It is the year 1931. Having encountered Al Capone''s gangsters in his last adventure, Tintin in the Congo, Tintin is sent to Chicago, Illinois to clean up the city''s criminals. He is captured by gangsters several times, soon meeting Capone himself after he is dropped through a trapdoor in the street and knocked out by two thugs. Al Capone pays the two, ordering the second one to eliminate Tintin. However Snowy knocks a vase onto his head as he fires, knocking him out. Tintin listens at the door where Capone and the other crook went. However the other one, revealed to be called Pietro, recovers and throws a vase at Tintin. But the door is opened at that moment, causing the vase to hit Capone''s face, though the door makes Tintin drop his gun. However he then headbutts Pietro in the waist and runs out, hiding behind a curtain to evade the other crook. Tintin then gags Pietro and binds him, as well as gagging and binding Capone. He then knocks the other gangster out with a chair as he enters. However the policeman he calls to help arrest the gangsters does not believe his story and tries to capture him instead (Tintin''s failure to capture Capone reflects the fact that Capone was still active when the comic strip was written). Snowy later comes along, revealing someone else came and untied the other three, despite his efforts. After several attempts on his life, Tintin meets Capone''s rival, the devious Bobby Smiles, who heads the Gangsters Syndicate of Chicago(GSC) who tries to persuade Tintin to work for him, but Tintin declines. Tintin spends much of the book trying to capture Smiles, pursuing him to the Midwestern town of Redskin City. There he is captured by a Blackfoot Indian tribe (fooled by Smiles into thinking Tintin is their enemy), and discovers oil. This unintentionally causes the expulsion of the tribe, as unscrupulous oil corporations take over their land, depriving them of any share in the oil profits (see Ideology of Tintin). Finally, Tintin captures Smiles, and ships him back to Chicago in a crate. After Smiles is captured, an unnamed bald gangster kidnaps Tintin''s dog, Snowy. Tintin manages to save him after hiding in a suit of armour and knocking out the gangster and two of his henchman. He discovers Snowy with his leg manacled in a dungeon. However the gangster sends his 15 bodyguard after Tintin. He tells them he wants them back in 10 minutes, with Tintin bound and gagged. Tintin locks them in the Keep, but the leader escapes. The next day the bald gangster orders a subordinate named Maurice Oyle to invite Tintin to a cannery, where Tintin is tricked into falling into the meat grinding machine. However, because the workers at the cannery are on strike, the meat grinder is deactivated and Tintin escapes. Tintin later tricks and captures both Maurice and the bald gangster. After this escapade, Tintin is invited to a banquet held in his honor, where he is kidnapped by Chicago gangsters who have decided to wreak revenge upon him for his crackdown upon the city''s criminals. The gangsters tie Tintin and Snowy to a weight and throw them into Lake Michigan. However, the gangsters mistakenly used a block of wood as a weight, and thus Tintin and Snowy are saved by what is ostensibly a police patrol boat. It soon transpires that the crew of the boat are not policemen, but more gangsters, and they attempt to kill Tintin. However Tintin overpowers them, and later leads the police to the gangsters'' headquarters. A grateful Chicago holds a ticker-tape parade for Tintin, after which he returns to Europe.

