Henry Handel Richardson was the pseudonym of Ethel Florence Lindesay Richardson, a writer who was born in 1870 to a reasonably well-off family which later fell on hard times. The author''s family lived in various Victorian towns and from the age of 13 to 17 Richardson attended boarding school at the Presbyterian Ladies'' College in Melbourne, Victoria. It''s this experience that feeds directly into The Getting of Wisdom. Laura Tweedle Rambotham, the main character, is the eldest child of a country family. She is a clever and highly imaginative child, given to inventing romantic stories for the entertainment of her younger siblings, and an avid reader. She is also both proud and sensitive and her mother finds her difficult to handle. Her mother is the widow of a barrister who supports her family in genteel poverty on her earnings from embroidery. At the age of twelve Laura is sent off to boarding school in Melbourne. Her experiences at school shock and humiliate the unworldly Laura. The girls at the school are generally from rather wealthy families and those, like Laura, who come from less fortunate backgrounds learn very early not to divulge their circumstances for fear of ridicule. From time to time Laura lets little snippets of information about her family slip out, and she suffers for it. In fact, these seem to be the main forces controlling the action of this book: fear of the judgements of one''s peers, the desire to "fit in", embarrassment about one''s family—it is shameful to have a mother who works for a living—and the desire to "better" oneself by belittling others. None of the girls in the school, nor the teachers for that matter, come across as anything but self-serving and boorish. Even Laura, who starts out so young and strong and idealistic, surrenders to the role expected of her. Essentially, this is a story about the destruction of innocence. Laura undergoes a form of redemption at the end of the book, convincing herself that cheating in an exam is actually God''s will, and then later deciding that while she was wrong to do so, she got away with it and therefore God had no actual hand in the matter or else he would have punished her for the sin. A neat case of self-delusion. At the end, when Laura is walking away from the school for the last time, she is overcome with a desire to run, and the last we see of her is a rapidly diminishing form disappearing through a park. She is free at last: free of the overwhelming constrictions of the school, the teachers'' expectations and the other schoolgirls'' callous disregard.

The Getting of Wisdom

The book is set in and around the small town of Santa Eulària des Riu, on Ibiza, where Paul had lived since 1931. In the first part of the book Elliot Paul describes the town and many of the characters who live and work there. He details their family lives, their hopes, their aspirations, and their politics. He provides details of the people at work and at play, and describes how he becomes part of the community of the town. Paul also writes of other ex-patriates who have made their homes in and around the town. Part two starts with Paul and his family returning to Ibiza, after some time away. The narrative is set in 1936 in the week leading up to the outbreak of hostilities on Ibiza during the Spanish Civil Warand describes the events that eventually lead to Paul, his family and other refugees from the violence, fleeing the island. It tells the story of civil disobedience, collaboration and the violence that split a once-happy community, although the narrative finishes before the tragic turn of events reaches its conclusion. The postscript, written by Paul, dated 14 June 1937, details events following his departure from Ibiza and describes his hopes and fears for his friends on the island and a way of life that he thought would change for ever.

Life and Death of a Spanish Town

Sometime between 1958 and 1962, Leo Runcible, a Liberal Jew, is working in the real estate field. On learning that Walt Dombrosio, Leo''s neighbor, has had a Black visitor to his house in a "lily-white" suburb of Marin County, California, potential purchasers interrogate Runcible about the matter and ultimately incur his wrath over their narrow-minded bigotry. He thereby fails to close the deal and forfeits their friendship and a precious commission as well. But according to Leo''s tortured logic it is Walt who''s at fault for this unforeseen little debacle. So in retaliation Runcible opportunistically reports Dombrosio''s later episode of drunk driving, leading to the loss of the latter''s motor vehicle operator''s license for a period of six months. Walt''s wife Sherry then drives him to and from work every day, eventually landing a job working alongside her husband. Walt, however, being as he is an insecure, misogynistic, manipulating headcase, quits his own position over this incident and continues to fume over it as the weeks and months roll by. He eventually humiliates and manhandles his wife in front of their neighbors as a prelude to forcefully impregnating her with an unwanted child which she unsuccessfully threatens to abort. At the same time, Runcible has found what he believes to be Neanderthal remains in Carquinez, Marin County, and envisages rising property prices due to incipient archaeological interest and the avalanche of media coverage that naturally follows. As it turns out, however, Dombrosio is the culprit who modified and planted the modern human remains there to begin with. They are a legacy of the local ''chuppers'' who developed facial, cranial and spinal deformations as a supposed result of the pollution of the local water supply. The novel ends with Walt Dombrosio, by far the most despicable character of the novel, essentially coming out on top. He discusses his flirtation with bankruptcy, via his purchase of the local substandard water company, with the local grammar school teacher, and he makes himself out as quite the unflinching hero in the process. There is also an extended scene, dovetailing almost imperceptibly into this conversation, in which Dombrosio visualizes his little family several years later after Sherry has presumably given birth to a malformed baby boy due to the possible teratogenic properties of the local water supply.

