The novel consists of five parts that tell the life of Gergely Bornemissza from the age of eight until the year 1552, when he is in his early thirties. I. Gergely is a half-orphan and son of a poor woman, while Éva Cecey is the daughter of a landowner. They are nevertheless playmates. While playing in the woods, the two children are captured by a Turk named Jumurdzsák and have to join a trek of prisoners. Due to the cunning of little Gergely, the two children are able to escape and later also to free the other prisoners. Gergely''s mother dies in a raid by the Turks, but the little boy is adopted as a foster son by the rich aristocrat Bálint Török, where he gets a good education. II. Several years later, Gergely has to experience that Buda is captured by the Turks through deceit and his foster father Bálint Török is led away prisoner. Gergely meets Éva again, who has become a pretty young girl. III. Gergely learns that Éva who is an excellent rider and fighter is to be married to the cowardly Adam Fürjes at the request of the queen. They flee together and get married. Together with some friends they plan to free Bálint Török from his prison in Istanbul. They go to the Ottoman city, but despite many adventures, they finally fail in freeing the Hungarian aristocrat. IV. It is 1552, a force about 200,000 Turks is approaching the little town of Eger, the citadel of which is only defended by 2000 soldiers. István Dobó, captain of the citadel, calls on the troops of the emperor for aid, but no-one arrives. Gergely joins the forces who are preparing to fight in Eger, while leaving Éva home with their little son. Shortly after he has left, a stranger arrives and kidnaps the little boy. Éva realizes that the stranger must have been the Turk Jumurdzsák. She understands that there must be a connection with the siege of Eger, so she masquerades as a man and tries to enter the besieged castle. V. Even though the forces of the Turks are overwhelming, the Hungarians in Eger are able to defend themselves. Éva finally arrives at Eger. Though the Ottomans attack again and again, the citadel stands firm, with also the women of Eger joining the battle. Finally, the Ottoman forces withdraw. Gergely''s and Éva''s little son is exchanged for a Turkish boy who has been captured, and the family is finally reunited.

Egri csillagok

The novel tells the story of Robert Merivel, a physician. After supervising the recovery of one of the dogs of King Charles II, he is appointed surgeon to all of the king''s dogs. He then joins in all of the debauchery of King Charles'' court. The king then arranges a marriage of convenience between Merivel and one of his mistresses, Celia Clemence. This is done purely to fool the king''s other mistress Barbara Castlemaine. Merivel is given an estate named Bidnold in Norfolk, and Celia is installed in a house in Kew where the king can visit her secretly. In Norfolk, Merivel abandons the practice of medicine, and lives a dissipated life in which he tries to take up painting with the help of an ambitious painter named Elias Finn. Things start to change when Celia is sent to Bidnold by the king after displeasing him. One night he drunkenly makes advances to her, and is promptly reported to the king by Elias Finn. The result is that the king confiscates the Bidnold estate from Merivel. Merivel then joins his old student friend John Pearce at the New Bedlam hospital, also in Norfolk. (New Bedlam is fictitious and should not be confused with the real Bedlam in London). This is a hospital for the mentally ill, run by Quakers, of whom Pearce is a member. In earlier parts of the novel, Pearce has condemned the sinfulness of Merivel''s lifestyle, and Merivel now joins the hospital with the best of intentions, and hoping to rediscover his medical vocation. However, things go wrong when he has an affair with a patient named Katharine and makes her pregnant. This coincides with the death of Pearce. He is expelled from the hospital, and travels with Katharine to be with her mother in London. In London, which is then experiencing the Great Plague, Merivel continues practising medicine. Katharine has a baby girl, but dies in childbirth. During the Great Fire of London in 1666, he rescues an elderly woman from a burning house. It is this which regains him the king''s favour, and at the end the king allows him to live at Bidnold with his daughter. The title of the novel refers both to the Restoration period during which it occurs, and to the novel''s ending when Merivel returns to Bidnold and the king''s favour.

