A murder in 17th-century Oxford is related from the contradictory points of view of four of the characters, all of them unreliable narrators. The setting of the novel is 1663, just after the restoration of the monarchy following the English Civil War, when the authority of King Charles II is not yet settled, and conspiracies abound. Most of the characters are historical figures. Two of the narrators are the mathematician John Wallis and the historian Anthony Wood. Other characters include the philosopher John Locke, the scientists Robert Boyle and Richard Lower, spymaster John Thurloe, and inventor Samuel Morland. The plot is at first centred on the death of Robert Grove but later takes in the conspiracies of John Mordaunt and William Compton (of Compton Wynyates), and the politics of Henry Bennet and Lord Clarendon. Furthermore, the characters that are fictional are nonetheless drawn from real events. The story of Sarah Blundy incorporates that of Anne Greene, while Jack Prestcott is involved in events based on the life of Richard Willis (of the Sealed Knot). The book is an epistolary novel. The accounts are written many years after the events they describe, after Thomas Ken gained his Bishopric but before the death of Henry Bennet. This dates them to 1685, the last year of Charles'' reign. A contrast portrayed in the novel is, on one hand, a philosophy based on ancient and medieval learning, and, on the other, the scientific method that was beginning to be applied in physics, chemistry and medicine.

An Instance of the Fingerpost

Across the Nightingale Floor is set in a fictional feudal Japan, and follows the story of a sixteen-year-old boy named Tomasu and fifteen year old girl named Kaede. Tomasu, a member of The Hidden by birth, returns from exploring the mountains to find members of his family slaughtered. Trying to escape he unhorses Iida Sadamu, leader of the Tohan, who led the slaughter of The Hidden. Chased by Iida''s men, Tomasu is rescued by Lord Shigeru of the Otori. Shigeru takes Tomasu with him to protect, and later adopt him. However he deems his name unsuitable because of its Hidden roots and renames him Takeo. On the road Takeo loses his voice temporarily and his hearing becomes superhuman. On the journey to Shigeru''s home, the two stop at an inn where they meet Maruyama Naomi, a powerful female ruler from the Seishuu. Lady Maruyama is found that she was against the persecution of the Hidden and urged Takeo to tell her about the slaughter. At night, when Takeo was in his room, he overhears Lady Maruyama and Shigeru expressing their love for one another. Eventually, the pair reach Lord Shigeru''s home in Hagi, where Takeo is received with astonishment by an old maid named Chiyo and Shigeru''s ex-instructor, Ichiro. Takeo is slowly accepted by the household and is later is adopted Shigeru''s son, under the condition that Shigeru gets married to Shirakawa Kaede, the most beautiful maiden in the Three Countries. However, Takeo was under the threat of Shigeru''s uncles'' sons, who tried to murder him during practice everyday. Later, Takeo meets Muto Kenji (also known as the Fox), the master of the Muto clan, who reveals to him that Takeo''s father was the most skilled assassin of the Kikuta, the greatest family of the Tribe. Kenji, after informing Takeo, starts to train him in the arts of the Tribe. Around autumn of that year, Takeo sneaks out of the house one day and explores Hagi, where he meets a merchant who he''d saved when he was one of the Hidden. The merchant, recognising him, called out to him by his real name. Takeo denied that that was his name and fled. When the time came, Shigeru and Takeo and others started preparing their trip to Tsuwano where they would meet Shigeru''s future wife, Shirakawa Kaede. At Tsuwano they meet Kaede (who had been held hostage by the Noguchi since she was seven and forced to sleep in the maid''s rooms. She was constantly harassed by the guards who wanted to have her. Not long before she reaches Tsuwano, a guard tried to rape her, only to be stabbed with a knife). She is under the protection of her kinswoman Lady Maruyama (with whom Shigeru has had a secret relationship for almost 10 years), and is accompanied by Kenji''s niece, Shizuka, who is half Muto and half Kikuta. But it is Takeo and Kaede who immediately find a connection between them. They stop at the shrine at Terayama, at the time of the Festival of the Dead, to visit Shigeru''s brother''s grave, and for Shigeru to discuss war plans with the Abbott. As an army headed by Lord Arai musters from the west, they arrive at Inuyama in the 9th month. Shigeru plans for Takeo to assassinate Iida that night, but the Tribe, not wanting to risk Takeo (and appreciating the stability that Iida brings), abducts him so that his training can be finished. Thus the treachery plays itself out: Shigeru is crucified on the castle wall, and Lady Maruyama and her daughter drown whilst attempting to escape. Takeo makes a deal with the Tribe that allows him to bring Shigeru''s body down in return for joining them. Takeo, together with Kenji and Yuki sneak into the castle at night and bring Shigeru down from the wall. Shigeru, dying from his wounds, asks Takeo to bury him at Terayama. During the invasion of the castle at Inuyama, Takeo discovers Kaede with the corpse of Iida Sadamu, whom she killed when he attempted to rape her. After carrying out Shigeru''s wishes, Takeo honours his promise to the Tribe and departs with them, leaving Kaede unconscious from his Kikuta Stare and in the care of Muto Shizuka.

