Enigma unor crime sângeroase din secolul al XVII?lea, tradi?ii africane aduse de sclavi, o confrerie secret? – toate acestea se împletesc în firul unei pove?ti spuse de diferi?i protagoni?ti, într?un amestec de perspective ?i rase care red? îns??i esen?a Braziliei. Iar deasupra tuturor se profileaz? figura misterioasei regine Jinga.

Bipoláris érzelmi zavar – hangzik a kórházi pszichiáter diagnózisa… Gyógyíthatatlan mentális betegség. Péceli Rita megrémül: ezek szerint élete végéig ?bolond” marad? Rita kezdetben megpróbálja ott folytatni, ahol a diagnózis el?tt abbahagyta. ?m széls?séges érzelmi hullámzásai alatt rossz d?ntéseket hoz, rossz kapcsolatokat k?t, elveszíti szerelmét, és biztos állása, megélhetése is veszélybe kerül. Egy éven belül háromszor kell befeküdnie a pszichiátriára. Rita a sok szenvedés hatására végül úgy d?nt, felveszi a keszty?t, és szembenéz a betegséggel. Vajon siker koronázza-e az er?feszítéseit, és képes lesz-e együtt élni a betegséggel, ha megfogadja segít?i tanácsait? ?lhet-e majd ezután is teljes érték? életet? S ami talán a legfontosabb: megtalálja-e a boldogságot? A regény igaz t?rténet alapján íródott. ?– Talán én nem tettem meg mindent – vallottam be halkan. – ?s félek, nem is fogok tudni megtenni. Pedig nem akarok újra kórházba kerülni. – Látja, most megfogalmazta a célját – mosolygott a szem?ld?két felhúzva Kamilla. – Higgye el, sikerülni fog. Kételkedve sóhajtottam fel, de akkor és ott megmozdult bennem valami. Elt?kéltem: mindent meg fogok tenni, nehogy megint a pszichiátrián k?ssek ki. – Az els? lépés, hogy elfogadják magukat – folytatta a pszichológus. – ?gy, ahogy vannak. A betegségüket. Ne vádolják magukat érte, ne érezzék szégyenbélyegnek, ne tagadják el saját maguk el?l, ha baj van. Maguk ugyanolyan értékes emberek, mint bárki más.”

Egy vicces, olykor megható szerelmes k?nyvet tart a kezében az olvasó. A t?rténetekb?l megtudhatjuk, hányféleképpen lehet n?ként csalódni úgy, hogy annak még a távoli Amerikában, a Szex és New York-sorozat hazájában is híre menjen. S miért a sok koppanás? Mert az ember lánya gyakran minden szerencse és f?leg ?nismeret híján halászgat a zavarosban. Ilyenkor bizony el?fordul, hogy a kiszemelt férfi nem éppen álmaink hercege, csak mi képzeltük róla, hogy ? a nagy ?. Ismer?s a szituáció? Fel a fejjel, azaz talpra, és indulás tovább! A végállomás csakis a boldogság lehet. ?…az el?szoba fel?l kulcsz?rgés hallatszott, majd nevetés harsant, amire vékonyka hang felelt. Egy n? és egy gyerek léphetett be a lakásba. Zoltán egész testében lemerevedett, majd odasúgta Helgának: – Ez Rozi a fiammal. Egy nappal el?bb hazahozta. A francba! Bújj el gyorsan, nehogy meglásson, kül?nben kikaparja a szemedet. Menj ki az erkélyre, én majd behúzom a s?tétít? függ?nyt. – Neked barátn?d van? – tátotta el a száját Helga. – Exbarátn?m, de nem hagy békét. Minden n?t elüld?z mell?lem. Na, menj már ki! Helgának azonban esze ágában sem volt az erkélyen kuksolni, amíg az ismeretlen n? el nem hagyja a terepet. Nekid?lt a konyhapultnak, karjait keresztbe fonta. – T?lem aztán megláthat – mondta kimérten. – ?n nem félek senkit?l, és senki el?l nem fogok bujkálni. – Ha neked esik, magadra vess – vetette oda a férfi idegesen. – ?n el?re szóltam.”

