In 1953 the East coast of England was stuck by one of the worst storms of the century. In response to this, the Thames Flood Barrier was opened in 1984, to protect London from the danger. However global warming has resulted in raising sea levels, higher waves and more frequent extreme weather. Londoners have become complacent, thinking that the flood barrier will protect them. The events will prove them wrong. The Prime Minister is out of the country, leaving Deputy Prime Minister, and Home Secretary Venita Maitland in charge. As the danger signs mount up, officials at all levels of the government are reluctant to take the necessary precautions, relying on margins of error, earlier missed predictions and fearing the consequences of an unnecessary evacuation. A storm rages over the north of Britain, a troop carrier founders in the Irish Sea, flood indicators go off the scale, the seas are mountainous and a spring tide is about to strike the East Coast. Air sea rescue and military personnel struggle to save lives all down the coast. The worse is yet to come. When the storm reaches the south the two forces of wind and tide will combine and send a huge one-in-a-thousand tidal surge up the Thames. But surely London is safe: the Thames Barrier will save the capital from disaster as it was intended to do? The river is a titanic presence by now, higher than anyone has known it, and the surge thunders towards the Barrier. Scientists begin to talk of the possibility of overtopping. Can fifty feet high gates be overwhelmed by a wave? Then there is an explosion the size of a small Hiroshima: a supertanker is ablaze in the estuary and most of the Essex petrochemical works are going up with it. The Thames catches fire and the wall of fire and water thunders towards Britain''s capital. This is the story of what happens next, and the desperate attempts to save the capital from destruction. Firefighters and other first responders from all around the country, supplanted by German, French and American military bravely fight against the disaster, but they can only save a fraction of those threatened. Eventually the saviour of London proves to be the same thing that threatened it, with rain from the storm extinguishing the fire.

Flood

In this memoir, Sir Sidney Poitier, K.B.E., an ''icon'' in the United States, looks back on his celebrated life and career. He explores elements of character and personal values to take his own measure as a man, as a husband and a father, and as an actor... Poitier credits his parents and his childhood on tiny Cat Island in the Bahamas for equipping him with the unflinching sense of right and wrong and of self-worth that he has never surrendered and that have dramatically shaped his world. "In the kind of place where I grew up," recalls Poitier, "what''s coming at you is the sound of the sea and the smell of the wind and momma''s voice and the voice of your dad and the craziness of your brothers and sisters...and that''s it." Without television, radio, and material distractions to obscure what matters most, he could enjoy the simple things, endure the long commitments, and find true meaning in his life. Uncompromising as he pursued a personal and public life, Sir Sidney aimed to honor his upbringing and the invaluable legacy of his parents. Just a few years after his introduction to indoor plumbing and the automobile, Poitier broke racial barrier after racial barrier to launch a pioneering acting career. Committed to the notion that what one does for a living shows who one is, Poitier chose to play forceful and affecting characters who said something positive, useful, and lasting about the human condition. Poitier explores the nature of sacrifice and commitment, price and humility, rage and forgiveness, and paying the price for artistic integrity. What emerges is a picture of a man in the face of limits; his own as well as the world''s. The translation in complicated Chinese (ISBN 9570484969) of this autobiography was done by Fongfong Olivia Wei, and published by Triumph Publishing Company in Taipei, Taiwan, in the year 2002.

The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography

Flashman meets Tom Brown at a tavern and is convinced to play cricket at Lord''s for a team made up of Rugby Old Boys. His impressive play (performing possibly the first ever hat-trick) leads to more matches, and an encounter with Daedalus Tighe, a notorious bookie. He also meets Don Solomon Haslam, a businessman from the East Indies, who has a lot of money, prestige, and a fascination for Elspeth, Flashman''s wife. Due to a wager with Haslam, blackmail from Tighe, and threats from a Duke arising from an affair with the Duke''s lover, Flashman is forced to accompany Haslam, Elspeth, and Morrison (his father-in-law) on a trip to Singapore. There Haslam reveals his true identity and kidnaps Elspeth. Flashman must reluctantly chase after them, with the help of James Brooke. This chase takes him to the jungles of Borneo, the nests of pirates, and finally to Madagascar, where he is enslaved and becomes military advisor and lover to Queen Ranavalona I. Escape from the island seems impossible, and with his wife''s help he has to overcome his cowardice to evade their pursuers.