The Man Whose Teeth Were All Exactly Alike

This story is an example of one of the many unjust acts by both the provincial governments and the national Qajar Regime which led to the Constitutional Revolution. In the province of Quchan, the provincial governor, Asaf al-Dawlah, set a flat tax for all of the people, regardless of their income. The poor could not afford to pay this tax, due to a bad harvest, and the only way they could raise the money was to sell their daughters to the elite Turkmen or to nomads. Turkmen also began raiding the village and capturing the women. When the citizens begged for payment postponement, they were shot and killed by provincial government officials. About two hundred and fifty girls had been sold and they became known as “The Daughters of Quchan”. This incident portrays Iranian women as being “objects of traffic” and clearly speaks to the issue of poverty and the social injustice people faced under this government. The people of Quchan went to the central government to protest and ask for help. Finally an investigator was sent to Quchan, who was bribed by the provincial governor, and did not report the inequality to the central government. The citizens went back to the central government again to protest and eventually the issue was resolved. This story was published in newspapers all over Iran and caused a public outcry for social justice and a parliamentary government. Muhammad Husayn Tabataba’i, one of the most prominent philosophers of the time, was particularly irate and argued that the government was not addressing the needs of the people: "Have you not heard the tale of Quchan where they had a bad harvest last year? Each Quchani Muslim had to pay three dozen kilos of wheat in lieu of taxes. They did not have it and nobody helped them out. Instead of wheat, the local ruler took three hundred Muslim daughters, counted each daughter for three dozen kilos of wheat, and sold them to the Turkmens. Some of the daughters were separated from their mothers while they were asleep, because the poor souls would not consent to be separated. Now tell me in all fairness! Can you imagine a worse oppression? Every place is in ruins."(88) It also showed how effective newspapers were at relaying information across the country as many Iranians sympathized for those in Quchan and would join the cause in protesting for a constitutional government. Asaf al-Dawlah and many of his high-ranking officials were put on trial under the new regime in 1906 and there were multiple efforts made to get the girls back from the Turkmens. While some girls were rescued and brought back to their paternal families, the majority of girls were not found. “The Daughters of Quchan” is one of many events which were instrumental to promoting the Constitutional Revolution as the Iranian citizens began to realize that they were tired of living under an oppressive government.