Tintin in America

A somewhat recluse millionaire, Hugh Dixon, hires Spenser to find the members of a terrorist group that bombed a London restaurant where he and his family were dining, resulting in the deaths of his two daughters, his wife and leaving him a paraplegic. He is promised USD$2500 a head for the apprehension of each of the nine terrorists responsible, dead or alive. Spenser heads to England to start his investigation. Running an ad for information in a large London newspaper, results in at least two assassination attempts on Spenser. Spenser detects them before they are successful, resulting in the death of two gunmen and the capture of another. Spenser enlists the help of Hawk, a powerful henchman. This novel marks the first paid cooperative effort of Hawk, who goes on to become one of Spenser''s greatest allies and friends in the long-running series. Spenser tracks one of the members of the terrorist group, Liberty, and uses her as a Judas goat to lead him to other members. "Katherine," as Spenser calls her, knowing that it is probably just an alias, flees to Copenhagen, where Hawk and Spenser follow her. Spenser allows himself to be captured by Katherine''s allies, just to be rescued by Hawk before they plan to kill him (for the third time). The rescue leads to the deaths of three more members of the group, but the escape of Kathie and the leader of the group, Paul. The group turns out to be a white-supremacist group trying to keep control of African countries away from the native Africans and in the hands of white countries and leaders. The bombing of the restaurant Dixon and his wife were in was more or less a random act of violence against England because of the backing of an African country. Tired of running from Spenser and Hawk, Paul leaves the last two members responsible for the bombing shot dead in Spenser and Hawk''s hotel room. The last member, Kathie, is tied up on a bed. A note from Paul says these are the last members of the bombing, which was executed without his involvement. He couldn''t kill Kathie because he had been intimate with her for some time. He says to stop chasing them now. Hawk and Spenser untie Kathie and interrogate her, but she doesn''t know where Paul has fled. Upon further reflection, she recalls he may be at the Olympics in Montreal, Canada. That night Kathie, with her pulchritude, tries to seduce Spenser, but he resists. His obligations to Dixon completed, the three of them fly to Montreal and rent a duplex near the games. Spenser flies to Boston to tell Dixon what he is planning on doing, and to tell him he doesn''t expect him to pay for it. Dixon insists on paying for it anyhow, as he has great wealth but, since his family died, nothing worthwhile to spend it on. He also arranges to get Spenser tickets to the Stadium games. Spenser spends the night with his lover, Susan Silverman, and flies back to Canada the next day. With little to go on, Hawk, Spenser and Kathie attend the games at the Stadium looking for Paul and a henchman who Kathie warns may be with him, Zachary. Spenser spots him within a few days and observes him setting up a snipers nest. The next day he observes him, accompanied by Zach, assembling a sniper''s rifle. Hawk and Spenser decide to make their move. All four men are armed, but Hawk quickly knocks out Paul. Zachary, a huge bodybuilder standing six foot seven, attempts to shoot Spenser, but loses his gun in a scuffle. Trying to take down Zachary, the three remaining men all lose their weapons. Zachary flees the stadium, pursued by Hawk and Spenser. He is eventually beaten into unconsciousness by them after a difficult brawl a short distance from the stadium. The police arrive and take Spenser and Hawk to a hospital. Both have numerous scrapes and cuts, but Spenser also has a broken left arm and nose. They learn Kathie shot Paul "as he attempted to flee," but both suspect she shot him first chance she got for turning her over to them at the hotel. Dixon arrives in his wheelchair at the hospital and pays Spenser twice his promised fee, $50,000. Spenser offers half to Hawk, but he declines, just billing Spenser for his original fee. Spenser lies to Dixon, saying Kathie is not part of the original nine responsible for the bombing and gets Dixon to have her released from jail, where she is being held. The book concludes with Spenser and Susan vacationing together in London.

