Set in Cairo around the end of World War I, as Egypt, a Britishprotectorate, clamors for independence, 1988 Nobel Prize-winnerMahfouz's epic family drama explores deep fissures in thepatriarchal structure of one household. Prosperous merchant AhmadAbd al-Jawad, a tyrant at home, roams Cairo's tawdry entertainmentdistrict by night seeking illicit pleasures. His submissive wifeAmina is chained to the house; he throws her out on the streetafter she commits the sin of going outdoors for a walk. His twodaughters constantly bicker, and his three sons are beyond hiscontrol: Yasin commits sexual assaults on servants; Fahmy becomesan activist in the nationalist movement, while Kamal befriendsBritish soldiers. The first volume in Mahfouz's Cairo Trilogy(1956-57), this dense novel charts an Egypt lurching into themodern age. Mahfouz is a master at building up dramatic scenes andat portraying complex characters in depth. Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This textrefers to an out of print or unavailable
In his debut novel， The Kite Runner， Khaled Hosseini accomplishes what very few contemporary novelists are able to do。 He manages to provide an educational and eye-opening account of a country’s political turmoil--in this case， Afghanistan--while also developing characters whose heartbreaking struggles and emotional triumphs resonate with readers long after the last page has been turned over。 And he does this on his first try。 The Kite Runner follows the story of Amir， the privileged son of a wealthy businessman in Kabul， and Hassan， the son of Amir’s father’s servant。 As children in the relatively stable Afghanistan of the early 1970s， the boys are inseparable。 They spend idyllic days running kites and telling stories of mystical places and powerful warriors until an unspeakable event changes the nature of their relationship forever， and eventually cements their bond in ways neither boy could have ever predicted。 Even after Amir and his father flee to America， Amir r
Twelve Years a Slave, a chronicle of the amazing ordeal of a free African-American kidnapped from Washington, D.C., and impressed into slavery in Louisiana, is one of the most compelling and detailed slave narratives in existence. Although a best-selling book in its time, Solomon Northup’s narrative has existed in the shadow of more academically prominent and popularly celebrated narratives like The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1845). Nonetheless, Northup’s account of his kidnapping and enslavement is a masterpiece of historical detail, and the narrative has been noted for its easily researched and widely corroborated elements. The text and story were virtually unchallenged by Southern apologists or partisans of the era. Northup resists the urge to laud himself as an exemplary character or focus solely his own experience, giving contemporary readers a remarkable account of the lives of the slave community as a whole. As an educated man, torn from freedom and plunged into slavery, he
全书由一篇简介开始，简介的内容其实就象是聊天，作者与读者之间的聊天。写这篇文章时候的小花絮，那篇文章的灵感来自哪里，另外一篇写完之后的感受，诸如此类的话题，对于阅读理解后面的文章有一定的帮助。 这本集子的标题“烟与镜”的含义是，魔术师靠镜子与烟雾来表演，镜子能映照出实像，而45度斜放的镜子会让你看到假象，让你以为你所看到的是真的，这个概念在若干篇里都有出现。小说都是镜子，用来反映这个世界，而奇幻小说也是镜子，是魔术师常用的45度斜放的镜子，甚至是凹凸不平的变形镜，它们可以告诉我们一些事情，一些平时看不到的事情。读完所有的故事，你是不是也会看到一些平时看不到的事情呢？ An elderly widow finds the Holy Grail beneath anold fur coat. A stray cat fights and refights a terrible nightlybattle to protect his unwary adoptive fami
No more than a dark pencil line on a blank page. A horizon line, maybe. But also a slot for blackness to pour through... A terrible construction site accident takes Edgar Freemantle's right arm and scrambles his memory and his mind, leaving him with little but rage as he begins the ordeal of rehabilitation. A marriage that produced two lovely daughters suddenly ends, and Edgar begins to wish he hadn't survived the injuries that could have killed him. He wants out. His psychologist, Dr. Kamen, suggests a "geographic cure," a new life distant from the Twin Cities and the building business Edgar grew from scratch. And Kamen suggests something else. "Edgar, does anything make you happy?" "I used to sketch." "Take it up again. You need hedges...hedges against the night." Edgar leaves Minnesota for a rented house on Duma Key, a stunningly beautiful, eerily undeveloped splinter of the Florida coast. The sun setting into the Gulf of Mexico and the tidal rattling of shells on the beach
Stephen King has recently concluded his masterpiece Dark Tower series with The Dark Tower, bringing new readers to this odyssey. This edition of The Gunslinger includes newly-written material and an introduction by the author.
