The novel is narrated by Billy Bartholomew, the best friend of the protagonist, Eddie Proffit, as Eddie struggles not only with Billy’s recent death, but that of his father as well. An intelligent boy who is seemingly afflicted with ADHD, Eddie cannot stop talking until he is confronted with these two sudden deaths. The only way he can cope with these tragedies, then, is to stop talking entirely. Eddie’s mother seeks solace in the local Red Brick Church, an evangelical church run by the Reverend Tarter, who is a teacher at the local high school. Though his mother wants him to join the church, Eddie is disgusted by Tarter’s bigotry, and finds little help among his peers until his high school English class starts to read the fictional novel Warren Peece by Chris Crutcher. Tarter is horrified that high school students would be allowed to read a novel that is full of what he terms “bad language” and homosexual characters. This propels a challenge from Tarter’s church board to the school to get the novel removed from the curriculum. Eddie begins talking again when he testifies in front of the Red Brick Church announcing he will not only not join the church, but will also speak in favor of Warren Peece at the school board meeting. A misinterpretation of his testimony compels the church members to have Eddie placed into a mental health facility supposedly because Eddie thinks he is Jesus Christ. Crutcher places himself in the novel’s climax as a speaker at the board meeting on the removal of the book.

The Sledding Hill

Mystery author Harriet Vane has been accused of the murder of her former lover, Phillip Boyes. Boyes was a novelist and essayist who wrote in support of atheism, anarchy, and free love. Professing to disapprove of marriage, he persuaded a reluctant Harriet to live with him against her principles and they led a Bohemian life in the London art community. A year later he proposed, and Harriet, outraged at being deceived into giving up her public honour, broke off the relationship. During the year that followed, Boyes suffered from repeated bouts of gastric illness, while Harriet had bought several poisons under assumed names to test a plot point of her novel then in progress. Having returned from a holiday in North Wales in better health, Boyes dined with his cousin, the solicitor Norman Urquhart, before going to Harriet''s flat to discuss reconciliation. That night he was taken fatally ill, apparently with gastritis. He died four days later after an agonising period of suffering. Although it was assumed at first that Boyes died of natural causes, an indiscreet nurse and some of Boyes'' friends insisted that foul play was involved. A post-mortem revealed that Boyes'' death was due to acute arsenic poisoning. Apart from the evening meal with his cousin, where every item was shared by two or more people, the only opportunity for poison to have been administered appeared to be in a cup of coffee, offered by Harriet Vane. Harriet is tried, but the result is a "hung" jury, thanks in no small part to the presence of Wimsey''s aide, Miss Climpson, on the jury. With fewer than ten of the jury agreeing on a verdict, the judge must order a fresh trial to be held. Wimsey visits Harriet in prison, declares his conviction of her innocence, and promises to catch the real murderer. In the course of the interview he also openly admits his intention of marrying her, an offer which she politely but firmly declines. Working against time before the new trial, Wimsey first explores the possibility that Boyes took his own life. Wimsey''s friend, Detective Inspector Charles Parker, conclusively disproves this notion, but Wimsey has planted a spy, Miss Joan Murchison, in Urquhart’s office and discovers the real culprit is Urquhart. Suspecting Urquhart''s story that he, not Boyes, is in line to inherit the considerable fortune of their senile great aunt, Wimsey sends Miss Climpson to get hold of the great-aunt’s will, which she does in a comic scene exposing the practices of fraudulent mediums. Not only does the will name Boyes as the principal heir, but in Urquhart''s office, Miss Murchison finds evidence that, misusing his position as his own family''s solicitor, Urquhart embezzled the majority of the great aunt''s holdings and subsequently lost them on the stock market. Urquhart knew that if his great aunt died, he would be exposed. Boyes, however, was unaware that he was heir to the money. With him dead, Urquhart would inherit the estate and hence his fraud would not be revealed. Miss Murchison also discovers a packet of arsenic hidden in Urquhart''s office. Wimsey has now established motive and means, but not opportunity. But after re-examining the details of Boyes'' famous last dinner (and perusing A.E. Housman''s A Shropshire Lad, in which the poet likens reading dark poems to King Mithridates'' self-immunization against poisons), he realizes that Urquhart laced an omelette with arsenic and shared it with Boyes after having built up an immunity to the poison with small doses over a long period. Wimsey tricks Urquhart into an admission before witnesses. At her retrial the prosecution presents no case and Harriet is set free. Exhausted by her ordeal, she again rejects Wimsey’s proposal of marriage. It is also in this novel that Peter finally persuades Parker to propose to Peter''s sister, Mary. Also the Honourable Freddy Arbuthnot, Wimsey''s friend and contact for the stock market, in this book finds a long-delayed domestic bliss with Rachel, the daughter of Sir Reuben Levy who was murdered in Whose Body?.