Across the Nightingale Floor

Sophie Amundsen (Sofie Amundsen in the Norwegian version) is a 14-year-old girl who lives in Norway in the year 1990. She lives with her mother and her cat, Sherekan, as well as with her goldfish, a tortoise, and two budgerigars. Her father is a captain of an oil tanker, and is away for most of the year. The book begins with Sophie receiving two anonymous messages in her mailbox (the first asking, "Who are you?", the second asking, "Where does the world come from?") and a postcard addressed to ''Hilde Møller Knag, c/o Sophie Amundsen''. Shortly afterwards, she receives a packet of papers, part of a correspondence course in philosophy. With these mysterious communications, Sophie becomes the student of a fifty-year-old philosopher, Alberto Knox. Initially, he is completely anonymous to Sophie, but he later reveals more and more about himself. The papers and the packet both turn out to be from him, but the post card is not; it is addressed from someone called Albert Knag, who is a major in a United Nations peacekeeping unit stationed in Lebanon. Alberto teaches her about the history of philosophy. She gets a substantive and understandable review from the Pre-Socratics to Jean-Paul Sartre. Along with the philosophy lessons, Sophie and Alberto try to outwit the mysterious Albert Knag, who appears to have God-like powers, which Alberto finds quite troubling. Sophie learns about medieval philosophy while being lectured by Alberto, dressed as a monk, in an ancient church, and she learns about Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir in a French café. Various philosophical questions and methods of reasoning are put before Sophie, as she attempts to work them out on her own. Many of Knox''s philosophic packets to her are preluded by more short questions, such as "Why is Lego the most ingenious toy in the world?" Alberto takes Sophie from the Hellenistic civilization to the rise of Christianity and its interaction with Ancient Greek thought on to the Middle Ages. Over the course of the book, he covers the Renaissance, Baroque, Enlightenment and Romantic periods, with the philosophies that stemmed from them. Mixed in with the philosophy lessons is a plot rather more akin to normal teenage novels, in which Sophie interacts with her mother and her friend Joanna. This is not the focus of the story but simply serves to move the plot along. After the introduction to George Berkeley, the perspective of the novel shifts to the mysterious Hilde. Sophie and Alberto''s entire world is revealed to be a literary construction by Albert Knag as a present for his daughter, Hilde, on her 15th birthday. The novel continues with Hilde''s story as a framing device for Sophie''s story, but the stories intertwine as Hilde''s understanding of philosophy grows alongside Sophie''s understanding. As Albert Knag continues to meddle with Sophie''s life, Alberto helps her fight back by teaching her everything he knows about philosophy. That, he explains, is the only way to understand her world. Meanwhile, Alberto''s lessons allow Hilde to develop her own understanding of Sophie''s world and use her knowledge against her father for exercising too much power over Sophie''s world. This is laced with events that appear to be scientifically impossible, such as Sophie seeing her reflection in a mirror wink at her with both eyes or actually seeing Socrates and Plato. Hilde''s book (by her father) ends with Sophie and Alberto disappearing. Gaarder reveals that they have managed to escape Albert Knag''s mind into Hilde''s world as spirits.

