"The Road to Charing Cross" begins with Flashman going to Berlin with Henri Blowitz to help him get a copy of the Treaty of Berlin and publish it before anyone else has it. He also meets Caprice, a beautiful member of the French secret service. Five years later, Flashman is looking for an excuse to leave London and avoid being sent to Sudan with Charles George Gordon. Luckily, a letter from Blowitz arrives inviting him to Paris. He rides the maiden voyage of the Orient Express and makes the acquaintance of a princess, Kralta, supposedly so that she can sleep with him. This turns out to be a ruse on the part of the princess and Otto von Bismarck, and Flashman is forced to join with Rupert Willem von Starnberg, son of the villain from Royal Flash, and save Emperor Franz Josef from assassination by Magyar nationalists. It turns out that Starnberg has plans of his own, and Flashman must save both the Emperor and himself. "The Subtleties of Baccarat" has Flashman at the home of Sir Arthur Wilson with the Prince of Wales, just when the Royal Baccarat Scandal is unfolding. Unlike in most Flashman stories, he is mainly an observer of the event, simply giving bad advice when asked to. However, in a twist, someone he has known for years unexpectedly turns out to be the most important player in the story. At the beginning of "Flashman and the Tiger", Flashman is in South Africa fleeing from the Battle of Isandlwana in a wagon. After his escape, he meets Tiger Jack Moran about ten miles (16&nbsp;km) away, and both head to Rorke''s Drift and the nightmare that awaits them. Later, at the mention of Flashman''s name, Moran says "if I''d only known." Years later, in 1894, Flashman finds out what he meant when Moran blackmails his granddaughter in order to sleep with her, revealing to Flashman that he was a cabin boy on Captain John Charity Spring''s ship, the Balliol College (see Flash for Freedom!), who was traded to King Gezo as a white slave and has spent much of his adult life avenging himself on the ship''s former crew. In an attempt to save her, Flashman finds himself in a scene from "The Adventure of the Empty House", and has to endure the humiliation of Sherlock Holmes analyzing him while he is pretending to be a drunken tramp (Fraser, perhaps to tweak the sensibilities of Holmes'' legion of admirers, has Holmes get it all wrong).

Flashman and the Tiger

Charlie Decker, a Maine high school senior, is called to meeting with his principal over a previous incident in which Decker attacked his chemistry teacher with a heavy wrench. For unknown reasons, Charlie subjects the principal to a series of insulting remarks, resulting in his expulsion. Charlie storms out of the office and retrieves a pistol from his locker, setting its contents on fire. He then returns to his classroom and fatally shoots his Algebra teacher. The fire triggers an alarm, but Charlie forces his classmates to stay in the classroom, killing another teacher when he enters. As the students and teachers evacuate the school, police and media arrive at the scene. In the following four hours, Charlie toys with various authority figures who attempt to negotiate with him, including the principal, the school psychologist, and the local police chief. Charlie gives them certain commands, threatening to kill students if they do not comply. Charlie also admits to his hostages that he does not know what has compelled him to commit his deeds, believing he will regret them when the situation is over. As his fellow students start identifying with Charlie, he unwittingly turns his class into a sort of psychotherapy group, causing his schoolmates to semi-voluntarily tell embarrassing secrets regarding themselves and each other. Interspersed throughout are narrative flashbacks to Charlie''s troubled childhood, particularly his tumultuous relationship with his abusive father. Several notable incidents include a violent disagreement between two female students, and a SWAT team sniper shooting Charlie in the chest. However, Charlie survives due to the bullet striking his locker''s padlock, which he had earlier placed in his shirt pocket. Charlie finally comes to the realization that one student is really being held there against his will: a seeming "big man on campus" named Ted Jones, who is harboring his own secrets. Ted realizes this and attempts to escape the classroom, but the other students brutally assault him, driving him into a battered catatonic state. At 1:00 PM, Charlie releases the students. When the police chief enters the classroom, he shoots the now-unarmed Charlie when he attempts suicide by cop. Charlie survives and is found not guilty by reason of insanity, committed to a psychiatric hospital in Augusta until he is no longer a threat to society. The story ends with Charlie addressing the reader, "I have to turn off the light now. Good night."