Flashman''s Lady

A year after James Bond''s final confrontation with Ernst Stavro Blofeld, while on a mission in Japan, a man claiming to be Bond appears in London and demands to meet the head of the Secret Service, M. Bond''s identity is confirmed, but during his debriefing interview with M, Bond tries to kill him with a cyanide pistol; the attempt fails. The Service learns that after destroying Blofeld''s castle in Japan, Bond suffered a head injury and developed amnesia. Having lived as a Japanese fisherman for several months, Bond travelled into the Soviet Union to learn his true identity. While there, he was brainwashed and assigned to kill M upon returning to England. Now de-programmed, Bond is given a chance to re-prove his worth as a member of the 00 section following the assassination attempt. M sends Bond to Jamaica and gives him the seemingly impossible mission of killing Francisco "Pistols" Scaramanga, a Cuban assassin who is believed to have killed several British secret agents. Scaramanga is known as "The Man with the Golden Gun" because his weapon of choice is a gold-plated Colt .45, which fires silver jacketed solid gold bullets. Bond locates Scaramanga in a Jamaican bordello and manages to become his temporary personal assistant under the name "Mark Hazard". He learns that Scaramanga is involved in a hotel development on the island with a group of investors that consists of a syndicate of American gangsters and the KGB. Scaramanga and the other investors are also engaged in a scheme to destabilise Western interests in the Caribbean''s sugar industry and increase the value of the Cuban sugar crop, running drugs into America, smuggling prostitutes from Mexico into America and operating casinos in Jamaica that will cause friction between tourists and the local people. Bond discovers that he has an ally who is also working undercover at the half-built resort, Felix Leiter, who has been recalled to duty by the CIA and is working ostensibly as an electrical engineer while setting up bugs in Scaramanga''s meeting room. However, they learn that Scaramanga plans to eliminate Bond when the weekend is over. Bond''s true identity is confirmed by a KGB agent and Scaramanga makes new plans to entertain the gangsters and the KGB agent by killing Bond while they are riding a sight-seeing train to a marina. However, Bond manages to turn the tables on Scaramanga and, with the help of Leiter, kill most of the conspirators. Wounded, Scaramanga escapes into the swamps, where Bond pursues him. Scaramanga lulls Bond off-guard and shoots him with a golden derringer he had hidden behind his neck. Bond is hit but returns fire and shoots Scaramanga several times, killing him at last.

The Man with the Golden Gun

Halli loves to hear stories from the days when the valley was a wild and dangerous place, besieged by the bloodthirsty Trow. Now farming has taken over from fighting Trows, and to Halli''s disappointment heroics seem a thing of the past. But when a practical joke rekindles an old blood feud, he sees a chance for a daring quest of his own. The Story starts with the Battle of the Rock being told to a child. This is where twelve heroes of the valley join together to fight the ruthless Trows (man eating monsters) that devastate the land. They form a battle plan and wait for the Trows to come. They take up positions on a large rock and are finally attacked by the Trows, which they fend off all night. In the morning, when the people check to see what happened all are dead, Trows and Heroes, including the main hero Svien. The heroes are buried under cairns along the borders of the valley with their swords, so that, even in death, they can guard the boundaries from the Trows. As long as no one crosses the cairn border, the legends say, no Trows can enter the Valley. Many years later Halli is born. He is a very short, stout, young, and headstrong boy who longs for the days of the Heroes, when a man could fight for what he wanted and take what he could win. He longs to leave the valley, which is now ruled by a Council of women who demand peace and equality in the land. They have outlawed swords and other weapons to discourage wars. Halli looks very much like his uncle, Brodir, whom he adores. He is the third and last child in his family. His family are Arnkel, his father and Arbiter of Svien''s House, Astrid, his mother and Law-Giver of Svien''s House, Lief, his older brother who is immediately in line for the Arbiter after Arnkel, Gudny, his sister and Brodir his uncle, who is the only member of his family that seems to get along with him. When his uncle is murdered by a rival house, the house of Hakon, Halli sets off to avenge his uncle. Finally, he thinks that he will have a hero''s quest of his own. Along his journey, Halli realizes that he isn''t the guiltless avenging murderer that he thought he could be. His interference and thirst for revenge leads two men to their deaths, and he becomes sick with guilt. He returns home to his relieved yet angry family, and his distrusting and fearful fellow villagers. His actions eventually lead to an attack on his house by the House of Hakon, and he alone can accept responsibility and take charge of his defenseless village. He proves that he is a great leader. When the enemy arrives, they have an obvious advantage... swords. Halli realizes that his people''s only hope is if he leads the enemies obliviously past the cairn boundaries. He does so with the help of his friend and crush, Aud, and to his relief, it works. The Hakonssons are eaten by monsters in the moorlands. However, Halli and Aud come under attack from the unknown enemy. Much like the heroes of old, they take their last stand on a large rock and wait to discover the identity of the monsters. When the nature of the attackers becomes clear, Halli and Aud face something far worse than the Trows of legend... and they will be lucky to survive the night.

