Sergey Aleksandrovich (Сергей Александрович), the narrator, is summoned from Saint Petersburg to the estate of his uncle, Colonel Yegor Ilich Rostanev (Егор Ильич Ростанев), and finds that a middle-aged charlatan named Foma Fomich Opiskin (Фома Фомич Опискин) has swindled the nobles around him into believing that he is virtuous despite behavior that is passive aggressive, selfish, and spiteful. Foma obliges the servants to learn French, and gets furious when they are caught dancing the kamarinskaya. Uncle Yegor asks Serguey to marry the poor young girl Nastasha. It turns out Uncle Yegor is in love with her himself, but Foma wants him to marry the wealthy but mentally retarded Tatyana Ivanova instead. This Tatyana has several other suitors, including Mizinchikov, who confides in Sergey about his plans to elope with her. The next morning Tatyana has eloped, not with Mizinchikov but by Obnoskin, who acted under the influence of his mother. After a pursuit Tatyana returns voluntarily. At Stepantchikovo Foma Fomitsj is furious because Uncle Yegor has been caught red-handed during a date in the garden with Nastasha. Foma leaves, but falls into a ditch. The inhabitants beg him to come back. A general reconciliation follows after Foma, manipulating as ever, gives his blessing to a marriage between Uncle Yegor and Nastasha.

The Village of Stepanchikovo

Maisie becomes a maid at the Belgravia Mansion of Lady Rowan Compton in 1910 at fourteen years old after her mother dies and she must help her father make ends meet. Soon after getting caught in Lady Compton''s library fulfilling her joy of reading and learning, Maisie is introduced to Maurice Blanche, close friend of the Comptons, and becomes his pupil. Blanche, a discreet investigator, teaches Maisie as much as he can about psychology, science, and anything else Maisie is willing to learn. When Maisie becomes old enough she attends Girton College at Cambridge University, but threats of war soon intervene. World War I intensifies and the pressures of war can be felt in Maisie''s England. Deciding that the war efforts are extremely important to her and her country, Maisie volunteers as a nurse at the front, where she meets a young man, with whom she falls in love. Part of the mystery surrounding Maisie is what happens to the young man. After the war, Maisie apprentices with Blanche in his investigative work. In 1929, after Blanche has retired, Maisie opens her own investigation business. Her first seemingly open-and-shut case involves her in a mystery surrounding something known as The Retreat, a suspicious home for veterans of the war. Maisie must act fast when she learns that Lady Compton''s own son has signed over his fortune to The Retreat and has taken asylum there. With the help of Billy Beale, a caretaker at her office and veteran of the Great War himself, she is able to infiltrate The Retreat. As Maisie uncovers the mystery of The Retreat she is also confronted with her own ghosts from the war after ten years of holding the memories at bay.

Maisie Dobbs

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

Lucky Child tells the story of Loung Ung and her sister Chou Ung. Each chapter alternates between their stories. Loung lives in Vermont as a refugee with her older brother Meng and his wife Eang. Meng only had enough money to bring one of his siblings with him, so he had to leave the rest of his family. He chose Loung to come with him because she was the youngest, ten years old upon leaving Cambodia; hence, she is the "lucky child." *Loung - In America, Loung dealt with issues regarding assimilation and fitting in. Her family originally had live off food stamps in order to survive. At school, Loung was ridiculed for her poor English and her ethnic Cambodian facial features. Her belly still bloated from malnutrition, she felt she wasn''t pretty. She also continued to be plagued by memories of Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge. Even as she began to put the past behind her, she could not entirely because her brother refused to do so. Nonetheless, Loung''s quality of life was a lot higher than her prospects had she remained in Cambodia; she even earned a full scholarship to college. Loung was often haunted by her torturous past but finally comes to terms with it when she visits Cambodia at the end of the story and finally reunites with her long-lost family Loung''s story is written in the first person present tense. *Chou - Chou''s life in Cambodia was very different. The village where she and the rest of Loung''s family lived was still plagued by random Khmer Rouge attacks. The family, despite its previous upper-class status, was reduced to peasant status. Khouy was forced to enlist in the military to earn money. At the age of eighteen Chou''s aunt and uncle arrange a marriage to her. She and her new husband Pheng lived on a her aunt and uncle''s property. Chou gives birth to several children. Chou''s story was recorded by Loung and translated to English. It is written in the third person. *Loung Ung - The author and narrator of the American story arc. *Chou Ung - Loung''s sister. Older by two years, Chou remained in Cambodia with the rest of her family. Chou was closest to Loung and missed her younger sister a lot. At age eighteen she marries Pheng. She is the central character in the Cambodian story arc. *Meng and Eang Ung - Loung''s caretakers, Meng is her eldest brother and Eang is his wife. They flee Cambodia with Loung for Thailand, there they receive sponsorship by an American church to live in Vermont. *Maria and Tori Ung - The children of Meng and Eang, they are the first Ungs to become American citizens since they were born in America.

