?rmane surdo-mute este ?nzestrat cu un auz remarcabil ?i cu o voce la fel de limpede precum sunetul uria?elor clopote sub care a v?zut lumina zilei. Sunetele ?i vor fi harta cea mai de ?ncredere pe parcursul vie?ii sale marcate de muzic?, la ?nceput ?n corul unei m?n?stiri ?i, ?n cele din urm?, pe scenele celor mai de seama teatre din Viena ?i din Vene?ia. Binecuv?ntare, dar ?i blestem, vocea sa angelic? este vocea unui musico, castrat ?mpotriva propriei voin?e, pentru a-i p?stra puritatea ?i limpezimea. Moses ??i va tr?i iubirea pentru o t?n?r? nobil? din Sankt Gallen cu intensitate fidel? ?i tragism, p?n? la cap?t, asemenea lui Orfeu, ?n opera cu care ??i face nea?teptat debutul pe scena, la premiera dirijat? de celebrul Gluck.Adev?ruri sf??ietoare, frumuse?e, arta, ur?, conspira?ii, z?mbete printre lacrimi ?i mai ales sunete care s? exprime emo?ii ?ntr-un limbaj universal… romanul lui Harvell ?nf??i?eaz? o poveste str?lucitoare ?i grav?, c? b?taia ?n amurg a marelui Pummerin, din Catedrala Sf?ntul ?tefan.Roman publicat ?n 12 ??ri.

Prin?i ?ntr?o capcan?, un pu? ?n mijlocul p?durii, doi copii, fratele cel Mare ?i fratele cel Mic, ?ncearc? s? supravie?uiasc? ?i s? g?seasc? o cale de salvare. Timp de s?pt?m?ni ?ntregi, asupra lor se abat suferin?e greu de imaginat: foame, sete, frig, spaim?, o lent? degradare a s?n?t??ii fizice ?i a celei mintale. Limbajul urmeaz? traiectoria acestei degrad?ri, pornind de la concizia rece a ?ocului ini?ial ?i ajung?nd la completa destr?mare a sensului caracteristic? delirului, la poezie desc?tu?at?, la strig?t pur ?n numele tuturor celor prin?i ?n capcan?. Eliberarea din capcan? este prilejul unei izbucniri de violen?? care aduce ?i lumin? asupra situa?iei ini?iale, r?mas? neexplicat? pe tot parcursul calvarului ?ndurat de cei doi copii, dar ?i o bre?? spre realitatea lumii ?n care tr?im. ?– C?nd ie?im afar?, facem o petrecere. – O petrecere? – Da. – Din?aia cu baloane, cu lumini ?i cu pr?jituri? – Nu, din?aia cu pietre, cu tor?e ?i cu e?afoade.“

15 iulie 1988. Emma ?i Dexter se ?nt?lnesc ?n noaptea de dup? absolvirea universit??ii. A doua zi, fiecare va porni pe propriul drum. Unde vor fi ?n aceast? zi peste un an? Dar peste doi? ?i ?n fiecare an care va urma?Em ?i Dex, Dex ?i Em – speran?e ?i oportunit??i ratate, z?mbete ?i lacrimi, certuri ?i ?mp?c?ri, succese ?i e?ecuri – o rela?ie dezv?luit? prin fr?nturi de via?? surprinse ?n aceea?i zi de 15 iulie.Dou?zeci de ani, doi oameni. O ZI.

B?iatul vrea adev?rul…Criminalul vrea s? se distreze…Steven Lamb, un b?iat de doisprezece ani, sap? gropi ?n Parcul Na?ional Exmoor, ?n c?utarea cadavrului unchiului s?u, necunoscut, disp?rut la v?rsta de unsprezece ani. Bunica lui Steven este convins? c? fiul ei nu e mort ?i ?nc? ?l mai a?teapt? s? se ?ntoarc? acas?, ?n timp ce familia se destram? ?n jurul ei. Iar Steven este hot?r?t ca, aduc?nd bunicii oasele fiului ucis, s? refac? leg?turile dintre ei ?i s? dea un sens lumii din jurul s?u.O scrisoare trimis? de copil presupusului uciga? al unchiului s?u declan?eaz? un joc periculos ?ntre un copil disperat ?i un criminal ?n serie aflat ?n ?nchisoare, care se plictise?te. Un joc care va avea mult mai multe consecin?e terifiante dec?t ??i putuse imagina Steven vreodat?…“Bauer dovede?te un talent remarcabil ?n crearea ritmului, a intrigii ?i, cel mai important, reu?e?te s? intre chiar ?i ?n pielea celor mai resping?toare personaje ale sale.“ – Kirkus Reviews“Original, fluid ?i plin de atmosfer?, este un debut care ??i taie respira?ia.“ – Val McDermidPremiul Gold Dagger, 2010Roman publicat ?n 17 ??ri