The Judas Goat

The poem opens with the marriage of king Volsung''s daughter Signy to Siggeir, king of the Goths. The bridal feast is interrupted by the arrival of a stranger, the god Odin in disguise, who drives a sword into a tree-trunk. Though everyone tries to draw the sword, Volsung''s son Sigmund is the only man who can do it. The disappointed Siggeir takes his new wife home, inviting Volsung to visit him. When Volsung does so he is killed by Siggeir, and his sons are taken prisoner. While in captivity they are all killed by a wolf, apart from Sigmund who escapes into the forest. Signy sends Sigmund her two sons to help him in avenging their family, but Sigmund only accepts Sinfjotli, the hardier of the two. Sigmund and Sinfjotli kill Siggeir and burn down his hall, then return to their ancestral home, the hall of the Volsungs. Sigmund marries Borghild, while Sinfjotli goes abroad with Borghild''s brother, quarrels with him, and kills him. On his return Sinfjotli is poisoned by Borghild, and she is turned out by Sigmund, who instead marries Hiordis. Sigmund is killed in battle, and the pregnant Hiordis is taken to live in the hall of King Elf in Denmark. There she gives birth to Sigurd. Sigurd is raised by Regin, a cunning old man, and when he grows to manhood he asks for a horse from king Elf. Elf bids him choose the one he likes best, and Sigurd takes the best horse, and names it Grani. Sigurd is now urged by Regin to attack Fafnir, a dragon who guards a hoard of gold. This treasure is a curse to all who possess it. Fafnir, Regin says, was originally a human being; indeed, the dragon was Regin''s brother and thus the gold rightfully belongs to Regin. He tries and fails to forge an adequate sword for Sigurd, but Sigurd produces the shattered fragments of Odin''s sword, which he has inherited from Sigmund, and from these fragments Regin forges a mighty sword, named "the Wrath" by Sigurd. Sigurd makes his way to Fafnir''s lair, kills him, drinks his blood, and roasts and eats his heart. This gives him the power to understand the voices of birds and to read the hearts of men. He now understands that Regin intends to kill him, and so he kills Regin and takes Fafnir''s treasure for himself. On his journey homeward Sigurd comes across an unearthly blaze on the slopes of Hindfell. He rides straight into it and comes unharmed to the heart of the fire, where he finds a beautiful sleeping woman clad in armour. He wakes her, and she tells him that she is Brynhild, a handmaiden of Odin whom he has left here as a punishment for disobedience. They pledge themselves to each other, Sigurd places a ring from Fafnir''s hoard on her finger, and he leaves. The scene changes to the court of Giuki, the Niblung king. Giuki''s daughter Gudrun has a dream in which she encounters a beautiful but ominous falcon and takes it to her breast. Anxious to learn the meaning of the dream she rides to visit Brynhild, who tells her that she will marry a king, but that her life will be darkened by war and death. Gudrun returns home. Sigurd revisits Brynhild and they again declare their love for each other. He then rides to the Niblung court, where he joins them in making war on the Southland, winning great glory for himself. The witch Grimhild, Gudrun''s mother, gives Sigurd a potion that makes him fall in love with Gudrun. Completely under her spell, he marries her and sets out to win Brynhild for Gudrun''s brother Gunnar. Visiting Brynhild again, this time magically disguised as Gunnar, and again penetrating the fire that surrounds her, he reminds her that she is promised to whoever can overcome the supernatural fire, and so deceives her into reluctantly vowing to marry Gunnar. Brynhild goes to the Niblung land and carries out her promise. She is distraught at this tragic outcome, and doubly so when Gudrun spitefully tells her of the trick by which Sigurd deceived her into an unwanted wedding. Brynhild now urges Gunnar and his brothers Hogni and Guttorm to kill Sigurd. Guttorm murders Sigurd as he lies in bed, but the dying Sigurd throws his sword and kills Guttorm as he leaves. Brynhild, filled with remorse, commits suicide so that she and Sigurd can be burned on a single funeral pyre. The widowed Gudrun now marries Brynhild''s brother, king Atli, but as the years pass by her memories of Sigurd do not fade, and she longs for vengeance. She reminds Atli of Fafnir''s hoard and urges him to win it for himself. Atli invites the surviving Niblung brothers to a feast, and when they arrive he threatens them with death if they do not give him the treasure. Gunnar and Hogni defy him to do his worst, and a battle breaks out in Atli''s hall. The Niblung brothers are overwhelmed by superior force, tied up and killed. Atli holds a victory-feast, at the end of which he and all his court lie sleeping drunkenly in the hall. Gudrun, having lost everyone she loves, burns down the hall, kills Atli with a sword-thrust, and throws herself from a cliff to her death.