Lucky Child

Upon arrival in the Tower of High Sorcery, Raistlin is tested by the undead guardians to prove that he is really the Master of the Tower. It is revealed that he has beaten Fistandantilus and absorbed his soul, thus increasing his power immensely. Raistlin goes to find the Portal to the Abyss, which is necessary to his ascension to godhood. When he goes to it, he discovers that it is not there. Having been bribed with the Globe of Present Time Passing, created by Raistlin, Astinus reveals that it is in the magical fortress of Zhaman, located in dwarven lands. The scene shifts to Tasslehoff Burrfoot, who finds himself in the Abyss. Tasslehoff encounters Takhisis, the Queen of Darkness, who tells him how he has altered time and possibly allowed her to take over the world. Tas meets Gnimsh, a gnome, who claims he is a failure because all of his inventions worked (gnomes in the Dragonlance world constantly invent, and more often than not they fail. The gnomes believe failure is a means of learning). Gnimsh agrees to help Tasslehoff get out of the Abyss and starts to fix the device of Time Journeying. Caramon, Raistlin, and Crysania create the so-called Fistandantilus Army from local populace under pretension of ravaging the dwarven kingdom Thorbadin in the far South, with Caramon being their leader. Many come to join his army, and they number several hundred. The army continues south. The hill dwarves join up with Caramon''s army, believing that the mountain dwarves have stolen supplies and wealth from them. Crysania flees when Raistlin rejects her love and makes plans to bring word of the true gods to the people, 200 years before Goldmoon would during the War of the Lance. She encounters place stricken by plague and finds a dying false cleric, who she tries to convert. She discovers that people are still too angry to accept the true gods yet. Raistlin and Caramon begin to joke and share memories. Later, Raistlin and Caramon go to the village where Crysania is. Raistlin uses his immense power to summon a massive fire that razes the town. He is in fact preparing Crysania to come with him into the Abyss with trials comparable to Huma Dragonbane''s. Caramon and his army soon capture the fortress of Pax Tharkas, thanks to the help of traitorous dark dwarves. The mountain dwarves retreat to Thorbardin and close the gates, preparing for war. Kharas, the dwarf hero, led a daring assassination attempt on Raistlin. Kharas wounds him drastically, but Raistlin has time before death. Crysania heals Raistlin, perhaps against his will. It is then discovered that Tas and Gnimsh have escaped the Abyss and were captured in Thorbardin. Raistlin appears and rescues Tas, but kills Gnimsh, presumably to correct Fistandantilus''s mistake of allowing the gnome to be at the Portal when he tried to enter. Soon after, it is revealed that the dark dwarves betrayed them and had slowly killed off the hill dwarves. They attempt to assassinate Caramon, but are beaten back. Raistlin, after a last talk with his brother, opens the Portal with Crysania''s help; at the same time Caramon and Tas activate their device, returning to their proper time period. The result is the explosion that levels Zhaman; however, this time, Crysania and Raistlin enter the Portal whereas Denubis, Crysania''s equivalent in the past, had died and Fistandantilus had departed that plane of existence. The book ends with Raistlin entering the Abyss.