Restoration

The story describes a young middle-class Englishwoman who "had no luck." Though outwardly successful, she is haunted by a sense of failure; her husband is a ne''er-do-well and her work as a commercial artist doesn''t earn as much as she''d like. The family''s lifestyle exceeds its income and unspoken anxiety about money permeates the household. Her children, a son Paul and his two sisters, sense this anxiety, and Paul even claims he can hear the house "whispering" There must be more money. Paul tells his Uncle Oscar Cresswell about betting on horse races with Bassett, the gardener. He''s been placing bets using his pocket money and has won and saved three hundred twenty pounds. Sometimes he says he is "sure" of a winner for an upcoming race, and the horses he names do in fact win, sometimes at remarkable odds. Uncle Oscar and Bassett both place large bets on the horses Paul names. After further winning, Paul and Oscar arrange to give the mother a gift of five thousand pounds, but the gift only lets her spend more. Disappointed, Paul tries harder than ever to be "lucky". As the Derby approaches, Paul is determined to learn the winner. Concerned about his health, his mother rushes home from a party and discovers his secret. He has been spending hours riding his rocking horse, sometimes all night long, until he "gets there", into a clairvoyant state where he can be sure of the winner''s name. Paul remains ill through the day of the Derby. Informed by Cresswell, Bassett has placed Paul''s bet on Malabar, at fourteen to one. When he is informed by Bassett that he now has 80,000 pounds, Paul says to his mother: "I never told you, mother, that if I can ride my horse, and get there, then I''m absolutely sure – oh absolutely! Mother, did I ever tell you? I am lucky!" "No, you never did," said his mother. The boy dies in the night and his mother hears her brother say, “My God, Hester, you’re eighty-odd thousand to the good, and a poor devil of a son to the bad. But, poor devil, poor devil, he’s best gone out of a life where he rides his rocking horse to find a winner.”

The Rocking-Horse Winner

The story takes place in the year 2363. The protagonist is Cadet Larry Stark, a 20-year-old, fresh graduate of the Space Patrol Academy who comes from a long line of Space Patrol commanders. As the story begins, he is embarking on the customary final training cruise on the interstellar ship Carden. At the end of this cruise, he will be awarded a commission as officer of the Space Patrol. The ship makes the four and a half light-year journey to the star Alpha Centauri in a span of 15 days using the faster-than-light overdrive. The fourth planet orbiting Alpha C, an earth-like planet inhabited by dinosaurs, has been colonized 125 years earlier. Cadet Stark, who has been taught to obey orders and to trust the infallibility of Earth and the Space Patrol, arrives at planet IV of Alpha C just as the colonists are voting to declare, and possibly fight for, their independence from Earth. The arrival of the Carden and its crew can potentially affect the course of events in this revolution. The young cadet, for the first time in his life, must choose the proper and honorable course of action in a situation where there is no clear right and wrong. The consequences of his actions may place in jeopardy his career with the Space Patrol and the love of his father. The story is apparently a metaphor for the American Revolution, with Earth representing England and Alpha Centauri representing the US. Ultimately Cadet Stark sides with the Alpha C colonists, but he feels confident that his father would be proud that he had been true to himself. Distinctive things to note about the 1955 novel include: 1) The overdrive is based on the principle of warping space; 2) The phrase "electronic guitar" is used for electric guitar and "wristchron" is used for wrist watch; and 3) the ship radio uses vacuum tube technology. Also the character named Harl Ellison was named after science fiction writer Harlan Ellison, who was a neighbor of Silverberg in New York at the time he was writing the book. This was confirmed in a special edition on the occasion of Silverberg''s 35th year in the business.

