The novel’s non-flashback narrative arc occurs within the period of a few months. At the beginning of this time, the Powthers move in as Abbie Crunch’s boarders. The main action begins when Link “rescues” Camilla Treadway Sheffield (who gives her name as “Camilo Williams”) from the advances of Cat Jimmie, a disabled veteran. Link does not realize that Camilo is white until later in the evening. Eventually, Link and Camilo begin a clandestine affair, primarily meeting in New York, though sometimes spending the night in Abbie’s house in The Narrows. On one of these occasions, Abbie finds the two in bed together and angrily throws Camilo out of the house. Link finds out, when Bill Hod leaves an old newspaper around for him to see, that Camilo is really Camilla Treadway Sheffield; in other words, not only is she white, but she is also rich and married. Link fears that Camilo is merely repeating a pattern from the days of slavery: “I bid two hundred; look at his teeth, make it three hundred; look at his muscle, look at his back; the lady says one thousand dollars. Sold to the lady for a thousand dollars. Plantation buck. Stud.” He breaks off the relationship with Camilla, but she is convinced that he must be seeing another woman. In revenge, she screams and tears her clothing, accusing him of attempted rape when the police arrive. There is little circumstantial evidence for her accusation and, in the intervening time before the trial, Camilla begins drinking too much. One day, while driving intoxicated, she hits a child with her car (thereby destroying what credibility she might have had in court). Her mother, Mrs. Treadway, bribes Peter Bullock to keep the story out of the newspaper. However, Mrs. Treadway and Captain Sheffield still want to assure Camilla’s victory in court, so they kidnap Link and try to make him sign a confession. When he “confesses” that he and Camilla were in love, Captain Sheffield shoots and kills him. In the aftermath of Link’s murder, Mrs. Treadway and Captain Sheffield are arrested. Abbie, however, realizes that Bill Hod will not rest until Camilla has paid for her part in Link’s death. At the end of the novel, she resolves to go to the police, tell them of her suspicions, and therefore end the chain of violence. She takes J.C. Powther along with her, symbolizing her “adoption” of him and her resolve to care for him as she had failed to do for Link.

The Narrows

Arthur starts a new year with Mr. Ratburn, and is given heaps of homework because Mr. Ratburn is very strict, D. W is ecstatic because she has not started school yet, and she knows that next year, she won''t get any homework because the kindergarten teacher is nice. The principal announces the annual September Spellathon, and not long after Mr. Ratburn announces a spelling test to determine which two students will represent his class at the spellathon. Everybody studies, and Arthur and Brain get all twenty words right, and enter into the spellathon. On the night of the spellathon, Arthur is very nervous. Brain is first, and spells ''fear'' "F-E-R-E", Prunella falls out not long after, spelling ''preparation'' "P-R-E-P-E-R-A-T-I-O-N". Arthur spells preparation correctly and wins the spellathon. At the end of the spellathon, Mr. Ratburn announces that he has loved teaching third grade, but that he is looking forward to a new challenge next year, teaching kindergarten. At this announcement, D.W. faints.

Arthur''s Teacher Trouble

The central character David Eliot is a 12-year-old seventh son of a seventh son, cruelly mistreated by his parents. His father chooses a series of repressive boarding schools for him, where David does not perform well. After being expelled from his "last-chance" school, they receive at home the unexpected call from an unknown school, Groosham Grange, of which nobody has heard of before. This school, located on Skrull Island, an island off Norfolk, earnestly invites David to enter it. His father jumps at the chance to pack him off, especially since it appears that the place is suitably severe. He must take a train from Liverpool Street to King''s Lynn. On the train he meets two other new students, Jill Green and Jeffrey Joseph. A vicar sits with them and plays hymns on his guitar, but when they mention that they are going to Groosham Grange he suffers a heart attack. A hunchback called Gregor escorts them to the school. Along with Jill (seventh daughter of a seventh daughter) and Jeffrey, David anticipates more mistreatment, and makes a pact with them that they will escape at any cost. After they arrive, they start to learn strange things, are baffled by inexplicable disappearances, very peculiar teachers (including a werewolf and a ghost), assorted frights—and an absence of punishments. They are determined to solve the mystery of the school, but then Jeffrey begins acting suspiciously, seeming to side with the other students rather than with David and Jill. David manages to get a message to the outside world via a note in a bottle, but the school inspector sent to investigate is dealt with permanently courtesy of Mrs. Windergast''s black magic. Jill helps David run away, but she gets caught. It is then that he learns that he has been recruited to a school for wizards and witches because he is a wizard himself, and that the staff hopes to help him unleash his full potential as the other students do. This must all be kept secret from normal, non-magical people. David must decide if he will remain at Groosham Grange or not. His dilemma lies in his wish to avoid evil, but the Headmaster tempts him with the promises that he can learn "how to make gold out of lead, how to destroy your enemies just by snapping your fingers... [and] to see into the future and use it for yourself."

