A Small Town in Germany occurs in the late 1960s, in Bonn, the capital of West Germany. From London, Alan Turner, of the British Foreign Office, arrives to investigate the disappearance of Leo Harting, a minor British Embassy officer; moreover, secret files have disappeared with him. The embassy''s security chief, Rawley Bradfield, is hostile to Turner''s investigation. Despite that, he is dinner party host to Turner and Ludwig Siebkron, head of the German Interior Ministry; the latter is close to industrialist Klaus Karfeld, who is successfully building his new political party. Initially, Turner suspects Leo Harting is a spy, but comes to grasp that Harting was secretly investigating Karfeld''s Nazi career — as the war-time administrator of a laboratory that poisoned 31 half-Jews. In fact, Harting is hiding from Siebkron, and might assassinate Karfeld. To Turner''s chagrin, Bradfield is unsympathetic to Harting''s circumstance and uninterested in protecting him, because he considers him a criminal and a political embarrassment.

A Small Town in Germany

Dick and Nicole Diver are a glamorous couple who take a villa in the South of France and surround themselves with a circle of friends, mainly Americans. Also staying at the resort are Rosemary Hoyt, a young actress, and her mother. Rosemary gets sucked into the circle of the Divers; she falls in love with Dick and is also adopted as a close friend by Nicole. Dick first toys with the idea of an affair with Rosemary at this point, which he finally acts upon years later. However, Rosemary senses something is wrong with the couple, which is brought to light when one of the guests at a party reports having seen something strange in the bathroom. Tommy Barban, another guest, comes loyally to the defense of the Divers. The action involves various other friends, including the Norths, where a frequent occurrence is the drunken behavior of Abe North. The story becomes complicated when Jules Peterson, a black man, is murdered and ends up in Rosemary''s bed, in a situation which could destroy Rosemary''s career. Dick moves the blood-soaked body to cover up any implied relationship between Rosemary and Peterson. Once into the book, the history of the Divers emerges. Dick Diver was a doctor and psychoanalyst and had taken on a complicated case of neuroses. This was Nicole, whose complicated, incestuous relationship with her father is suggested as the cause of breakdown. As she becomes infatuated with Dick, Dick is almost driven to marry her as part of the cure. Strong objections are raised: Nicole is an heiress and her sister thinks Dick is marrying her for her money. They do marry, and Nicole’s money pays for Dick''s partnership in a Swiss clinic and for their extravagant lifestyle. However, Dick gradually develops a drinking problem. He gets into fights and trouble with the police in various incidents and is bought out of the clinic by his partner. The opening episode almost marks the crossover point whereby Dick becomes the weaker partner, progressively failing in what he attempts while Nicole becomes stronger. Dick''s behaviour becomes embarrassing as he mishandles situations with the children and friends. Eventually Nicole has an affair with Tommy Barban, and divorces Dick to marry Barban. Nicole survives, while Dick drifts into ever diminishing circumstances. The underlying theme is then how one person has become strong by destroying another—a point emphasized cynically by Nicole''s sister, who having seen Dick originally as the parasite, finally remarks that "That was what he was educated for."

