Innokentii Volodin, a diplomat, makes a telephone call he feels obligated to his conscience to make, even though he knows he risks arrest. His call was taped and the NKVD seek to identify who made the call. The sharashka prisoners work on technical projects to assist state security agencies and generally pander to Stalin''s increasing paranoia. While most are aware of how much better off they are than "regular" Gulag prisoners, some are also conscious of the overwhelming moral dilemma of working to aid a system that is the cause of so much suffering. Lev Rubin is tasked with identifying the voice in the recorded phone call, he examines printed spectrographs of the voice and compares them with recordings of Volodin and five other suspects. He narrows it down to Volodin and one other suspect, both of whom are arrested. By the end of the book, several zeks, including Gleb Nerzhin, the autobiographical hero, choose to stop cooperating, even though their choice means being sent to much deadlier camps. Volodin, initially crushed by the ordeal of his arrest, begins to find encouragement at the end of his first night in prison. The book also briefly depicts several Soviet leaders of the period, including Stalin himself, who is depicted as vain and vengeful, remembering with pleasure the torture of a rival, dreaming of one day becoming emperor of the world, or listening to his subordinate Viktor Abakumov and wondering: "[...]has the day come to shoot him yet?" The novel addresses numerous philosophical themes, and through multiple narratives is a powerful argument both for a stoic integrity and humanism. Like other Solzhenitsyn works, the book illustrates the difficulty in maintaining dignity within a system designed to strip its inhabitants of it.

The First Circle

The Fafhrd and Gray Mouser stories follow the lives of two larcenous but likable rogues as they adventure across the fantasy world of Nehwon. The pieces in Swords Against Death follow the duo as they shake the dust of Lankhmar from their feet in the wake of the deaths their of their first loves, only to find their resolution never to return pointless ("The Circle Curse"). There follow a miscellaneous series of adventures from their wanderings, including a quest for treasure in a dwelling with unique defenses ("The Jewels in the Forest"), a return bout with the Thieves'' Guild they hold responsible for their ladies'' deaths ("Thieves'' House"), an ensorcelled journey to a far-away land ("The Bleak Shore"), an encounter with a beast-haunted stranger ("The Howling Tower"), a dangerous visit to the Nehwonian equivalent of Atlantis ("The Sunken Land"), a conflict with a murderous priesthood ("The Seven Black Priests"), a magical plague afflicting Lankhmar ("Claws from the Night"), a final parting with their deceased loves in the Shadowland ("The Price of Pain-Ease"), and an investigation of a mysterious shop that is other than it seems ""Bazaar of the Bizarre").

Swords Against Death

Michael Tighe of the Psychotechnic Institute has been kidnapped by Thomas Bancroft, a politician with ties to an authoritarian movement called the Actionists. Tighe''s adopted son, Simon Delgatty, sets out to find him, but is himself captured by Bancroft and taken to his base on an island off the coast of Mexico. In the course of raising Delgatty, Tighe has trained him to exert conscious control over what are normally subconscious and autonomic brain functions. This allows Delgatty to speed up or slow down his metabolism at will, and also allows him to tell what other people are thinking by listening to them subvocalize their thoughts. Delgatty escapes from Bancroft''s control, and forms an uneasy partnership with Elena Casimir, an undercover FBI agent who has infiltrated Bancroft''s organization. Together, Delgatty and Casimir free Tighe and take Bancroft prisoner, then return to the United States. Bancroft will be imprisoned for kidnapping, but the leader of the Actionists, Bertrand Meade, is still free to continue his secret war against the Psychotechnic Institute.