Sophie''s World

In I, Jedi, Corran Horn must develop his Jedi powers in order to save the life of his wife, Mirax Terrik. Corran Horn was a member of the elite X-wing force Rogue Squadron. After returning home from a long campaign to find his wife kidnapped, he turns to Luke Skywalker, the only remaining Jedi Master at the time, for help. This coincides nicely with the master''s timing, as he is seeking students for his new Jedi Academy on Yavin 4. Corran knows that he is Force-sensitive, and that only with the Force as his ally can he track down his enemy. It turns out that Corran''s wife, Mirax, was tracking down a group of elusive pirates known as the Invids. The Invids'' primary tactic is to drop out of hyperspace with the flagship, an Imperial Star Destroyer named the Invidious, strike, and disappear with perfect timing. As she grew closer to solving the mystery of how these pirates performed their supernaturally accurate attacks, she was kidnapped and placed into stasis on their fortress planet. On the journey to save Mirax, Corran learns that his grandfather was a Jedi, a member of the Halcyon line. His adopted grandfather shows Corran the records that the Jedi had left behind, and with that, Corran eventually makes up his mind to follow in his ancestor''s footsteps and become a Jedi. After extensive training and being caught in a crisis involving the risen spirit of the Dark Sith Lord Exar Kun, Corran goes as far as he can, and infiltrates the pirates using his CorSec training. He quickly rises through the ranks, and finds out where Mirax is being held. With the timely help of Luke Skywalker and his squadron friend and wingman, Ooryl Qrygg, he fights his way past the Jensaarai, a splinter group of Jedi who focus on stealth and premonition, and into the fortress, where he is able to rescue his wife.