Groosham Grange

Having escaped death and slavery in Plenimar, Alec and Seregil want nothing more than to go back to their nightrunning life in Rhíminee. Instead they find themselves saddled with Sebrahn, a strange, alchemically created creature—the prophesied “child of no woman”. Its moon-white skin and frightening powers make Sebrahn a danger to all whom Alec and Seregil come into contact with, leaving them no choice but to learn more about Sebrahn’s true nature. As Sebrahn will never be accepted in the Sarikali, Seregil and Alec travel over to the Bôkthersa clan to talk to a "dragon friend" for guidance. He presents them to his dragon, who immediately recognizes Sebrahn, and tells them that the Hâzadriëlfaie have dragon blood in their veins and that the alchemists hunt them to create a serum to prolong life. As a result to their problem he counsels that they must destroy Yhakobin''s books. At the same time, Ulan''s people find Ilar and bring him over to Virrése. He coaxes the story from him and takes Ilar over to Riga to recover the books. The Hâzadriëlfaie receive word of Sebrahn from the retha''noi and, realizing that Alec is still alive, send the Ebrados, a group of hunters, to retrieve him and Sebrahn, along with Tyrmari, a male witch, as a guide. They catch Alec, Seregil and Micum on Tamír''s Road with the help of the local retha''noi and Seregil manages to strike a bargain with them. Their leader, Rieser goes with them over to Riga to get the books and Sebrahn remains as a hostage. They take board Green Lady and Thero creates a pair of brands for each of them, while Seregil forges warrants of ownership for Micum. On the port they recognize Ulan''s Virrése ship and guess that he has come on the same errand. Unfortunately, he gets ahead of them and steals the books from Yhakobin''s house the morning before the planned theft. Seregil spots Ilar and makes Alec remain outside while he ventures in Ulan''s Riga house. Ilar spots him and begs him to forgive him, despite Ulan order that he turn Seregil in on sight. Instead he allows himself to be tricked into revealing the hiding place of the books before Seregil knocks him out. He meets Rieser, Micum and Alec and they all speed toward the port, hoping to elude the chase, which they do, for a while. When they find out they cannot burn the books, Seregil cuts them in two and each of them takes half. The soldiers find them again and they make a stand at a cottage near the shore. Seregil sneaks out and, after encountering captain Rhal, he returns to the cottage and they all break through, but Rieser catches an arrow in his collarbone. Back in Skala, Hâzadriën heals him and he announces that he will leave Alec alone as he doesn''t believe he''ll let himself be caught once again. This is received with anger by the retha''noi who resolve to destroy Sebrahn, which they call an abomination. He calls upon the owls, who blind the retha''noi archers while Sebrahn himself kills the witches. In the aftermath, Alec understands that he has to give up Sebrahn as he cannot care for him and he seems to need the presence of the other tayan''gil. They return to Rhíminee, and resume their Watcher lives.

The White Road

"The Watchmen" is an international terrorist organization that has sprung out of nowhere and is making major assaults, for example killing the entire Turkish Embassy staff in Madrid, wrecking a French nuclear power plant, and blowing up a dam in Utah. Nobody knows who they are or what their real motives are. CIA agent Ben Christie, an old friend of Modesty Blaise, is trying to infiltrate The Watchmen. But Modesty runs into Ben in San Francisco and blows his cover. Things go from bad to worse when Modesty tries to hang around to help Ben if necessary and gets captured by The Watchmen. She and Ben are held at gun point on a small fishing boat in San Francisco Bay as The Watchmen make final preparations to destroy the Golden Gate Bridge. Modesty manages to escape, but without gaining any way of localizing The Watchmen. Back in England, she and Willie Garvin eventually get a lead on one of the top leaders of The Watchmen, Major the Earl St. Maur, formerly leader of a British Marine Commando battalion. Following St. Maur''s trail to Madeira Island off the coast of Morocco leads to several surprises, not the least of which is that The Watchmen intend to kill the President of the United States and France, and Prime Ministers of United Kingdom and West Germany. This has to be prevented, of course, but before Modesty and Willie can get a warning out they are captured by The Watchmen and imprisoned and drugged such that they can not possibly escape. The Watchmen''s plan: To leave Modesty''s and Willie''s dead bodies at the scene of the attack, clothed in Watchmen uniforms.

