Duellist and gamester, the young Marquis of Vidal had fairly earned the sobriquet 'Devil's Cub' - a tribute to the wilder excesses of his father, the Duke of Avon.When Mary Challoner discovered Dominic's plans to run away with her lovely sister, she donned cloak and mask in a daring impersonation and found herself bound for France with the most notorious rake in Georgian London.The many admirers of These Old Shades will meet some familiar friends.
Sophy sets everything right for her desperate family in one of Georgette Heyer's most popular Regency romances. When Lady Ombersley agrees to take in her young niece, no one expects Sophy, who sweeps in and immediately takes the town by storm. By the time she's done, Sophy has commandeered Charles's horses, his household, and finally, his heart.
Beguiled by promises of wealth, fourteen-year-old Lakshmi leaves her native Ceylon for Malaysia and marriage to a man many years her senior. But Ayah has lied to her and her family about his circumstances and in fact lives in poverty. A woman of formidable energy and intelligence, Lakshmi provides security, if not luxury, for her family, though at a considerable emotional cost. Then the Japanese army invades during WWII. On the eve of peace, her beloved eldest daughter is raped and killed by the occupying army. The family bears deep scars and inflicts those wounds on the next generation. But in Nisha, Lakshmi's great-granddaughter, it is as if Fate has come full circle and the novel ends on a note of reconciliation and hope.
Shakespeare Survey is a yearbook of Shakespeare studies and production. Since 1948 Survey has published the best international scholarship in English and many of its essays have become classics of Shakespeare criticism. Each volume is devoted to a theme, or play, or group of plays; each also contains a section of reviews of the previous year's textual and critical studies and of major British performances. The books are illustrated with a variety of Shakespearean images and production photographs. The current editor of Survey is Peter Holland. The first eighteen volumes were edited by Allardyce Nicoll, numbers 19-33 by Kenneth Muir and numbers 34-52 by Stanley Wells. The virtues of accessible scholarship and a keen interest in performance, from Shakespeare's time to our own, have characterized the journal from the start. For the first time, numbers 1-50 are being reissued in paperback, available separately and as a set.
HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. 'Though this be madness, yet there is method in't.' Considered one of Shakespeare's most rich and enduring plays, the depiction of its hero Hamlet as he vows to avenge the murder of his father by his brother Claudius is both powerful and complex. As Hamlet tries to find out the truth of the situation, his troubled relationship with his mother comes to the fore, as do the paradoxes in his personality. A play of carefully crafted conflict and tragedy, Shakespeare's intricate dialogue continues to fascinate audiences to this day.
Meet Vish Puri, India?s most private investigator. Portly, persistent and unmistakably Punjabi, he cuts a determined swathe through modern India?s swindlers, cheats and murderers.In hot and dusty Delhi, where call centres and malls are changing the ancient fabric of Indian life, Puri?s main work comes from screening prospective marriage partners, a job once the preserve of aunties and family priests. But when an honest public litigator is accused of murdering his maidservant, it takes all of Puri?s resources to investigate. How will he trace the fate of the girl, known only as Mary, in a population of more than one billion? Who is taking pot shots at him and his prize chilli plants? And why is his widowed 'Mummy-ji? attempting to play sleuth when everyone knows Mummies are not detectives?With his team of undercover operatives - Tubelight, Flush and Facecream - Puri ingeniously combines modern techniques with principles of detection established in India more than two thousand years ago -- long before 'that Johnny-come-lately? Sherlock Holmes donned his Deerstalker.The search for Mary takes him to the desert oasis of Jaipur and the remote mines of Jharkhand. From his well-heeled Gymkhana Club to the slums where the servant classes live, Puri?s adventures reveal modern India in all its seething complexity.
Early one morning, on the lawns of a grand boulevard in central Delhi, a group of professionals are attending their therapeutic Laughing Club when a 20-foot apparition of the Goddess Kali apppears, and strikes one of their number dead.The goddess disappears without trace, and soon news of the crime has all India agog.
Oprah Book Club® Selection, September 2000: In the realm of 19th-century literature, social constraints created compelling narratives, but today's relaxed morals challenge the relevance of these classics. The allure of historical novels lies in revisiting a time when a woman's fate could hinge on her choices, with no options for reliable birth control or divorce. Christina Schwarz's gripping debut centers on the themes of silence and stoicism. Set in 1919, following the influenza epidemic post-World War I, the story unfolds in a small Wisconsin town where societal norms remain strict. Amanda Starkey, a Lutheran farmer's daughter, is pressured against marrying a Catholic boy. Later, as a nurse in Milwaukee, she succumbs to a dishonorable man's advances, leading to a nervous breakdown and a return to her family farm. Tragedy strikes when her sister Mathilde drowns under mysterious circumstances. Upon Mathilde's husband Carl's return from war, he finds his daughter Ruth in Amanda's care, who remains tight-lipped about the fateful night. Amanda reflects on her parents' deaths, feeling responsible for transmitting the influenza that claimed them. Schwarz masterfully weaves this grim narrative across decades, consistently returning to Mathilde's death, showcasing her talent for pacing and her commitment to a fitting, albeit harsh, conclusion. --Regina Marler
Attraverso gli occhi e l’anima dell’esteta per eccellenza, uno squarcio brillante e acuto della società londinese dell’epoca, dei costumi e degli ideali artisti che la animavano.