Revolt on Alpha C

Thérèse Raquin is the daughter of a French captain and an Algerian mother. After the death of her mother, her father brings her to live with her aunt, Madame Raquin, and her sickly son, Camille. Because her son is so ill, Madame Raquin dotes on Camille to the point where he is selfish and spoiled. Camille and Thérèse grow up side-by-side, and Madame Raquin marries them together when Thérèse is 21. Shortly thereafter, Camille decides that the family should move to Paris so he can pursue a career. Thérèse and Madame Raquin set up shop in the Passage du Pont Neuf to support Camille while he searches for a job. Camille eventually begins working for the Orléans Railroad Company, where he meets up with a childhood friend, Laurent. Laurent visits the Raquins and decides to take up an affair with the lonely Thérèse, mostly because he cannot afford prostitutes anymore. However, this soon turns into a torrid love affair. They secretly meet up regularly in Thérèse''s room. After some time, Laurent''s boss no longer allows him to leave early and so the two lovers have to think of something new. Thérèse comes up with the idea to kill Camille. They eventually succeed in doing so by drowning Camille during a boat trip. Defending himself, Camille bites Laurent in the throat. Madame Raquin is in shock after hearing the disappearance of her son and everybody believes the fake story of an accident. But Laurent is still uncertain about the death of Camille and frequently visits the mortuary, where he finally finds the dead Camille. Still, Thérèse has nightmares and doesn''t talk, so Michaud - one of the regular visitors of the family - comes up with the idea, that Thérèse should marry again and the ideal husband would be Laurent. But even after their marriage, the murder doesn''t let go of them. They have imaginations of seeing the dead Camille in their bedroom every night, preventing them from touching each other and quickly driving them insane. Laurent, who is an artist, can no longer paint a picture (even a landscape) which does not in some way resemble the dead man. They also have to look after Madame Raquin, who suffered a stroke after Camille''s death. Madame Raquin suffers a second stroke and becomes completely paralyzed except for her eyes (as in locked-in syndrome), after which Therese and Laurent reveal the murder in her presence during an argument. During an evening''s game of dominoes with friends, Madame Raquin manages to move her finger with an extreme effort of will to trace words on the table: "Thérèse et Laurent ont t...". The complete sentence was intended to be "Thérèse et Laurent ont tué Camille" (Thérèse and Laurent killed Camille). At this point her strength gives out, and the words are interpreted as "Thérèse and Laurent look after me very well". Eventually, Thérèse and Laurent find life together intolerable and plot to kill each other. At the climax of the novel, the two are about to kill one another when each of them realizes the plans of the other. They each then break down sobbing and reflect upon their miserable lives. After having embraced one last time, they each commit suicide by taking poison, all in front of the watchful gaze of Madame Raquin, who enjoys the late vengeance of her son.

Thérèse Raquin

The young man Jules is a motorbike-riding courier for RCA in Paris, and a major fan of classical music and opera. Jules is also a groupie of the beautiful Cynthia Hawkins, an American opera singer. Hawkins is unusual in that she only performs live. She has never made a recording, studio or otherwise. One day, Jules secretly records a Cynthia Hawkins concert. He then shares the tape with his teenage friend Alba, who shares the tape with her adult friend Serge. Criminal Serge Gorodish is in his mid 40''s, he shares his life with Alba, a precocious teenage beauty. Serge realizes that the Cynthia Hawkins tape could fetch a large amount of money. Meanwhile, Nadia is a twentysomething in the employ of Saporta. Saporta controls the largest drug cartel and prostitution ring in Paris. Nadia records harmful evidence against Saporta on a cassette tape. Nadia''s cassette is erroneously dropped into the satchel on Jules'' motorbike. Soon, Jules is being chased by the police, as well as gangsters, though he has no idea why. Saporta mobilizes his entire crime organization to attempt to retrieve the tape from Jules. Locating an intrepid and skilled motorbike rider in Paris is not easy. Meanwhile, there is a furious underground bidding war for Jules'' tape of Cynthia Hawkins'' concert.

