Dreaming of freedom from a life of brute servitude, hard labor, and debt to a tyrannical landlord, Papa Santuzzu and his wife, Adriana, push their beloved children to immigrate to La Merica, the Land of Opportunity. In his "wild and giddy imagination," Papa Santuzzu ardently believes in the ease of attaining the American Dream, the promise of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" for all, and rests assured that his children will thrive in this great nation of abundance. Following the painful, yet exuberant, process of the Santuzzu children''s displacement from their homeland and relocation in Papa Santuzzu''s conceived lush "faraway garden," Ardizzone''s novel re-imagines the meaning of such a journey, where every obvious gain entails some unforeseen sacrifice. A loving tribute to Sicilian American culture, In the Garden of Papa Santuzzu resounds with the traditional folklore and songs of Sicily, implanting within our hearts a vibrant and compassionate perspective of the struggles, joys, and proliferation of diasporic communities in modern America. In their earnest exodus to America, the Santuzzu children arduously clear away the weeds and briars in what seems a vast and rugged wilderness, managing to cultivate their own unknown, yet nonetheless beautiful, version of their Papa''s paradisiacal vision—building, at last, a home-away-from home.

In the Garden of Papa Santuzzu

The story starts off in a theatre in a city only known as ''Grand Theater''. Valerian is performing a magic trick using Boy''s talent to fit into small spaces. Boy is Valerian''s slave (Valerian calls him his ''famulus''). He is treated cruelly by Valerian. Boy, after the show, is sent to a pub to collect something from an acquaintance of Valerian''s. This something is a music box, which the increasingly distracted Valerian assures Boy that he needs. The acquaintance, an ugly man named Green, walks to the toilet; Boy follows. The man is killed (although it is not clear what killed him, since the killer was shielded by purple smoke) and Boy takes the music box and leaves the pub, running into Willow. Willow had found out the Theatre Director, Korp, is dead, killed by a mysterious beast named the Phantom. Both of them are coated in blood because of the deaths that night. They are both arrested and accused of the murder of the director. Valerian breaks into their prison and gets them out, taking both Boy and Willow to his home. Boy gives him the music box. Valerian plays it but is unable to discern the meaning. Willow gains his trust by working out the music box spells a name because of Willow''s perfect pitch. She identifies the notes as ''G-A-D-B-E-E-B-E'', the name of a man who had died. They search the largest cemetery in town for his grave; it is not in a single one. Valerian is attacked by people who owed money and buried alive. Boy and Willow manage to dig him out and drag him home, Valerian now increasingly more desperate and with a broken arm. They have to go and see the director of funerals. Valerian Sambourn sends Boy alone while he and Willow visit Kepler, Valerian''s old rival and associate. They believe Kepler has gone mad, as he has made bizarre patterns all over his basement, with one phrase written in Latin by it: "The miller sees not all water that goes by his mill". Boy is unable to get a meeting with the Director, but he sees that he is a madman who tries to put together mutilated pieces of dead animals together and bring them back to life by looking through the dome over his workspace. Valerian, Willow Hickobe and Boy return there and manage to get the information they want, by using Kepler''s electricity to fool the Director, and leave the city to find the grave, buried in a town called Lindon. Buried with Gad Beebe, is the mysterious Book of Dead Days, that apparently holds the answer to everyone''s biggest question. Boy and Willow later find out that Valerian had fallen in love with a woman and he gave up the last 15 years of his life for one night with her, but she rejected him despite the enchantment, the reason Valerian fought with Kepler. The three get arrested (again) for their fruitless efforts digging up Beebe''s grave, and are stowed away in dungeons. They escape through the city''s underground channels, which were the patterns Kepler had traced in his basement. They find out Kepler had the book, and it is a race against time to find it. Boy pushes Kepler overboard into the channel. Valerian finds the book and opens it, Willow reads over his shoulder and screams for Boy to run that Valerian will kill him in place of himself. Valerian knocks out Willow and after chasing Boy through the underground, takes Boy home. In Valerian''s tower a swirling vortex opens up. Valerian is about to sacrifice Boy, when Kepler and Willow arrive. Kepler reveals that Boy is Valerian''s son and that Boy was made that night 15 years ago, when Valerian bet on his life. Valerian, shocked, willingly walks into the vortex, and the demon claims him. Boy questions Kepler about his real father, and Kepler says that Valerian is not really Boy''s father, that he just said that to save Boy. The book ends with Boy and Willow returning to the City with Kepler.