The Story of Sigurd the Volsung and the Fall of the Niblungs

Vida Winter, a famous novelist in England, has evaded journalists'' questions about her past, from simply refusing to answer their inquiries to spinning elaborate tales that they later discover to be false. Her entire life is a secret, and for over fifty years reporters and biographers have tried innumerable methods in an attempt to extract the truth from Winter. With her health quickly fading, Ms. Winter enlists Margaret Lea, a bookish amateur biographer, to hear her story and write her autobiography. With her own family secrets, Lea finds the process of unraveling the past for Winter bringing her to confront her own ghosts. The novel opens as Lea returns to her apartment above her father''s antiquarian bookshop and finds a hand-written letter from Winter. It requests her presence at the author''s residence and offers the chance to write Winter''s life story before she succumbs to a terminal illness. Lea is surprised by the proposal, as she is only vaguely aware of the famous author and has not read any of the dozens of novels penned by Winter. While considering the offer, Lea''s curiosity prompts her to read her father’s rare copy of Winter’s Thirteen Tales of Change and Desperation. She is unexpectedly spellbound by the stories and confused when she realizes the book contains only twelve stories. Where is the thirteenth tale? Intrigued, Margaret agrees to meet with aging author -- if only to discuss her reasons for not accepting the position as Winter''s biographer. During their meeting at Ms. Winter''s home Lea attempts to politely decline the offer and leave, but is stopped at the door by the pleas of the older woman. With promises of a ghost story involving twins, Ms. Winter desperately implores the bibliophile to reconsider. By the end of the encounter, Lea finds herself increasingly drawn to the story and proposes a conditional agreement to Winter; to earn the trust of her biographer, Vida Winter must supply her with three verifiable truths. Somewhat reluctantly, the three secrets are extracted from their keeper. Afterwards, Winter and Lea begin their adventure into the past with; "Once upon a time there two little girls...". As Vida Winter tells her story to Lea, she shares dark family secrets which have long been kept hidden. She recalls her days at Angelfield (the estate that was her childhood home), which has since burned and been abandoned. Recording Winter’s account (the author allows no questions), Lea becomes completely immersed in the strange and troubling story. In the end, both women have to confront their pasts and the weight of family secrets, as well as the ghosts that haunt them both.

The Thirteenth Tale

The novel opens in a small village in Ixopo Ndotsheni, where the black pastor Stephen Kumalo receives a letter from the priest Theophilus Msimangu in Johannesburg. Msimangu urges Kumalo to come to the city to help his sister Gertrude, because she is ill. It is a long journey to Johannesburg and Kumalo sees the wonders of the modern world for the first time. Kumalo goes to Johannesburg to help Gertrude and to find his son Absalom, who had gone to the city to look for Gertrude but never came home. When he gets to the city, Kumalo learns that Gertrude has taken up a life of prostitution and beer brewing, and is now drinking heavily. She agrees to return to the village with her young son. Assured by these developments, Kumalo embarks on the search for his son, first seeing his brother John, a carpenter who has become involved in the politics of South Africa. Kumalo and Msimangu follow Absalom''s trail only to learn that Absalom has been in a reformatory and will have a child with a young woman. Shortly thereafter, Kumalo learns that his son has been arrested for murder. The victim is Arthur Jarvis, who was killed during a burglary. Arthur was an engineer and a white activist for racial justice, and he happens to be the son of Kumalo''s neighbour James Jarvis. Jarvis learns of his son''s death and comes with his family to Johannesburg. Jarvis and his son had been distant, and now the father begins to know his son through his writings. Through reading his son''s essays, Jarvis decides to take up his son''s work on behalf of South Africa''s black population. Absalom is sentenced to death for the murder of Arthur Jarvis. Before his father returns to Ndotsheni, Absalom marries the girl who is carrying his child, and she joins Kumalo''s family. Kumalo returns to his village with his daughter-in-law and nephew, having found that Gertrude ran away on the night before their departure. Back in Ixopo, Kumalo makes a futile visit to the tribe''s chief in order to discuss changes that must be made to help the barren village. Help arrives, however, when James Jarvis becomes involved in the work. He arranges to have a dam built and hires a native agricultural demonstrator to implement new farming methods. The novel ends at dawn on the morning of Absalom''s execution. The fathers of the two children are now devastated that both of their son''s are now dead.