Heroes of the Valley

The novel concerns a boy named Laughing Boy who is in search for wealth and popularity among his Navajo tribe, located in T''o Tlakai. He comes upon a woman whom he really likes, Slim Girl. They later marry without the full approval of his family. They move to Slim Girl''s residence where they live for about four years. She secretly makes money from another man just for being around him. She tells Laughing Boy that she works for a woman in town. While he makes his money from designing and producing jewelry of his own and selling horses. They live a happy life together for many years bringing things from each other''s culture into their relationship. When Laughing Boy chases a stallion for many days in order to make a good sell he runs into an American man at whom he shoots. While doing so he accidentally catches Slim Girl with an arrow unknowing of her presence, as this is where she made her money. He soon heals her while she tells him everything that has been going on and all of her past life. They become even closer. They decide to move up North where they can settle and have kids. On their long journey an ungrateful friend of Slim Girl shoots at the couple three times, as they flee from the gunfire Slim Girl reveals that she has been shot. She slowly dies in Laughing Boy''s arms. He mourns her death for a total of four days before moving on. He comes across a small tribe and decides to rest and settle there for a while. He knows he will always be lonely but never alone.

Laughing Boy

The lead character Kirk Salazar, a second-generation Terran colonist on the planet Kukulkan, is near the end of his education to become a biologist, lacking only field research to complete his studies. Interested in the evolutionary background of the dominant native species, the intelligent reptilian Kukulkanians, he focuses on a related animal species whose habitat is the poisonous "venom trees" on the remote island of Sunga. To reach his destination he joins a tour group headed for the island, among whom are some family friends worried about their daughter, who has joined a band of Terran cult members there. They discover she has become the cult''s leader, and Salazar finds himself caught in the crossfire of a power struggle between the cultists and a Terran logging magnate intent on clear-cutting the venom trees. He is able to save his neck and preserve the habitat of his research subjects by an unorthodox use of his findings, a spectacularly unlikely disguise, and a healthy dose of dumb luck.

