Showing results for "Paul Scott" in Literature & Fiction

As The Jewel in the Crown opens, World War II is at its height, and Gandhi is calling for the British to leave. When Daphne Manners arrives in Mayapore, she meets two men who will change her life: Hari Kumar and Ronald Merrick. She begins to fall for Hari, but Ronald Merrick - the local police superintendent - becomes infatuated with her and seethes with hatred for Hari. The Day of the Scorpion finds Merrick worming his way into the Layton family, and his treatment of Hari Kumar is revealed.

In the India of 1942, two rapes take place simultaneously - that of an English girl in Mayapore, and that of India by the British. In each, physical violence, racial animosity, the coercion of the weak by the strong all play their part, but playing a part too are love, affection, loyalty, and recognition that the last division of all to be overcome is the colour of the skin.

Tusker and Lily Smalley stayed on in India. Given the chance to return ‘home’ when Tusker, once a Colonel in the British Army, retired, they chose instead to remain in the small hill town of Pankot, with its eccentric inhabitants and archaic rituals left over from the days of the Empire. Only the tyranny of their imposing landlady threatens to upset the quiet rhythm of their days.

Between the end of Frank Herbert's Dune and his next novel, Dune Messiah, lies a mystery: how a hero adored by a planet became a tyrant hated by a universe. Paul of Dune begins the story of those 12 fateful years and the wars of the jihad of Paul Muad'Dib. It is an epic of battle and betrayal; of love and idealism; of ambition and intrigue. Above all, it is the story of how Paul Atreides - who achieved absolute power when scarcely more than a boy - changes from an idealist into a dictator who is the prisoner of the bureaucrats and fanatics who surround him.

Melanie Hoskins, an experienced firefighter-paramedic, has been recruited by a very selective and secret organisation known as The Division. Their mission is to protect the populace and secure the continuation of the United States. The Division is only activated at times of dire need. This just so happens to be one of those times. Based in New York City, Hoskins is forced to leave her civilian life and those she loves behind, and join the front line to try to control the 'dollar flu' virus that has been spreading throughout the city.

A royal prince exiled from his country long ago, Theo St. George forged a new life in London's dark and seedy underworld. As a coldhearted mercenary, he's willing to do anything for a price. When he accepts a position as bodyguard to a duke in danger, he finds his true opponent in the nobleman's prim and icy sister. Pamela, Lady Deering, has been forced to accept her brother's generosity after the death of her husband. One of society's irreproachable pillars, the last thing she needs is to dally with a sinfully handsome bodyguard called Beast.

In the Micronesian Islands, a top-secret US undersea lab vanishes . . .At the same time, off Bermuda, a bathysphere operated by NUMA and overseen by Kurt Austin is attacked and becomes stranded half a mile below the surface. Only quick thinking and bold action will save the crew - which includes the head of a certain, now-missing undersea lab - from a watery grave.

After his son gives him a pair of "X-ray" glasses as a gift, Martin Blackstone tries them on just for the hell of it - and all they do is give him a headache...until he sees things he can’t possibly be seeing. Glimpses of things on the other side of a wall or beneath someone’s clothing. He wants to believe it’s just his overactive imagination, but the “X-ray” specs actually work.

Iraq, 2003: in the post-war looting of the treasures from Baghdad's antiquities museum, a legendary Phoenicean statue is stolen . . .Known as the Navigator, the statue points back to the days of King Solomon and is the vital clue to a secret of unimaginable power. Lucky then that UN investigator Carina Mechadi recovers it quickly. But a daring raid by helicopter in Iceberg Alley off Newfoundland and the statue is gone again - while Carina is only saved by the timely intervention of Kurt Austin of NUMA.

When the Colonial Marines set out after their deadliest prey, the Xenomorphs, it's what Corporal Hicks calls a bug hunt - kill or be killed. Here are fifteen all-new stories of such "close encounters", written by many of today's most extraordinary authors. Set during the events of all four Alien films, sending the Marines to alien worlds, to derelict space settlements, and into the nests of the universe's most dangerous monsters, these adventures are guaranteed to send the blood racing - one way or another.

Lily Sutton has been running wild for years beneath her siblings’ noses. Born and raised in the rookeries, she is not afraid of anything or anyone. And she is most certainly not cowed by arrogant scoundrels like the owner of London’s most prestigious shop, Bellingham and Co. She is determined to right the wrongs of her world, even if it means resorting to devious methods, such as absconding with some overpriced fripperies and baubles.

John Keats died 200 years ago, in February 1821. F. Scott Fitzgerald defined a decade that began 100 years ago, the Jazz Age. In this biography, prizewinning author Jonathan Bate recreates these two shining, tragic lives in parallel. Not only was Fitzgerald profoundly influenced by Keats, titling Tender Is the Night and other works from the poet’s lines, but the two lived with echoing fates: both died young, loved to drink, were plagued by tuberculosis, were haunted by their first love and wrote into a new decade of release, experimentation and decadence.

From the echo of the first line ‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times’ to the final ‘It is a far far better thing that I do than I have ever done’, Dickens’ classic novel of the French revolution tells a story of the redemptive powers of love in the face of cruelty, violence and neglect.

Inspector Lestrade of Scotland Yard was made to look a fool in the Sherlock Holmes stories. Now he gets his own back, introducing 16 tales of detectives whose abilities rival that of the great Sherlock Holmes.

This magisterial collection of short works by Nobel Prize-winning author William Faulkner reminds listeners of his ability to compress his epic vision into narratives as hard and wounding as bullets. Among the 42 selections in this audiobook are such classics as "A Bear Hunt", "A Rose for Emily", "Two Soldiers", and "The Brooch".

A fantasy anthology featuring the deadly, the worldly, and the sneaky. Blackguards consists mainly of stories in established series, and the authors range from wildly successful indie authors to New York Times best sellers. If you enjoy roguish tales of scoundrels and ne'er-do-wells, this one's for you.

The sixth and final title in a series of recovers of the classic Preludes series. First launched over a decade ago, the Preludes series has continued to prove popular with Dragonlance fans. This rerelease of Tanis: The Shadow Years showcases a new look that is also reflected in the other recovers of this series. The title features cover art from lead Dragonlance saga artist Matt Stawicki.

The Rider is a GFL novella co-written by Scott Sigler and Paul E Cooley. It is the story of The Roughland Ridgebacks captain, Poughkeepsie Pete, and his favorite mount, Old Bess the Tyrannosaurus Rex. They play dinolition, and they are the best team in the game.

When an eccentric pop star who has been missing for twenty years is spotted alive and well in Thailand, East London–based private eye Alex Blizard is dispatched halfway around the world to investigate. From Bethnal Green to Bangkok to Bali, this is a case which will draw the dapper detective further and further outside his comfort zone – and ever deeper into danger.

An eclectic compendium of the finest short fiction of the last 150 years, featuring works by Paul Theroux, Joseph Conrad, James Ellroy, Ambrose Bierce, Charlotte Perkins Gillman, Aldous Huxley, Philip Roth, and F. Scott Fitzgerald.