Tender is the Night

Following Grantville''s alliance with Gustavus Adolphus and their military successes, texts of modern day history books of the seventeenth century have became very popular among the powerful personages of Europe and made dramatic effects and turmoil on the continent. Among those that are affected are the Holy Roman Catholic Church with their religious holdings. Father Lawrence Mazzare started the controversy by allowing Father Fredrich von Spee to read his own entry in the Catholic Encyclopedia, thereby stiffening the Jesuit''s resistance to the Inquisition. Also Mazzare provided copies of the papers of the Second Vatican Council and other documents to Monsignor Giulio Mazarini, which led Pope Urban VIII to request a summary of Catholic theological reforms over the following centuries in the original timeline. The newly formed USE acts to open a trade corridor with the Middle East via Venice to insure supplies of materials unavailable within Western Europe; gaining political allies within these regions; and religious allies to spread the doctrines of religious tolerance and the separation of church and state. Michael Stearns selects Lawrence Mazzare to lead the delegation to Venice because of his current fame (or notoriety) among Catholics. Mazzare asks Simon Jones, the Methodist minister, to accompany him as a sign of religious tolerance and Father Augustus Heinzerling. Jones goes along as Mazzare''s assistant. Stearns also sends Tom Stone and his family to assist with the production of pharmaceuticals, Sharon Nichols to aid in medical education (and to give her something useful to do while she is grieving over Hans Richter''s death in 1633), and Ernst Mauer to advise on public sanitation. Lieutenant Conrad Ursinus is sent as the naval attaché and advisor on shipbuilding and Scottish Captain Andrew Lennox is assigned as the military attaché and commander of the Marine Guard. Lieutenant Billy Trumble is sent as XO of the Marine escort as well as sports advisor. However, the delegation is opposed by the French embassy in Venice led by Claude de Mesmes, comte d''Avaux, who is given orders by Cardinal Richelieu to disrupt trade negotiations between the USE and Venice.

1634: The Galileo Affair

The novel tells the story of a love triangle between three people in Vietnam War 1967 to 1976 is love, obsession and betrayal Her soldier brother who was photographer was killed in Vietnam Helen Adams decided to followed her brother''s footsteps despite her mother''s protests. After she came to Vietnam Helen met her mentor Samuel Andre Darrow who is famous prize-winning photographer in the war and she begun feelings for him but smooted by Sam''s Vietnamese assistant Lihn who was ex-soldier and playwright whose tragic past for losing his family by war which Helen and Lihn are closer and Sam become Lihn''s love rival then Both Linh and Helen are struggled for two counties and trials they faced include Sam''s death *Helen Adams: An American woman who dreams to become a photographer for Life Magazine. Her father and brother Michael were soldiers. Dropping out of college due Michael''s death, Helen decided to go Vietnam and fell in love with Sam Darrow, however the relationship was tested by a love triangle and also Sam''s problems and behavior. After Darrow''s death, Helen marries his assistant, Lihn, and becomes his second wife. In the end, she reunited with Lihn in Cambodia and was nicknamed "Helen of Saigon" by Vietnamese people *Nguyen Pran Linh: Helen''s husband and Ex-soldier, Linh was son of Hanoi professor who fled from North Vietnam and was forced as spy . Lihn''s first wife, Mai, died while pregnant with the couple''s first child. He was saved by Sam Darrow while in jail and became his assistant. SHortly after, he met Helen Adams, Sam''s protégé and lover, in which he and Sam became rivals for her affection. After Sam''s death, Helen becomes his second wife. He is an aspiring playwright and his real name is Tran Bau Lihn. *Samuel Andre Darrow : Nicknamed as Sam, he was Helen''s mentor and a famous photographer of Hungarian heritage. His real name is Sam Koropec and he had left his country at 15. His father-in-law is head of the newspaper and he is married to Lily. He was beginning to fall in love with Helen, but was killing in a helicopter crash. Due to Sam''s drinking, Helen and Lihn became closer. Sam knew that Lihn loved Helen. *Robert: A friend of Sam''s who jokes about Helen being Sam''s girlfriend and has feelings for Annick. *Annick : A woman who befriends Helen and dates Robert. She owns a store that Helen frequents. *Tran Bau Ca : Linh''s older brother was killed along with his family. *Matt Tanner : A marine who tried raped Helen before she beat him. *Michael Adams: Helen''s older brother who was killed as soldier and Micahel is animal lover who saved a puppy''s life *Mai : Linh''s first wife who died by war when she pregnant with their child *Captain Olsen: An American army officer *Jerry Nichols: USAID worker who had Vietnamese gilfriend *Maih: a widow of two children whom Ngan felling in love *Ngah: a young traveller and guide who falling in love with a widow *Tran Bin Thao: Lihn''s brother who hide feelings for Lan from his brother and married then expected their first child together *Lan:Mai''s sister who crushed on Lihn although he never return to her. she begged Helen to give her camera but she refused then she apologized Helen return from Vietnam. She married Thao and carrying their child going named Mai after her sister *Taon: Linh''s brother in law and Mai and Lan''s brother *Mr Bao : Linh''s boss who actually sells drugs to foreigners *Gary: Helen''s boss also for Sam *Lily Darrow: Sam''s ex-wife who blames Helen for his death in Saigon *Charlotte Adams:Helen''s and Micahel''s mother her husband went Korean War and her son went to Vientnam War who met Lihn as her son-in-law in end of novel *Mrs Xuan: Lihn''s neighbour who attended Lihn''s and Helen''s wedding