Romanul Raucho istorise?te povestea t?n?rului cu acela?i nume. Raucho cre?te ?n pampas, admir?ndu?i pe gauchos ?i n?zuind s? ?mp?rt??easc? via?a lor dur? ?i pitoreasc?. Este un copil rebel, c?ruia nu?i place ?coala, dar care descoper? mai t?rziu pl?cerea lecturii ?i ?ncepe s? viseze la Paris, ca to?i tinerii din vremea sa. Fascina?ia este irezistibil? ?i ?n cele din urm? ??i convinge tat?l s??l lase s? plece. Raucho are inima ?mp?r?it? ?ntre dou? pasiuni: pe de o parte ??i dore?te s? duc? o via?? de gaucho ?n mijlocul naturii, iar pe de alt? parte ar vrea s? fie un b?rbat la mod? ?n capitala Fran?ei, cufund?ndu?se ?n vicii care umplu nop?ile albe. ?n pampas viseaz? la Paris, iar la Paris duce dorul meleagurilor natale. Femeile pe care le cunoa?te fac s??i fie ?i mai greu s? ia o hot?r?re.

O noapte ploioas?, ?n Londra. Un ritual de ini?iere din cadrul unei bande se sf?r?e?te cu focuri de arm? ?ntr-o ma?in? care vireaz? brusc pe trotuar ?i plonjeaz? ?ntr-o sta?ie de autobuz. Totul duce la moartea unei victime nevinovate. Dar realitatea este mult mai teribil?…O via?? este distrus? ?i alte trei sunt marcate pentru totdeauna: a t?n?rului care a ap?sat pe tr?gaci, a unui b?tr?n gangster care pl?nuia o r?zbunare mortal? ?i a femeii ?ns?rcinate care se lupt? cu disperare s? descopere adev?rul. Cum se va descurca ea, cu numai dou? s?pt?m?ni ?nainte de a na?te, ?ntr-o lume ?n care moartea este un risc profesional??ntr-un ora? ?n care violen?a poate fi ?nt?mpl?toare sau meticulos planificat?, ?n care bandele de adolescen?i intr? ?n conflict cu cele ale infractorilor de carier? ?i ?n care loialitatea se pl?te?te cu s?nge, orice este posibil.

Aventura lui Arn Magnusson continu?. Al doilea volum al Trilogiei Cruciadelor este o combina?ie incitant? ?ntre adev?r istoric ?i fic?iune, ?ntre riscurile misiunii unui b?rbat ?i peniten?a unei femei, r?scump?r?nd am?ndoi acela?i p?cat. Un amestec de ur? politic? ?i religioas?, pe de o parte, ?i prietenie n?scut? din recuno?tin??, pe de alt? parte.

T?n?rul austriac Oskar Voxlauer ?ncearc? s? scape de ororile r?zboiului. ?n Primul R?zboi Mondial dezerteaz?. Dup? nou?sprezece ani petrecu?i ?n Ucraina, se ?ntoarce acas?, dar nimere?te ?n plin? ascensiune a nazi?tilor, iar r?zboiul ?l ajunge din urm?. Nici ?n p?dure nu poate sc?pa, nici iubirea nu este un refugiu posibil.