Rage

This 160-page book begins with an introduction on pages 3–9. According to the adventure background provided, drow priestesses are no longer receiving spells or guidance from their goddess, Lolth. While in most places, the drow have remained steadfast, the Underdark city of Maerimydra is in a state of unrest and has been invaded by a host of enemy creatures. Some of the desperate survivors have begun making raids on the surface world. The adventure outline provided states that the player characters will be investigating these raids, travelling through the Underdark and exploring the ruined city, fighting the creatures that have taken it over, ultimately fighting a priestess of the rival drow goddess Kiaransalee. Following the introduction is the four-chapter adventure scenario: Part 1: Spinning the Web, is on pages 10–44, Part 2: The Deep Wastes, is on pages 45–63, Part 3: Maerimydra", is on pages 64–101, and Part 4: The Undying Temple", is on pages 102-114. The book also features two appendices. Appendix 1: Monsters and Magic, on pages 115-130, features the statistics for several monsters used in the adventure, and also presents a number of spells and magic items. Appendix 2: Creature Statistics, on pages 131-160, contains a summary of the statistics for all the NPCs and monsters that appear throughout the adventure. Included in the back of the book are 16 one-page maps of various locations that the characters may explore as part of the adventure.

City of the Spider Queen

When the beautiful and glamorous Helen is deserted by her lover, she marries the kindly Martin McMahon and moves to the small village of Lough Glass. Although Martin and Helen have two children, Helen still pines for Louis, the man who broke her heart. Helen seems restless and unhappy living in Lough Glass. Then one day, Helen disappears, leaving behind only a note for Martin. Kit, Helen and Martin''s 13-year old daughter, finds this letter, and burns it without opening it. Kit knows that her mother was unhappy and assumes that her mother has committed suicide. A suicide note would mean that her mother could not be buried in ''consecrated'' ground according to Catholic tradition. However, Helen hasn''t committed suicide. Rather, she decided to run away to England with her former lover. Kit McMahon struggles to grow up without her mother and with the stigma of her mother''s death. While Kit has many friends and mentors to help her grow, she forges a close relationship via letters with Lena Gray. Lena Gray claims to be a close friend of Helen. However, Lena Gray is really Helen herself. The story then traces the fallout of Kit finding out that her mother isn''t dead and is Lena Gray.

The Glass Lake

The book focuses on three principal characters whose experiences are strongly intertwined with and often direct the course of the plot. Much of the book occurs in groupings of three chapters each, one for each of the three main characters. *Raoden, the prince of Arelon, is taken by the Shaod (The profound physical transformation through which one becomes Elantrian. Elantrians look different than they were before the transformation. They cannot die or be killed, except by drastic measures, such as burning or beheading. Their bodies do not repair themselves. They do feel pain, which gradually increases as injuries accumulate. They do not need to eat, but still have hunger pains.) at the beginning of the book, and is whisked off to live in the cursed city of Elantris, once, with its inhabitants, the wonder of the world. Persons transformed by the Shaod are treated as dead by those outside Elantris. Raoden''s story line centers on his efforts to improve the Elantrian way of life beyond the anarchy to which it succumbed when Elantris fell. *Sarene, Raoden''s political bride whom he has never personally met, arrives in Arelon held by a legally binding contract that says she is married to the prince, even if he is dead. Widow of a supposedly dead prince and a new member of the mostly ill-suited Arelon nobility, she struggles to find out just what is going on, and to help the downtrodden common people, even the people of Elantris. Sarene''s story line deals with her attempts to stabilize and improve the monarchy, and to prevent Hrathen''s intended revolution. *Hrathen, a Derethi gyorn (high-ranking priest), also soon arrives in Arelon, with a mandate to convert the country to the Shu Dereth religion within three months time, or his religion''s armies will come to wipe out the city. Hrathen''s story line focuses on his efforts at political maneuvering to sway the Arelene aristocracy and place a converted Derethi on the throne, and on his struggles to come to terms with the religion he is supposed to believe. The story threads intertwine with each other (Sarene''s and Hrathen''s from almost the beginning of the book) and merge in the culmination of the book''s climax.

Elantris

The story opens on the island of Saint-Domingue (current day Haiti) in the late 18th century. Zarite (known as Tete) is the daughter of an African mother she never knew and one of the white sailors who brought her into bondage. As a young girl Tete is purchased by Violette, a mixed race courtesan, on behalf of Toulouse Valmorain, a Frenchman who has inherited his father''s sugar plantation. Valmorain has big dreams of financial success and is somewhat ambivalent towards slavery. He views it as a means to an end, as he does most things. Upon Valmorain''s marriage, Tete becomes his wife''s personal slave. Valmorain''s wife is fragile, beautiful, and slowly succumbs to madness. As Valmorain''s wife goes mad, Valmorain forces Tete, now a teenager, into sexual servitude, which produces several illegitimate children. Spanning four decades, the narrative leaps between the social upheavals from the distant French Revolution to the Haitian slave rebellion in all its brutality and chaos, to a New Orleans fomenting with cultural change.