The Book of Dead Days

Kelderek is a young hunter nicknamed "Play-with-the-Children" because of his simple nature and love of small children. In the forest near his home on the river island of Ortelga, he sees an enormous bear. When a tremendous fire ravaged the forest, the bear managed to flee, to be found almost dead by Kelderek. The Ortelgans worship the bear-god Shardik and once ruled the entire territory now known as the Beklan Empire, but their territory and religion are now limited to a small barony of river-islands on the empire''s outskirts. Convinced that this bear is an incarnation of Shardik, Kelderek communicates this belief to the local priests and barons, eventually resulting in a military campaign to retake Bekla. The bear is sedated and caged by the priestesses to be carried forward with the Ortelgans but awakens from his slumber during a battle they are losing; as if in divine intervention, he breaks free, crushing the opposing army. Shardik''s worship is restored to central prominence in Bekla with Kelderek as the high priest to the recaged bear, but temporal power is held by the military barons. Still idealistic and unworldly, Kelderek is dismayed by the brutality and corruption that quickly surrounds him. When the bear escapes and flees again, it is Kelderek alone who follows in pursuit. The two of them stagger through the wilderness for a long time. Behind them, the capital city is torn apart by factions of rebels, and lawless chaos spreads through the entire empire. On the brink of madness after days alone with no sleep, Kelderek follows the bear to a mysterious place called the Streels of Urtah. Here, Shardik enters one of the ravines comprising the Streels, and is presumed dead. A shepherd (later revealed as a guardian of the Streels) informs Kelderek that any who enter there are beings of great evil who are destined to die, with one past exception: a woman who entered the Streels but was able to climb out again, doomed to die horribly but by her death bring about greatness. This woman gave birth to a son as she left the Streels, a son who later grew to be a great hero who led the ancient overthrow of the Ortelgans from Bekla. As this story is told, Shardik emerges from the ravine and flees again into the woods. Kelderek continues to follow Shardik, meeting many foes along the way, until he reaches Zeray, an outlaw town beyond the borders of civilisation. Here he re-encounters Melathys, a former priestess of Shardik. Having lost Shardik and his faith, Kelderek is captured by Genshed, a cruel slave-trader who already has a large group of children to eventually sell but is meanwhile tormenting them for his own amusement. Treating the children with his customary kindness, Kelderek is mocked and threatened by Genshed, who is on the point of killing him when Shardik erupts from the woods, mad and half-starved. The bear attacks Genshed, mortally wounding him before itself collapsing in the river. Kelderek, his faith and kindness restored but now tempered with knowledge of the world, returns to the town of Zeray with the children and attempts to re-establish a lawful society. The epilogue skips forward a number of years. It is told from the perspective of a newcomer from Zakalon, a distant kingdom to the east of Bekla. This man, Siristrou, is the leader of the first embassy from Zakalon sent to reciprocate the first visit of a Beklan to their country. The formerly lawless border town is now the home of hundreds of orphans and refugees working together to build a better future. Kelderek is its mayor, widely regarded as a fair and wise leader, and is married to his love, Melathys. Kelderek takes the traveller into his home and tells him of the bear Shardik, now known as a great animal who taught the people of the land the meaning of both kindness and hardship. In the final passages, Siristrou stirs the logs in the fireplace and plays a game of spotting images in the flames: an island, a glowing knife, a barred cage, an old woman, a deep ravine, a shaggy bear; he recognises these images in turn, and finally remarks "That''s a beautiful fire."