The Sensitive Man

Madlyn and Rollo live with their parents in a ground-floor flat in south London. Mrs Hamilton runs a theatre where the plays keep running out of money, and Mr Hamilton is a designer and helps people with their houses. Madlyn is very attractive and has many friends. She has fair hair, blue eyes and a deep laugh, and likes parties and sleepovers. Rollo is two years younger and likes animals and insects. He has an adopted skink at London Zoo called Stumpy. Madlyn is helpful to her brother and mother, who is usually frantic and forgets things like car keys. At the beginning of the summer term, Mr Hamilton receives a large offer from an American college (which the family needs) to spend two months in New York setting up a business course in design. The parents cannot take the children but decide to go to America, sending Madlyn and Rollo to stay with their Uncle George and Aunt Emily (sister and brother) at Clawstone Castle at the Scottish border. Madlyn is shocked at Clawstone''s appearance. When she meets her Uncle and Aunt she is uncertain. Madlyn and Rollo see their rooms and go to bed. George and his sister Emily wake early on Saturdays for that is when his castle is open to the public. George''s hair is sparse and he wears a mustard coloured tweed suit. Howard Percival, their cousin, is very shy, never comes out of his room and is frightened of anyone he has not known for the last twenty years. Mrs Grove comes in from the village to help. She disapproves of how George and Emily deal with Howard. Emily prepares the gift shop. She feels sad at the thought of the rival Trembellow gift shop, which is larger. George starts preparing his work in the castle. He also feels sad at the thought of the rival Trembellow dungeons. Mrs Grove''s sister comes to start taking the tickets, bringing with her what the villagers have donated to help the castle. The day does not go well; by midday only ten people have arrived, and most of them get bored. The next day Madlyn and Rollo make friends with Mrs Grove and Madlyn takes to the museum. Rollo likes the dungeon. Then Madlyn meets Mrs Grove''s son, Ned, and learns about Olive, the Trembellow''s daughter. Madlyn and Rollo go to Mrs Grove''s house to watch TV. When they get back Emily is preparing for Open Day again. Madlyn asks why the money is so important and Mrs Grove tells her it''s for the cows. The next day Sir George takes Madlyn and Rollo to see his white cows. They are astonishing, and George buys Rollo a pair of binoculars. Madlyn, Rollo and Ned go see Howard, and understand that they need ghosts to make the castle better.