The Story of the Daughters of Quchan

The novel''s action switches stage frequently between the Earth of 2069, the ''jigsaw-planet'' Mir 31 years after its creation, and various settlements on Mars. Firstborn opens with Bisesa Dutt waking up after 19 years of suspended animation, only to be informed of the fact that a ''bogey'' has entered the Solar System. Further investigation of the object reveals that it is a "cosmological-weapon" (called a Q-bomb by scientists) capable of destroying matter by engulfing it into a small ''pocket universe'', which is then quickly destroyed in a Big Rip-like event. Bisesa, her now-divorced daughter Myra, and a young spacer called Alexei Carel quickly leave the Earth via a space elevator, in order to escape what Alexei views as an inefficient and corrupt government. Meanwhile, on Mir, a young astronomer named Abdikadir (son of one of the main characters of Time''s Eye), while making observations on what appears to be planet Mars covered in oceans, is interrupted by Bisesa Dutt''s old mobile phone ringing. Back on Earth, the Space Council is preparing to launch an antimatter-fueled spacecraft to intercept the Q-bomb, while Bisesa arrives at a research station located at Mars'' North Pole. The team there had discovered a gravitational "trap" that contained one of the Firstborn''s Eyes. This is proof that not only did intelligent Martians exist in the distant past, but that they had been exterminated (probably with another Q-Bomb) by the Firstborn, but not before they had captured one of the Eyes. As she approaches the Eye, Bisesa is promptly sucked into a gateway and finds herself back on Mir, in the Temple of Marduk. Babylon has been completely changed by Alexander the Great after his victory over the Mongols, becoming the center of his new empire and one of only two large cities on the planet (the other being a nineteenth-century Chicago). After a failed assassination attempt on Alexander, Bisesa is forced to leave Babylon and head for Chicago. On the way, her phone''s AI determines that the universe containing Mir and the habitable version of Mars is rapidly decaying, and has only another 500 years left before it ends in a Big Rip. Myra, after losing her mother once again on Mars, is contacted by the AI Athena, who had been the managing intelligence behind the storm shield in Sunstorm. After being copied and transmitted to nearby star systems in 2042, in an attempt to save a small bit of humankind should the shield project fail, she and another two AIs had reached a distant, inhabited planet, who had itself been almost sterilized by the Firstborn. From there, with the help of the planet''s last inhabitant, they witnessed humanity''s survival through the Sunstorm. Athena was promptly re-transmitted to Earth, to aid against the alien menace. Athena informs Myra and the Mars researchers of a plan to stop the Q-bomb by communicating to the Martians from Mir''s universe. Back on Mir, Bisesa reaches a frozen-over Chicago, the climate having been heavily disrupted by the Discontinuity (the moment of Mir''s creation). There she receives a transmission from Myra in the "real" universe, informing her of Athena''s plan to communicate with the Martians; a pattern of geometrical shapes was to be transmitted to Blue Mars, which would prompt the Martian survivors to somehow act. At the suggestion of Thomas Alva Edison, the residents of Chicago dig vast trenches in the shapes required in Mir''s North American icecap, filling them with oil and setting them ablaze; the pattern is observed by the sole remaining inhabitant of Blue Mars, at the Martian North Pole, who promptly reconfigures its version of the gravity trap to crush the Eye it contained. Athena''s hypotheses was that all the Eyes were connected, and the destruction of one on Blue Mars would attract the Q-bomb to real-Mars, thereby destroying the planet completely but sparing Earth. The scheme is successful, and the Q-bomb is diverted. It strikes Mars, and the planet slowly begins to leave the universe. Myra decides to stay at the Martian North Pole as the planet dissolves. On Mir, Bisesa travels back to Babylon, activating the Eye and returning to real-Mars at the very moment of the Big-Rip. The novel ends with Myra and Bisesa reunited on the planet shown to Bisesa during her very first trip through an Eye. A portal opens behind them, and Myra''s estranged daughter, Charlotte, invites them through. It is revealed that in Charlotte''s future, humanity alone or with other sentient allies, calls itself the Lastborn as they are at war with the Firstborn.