Eduard Limonov — rebel politic i comarul cel mai cumplit al lui Putin.“ – The GuardianLimonov nu este un personaj de ficiune. El exist.A fost un haiduc ucrainean; idol al underground-ului sovietic; ceretor, apoi valet al unui miliardar din Manhattan; scriitor la mod parizian; soldat pierdut pe undeva, prin Balcani; i acum, n imensa harababur postcomunist, btrn ef charismatic al unui partid al tinerilor desperados. Personal, se consider un erou, dar poate fi socotit i un ticlos. [...] viaa lui romanesc i periculoas spune ceva. Nu doar despre el, despre Limonov, nu doar despre Rusia, ci despre istoria noastr, a tuturor, de la ncheierea celui de-al Doilea Rzboi Mondial ncoace.“ – Emmanuel CarrèreRoman biografic sau biografie ficionalizat, cartea lui Emmanuel Carrère reconstruiete viaa unui personaj real, ivit parc din paginile unei cri. Un personaj excentric, ambiguu, evaziv i schimbtor, cu o via aproape neverosimil de aventuroas, care i permite autorului s traseze un portret convingtor al Rusiei din ultimii cincizeci de ani i n acelai timp s se lanseze ntr-o explorare uimitoare a paradoxurilor condiiei umane.Ca artist i politician, Limonov e, fr ndoial, unic i complex — un adevrat fenomen rusesc, o reflectare a intensitii neobinuite ce definete viaa n Rusia. i, aidoma rii din care vine, tocmai contradiciile sale l fac att de viu. – The GuardianIntimist, perspectiva lui Carrère este totodat istoric, ridicnd n jurul eroului su echivoc i temerar o vast i vibrant scen de teatru: URSS-ul izolat din anii lui Brejnev, apoi dezagregarea comunismului i, n fine, aruncarea Rusiei n capitalismul mafiot i ntr-un haos de proporii.Carrère nu-i asum niciodat poziia de judector, ns tie s insereze n amplul su roman de aventuri puternic ancorat n real meditaii profunde asupra destinului att al individului, ct i al civilizaiilor.“ – TéléramaNu mai viseaz la o insurecie violent, ci, mai degrab, la o revoluie portocalie, cum tocmai se produsese n Ucraina. O revoluie panic, democrat, de care se teme cel mai tare Kremlinul pe care e gata s l zdrobeasc prin indiferent ce mijloace. Iat de ce duce viaa asta de om hituit. Cu civa ani n urm, a fost fcut praf cu bte de baseball. Totul a renceput, abia dac a scpat unui atentat. Numele i figureaz n fruntea listei dumanilor Rusiei, adic a oamenilor de suprimat, pe care oficinele apropiate puterii i propun rzbunrii poporului, fcndu-le publice adresele i numerele de telefon. Ceilali de pe list erau Politkovskaia, ucis cu o puc cu aer comprimat, ex-ofierul FSB Litvinenko, otrvit cu poloniu dup ce denunase deriva criminal a serviciilor secrete, miliardarul Hodorkovski, nchis n Siberia pentru c a vrut s se bage n politic. Urmtorul e el, Limonov.

Jum?tatea Rea este primul volum dintr-o trilogie.E pe jum?tate Vr?jitor Alb... pe jum?tate Vr?jitor Negru. Mama lui a fost vindec?toare... tat?l lui e un uciga?. Nimeni nu-l vrea... To?i ?l v?neaz?.Noul hit mondial dup? Jocurile foamei, Harry Potter, seria Amurg.?Periculos de captivant?!“ – Time Magazine?n Anglia zilelor noastre, vr?jitorii tr?iesc la un loc cu oamenii: Vr?jitorii Albi, care sunt buni; Vr?jitorii Negri, care sunt r?i; ?i Nathan, ?n v?rst? de ?aisprezece ani, fiul unei Vr?jitoare Albe ?i al celui mai temut Vr?jitor Negru.?inut captiv ?ntr-o cu?c?, Nathan trebuie s? scape ?nainte s? ?mplineasc? ?aptesprezece ani, c?nd va primi trei daruri de la tat?l s?u ?i va deveni el ?nsu?i vr?jitor – iar dac? va gre?i, va muri.?ncercarea lui Nathan de a-?i g?si tat?l devine o lupt? cr?ncen? pentru supravie?uire, cu provoc?ri la tot pasul ?i ?n care binele ?i r?ul se dovedesc mult mai complicate dec?t ?i-ar fi imaginat.?Sally Green surprinde cu m?iestrie fr?m?nt?rile unui individ captiv ?ntre cele dou? jum?t??i ostile ale propriei identit??i.“ – Publishers Weekly.