Diva: A novel

The novel deals with the confrontation between Nick Fury and the Ultimates, and the self-styled "Tomorrow Men", who claim to have travelled two centuries back in time to seek the help of the Ultimates in combating Tiber, a criminal organization which, in their future, has ruined the entire planet; the Tomorrow Men prove their claim using various future knowledge, such as revealing the presence of a small device in Steve Rogers'' brain that was planted in case the Super-Soldier Serum drove him insane. However, during a mission Iron Man is accidentally transferred into the Tomorrow Men''s future, where he learns that not only is it merely an alternate future—it actually diverged from their own reality at some point prior to the Tomorrow Men''s arrival in the Ultimates'' world—but that the Tomorrow Men are actually working for Tiber, seeking to expand into other worlds. Taking advantage of the differences between the technology developed by him and that developed by his counterpart at this point in his life, Iron Man is able to take the Tibers by surprise when they attempt to boil him out of his armour- diverting the heat into his armour''s power cells- and return home, warning the team about the Tomorrow Men and forcing them to retreat before Thor destroys the portal they used to gain access.

Tomorrow Men

Terry McCaleb and Graciela Rivers have married and have an infant daughter named Cielo, and McCaleb''s fishing charter business is running full-time on Catalina Island. Nevertheless, sheriff''s deputy Jaye Winston brings McCaleb a file involving a murder scene filled with exotic elements and asks McCaleb to take a look at it, as the police have gotten nowhere. As McCaleb analyzes the clues, they seem to point straight toward Harry Bosch, whom McCaleb knows from a previous investigation before his retirement. Bosch is currently a key witness in a separate high-profile murder case involving a movie director, and author/reporter Jack McEvoy, who wrote The Poet, is covering the case. After McCaleb alerts the police to Bosch''s probable involvement in the murder, Bosch goes to Catalina himself to challenge McCaleb''s work and to ask him to re-examine the evidence. Based on a parking ticket that McCaleb finds, he concludes that Bosch may have been set up by the director in order to discredit his evidence in the court case, but the key evidence in proving that is a post office surveillance tape that was in the process of being erased, and from which nothing usable can be recovered. Nevertheless, Bosch and McCaleb pretend that they have recovered something from the tape, and the real killer in the second case (an ex-cop that handled security for the director) then targets and almost kills McCaleb. Bosch saves McCaleb and captures the ex-cop, while killing his younger brother. In return for not being charged with felony-murder in his brother''s death, the ex-cop turns over evidence implicating the director in the frame of Bosch, and the director agrees to plead guilty to murder in a plea bargain seen by only McEvoy (who got a tip from Bosch) among the reporters. However, McCaleb realizes that Bosch was around to save him only because Bosch knew all the details of the potential frame, which Bosch had lied about to McCaleb, and McCaleb breaks off any renewed relationship with Bosch as a result. Bosch then "baptizes" himself in a plan for a fresh start.

A Darkness More Than Night

Shortly after the end of World War II, British Colonel Michael ''Hooky'' Nicobar is assigned to the Displaced Persons Division in the British Zone of Vienna, Austria. Like the author himself, Nicobar has had a limb amputated. Marshall also served in the Displaced Persons Division in Austria. Nicobar''s duty is to aid the Soviet authorities to repatriate citizens of the Soviet Union, many of whom prefer not to return to their home country. Billeted in the convent run by Mother Auxilia, Nicobar, and his military aides Major John ''Twingo'' McPhimister and Audrey Quail, become involved in the plight of Maria, a young ballerina, who is trying to avoid being returned to Moscow. Nicobar''s sense of duty is tested as he sees first hand the plight of the people he is forcing to return to the Soviet Union; his lack of religious faith is also shaken by his contact with the Mother Superior. The novel was the basis of the 1949 film The Red Danube starring Walter Pidgeon, Ethel Barrymore, Peter Lawford, Angela Lansbury and Janet Leigh. George Sidney directed. After the movie was released the novel was re-issued as The Red Danube.