Cry, The Beloved Country

F. F. E. Yeo-Thomas was the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) agent, "The White Rabbit" of World War II. He was given responsibilities by the British government in Occupied and Vichy France because he had lived in France during the interwar years and was fluent in French. An assignment required Yeo-Thomas to be parachuted into France. Shortly after his arrival he was betrayed and captured by the Gestapo at the Passy metro station in Paris. The Gestapo took him to their headquarters in the Avenue Foch, and he was subjected to brutal torture, including beatings, electrical shocks to the genitals, psychological gameplaying, sleep deprivation, and repeated submersion in ice-cold water — to the point that artificial respiration was sometimes required After the interrogations and torture, he was moved to Fresnes prison. After he made two failed attempts to escape he was transferred first to Compiègne prison and then to Buchenwald concentration camp. Within these various detention camps he attempted to organize resistance. Late in the war, he briefly escaped from Buchenwald and, on his recapture, was able to pass himself off as a French national and sent to Marienburg, Stalag XX-B, a "better" camp, where the Nazis sent enlisted Frenchmen, instead of back to Buchenwald. It is reasonable to conclude that his chances of surviving the remainder of the war at Buchenwald were low. After the war he resumed his life in France.

The White Rabbit

A boy by the name of Shasta is found as a baby and raised by Arsheesh, a Calormene fisherman. As the story begins, Shasta overhears Arsheesh agreeing to sell him to a powerful Calormene feudal nobleman. Shasta is relieved to discover that he is not really Arsheesh''s son, since there was little love between them. While Shasta awaits his new master in the stable, Bree, the nobleman''s stallion, astounds Shasta by speaking to him. The horse suggests that they escape a life of servitude by riding north together to Narnia. They meet another pair of escaping travellers, Aravis, a young Calormene aristocrat, and her talking horse, Hwin. Aravis is fleeing to avoid a forced marriage with the Tisroc''s grand vizier. The four must travel through Tashbaan, the bustling capital of Calormen. There they encounter a procession of visiting Narnian royalty, who mistake Shasta for Corin, a prince of Archenland, who was separated from their group earlier that day. Unsure what to do, Shasta goes with the Narnians and overhears their plans to escape from Calormen to prevent a forced marriage of Queen Susan with the Tisroc''s son, Rabadash. Shasta escapes when the real Prince Corin returns. Meanwhile, Aravis has been spotted by her friend Lasaraleen. She asks Lasaraleen not to betray her, and to help her escape from Tashbaan. Lasaraleen cannot understand why Aravis would want to abandon the life of a Calormene princess, but she helps Aravis escape through the palace. On the way, they hide when the Tisroc, Rabadash, and the Grand Vizier approach. Unfortunately, they''ve hidden in the very room where the men are about to meet. Aravis overhears the Tisroc and Rabadash as they discuss the Narnians'' escape. The Tisroc gives Rabadash permission to invade Archenland and Narnia while High King Peter is preoccupied battling giants to the north. Outside Tashbaan, Aravis rejoins Shasta and the horses. The four set out across the desert, and a lion (later revealed to be Aslan) frightens the travellers into fleeing swiftly enough to outrun Rabadash''s army. Shasta arrives in Archenland in time to warn King Lune of the approaching Calormenes, and the army of Archenland prepares to defend their kingdom. When Rabadash and his army arrive at King Lune''s castle, they are disappointed to find their prey on guard and waiting for them. A battle ensues, with no clear outcome until an army from Narnia, led by Edmund and Lucy, reinforces the defenders. The Northern alliance of Archenland and Narnia wins a complete victory over the Calormenes, and Rabadash is captured. Rabadash rebuffs King Lune''s merciful offer of conditional release. Aslan appears and warns Rabadash to accept King Lune''s mercy before his doom strikes. Rabadash rebuffs Aslan as well, so his doom strikes: he is turned into a donkey. His true form will be restored if he stands before the altar of Tash at the Autumn Feast. However, he will become a donkey again if he strays more than ten miles from the Temple of Tash, and there will be no return. For this reason Rabadash pursues peaceful policies when he becomes Tisroc as he dare not risk the ten mile limit by going to war. People call him "Rabadash the Peacemaker" but in reality they consider him "Rabadash the Ridiculous" as they never forget his donkey transformation. His name becomes a synonym for a stupid person over future generations in Calormen. The victorious King Lune recognizes Shasta as Cor, the long-lost identical twin of Prince Corin and, as barely the elder of the two, the heir to the throne. Aravis and Cor live in Archenland thereafter and eventually marry years later, and their son becomes the most famous king of Archenland.