The Venom Trees of Sunga

The novel, a direct sequel to its predecessor, The Last Hero sees Templar and his organization taking revenge on an arms dealer named Rayt Marius, following the death of one of Templar''s friends. The book starts approximately three months after the events of The Last Hero. Simon Templar and his associate, Roger Conway, have been spending much of that time chasing Marius and his superior, Prince Rudolf (Crown Prince of an unidentified country) across Europe. Templar suspects that Marius and Rudolf are planning to follow through with their scheme to spark a new World War (continuing from The Last Hero), and in any event, Templar has sworn to kill whichever of the two men murdered his friend Norman Kent at the close of the previous adventure. Although Templar had been forced to flee England at the end of the previous novel, he has since found himself back in Britain and again on the trail of Marius. While executing a scheme to root Marius out from hiding by infiltrating a bogus nursing home, Templar and Conway rescue who they initially think is an elderly man held prisoner by one of Marius'' compatriots; Templar soon discovers that they''ve actually rescued the beautiful daughter of a millionaire upon whose safety relies world peace. The woman, Sonia Delmar, subsequently joins Templar''s fight against Marius (who Templar learns is the man who killed Norman) and Prince Rudolf, even going so far as to allowing herself to be kidnapped by the villains. Templar is said to be 29 years old in this tale. In this book, Sonia Delmar becomes the romantic female lead, replacing Templar''s girlfriend of the previous books, Patricia Holm, who is referenced only briefly in the story as being on a cruise in the Mediterranean (this same excuse was used by Charteris to remove the character from much of the action in Enter the Saint as well). This was the first book to indicate the "open" nature of Templar and Holm''s relationship, although in this case Templar makes clear that his heart remains with Holm. The final chapter of the book contains a somewhat metafictional reference in that Templar indicates his intent to give his notes regarding the Marius affair to "a writer friend" with the idea of his turning them into a novel—a reference to Leslie Charteris himself. (This same literary device has also been employed by the likes of Arthur Conan Doyle in his Sherlock Holmes books and Ian Fleming in his James Bond novel You Only Live Twice.) And finally, perhaps in a nod to the developing continuity of the "series", Charteris brings Detective-Inspector Carn (MEET THE TIGER) back for a brief reunion with Templar at the climax. A later Saint novel, Getaway, completed the trilogy begun by The Last Hero and Knight Templar. The ultimate fate of Rayt Marius would be revealed in the novella "The Simon Templar Foundation" in The Misfortunes of Mr. Teal.

Knight Templar

Commander Caractacus Pott is an inventor who buys and renovates an old car after gaining money from inventing and selling whistle-like sweets to Lord Skrumshus, the wealthy owner of a local confectionery factory. The car, a "Paragon Panther," was the sole production of the Paragon motor-car company before it went bankrupt. It is a four-seat touring car with an enormous bonnet. After the restoration is complete, the car is named for the noises made by its starter motor and the characteristic two loud backfires it makes when it starts. At first Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang is just a big and powerful car, but as the book progresses the car surprises the family by beginning to exhibit independent actions. This first happens while the family is caught in a traffic jam on their way to the beach for a picnic. The car suddenly instructs Commander Pott to pull a switch which causes Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang to sprout wings and take flight over the stopped cars on the road. Commander Pott flies them to Goodwin Sands in the English Channel where the family picnics, swims, and sleeps. While the family naps, the tide comes in threatening to drown them. Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang wakes them just in time with a hiss of steam. At the car''s direction, Commander Pott pulls another switch which causes it to transform into a hovercraft-like vehicle. They make for the French coast and land on a beach near Calais. They explore along the beach and find a cave boobytrapped with some devices intended to scare off intruders. At the back of the cave is a store of armaments and explosives. The family detonate the cache of explosives and flee the cave. The gangsters/gun-runners who own the ammunition dump arrive and block the road in front of Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang. The gangsters threaten the family, but Commander Pott throws the switch which transforms the car into an aeroplane and they take off, leaving the gangsters in helpless fury. The Potts stay overnight in a hotel in Calais. While the family sleeps, the gangsters break into the children''s room and kidnap them and drive off towards Paris. Chitty tracks the gangsters'' route, wakes Commander and Mrs. Pott, and they drive off in pursuit. The gangsters are planning to rob a famous chocolate shop in Paris using the children as decoys. The Pott children overhear this and manage to warn the shop owner, Monsieur Bon-Bon. Chitty arrives in time to prevent the gangsters from fleeing. The police arrive and the gangsters are taken away. As a reward Monsieur Bon-Bon''s wife shares the secret recipe of her world famous fudge with the Potts and the two families become good friends. Chitty flies the family away to parts unknown, and the book implies that the car has yet more secrets.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