Firstborn

The Ankh-Morpork City Watch is expanding; there is now a Traffic department with traffic cameras implemented using iconograph technology and a wheel clamping team, and the clacks is beginning to replace homing pigeons for communications between officers. The Watch is also investigating the theft of the replica Scone of Stone, a parody of the real-life Stone of Scone, from the Ankh-Morpork Dwarf Bread Museum. (The Scone of Stone in the novel is kept under close guard in a dwarf mine in Überwald, and will form a vital part of the forthcoming coronation ceremony of the dwarfs'' new Low King.) Samuel Vimes, Commander of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch and Duke of Ankh, is sent to the remote region of Überwald as an ambassador to take advantage of the coronation to negotiate with the new Low King on increased imports of fat. (Underground fat deposits are abundant in Überwald as a fifth discworld-supporting elephant impacted there in prehistoric times, according to legend.) Überwald is also the traditional home of the Disc''s dwarfs who are about to enthrone a new Low King. A cabal of local werewolves seek to exploit this opportunity to destabilize the already deeply divided dwarf society. They instigate the apparent theft of the real Scone of Stone from its closely guarded cave, hoping to cause a civil war between traditionalists and progressive dwarfs and isolate the country under the werewolves'' feudal leadership. In his official capacity as ambassador Vimes meets the leaders of the local vampires, werewolves and dwarfs, starting to investigate the planned putsch along the way. Meanwhile, back in Ankh-Morpork, Angua learns that Wolfgang, her werewolf brother, is the head of the conspiracy and sets out to Überwald to stop him. Consequently Carrot also abandons the Watch and pursues her across the country, leaving an overburdened Colon as acting captain. As captain, Colon becomes increasingly strict and paranoid, punishing other members of the watch for minor offences which they did not commit, such as demoting Constable Visit to Lance Constable for supposedly stealing a sugar lump. In response Corporal Nobby Nobbs sets up the Guild of Watchmen in protest. The other members of the Watch join and protest against Colon, but eventually it dwindles to just Nobby, Visit, zombie Constable Reg Shoe and golem Constable Dorfl. The Ankh-Morpork City Watch recover the replica Scone of Stone. It is undamaged, but they suspect that someone has made a replica of the replica. In Uberwald, Vimes extends his activities to include an unofficial investigation into the theft of the real Scone of Stone. He rapidly determines that the dwarfs'' system of guard on it is nothing like as secure as the dwarfs think it is and that the Scone could have been stolen in a number of different ways without too much difficulty, but nevertheless later concludes that it was not in fact stolen, but destroyed in situ and its remains concealed by mixing them with the sand on the floor of the cave. Following an attempt on the designated Low King''s life Vimes is imprisoned by the dwarfs but escapes. On the run across the wintry countryside he is chased by the conspiring werewolves. Carrot and Angua arrive just in time to save Vimes from the murderous pack. Vimes'' wife has been taken to the castle of Angua''s werewolf family so the commander and his entourage set out to save her. Managing to defeat the power-hungry Wolfgang they are also able to restore the Scone of Stone. Back in their embassy the Morporkians are once more attacked by Wolfgang. In a final stand-off, he resists arrest and is killed by Commander Vimes with a Clacks flare. With the Low King''s regalia returned the enthronement ceremony finally takes place and Vimes is granted prime rates for fat imports to Ankh-Morpork, thus fulfilling his original mission. The book finishes with Carrot and Angua returning to Ankh-Morpork. Carrot takes back his old rank of captain with Colon returning to his duties as a sergeant and ordering him and Nobby to gather the rest of the Watch together.

The Fifth Elephant

The novel is set against the background of the Civil Rights Act conflict in the Johnson Administration. At the beginning of the book, Paul Whipple, a black character from the earlier novel Too Many Cooks (1938), whose trust Wolfe had gained against a strong West Virginia atmosphere of prejudice, comes to tell Wolfe that Wolfe has since become his hero, and that he has also achieved the dream, stated in the earlier novel, of becoming an anthropologist. He has come, however, to draw upon the favor he did Wolfe 26 years earlier, by asking Wolfe to prevent his son Dunbar Whipple from marrying a rich white girl, Susan Brooke, with whom he is apparently in love. While denying that he is not opposed, in principle at least, to mixed-race couples, Paul Whipple thinks that sensible rich white girls do not fall in love with poor black men, even if the rich white girl is working for a black civil rights organization in New York, the Rights of Citizens Committee. Wolfe is loath to interfere in the matter, but agrees to at least learn what he can about the true motivations of the socialite girlfriend and why she would be interested in a Negro boyfriend to settle the debt he owes Whipple. Before the real mystery story gets underway, Stout allows some give and take on the concept of racism being a two-way street: blacks preferring their own as much as whites. Archie arranges a meeting with Susan Brooke through his girlfriend Lily Rowan, but is unable to form a conclusion as to her motives. Wolfe has him fly to Racine, Wisconsin, Susan''s hometown, to do research on her background. He discovers little except for an incident where a man who wanted to marry her, Richard Ault, shot himself on her front porch after she turned him down. He is doing more research when Wolfe suddenly calls him back to New York: Susan Brooke has been brutally murdered in her Harlem apartment. Dunbar Whipple is the prime suspect for the murder, and Wolfe agrees to work on his behalf. Wolfe focuses his investigation on Dunbar and Susan''s co-workers at the Rights of Citizens Committee over the objections of Whipple''s lawyer Harold Oster, who is also the ROCC''s counsel. Those interviewed include the organization''s founder Thomas Henchly, Susan''s superior Cass Faison, Rae Kallmann and Maud Jordan, two white volunteers, and Beth Tiger, a black stenographer Archie takes immediate interest in. Susan''s family is also interviewed, and it becomes apparent that they are bigots who consider her involvement with Civil Rights a "kink" and do not believe she could have been engaged to Dunbar. Her sister-in-law Dolly is particularly vitriolic and Archie takes an instant dislike to her. The family claims that Susan was actually engaged to a white car dealer named Paul Vaughan. Saul Panzer discovers that Dolly Brooke lied about her alibi the night of the murder by interviewing a garage attendant who saw her take her car out an hour before the murder took place. They cannot prove it because the witness refuses to testify, but stumble upon a lucky break when Paul Vaughn, riddled with guilt, confesses to Archie that he lied to the Police to firm up Dolly''s alibi. Mrs. Brooke is confronted and admits that she went to Susan''s apartment, but she could not get in because no one answered her knock. This indicates that Susan was already dead at 8:45, long before Dunbar Whipple arrived at the apartment. Her evidence clears him, but Wolfe elects not to use it because that would not only endanger his source, Paul Vaughan, but would complicate matters by destroying the lead he has on the police. Several days later, Vaughan calls Archie, telling him that he may have more information but that he has to do some checking on it first. The next day he is found dead, shot multiple times. When it emerges that Vaughan went to the ROCC the day before for information on Susan and Dunbar, Wolfe brings the key players to his office for another interview to prevent them from being arrested as Material Witnesses. It is during this interview that Wolfe realizes that the key to the case lies in the unusual frequency of a diphthong in the names of those involved. It will take another trip to the Midwest for Archie (this time to Evansville, Indiana) before the case is solved. The use of Paul Whipple as a character in a 1964 Nero Wolfe novel was problematic, since Rex Stout never allowed his recurring characters to age. Whipple was a young man in Too Many Cooks, but had aged 26 years and was a middle-aged academic in A Right to Die. In all this time, Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin miraculously remained the same age, but Whipple never noticed or mentioned this oddity.