The Lotus Eaters

Natasha leaves her parents'' home and runs away with Alyosha (prince Alexey) – the son of Prince Valkovsky who abuses her father. As a result of his pain, her father, Nikolai, curses her. The only friend that remains by Natasha''s side is Ivan – her childhood friend who is deeply in love with her. Prince Valkovsky tries to destroy Alyosha''s plans to marry Natasha, and wants to make him marry the rich princess Katerina. Alyosha is a childish young man who is easily manipulated by his father. Following his father''s plan, Alyosha falls in love with Katerina. Eventually, Alyosha chooses Katerina over Natasha. In the meanwhile, Ivan picks up an orphan girl, Elena, and learns that her mother ran away from her father''s (Smith) home with her sweetheart – Alyosha''s father. Shortly after Elena was born, Prince Valkovsky abandoned her, took her money and the poor woman and her daughter came back to Smith asking for forgiveness. Elena''s mother dies shortly before her father eventually agrees to forgive her. In attempt to make Nikolai (Natasha''s father) forgive his daughter, Ivan persuades Nilokai and his wife to adopt Elena. By telling them her life story, Elena makes Nikolai''s heart soften and he accepts Natasha. Shortly afterwards, Elena dies from epilepsy. Finally Natasha accepts Ivan''s love.

The Insulted and Humiliated

Set in an unnamed country, the story begins at a birthday party thrown at the country''s vice presidential home. The party is thrown for Katsumi Hosokawa, the visiting chairman of a large Japanese electronics company called Nansei. Performing is a famous American soprano, Roxane Coss. Near the end of the party, members of a terrorist organization break into the house looking for the President. When it is discovered that the President did not attend the party, the terrorist group decides to take the entire party hostage. After determining they have too many hostages, the terrorists decide to release all of the hostages except those they deem most important and most likely to receive a large ransom. This includes Hosokawa, Roxane, and the translator Gen. Two major romantic relationships develop as the standoff drags on and serve as the backdrop to the rest of the story. The first is between Roxane Coss and Katsumi Hosokawa. Hosokawa is one of Roxane''s biggest fans and he attended the party because Roxane was going to be singing. When they are placed in the house together, they develop a deep bond, even though they do not speak each other''s language and thus cannot communicate verbally. The second relationship is between Gen Watanabe and the young terrorist Carmen. They must keep their love a secret because Carmen is forbidden to have relationships with a hostage. The two lovers meet in the china closet every night to practice Carmen''s reading and eventually to make love. At the end of the novel, the government breaks into the house and kills all the terrorists. All of the hostages are freed except for Mr. Hosokawa, who dies in the struggle. The novel ends some time after the crisis; we learn that Gen and Roxane were married in Italy.