The Beasts of Clawstone Castle

The book follows the life of runaway Valerie Russell in New York. Valerie is the child of a single mother and is quite tomboyish. At the start of the novel, Val attends high school, is a lacrosse player, and is best friends with the eccentric lesbian-identified Ruth. Val discovers her boyfriend, Tom, and her mother are having an affair. Betrayed and not sure where to go, Val runs away to New York City. She meets up with a group of teen-squatters, including Lolli (as in lollipop), Dave, and Luis. Val earns the nickname "Prince Valiant" after she helps a drag queen locate her shoe. This may be a homage to Hal Foster''s comic strip, Prince Valiant or Prince Valiant in the Days of King Arthur. Though she earns the trust of the rest of the group, Luis remains wary of Val. She soon learns about the group''s contact with a troll, Ravus. He lives beneath a bridge, a reference to the traditional fairy tale, The Three Billy Goats Gruff. Ravus also makes ''Never'' that faeries in exile use so their bodies can be resistant towards iron. These exiles are dispersed throughout the city, and Dave and Luis must deliver the glamour to them. ''Never'', according to the novel, can be used as a drug by humans. When used, humans are given magic for a short period of time. It''s highly addictive; a comparison can be drawn between it and heroin. Lolli and Dave introduce Val to taking "Nevermore," as they refer to it. Val, like the other squatters, is soon hooked. Ravus, despite Val''s first impressions, is much kinder than he appears. He begins to teach her swordplay and the bond between them strengthens. Val''s mounting problems and addiction take a nasty turn, and the trust Ravus has in her is threatened. Many of the Seelie court exiles are being poisoned. Ravus is blamed for the crime. When Ruth arrives, attempting to convince Val to come home, she refuses and Ruth insists she won''t leave without Val. Val agrees to go home, but says she must say goodbye to Ravus before she leaves. She attempts to find him in his alcove, but he is not home, so she finds Ruth, Lolli and Luis by Belvedere Castle. Luis, all the while making sexual thenceforwards with Lolli very unexpectedly, informs her Dave has angrily stormed off, and they all fall asleep in a terrible state. In the middle of the night, Val awakes to see a tree-spirit faerie, who leads her to a festival by the water, where faeries and humans called "sweet tooths" run around freely. Ravus arrives, and delirious and half-starved, Val kisses him. He is pleased, until Mabry arrives as well, and when Val realized Mabry is the one who killed all the Fey. She tries to tell Ravus but Mabry cuts in, telling Ravus Val has been stealing his potions, and she flees as he becomes enraged. Ruth and Val go to find evidence of Mabry''s murders, and they find a harp in which Mabry has strung the hair of those she''s killed, including that of Tamson, Ravus'' best friend and Mabry''s ex-lover. When the hairs are plucked, they sing of their deaths, revealing that Mabry is responsible for Tamson''s death and Ravus'' exile. The girls also find Luis. The three of them come back to the other Luis and Lolli, and they realize that Dave is impersonating Luis, uncontrollably high off Never he got from Mabry after putting poison in Ravus'' potions for her. Dave takes off his glamour, laughing, and falls unconscious. Ruth rushes him to the hospital as Lolli runs off, and Luis and Val rush to find Ravus so he can cure Dave. They find that Mabry has cut out Ravus'' heart, and she runs off to the Unseelie Court with it. When she leaves, Val pulls back the curtains and turn Ravus to stone, and Val and Luis pursue Mabry into the Unseelie Court. She challenges Mabry to a first-blood duel for Ravus'' heart with the glass sword belonging to Ravus, and after a moment''s decision to never use Never again, she fights Mabry on talent alone, stabbing Mabry in the throat. She and Luis rush back to Ravus, and after placing his heart back into his chest, he instantly heals. Ravus gives Luis the tools to go heal his brother, and he and Val finally admit their love for one another. Eventually, Val decides to leave the streets and return home with Ruth. She and Ravus continually see one another, and Val says she plans to go to NY for college so she can see him. The two kiss, and Val is happy her life is back to normal, with the exception of having a faerie for a boyfriend and never being able to introduce him to her mother. Some fans have pointed out that Lolli, Dave and Luis are similar to Lutie-loo, Gristle and Spike from Tithe, respectively. Note: In the book Roiben and Kaye make appearances. Silarial and Nicnevin are referred to by Mabry.