Strong Poison

The novel is set in the late nineteenth century, during the British Raj, and follows the adventures of a Rajput prince who is heir to a fictional kingdom based in Deori (roughly comparable to modern Chhattisgarh). He has just returned from his education in England. As a sign of his Anglicisation he plans to build a dam and a cricket pitch on disused land in Konpara, a backward and neglected part of his realm. However, when work begins, a fragment of an ancient statue is recovered. Such is its beauty and sensuousness that it is nicknamed the "Venus of Konpara". He decides to excavate the area in search of other remains. Meanwhile, he has been seduced by a Dravidian dancing girl, who becomes his live-in lover and who seems to have a mysterious control over the local people. The prince''s uncle, however, plans to displace him as successor to the throne and works in tandem with other mysterious hidden factions to disrupt the investigations. The local British administrator assists the prince, though with some reservations. The administrator is deeply resentful of his liberated wife, an artist who works in an avant-garde style similar to Manet. Her creativity disturbs his rigid and sexually repressed personality. As excavations proceed it becomes clear that there are systematic attempts to misdirect the dig, and even to threaten the lives of the central characters, who are attacked by the local Gond tribesmen. The British administrator is drawn into the plot against the prince, and the dancing girl is abducted. All ends happily for the main characters after the administrator is killed when he pricks himself with a poisoned arrow meant for the prince. The dancing girl is rescued and marries the prince. The administrator''s widow marries another character who admires her work, and she becomes a famous artist.

The Venus of Konpara

Set in 1972, Obasan centres on the memories and experiences of Naomi Nakane, a 36 year old schoolteacher living in the rural Canadian town of Cecil, Alberta, when the novel begins. The death of Naomi''s uncle, with whom she had lived as a child, leads Naomi to visit and care for her widowed aunt Aya, whom she refers to as Obasan (Obasan being the Japanese word for "Aunt" in this context). Her brief stay with Obasan in turn becomes an occasion for Naomi to revisit and reconstruct in memory her painful experiences as a child during and after World War II, with the aid of a box of correspondence and journals sent to her by her Aunt Emily, detailing the years of the measures taken by the Canadian government against the Japanese citizens of Canada and their aftereffects. With the aid of Aunt Emily''s box, Naomi learns that her mother, who had been in Japan before the bombing of Pearl Harbor, was severely injured by the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima; a finding which changes her perspective of the ''War in the Pacific'', and rekindles the heartbreak she experienced as a child. Naomi''s narration thus interweaves two stories, one of the past and another of the present, mixing experience and recollection, history and memory throughout. Naomi''s struggle to come to terms with both past and present confusion and suffering form the core of the novel''s plot. Although Obasan is fiction, the events, Parliamentary legal documents, and overall notion of racism mirror reality. Through the eyes of fictional characters, Kogawa tells the story of Japanese-Canadians during the Second World War.