Bel Canto

The Heart of a Woman takes place between 1957 and 1962, beginning shortly after the end of Angelou''s previous autobiography, Singin'' and Swingin'' and Gettin'' Merry Like Christmas. Angelou and her teenage son Guy have moved into a "houseboat commune in Sausalito". After a year, they move to a rented house near San Francisco. Singer Billie Holiday visits Angelou and her son there, and Holiday sings a song to Guy. Holiday tells Angelou, "You''re going to be famous. But it won''t be for singing". In 1959, Angelou and Guy move to New York City. The transition is a difficult one for Guy; Angelou is forced to protect him from a gang leader. No longer satisfied with performing in nightclubs, she dedicates herself to acting, writing, political organizing, and her son. On the invitation of her friend, novelist John Killens, she becomes a member of the Harlem Writers Guild. She meets other important African-American artists and writers, including James Baldwin, who would become her mentor. She becomes a published writer for the first time. Angelou becomes more politically active, participating in African-American and African protest rallies, including a sit-in at the United Nations following the death of Zaire''s prime minister, Patrice Lumumba, that she helps organize. She meets Malcolm X, and is struck by his good looks and magnetism. After hearing Martin Luther King, Jr. speak, she and her friend, activist Godfrey Cambridge, are inspired to produce a successful fundraiser for King''s Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), called Cabaret For Freedom. King names her coordinator of SCLC''s office in New York. She performs in Jean Genet''s play, The Blacks, with Roscoe Lee Brown, James Earl Jones, and Cicely Tyson. In 1961, Angelou meets South African freedom fighter Vusumzi Make. They never marry, but she and Guy move with him, first to London and then to Cairo, Egypt, where she plays "official wife to Make, who had become a political leader in exile". Their relationship is full of cultural conflicts; he expects her to be a subservient African wife, and she yearns for the freedom as a working woman. She learns that Make is too friendly with other women and is irresponsible with money, so she accepts a position as assistant editor at the Arab Observer. Eventually, Angelou and Make separate, but not before their relationship is examined by their community of friends. She accepts a job in Liberia. She and Guy travel to Accra, Ghana, where he has been accepted to attend college. Guy is seriously injured in an automobile accident, so she accepts a position at the University of Ghana and remains there while he recuperates. The Heart of a Woman ends with Guy leaving for college and Angelou remarking to herself, "At last, I''ll be able to eat the whole breast of a roast chicken by myself."

The Heart of a Woman

Sassinak and her family live on a newly colonized world and are celebrating the end of the production year when all the colonies goods will be exported to other worlds. But the carrier never comes, and instead the planet and its people are soon under attack by pirates. The colonists put up a futile defense against the pirates'' superior firepower, numbers and skill at their task. Sassinak witnesses the death of both her parents and her two siblings before she is taken off planet to become a slave. At the slave depot she is sold, but is counseled by another slave called Abe - who is ex-Fleet. He teaches her Discipline and imbeds a message in her mind that will only be remembered when she is confronted with a Fleet officer. She is sold once again when her skills have improved enough for her to work as a navigator on a ship. The ship that she is on is captured by Fleet and she is rescued, the imbedded message comes out and Fleet is able to attack the slave depot and free all the slaves. Abe adopts Sassinak and she begins her quest to go to the Academy, where all Fleet officers receive their training. After prep-school she enters the Academy and excels but is always conscious that she wants to hunt pirates when she gets her stars and her own ship. On her graduation night Abe takes her out for dinner, but Abe is killed. Sassinak suspects it is an assassination. She goes on her first deployment without any family, adopted or no and is an orphan once more.

Sassinak

At 16, Peter d''Abo is an elusive boy. He seldom stays at his mother''s place, but his grandmother, Lily d''Abo, in whose flat he is supposed to live for the time being, does not see him regularly either. From time to time Peter visits Father Vivyan and on such occasions even serves as an altar boy. When, on the social worker''s advice, his mother tells him that Lennox Mark is his natural father, Peter decides to get some money out of him his way. One night while Lennox Mark is not at home he poses as a delivery boy and gains entrance into the Marks'' private home. However, he is overwhelmed by Martina Mark and her mother, who is also living there, and persuaded to stay and work for them as a servant. As the two women have his DNA and he does not want to be arrested, he accepts their offer. While he is on the streets of London, Peter d''Abo starts committing crimes. He steals a miniature recording device from the Marks'' home; he steals Rachel Pearl''s expensive watch when she comes to live at Crickleden; but he also turns violent, cutting off a man''s testicles just because he was looking for a homosexual encounter; and pushing Kevin Currey in front of an underground train. Meanwhile Lennox Mark is planning General Bindiga''s state visit in London&mdash;he has already arranged the details with the Prime Minister and convinced him that Bindiga is an honourable state leader&mdash;to coincide with his elevation to Lord Mark of Lower Pool. To suppress opposition to the state visit which might be headed by Father Vivyan, The Daily Legion launches a campaign against the priest, alleging that he has a history as a child molester and releasing a doctored version of a secretly recorded conversation between Peter d''Abo and Father Vivyan as evidence against the clergyman. Vivyan is suspended from the parish, his reputation as a 20th century saint is immediately destroyed, and ardent devotees such as Lily d''Abo, believing everything the papers say, are devastated. When she is approached by The Daily Legion, Lily d''Abo succumbs to the lure of money and signs an exclusive contract for £10,000, realizing only afterwards that in no way will she be able to help her grandson with the money. Unaware of how dangerous Peter d''Abo is, Rachel Pearl goes in search of the boy in an attempt to make him talk and clear Father Vivyan of the allegations. Following a hint from someone in the street, she walks to a nearby cemetery, finds Peter in an old mausoleum but is immediately taken captive by him. Several people have already been alerted to the fact that Peter d''Abo may have a hostage, and the place is surrounded by police. However, Father Vivyan is there first and shoots Peter between the eyes. Vivyan is fatally wounded by a bullet himself and brought to a monastery to die there. At about the same time&mdash;it is the day of General Bindiga''s state visit&mdash;a bomb goes off in a posh London hotel killing Bindiga and injuring two of his women, while another device, planted in the offices of The Daily Legion, is defused before it can explode. Three months later, Lord Mark dies of a massive heart attack.