Valiant : A Modern Tale of Faerie

The historical backdrop for this novel is the Second World War in Northern Africa and Italy. Hana, a young Canadian Army nurse, lives in the abandoned Villa San Girolamo in Italy, which is filled with hidden, undetonated bombs. All she knows about her English patient is that he was burned beyond recognition in a plane crash before being taken to the hospital by a Bedouin tribe. He also claimed to be English. The only possession that the patient has is a copy of Herodotus'' histories that survived the fire. He has annotated these histories and is constantly remembering his explorations in the desert in great detail, but cannot state his own name. The patient is, in fact, László de Almásy, a Hungarian desert explorer who was part of a British cartography group. He chose, however, to erase his identity and nationality. Caravaggio, a Canadian who served in Britain''s foreign intelligence service since the late 1930s, was a friend of Hana''s father, who died in the war. Caravaggio, who entered the world of spying because of his skill as a thief, comes to the villa in search of Hana. He overheard in another hospital that she was there taking care of a burned patient. Caravaggio bears physical and psychological scars; he was deliberately left behind to spy on the German forces and was eventually caught, interrogated and tortured, his thumbs having been cut off. Seeking vengeance three years later, Caravaggio (like Almásy) is addicted to morphine, which Hana supplies. One day, while Hana is playing the piano, two British soldiers enter the villa. One of the soldiers is Kip, an Indian Sikh who has been trained as a sapper or combat engineer, specializing in bomb and ordnance disposal. Kip explains that the Germans often booby-trapped musical instruments with bombs, and that he will stay in the villa to rid it of its dangers. Kip and the English Patient immediately become friends. Prompted to tell his story, the Patient begins to reveal all: An English gentleman, Geoffrey Clifton and his wife, Katharine, accompanied the patient''s desert exploration team. The Patient''s job was to draw maps of the desert, and the Cliftons'' plane made this job easier. Almásy fell in love with Katharine Clifton one night as she read from Herodotus'' histories aloud around a campfire. They soon began a very intense affair, but in 1938, Katharine cut it off, claiming that Geoffrey would go mad if he discovered them. When World War II broke out in 1939, the members of the exploration team decided to pack up base camp, and Geoffrey Clifton offered to pick up Almásy in his plane, and takes Katharine with him. However, Geoffrey turns around and crashes his plane in an effort to kill all three of them, revealing he had known about the affair. Geoffrey died immediately; Katharine survived, but was horribly injured. Almásy took her to "the cave of swimmers", a place the exploration team had previously discovered, and covered her with a parachute so he could leave to find help. After three days, he reached a town, but the British were suspicious of him because he was incoherent and had a foreign surname. They locked him up as a spy. When Almásy finally escaped, he knew it was too late to save Katharine, so he allowed himself to be captured by the Germans, helping their spy cross the desert into Cairo. He then returns to collect Katherine''s body; however while flying over the desert, the aircraft is observed by Germans and shot down into flames. Almásy parachuted down covered in flames which was where the Bedouins found him. Caravaggio, who had had suspicions that the Patient was not English, fills in details. Geoffrey Clifton was, in fact, an English spy and had intelligence about Almásy''s affair with Katharine. He also had intelligence that Almásy was already working with the Germans. Over time while Almásy divulges the details of his past, Kip becomes close to Hana. Kip''s brother had always distrusted the West, but Kip entered the British Army willingly. He was trained as a sapper byLord Suffolk, an English gentleman, who welcomed Kip into his family. Under Lord Suffolk''s training, Kip became very skilled at his job. When Lord Suffolk and his team were killed by a bomb, Kip became separated from the world and emotionally removed from everyone. He decided to leave England and began defusing bombs in Italy. Kip''s best friend, a British Army sergeant, is killed in a bomb explosion. Kip forms a romantic relationship with Hana and uses it to reconnect to humanity. He becomes a part of a community again and begins to feel comfortable as a lover. Then he hears on the wireless that the United States have dropped the atomic bomb on Japan. Kip is convinced that they would not have dropped the bomb if the nation were white. He feels betrayed by the side he was fighting for. He becomes depressed and separates himself from everyone, including Hana. He eventually leaves.

The English Patient

The novel is set in a parallel world in which the existence of psychic powers has permitted the development of witchcraft into a science; in contrast, that of the physical sciences has languished, resulting in a modern culture reminiscent of our eighteenth century. Witchcraft is hereditary but the ability to use it can be held by only one member of a family line at a time, being passed from mother to daughter at the daughter''s loss of virginity. The daughter''s lover then gains possession of her magical talisman, a jewel known as the blue star, which enables him to read the mind of anyone he looks in the eye. The catch is that he retains access to this power only so long as he keeps faith with his witch lover. The empire in which the action is set is comparable to the Austrian one in our own history. The government bans witchcraft, which merely serves to drive its practitioners underground, where they can fall prey to the use and abuse of unscrupulous powerful or ambitious individuals. The protagonists are Lalette Asterhax, a hereditary witch, and Rodvard Bergelin, an ordinary government clerk who has been recruited into the radical conspiracy of the Sons of the New Day. Rodvard, though attracted to the daughter of a baron, is commanded by his superiors to seduce Lalette instead to gain the use of her blue star in the furtherance of their revolutionary aims. The witch is no more truly enamored of him than he is of her, but both fall in with the scheme for their own reasons, unaware of how much they are simply pawns in the larger scheme of things. Everything soon goes bad, and the couple is forced to flee the empire. Various adventures and complications ensue as they stray into one cause or acquaintance after another, gradually growing beyond their shallow, selfish roots into a greater understanding.