Obasan

The novel is set in the early years of the 19th century. Silas Marner, a weaver, is a member of a small Calvinist congregation in Lantern Yard, a slum street in an unnamed city in Northern England. He is falsely accused of stealing the congregation''s funds while watching over the very ill deacon of the group. Two clues are given against Silas: a pocket-knife and the discovery of the bag formerly containing the money in his own house. There is a strong suggestion that Silas''s best friend, William Dane, has framed him, since Silas had lent the pocket-knife to William a short while before. Silas is proclaimed guilty. The woman he was to marry casts him off, and later marries William Dane. With his life shattered and his heart broken, he leaves Lantern Yard and the city. Marner heads south to the Midlands and settles near the village of Raveloe, where he lives as a recluse, lapsing into bouts of catalepsy, and existing only for work and the gold he has hoarded from his earnings. The gold is stolen by Dunstan (''Dunsey'') Cass, the dissolute younger son of Squire Cass, the town''s leading landowner. Silas sinks into a deep gloom, despite the villagers'' attempts to aid him. Dunsey disappears, but little is made of this not unusual behaviour, and no association is made between him and the theft. Godfrey Cass, Dunsey''s elder brother, also harbours a secret. He is married to, but estranged from, Molly Farren, an opium-addicted woman of low birth. This secret threatens to destroy Godfrey''s blooming relationship with Nancy, a young woman of higher social and moral standing. On a winter''s night, Molly tries to make her way into town with her two-year-old child, to prove that she is Godfrey''s wife and ruin him. On the way she takes opium, becomes disorientated and sits down to rest in the snow, child in arm. The child wanders from her mother''s still body into Silas'' house. Upon discovering the child, Silas follows her tracks in the snow and discovers the woman dead. Godfrey also arrives at the scene, but resolves to tell no one that she was his wife. Silas decides to keep the child and names her Eppie, after his deceased mother and his sister, Hephzibah. Eppie changes Silas'' life completely. Silas has been robbed of his material gold but has it returned to him symbolically in the form of golden-haired Eppie. Godfrey Cass is now free to marry Nancy, but continues to conceal the existence of his first marriage—and child—from her. He continues to aid Marner, however, in caring for Eppie, with occasional financial gifts. Sixteen years pass, and Eppie grows up to be the pride of the town. She has a strong bond with Silas, who through her has found inclusion and purpose in life. Meanwhile, Godfrey and Nancy mourn their own childless state. Eventually, the skeleton of Dunstan Cass—still clutching Silas'' gold—is found at the bottom of the stone quarry near Silas'' home, and the money is duly returned to Silas. Shocked by this revelation, and coming to the realization of his own conscience, Godfrey confesses to Nancy that Molly was his first wife and that Eppie is his child. They hope to raise her as a gentleman''s daughter, which for Eppie would mean forsaking Silas. Eppie politely refuses, saying, "I can''t think o'' no happiness without him." Silas is never able to clear up the details of the robbery that caused his exile from Lantern Yard, as his old neighbourhood has been "swept away" and replaced by a large factory. No one seems to know what happened to Lantern Yard''s inhabitants. However, Silas contentedly resigns himself to the fact that he now leads a happier existence among his family and friends. In the end, Eppie marries a local boy, Aaron, son of Marner''s kind neighbour Dolly. Aaron and Eppie move into Silas'' new house, courtesy of Godfrey. Silas'' actions through the years in caring for Eppie have provided joy for everyone and the extended family celebrates its happiness.

Silas Marner

The book begins with a chapter in which Richard Harrowby, a Virginian cosmetics manufacturer, promises to explain the sudden appearance of "genius" in his late neighbor, Felix Kennaston. His story will be based on his notes from a conversation with Kennaston. There follow the last six chapters of Kennaston''s first draft. A clerk named Horvendile is in love with the heroine, Ettare, but sees her as the ideal woman who is in all desired women, not someone he can love with the disappointments of living with a flesh-and-blood person. He brings about the climactic confrontation between hero and villain. After the hero wins, Horvendile reveals to him and Ettare that they are characters in a book and that he is the Author''s stand-in. He must return to his own, prosaic country. As safe-conduct back to Storisende, Ettare gives him half of a talisman she wears, the Sigil of Scoteia. Having composed this while walking in his garden, Kennaston realizes he has dropped a piece of lead: a broken half of a disk inscribed with indecipherable characters. He surmises he was unconsciously inspired by it to invent the sigil. That night he falls asleep looking at the gleaming metal and has a lucid dream of Ettare, who is also aware that she is dreaming. When he touches her, he wakes up. Kennaston writes a new ending for his novel. After a reviewer condemns it as indecent, it becomes a bestseller. When Kennaston sleeps facing light reflected from the mysterious sigil, he dreams that he as Horvendile meets Ettare in various times and places, but she is always untouchable. (He can set up the reflections conveniently because he sleeps in a separate room from his wife; their relations had long been friendly but mutually uncomprehending.) Fascinated by the sigil and mysterious clues he receives, by his dreams, and by the ironic philosophical speculations they lead him to, he loses interest in ordinary life apart from his next book. Just before that book is published, he enters his wife''s dressing room in her absence and finds the other half of the sigil. He concludes that she was Ettare all along, and he remembers his former love for her. However, she ignores his tentative affection, and her only comment when he shows her the sigil is that their neighbor Harrowby might know something about it. She throws both pieces away. Without the inspiration of his dreams, Kennaston largely stops writing. His wife dies. As Harrowby is interested in the occult, Kennaston follows his wife''s hint by showing him the sigil (found in her dressing room) and telling him about the dreams. Harrowby recognizes it as the mock-antique lid of his company''s brand of cold cream. He does not disillusion Kennaston, but "gently" raises the possibility that the sigil might not be miraculous. Kennaston scornfully replies that such a possibility would not change what the sigil taught him: everything in life is miraculous. Cabell himself drew the book''s image of the sigil, which looks like writing in a strange alphabet. When turned upside-down and looked at in a mirror, it reads, "James Branch Cabell made this book so that he who wills may read the story of man''s eternally unsatisfied hunger in search of beauty. Ettare stays inaccessible always and her loveliness is his to look on only in his dreams".