Hanna Bota scrie cri ale descoperirii de sine prin Cellalt, prin Ceilali. Aceast mare i veche tem are, n cazul ei, o rezolvare aparte, cci Cellalt este nu doar cel din vecintate, ci i, mai ales, cel de foarte departe, tritor n orizonturi exotice, acolo unde diferena e strident i numai privirea lateral, n mai multele sensuri ale acesteia, poate conduce spre esena uman, spre miezul tare al fiinei. Punnd la btaie, n surprinztoare conexiuni, feluritele instrumente de cunoatere i interpretare pe care le-a acumulat n timp: literatur, etnologie, antropologie cultural, teologie, nu se mulumete cu privirea fix, focalizat, ghidat strict de regulile tiinei sale, ci tenteaz pai lturalnici, sensuri derivate, improvizeaz interdisciplinar, se pune pe sine n locul celuilalt pentru a-i descifra perspectiva, nelinitile, modelul de lume.Ultimul canibal ne purtase n insulele Vanuatu din Pacific. De data aceasta, jurnalul eseistic de cltorie, cu inserii poematice i desfurri epice, rotunjete povestea cutrii de sine prin iubire a Laviniei, tnr muzician romnc, urmrind-o n ara sa, mai nti, n Italia i India, apoi, ntr-o curgere de ntmplri nvolburate, rtcitor-iniiatice, ntre Occident i Orient, cu toate simurile n alert. Apa e motivul central al crii. De la Dunre la Gange, de la lacrim la diluviu, izvor susurnd ori val nfuriat, ea e simbol al vieii, al luptei pentru supravieuire i pentru nchegarea unui orict de firav rost. Tot ea traduce reverii identitare, comaruri negre, tensiuni i crize. Vrtejul explorrii de sine i asum traversarea ntunericului ca singur drum la ndemn spre lumin. Drum desenat n tine ca o hart a direciei ctre comoara de mare pre i ezitnd benefic, n noua i incitanta carte a Hannei Bota, ntre realitate i ficiune, cu irizri fantastice i nenumrate ui (ntre)deschise de-o parte i de cealalt a naintrii destinale.“ – Irina Petra

Un thriller pentru adolescen?i. Un succes interna?ional.Cite?te primul volum al trilogiei Alb?-ca-Z?pada!E cea mai grea iarn? din ultimii ani; str?zile din Tampere, Finlanda, sunt ?nghe?ate ?i acoperite de z?pad?. ?i nimic nu contrasteaz? mai tare cu albul z?pezii dec?t s?ngele.Lumikki Andersson, o adolescent? ?n v?rst? de 17 ani, locuie?te singur? ?i urmeaz? cursurile unui liceu de arte. ?i-a f?cut o regul? din a nu se implica ?n lucruri ce nu o privesc. Totu?i, aceast? regul? este pus? la ?ncercare ?n ziua ?n care Lumikki g?se?te bancnote p?tate de s?nge ?n camera obscur? a liceului.D?ndu-?i seama c? trei elevi de la liceul s?u au un amestec ?n acest incident, Lumikki se treze?te prins? ?n h??i?ul unei afaceri interna?ionale cu droguri. Via?a ?i este pus? ?n pericol.Acum ?i adolescen?ii au o Lisbeth Salander a lor!Lumikki Andersson, eroina trilogiei Alb?-ca-Z?pada, a ?nv??at s? se apere singur? ?i s? nu aib? ?ncredere ?n nimeni. E un lup singuratic ?i o supravie?uitoare. A fost agresat? brutal la ?coal?, iar acum s-a mutat ?n Tampere, unde locuie?te singur?. Lumikki e inteligent?, sarcastic?, are o anume duritate ?i ?i place solitudinea. De asemenea, ?i place s? se lupte corp la corp, s? ?noate ?n ap? ?nghe?at?, s? alerge ?i s? viziteze galerii de art?. A hot?r?t c? nu mai vrea s?-i fie niciodat? fric? de nimic.?Ro?u ca s?ngele d? startul unei aventuri provocatoare, al?turi de Lumikki, o eroin? care calc? pe urmele Larei Croft.“ – Keskisuomalainen?Romanul Sallei Simukka te prinde ?n str?nsoare ca iarna siberian?.“ – goodreads.com?Romanele acestei foarte talentate scriitoare finlandeze, Salla Simukka, au fost o revela?ie pentru mine. Lumikki Andersson, eroina curajoas? a trilogiei, ne poart? ?ntr-o c?l?torie plin? de evenimente nea?teptate, care ne ?nc?nt? ?i ne ?nfioar? deopotriv?.“ – Emily Thomas, editor, Hot Key Books

нод дитяч мр збуваються. Дан Таарт керу найбльшою в кран залзницею. Генк Рарден запроваджу революцйну технологю в металург. Еллс Ваятт перетворю Богом забуту землю на промисловий рай. У хнх руках — наймогутнш корпорац, що вд них залежить доля крани. Вони — сучасн атланти. хня релгя — економка, хня вдповдальнсть — тягар усього свту. Колись вони мряли змнити життя суспльства, а тепер м доводиться чути, що вся хня праця лише помножу несправедливсть. Що всм людям потрбн однаков права можливост. Спершу атланти лише знизували плечима. Але настане той день, коли м остаточно набридне тримати цей свт на свох плечах. вони пдуть.