The Blue Star

As with his previous novels, Richardson prefaced the novel by claiming to be merely the editor, saying, "How such remarkable collections of private letters fell into the editor''s hand he hopes the reader will not think it very necessary to enquire". However, Richardson did not keep his authorship secret and, on the prompting of his friends like Samuel Johnson, dropped this framing device from the second edition. The novel begins with the character of Harriet Byron leaving the house of her uncle, George Selby, to visit Mr. and Mrs. Reeves, her cousins, in London. She is an orphan who was educated by her grandparents, and, though she lacks parents, she is heir to a fortune of fifteen thousand pounds, which causes many suitors to pursue her. In London, she is pursued by three suitors, Mr. Greville, Mr. Fenwick and Mr. Orme. This courtship is followed by more suitors: Mr. Fowler, Sir Rowland Meredith and Sir Hargrave Pollexfen. The final one, Pollexfen, pursues Byron vigorously, which causes her to criticize him over a lack of morals and decency of character. However, Pollexfen does not end his pursuits of Byron until she explains that she could never receive his visits again. Pollexfen, unwilling to be without Byron, decides to kidnap her while she attended a masquerade at the Haymarket. She is then imprisoned at Lisson Grove with the support of a widow and two daughters. While he keeps her prisoner, Pollexfen makes it clear to her that she shall be his wife, and that anyone who challenges that will die by his hand. Byron attempts to escape from the house, but this fails. In order to prevent her from trying to escape again, Pollexfen transports Byron to his home at Windsor. However, he is stopped at Hounslow Heath, where Charles Grandison hears Byron''s pleas for help and immediately attacks Pollexfen. After this rescue, Grandison takes Byron to Colnebrook, the home of Grandison''s brother-in-law, the "Earl of L." After Pollexfen recovers from the attack, he sets out to duel Grandison. However, Grandison refuses on the grounds that dueling is harmful to society. After explaining why obedience to God and society are important, Grandison wins Pollexfen over and obtains his apology to Byron for his actions. She accepts his apology, and he follows with a proposal to marriage. She declines because she, as she admits, is in love with Grandison. However, a new suitor, the Earl of D, appears, and it emerges that Grandison promised himself to an Italian woman, Signorina Clementina della Porretta. As Grandison explains, he was in Italy years before and rescued the Barone della Porretta and a relationship developed between himself and Clementina, the baron''s only daughter. However, Grandison could not marry her, as she demanded that he, an Anglican Protestant, become a Catholic, and he was unwilling to do so. After he left, she grew ill out of despair, and the Porrettas were willing to accept his religion, if he would return and make Clementina happy once more. Grandison, feeling obligated to do what he can to restore Clementina''s happiness, returns to Italy; however, Clementina determines she can never marry a "heretic", and so Grandison returns to England and Harriet who accepts him. They are married; and everyone is accorded their just deserts. In a "Concluding Note" to Grandison, Richardson writes: "It has been said, in behalf of many modern fictitious pieces, in which authors have given success (and happiness, as it is called) to their heroes of vicious if not profligate characters, that they have exhibted Human Nature as it is. Its corruption may, indeed, be exhibited in the faulty character; but need pictures of this be held out in books? Is not vice crowned with success, triumphant, and rewarded, and perhaps set off with wit and spirit, a dangerous representation?" In particular, Richardson is referring to novels of Fielding, his literary rival. This note was published with the final volume of Grandison in March 1754, a few months before Fielding left for Lisbon. Before Fielding died in Lisbon, he included a response to Richardson in his preface to Journal of a Voyage to Lisbon.