A Right to Die

The protagonist Okonkwo is strong, hard-working, and strives to show no weakness. Although brusque with his three wives, children, and neighbours, he is wealthy, courageous, and powerful among the people of his village. He is a leader of his village, and he has accomplished a position in his society for which he has striven all his life. Because of the great esteem in which the village holds him, Okonkwo is selected by the elders to be the guardian of Ikemefuna, a boy taken prisoner by the village as a peace settlement between two villages after Ikemefuna''s father killed an Umuofian woman. The boy lives with Okonkwo''s family and Okonkwo grows fond of him. The boy looks up to Okonkwo and considers him a second father. The Oracle of Umuofia eventually pronounces that the boy must be killed. Ezeudu, the oldest man in the village, warns Okonkwo that he should have nothing to do with the murder because it would be like killing his own child. Rather than seem weak and feminine to the other men of the village, Okonkwo participates in the murder of the boy despite the warning from the old man. In fact, Okonkwo himself strikes the killing blow as Ikemefuna begs his "father" for protection. Shortly after Ikemefuna''s death, things begin to go wrong for Okonkwo. During a gun salute at Ezeudu''s funeral, Okonkwo''s gun explodes and kills Ezeudu''s son. He and his family are sent into exile for seven years to appease the gods he has offended. While Okonkwo is away, white men begin to arrive in Umuofia with the intent of introducing their religion. As the number of converts increases, the foothold of the white people grows and a new government is introduced. The village is forced to respond to the imposition of the white people''s nascent society—whether by appeasement or through conflict. Returning from exile, Okonkwo finds his village a changed place because of the presence of the white man. He and other tribal leaders try to reclaim their hold on their native land by destroying a local Christian church. In return, the leader of the white government takes them prisoner and holds them for ransom for a short while, further humiliating and insulting the native leaders. As a result, the people of Umuofia finally gather for what could be a great uprising. Okonkwo, a warrior by nature and adamant about following Umuofian custom and tradition, despises any form of cowardice and advocates for war against the white men. When messengers of the white government try to stop the meeting, Okonkwo kills one of them. He realizes with despair that the people of Umuofia are not going to fight to protect themselves—his society''s response to such a conflict, so long predictable and dictated by tradition, is changing. When the local leader of the white government comes to Okonkwo''s house to take him to court, he finds that Okonkwo has hanged himself. Among his own people, Okonkwo''s action has ruined his reputation and status, as it is strictly against the teachings of the Igbo to commit suicide.