War of the Twins

In his haste to leave New Orleans and the threat of imprisonment, Flashman agrees to shepherd Susie Willinck and her company of prostitutes to Sacramento, where she intends to set up shop and make a bundle from goldminers. As wagon captain, Flashman is nominally in charge of his and Susie''s (now his wife) collection of women, supplies, sex toys and the other forty-niners and invalids looking for a better life but he depends on the guidance of Richens Lacey Wootton to see them through. Unfortunately, Wootton becomes stricken with cholera. Flashman is left to get everyone to Bent''s Fort in safety, which Comanches make difficult for him. Eventually, they reach Santa Fe, New Mexico, where Flashman absconds with two thousand dollars made from selling one of the prostitutes, Cleonie, to Navajos. For safety in the wilderness, Flashman falls in with a group of travelers but he discovers them to be scalp-hunters, when they attack a band of Apaches. Flashman joins in but refuses to take any scalps or rape captive women, which saves him when the scalp-hunters are killed by the rest of the tribe on their return. He ends up marrying Sonsee-Array, the daughter of chief, Mangas Coloradas, and becoming friends with Geronimo. Eventually, he escapes and is saved by Kit Carson on the Jornada del Muerto. In 1875, Flashman returns to America with his wife, Elspeth. He meets George Armstrong Custer and Mrs. Arthur B. Candy, the former slave Cleonie, both of whom lead him into disaster. He travels to Bismarck, North Dakota, to meet with Mrs. Candy and pursue a carnal relationship but at her connivance, he is kidnapped by Sioux and kept captive at Greasy Grass. He escapes just in time to see the defeat and death of Custer and to be partly scalped himself by his own illegitimate son from Cleonie, Frank Grouard, who by choice has been living as an Indian. Thus, the book ends with Flashman discovering that he left more behind in America in 1850 than two jilted wives.

Flashman and the Redskins

The basic plot concerns a school teacher named Ushimatsu Segawa (family name written last) who struggles with a commandment given to him by his late father. He is never to reveal his burakumin background, which his father had tried so hard to conceal as well. Ushimatsu idolizes Rentarou Inoko, a burakumin rights'' activist and successful writer (particularly considering the social position given to those considered burakumin). Ushimatsu wishes to reveal his background to Rentarou, as his need to hide away part of himself in order to be accepted by society in general leads to his feeling constricted by this superficial identity, and to his desiring to form a more meaningful connection with Rentarou through their common experience. This novel also touches on the dangerous, destructive nature of gossip, and questions society''s inability to accept what is not understood. It attempts to build understanding and empathy for this group of people at a time (the novel''s publication''s) when a great deal of prejudice still existed towards this group.

The Broken Commandment

The novel begins during the events in the book Legend, During the defense of the fortress Dros Delnoch from the Nadir, Druss begins to tell a young warrior a story from his past. He tells how he and his friend Sieben travelled to the land of the Gothir and how he became involved in the political affairs there. Due to a prophecy that the King made Druss must lose a tournament, when he refuses to do this men are hired to kill him. In the course of the attempt on his life his friend Klay is shot in the spine with a crossbow leaving him paralyzed and mortally wounded. To help him Druss travels to the land of the Nadir where a mystic has told him there are gems that can heal any wound. As he travels to the shrine of Nadir hero Oshikai, the Gothir send a force of 2,000 men to destroy it. Druss arrives at the shrine hoping to find the jewels but is unable to before the Gothir arrive and so helps 4 Nadir tribes to defend the shrine under the guidance of a Gothir trained Nadir soldier called Talisman. Talisman is on a quest to find "The Uniter", a man with blazing violet eyes called Ulric, who will unite the Nadir tribes after centuries of warfare. During the defense of the shrine the spirit of Oshikai''s wife Shul-sen is released from captivity with the help of Druss and Talisman, the spirit unleashes a storm on the Gothir army and those that are not killed are ordered to withdraw. Druss''s friend Sieben reveals that he has found the jewels which the Nadir call "The Eyes of Alchazzar". He takes them back to Gothir where they find that Klay had died a few days after they left. However, they heal many of the sick in the hospice before returning the jewels to the Nadir. Talisman then calls a meeting of the Nadir tribes in which he smashes the jewels to return the magic and life of the Nadir land. In doing this the energy flows through him turning his eyes a blazing purple; he then claims his name as Ulric. The book then comes back to the present day where we learn that Druss has fallen in combat in the defense of Dros Delnoch. Ulric/Talisman is saddened to learn of this, even though they were on opposing sides he considered Druss a great warrior.