Mr. Hungerton, her father, really was the most tactless person upon earth,—a fluffy, feathery, untidy cockatoo of a man, perfectly good-natured, but absolutely centered upon his own silly self. If anything could have driven me from Gladys, it would have been the thought of such a father-in-law. I am convinced that he really believed in his heart that I came round to the Chestnuts three days a week for the pleasure of his company, and very especially to hear his views upon bimetallism, a subject upon which he was by way of being an authority. For an hour or more that evening I listened to his monotonous chirrup about bad money driving out good, the token value of silver, the depreciation of the rupee, and the true standards of exchange. "Suppose," he cried with feeble violence, "that all the debts in the world were called up simultaneously, and immediate payment insisted upon,—what under our present conditions would happen then?" I gave the self-evident answer that I should be a ruined man, upon which he jumped from his chair, reproved me for my habitual levity, which made it impossible for him to discuss any reasonable subject in my presence, and bounced off out of the room to dress for a Masonic meeting. At last I was alone with Gladys, and the moment of Fate had come! All that evening I had felt like the soldier who awaits the signal which will send him on a forlorn hope; hope of victory and fear of repulse alternating in his mind. She sat with that proud, delicate profile of hers outlined against the red curtain. How beautiful she was! And yet how aloof! We had been friends, quite good friends; but never could I get beyond the same comradeship which I might have established with one of my fellow-reporters upon the Gazette,—perfectly frank, perfectly kindly, and perfectly unsexual. My instincts are all against a woman being too frank and at her ease with me. It is no compliment to a man. Where the real sex feeling begins, timidity and distrust are its companions, heritage from old wicked days when love and violence went often hand in hand. The bent head, the averted eye, the faltering voice, the wincing figure—these, and not the unshrinking gaze and frank reply, are the true signals of passion. Even in my short life I had learned as much as that—or had inherited it in that race memory which we call instinct. Gladys was full of every womanly quality. Some judged her to be cold and hard; but such a thought was treason. That delicately bronzed skin, almost oriental in its coloring, that raven hair, the large liquid eyes, the full but exquisite lips,—all the stigmata of passion were there. But I was sadly conscious that up to now I had never found the secret of drawing it forth. However, come what might, I should have done with suspense and bring matters to a head to-night. She could but refuse me, and better be a repulsed lover than an accepted brother. So far my thoughts had carried me, and I was about to break the long and uneasy silence, when two critical, dark eyes looked round at me, and the proud head was shaken in smiling reproof. "I have a presentiment that you are going to propose, Ned. I do wish you wouldn't; for things are so much nicer as they are." I drew my chair a little nearer. "Now, how did you know that I was going to propose?" I asked in genuine wonder."Don't women always know? Do you suppose any woman in the world was ever taken unawares? But—oh, Ned, our friendship has been so good and so pleasant! What a pity to spoil it! Don't you feel how splendid it is that a young man and a young woman should be able to talk face to face as we have talked?" "I don't know, Gladys. You see, I can talk face to face with—with the station-master." I can't imagine how that official came into the matter; but in he trotted, and set us both laughing. "That does not satisfy me in the least. I want my arms round you, and your head on my breast, and—oh, Gladys, I want——"