The Night of Morningstar

The dozens of great masterpieces that Condon had glimpsed hanging in the darkness of the Escorial became, in The Oldest Confession, paintings hanging in the main residence of Doña Blanca Conchita Hombria y Arias de Ochoa y Acebal, Marquesa de Vidal, Condesa de Ocho Pinas, Vizcondesa Ferri, Duquesa de Dos Cortes, a 29-year-old beauty who was married to an aged degenerate and becomes the wealthiest woman in Spain upon his death. The long-forgotten paintings are coveted by an American criminal named James Bourne, who lives in a hotel in Madrid and has stolen numerous other valuable paintings from across Spain. His method is simple, though arduous and dangerous: he replaces the original paintings with undetectable forgeries executed by Jean Marie Calvert, a Parisian artist who is the world''s greatest copyist. Painted in Paris, the reproductions are brought into Spain by Bourne''s wife, an upper-class young American girl named Eve Lewis, who loves Bourne in spite of his criminality. In the first few dozen pages of the book Bourne successfully steals, with no twinges of remorse, three masterpieces from the castle of his supposed friend, the Duchess of Dos Cortes, and arranges for his wife to smuggle them to Paris for a highly profitable sale. When she arrives in Paris, however, she discovers that the mailing tube in which the paintings were being carried is now empty. The rest of the book is the narrative of their downhill path, as well as that of most of those people unlucky enough to have found themselves in their orbit. Although Bourne has always fancied himself a master criminal, he is tracked by other criminals who are equally intelligent. The downhill path for all of the book''s characters begins when Bourne is coerced into accepting a seemingly impossible task: to steal one of the world''s most famous masterpieces, the Dos de Mayo, or Second of May or Charge of the Marmelukes, by Francisco de Goya, from its tightly guarded quarters in the national museum of Spain, the Prado. Adding to the difficulty of the task is the sheer size of the painting: it measures eight feet high by 11 feet wide. By the last page of what begun as a light-hearted caper story, all of the principal characters, and some of the minor ones, are either dead, among the walking dead, or incarcerated for life. The very last words of the book are an apt summation: "His ruined face stared. She screamed. She screamed again. She could not stop screaming."

The Oldest Confession

Arrow''s Flight opens with two major events: Herald Talia earns her Whites (the white uniform worn by full Heralds) and Princess Elspeth, the Heir-presumptive, is chosen by the Companion Gwena. Also in the opening section is a reminder of the distrust and animosity between Herald Talia and Lord Orthallen, a high-ranking councilor and advisor to Queen Selenay. Shortly after Elspeth''s confirmation as Heir-in-right, news reaches Haven that the Herald on patrol in a northern sector is out of commission due to injury. Herald Kyril assigns the sector to Talia for her year-and-a-half Field internship with the handsome Herald Kris, who is Orthallen''s nephew. Before they leave, Orthallen tells Kris that he is afraid Talia is misusing her Gift of Empathy (the ability to read and influence the emotions of others). Once they are on the road, Kris asks Talia about the rumor. She vigorously denies any use of her Gift to influence Elspeth or others, but the rumor nevertheless undermines her self-confidence. This, combined with a hitherto-unnoticed lapse in her training, results in a steady decline in her level of control over her Gift. She finds herself scarcely able to control how much emotion she is receiving or projecting, and she is afraid to ask Kris for help. Rolan, her Companion, assists her as much as he can. About three months into the internship, the two Heralds, their Companions, and their pack animals are trapped by a severe winter storm in a Waystation located in the Forest of Sorrows. Talia''s Gift goes rogue in a spectacular manner, projecting feelings of intense rage at Kris and both Companions. After a startled moment, Kris realizes what has happened, and he begins teaching Talia how to properly shield and control her power. The winter storm traps them for almost a month, during which time Talia gets the basics of control back, and she and Kris become lovers. They are also confronted by the mysterious force which inhabits the Forest, which perceives Talia as a threat. The Heralds are soon met by a rescue party, and they resume the internship. Talia finds that the rumor that she misuses her Gift has reached this far, and she and Kris feel they must continue the circuit so that the Heralds won''t lose face. As the book concludes, she has recovered mastery of her Gift, but she remains troubled by the ethics of using it. She is also worried about what effect her relationship with Kris will have on the relationship she wants to have with Kris'' best friend, Herald Dirk.