I, Jedi

Luke and Leia are traveling to Circarpous IV to persuade the Circarpousians to join the Rebel Alliance. A strange energy storm forces them to crash land on the swampy planet Mimban. Luke, after finding Leia, begins looking for a station that would allow them to get off the planet but instead find a town near which agents of the Empire have a secret energy mine. Forced to keep their identities secret, Luke admonishes Leia to follow his lead, and in a nearby bar where they take refuge, claims she is his servant girl. An old woman named Halla approaches them; while revealing little of her own background, she identifies Luke as one who is strong with the Force and shows him a splinter of what she claims to be the Kaiburr crystal, a glowing crystal that magnifies and focuses the Force. Halla strikes a deal with Luke and Leia that if they help her find it, she will help them get off the planet. They leave together. Upon emerging, Leia retorts that Luke ought not to have struck her; the two squabble as some miners emerge from the bar. The miners claim that fighting in public is against Imperial law here, and they all get into a brawl. Imperial stormtroopers intervene and take Luke, Leia and the miners to the local jail. They are questioned by Captain-Supervisor Grammel. The miners are taken away while Grammel continues questioning Luke and Leia. Grammel discovers and confiscates the crystal shard, along with Luke''s weapons. Luke and Leia are placed in the maximum security cell with two drunken but friendly Yuzzem--hairy aboriginal creatures resembling squat Sasquatch--called Hin and Kee, while Grammel reports the incident and the crystal shard to Governor Bin Essada, in charge of the group of star systems including Circarpous. Halla, with Luke''s help, uses the Force to help rescue Luke, Leia and the two Yuzzem; the two Yuzzem rampage through the jail barracks, while Luke and Leia escape, and the four meet Halla to find the Temple of Pomojema, which Halla believes to be the location of the Kaiburr crystal. They travel through the swampy wilds of Mimban, during which travel they encounter a wandrella, a huge worm-like creature. The wandrella pursues them, forcing them to leave the transport and splitting Luke and Leia apart from Halla, the droids and the Yuzzem. Luke and Leia hide in a deep well, down which the wandrella falls, leaving the two trapped in the well as it destroys their escape path; Halla mentions from the lip of the well that there must be an escape route, and Luke and Leia go in search of it, though their travels involve floating across a lake on lily pads, and fending off creatures of the deep with Luke''s light saber. On the other side of the lake, they encounter the secretive residents of the caves, Coway guards/patrols. They kill all but one of the Coway; the survivor escapes and tells his Coway tribe about the visitors. Luke and Leia follow the single Coway to the tribe, where they find Halla''s group being held as prisoners. To save his friends, Luke defeats the Coway''s champion fighter. The Coway become his friends, but Luke senses Darth Vader. Coway patrols confirm Luke''s feeling: Imperials, led by Darth Vader and Captain-Supervisor Grammel, are attacking the underground cave. When the Imperials arrive, they are surprised by the Coway tribe''s powerful response and face a debacle. Vader and Grammel retreat with the handful of surviving stormtroopers, though Vader loses patience with Grammel for the defeat and kills him. Luke and company steal an Imperial transport left behind, and begin travelling to the Temple themselves. They beat Vader to the temple and find the Kaiburr crystal. They encounter a monster, and unsuccessfully try to fight it off with blasters. Luke tells Hin and Kee to get some rifles. Luke cuts down one of the pillars holding up the temple, crushing the monsters. Luke''s leg is pinned under a fallen boulder. Darth Vader then enters the Temple of Pomojema, announcing that he killed Hin and Kee. Leia takes up Luke''s lightsaber and begins fighting Darth Vader, but he toys with her, giving her multiple superficial burns with his own saber. Hin, mortally wounded, shows up and in his dying act, lifts the big rock off of Luke''s leg. Luke fights Vader, showing more skill than expected, deflecting some Force-based attacks and eventually slicing off Vader''s arm. Despite this, the Sith Lord seems about to win, but then falls into a pit. Luke senses that Vader is still alive. As the story ends, Leia and Luke, healed by the crystal, drive off with Halla into the mists of Mimban.