Shardik

The book opens with Meyer Landsman, an alcoholic homicide detective with the Sitka police department, examining the murder of a man in the hotel where Landsman lives. Beside the corpse lies an open cardboard chess board with an unfinished game set up on it. Landsman calls his partner, half-Tlingit, half-Jew Berko Shemets, to help him investigate further. Upon filing a report on the murder at police headquarters, Landsman and Berko discover that Landsman''s ex-wife Bina has been promoted to commanding officer of their unit. Landsman and Berko discover that the victim was Mendel Shpilman, the son of the Verbover rebbe, Sitka’s most powerful organized crime boss. Mendel was believed by many to be the Tzadik ha-Dor, the potential messiah, born once in every generation. As Meyer continues to investigate Mendel''s murder, he discovers that the supposed "chosen one" had taken a flight with Naomi, Landsman''s deceased sister. He follows Naomi''s trail to a mysterious set of buildings with an unknown purpose, set up in Tlingit territory by Jews. Landsman flies there to investigate; he is knocked out and thrown in a cell, whose walls have graffiti in Naomi''s handwriting. The naked and injured Landsman, after a crazed escape attempt, is rescued by a local Tlingit police chief, Willie Dick, who reunites him with Berko. They discover that the mysterious complex is home to a paramilitary group who plan to build a new Temple in Jerusalem. This involves destroying the Dome of the Rock. The American government, led by an evangelical Christian Zionist, has provided support. As Landsman and Berko follow up on this lead, a news report reveals that the Dome has been bombed. American agents apprehend the detectives and offer them permission to stay in Sitka after the reversion if they agree to keep quiet about the plot they have uncovered. Landsman says that he will and is released. Landsman reunites with Bina, frustrated by his failure with the Shpilman case. He keeps going over the chess board in his head, and suddenly realizes that it''s not an unfinished game but a puzzle, and that he had seen the same position from the perspective of the other player in Berko''s father, Hertz Shemetz''s house. Landsman and Bina track down Hertz, and he confesses to killing Mendel at Mendel''s own request. Landsman contacts an American newsman with the story. The book ends with Bina and Landsman reunited and ready to face their future wherever they may land in the Diaspora. The book contains a great deal of comic relief. The creative and playful use of the Yiddish language (for example, cops call a gun a "sholem" – literally a "peace") is an ongoing feature. The juxtaposition of the culture of the shtetl (the Jewish village of eastern Europe) on the Alaskan landscape is also playful and amusing.

The Yiddish Policemen''s Union: A Novel

In November 1758, following the events of June in Brotherhood of the Blade, the surviving members of the gun crew manning the cannon "Tom Pilchard" at Krefeld are brought before a board of inquiry, including Lord John Grey. Grey, who commanded the cannon crew upon the abrupt death of Lt. Philip Lister, is both troubled and insulted by the questioning, and stalks out of the inquiry. He does see the remains of the burst cannon, and briefly presents a missing piece; shrapnel from the gun that had been removed from his chest by surgeons, but Grey refuses to surrender it. Eventually, this piece will be the only remaining evidence that the cannons were poorly manufactured. At least one piece of metal remains in Grey''s chest, and this along with residual damage leave Grey with severe chest pains and uncontrolled shaking. Harry Quarry warns Grey about Col. Twelvetrees willingness to use the cannon inquiry to goad John into action that will be used to discredit either him, his brother Hal, or both. He suggests Grey be seconded to the 65th or 78th regiments temporarily to stay out of Twelvetrees'' way for a while, but Grey instead begins to investigate the cannon failures himself. When Grey returns Lt. Lister''s sword to the man''s father, the elder Lister begs Grey''s assistance in locating the missing fiance and child of his late son. While on these tasks, he discovers political intrigue surrounding his half-brother''s government contract for supplying black powder to the military, and meets Captain Fenshaw and the other members of Edgar''s consortium. Grey writes on two occasions to his paroled charge, James Fraser; starkly honest confessions of his cares and worries that are never sent, but serve to help ground Grey''s thoughts and emotions.