National Book Critics Circle Award 2005 pentru carte de nonfic?iune. Premiul pentru Pace Erich-Maria-Remarque, 2001 Carte interzis? ?n Bielorusia ?Explozia reactorului num?rul 4 va deveni cel mai mare dezastru nuclear civil din istoria omenirii. Zona este o realitate ?n toat? monstruozitatea ei. La fel ca ?n cartea SF a fra?ilor Struga?ki, Picnic la marginea drumului, Zona este un infern pe p?m?nt, guvernat de propriile legi. Aici danseaz? lumini deasupra c?mpului, praful ridicat de v?nt are culori ciudate, se nasc copii cu muta?ii genetice, popula?ia a fost evacuat?, regiunea, interzis? ?i p?zit? de patrule militare, dar oameni stranii ?i-au f?cut din Zon? locul ?n care tr?iesc. Ei sunt C?l?uzele reale ?n Zona reactorului de la Cernob?l.“ – Ion M. Ioni?? C?nd fra?ii Arkadi ?i Boris Struga?ki publicau ?n 1972 celebrul lor roman SF Picnic la marginea drumului, nu ?i-ar fi putut imagina, nici ?n cele mai negre vise, c? Zona descris? ?n roman va deveni realitate paisprezece ani mai t?rziu, ?n ?ara lor, URSS. Conform ideologiei oficiale, Zona nu avea cum s? apar? ?n patria sovietelor. Doar URSS construia cele mai sigure reactoare nucleare din lume care ?ar fi putut fi instalate chiar ?n Pia?a Ro?ie, at?t de fiabile erau“. Nu a fost a?a. Pe 26 aprilie 1986, lumea avea s? intre ?n epoca Cernob?l. Explozia reactorului num?rul patru va deveni cel mai mare dezastru nuclear civil din istoria omenirii. Zona este o realitate ?n toat? monstruozitatea ei. La fel ca ?n cartea SF a fra?ilor Struga?ki, Zona este un infern pe p?m?nt, guvernat de propriile legi. Aici lumini danseaz? deasupra c?mpului, praful ridicat de v?nt are culori ciudate, se nasc copii cu muta?ii genetice, popula?ia a fost evacuat?, regiunea, interzis? ?i p?zit? de patrule militare, dar oameni stranii ?i-au f?cut din Zon? locul ?n care tr?iesc. ?O istorie oral? mi?c?toare a catastrofei din 1986 de la reactorul nuclear de la Cernob?l, ?n care curajul fatalist ?i stoic este dublat de un umor incredibil de negru. Jurnalista rus? Svetlana Aleksievici a ?nregistrat o serie de m?rturii pe care le-a prezentat sub forma unor ?monologuri?, ?n stil romanesc, care zugr?vesc imaginea vie a atmosferei generale de nemul?umire de la sf?r?itul perioadei comuniste, ?n care liderilor de partid agresivi, propagandei paranoice ?i mobiliz?rilor haotice li se opun sarcasmul deprimant, g?ndurile amare ?i abuzul de votc?. Rezultatul este o radiografie de neuitat a sufletului rus.“ – Publishers Weekly

Voltak olyan korok, amikor az azonos nem?ek szerelme elfogadott volt. Vajon hogy lehet, hogy most, a 21. században mégse tudunk mit kezdeni ezzel a dologgal? Miért van az, hogy sokan még ma is csak a kül?nbségeket akarják látni, legyen szó akár vallásról, b?rszínr?l vagy szexuális orientációról? Sokan óvtak attól, hogy megírjam ezt a k?nyvet. Azt mondták, nem olyan világban élünk, hogy ilyenekr?l beszélni lehessen. ?n mégis azt hiszem, hogy az emberi érzéseknek, az emberi életek tanulságainak, az ember drámáinak, dilemmáinak és ?r?meinek mindig és mindenkor helye van, mert talán ezek a legfontosabbak az életben. Remélem, hogy ez a k?nyv sokaknak jelent majd segítséget, kapaszkodót és ad er?t, hogy mindenb?l, a legnehezebb élethelyzetekb?l is van kiút. Fenntartásokkal vettem kezembe ezt a k?nyvet. Nem szeretem a klikkesedést, és vallom, hogy akkor lesz majd jó világ, ha nem kell olyan k?nyveknek születnie, mint ez a mostani. De sajnos még kell. ?rz?dik a hangomban a sértettség? Talán én is sebzett vagyok? Nem tagadom. Nem egyszer? mindennap úgy kimenni az utcára, hogy legalább egyszer ne azt halljad: ?Ott j?n az a buzi a tévéb?l!” ?n mégis mindenkinek azt tanácsolom, hogy inkább ugorjon ?ssze a gyomra egy beszólástól, minthogy egész életében ?k?lbe szoruljon a fel nem vállalt élete miatt… Amikor elkezdtem olvasni ezeket az interjúkat, beszippantott, s?t beindított a sok kül?nb?z? hang. Egyre inkább úgy éreztem, hogy az egész rólam szól. Mondatok, gondolatok, apák, anyák, hülye helyzetek, szorongások, szépségek, a vágy titokzatos tárgyai, szex, szemétség, szerelem, szatíra… Heterók, biszexek, melegek és egyéb állatfajták egyaránt megtalálják a saját mondataikat ezekben a sztorikban korra, nemre való tekintet nélkül. Leny?g?z?, hogy megismételhetetlen életeink mennyire ?sszeforrnak a t?bbiek sorsával, mások t?rténetével. Ez villanyozott fel igazán! Mert eszembe jutott az els? ?barin?m” az oviból, meg az ?ikern?vérem” a gimib?l, akivel csókolóztam, és megrémültem, mert tudtam, hogy egészen másra gondolunk csók k?zben. ?s bevillant a torna?lt?z?, ahol hideg verejtékben für?dtem k?vér kisfiúként, mik?zben a nyolcadikos srácok el?ttünk ?lt?ztek át, és disznó vicceket mesélve r?h?gtek. ?s persze el?bújt az emlékeim k?zül a jelenet, amikor Spanyolországba k?lt?ztem, és apám a gyorsforgalmi úton a reptér felé megkérdezte, hogy akkor végül is meleg vagyok-e. ?s persze az anyámnak írt levél Madridból, mert neki mégis inkább tartoztam ezzel a vallomással. Aztán az els? látogatásom a picike melegbárban, biológiak?nyvemmel a kezemben – másnap az ?t?sért feleltem… Meg a nagy csalódásom a ?legjobb barátomban”, akivel a gimiben el?sz?r lefeküdtem. ?s persze eszembe jutott a ?nagy szerelem”, ami ugyanúgy nem tudott normális lenni, ahogy az egész életem sem az. Ugye, hogy ezek a helyzetek nagyjából mindenki életébe behelyettesíthet?k? A melegek csak annyiból ?mások”, amennyiben a t?bbiek annak akarják tekinteni ?ket. Ez a k?nyv azért fontos, mert mindenki megtalálhatja benne azt, ami róla szól. Lakatos Márk