Splinter of the Mind''s Eye

; Act 1 In the mid 1920s in Chicago, Illinois, Velma Kelly is a vaudevillian who murdered both her husband and her sister when she found them in bed together. She welcomes the audience to tonight''s show ("All That Jazz"). Meanwhile, we hear of chorus girl Roxie Hart''s murder of her lover, nightclub regular Fred Casely. Roxie convinces her husband Amos that the victim was a burglar, and Amos cheerfully takes the blame. Roxie expresses her appreciation of her husband''s thick skull ("Funny Honey"). However, when the police mention the deceased''s name Amos belatedly puts two and two together. The truth comes out, and Roxie is arrested. She is sent to the women''s block in Cook County Jail, inhabited by Velma and other murderesses ("Cell Block Tango"). The block is presided over by the corrupt Matron "Mama" Morton, whose system of mutual aid ("When You''re Good to Mama") perfectly suits her clientele. She has helped Velma become the media''s top murder-of-the-week and is acting as a booking agent for Velma''s big return to vaudeville. Velma is not happy to see Roxie, who is stealing not only her limelight but also her lawyer, Billy Flynn. Roxie tries to convince Amos to pay for Billy Flynn to be her lawyer ("A Tap Dance"). Eagerly awaited by his all-girl clientele, Billy sings his anthem, complete with a chorus of fan dancers ("All I Care About is Love"). Billy takes Roxie''s case and re-arranges her story for consumption by sympathetic tabloid columnist Mary Sunshine ("A Little Bit of Good"). Roxie''s press conference turns into a ventriloquist act with Billy dictating a new version of the truth ("We Both Reached for the Gun") to the press while Roxie mouths the words. Roxie becomes the new toast of Chicago and she proclaims so boastfully while planning for her future career in vaudeville ("Roxie"). As Roxie''s fame grows, Velma''s notoriety is left in the dust and in an "act of pure desperation", she tries to talk Roxie into recreating the sister act ("I Can''t Do It Alone"), but Roxie turns her down, only to find her own headlines replaced by the latest sordid crime of passion. Separately, Roxie and Velma realize there''s no one they can count on but themselves ("My Own Best Friend"), and the ever-resourceful Roxie decides that being pregnant in prison would put her back on the front page. ; Act 2 Velma again welcomes the audience with the line "Hello, Suckers," another reference to Texas Guinan, who commonly greeted her patrons with the same phrase. She informs the audience of Roxie''s continual run of luck ("I Know a Girl") despite Roxie''s obvious falsehoods ("Me and My Baby"). A little shy on the arithmetic, Amos proudly claims paternity, and still nobody notices him ("Mr. Cellophane"). Velma tries to show Billy all the tricks she''s got planned for her trial ("When Velma Takes The Stand"). With her ego growing, Roxie has a heated argument with Billy, and fires him. She is brought back down to earth when she learns that a fellow inmate has been executed. The trial date arrives, and Billy calms her, telling her if she makes a show of it, she''ll be fine ("Razzle Dazzle"), but when he passes all Velma''s ideas on to Roxie, she uses each one, down to the rhinestone shoe buckles, to the dismay of Mama and Velma ("Class"). As promised, Billy gets Roxie her acquittal but, just as the verdict is given, some even more sensational crime pulls the pack of press bloodhounds away, and Roxie''s fleeting celebrity life is over. Billy leaves, done with the case. Amos stays with her, glad for his wife, but she then confesses that there isn''t really a baby, making Amos finally leave her. Left in the dust, Roxie pulls herself up and extols the joys of life ("Nowadays"). She teams up with Velma in a new act, in which they dance and perform ("Hot Honey Rag") until they are joined by the entire company ("Finale").

Chicago

Pop. 1280 is the first-person narrative of Nick Corey, the listless sheriff of Potts County, the "47th largest county in the state" (probably Texas). He lives in Pottsville which has a population of "1280 souls" (a number much reduced by the story''s end). The narrative suggests that Sheriff Nick''s tale dates to the Russian Revolution in 1917. Sheriff Nick Corey presents himself as a genial fool, simplistic, over-accommodating, and harmless to a fault (given he is Pottsville''s sole lawman). Early chapters are related in comic style representative of farce rather than hard-boiled crime fiction. From the outset Nick''s problems appear to be those of a harmless fool, managing his shrew wife and idiot brother-in-law while simultaneously having affairs in town; a difficult election campaign against a more worthy candidate; negotiations with criminals and undesirables in Pottsville; and the evasion of work and physical exertion. Throughout a narrative that plumbs psychological depths particular to the novels of Jim Thompson, the farcical tone of Pop. 1280 is undermined by the emergence of a man far more cunning, ruthless, and psychotic than he presents himself.