Lord John and the Haunted Soldier

The Romans have once again been humiliated by the Gauls. Felonius Caucus, right hand man of Centurion Nebulus Nimbus, head of the fortified camp of Totorum, suggests a Big Fight. This is a Gallic tradition where two Gallic chiefs fight and the winner becomes leader of both tribes. To fight Vitalstatistix, chief of Asterix’s tribe, the Romans enlist a Gallo-Roman Chief, Cassius Ceramix of Linoleum. Vitalstatistix would surely win with Getafix’ magic potion of invincibility, but the Romans plan to dispose of the druid long beforehand. In an effort to rescue him, Obelix accidentally puts Getafix out of action with a menhir, the impact of which causes amnesia and insanity. Cassius Ceramix'' challenge therefore comes at the worst possible moment, and Asterix and Vitalstatistix desperately attempt to restore Getafix’s mind by consulting Psychoanalytix (original French name is Amnesix), a druid who specializes in mental disorders. But during an explanation of the cause of the problem, Obelix decides to physically demonstrate with a menhir, leaving Psychoanalytix in the same state. As the two crazed druids concoct a number of skin-coloring magic potions, Asterix tries to bring Vitalstatistix into good physical shape for the upcoming fight. Meanwhile the Romans plan to arrest Cassius after the Fight to stop him becoming too powerful. As the fight begins, Getafix accidentally makes a potion which restores his mind, despite Obelix throwing another menhir at him to try curing him, and quickly proceeds to brew a supply of magic potion. Cassius Ceramix looks sure to win, but Getafix'' recovery gives Vitalstatistix the courage to win despite not having any potion. After another tussle with the Romans, who do not accept this victory, and Cassius Ceramix himself getting "menhired", Vitalstatistix returns home victorious to the inevitable feast. Psychoanalytix returns to business despite his current state, but he remains professionally successful (a wry comment on the state of psychiatry).

Asterix and the Big Fight

An Australian family, struggling with the recent recession are finding it hard with money. While spending one evening watching television, their youngest oand speaks to a doctor who refuses to help, which discourages Colin. He walks out to the lobby where he meets a Welsh man named Ted crying, claiming that his friend also has cancer. Colin attempts to cheer him up, so in appreciation, Ted requests Colin that they meet up again so Ted can introduce Colin to one of the world''s leading cancer experts. Colin meets Ted and Doctor Graham the next day, where Doctor Graham tells Colin that she called up Luke''s doctors in Sydney. She then informs Colin that Luke''s cancer is terminal and incurable. Colin storms back to his Aunt''s house distraught, where Alistair gives Colin the idea that South America may provide an unknown cure for Luke''s cancer. Colin convinces Alistair to join him to stowaway on a cargo ship to South America the next day, until Colin tells Alistair that he used his pocket-knife to slash a group of doctors cars and that Ted caught him. Alistair tells Colin that Ted will be blamed for this, so Colin decides to delay their trip to South America, so he can go see Ted the next day. Colin goes to visit Ted at his home and finds that he has been moderately injured. Ted tells him that he was beaten by people in the street who disliked him because he is a homosexual. He then tells Colin that his friend dying of cancer is instead his lover, Griff, who is dying of AIDS. Ted is unable to walk, so Colin promises to visit Griff for him. Colin goes to the hospital and meets Griff, bringing him a letter from Ted and Griff''s favourite food, tangarines. After enjoying a conversation with Colin, Griff requests Colin that he come to visit him again. After Griff is taken back to his ward by a nurse, Colin finds a spare wheelchair in the hospital which he takes back to Ted''s house. Colin then takes Ted to the hospital to see Griff using the wheelchair and the couple thank Colin greatly for reuniting them. A while later, when Ted can walk again, Colin goes to visit the couple in the hospital, but upon arrival, finds that Griff has died. When Colin arrives home, Aunt Iris tells Colin that she found out everything from Alistair. They are both sentenced to having only cold baked beans for dinner, and the house is made much harder to sneak out of. Colin gives up on his South America plan and decides to accept Luke''s fate. He requests to Aunt Iris that he go back to his family, but she forbids it, telling him that breaking out will not help either, because they will not allow him on the plane with his return ticket unless he is seen off by an adult guardian. The next morning, with much difficulty, Colin sneaks out of the house and meets Ted at the airport. Ted signs Colin''s forms and they say their goodbyes. After Ted leaves, Colin is about to board the plane until Aunt Iris, Uncle Bob and Alistair show up. Iris and Bob try to take him back home, but Alistair shouts up, convincing them to let Colin go back to Australia. They see him off, and Colin travels back to Sydney to see Luke. The story ends with Luke waking up, happily seeing Colin.