Gyermeknek és feln?tteknek szóló egyetlen mese A kis herceg, a második világháborúban elpusztult s már klasszikusnak számító francia író remekm?ve. Története úgy indul, mint minden Saint-Exupéry-regény, egy repül?kalanddal, de ezúttal a bonyodalom nem a valóságban, hanem a költ?i képzelet világában folytatódik. Egy kisfiú jelenik meg a szerencsétlenül járt pilóta mellett a Szahara magányában, egy kisfiú egy másik bolygóról. S vele együtt feltündököl egy másik világ is, melynek embersége, tisztasága és szépsége sajnos már csak a költészet világából való. És Saint-Exupéry úgy beszéli el kis hercege történetét a maga icipi bolygóján, hogy mindnyájan fájdalmasan megáhítjuk azt az igazabb bolygót, s szívünkbe zárjuk az emberségben nagy kis herceget.

Twenty-seven-year old Anne Elliot is Austen's most adult heroine. Eight years before the story proper begins, she is happily betrothed to a naval officer, Frederick Wentworth, but she precipitously breaks off the engagement when persuaded by her friend Lady Russell that such a match is unworthy. The breakup produces in Anne a deep and long-lasting regret. When later Wentworth returns from sea a rich and successful captain, he finds Anne's family on the brink of financial ruin and his own sister a tenant in Kellynch Hall, the Elliot estate. All the tension of the novel revolves around one question: Will Anne and Wentworth be reunited in their love?Jane Austen once compared her writing to painting on a little bit of ivory, 2 inches square. Readers of Persuasion will discover that neither her skill for delicate, ironic observations on social custom, love, and marriage nor her ability to apply a sharp focus lens to English manners and morals has deserted her in her final finished work.

Káprázatos, borzongtató, lélegzetelállító. T?kéletes. - Meg Rossoff Sally Gardner megd?bbent? regénye egy kegyetlen világban játszódik. Standish Treadwell - akinek kül?nb?z? szín?ek a szemei, és diszlexiája miatt nem tud írni-olvasni sem - egyetlen barátjával, Hectorral átmászik a várost k?rülvev? fal túloldalára, és ráj?nnek, mit rejteget el?lük az Anyaf?ld. Attól a pillanattól kezdve, hogy a két kamasz ráj?n egy óriási titokra, ami kapcsolatban van a Holdra szállással, az életük veszélybe kerül. Száz nagyon r?vid fejezet, t?kéletesen egyedi elbeszélésmódban, mely szinte végighajszolja az olvasót a t?rténeten, mert egyszerre izgalmas és s?tét humorú, lakatlan és borzongtató, gy?ngéd és elragadó. A Hold legs?tétebb oldala eredeti és megindító t?rténet, melyben a barátság és a bizalom az igazi fegyver. Sally Gardner Londonban n?tt fel, ma is ott él. Gyerekként maga is megküzd?tt a diszlexiával, egészen 14 éves koráig nem tanult meg sem írni, sem olvasni. Ikrei születése után kezdett regényeket publikálni, melyek a mágikus és t?rténelmi realizmus egyedi keverékei, stílusuk és témájuk kihívás az olvasóknak, akiket beszippant az általa teremtett világ. Sally szenvedélyesen hiszi, hogy a fiatal olvasókat inspirálni és szórakoztatni kell a k?nyvekkel, mint ahogy azt A Hold legs?tétebb oldala is bizonyítja, melyet számos díjjal tüntettek ki.