The Island Beneath the Sea

As a restless high school athlete in a small, unnamed town in North Carolina, Jason Maddox, the book''s narrator, has a sexual encounter with his popular girlfriend’s alcoholic mother. Rumors of the encounter circulate at school, and Jason’s girlfriend, distraught when she learns of them, attempts suicide. Jason, himself previously popular, is shunned by his classmates, including the one who started the rumors. Jason confronts and savagely beats that classmate, and in the aftermath, he''s arrested, expelled from school, and all but disowned by his conservative, mortified parents. Taking a job as a house painter, Jason moves into an apartment complex where he befriends his new neighbor, Bernard “Peewee” Mash, an intellectually precocious fifteen-year-old who, like Jason, is a local pariah. Peewee introduces Jason to art, literature, and, most importantly, punk rock. He and Jason are particularly enamored of the Los Angeles punk band Rule of Thumb, which is led by a Berkeley-educated poet, Jim Cassady, whom Jason and Peewee both revere. Learning that Rule of Thumb will be performing at New York City’s CBGB, Jason quits his job in order to drive himself and Peewee to New York. After the show, they speak to Jim Cassady, who advises them to start a band. They immediately make plans to move to Manhattan, where they live on the Lower East Side, center of the New York punk scene. There, Peewee becomes increasingly difficult, at odds with Jason musically and envious of Jason’s sexual prowess. Alternately given to tantrums and sullen silences, Peewee is ousted from the band that he co-founded. He and Jason pursue music separately until, recognizing how much they miss each other, they reconcile and start a new band. The new band has a growing reputation for its explosive, destructive shows, which result in injuries to person and property alike. Banned from most local venues, the band begins touring the U.S., and in the midst of what will prove to be its final tour, Peewee is killed in a car crash, with Jason narrowly surviving. Devastated by the loss of Peewee, Jason decides he’s finished with music, and, using money from an insurance settlement, he produces and directs a film that takes him to Los Angeles, where he falls in love with an aspiring actress who is herself seeking a new life after fleeing the civil wars in her native Yugoslavia. The actress, Irina, is married to a wealthy Englishman who is happily unaware of her affair with Jason and, possibly, others prior, though Irina denies any previous affairs to Jason. Their stormy romance is addictive to Jason, who begs Irina to leave her husband for him. She repeatedly, and emptily, assures him she will. At a party one night, Jason meets another former punk who tells him that Jim Cassady has recently been spotted, homeless and panhandling on the streets of Hollywood. This is the first sighting of Cassady, as far as Jason knows, since Rule of Thumb disbanded in the early 80s. Jason has always been mystified and intrigued by Cassady’s disappearance, and, on the Internet, he reads of other alleged Cassady sightings. Determined to find Cassady, Jason discovers that he’s now living in a bleak Los Angeles suburb with his elderly, controlling mother. He shares some of his recent songs and poems with Jason, who thinks they''re deserving of a wide audience. Except for Cassady''s music and the advice he gave Jason and Peewee at CBGB almost twenty years before, Jason might still be miserable in North Carolina, and he means to express his gratitude by helping Cassady gain a new following. But Cassady is resigned to obscurity, and he grudgingly submits to Jason’s efforts on his behalf. Perhaps out of spite, he causes a rupture in Jason’s relationship with Irina, and Jason promises to kill him for it, only to reaffirm, in the book''s epilogue, how indebted he is to Cassady, who has again changed the course of his life.