Two Weeks with the Queen

The protagonist of the story is a woman who is in the process of divorcing her abusive husband Eric, an intense scientist at a bio-research company, when he is killed in a traffic accident. As it turns out, the husband was doing research into immortality, due to an obsession with cheating death stemming from sexual abuse he suffered as a child and the fear that his abuser is waiting for him in Hell. In fact, he experimented on himself using an untested serum designed to grant incredible regenerative abilities. The husband wakes up in the morgue, but his "immortality" turns out to be flawed; it cannot properly repair brain damage, as the "mind" is made of electrical signals and not just flesh and protein. The trauma from the traffic accident has resulted in him suffering constant pain and a lack of mental clarity. The husband, now an unstoppable killing machine, proceeds to stalk his wife across the country while slowly descending into madness and the return from death causing him to mutate at a rapid pace. Rachael and her boyfriend Ben Shadway track the reanimated Eric to his secret country hideaway in the hope of killing him before he can regenerate to a level where he would be able to find and kill Rachael. However, Eric outwits them and manages to hide in the trunk of Rachael''s car after overhearing her and Ben in conversation discussing their plan to split up and meet in Las Vegas. As Rachael Leben unwittingly transports Eric toward Las Vegas, she stops off along the way and witnesses Eric emerge from the trunk of her car, now hideously transformed into some kind of indescribable mutant and rapidly mutating. A chase ensues into the desert, but Rachael manages to escape from Eric''s clutches while he''s feeding on a den of rattlesnakes and finds her way back to her car, setting off again toward Vegas. Some time later Eric kills and eats the driver of a car then rapes, kills, and devours the female passenger before he too sets off to Vegas. Ben Shadway is also being chased by federal agent Anson Sharp, who harbours a 20 year old grudge against Shadway after the two served in Vietnam together and Shadway exposed Sharp''s corruption and illegal smuggling activities, culminating in Sharp being dishonourably discharged from the US army. Partners in Eric Leben''s bio-research company are also on the tail of Shadway and Rachael Leben to try to prevent them from exposing the top-secret project that the company was working on to the media but are stopped by Sharp''s forces. Sharp seeks to kill them both, to keep Project Wildcard secret and get revenge on Ben. After a lengthy pursuit across Nevada to Las Vegas, the couple have their final confrontation with Eric at Ben''s hotel. Eric''s mutation finally stabilizes into a seemingly unstoppable and unreconizable insectoid form incapable of being slain by the firearms they have. Thinking quickly they pour gasoline on Eric and set him on fire. Consumed by fire, the accelerated metabolism in Eric''s mutated body devours itself in an attempt to regenerate and mutate further, reducing his body to ooze and finally killing the genetic abomination but not before Eric''s shattered consciousness finally accepts death. Sharp attempts to kill them but one of his own men who realizes how insane Sharp had become shoots Sharp in the head and kills him. With both their enemies dead, Rachael and Ben finally prepare to get married as well as break the story to the press.

Shadow Fires

Aria joins the sinister Cult of the Last Circle, an underground dragon community led by the evil Scarn. Scarn worships the Flame, which he believes has been sent to replace the charm lost from the world. After rescuing Aria from the Cult, Fortune escapes with his friends across the sea to Ocea. Scarn gives chase using the power of the Flame to travel great distances as if by magic. Meanwhile, Aria''s son Wyrm (who has no wings) has set out on a pilgrimage around the world. There is a comet in the sky and Wyrm is obsessed with the Day of Creation. Along the way he encounters a tribe of ''natural faeries'' who have lost both their magic and their wings - these are actually cavemen. Later Wyrm uncovers some ancient charm that enables him to grow wings, and he sets out for the Last Circle. Eventually, all the dragons meet in a huge crater in Ocea (the Last Circle) where a great battle ensues between Scarn''s dragons (mutated by the evil power of the Flame) and Fortune''s new allies, the mirror-dragons. At the climax of the battle, Scarn escapes. The comet drops from the sky and hits the crater. Everyone escapes except Wyrm, who is transformed from a single dragon into millions of birds. Fortune finally defeats Scarn. The dying power of the Flame opens a portal into a strange sideways world. Brace and Ledra go through the portal, which disappears. The sideways world is in fact Amara (Stone trilogy), introduced properly in Stone and Sky.