Drawing from decades of work, travel, and research in Russia,Robert Alexander re-creates the tragic, perennially fascinatingstory of the final days of Russian monarchs Nicholas and Alexandraas seen through the eyes of the Romanov's young kitchen boy,Leonka.
This "New York Times" bestseller tells the harrowing true storyof nine American airmen shot down over the Pacific. One of them,George H.W. Bush, was miraculously rescued. This edition featuresthe same Afterword by the author that appeared in the tradepaperback edition.
A Pulitzer Prize-winning classic follows Newland Archer, a young man who, despite his engagement to a beautiful socialite, is passionately drawn to the Countess Ellen Olenska, and includes biographical and historical data. Reprint. NYT.
In these eight tales, Munro evokes the devastating power of old love suddenly recollected. She tells of vanished schoolgirls and indentured frontier brides and an eccentric recluse who, in the course of one surpassingly odd dinner party, inadvertently lands herself a wealthy suitor from exotic Australia. And Munro shows us how one woman's romantic tale of capture and escape in the high Balkans may end up inspiring another woman who is fleeing a husband and lover in present-day Canada. "Open Secrets is a book that dazzles with its faith in language and in life."--New York Times Book Review
In this unforgettable classic novel by #1 "New York Times"bestselling author Tami Hoag, the promise of a new love isimperiled by the secrets of the past. In the charming seaside townof Anastasia, California, Faith Kincaid is looking to start overafter her bruising divorce from powerful, corrupt senator WilliamGerard. But the past still haunts her. As she prepares to testifyagainst her ex at his high-profile bribery trial, the federalgovernment is watching her every move. They've even sent a specialagent, Shane Callan, to protect her. Faith doesn't think she needsa bodyguard--especially one as physically formidable as Shane. Buthe refuses to take no for an answer. Soon the two are sharingsecrets and the simmering attraction between them shows signs ofsizzling out of control. But as Faith learns, Shane's not a foreverkind of guy--unless she can convince him to undergo a major changeof heart.
1996 wurde das Teatro La Fenice in Venedig vom Feuer zerst?rt.Ausgehend von dieser Trag?die gestaltet der Autor einbeeindruckendes historisches Portr?t einer einzigartig sch?nenStadt und seiner Bewohner und prominenten G?ste.
Im San Francisco der fetten 80er Jahre waren seine ElternStadtgespr?ch: unversch?mt reich und unglaublich gut aussehend,exzessiv lebend und berüchtigt für ihre Partys. Au?ergew?hnlicheErinnerungen an eine wilde Kindheit und den schnellen Aufstieg undtiefen Fall der Eltern.
Deep in the Hausruck Mountains of Austria, there is a remotehideaway--the fortress-like nerve center of an ominous movement,the Brotherhood of the Watch. American agent Harry Latham haspenetrated the movement, a neo-Nazi organization that was born inthe days after the Third Reich's defeat and whose deadly tentacleshave spread to the United States and beyond. Now, after three yearsin deep cover, and on the eve of his most spectacular success,Harry Latham has disappeared. Drew Latham, Special Officer forConsular Operations in Paris, is frantic to discover his olderbrother's fate. But when he receives the sudden good news thatHarry has surfaced, gut-twisting doubts arise. Has Harry's coverbeen blown? And if so, why has the Brotherhood of the Watch let himlive? For Harry Latham has emerged with an explosive list: thesecret supporters of the movement, among them some of thehighest-ranking officials in the United States and its allies,names synonymous with honorable service to their nations. It is adocument that c
Spanning almost thirty years and settings that range from big cities to small towns and farmsteads of rural Canada, this magnificent collection brings together twenty-eight stories by a writer of unparalleled wit, generosity, and emotional power. In her Selected Stories, Alice Munro makes lives that seem small unfold until they are revealed to be as spacious as prairies and locates the moments of love and betrayal, desire and forgiveness, that change those lives forever. To read these stories--about a traveling salesman and his children on an impromptu journey; an abandoned woman choosing between seduction and solitude--is to succumb to the spell of a writer who enchants her readers utterly even as she restores them to their truest selves.
Ben Cowan and Bijah Catlow had been bound as friends sincechildhood. By the time they grew to manhood, Catlow had become atop cowhand with a wild streak. It took just one disastrousconfrontation with a band of greedy ranchers to make him an outlaw.And when he crossed that line, it was up to U.S. Marshal Ben Cowanto bring him in alive -- if only Catlow would give him thechance...
When the Iberian Peninsula breaks free of Europe and begins todrift across the North Atlantic, five people are drawn together onthe newly formed island-first by surreal events and then by love."A splendidly imagined epic voyage...a fabulous fable" (KirkusReviews). Translated by Giovanni Pontiero.