Banned for Life

Medraut, the illegitimate son of Artos the king, returns from his travels in Africa and elsewhere to watch over his younger half-brother, Lleu. Though Medraut, a child of incest, can never be High King, Artos knows that Medraut is a far better statesman and fighter than his younger brother; thus, Artos gives Medraut the task of making Lleu fit to be High King, promising Medraut the position of Regent in return. Medraut doesn''t know if he loves or hates his brother; even from the beginning, he is disgusted by Lleu''s naïve, careless use of power and jealous of Lleu''s easy claim to Artos''s affection. Their relationship intensifies when Medraut''s lessons begin to stick, and Lleu starts to seem a suitable High King. Matters are further complicated by the entrance of Medraut''s mother Morgause, whose disturbing similarities to Medraut are revealed even as she tries to slowly poison Lleu. Expecting Medraut''s tacit approval of the poisoning, Morgause is unhappily surprised when Medraut protects Lleu and reveals Morgause''s treachery to Artos. Artos banishes Morgause from the castle, and Morgause vows to erode Medraut''s loyalty to Lleu. At first, Morgause''s vow seems an empty threat. But while Lleu becomes more and more competent, an accident strips Medraut of his power and (he thinks) his father''s affections. Resentment simmers between Medraut and Lleu, and by the time Morgause visits again, Medraut barely needs a catalyst. He kidnaps Lleu, intending to turn him over to Morgause, who in turn, plans to trade Lleu''s life for the throne. But when Lleu steals Medraut''s weapons and attempts to escape, the brothers are put in a unique situation; Medraut is ill and weaponless, Lleu is completely lost, and both are stranded in the middle of the woods. Medraut, struggling with regret as well as with his own envious desire to break Lleu''s spirit, proposes a sadistic bargain; if Lleu can stay awake and alert for five days straight, Medraut will betray Morgause and lead him back to Camlan. Lleu agrees to the bargain, but as Lleu begins to hallucinate from lack of sleep, Medraut realizes that nothing his brother has said or done should have pushed him to this extreme. The book ends with Medraut carrying Lleu back to Camlan, where Lleu, in turn, invokes his power as High King to save Medraut from being punished as a traitor.

The Winter Prince

Set in puritan Kent in 1657, the story focuses on the intrigues of Sir Marmaduke de Chevasse "as stiff a roundhead as ever upheld my Lord Protector and his Puritantic government" who is determined to secure the vast fortunes of his lovely ward, Lady Sue, for himself. Sue presents a girlish figure; she is young, alert and vigorous. The charm of her own youth and freshness even means she looks dainty and graceful in clothes that disfigure her elders. She enjoys the adulation which her appearance guarantees, laughing and chattering with the women and teasing the men. She does of course have plenty of admirers, including young Richard Lambert who worships her with protective reverence. Sir Marmaduke who has plans to woo and win Lady Sue disguised as the exiled French Prince of Orléans, resents this faithful espionage and lays a plot to lure young Lambert to a gaming-house in London. Richard knows that gambling is an illicit pastime and that he is breaking the law, but is compelled to take his seat at the table by his employer. Richard is then duped into taking part in a brawl and is summarily arrested leaving the way open for Marmaduke to carry out his cowardly deception and he soon tricks Sue into marrying him. Sir Marmaduke persuades his widowed sister-in-law to abet him in this plot, in which she unwittingly disgraces one of her long lost sons and finds the other murdered by the villain. Though set in a completely different kind of background, the plot has some resemblance with the Sherlock Holmes story "A Case of Identity".

The Nest of the Sparrowhawk

The novel is about a lonely young man, Frederick Clegg, who works as a clerk in a city hall, and collects butterflies in his spare time. The first part of the novel tells the story from his point of view. Clegg is obsessed with Miranda Grey, a middle-class art student at the Slade School of Fine Art. He admires her from a distance, but is unable to make any contact with her because of his nonexistent social skills. One day, he wins a large prize in the football pools. This makes it possible for him to stop working and buy an isolated house in the countryside. He feels lonely, however, and wants to be with Miranda. Unable to make any normal contact, Clegg decides to add her to his "collection" of pretty, petrified objects, in the hope that if he keeps her captive long enough, she will grow to love him. After careful preparations, he kidnaps Miranda by drugging her with chloroform and locks her up in the cellar of his house. He is convinced that Miranda will start to love him after some time. However, when she wakes up, she confronts him with his actions. Clegg is embarrassed, and promises to let her go after a month. He promises to show her "every respect", pledging not to sexually molest her and to shower her with gifts and the comforts of home, on one condition: she can''t leave the cellar. Clegg rationalizes every step of his plan in cold, emotionless language; he seems truly incapable of relating to other human beings and sharing real intimacy with them. He takes great pains to appear normal, however, and is greatly offended at the suggestion that his motives are anything but reasonable and genuine. The second part of the novel is narrated by Miranda in the form of fragments from a diary that she keeps during her captivity. Clegg scares her, and she does not understand him in the beginning. Miranda reminisces over her previous life throughout this section of the novel, and many of her diary entries are written either to her sister, or to a man named G.P., whom she respected and admired as an artist. Miranda reveals that G.P. ultimately fell in love with her, and subsequently severed all contact with her. Through Miranda''s confined reflections, Fowles discusses a number of philosophical issues, such as the nature of art, humanity and God. At first, Miranda thinks that Clegg has sexual motives for abducting her, but as his true character begins to be revealed, she realises that this is not true. She starts to have some pity for her captor, comparing him to Caliban in Shakespeare''s play The Tempest because of his hopeless obsession with her. Clegg tells Miranda that his first name is Ferdinand (eventual winner of Miranda''s affections in The Tempest). Miranda tries to escape several times, but Clegg is always able to stop her. She also tries to seduce him in order to convince him to let her go. The only result is that he becomes confused and angry. When Clegg keeps refusing to let her go, she starts to fantasize about killing him. After a failed attempt at doing so, Miranda passes through a phase of self-loathing, and decides that to kill Clegg would lower her to his level. As such, she then refrains from any further attempts to do so. Before she can try to escape again, she becomes seriously ill and dies. The third part of the novel is again narrated by Clegg. At first, he wants to commit suicide after he learns of Miranda''s death, but after he reads in her diary that she never loved him, he decides that he is not responsible and is better off without her. The books ends with his announcement he plans to kidnap another girl.