Pop. 1280

Utopia takes place five years into the reign of Alvar Kresh as the governor of Inferno, who is now married to roboticist Fredda Leving. The re-terraforming effort is doing fairly well, but many believe it is still doomed to failure. The plot centers around a plan created by an Infernal named Davlo Lentrall to use a comet, named comet Grieg after the old governor, to dig a channel creating a northern sea. Norlan Fiyle, who has been working as an intelligence broker, found out about this plan early and informed the Settlers, the Ironheads, and the New Law robots of the plan. The issue is complicated by the fact that the plan calls for the comet to land essentially on top of the new law robot city of Valhalla. Tonya Welton, the leader of the settlers on Inferno, is upset by this plan having seen similar plans fail in the past. She orders her security people to grab Davlo and destroy his work. Although they were successful in destroying his data, the attempt to capture Davlo himself failed due to quick thinking on the part of Commander Justen Devray, now the head of the Combined Inferno Police, and the help of Davlo''s robot Kaelor. Unfortunately, the location of comet Grieg is lost. Davlo and Fredda Leving attempt to extract this information from Kaelor''s memory, but he ends up killing himself rather than release the information which might cause harm to humans. Davlo''s guilt over the death of his robot eventually leads him to oppose the comet plan all together. Eventually the information is retrieved when Jadelo Gildern, who had previously stolen the data from Davlo''s office, provides Governor Kresh with the missing data. While trying to decide whether to implement the comet plan, Kresh pays a visit to the terraforming control system. The system consists of a robotic unit, called Unit Dee, working with a non-sentient Settler unit, Unit Dum, they are collectively referred to as the Twins. We learn that in order to avoid First Law conflicts, Unit Dee is being lied to and told that the entire terraforming project is really an elaborate simulation and that no actual human beings are involved. Significant care must be taken to ensure that Dee does not learn the truth. Dee confirmats that Davlo''s plan, if successful, stands a good chance of repairing Inferno''s ecology. The comet project is given the go-ahead and work commences to evacuate the areas near the impact site. As the impact approaches, Simcor Beddle and Jadelo Gildern develop a plan to use a burrowing bomb, normally used for geological surveys, to destroy Valhalla before the new law robots have time to finish evacuating. On the way there though, Simcor''s aircar is attacked, his robots killed, and a demand, to stop the comet and deliver money into a bank account or Beddle will die, is written on the door. Kresh''s robot Donald, who heard of this incident, is forced by the First Law to act. He contacts robots in the area, who begin performing a search, and tells Dee that she is being lied to about the simulation. This causes Dee to shut down, leaving the people on the ground with few options for the final steering of the comet. Meanwhile, Devray tries to find Beddle. He tries putting money in the account mentioned in the demand and finds that it is automatically transferred to one of Gildern''s accounts. Devray brings in Gildern, and also questions Fiyle, from whom he learns about Beddle''s plan to destroy the New Law robots. Caliban turns himself in preemptively. The three talk while in jail, and Caliban manages to deduce what has happened to Beddle and rushes off to save him. While flying there, Caliban sends out a hyperwave message to tell the other robots that are searching to go back and that the situation is under control. Caliban goes to Valhalla, where he finds several New Law robots dead and Prospero holding Beddle prisoner, with a setup where if Beddle tries to leave, he will set off the bomb. Prospero was attempting to kill Beddle while avoiding the New First Law. Caliban is left with a choice of whom to let live, and kills Prospero, saving Beddle shortly before the comet hits. In the meantime, Dee finally wakes up and asks to talk to Kresh. She verifies that she was in fact being lied to. She asks Kresh if he believes Caliban''s message about saving Beddle. When Kresh says that he does believe it, Dee decides that she can manage the comet without First Law conflict. fr:Utopia (roman)

Isaac Asimov''s Utopia

Hawk Rhiscarlan attempts to gain favor with Andreus of Senna Lirwan by succeeding where Andreus was foiled in Wren to the Rescue. Tyron is deployed in the guise of a dog in order to gain reconnaissance among the nobles of Cantirmoor which might reveal who is behind the trouble, but is captured by Hawk. During this time, unaware of the new plot afoot, Wren ventures to the records center for the Siradi border guards who found her in a brigand-devastated trade caravan as a very young child. Wren is accompanied by Connor Shaltar for protection in case of any trouble, though that idea was hatched by Leila and Queen Astren of Meldrith to allow Connor to avoid confinement by his uncle Fortian Rhismordith to a particular vacation house as punishment for his tendency to socialize with stage performers. Excursion into such remote territory fails to spare the pair form the interesting times, however, as they are forthwith pursued incessantly yet intermittently by mysterious and vaguely menacing couriers clothed in blue, culminating in an entire forest fire being levied as an attack against the protagonists, which Connor manages to dispel though an exertion of his own manner of magic, which leaves him prostrate and asleep for two full days. Upon regaining consciousness, Connor discovers his location to have changed to that of a stone fortification of considerable vintage, whereupon Wren briefs him regarding the elapsed time and the fact that this is indeed the Siradi border-guard records center, as well as one of their command posts.