Pharaoh begins with one of the more memorable openings in a novel — an opening written in the style of an ancient chronicle: Pharaoh combines features of several literary genres: the historical novel, the political novel, the Bildungsroman, the utopian novel, the sensation novel. It also comprises a number of interbraided strands — including the plot line, Egypt''s cycle of seasons, the country''s geography and monuments, and ancient Egyptian practices (e.g. mummification rituals and techniques) — each of which rises to prominence at appropriate moments. Much as in an ancient Greek tragedy, the fate of the novel''s protagonist, the future "Ramses XIII," is known from the beginning. Prus closes his introduction with the statement that the narrative "relates to the eleventh century before Christ, when the Twentieth Dynasty fell and when, after the demise of the Son of the Sun the eternally living Ramses XIII, the throne was seized by, and the uraeus came to adorn the brow of, the eternally living Son of the Sun Sem-amen-Herhor, High Priest of Amon." What the novel will subsequently reveal is the elements that lead to this denouement—the character traits of the principals, the social forces in play. Ancient Egypt at the end of its New Kingdom period is experiencing adversities. The deserts are eroding Egypt''s arable land. The country''s population has declined from eight to six million. Foreign peoples are entering Egypt in ever-growing numbers, undermining its unity. The chasm between the peasants and craftsmen on one hand, and the ruling classes on the other, is growing, exacerbated by the ruling elites'' fondness for luxury and idleness. The country is becoming ever more deeply indebted to Phoenician merchants, as imported goods destroy native industries. The Egyptian priesthood, backbone of the bureaucracy and virtual monopolists of knowledge, have grown immensely wealthy at the expense of the pharaoh and the country. At the same time, Egypt is facing prospective peril at the hands of rising powers to the north — Assyria and Persia. The 22-year-old Egyptian crown prince and viceroy Ramses, having made a careful study of his country and of the challenges that it faces, evolves a strategy that he hopes will arrest the decline of his own political power and of Egypt''s internal viability and international standing. Ramses plans to win over or subordinate the priesthood, especially the High Priest of Amon, Herhor; obtain for the country''s use the treasures that lie stored in the Labyrinth; and, emulating Ramses the Great''s military exploits, wage war on Assyria. Ramses proves himself a brilliant military commander in a victorious lightning war against the invading Libyans. On succeeding to the throne, he encounters the adamant opposition of the priestly hierarchy to his planned reforms. The Egyptian populace is instinctively drawn to Ramses, but he must still win over or crush the priesthood and their adherents. In the course of the political intrigue, Ramses'' private life becomes hostage to the conflicting interests of the Phoenicians and the Egyptian high priests. Ramses'' ultimate downfall is caused by his underestimation of his opponents and by his impatience with priestly obscurantism. Along with the chaff of the priests'' myths and rituals, he has inadvertently discarded a crucial piece of scientific knowledge. Ramses is succeeded to the throne by his arch-enemy Herhor, who paradoxically ends up raising treasure from the Labyrinth to finance the very social reforms that had been planned by Ramses, and whose implementation Herhor and his allies had blocked. But it is too late to arrest the decline of the Egyptian polity and to avert the eventual fall of the Egyptian civilization. The novel closes with a poetic epilogue that reflects Prus'' own path through life. The priest Pentuer, who had declined to betray the priesthood and aid Ramses'' campaign to reform the Egyptian polity, mourns Ramses, who like the teenage Prus had risked all to save his country. As Pentuer and his mentor, the sage priest Menes, listen to the song of a mendicant priest, Pentuer says:

Pharaoh

The book begins immediately after the partition decision was announced. The Jews flooded the streets of Palestine, celebrating. However, the Jewish leaders immediately began planning for war. Ehud Avriel was sent to Prague to buy arms in the name of Ethiopia. Meanwhile, the Jews built an army and air force from scratch. The Jewish leaders, like David Ben-Gurion, knew that, due to military shortcomings, the conflict could only be won through intelligence warfare. The Arabs vowed to put Jerusalem under siege, and did. For many months Jerusalem survived on very limited foodstuffs. On the Arab side, Captain Abdul-Aziz Kerine bought arms in Prague in the name of Syria, the only sovereign Arab nation at the time. The Arab countries (Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and Transjordan) discussed their plan of action. They agreed to work together, but everyone, especially King Abdullah of Transjordan, had their own agenda. In the end, the Arab states'' lack of cooperation led to their downfall. There was a lot of disorganization and non-cooperation on the Jewish side as well. The main Jewish army was the Haganah, however the Stern Gang and Irgun were other Jewish militant groups. The groups had conflicting ideals (for example: the Haganah was willing to internationalize Jerusalem in order to have a unified, peaceful state, but Jerusalem was of the utmost importance to the Stern Gang and the Irgun), but they managed to retain more organization and cooperation than the Arab armies.In the main text of O Jerusalem!, it is related that the Stern Gang and the Irgun massacred the Arab village of Deir Yassin, outraging Arabs and Jews alike. The Haganah denounced the massacre, but the Arabs believed the Haganah to be responsible and retaliated at the Jewish kibbutz of Kfar Etzion. Collins and Lapierre also acknowledged that other eyewitness accounts claim that the event at Deir Yassin was a battle and not a massacre. As May 15 drew closer, the two peoples continued preparing for war. However, the Jewish intelligence learned that, although the mandate was set to expire on May 15, the British were planning to leave on May 14. Prepared for the early departure, the Haganah mobilized quickly and managed to capture many British buildings before the Arabs even realized that the British had left. Not privy to this intelligence, the Arab armies activated on May 15. The Jewish homeland of Israel was declared on Iyar 5, 5708 Hebrew, or May 14, 1948 Gregorian. Today, this day is celebrated as Yom Ha''atzmaut, or Israeli Independence Day. After the expiration of the mandate, war befell the region. The Arab armies underestimated the Haganah''s strength and were not prepared for a strong foe. Both the Arab and Jewish armies suffered major shortcomings in ammunition and manpower. The situation in Jerusalem worsened, leaving Jewish Jerusalemites near starving. On June 11, 1948 a UN sanctioned cease-fire began. Jerusalem''s starving were saved by a temporary end to the siege. Jerusalem''s storerooms and stomachs were filled again. By cease-fire agreement, neither army was allowed to re-arm itself, but the Haganah was able to buy arms through the black market. The Arab armies, however, were not. After four weeks, the fighting began again, followed by another cease-fire beginning on July 19 (July 17 in Jerusalem), 1948 (O Jerusalem! Collins).

O Jerusalem

Munitions maker King Bendigo is the wealthiest man alive, and what the King wants, the King gets. What he wants is the investigative powers of Ellery Queen and his father, New York homicide detective Richard Queen, in order to investigate some threatening letters. Bendigo has an enormous security apparatus in place that is capable of dealing with threats that involve sovereign governments, but these threats are more personal. Ellery and his father are transported to the Bendigo private island and soon determine that the threats originate within the King''s family. The King has two brothers, his assistant Abel and drunken sot Judah, and the King''s beautiful wife Karla completes the list of suspects. Judah makes little secret of the fact that it is he who has originated the threats; he announces that he will shoot King at exactly midnight on June 21. At that time, King is locked in a hermetically sealed room accompanied only by his wife; Judah is under Ellery''s observation and armed only with an empty gun. At midnight, Judah lifts the empty gun and fires—and King falls back, wounded with a bullet. Karla falls under suspicion but no gun is found on her person or anywhere in the room; similarly, Judah cannot have had a bullet in his possession, having been searched repeatedly. When Ellery learns that the Bendigo family is originally from his familiar haunt of Wrightsville, he travels there for an investigation of the King''s early life. Upon his return to the private island, he solves the crime and dramatic and deadly effects follow in short order.

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Flood

No Author Listed

The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography

By Sidney Poitier

Flashman's Lady

By George MacDonald Fraser

The Man with the Golden Gun

By Ian Fleming

Heroes of the Valley

By Jonathan Stroud

Laughing Boy

By Oliver La Farge

The Venom Trees of Sunga

By L. Sprague de Camp

Knight Templar

By Leslie Charteris

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

By Ian Fleming

Pharaoh

By Bolesław Prus

O Jerusalem

No Author Listed

The King is Dead

By Frederic Dannay