Arrow''s Flight

Echoes of Life chronicles the history of the discipline of organic geochemistry. In early experiments, Alfred E. Treibs identified organic molecules, which he extracted from various samples, as chemically altered chlorophyll. He explained the chlorophyll as having come from plants that died millions of years ago. Since Treibs'' discovery, hundreds of biomarkers (a term coined 25 years after Treibs'' discovery) have been identified. Chapter one, entitled Molecular Informants: A Changing Perspective of Organic Chemistry, gives a brief overview on the history of organic chemistry and explores the possibilities inherent in the science. It also describes how the authors first became interested in the subject and the work they have done within the field. Chapter two entitled Looking to the Rocks: Molecular Clues to the Origin of Life looks at the findings of Sir Robert Robinson and Melvin Calvin discovery''s of organic compounds in petrol and the conversion of CO2 to organic molecules during photosynthesis. Early experiments had shown that organic compounds can form spontaneously under conditions similar to the pre-biotic era of earth. These findings led to speculation on the possible discovery on the origins of life. The chapter ends with the authors saying as a precursor to the next chapter Chapter three entitled From the Moon to Mars: The Search for Extraterrestrial Life. A Carbonaceous Meteorite which was found in Hungary in 1857, which was examined by Friedrich Wöhler was found to have organic compounds which he believed were Extraterrestrial in origin. The book moves on to Marcellin Berthelot who in 1864 claimed to have found "petroleum-like hydrocarbons" in a meteorite found near Orgueil. Louis Pasteur also ran experiments on this meteor and concluded it was sterile and not capable of generating life. The discovery of the Murchison meteorite also led to the finding of 70 amino acids most of which are not native to earth''s biosphere. The authors look into the work done on samples brought back from the Apollo program missions. Geoffrey Eglinton one of the authors had been given a sample and although he knew there had never been life on the moon they had hoped to find organic compounds. None were found within those samples, which led to disappointment. These findings led the authors to speculate on the possibility of answering the question of whether there has ever been life on Mars and if future missions will bring back viable samples for testing.

Echoes of Life: What Fossil Molecules Reveal about Earth History

For years, mild mannered lawyer Walter Stackhouse has suffered as a result of his neurotic, unstable wife Clara, whose constant alienation of all his friends, coupled with her penchant for overly dramatic gestures, has slowly driven him to hate her. After he becomes infatuated with the sweet and sensuous music teacher Ellie Briess, Clara jealously attempts suicide via an overdose, forcing him into her arms once again. However, he eventually stands his ground and demands a divorce. When Clara subsequently turns up dead, having fallen off a cliff during a bus trip to see her dying mother, Walter finds himself blundering around in the dark as the official investigation ensues. He admits that he stalked her bus in his car, whilst daydreaming about the possibility of killing her at the first stop, just as Melchior J. Kimmel, a 40-year-old bookshop manager, murdered his own domineering partner Helen, an unsolved crime that Walter had read of in the paper and grown fascinated by. Both men soon encounter the formidable, possibly psychotic Lieutenant Lawrence Corby, a police officer with savage ambition who is convinced of their guilt and believes that they are somehow in cahoots with one another. He soon begins encroaching on his suspects'' lives, sowing the seeds of doubt into the minds of those they care for and even ferociously assaulting Kimmel.

The Blunderer

Mary begins with a description of the conventional and loveless marriage between the heroine''s mother and father. Eliza, Mary''s mother, is obsessed with novels, rarely considers anyone but herself, and favours Mary''s brother. She neglects her daughter, who educates herself using only books and the natural world. Ignored by her family, Mary devotes much of her time to charity. When her brother suddenly dies, leaving Mary heir to the family''s fortune, her mother finally takes an interest in her; she is taught "accomplishments", such as dancing, that will attract suitors. However, Mary''s mother soon sickens and requests on her deathbed that Mary wed Charles, a wealthy man she has never met. Stunned and unable to refuse, Mary agrees. Immediately after the ceremony, Charles departs for the Continent. To escape a family who does not share her values, Mary befriends Ann, a local girl who educates her still further. Mary becomes quite attached to Ann who is in the grip of an unrequited love and does not reciprocate Mary''s feelings. Ann''s family falls into poverty and is on the brink of losing their home, but Mary is able to pay off their debts after her marriage to Charles gives her limited control over her money. Ann becomes consumptive and Mary travels with her to Lisbon in hopes of nursing her back to health. There they are introduced to Henry, who is also trying to regain his health. Ann dies and Mary is grief-stricken. Henry and Mary subsequently fall in love but are forced to return to England separately. Mary, depressed by her marriage to Charles and bereft of both Ann and Henry, remains unsettled, until she hears that Henry''s consumption has worsened. She rushes to his side and cares for him until he dies. At the end of the novel, Charles returns from Europe; he and Mary establish something of a life together, but Mary is unhealthy and can barely stand to be in the same room with her husband; the last few lines of the novel imply that she will die young.