The Cream of the Jest

Jasmine Callihan is a 17-year-old girl on vacation in Las Vegas with her family. She is spending her vacation trying to avoid her cousin Alyson and her "Evil Hench Twin" Veronique, get the ''cute guy across the pool'', Jack, to notice her, and prove to her father that she is a model daughter. However, as soon as she is attacked by a three-legged cat (Mean and Dangerous Joe, or Mad Joe for short), things go haywireShe is suddenly caught up in a mystery regarding the murder of Len Phillips, and is determined to solve it with her best friends, fashion-wise Polly, crazy and eccentric Roxy, and Tom, sensible and totally in love with Polly.Along the way, she gets to know the ''cute guy across the pool'', who may or may not be involved with the murder. It is a typical afternoon by the pool at the Venetian hotel. Jas is feeling listless, frustrated and flat in her green bikini. Her cousin Alyson is being her obnoxious and snotty self. Her overprotective father coos with his twenty-years-younger wife and clearly has no intention of letting Jas follow her dream—a career as a detective—any time soon. The sun is shining, the water is cool. The cat incident leads to Jas''s first run-in with hotel security and her introduction to the cat''s owner, the eight-year-old son of Fiona Bristol. Fiona is a famous model who was embroiled in scandal a year earlier when her lover was killed and her husband was arrested for the murder. Jas''s three best friends sense she needs help and show up to offer insight into the case and fashion advice. When the cute guy at the snack hut turns out to be deeply enmeshed in the case, Jas has to figure out whether he is a friend or a foe.

Bad Kitty

The book is a memoir of the experience of the author who returned to Iran during the revolution (1978-1981) and lived and taught in the Islamic Republic of Iran until her departure in 1997. It narrates her teaching at the University of Tehran after 1979, her refusal to submit to the rule to wear the veil and her subsequent expulsion from the university, life during the Iran-Iraq war, her return to teaching at the University of Allameh Tabatabei (1981), her resignation (1987), the formation of her book club (1995–97), and her decision to emigrate. Events are interlaced with the stories of book club members consisting of seven of her female students, who met weekly at Nafisi''s house to discuss works of Western literature including the controversial ''Lolita'' and the texts are interpreted through the books they read. === Structure === The book is divided into four sections: "Lolita", "Gatsby", "James", and "Austen". "Lolita" deals with Nafisi as she resigns from The University of Allameh Tabatabei and starts her private literature class with students Mahshid, Yassi, Mitra, Nassrin, Azin, Sanaz and Manna. They talk not just about Lolita, but One Thousand and One Nights and Invitation to a Beheading. The main themes are oppression, jailers as revolutionary guards try to assert their authority through certain events such as a vacation gone awry and a runaway convict. "Gatsby" is set about eleven years before "Lolita" just as the Iranian revolution starts. The reader learns how some Iranians'' dreams, including the author''s, became shattered through the government''s imposition of new rules. Nafisi''s student Mr. Nyazi puts the novel on trial, claiming that it condones adultery. Chronologically this is the first part of Nafisi''s story. The Great Gatsby and Mike Gold''s works are discussed in this part. The reader meets Nassrin. Nafisi states that the Gatsby chapter is about the American dream, the Iranian dream of revolution and the way it was shattered for her; the James chapter is about uncertainty and the way totalitarian mindsets hate uncertainty; and Austen is about the choice of women, a woman at the center of the novel saying no to the authority of her parents, society, and welcoming a life of dire poverty in order to make her own choice. "James" takes place right after "Gatsby", when the Iran–Iraq War begins and Nafisi is expelled from the University of Tehran along with a few other professors. The veil becomes mandatory and she states that the government wants to control the liberal-minded professors. Nafisi meets the man she calls her "magician", seemingly a literary academician who had retired from public life at the time of the revolution. Daisy Miller and Washington Square are the main texts. Nassrin reappears after spending several years in prison. "Austen" succeeds "Lolita" as Nafisi plans to leave Iran and the girls discuss the issue of marriages, men and sex. The only real flashback (not counting historical background) is into how the girls and Nafisi toyed with the idea of creating a Dear Jane society. While Azin deals with an abusive husband and Nassrin plans to leave for England, Nafisi''s magician reminds her not to blame all of her problems on the Islamic Republic. Pride and Prejudice, while the main focus, is used more to reinforce themes about blindness and empathy. Throughout the whole novel Nafisi tackles the question of what is a hero and a villain in literature. Each independent section of the book examines notions of heroism and villainy by connecting characters from books such as Invitation to a Beheading or The Great Gatsby to others. The basis of her definition of heroism and villainy is the connection between characters who are "blind to other''s problems" such as Humbert Humbert in Lolita and characters who can empathize. This theme is intertwined with that of oppression and blindness.

Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books

Chapter One, Ancient Americas and Africa: Includes the history of the peoples of America before Columbus, Africa on the eve of contact, Europe on the eve of contact, and a conclusion on the approach of a new global age. Chapter Two, Europeans and Africans Reach the Americas: Includes the breaching of the Atlantic, the Spanish conquest of America, England looking west, African bondage, and a conclusion on converging worlds. Chapter Three, Colonizing a Continent in the Seventeenth Century: Includes the history of Chesapeake tobacco coast, Massachusetts and its offspring, the French in Canada, proprietary Carolina, the Quakers and their "peaceable kingdom," New Spain and its northern frontier, the Era of Instability, and a conclusion on the achievement of new societies. Chapter Four, The Maturíng of Colonial Society: Includes the history of the Northern and Southern colonies, conflict in the New World, the urban world of commerce and ideas, the Great Awakening, political life in the colonies, and a conclusion on America in 1750. Chapter Five, The Strains of Empire: Includes the climatic Seven Years'' War, the crisis with England, the ideology of Revolutionary Republicanism, the turmoil of a rebellious people, and a conclusion on the time where the colonies were on the brink of revolution. Chapter Six, A People in Revolution: Includes the bursting of the colonial bonds, the American War for Independence, the experiences of war, the ferment of revolutionary politics, and a conclusion on the crucible of revolution. Chapter Seven, Consolidating the Revolution: Includes the struggle of a peacetime agenda, sources of political conflict, the political tumult in the states, the movement toward a new national government, and a conclusion on completing the revolution. Chapter Eight, Creating a Nation: Includes the launching of the national republic, the republic in a threatening world, how the political crisis deepened, the restoration of American liberty, the building of an agrarian nation, foreign policy of the new nation, and a conclusion on the period of trial and transition. Chapter Nine, Society and Politics in the Early Republic: Includes how America was a nation of regions, Indian-White relations in the early republic, the end of Neo-Colonialism, how America was knitted together, how politics were in transition, and a conclusion on the passing of an era. Chapter Ten, Economic Transformations in the Northeast and the Old Northwest: Chapter Eleven, Slavery and the Old South: Chapter Twelve, Shaping America in the Antebellum Age: Chapter Thirteen, Moving West: Chapter Fourteen, The Union in Peril: Chapter Fifteen, The Union Severed: Chapter Sixteen, The Union Reconstructed: Chapter Seventeen, Rural America; The West and the New South: Chapter Eighteen, The Rise of Smokestack America: Chapter Nineteen, Politics and Reform: Chapter Twenty, Becoming a World Power: Chapter Twenty-One, The Progressives Confront Industrial Capitalism: Chapter Twenty-Two, The Great War: Chapter Twenty-Three, Affluence and Anxiety: Chapter Twenty-Four, The Great Depression and the New Deal: Chapter Twenty-Five, Wold War Two: Chapter Twenty-Six, Postwar America at Home, 1945-1960: Chapter Twenty-Seven, Chills and Fever During the Cold War, 1945-1960: Chapter Twenty-Eight, Reform and Rebellion in the Turbulent Sixties, 1960-1969: Chapter Twenty-Nine, Disorder and Discontent, 1969-1980: Chapter Thirty, The Revival of Conservatism, 1980-1992: Chapter Thirty-One, The Post-Cold War World, 1992-2002: Includes the Declaration of Independence, Constitution of the United States of America, chart of United States presidential elections, States of the United States, chart of the Population of the United States. Sixty-two pages covering the entire text.