The Legend of Deathwalker

This book takes place in a fictitious European nation known as Padukgrad, where a government arises following the rise of a philosophy known as "Ekwilism," which discourages the idea of anyone being different from anyone else, and promotes the state as the prominent good in society. The story begins with the protagonist, Adam Krug, had just lost his wife to an unsuccessful surgery. He is quickly asked to sign and deliver a speech to the leader of the new government by the head of the university and his colleagues, but he refuses. This government is led by a man named Paduk and his "Party of the Average Man." As it happens, the world-renowned philosopher Adam Krug was in his youth a classmate of Paduk, at which period he had bullied him and referred to him disparagingly as "the Toad." Paduk arrests many of the people close to Krug and those against his Ekiwilist philosophy, and attempts to get the influential Professor Krug to promote the state philosophy to help stomp out dissent and increase his personal prestige. He makes a series of offers to Krug, but Krug continues to refuse outright. Finally, Paduk has Krug''s young son David taken for ransom as Krug was arrested. Immediately, Krug capitulates and is prepared to promote the Ekiwilist philosophy, and is promised David''s safe return. However, when David is to be returned to him, Krug is horrified to find that the child he is presented is not his son. There has been a mix-up, and David has been sent to an orphanage that doubles as a violent prisoner rehabilitation clinic where he was tortured and killed when he was offered as a "release" to the prisoners. Paduk makes an offer to allow Krug to personally kill those responsible, but he swears at the officials and is locked in a large prison cell. Another offer is made to Krug to free 24 opponents of Ekwilism, including many of his friends, in exchange for doing so. He accepts in complete lucidity, then, as the author feels pity, a beam of light comes down and strikes him insane leading him to charge Paduk.

Bend Sinister

Anne leaves Green Gables and her work as a teacher in Avonlea to pursue her original dream (which she gave up in Anne of Green Gables) of taking further education at Redmond College in Nova Scotia. Gilbert Blythe and Charlie Sloane enroll as well, as do Anne''s friends from Queen''s Academy, Priscilla Grant and Stella Maynard. During her first week of school, Anne befriends Philippa Gordon, a beautiful girl whose frivolous ways charm her. Philippa (Phil for short) also happens to be from Anne''s birthplace of Bolingbroke, Nova Scotia. The girls spend their first year in boardinghouses and decide to set up house thereafter in a lovely cottage called Patty''s Place, near campus. The girls enter their second year at Redmond happily ensconced at Patty''s Place, while life continues in Avonlea. Diana Barry becomes engaged to Fred Wright and Davy and Dora continue to keep Marilla busy. Midway through their college years, Gilbert, who has always loved Anne, proposes to her but Anne rejects him; although she and Gilbert are very close, she holds sentimental fantasies about true love (all featuring a tall, dark, handsome, inscrutable hero) and does not recognize her true feelings for Gilbert. Gilbert leaves, his heart broken, and the two drift apart. Anne''s childhood friend Ruby Gillis dies of consumption very soon after finding her own true love. Anne later welcomes the courtship of Roy Gardner, a darkly handsome Redmond student who showers her with attention and poetic gestures. However, when he proposes after two years, Anne abruptly realizes that Roy does not really belong in her life, and that she had only been in love with the idea of him as the embodiment of her romantic image of love. Anne is so ashamed in how she treated Roy that she feels her entire Redmond experience may have been spoiled. She returns to Green Gables, a "full-fledged B.A.", but finds herself a bit lonely. Diana gives birth to her first child, and Jane Andrews, an old school friend, marries a Winnipeg millionaire. Having received an offer to be the principal of the Summerside school in the fall, Anne is keeping herself occupied over the summer when she learns that Gilbert is gravely ill with typhoid fever. With shock, Anne finally realizes how deep her true feelings for Gilbert are, and endures a white night of fear that he will leave this world without knowing that she does care. In the morning, Anne gratefully learns that Gilbert will survive. Gilbert recovers over the summer, bolstered by a letter from Phil assuring him that there is really nothing between Anne and Roy. After several visits to Green Gables, Gilbert and Anne take a late summer walk in Hester Gray''s garden, and finally become engaged.