The Horse and His Boy

The novel is set in a small town in Sweden at the beginning of the 20th Century. Edith, a young "Slum Sister" (social worker) in the service of the Salvation Army is on her death bed dying of "consumption" (tuberculosis). She requests that before she dies, she would like to see again David Holm, one of her charges. It becomes apparent she has a special relationship with David Holm. A year earlier, he was the first patron of the newly opened social welfare house that Edith started. He also had infected her at the time with tuberculosis after she stayed up all night mending his torn and infected coat. Over the next year Edith wanted to help him, but he was a violent alcoholic and always cruelly rejected her. This only increased her resolve and Edith developed a deep love for David. Edith then learned David is married with children, but they had to leave home because David was so violent. Edith persuades David''s wife to return home, but they are treated worse than ever by David. This makes Edith feel guilty as David threatens to deliberately infect his children with TB. On her death bed, Edith now wants to try one last time to put things in order. Meanwhile, David is sitting in the park with drinking buddies and telling them a horrible story about the coachman of death - as it happens, the last person to die each year is recruited by Death incarnate to travel for the next year picking up the souls of the dead in the Phantom Carriage. David heard this story from his friend George, who died last year on New Year''s Eve. After more drinking, David gets into a fight with his companions, is hit in the chest and suffers a hemorrhage (a complication of TB) and falls lifeless to the ground. At the same moment the clock strikes midnight. None other than David''s old friend George then appears in the Phantom Carriage. David now has to replace George and serve as the driver for a year of death. When David refuses, Georges binds him and throws him into the death cart. Now a ghostly apparition, George takes David to see the people that David loved most and whom he has most harmed. First they visit the dying Edith. When David learns that Edith has loved him, he softens and falls to his knees in front of Edith. Edith can now die in peace, and Georges commands her soul from her body. David and Georges then go to a prison in which David''s younger brother is incarcerated. The brother had been led astray by David, starting with drinking alcohol and then committing a murder. Now, David''s brother is dying of TB. The brother regrets that he his failed to fulfill a promise he once made to a sick child to see the ocean. David vows that he will fulfill his brother''s promise, and so David''s brother dies in peace. Finally, George and David go to David''s wife. She has decided to kill herself and the children, life with David is no longer tolerable and she sees no way out. David feels love for his children for the first time in his life. David pleads with George to allow his soul to return to his body so the he may stop his wife from killing herself and the children. This Georges does and David redeems himself to his wife in a tear filled reunion. Georges will serve another year as driver to the dead. David prays the New Year''s prayer that he has learned from George, God, let my soul come to maturity before being harvested.

Körkarlen

Karigan G’Ladheon, a member of the King’s Green Rider messenger service, finds her life increasingly tangled in the third book of the Green Rider series. King Zachary, for whom Karigan has feelings, has admitted his feeling for Karigan but is being forced into a political marriage with Lady Estora of Coutre. This causes difficulties for all three as Karigan and Zachary cannot be together and Karigan is now jealous of Estora and ceases to show friendship to her former friend. Soon Karigan is sent on several messenger errands as Captain Mapstone attempts to separate her from King Zachary. Accompanied by rider-in-training Fergal Duff, she delivers several messages, the last one a decoy message presented to her old school nemesis, now lord-governor Timas Mirwell, in an attempt to contact Rider Beryl Spencer. Meanwhile, Riders Alton D’yer and Dale Littlepage’s attempts to mend the wall at the Blackveil Forest are met with failure, and the wall’s strength continues to wane. “Grandmother,” the leader of the Second Empire, plans to overthrow Sacoridia and return the Empire by using her magic and a book that must be read at the tomb of the Sacoridian High King which reveals the history of the D’Yer Wall, which protects the kingdom from the Blackveil Forest, and thereby how to destroy it. After delivering her messages, Karigan discovers Lady Estora, who had been kidnapped by men working with Second Empire. She offers herself as a distraction, changing clothes with Estora, to allow the King’s betrothed to escape safely and return to Sacor City. Karigan is captured but escapes with the aid of Lord Xandis Amberhill. Knowing the Grandmother’s plot, Karigan travels back to Sacor City to try to stop it. When she arrives, Karigan joins a band of Weapons, guards highly committed to guarding the King and the dead royalty, who enter the tombs to stop the Second Empire from reading the book. She successfully recovers the book, and it is revealed that she is an avatar of the god Westrion. In the aftermath of these events, Karigan is knighted by King Zachary and Alton succeeds in partially healing the wall with the help of the mages. Second Empire continues to plot as Grandmother and the Second Empire journey into the Blackveil hoping to "awake the sleepers". The author has confirmed that there are more books to come. The fourth book in the series, "Blackveil," was released in February 2011.