Mary: A Fiction

At the start of the novel, the couple mourns the death of their young daughter Chaowen. Guilt and anguish have driven the lovers apart, unable to get past their mutual loss. Hulan''s inner turmoil is made even worse when she is forced to shoot and kill a woman at an All-Patriotic Society rally to save a young girl from being stabbed by her mother. The Chinese government opposes the Society as a threat to public order, an opinion that Hulan strongly shares. Hulan and David are brought together to work on the same case from different perspectives. Hulan is sent to an archaeological site near the construction of the massive 3 Gorges Dam project to investigate a suspicious death. In an NPR report, See emphasizes the potent symbolism of the Dam, alluding to a 4,000 year old Chinese saying: "He who controls the water controls the people". She concludes her report by returning to the same idea: ". . . no matter how the outside world views the dam, inside China it will be there to remind the people of a sage emperor; in other words, the current government, who serves the people by controlling the waters". David is sent to the same site to find out how precious Chinese artifacts are being smuggled out of China. The archaeologists at the site are working frantically to find as many antiquities as they can before the dam is completed, flooding their dig site as well as many others. They are especially interested in finding evidence that people in the area have maintained continuous culture for 5000 years. The plot weaves together several story lines. One involves the difficult task of finding out the true intentions of the All-Patriotic Society. Another is concerned with Chinese archaeology and whether the men and women who work at the dig site are involved in the smuggling of antiquities. With dead bodies turning up rather frequently, Hulan''s task in solving these crimes is challenging. And there is also the painful journey of Hulan and David as they try to accept their daughter''s death. Reviewers of Dragon Bones have tended to be somewhat ambivalent about it. Lev Raphael''s review is rather typical in this regard. Raphael finds the novel to be "overly romantic" and the conclusion melodramatic. On the other hand, "the real strength of this book is the absorbing portrait of China, from the bugged office of a high official to the dismal hut of a starving peasant, the kind of person who knows what it is ''to eat bitterness.''" See presents an "effective depiction of a modern land held emotionally and socially hostage to the past . . ."

Dragon Bones

The protagonist is Tootle, who is a baby locomotive who is attending train school, hoping to grow up to be the Flyer on the New York-Chicago route. His schoolwork involves such tasks as stopping at red flags and pulling a dining car without spilling the soup. Most important, however, is that he must stay on the rails no matter what...Bill his good friend and teacher tells Tootle that trains are not professional unless they get 100 A+ on staying on the rails no mater what. One day when Tootle is practicing the rule a horse challenges him to a race to the river. Tootle goes faster but loses his race lead to the horse when he turns a curve so he gets off the tracks and ties with the horse. In the days that follow Tootle becomes fond of playing in the meadow and not staying on the tracks and Bill quickly discovers what Tootle has been doing. Not wanting to take away the offer of being a flyer Bill decides a plan with the mayor to put Tootle back on the tracks. One day when Tootle is driving the railroad he hops off the tracks to play in the meadow but sees red flags everywhere in the grasses and he is upset due to having to stop at red flags; trains hate nothing more than stopping. Tootle then sees Bill with a green flag over the railings and having learned his lesson gets back on the track and says that playing in the meadow only brings red flags to trains. In response to the lesson learned the town cheers for him and rewards Tootle the flyer of the route to Chicago. In the days that follow when Tootle becomes elderly he teaches some new locomotives some advice including "Stay on the rails no matter what."

Over 8000 Takeaways For Your Brain!

Read - Listen - Learn

The Narrows

No Author Listed

Arthur's Teacher Trouble

By Marc Brown

Groosham Grange

By Anthony Horowitz

The White Road

By Lynn Flewelling

The Night of Morningstar

By Peter O''Donnell

The Oldest Confession

By Richard Condon

Arrow's Flight

By Mercedes Lackey

Echoes of Life: What Fossil Molecules Reveal about Earth History

No Author Listed

The Blunderer

By Patricia Highsmith

Mary: A Fiction

By Mary Wollstonecraft

Dragon Bones

By Lisa See

Tootle

By Gertrude Crampton