Wren''s Quest

In 1839, thirteen-year-old Emmeline Mosher lives on a farm with her family in Fayette, Maine. Times are hard so when Emmeline''s paternal aunt suggests that she go to Lowell, Massachusetts to support her family by working in the factories Emmeline dutifully leaves home. When she arrives in Lowell, she is sent to live in a boarding house for young female mill-workers. Emmeline is a good worker. However, she is unable to befriend any of the other girls who look down on her due to her country ways and her relative youth. Lonely, Emmeline is easily seduced by the Irish-born husband of the factory owner''s daughter. She becomes pregnant, although she is not immediately aware of her condition. The embarrassed boarding house landlady contacts Emmeline''s aunt who lives in the neighboring town of Lynn, Massachusetts and evicts her. Fearful of Emmeline''s parents'' reaction, Emmeline''s aunt and uncle help her conceal the pregnancy. They send letters and Emmeline''s savings (which they pass off as her regular salary) to her parents. They also arrange to have Emmeline''s unborn child adopted. Emmeline gives birth to what she believes to be a girl; her aunt refuses to tell her what the sex of the child is or any other information about the baby in the belief that it will be easier for Emmeline to give the baby up that way. Emmeline returns home shortly thereafter. Part two of the book picks up more than twenty years in the future. Despite numerous proposals, a middle-aged Emmeline has never married or moved out of her family''s home, a fact that chagrins her father. She does have a tight circle of friends, though, socializing primarily with two sisters of a widower who proposed marriage to her. One day, Matthew Gurney, an itinerant worker, rolls into town. He and Emmeline share a strong immediate attraction. Matthew proposes to her and Emmeline eagerly accepts. They marry with Emmeline wearing her sister-in-law''s wedding dress and move into a house that they build themselves. Emmeline''s aunt comes to visit after the wedding. She instantly recognizes Matthew and forces him to admit that he is twenty-one years old, not twenty-six as he originally claimed. At that moment, Emmeline realizes that she gave birth to a boy, not a girl, and that she has married her son. Her aunt tells her father who immediately disowns her. Word quickly spreads throughout town. Matthew deserts Emmeline, who is soon excommunicated by the preacher at her church. Emmeline spends the rest of her long life on the fringes of the town, ignored by all, and tries to subsist on what she can grow herself. A neglected old woman, she dies during a particularly harsh winter.