The American People

Humanity has spread across the galaxy, and the outer colony "Harvest" is one of the most remote. Although Harvest itself is only one-third the size of Earth, its fertile surface serves as the breadbasket for the other colonies. The United Nations Space Command Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) notices strange disappearances of human ships around Harvest, and assumes that Insurrectionists are attacking the vessels. The ONI pulls Staff Sergeants Avery Johnson and Nolan Byrne from the frontlines of the civil war to raise a militia to protect Harvest. Meanwhile, it is revealed that the disappearances are due to an alien Kig-Yar vessel intercepting the ships in their search for relics left by the Forerunners, an ancient race sacred to the Kig-Yar and other members of the Covenant. Members of the vessel are shocked to discover that their instruments indicates hundreds of thousands of Forerunner relics on the planet of Harvest. A Covenant Unggoy Deacon named Dadab is alarmed when he realizes the Kig-Yar shipmistress intends to steal a portion of the relics for herself, starting with relics leaving the planet on a human cargo ship. The ship is actually a trap set by the humans, with Johnson and Byrne onboard. Johnson and Byrne kill several of the Covenant boarding party when they enter the cargo ship, which is later destroyed by a methane explosion. Dadab and his Huragok friend, Lighter than Some, escape the blast and are picked up by a Covenant ship crewed by Jiralhanae. These agents, led by their chieftain Maccabeus, have been ordered to confirm the presence of the relics; despite the reservations of his nephew, Tartarus, Maccabeus agrees to parley with the humans on Harvest. In the midst of the meeting in Harvest''s gardens, the Covenant begin a firefight and the peace talks are shattered. On the Covenant holy city of High Charity, two San ''Shyuum, the Minister of Fortitude and the Vice-Minister of Tranquility, plot to take the place of the three Prophet Hierarchs currently leading the Covenant. They visit the old, supposedly senile Philologist for blessings and advice, seeking a third San ''Shyuum to help them usurp the throne. As Tranquility and Fortitude are meeting with the Philologist, the "Oracle", a Forerunner A.I. named Mendicant Bias, suddenly awakens from eons of dormancy. Mendicant Bias informs the San ''Shyuum that the "Forerunner artifacts" found at Harvest are actually the A.I.''s "makers", living Forerunners—meaning that the humans themselves are the descendants of the Covenant''s gods, and that all the Covenant''s writings are false. The Minister of Fortitude realizes that the truth must never be revealed, as this revelation would tear the Covenant apart. Instead, Fortitude, Tranquility, and the Philologist plot to quickly take the throne so they can exterminate the "reclaimers". Back on Harvest, Johnson and his squad of militia are heavily out-manned and out-gunned. Maccabeus is ordered to "glass" the planet from space, but disobeys and launches a ground assault in an effort to recover the "relics". The human militia tries to keep the aliens busy while evacuating the civilians from the planet; this requires Johnson and his team to board an orbital platform controlled by Dadab and his troops. Tartarus challenges Maccabeus for control of the Jiralhanae pack, killing his uncle and becoming the next leader. Lighter than Some is killed by Tartarus'' troops, and Dadab goes off to kill those he believes are responsible. As his weapon only has one more shot left, Dadab searches for Tartarus, who is fighting Johnson. Dadab destroys Tartarus'' shield, and the enraged Brute kills the deacon. Wallace Jenkins, a young militia member that had lost his family in the battle, attempts to finish Tartarus off, but the alien escapes. The human civilians and survivors of Harvest successfully evacuate the planet on hundreds of freighters, while on High Charity, the Minister of Fortitude, Tranquility, and The Philologist become the new Prophet Hierarchs. They take the names Truth, Regret, and Mercy, declaring a new age for the Covenant has begun, and that the humans must be annihilated for their crimes.