Anne of the Island

Ruth is a self-sufficient woman who makes her living as a ghostwriter for self-help books. She lives with her long-term boyfriend, Art Kamen, and acts as a stepmother to Art''s two teenage daughters from a previous marriage, Dory and Fia. Meanwhile, as LuLing is showing signs of dementia, Ruth struggles to juggle her mother''s illness, her job, and her relationship. As an adult, Ruth struggles to understand her mother and her strange behavior during Ruth''s childhood. Although she loves her mother, she also resents her for having criticized her harshly when she was young and forcing her to obey strict rules. LuLing believed that young Ruth had the ability to communicate with the spirit world, and often expected her to produce messages from the ghost of LuLing''s long-dead nursemaid, Precious Auntie, by writing on a sand tray. LuLing''s autobiography makes up the middle section of the book. This story within a story describes LuLing''s early life in a small Chinese village called Immortal Heart. LuLing is raised by a mute, burned nursemaid called "Precious Auntie." It is later revealed that Precious Auntie sustained her injuries by swallowing burning ink resin. Although the oldest daughter in her family, LuLing is ignored by her mother in favor of her younger sister GaoLing. However, Precious Auntie was entirely devoted to caring for LuLing. LuLing''s story goes further back, describing Precious Auntie''s childhood as the daughter of a local bonesetter. The teen-aged Precious Auntie is the only person who knows the location of a hidden cave where many ancient "dragon bones" can be found, knowledge that she retains even after being burned and coming to live with LuLing''s family. After the discovery of the Peking Man, fossilized bones and information about where they might be found becomes extremely valuable. A local family, the Changs, wish to arrange a marriage between LuLing and their son Fu Nan because they believe that LuLing can lead them to the fossil cave. LuLing''s family approves of the marriage, but Precious Auntie violently opposes it. Unable to speak in detail, she writes LuLing a long letter explaining her reasons, but LuLing does not read it to its end. Only after Precious Auntie''s death does LuLing learn that her nursemaid was actually her mother, and that the woman she had thought to be her mother is actually her father''s sister. After Precious Auntie''s death, GaoLing marries Fu Nan and LuLing is sent away to a Christian orphanage where she completes her education, grows up and becomes a teacher. Here, she meets her first husband, Pan Kai Jing. LuLing lives in the orphanage as a teacher through World War II, often going to extreme lengths to protect the students from the Japanese soldiers and other dangers. A few years later she is reunited with GaoLing. The two "sisters" immigrate to America separately and marry a pair of brothers, Edmund and Edwin. LuLing''s second husband dies from a hit and run accident when Ruth was two years old. Ruth struggles growing up as the child of a single parent who believes in curses. Once Ruth learns the details of her mother''s past, she gains a new understanding of her and her seemingly erratic behavior. Answers to both women''s problems unfold as LuLing''s story is finally revealed in its entirety.

The Bonesetter''s Daughter

The story follows the life of a young woman, Selina Peake De Jong, who decides to be a school teacher in farming country. During her stay on the Pool family farm, she encourages the young Roelf Pool to follow his interests, which include art. Upon his mother''s death, Roelf runs away to France. Meanwhile, Selina marries a Dutch farmer named Pervus. They have a child together, Dirk, whom she nicknames "So Big," from the common question and answer "How big is baby? " "So-o-o-o big!" (Ferber, 2). Pervus becomes ill and dies, and Selina is forced to take over working on the farm to give Dirk a future. As Dirk gets older, he works as an architect but is more interested in making money than creating buildings and becomes a stock broker, much to his mother''s disappointment. His love interest, Dallas O''Mara, an acclaimed artist, echoes this sentiment by trying to convince Dirk that there is more to life than money. Much later in life, Selina is visited by Roelf Pool, who has since become a famous sculptor. Dirk grows very distressed when, after visiting his mother''s farm, he realizes that Dallas and Roelf love each other and he cannot compete with the artistically-minded sculptor. In the end, Dirk comes to appreciate the wisdom of his mother, who always valued aesthetics and beauty even as she scraped out a living in a stern Dutch community. Ultimately, Dirk is left alone in his sumptuous apartment, saddened by his abandonment of artistic values.

Over 8000 Takeaways For Your Brain!

Read - Listen - Learn

The Village of Stepanchikovo

By Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Maisie Dobbs

By Jacqueline Winspear

1634: The Galileo Affair

By Eric Flint

Lucky Child

By Loung Ung

War of the Twins

By Tracy Hickman

Flashman and the Redskins

By George MacDonald Fraser

The Broken Commandment

By Vincent McDonnell

The Legend of Deathwalker

By David Gemmell

Bend Sinister

By Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov

Anne of the Island

By Lucy Maud Montgomery

The Bonesetter's Daughter

By Amy Tan

So Big

By Edna Ferber