Emmeline

Charles "Fred" Hale comes to Brighton on assignment to anonymously distribute cards for a newspaper competition (this is a variant of "Lobby Lud" in which the name of the person to be spotted is "Kolley Kibber"). The antihero of the novel, Pinkie Brown, is a teenage sociopath and up-and-coming gangster. Hale had betrayed the former leader of the gang Pinkie now controls, by writing an article in the Daily Messenger about a slot machine racket for which the gang were responsible. Ida Arnold, a plump, kind-hearted and decent woman, is drawn into the action by a chance meeting with the terrified Hale after he has been threatened by Pinkie''s gang. After being chased through the streets and lanes of Brighton, Hale accidentally meets Ida again on the Palace Pier, but eventually Pinkie murders Hale. Pinkie''s subsequent attempts to cover his tracks and remove evidence of Hale''s Brighton visit lead to a chain of fresh crimes and to an ill-fated marriage to a waitress called Rose who unknowingly has the power to destroy his alibi. Ida decides to pursue Pinkie relentlessly, because she believes it is the right thing to do, and also to protect Rose from the deeply disturbed boy she has married. Although ostensibly an underworld thriller, the book is also a challenge to Roman Catholic doctrine concerning the nature of sin and the basis of morality. Pinkie and Rose are Catholics, as was Greene, and their beliefs are contrasted with Ida''s strong but non-religious moral sensibility. Main characters *Pinkie: The anti-hero of the story, merciless to his victims, simultaneously obsessed with and repulsed by sex and human connection. He is the leader of ''the mob'' despite being the youngest at 17. *Dallow: Pinkie''s second in command - the only member of the mob Pinkie feels he can confide in. *Cubitt Another mob member who lives at ''Frank''s'' with Pinkie and Dallow. He leaves the gang when Pinkie reveals that he (Pinkie) killed Spicer. *Spicer: An aging mob member resident at Frank''s . From the beginning he expresses discomfort with the gang''s increasing violence. Pinkie''s mistrust of him leads to him being murdered by Pinkie for fear of him being ''milky'' and leaking incriminating information to Ida Arnold or the Police. *Rose: A poor, modest, and naive girl who becomes Pinkie''s girlfriend and wife. She is also a Roman Catholic like Pinkie and falls in love with him despite his advances on her being purely to keep her from giving incriminating evidence. Pinkie is usually repulsed by her but later has the occasional feeling of tenderness towards her. *Ida Arnold: Ida takes up the role of the detective, hunting down Pinkie to bring justice to Hale. Although this is her original motive, when she finds out that Pinkie is marrying Rose she does so to save the girl. Ida represents the force of justice in this novel, and in contrast to Pinkie and Rose is on the side of ''Right and Wrong''. She acquires information from Cubitt once he is cast out of the gang which significantly aids her investigation.

Brighton Rock

Green is a quiet and shy 15-year-old girl, approaching her 16th birthday. She lives with her mother, father, and beautiful younger sister Aurora, in a house on the city''s green outskirts. While her sister is wild, charming and impatient, Green is timid and reserved, and has the infinite patience required to tend to the family garden. After mastering the art of tending the garden, she becomes the garden''s main caretaker. One day, her family goes to the city to sell produce, leaving Green behind. There, her family perishes as a result of a conflagration in the city, believed to be done by a secretive, malevolent group of people. Many people in the city die that day, leaving behind orphans and heartbroken survivors. Ashes from the fire make Green half-blind and singes her hair, forcing her to cut her hair off. Green, deeply sorrowed, changes her appearance and personality and renames herself Ash as she decides to destroy her past to cover the internal pain she is suffering. She tattoos almost her entire body with black roses, vines and bats, continuing to suffer but growing indifferent toward her pain. Over time as she takes care of herself, through interactions with several kinds of animals that dote on her, a silent boy she calls Diamond, and a kind old neighbor, Green starts to heal from her pain. As she grows, she finds her leaf and stem tattoos turning green and the rosebuds turning red. Finally, on her 16th birthday, she is no longer Ash, as she once used to be, but is once again Green, finding the taste of summer and apples within her. Now, after her recovery, she is strong enough to tell her family’s tragic story.

Over 8000 Takeaways For Your Brain!

Read - Listen - Learn

An Instance of the Fingerpost

By Iain Pears

Across the Nightingale Floor

By Gillian Rubinstein

Sophie's World

By Jostein Gaarder

I, Jedi

By Michael A. Stackpole

Splinter of the Mind's Eye

By Alan Dean Foster

Chicago

By Fred Ebb

Pop. 1280

By Jim Thompson

Isaac Asimov's Utopia

No Author Listed

Wren's Quest

By Sherwood Smith

Emmeline

By Judith Perelman Rossner

Brighton Rock

By Graham Greene

Green Angel

By Alice Hoffman