The History of Sir Charles Grandison

==Reception and history== The reception by critics varied between lukewarm and hostile. The use of slang was condemned as "vulgar" and the book was derided as written to appeal to " ''Arrys and ''Arriets" - then common sneering terms for working-class Londoners who dropped their Hs when speaking. Punch magazine dubbed Jerome " ''Arry K. ''Arry". Modern commentators have praised the humour, but criticized the book''s unevenness as the humorous sections are interspersed with more serious passages written in a sentimental, sometimes purple, style. Yet the book sold in huge numbers. "I pay Jerome so much in royalties," the publisher told a friend, "I cannot imagine what becomes of all the copies of that book I issue. I often think the public must eat them." The first edition was published in August 1889 and serialised in the popular magazine Home Chimes in the same year. The first edition remained in print from 1889 until March 1909, when the second edition was issued. During that time, 202,000 copies were sold. Jerome states in the author''s introduction to the 1909 second edition, he''d been told another million copies had been sold in America by pirate printers. The book was translated into many languages. The Russian edition was particularly successful and became a standard school textbook. Jerome later complained in a letter to The Times of Russian books not written by him, published under his name in order to benefit from his success. Since its publication, Three Men in a Boat has never been out of print. It continues to be popular to the current day, with The Guardian ranking it #33 on The 100 Greatest Novels of All Time in 2003, and Esquire ranking it #2 in the 50 Funniest Books Ever in 2009. The river trip is easy to re-create, following the detailed description, and this is sometimes done by fans of the book. Much of the route remains unchanged. For example, all the pubs and inns named are still open.The Blue Posts, 81 Newman Street, London;The Royal Stag and the Manor House at Datchet; The Crown at Marlow; The George and Dragon at Wargrave; The Bull at Sonning; The Swan at Pangbourne; The Bull at Streatley; and The Barley Mow at Clifton Hampden. The Bells of Ousley at Old Windsor still exists, but the building was demolished and rebuilt in 1936. It is now part of the Harvester chain. A re-creation in 1993 by poet Kim Taplin and companions resulted in the travelogue Three Women in a Boat The book was also referenced in the 1956 parody novel on mountaineering, The Ascent of Rum Doodle, where the head porter Bing is said to spend "much of his leisure immersed in a Yogistani translation of Three men in a boat". In Have Space Suit—Will Travel, by Robert A. Heinlein, the main character''s father is an obsessive fan of the book, and spends much of his spare time repeatedly re-reading it. Science-fiction author Connie Willis paid tribute to Jerome''s novel in her own 1997 Hugo Award-winning book To Say Nothing of the Dog. Her time-travelling protagonist also takes an ill-fated voyage on the Thames with two humans and a dog as companions, and encounters George, Harris, ''J'' and Montmorency. The title of Willis'' novel refers to the full title of the original book, "Three Men in a Boat - To Say Nothing of the Dog!". This story ends telling that one should be witty as well as should have a sense of humour where necessary

Three Men in a Boat

Except for the epilogue, the book takes place entirely in 1856. Sapphira is an unhappy middle-aged woman, crippled by dropsy, who came to marriage late and married beneath her station. Her husband, Henry, a miller, lives an entirely separate life, residing at his mill and visiting the estate house only for occasional meals. Sapphira is comfortable with slavery; Henry is not. Having overheard a conversation between two of her slaves, Sapphira develops a paranoid fear that Henry is having an affair with an attractive young mulatto girl named Nancy. Sapphira responds by mistreating Nancy. Eventually Sapphira invites a dissolute nephew to the estate, who threatens to rape Nancy on several occasions. With the help of the Colbert''s daughter, Rachel Colbert Blake, and two abolitionist neighbors, Nancy is helped to make connections with the Underground Railroad and taken to Canada. The epilogue takes place 25 years later. Nancy, now in her 40s, returns to Virginia to visit her mother, and Mrs. Blake. The narrator (Cather) is revealed to be a child who has heard stories of Nancy''s escape all of her life.

Sapphira and the Slave Girl

Herminia Barton, the Cambridge-educated daughter of a clergyman, frees herself from her parents'' influence, moves to London and starts living alone. As she is not a woman of independent means, she starts working as a teacher. When she meets and falls in love with Alan Merrick, a lawyer, she suggests they live together without getting married. Reluctantly, he agrees, and the couple move to Italy. There, in Florence, Merrick dies of typhoid before their daughter Dolores is born. Legal technicalities and the fact that the couple were not married prevent Herminia from inheriting any of Merrick''s money. Dreaming of being a role model for Dolores and her friends, Herminia returns to England and raises her daughter as a single mother. She wants to show the younger generation that even as a woman there is something one can do about the unfair position of women in society—a small step maybe, but with more and larger steps to follow soon. However, Dolores turns out to be ashamed of her mother''s unmarried state and gradually turns against her. Eventually, Herminia chooses to make a huge sacrifice for her daughter''s benefit and commits suicide.