The High King''s Tomb

The opening letters between Harrington and Worthy reveal that Harrington has fallen for Harriot, despite the reservations of his father. Harriot resists Harrington''s initial advances, as he intends to make her his mistress; readers also find that Worthy encourages Harrington to abandon his licentious motives in favor of properly courting Harriot. However, when Harrington and Harriot become engaged, Mrs. Holmes becomes alarmed and exposes a deep family secret to Myra: Harriot is in fact Harrington and Myra’s illegitimate sister. Mr. Harrington''s one time affair with Maria Fawcet resulted in Harriot''s birth, which had to be kept a secret to maintain the family’s honor. Thus, Eliza’s mother-in-law, the late Mrs. Holmes, took Maria, thomas and Harriot into her home. After Maria’s death, Harriot was raised by a family friend, Mrs. Francis. Upon receiving the news of this family secret, Harriot and Harrington are devastated, as their relationship is incestuous and thus forbidden. Harriot falls into a grief-stricken consumption, a condition now referred to as tuberculosis, from which she is unable to recover. Harrington spirals into a deep depression and commits suicide after learning of Harriot''s death.

The Power of Sympathy

Anna is ecstatic when her parents announce to her that they are having a baby. She sees this as her opportunity to show that she is grown-up and can take care of the family. But Ben''s birth is overshadowed by the fact that he is born with hydrocephalus. At first, it is very hard for Anna to cope with this new situation, but she really loves Ben and does her very best to take care of him. At school she has problems explaining to people what is wrong with her brother, because she thinks that they will not understand and she doesn''t want their sympathy. Soon after Ben ''meets'' Anna''s school-mate, Miranda, for the first time, the word of him being disabled quickly spreads to the rest of Anna''s classmates. Anna gets angry, but then breaks down, and all her friends feel sympathetic toward her. She then says how Ben really is and invites her friends to meet him: it turns out they love him as well. The book focuses mainly on the difficulty faced by Anna and her family in dealing with Ben''s disability and later coming to terms with losing him and trying to move on with their lives.

Red Sky in the Morning

In Man of Earth, Allen Sibley is a businessman who is about to be indicted for bribery of a public official. Desperate to escape prison, he pays a fortune to the mysterious Doncaster Corporation for a new identity (and a new body and personality to go with it). However, Doncaster tricks him, sending him as an unwilling emigrant to the extraterrestrial colony on planet Pluto. Although it has been terraformed into a pleasant enough abode, Pluto is thoroughly neglected by a narcissistic Earth, and only ne''er-do-wells and misfits settle it. Sibley, with no marketable skills, is drafted into the Plutonian army, which is building an anomalously large war machine. His new commanding persona makes him swiftly rise in rank, and he soon concludes that Pluto intends to invade and plunder its neglectful mother planet. Instead, Doncaster suddenly reveals that the Pluto colony was created by them as a stepping-stone to the stars, and that Earth will be left to go rancid, while "new men", like the rebuilt Sibley, conquer the universe.

Over 8000 Takeaways For Your Brain!

Read - Listen - Learn

Tintin in America

By Hergé

The Judas Goat

By Robert B. Parker

The Story of Sigurd the Volsung and the Fall of the Niblungs

By William Morris

The Thirteenth Tale

By Diane Setterfield

Cry, The Beloved Country

By Alan Paton

The White Rabbit

By Bruce Marshall

The Horse and His Boy

By C. S. Lewis

Körkarlen

By Selma Lagerlöf

The High King's Tomb

By Kristen Britain

The Power of Sympathy

No Author Listed

Red Sky in the Morning

No Author Listed

Man of Earth

By Algis Budrys