Halo: Contact Harvest

The play is set in the fictional St. Nicholas Church School, in the Bronx, during the fall of 1964. It opens with a sermon by Father Flynn, a beloved and progressive parish priest, addressing the importance of uncertainty ("Doubt can be a bond as powerful and sustaining as certainty," he says). The school''s principal, Sister Aloysius, a rigidly conservative nun vowed to the order of the Sisters of Charity, insists upon constant vigilance. During a meeting with a younger nun, Sister James, it becomes clear that Aloysius harbors a deep mistrust toward her students, her fellow clergymen, and society in general. Naïve and impressionable, James is easily upset by Aloysius’ severe manner and harsh criticism. Aloysius and Father Flynn are put into direct conflict when she learns from Sister James that the priest met one-on-one with Donald Muller, St. Nicholas’ first African-American student. Mysterious circumstances lead her to believe that sexual misconduct occurred. In a private meeting purportedly regarding the Christmas pageant, Aloysius, in the presence of Sister James, openly confronts Flynn with her suspicions. He angrily denies wrongdoing, insisting that he was disciplining Donald for drinking altar wine, claiming to have been protecting the boy from harsher punishment. James is relieved by his explanation. Flynn''s next sermon is on the evils of gossip. Aloysius, unsatisfied with Flynn''s story, meets with Donald''s mother, Mrs. Muller. Despite Aloysius''s attempts to shock her, Mrs. Muller says she supports her son''s relationship with Flynn. She ignores Aloysius''s accusations. Before departing, she hints that Donald may be "that way", and that Mr. Muller may be beating him consequently. Father Flynn eventually threatens to remove Aloysius from her position if she does not back down. Aloysius informs him that she previously phoned the last parish he was assigned to, discovering a history of past infringements. After declaring his innocence, the priest begins to plead with her, at which point she leaves the office, disgusted. Flynn calls the bishop to apply for a transfer, where, later, he receives a promotion and is instated as pastor of a nearby parochial school. Learning this, Aloysius reveals to Sister James that the decisive phone call was a fabrication. With no actual proof that Father Flynn is or is not innocent, the audience is left with its own doubt.

Doubt: A Parable

The story revolves around the trials and tribulations of a young Polish priest, Stephan Kovalski, the hardships endured by a rickshaw puller, Hasari Pal (the sufferer) in Calcutta (Kolkata), India and the experiences of a young, American doctor, Max Lowe. Father Stephan joins a religious order whose vows put them in the most hellish places on earth. He chooses not only to serve the poorest of the poor in Calcutta but also to live with them, starve with them, and if God wills it, die with them. In the journey of Kovalski''s acceptance as the Big Brother for the slum dwellers, he encounters moments of everyday miracles in the midst of appalling poverty and ignorance. The slum dwellers are ignored and exploited by society and authorities of power are not without their own prejudices. This becomes evident by their attitude towards the lepers and the continuation of the caste system. The story also explores how a peasant farmer Hasari Pal arrives in Calcutta with his family after a drought wipes out the farming village where his family has lived for generations. The third main character is that of a rich American doctor who has just finished med school and wants to do something with purpose before opening up his practice catering to the wealthy. The book chronicles not only the separation of the wealthy from the poor but the separation of the different levels of poverty, caste divisions, and the differences of the many religions living side by side in the slums. It touches on Mother Teresa and her Sisters of Mercy as well. While the book has its ups and downs, both beautiful and horrific, an overall feeling of peace and well being is achieved by the story''s end. Despite facing hunger, deplorable living conditions, illness, bone breaking work (or no work at all) and death, the people still hold on to the belief that life is precious and worth living, so much so that they named their slum "Anand Nagar", which translated into English means "The City of Joy". The author has stated that the stories of the characters in the book are true and he uses many of the real names in his book. However, the book is considered fictional since many conversations and actions are assumed or created. The author and his wife traveled to India many times, sometimes staying with friends in "The city of Joy". Half of the royalties from the sale of the book goes towards the City of Joy Foundation that looks after slum children in Calcutta.

Over 8000 Takeaways For Your Brain!

Read - Listen - Learn

The Sledding Hill

By Chris Crutcher

Strong Poison

By Dorothy L. Sayers

The Venus of Konpara

By John Masters

Obasan

By Joy Kogawa

Silas Marner

By George Eliot

The Cream of the Jest

By James Branch Cabell

Bad Kitty

By Michele Jaffe

Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books

By Azar Nafisi

The American People

No Author Listed

Halo: Contact Harvest

No Author Listed

Doubt: A Parable

By John Patrick Shanley

City of Joy

By Dominique Lapierre