Things Fall Apart

The play takes place at Mr. Jourdain''s house in Paris. Jourdain is a middle-aged "bourgeois" whose father grew rich as a cloth merchant. The foolish Jourdain now has one aim in life, which is to rise above this middle-class background and be accepted as an aristocrat. To this end, he orders splendid new clothes and is very happy when the tailor''s boy mockingly addresses him as "my Lord". He applies himself to learning the gentlemanly arts of fencing, dancing, music and philosophy, despite his age; in doing so he continually manages to make a fool of himself, to the disgust of his hired teachers. His philosophy lesson becomes a basic lesson on language in which he is surprised and delighted to learn that he has been speaking prose all his life without knowing it: :« Par ma foi ! il y a plus de quarante ans que je dis de la prose sans que j''en susse rien, et je vous suis le plus obligé du monde de m''avoir appris cela. » Madame Jourdain, his intelligent wife, sees that he is making a fool of himself and urges him to return to his previous middle-class life, and to forget all he has learned. A cash-strapped nobleman called Dorante has attached himself to M. Jourdain. He secretly despises Jourdain but flatters his aristocratic dreams. For example, by telling Jourdain that he mentioned his name to the King at Versailles he can get Jourdain to pay his debts. Jourdain''s dreams of being highclass go higher and higher. He dreams of marrying a Marchioness, Dorimene, and having his daughter Lucille marry a nobleman. But Lucille is in love with the middle-class Cléonte. Of course, M. Jourdain refuses his permission for Lucille to marry Cléonte. Then Cléonte, with the assistance of his valet Covielle and Mme Jourdain, disguises himself and presents himself to Jourdain as the son of the Sultan of Turkey. Jourdain is taken in and is very pleased to have his daughter marry foreign royalty. He is even more delighted when the "Turkish prince" informs him that, as father of the bride, he too will be officially ennobled at a special ceremony. The play ends with this ridiculous ceremony, including Sabir standing in for Turkish.

Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme

==Characters== *Sara Louise Bradshaw Louise helps her father through the crabbing season. As she grows older, she becomes frustrated with the unceasing attention Caroline receives and attempts to become more feminine — to no avail. After growing up in the oppressive situation of playing second-fiddle to her golden-haired sister, Sara Louise eventually leaves the island to move to a small town in the mountains called Truitt. *Caroline Bradshaw Caroline is perfect. Caroline is considered the "miracle child" because she was near death during birth. She is an amazing singer and pianist, and she is considered more intelligent and feminine than her sister. She tends to tease her sister, and she made up "Wheeze," a nickname Louise despises. She went to a music school when she graduated high school on her home island she then goes to Juilliard in New York. She marries McCall Purnell, Louise''s longtime friend. *McCall Purnell McCall, or "Call" to his peers, is Louise''s longtime friend. He married Caroline in the end of the story. *Hiram Wallace Also known as "The Captain", is an 80 year old man that used to live on the island as a boy but moved away. He comes back and befriends Call and Louise. Louise falls in love with him as if he was her grandpa. *Susan Bradshaw Susan is the mother of Sara and Caroline. She is married to Truitt Bradshaw. She is an educated woman who used to be a teacher. *Grandmother Bradshaw A very religious woman, Grandma can be strict and hard to get along with. She loves the Lord, but hates the water. She believes The Captain is a heathen. *Truitt Bradshaw Truitt is the father of Louise and Caroline, and the husband of Susan Bradshaw. He is a waterman. He is also a war veteran.

Jacob Have I Loved

:(The following summary is based on the 2002 rewrite.) In a rundown apartment in New Jersey, Morgan Le Fay has finally decided to end her own life. Although kept immortal by magic, she has become apathetic, elderly, and corpulent, and sees no point in continuing with her life. Before cutting her wrist with a steak knife, she decides to look in on her old nemesis, Merlin''s prison, one last time, and is surprised to see that he has escaped. Given a reason to live again, she laughs triumphantly. In Manhattan, King Arthur appears on the streets in full medieval armor, which he quickly divests in favor of a tailored suit (thanks to an American Express card that appears in his pocket by magic). He then walks into Central Park, where the Lady of the Lake rises from the pond and gives him Excalibur. Setting up an office under the name "Arthur Penn" (short for Pendragon), Arthur reunites with Merlin, who advises him that the world needs a leader like him, so Arthur decides to enter politics, beginning with announcing his candidacy for Mayor of New York City.