Vespers in Vienna

When Arne married the superstitious Eugenia, he agreed to have seven children with her, one for each point of the compass, excluding North, which she believed to be wild and uncontrollable. Each direction fortold a different personality. Her favourite child, East-born Elise, died young and Eugenia had another child to replace her. As soon as Rose (Nyamh) finds out that she is not actually an East bairn, but a North, she and her short temper go hysterical, driving her to go with the White Bear. Eugenia was told years before by a skjebne-soke (fortune teller) that any North Child she had would die crushed beneath an avalanche with ice and snow. Rose has always felt out of place in her family, a wanderer in a bunch of homebodies. So when an enormous white bear mysteriously shows up and asks her to come away with him--in exchange for health and prosperity for her ailing family--she readily agrees. The bear takes Rose to a distant castle, where each night she is confronted with a mystery. In solving that mystery, she loses her heart, discovers her purpose, and realizes her travels have only just begun.

East

The book is divided into three sections, written in completely different styles of prose. "The Spirit of the Bayonet" chronicles Pvt. James T. "Joker" Davis'' days in the Marine Corps boot camp, where a drill instructor (Gunnery Sergeant Gerheim) breaks the men''s spirits and then rebuilds them as brutal killers. Here, Joker befriends two privates nicknamed "Cowboy" and "Gomer Pyle". The latter, whose real name is Leonard Pratt, earns the wrath of both Gerheim and the rest of the platoon through his ineptitude and weak character. Though he eventually shows great improvement and wins honors at graduation, the constant abuse has unbalanced his mind. In a final act of madness, he kills Gerheim and then himself in front of the whole platoon. This section is written in a very simple, savage style. "Body Count" shows some of Joker''s life as a war correspondent for the Marines in 1968. While in Da Nang, he runs across Cowboy, now assistant squad leader in the Lusthog Squad. As the Tet Offensive begins, Joker is dispatched to Phu Bai with his photographer, Rafter Man. Here, he unwillingly accepts a promotion from Corporal to Sergeant, and the two travel to Huế to cover the enemy''s wartime atrocities and meet up with Cowboy again. During a battle, Joker is "wounded" (actually only knocked out by an RPG concussion blast) and the book goes into a psychedelic dream sequence. After his quick recovery, Joker learns that the platoon commander was killed by a friendly grenade, while the squad leader went insane and attacked an NVA position with a BB gun only to be shot down. Later, Joker and Rafter Man battle a sniper who killed another Lusthog Marine and an entire second squad; the battle ends with Rafter Man''s first confirmed kill and Cowboy''s being wounded slightly. As Joker and Rafter Man head back to their base, Rafter Man panics and dashes into the path of an oncoming tank, which fatally crushes him. Joker is reassigned to Cowboy''s squad as a rifleman, as punishment for wearing an unauthorized peace button on his uniform. The writing style in "Body Count" is more complex than that in "The Spirit of the Bayonet". "Grunts" takes place on a mission through the jungle with Cowboy''s squad, outside of Khe Sanh. They encounter another sniper here, who wounds three of the men multiple times. After the company commander goes crazy and begins babbling nonsense over the radio, Cowboy decides to pull the squad back and retreat, rather than sacrifice everyone trying to save the wounded men. Animal Mother, the squad''s M60 machine gunner, threatens Cowboy''s life and refuses to retreat. Promoting Joker to squad leader, Cowboy runs in with his pistol and kills each victim with a shot to the head. However, he himself is repeatedly wounded in the process; before he can kill himself, the sniper shoots the gun out of his hand. Realizing his duty to Cowboy and the squad, Joker kills Cowboy and leads the rest of the men away. This section is written in a more complex style than the previous two, with more time spent on Joker''s inner thoughts.