Dragonflame

The Emersons return to Egypt in 1895-96 to excavate at Dahshoor - finally, some real pyramids for Amelia! In looking for a keeper for Ramses, they find a demoralized Englishman named Donald Fraser. Donald has troubled family relationships and a hashish habit, both of which Amelia means to reform. Enid Debenham, a young lady whose behavior scandalizes Cairo society, also takes a hand when Amelia takes her under her wing. Meanwhile, the Master Criminal reappears personally, taking an interest not only in illegally obtained antiquities but in the person of Amelia herself. The story is key in the series because it is the first time the reader learns the pseudonym of the Master Criminal: Sethos. It is the name of a number of Pharaohs, and is tied to Set or Seth, the Egyptian god of the desert. Sethos interacts in a number of ways, including offering gifts and returning the communion set stolen from Mazghuna the previous year. Sethos also appears in a number of guises, only one of which Amelia sees through. She does, however, assume a number of others are either Sethos or in his gang, almost always incorrectly. Donald and Enid return in a later novel, Seeing a Large Cat.

Lion in the Valley

Amy and Dan head for Egypt, with their au pair Nellie Gomez, to find a clue, hidden by Ekaterina founder, Katherine Cahill. They were tailed by Irina Spasky, but escape to a store with an Egyptian goddess statue, the Sakhet. There, a man, Theo Cotter, shows up and convinces them it''s a fake. Discouraged, they go back to Nellie. They go to the Hotel Excelsior and find the Ekaterina stronghold. They find three Sakhets and get trapped by Bae Oh, who is the hotel''s owner. As they escape, one of Grace''s friends, Hilary Vale, takes them to her house. She gives them items from Grace and they find out Theo is Hilary''s grandson. They head for an Egyptian temple and get trapped by Irina and Theo. After Amy and Dan had escaped, they are trapped again by Jonah Wizard, who leaves them on a deserted island on the Nile. After Jonah left them, they are chased by a crocodile across the island, but are saved by a local fisherman. They find out Theo and Hilary Cotter tricked them to get their hands on the Sakhet that Grace left for Amy and Dan. After an unsuccessful attempt to find the clues under the Nile river with Alistair, Amy and Dan find something leading them back to Cairo. After arriving, they find a store which Grace once visited. The store owner, Sami, gives them a Senet board. After opening the puzzle, they identified their clue, Myrrh. It ends with the stronghold getting destroyed, and Amy and Dan finding a mysterious cloth with letter Ms in a pattern, indicating that it must have been the Madrigals.

Beyond the Grave

This romance novel is set in the period of World War II at a military hospital during nightly blackouts and bomb raids. The story''s young male protagonist, Laurie Odell, is a wounded soldier from the Dunkirk evacuation (Renault herself worked as a nurse treating Dunkirk evacuees during the war), who must decide if his affections lie with a conscientious objector or a naval officer. The conscientious objector, a Quaker, has not come to terms with his own homosexuality, whereas the naval officer, a friend of Laurie''s from school, is sexually experienced and established in the homosexual subculture of the British military. Laurie''s confused romantic feelings for the two very different young men are compounded by his own discomfort with the gay lifestyle (dramatized in an extended scene at a gay party, regarded by some critics as a literary tour de force). Through this conflict, Renault explored her own ambivalence about whether homosexuals truly constituted what would come to be seen as a gay and lesbian community. She also explored a religious theme, contrasting the pacifist Christianity of the young conscientious objector with the "exalted paganism" (as one character describes it) of ancient Greece. The novel derives its title from the Chariot Allegory employed by Plato in his dialogue Phaedrus; Renault also alludes to Plato''s Symposium, in which a character philosophizes about an army composed of male lovers. The story''s wartime setting is crucial to the ethical issues the novel explores. In a sense, The Charioteer is a warm-up for Renault''s historical novels. By turning away from the 20th century and focusing on stories about male lovers in the warrior societies of ancient Greece, Renault no longer had to deal with homosexuality and antigay prejudice as social "problems"; instead she was free to focus on larger ethical and philosophical concerns while examining the nature of love and leadership.

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In the Garden of Papa Santuzzu

No Author Listed

The Book of Dead Days

By Marcus Sedgwick

Shardik

By Richard Adams

The Yiddish Policemen's Union: A Novel

By Michael Chabon

Lord John and the Haunted Soldier

By Diana Gabaldon

Asterix and the Big Fight

No Author Listed

Two Weeks with the Queen

By Morris Gleitzman

Shadow Fires

By Dean Koontz

Dragonflame

By Graham Edwards

Lion in the Valley

By Barbara Mertz

Beyond the Grave

By Judy Blundell

The Charioteer

By Mary Renault