The third novel, The Vicomte de Bragelonne (serialized October, 1847—January, 1850), has enjoyed a strange history in its English translation. It has been split into three, four, or five volumes at various points in its history. The five-volume edition generally does not give titles to the smaller portions, but the others do. In the three-volume edition, the novels are entitled The Vicomte de Bragelonne, Louise de la Valliere, and The Man in the Iron Mask. For the purposes of this etext, I have chosen to split the novel as the four-volume edition does, with these titles: The Vicomte de Bragelonne, Ten Years Later, Louise de la Valliere, and The Man in the Iron Mask. In the first three etexts: The Vicomte de Bragelonne (Etext 2609): It is the year 1660, and D'Artagnan, after thirty-five years of loyal service, has become disgusted with serving King Louis XIV while the real power resides with the Cardinal Mazarin, and has tendered his resignation. He embarks on his own project, that of restoring Charles II to the throne of England, and, with the help of Athos, succeeds, earning himself quite a fortune in the process. D'Artagnan returns to Paris to live the life of a rich citizen, and Athos, after negotiating the marriage of Philip, the king's brother, to Princess Henrietta of England, likewise retires to his own estate, La Fere. Meanwhile, Mazarin has finally died, and left Louis to assume the reigns of power, with the assistance of M. Colbert, formerly Mazarin's trusted clerk. Colbert has an intense hatred for M. Fouquet, the king's superintendent of finances, and has resolved to use any means necessary to bring about his fall. With the new rank of intendant bestowed on him by Louis, Colbert succeeds in having two of Fouquet's loyal friends tried and executed. He then brings to the king's attention that Fouquet is fortifying the island of Belle-Ile-en-Mer, and could possibly be planning to use it as a base for some military operation against the king. Louis calls D'Artagnan out of retirement and sends him to investigate the island, promising him a tremendous salary and his long-promised promotion to captain of the musketeers upon his return. At Belle-Isle, D'Artagnan discovers that the engineer of the fortifications is, in fact, Porthos, now the Baron du Vallon, and that's not all. The blueprints for the island, although in Porthos's handwriting, show evidence of another script that has been erased, that of Aramis. D'Artagnan later discovers that Aramis has become the bishop of Vannes, which is, coincidentally, a parish belonging to M. Fouquet. Suspecting that D'Artagnan has arrived on the king's behalf to investigate, Aramis tricks D'Artagnan into wandering around Vannes in search of Porthos, and sends Porthos on an heroic ride back to Paris to warn Fouquet of the danger. Fouquet rushes to the king, and gives him Belle-Isle as a present, thus allaying any suspicion, and at the same time humiliating Colbert, just minutes before the usher announces someone else seeking an audience with the king. Ten Years Later (Etext 2681): As 1661 approaches, Princess Henrietta of England arrives for her marriage, and throws the court of France into complete disorder. The jealousy of the Duke of Buckingham, who is in love with her, nearly occasions a war on the streets of Le Havre, thankfully prevented by Raoul's timely and tactful intervention. After the marriage, though, Monsieur Philip becomes horribly jealous of Buckingham, and has him exiled. Before leaving, however, the duke fights a duel with M. de Wardes at Calais. De Wardes is a malicious and spiteful man, the sworn enemy of D'Artagnan, and, by the same token, that of Athos, Aramis, Porthos, and Raoul as well. Both men are seriously wounded, and the duke is taken back to England to recover. Raoul's friend, the Comte de Guiche, is the next to succumb to Henrietta's charms, and Monsieur obtains his exile as well, though De Guiche soon effects a reconciliation.

Кра?на стр?мко летить у пр?рву: моторошна криза охоплю? вс? царини людського життя. Псевдовчен? наполегливо пропагують: мислення – це ?люз?я, пошук будь-якого сенсу – абсурд, ? зрештою уряд оголошу? моратор?й на розум. Талано- вит? п?дпри?мц? безсл?дно зникають, кидаючи сво? виробництво напризволяще або знищуючи його. Головн? геро? роману – Да?н? Та??арт ? Генк Р?арден – в?дчайдушно намагаються в?двернути катастрофу. Да?н? переконана, що в кра?н? з’явився та?м- ничий Руйн?вник, ц?ль якого – крах економ?ки ? тотальна деградац?я людей. Ж?нка не покида? над?? в?дтворити досконалий двигун, але перспективний молодий нау- ковець, який погодився допомогти ?й, в?дмовля?ться працювати на благо нев?глас?в. Да?н? не хоче в?дмовлятися в?д свого задуму, тож ?де на зустр?ч з? знев?реним до- сл?дником, а в дороз? знайомиться з волоцюгою. Свого часу в?н працював там, де й зародилося ?чисте зло?, яке зараз пожира? кра?ну… Друга частина роману м?стить блискуч? св?тоглядн? монологи, вкладен? в уста Франциско Д’Анкон?? та Генка Р?ардена.