As a dense yellow fog swirls through the streets of London, a deep melancholy has descended on Sherlock Holmes, who sits in a cocaine-induced haze at 221B Baker Street. His mood is only lifted by a visit from a beautiful but distressed young woman - Mary Morstan, whose father vanished ten years before. Four years later she began to receive an exquisite gift every year: a large, lustrous pearl. Now she has had an intriguing invitation to meet her unknown benefactor and urges Holmes and Watson to accompany her. And in the ensuing investigation - which involves a wronged woman, a stolen hoard of Indian treasure, a wooden-legged ruffian, a helpful dog and a love affair - even the jaded Holmes is moved to exclaim, 'Isn't it gorgeous!'For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700?titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the?series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date?translations by award-winning translators.

The Sherlock Holmes series read in unabridged form by David Timson is widely regarded as one of the finest. Here, Timson brings his remarkable performance skills to one of Doyle's full-length novels. Holmes and faithful Dr. Watson are summoned to a country house by a coded message. They arrive too late to save a life, but pursue the trail to unmasking the murderer.

Mon Agent Андрея М. Мелехова – третий роман об Аналитике. Как и предыдущие книги серии – Malaria и Analyste – Mon Agent представляет из себя необычную комбинацию приключенческого романа и мистического триллера. Он предлагает читателю не только получить удовольствие от весьма неожиданных поворотов нескольких сюжетных линий, но и задуматься над широким кругом философских, религиозных и мировоззренческих проблем, волнующих современного человека.Действие романа происходит в Лондоне и Москве, в Раю и в Преисподней. Его персонажами являются террористы и агенты спецслужб, герои Библии и герои тайных операций, великие пророки прошлого и политики настоящего, ангелы Божьи и слуги Сатаны, люди и говорящие животные. В произведении нашлось место большой любви и большой ненависти, острой политической сатире и тонкому юмору. Как и все книги Мелехова, Mon Agent написан для тех, кто способен подвергнуть сомнению догмы, стереотипы и предубеждения, кто может рассмеяться, говоря даже о весьма серьёзных вещах. Если вы хотите узнать, чем простые (и непростые!) смертные смогли помочь вдруг начавшим стареть и умирать обитателям Рая и как отнеслись бы сегодня люди к новому пришествию Христа – эта книга для вас, читатель! Вам предлагается новая редакция романа.

Daylight sometimes hides secrets that darkness will reveal—the Martian's glowing eyes, for instance. But darkness has other dangers.... Joseph Heidel looked slowly around the dinner table at the five men, hiding his examination by a thin screen of smoke from his cigar. He was a large man with thick blond-gray hair cut close to his head. In three more months he would be fifty-two, but his face and body had the vital look of a man fifteen years younger. He was the President of the Superior Council, and he had been in that post—the highest post on the occupied planet of Mars—four of the six years he had lived here. As his eyes flicked from one face to another his fingers unconsciously tapped the table, making a sound like a miniature drum roll. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Five top officials, selected, tested, screened on Earth to form the nucleus of governmental rule on Mars.Heidel's bright narrow eyes flicked, his fingers drummed. Which one? Who was the imposter, the ringer? Who was the Martian?Sadler's dry voice cut through the silence: "This is not just an ordinary meeting then, Mr. President?" Heidel's cigar came up and was clamped between his teeth. He stared into Sadler's eyes. "No, Sadler, it isn't. This is a very special meeting." He grinned around the cigar. "This is where we take the clothes off the sheep and find the wolf."

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]

Доля ж?нки в Пакистан? визначена наперед: бути пок?рною дружиною, догоджати чолов?ков? й виховувати д?тей. Але 1997 року народилася ??накша? д?вчинка. Вона хот?ла ходити в школу, носити яскравий одяг ? не ховати обличчя. В цей час владу в ?? р?дних краях, в долин? Сват, захопив ?Тал?бан?. За найменшу провину перед ?законом? терористи карали людей побоями ? нав?ть смертю. Геро?ня ? авторка ц??? книжки розум?ла важлив?сть осв?ти ? боронила права ж?нок, за що й отримала кулю в голову... ?? звуть Малала. ? це т?льки початок ?? ?стор??...