My Name Is Legion

The play is set in Tunis, in what is modern-day Tunisia; the title character, the "renegado" or renegade, is Antonio Grimaldi, who has converted to Islam and become a pirate. The true protagonist of the play, however, is Vitelli, a Venetian gentleman; he has come to Tunis disguised as a merchant, in order to search for his sister Paulina, who has been captured by Grimaldi''s pirates and sold into the harem of the city''s Viceroy, Asambeg. Even in the harem, however, Paulina''s virtue is protected by an amulet she wears around her neck; Asambeg is infatuated with her and treats her with respect. A Turkish princess named Donusa falls in love with Vitelli; when this is discovered, they are both imprisoned in the Black Tower. Donusa tries to convince Vitelli to convert to Islam and marry her, and so gain freedom for them both; Vitelli refuses, and in their ensuing conversation converts Donusa to Christianity. The renegade Grimaldi falls afoul of Asambeg''s bad temper, and his career as a pirate is finished. He experiences remorse for his past, and engineers the escape of Vitelli, Donusa, Paulina, and himself from Tunis back to Italy.

The Renegado

In the year of 1204, Baudolino of Alessandria enters Constantinople, unaware of the Fourth Crusade that has thrown the city into chaos. In the confusion, he meets Niketas Choniates and saves his life. Niketas is amazed by his language genius, speaking many languages he has never heard, and on the question: if he is not part of the crusade, who is he? Baudolino begins to recount his life story to Niketas. His story begins in 1155, when Baudolino is sold to and adopted by the emperor Frederick I. At court and on the battlefield, he is educated in reading and writing Latin and learns about the power struggles and battles of northern Italy at the time. He is sent to Paris to become a scholar. In Paris, he gains friends (such as the Archpoet, Abdul, Robert de Boron and Kyot, the purported source of Wolfram von Eschenbach''s Parzival) and learns about the legendary kingdom of Prester John. From this event onward, Baudolino dreams of reaching this fabled land. After the death of Frederick, Baudolino and his friends set off on a long journey, encompassing 15 years, to find the Kingdom of Prester John. Baudolino meets eunuchs, unicorns, Blemmyes, skiapods and pygmies. At one point, he falls in love with a female satyr-like creature who recounts to him the full Gnostic creation myth; Gnosticism is a pervasive presence in another of Eco''s novels, Foucault''s Pendulum. Philosophical debates are mixed with comedy, epic adventure and creatures drawn from the strangest medieval bestiaries. {| class="wikitable" align="right" width="250" | | |- | | |- | colspan="2" | Various strange characters figuring in the novel as rendered in the Nuremberg Chronicles. These creatures and many others were all described and named by Pliny the Elder in his Naturalis Historiæ from 77 AD: A monopod and a satyr (top); a blemmyae and a panotti (above). |} ;Invented by Eco *Baudolino — young man of Alessandria, protagonist, apparently a reference to the patron saint. *The monopod Gavagai, a reference to Quine''s example of indeterminacy of translation. *The putative successors of Hypatia of Alexandria *Deacon John, leprous sub-ruler of Pndapetzim ;Other fictional or legendary beings *Kyot *Gagliaudo Aulari, legendary saviour of Alessandria, and his wife, who are Baudolino''s biological parents *Prester John *Satyrs *Blemmyes *Panotti ;Historical *Frederick Barbarossa *Niketas Choniates *Robert de Boron *Rainald of Dassel *The Old Man of the Mountain *Pope Alexander III *Beatrice I, Countess of Burgundy *The Archpoet (unknown except through his poetry) *Otto of Freising *A member of the ancient Artsruni noble clan *Andronicus I Comnenus *Stephen Hagiochristophorites *The Venerable Bede