The Collector

The novel is a romanticised retelling of the overthrow of King Zhou, the last ruler of the Shang Dynasty, by King Wu, who would establish the Zhou Dynasty in place of Shang. The story integrates oral and written tales of many Chinese mythological figures who are involved in the struggle as well. These figures include human heroes, immortals and various spirits (usually represented in avatar form like vixens, and pheasants, and sometimes inanimate objects such as a pipa). Bewitched by his concubine Daji, who is actually a vixen spirit in disguise as a beautiful woman, King Zhou of Shang oppresses his people and persecutes those who oppose him, including his own subjects who dare to speak up to him. King Wu of Zhou, assisted by his strategist Jiang Ziya, rallies an army to overthrow the tyrant and restore peace and order. Throughout the story, battles are waged between the kingdoms of Shang and Zhou, with both sides calling upon various supernatural beings -- deities, immortals, demons, spirits, and humans with magical abilities -- to aid them in the war. Yuanshi Tianzun bestows upon Jiang Ziya the Fengshen Bang, a list that empowers Jiang Ziya to invest the gods of Heaven. The heroes of Zhou and some of their fallen enemies from Shang are eventually endowed with heavenly ranking and essentially elevated to their roles as gods, hence the title of the novel.

Fengshen Yanyi

Eilis Lacey is a young woman who is unable to find work in 1950s Ireland. Her older sister Rose organizes a meeting with a Catholic priest Father Flood on a visit from New York City, who tells Eilis of the wonderful opportunities awaiting her in New York with excellent employment prospects. Because of this she emigrates to Brooklyn, New York and takes up a job in a department store while undertaking night classes in bookkeeping. Her initial experiences working in a boring job and living in a repressive boardinghouse, run by the strict Mrs Madge Kehoe, make her doubt her initial decision. Letters from Rose, her mother and her brother brought about severe homesickness but soon she begins to settle into a routine. Eilis meets and falls in love with a young Italian plumber called Tony at the local Friday night dances. This leads to her first sexual encounter and some social consequences as they are overheard by Mrs Kehoe. Eilis qualifies easily from her night school course. Her relationship evolves further and Tony proposes marriage and brings Eilis to meet his family. One day while Eilis is working she receives unwelcome news from Father Flood informing her that her sister Rose has died in her sleep from a pre-existing heart condition. She has to return to Ireland to mourn, and she secretly marries Tony before she leaves. In Ireland she falls back into the town society easily. She goes to the beach with Nancy, George and their friend Jim Farrell, who is interested in her. Eilis is forced to spend time with Jim and eventually starts a brief relationship with him. He is a local pub owner, to whom she had been attracted to before emigrating to America. Eilis''s mother is desperate for her to settle back in Ireland and marry Jim, as Eilis has not confided in her or her friends about her marriage. Eilis procrastinates about a return to her new life by extending her stay. She saves Tony''s letters unopened thinking at times that she no longer loves him. Eventually a local busybody, Miss Kelly, tells Eilis she knows her secret because Madge Kehoe is her cousin and somehow the story is out in New York. This is the turning point for Eilis and she immediately books her return passage, telling her mother the whole truth and posting a farewell note to Jim as she leaves town by taxi for the docks.

Over 8000 Takeaways For Your Brain!

Read - Listen - Learn

Flashman and the Tiger

By George MacDonald Fraser

Rage

By Stephen King

City of the Spider Queen

No Author Listed

The Glass Lake

By Maeve Binchy

Elantris

By Brandon Sanderson

The Island Beneath the Sea

By Isabel Allende

Banned for Life

No Author Listed

The Winter Prince

By Elizabeth E. Wein

The Nest of the Sparrowhawk

By Baroness Emma Orczy

The Collector

By John Fowles

Fengshen Yanyi

By Xu Zhonglin

Brooklyn

By Colm Tóibín