The Short-Timers

George, the nephew of plantation owner Mrs. Peyton, returns from a trip to France to find that his aunt''s plantation is in dire financial straits as a result of his late uncle''s beneficence. Jacob McClosky, the man who ruined the late Judge Peyton, has come to inform them that their plantation will be sold and their slaves auctioned off separately. Salem Scudder, a kind yankee, was Judge Peyton''s business partner; though he wishes he could save Terrebonne, he has no money. George is courted by the rich Southern belle heiress Dora Sunnyside, but he finds himself falling in love with Zoe, the daughter of his uncle through one of the slaves. Dora, oblivious to George''s lack of affection for her, enlists Zoe''s help to win him over. McClosky desires Zoe for himself, and when she rejects his proposition, he plots to have her sold with the rest of the slaves, for he knows that she is an octoroon and is legally part of the Terrebonne property. He plans to buy her and make her his mistress. McClosky intercepts a young slave boy, Paul, who is bringing a mailbag to the house which contains a letter from one of Judge Peyton''s old debtors. Since this letter would allow Mrs. Peyton to avoid selling Terrebonne, McClosky kills Paul and takes the letter. The murder is captured on Scudder''s photographic apparatus. Paul''s best friend, the Indian Wahnotee, discovers Paul''s body; he can speak only poor English, however, and is unable to communicate the tragedy to anyone else. George and Zoe reveal their love for each other, but Zoe rejects George''s marriage proposal. When George asks why, Zoe explains that she is an octoroon, and the law prevents a white man from marrying anyone with the smallest black heritage. George offers to take her to a different country, but Zoe insists that she stay to help Terrebonne; Scudder then appears and suggests that George marry Dora. With Dora''s wealth, he explains, Terrebonne will not be sold and the slaves will not have to be separated. George reluctantly agrees. George goes to Dora and begins to propose to her; while he is doing so, however, he has a change of heart and decides not to lie to her. He and Zoe admit to their love of each other; a heartbroken Dora leaves. The auctioneer arrives, along with prospective buyers, McClosky among them. After various slaves are auctioned off, George and the buyers are shocked to see Zoe up on the stand. McClosky has proved that Judge Peyton did not succeed in legally freeing her, as he had meant to do. Dora then reappears and bids on Zoe – she has sold her own plantation in order to rescue Terrebonne. McClosky, however, outbids her for Zoe; George is restrained from attacking him by his friends. The buyers gather to take away the slaves they have purchased on a steamship. They have realized that Paul is missing, and most believe him dead. Wahnotee appears, drunk and sorrowful, and tells them that Paul is buried near them. The men accuse Wahnotee of the murder, and McClosky calls for him to be lynched. Scudder insists that they hold a trial, and the men search for evidence. Just as McClosky points out the blood on Wahnotee''s tomahawk, the oldest slave, Pete, comes to give them the photographic plate which has captured McClosky''s deed. The men begin to call for McClosky to be lynched, but Scudder convinces them to send him to jail instead. The men leave to fetch the authorities, but McClosky escapes. Stealing a lantern, he sets fire to the steamship that had the slaves on it. Wahnotee tracks him down and confronts him; in the ensuing struggle, Wahnotee kills McClosky. Back at Terrebonne Zoe returns but with a sad heart as she knows that she and George can never be together. In an act of desperation she drinks a vial of poison, and Scudder enters to deliver the good news that McClosky was proven guilty of murdering Paul and that Terrebonne now belongs to George. Despite the happiness Zoe stands dying and the play ends with her death on the sitting room couch and George kneeling beside her.

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Egri csillagok

No Author Listed

Restoration

By Rose Tremain

The Rocking-Horse Winner

By D. H. Lawrence

Revolt on Alpha C

By Robert Silverberg

Thérèse Raquin

By Émile Zola

Diva: A novel

By Delacorta

Tomorrow Men

No Author Listed

A Darkness More Than Night

By Michael Connelly

Vespers in Vienna

By Bruce Marshall

East

By Edith Pattou

The Short-Timers

By Gustav Hasford

The Octoroon

By Dion Boucicault