Baudolino

Lief, Barda, and Jasmine leave the Lake of Tears, after they have retrieved the Ruby. They are now searching for the opal, which is located in Hira, or the City of the Rats. While travelling, they find signs which all have the word "Tom" written on it. They then find themselves in a trap that Thaegan''s remaining eleven children had prepared. With the help of Filli, the three managed to kill all the children except for one, Ichabod, and continue on their quest. They find and enter Tom''s shop and buy useful provisions such as Fire Beads, Water Eaters, Glowing Bubbles, and Instant Bread. They also bought three animals called Muddlets. Muddlets had three legs and can be ridden much like a horse. Despite Tom''s directions, Lief didn''t listen to him and went the wrong way. The three lost control of the Muddlets as they ran on their own. Lief, Barda and Jasmine followed the Muddlets home, the city of Noradz and become trapped. Noradz has customs that keeps the city vigorously clean. When Filli comes out of hiding from Jasmine''s shirt, a Ra-Kacharz mistakes it for a rat and gives the trio two choices, to live or to die. Lief was commanded to pick a card labeled either Life or Death out of a cup. Realizing that both cards say Death, Lief tricks the Ra-Kacharz and the trio is thrown into prison. A girl named Tira managed to free them and shows them the secret way out, by passing through the kitchen trash tube. They survive the dangers of the tube by wearing the Ra-Kacharz clothes that they stole and finally reached the Broad River. Using the Water Eaters, Lief, Barda, and Jasmine crossed the river, only to find that there were rats waiting for them. They managed to escape the deadly rats using the explosive Fire Beads and enter the city''s center. The Glowing Bubbles come into use and lights their way as they move through the dark. There, Lief starts to hear voices, which was revealed to be of Reeah''s, a huge snake called the King of Rats. The crown atop of Reeah''s head housed the opal. Lief realized that the past inhabitants of the City of the Rats were the people of Noradz. He also realized that "Noradz" was a homophone of "No Rats" and "Ra-Kacharz" was a homophone of "Rat-Catchers". The overrun of rats in their city had caused them to move and take up vigorously clean customs. Also, "Noradzeer", which is repeated very often by the people of Noradz, appears to be a homophone of "No Rats Here". Lief realizes that Reeah had set a trap for them. After a fight, Lief and Jasmine defeats the snake. Lief touches the opal to take it, and gets a vision of him sinking into the Shifting Sands. Lief remembers that the opal''s vision of the future is not always true, they continue their quest to seek their fourth gem at the Shifting Sands.

Over 8000 Takeaways For Your Brain!

Read - Listen - Learn

A Small Town in Germany

By John le Carré

Tender is the Night

By F. Scott Fitzgerald

1634: The Galileo Affair

By Eric Flint

The Lotus Eaters

By Tatjana Soli

The Insulted and Humiliated

By Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Bel Canto

By Ann Patchett

The Heart of a Woman

By Maya Angelou

Sassinak

By Anne McCaffrey

My Name Is Legion

By A. N. Wilson

The Renegado

No Author Listed

Baudolino

By Umberto Eco

City of the Rats

By Jennifer Rowe