The Woman Who Did

Bruno is a 9-year-old boy growing up during World War II in Berlin. He lives in a huge house with his loving parents, his twelve-year-old sister Gretel (whom he refers to as a Hopeless Case) and maidservants. His father is a high-ranking SS officer who, after a visit from Adolf Hitler (referred to in the novel as "The Fury", Bruno''s misrecognition of the word "Führer") and Eva Braun, is promoted to Commandant, and to Bruno''s dismay, the family has to move away to a place called "Out-With" (which turns out to be Auschwitz). When Bruno gets there, he feels a surge of homesickness after leaving behind his grandparents and his three best friends. Unhappy with his new home, Bruno becomes lonely and has no one to talk to or play with. One day, Bruno notices a group of people all wearing the same striped pyjamas and striped hats or bald heads. He asks who these people are and his father tells him that these people are not real people at all, as they are Jews. Gretel has changed from a normal young girl into a strong Nazi with the help of her tutor, but Bruno does not seem to take the same stance as his sister. Bruno finds out he is not allowed to explore the back of the house or its surroundings. Due to the combination of curiosity and boredom, he decides to explore anyway. He spots a boy on the other side of the fence. Excited that there might be a boy his age, Bruno introduces himself and finds out the Jewish boy''s name is Shmuel. Shmuel and his family were brought here, broken apart from each other and forced to work in Auschwitz. Almost every day, the two boys meet at the same spot. Soon, they become best friends, so similar, they are basically the same person in different circumstances, one a Polish Jew, the other a German. Over the course of the book, Bruno shows a great deal of naivety whilst Shmuel seems to have more knowledge, as he has felt the suffering first-hand. Bruno''s mother persuades his father to take them back to Berlin (after what is presumed to be an romance between a young soldier called Lieutenant Kotler and Bruno''s sister is broken up by the father) after a year at their new home, while the father stays at Auschwitz. With Bruno about to go back to Berlin with his mother and sister, as a final adventure, he agrees to dress in a set of striped pyjamas and go under the fence to help Shmuel find his father, who went missing in the camp. The boys are unable to find him, and are mixed up in a group of people going on a march. Neither boy knows where this march will lead. However, they are soon crowded into a gas chamber, which Bruno assumes is a place to keep them dry from the rain until it stops. The author leaves the story with Bruno pondering, yet unafraid, in the dark holding hands with Shmuel: "...Despite the chaos that followed, Bruno found that he was still holding Shmuel''s hand in his own and nothing in the world would have persuaded him to let it go." In an epilogue, the book states that Bruno''s family spent several months at their home trying to find Bruno, before his mother and Gretel return to Berlin, only to discover he is not there as they had expected. A year afterwards, his father returns to the spot that the soldiers found Bruno''s clothes (almost the same spot Bruno spent the last year of his life) and, after a brief inspection, discovers that the fence is not properly attached at the base and can form a gap big enough for a boy of Bruno''s size to fit through. Using this information, his father eventually pieces together that they gassed Bruno to death. Bruno''s father then realizes what he was really doing, and thinks about his job as Commandant. Losing Bruno makes him greatly depressed, and he stops caring about his job. Several months later, the Red Army arrives to liberate the camp and orders Bruno''s father to go with them. He goes without complaint, because "he didn''t really mind what they did to him anymore".

Over 8000 Takeaways For Your Brain!

Read - Listen - Learn

The First Circle

By Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Swords Against Death

By Fritz Leiber

The Sensitive Man

By Poul Anderson

The Beasts of Clawstone Castle

No Author Listed

Valiant : A Modern Tale of Faerie

By Holly Black

The English Patient

By Michael Ondaatje

The Blue Star

By Fletcher Pratt

The History of Sir Charles Grandison

By Samuel Richardson

Three Men in a Boat

By Jerome K. Jerome

Sapphira and the Slave Girl

By Willa Cather

The Woman Who Did

By Grant Allen

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

By John Boyne