In 1888 a client, Mary Morstan, comes with two puzzles for Holmes. The first is the disappearance of her father Captain Arthur Morstan in December 1878 and the second is that she has received 6 pearls in the mail from an anonymous benefactor once a year since 1882, since she answered an anonymous newspaper query inquiring for her. With the last pearl she has received a letter remarking that she has been a wronged woman and asks for meeting. Holmes takes the case and soon discovers that Major Sholto — Morstan's only friend who had denied seeing Morstan — had died in 1882 and that within a short span of time Mary began to receive the pearls, implying a connection. The only clue Mary can give Holmes is a map of a fortress with the names of Jonathan Small and three Sikhs, who are named Dost Akbar, Abdullah Khan, and Mahomet Singh. Holmes, Watson, and Mary meet Thaddeus Sholto, the son of the late Major Sholto and Capt Morstan's Army friend who has sent her the pearls. Thaddeus remarks that his father had a paranoid fear of one-legged men and confirms that Mary's father had seen the Major the night he died. That night, in a quarrel about an Agra Treasure, Morstan — who was in weak health — suffered a heart attack. Not wanting to bring attention to the object of the quarrel to public notice, Sholto disposed of the body and hid the treasure. However his own health became worse when he received a letter from India. Dying, he called his two sons and confessed to Morstan's death and was about to divulge the location of the treasure when he suddenly cried "Keep him out!". The puzzled sons glimpsed a face in the window but the only trace was a single footstep in the dirt. On their father's body is a note reading "The Sign of Four". Both brothers quarreled over whether a legacy should be left to Mary Morstan and Thaddeus left his brother Bartholomew, taking a chaplet and sending its pearls to Mary. The reason he sent the letter is that Bartholomew has found the treasure and possibly Thaddeus and Mary might confront him for a division of it. Bartholomew is found dead in his home from a poison dart and the treasure is missing. While the police wrongly take Thaddeus in as a suspect Holmes deduces that there are two persons involved in the murder: a one-legged man, Jonathan Small, as well as another "small" accomplice. He traces them to a boat landing where Small has hired a launch named the Aurora. With the help of his Baker Street Irregulars and his own disguise Holmes traces the launch. In a Police launch Holmes and Watson chase the Aurora and capture it but in the process end up killing the "small" companion after he attempts to kill Holmes with a poisoned dart shot from a blow-pipe. Small tries to escape but is captured. However the iron treasure box is empty; Small claims to have dumped the treasure over the side during the chase.

The book's protagonist is an English scientist and gentleman inventor living in Richmond, Surrey in Victorian England, and identified by a narrator simply as the Time Traveller. The narrator recounts the Traveller's lecture to his weekly dinner guests that time is simply a fourth dimension, and his demonstration of a tabletop model machine for travelling through it. He reveals that he has built a machine capable of carrying a person, and returns at dinner the following week to recount a remarkable tale, becoming the new narrator.In the new narrative, the Time Traveller tests his device with a journey that takes him to A.D. 802,701, where he meets the Eloi, a society of small, elegant, childlike adults. They live in small communities within large and futuristic yet slowly deteriorating buildings, doing no work and having a frugivorous diet. His efforts to communicate with them are hampered by their lack of curiosity or discipline, and he speculates that they are a peaceful communist society, the result of humanity conquering nature with technology, and subsequently evolving to adapt to an environment in which strength and intellect are no longer advantageous to survival. Returning to the site where he arrived, the Time Traveller is shocked to find his time machine missing, and eventually works out that it has been dragged by some unknown party into a nearby structure with heavy doors, locked from the inside, which resembles a Sphinx. Later in the dark, he is approached menacingly by the Morlocks, ape-like troglodytes who live in darkness underground and surface only at night. Within their dwellings he discovers the machinery and industry that makes the above-ground paradise possible. He alters his theory, speculating that the human race has evolved into two species: the leisured classes have become the ineffectual Eloi, and the downtrodden working classes have become the brutish light-fearing Morlocks. Deducing that the Morlocks have taken his time machine, he explores the Morlock tunnels, learning that they feed on the Eloi. His revised analysis is that their relationship is not one of lords and servants but of livestock and ranchers. The Time Traveller theorizes that intelligence is the result of and response to danger; with no real challenges facing the Eloi, they have lost the spirit, intelligence, and physical fitness of humanity at its peak. Meanwhile, he saves an Eloi named Weena from drowning as none of the other Eloi take any notice of her plight, and they develop an innocently affectionate relationship over the course of several days. He takes Weena with him on an expedition to a distant structure that turns out to be the remains of a museum, where he finds a fresh supply of matches and fashions a crude weapon against Morlocks, whom he fears he must fight to get back his machine. He plans to take Weena back to his own time. Because the long and tiring journey back to Weena's home is too much for them, they stop in the forest, and they are then overcome by Morlocks in the night, and Weena faints. The Traveller escapes only when a small fire he had left behind them to distract the Morlocks catches up to them as a forest fire; Weena is presumably lost in the fire, as are the Morlocks. The Morlocks use the time machine as bait to ensnare the Traveller, not understanding that he will use it to escape. He travels further ahead to roughly 30 million years from his own time. There he sees some of the last living things on a dying Earth, menacing reddish crab-like creatures slowly wandering the blood-red beaches chasing butterflies in a world covered in simple lichenous vegetation. He continues to make short jumps through time, seeing Earth's rotation gradually cease and the sun grow larger, redder, and dimmer, and the world falling silent and freezing as the last degenerate living things die out.

Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (1871) is a novel by Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson), the sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865). The themes and settings of Through the Looking-Glass make it a kind of mirror image of Wonderland: the first book begins outdoors, in the warm month of May (4 May), uses frequent changes in size as a plot device, and draws on the imagery of playing cards; the second opens indoors on a snowy, wintry night exactly six months later, on 4 November (the day before Guy Fawkes Night), uses frequent changes in time and spatial directions as a plot device, and draws on the imagery of chess. In it, there are many mirror themes, including opposites, time running backwards, and so on. Short Summary: Alice is playing with a white kitten (whom she calls "Snowdrop") and a black kitten (whom she calls "Kitty")—the offspring of Dinah, Alice's cat in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland—when she ponders what the world is like on the other side of a mirror's reflection. Climbing up on the fireplace mantel, she pokes at the wall-hung mirror behind the fireplace and discovers, to her surprise, that she is able to step through it to an alternative world. In this reflected version of her own house, she finds a book with looking-glass poetry, "Jabberwocky", whose reversed printing she can read only by holding it up to the mirror. She also observes that the chess pieces have come to life, though they remain small enough for her to pick up. Upon leaving the house (where it had been a cold, snowy night), she enters a sunny spring garden where the flowers have the power of human speech; they perceive Alice as being a "flower that can move about." Elsewhere in the garden, Alice meets the Red Queen, who is now human-sized, and who impresses Alice with her ability to run at breathtaking speeds. This is a reference to the chess rule that queens are able to move any number of vacant squares at once, in any direction, which makes them the most "agile" of pieces. The Red Queen reveals to Alice that the entire countryside is laid out in squares, like a gigantic chessboard, and offers to make Alice a queen if she can move all the way to the eighth rank/row in a chess match. This is a reference to the chess rule of Promotion. Alice is placed in the second rank as one of the White Queen's pawns, and begins her journey across the chessboard by boarding a train that literally jumps over the third row and directly into the fourth rank, thus acting on the rule that pawns can advance two spaces on their first move.

In “True Ghost Stories,” Mr. Carrington presents a number of startling cases of this character; but they are not the ordinary “ghost stories”—based on pure fiction, and having no foundation in reality. Here we have a well-arranged collection of incidents, all thoroughly investigated and vouched for, and the testimony obtained first-hand and corroborated by others. The chapter on “Haunted Houses” is particularly striking. The first chapter deals with the interesting question, “What is a Ghost?” and attempts to answer this question in the light of the latest scientific theories which have been advanced to explain these supernatural happenings and visitants. It is a book of absorbing interest, and cannot fail to grip and hold the attention of every reader—no matter whether he be a student of these questions, or one merely in search of hair-raising anecdotes and stories. He will find them here a-plenty! The following little book endeavors to bring together a number of “ghost stories” of the more startling and dramatic type,—but stories, nevertheless, which seem to be well authenticated; and which have been obtained, in most instances, at first hand, from the original witnesses; and often contain corroborative testimony from others who also experienced the ghostly phenomena. Some of these incidents, indeed, rise to the dignity of scientific evidence; others are less well authenticated cases,—but interesting for all that. These have been grouped in various Chapters, according to their evidential value. Chapters II. and III. contain well-evidenced cases, some of which have been taken from the Proceedings and Journals of the Society for Psychical Research (S. P. R.), or from Phantasms of the Living, or from other scientific books, in which narratives of this character receive serious consideration. Chapter V., on the contrary, contains a number of incidents which,—striking and dramatic as they are,—cannot be included in the two earlier Chapters, as presenting real evidence of Ghosts; but are published rather as startling and interesting ghost stories. Chapter IV., devoted to “Haunted Houses,” contains brief accounts of the most famous Haunted Houses, and of the phenomena which have been witnessed within them. Appendix A gives a list of a few of the important “Historical Ghosts,” Appendix B describes the “Phantom Armies” lately seen by the Allied troops in France—while Appendix C lists a number of books of Ghost Stories which the interested reader may care to peruse. A short Glossary, at the beginning of the book, explains the meaning of certain terms used,—which are not, perhaps, ordinarily met with in books of this character. In the Introductory Chapter, I have endeavored to explain, very briefly, the nature and character of Ghosts; what they are; and the various scientific theories which have been brought forward, of late years, to explain Ghosts. I hope that this may prove of interest to the reader; in case it does not do so, he is invited to “skip” directly to Chapter II., which begins our account of “True Ghost Stories.” I wish to express my thanks in this place to the Council of the English S. P. R. for special permission to quote and to summarize several striking cases here reproduced; also to Miss Estelle Stead, for permission to utilize several cases previously printed at length in Mr. Wm. T. Stead’s collections of Ghost Stories. H. C. [Author]