Knight Life

Tithe follows the story of sixteen-year-old American Kaye Fierch, a young nomad who tours the country with her mother''s rock band. The book begins in Philadelphia, at a gig her mother''s band Stepping Razor is playing in a seedy bar in Philadelphia. After her mother''s boyfriend and guitarist, Lloyd, attempts to stab her mother under the enchantment of Nephamael (a knight of the Unseelie Court) her mother takes her back to Kaye''s grandmother''s house in New Jersey to stay. Once at her grandmother''s house, Kaye begins to look for her old "imaginary" friends she had during her childhood, faeries named Lutie-Loo, Spike, and Gristle. However, she fails to find them and, begins to suspect that they were simply figments of her imagination. Her suspicions dissolve when she finds and saves the life of Roiben, a faerie knight, by pulling an iron-tipped arrow from his chest. In return, he grants her three truthfully answered questions about anything she chooses, which she does not immediately use. Soon after this, Spike and Lutie-Loo contact her and warn her that Roiben is a murderer who has killed Gristle. As revenge, Kaye tricks Roiben into telling her his full name (she later learns that faeries can be controlled by their true names). Later on, her friends tell her that she is a changeling and that she should keep her human appearance, because the Unseelie Court wishes to use her as a "Tithe" in order to bind the Solitary Fey to the Court''s queen, Nicnevin. Since Kaye is not mortal, the ritual will be forfeit, and the fey whom the Unseelie Court wishes to bind will go free. Kaye attempts to control her newfound abilities by enlisting the help of a Kelpie to teach her how to use magic. She is soon kidnapped by a group of fairies, as planned and is taken to the Unseelie Court to go through the sacrificial ceremony. Before the ceremony Roiben takes her to be prepared, having a dress made for her and allowing her to stay with him the night, where they acknowledge their feelings for one another. At the climax of the ceremony, Kaye uses Roiben''s name to order him to free her from her bonds before she is killed, resulting in a bloodbath between Roiben and the court before they flee safely. In the process, he kills the queen of the Unseelie Court and many of her guards. Kaye and Roiben spend the day at Kaye''s home, and discover that strange events are affecting the mortal world. Odd reports of mauling and kidnappings are reported on the news and Roiben makes Kaye understand that this is a result of the solitary fey being free for the next seven years. Kaye receives a call from her friend Janet, inviting her to come to a Halloween rave held at the waterfront, she tries to persuade her not to go but fails. After a failed attempt to receive help from her "imaginary" faerie friends, Roiben and Kaye attend the rave. They are separated, and Kaye successfully locates her friends, but briefly leaves them to apologize to Janet''s boyfriend for bewitching him earlier in the novel. However, she finds that the kelpie who lives near the waterfront has taken Janet into the water to kill her. In the novel, it is suggested that Janet went with him out of loneliness and a desire to get revenge on her boyfriend for going off with Kaye. Kaye follows but is too late and she manages to convince the kelpie to relinquish her body. Roiben finds Kaye mourning for her friend and gets her home. The next morning, she and Roiben travel to the Seelie Court''s camp some distance away to see if Corny is there. They reach a dead end, but discover that the knight (Nephamael) has proclaimed himself the king of the Unseelie Court. Roiben is suspicious of the situation and thinks that it is a trap for Kaye and him. Later, Roiben''s suspicions are proved correct when they enter the Unseelie Court. Nephamael, who had discovered Roiben''s true name from Spike before killing him, uses it to take control over Roiben. He orders him to seize Kaye, but Roiben uses trickery to let her get away. Kaye then devises a plan to poison Nephamael, while Corny and Roiben amuse him. She goes through with it; however, before Nephamael is dead, the Seelie Queen arrives, hoping to take over the court (right after her arrival Corny goes insane and stabs Nephamael multiple times, ultimately killing him). Roiben prevents the Queen''s takeover attempt by claiming the throne as his.

Over 8000 Takeaways For Your Brain!

Read - Listen - Learn

The Getting of Wisdom

By Henry Handel Richardson

Life and Death of a Spanish Town

By Elliot Paul

The Man Whose Teeth Were All Exactly Alike

By Philip K. Dick

The Story of the Daughters of Quchan

No Author Listed

Firstborn

By Stephen Baxter

The Fifth Elephant

By Terry Pratchett

A Right to Die

By Rex Stout

Things Fall Apart

By Chinua Achebe

Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme

By Molière

Jacob Have I Loved

By Katherine Paterson

Knight Life

By Peter David

Tithe : A Modern Faerie Tale

By Holly Black