The novel''s main character and narrator is Benoite-Marie Carr (Berie). Berie, vacationing in Paris with her husband, Daniel, recalls her adolescence in Horsehearts, New York. During the summer of 1972, Berie worked with her friend, Silsby Chaussee (Sils), at Storyland, an amusement park where she sold tickets and Sils played Cinderella. The adult Berie, now a photographic curator at a local historical society, narrates the pitfalls of her marriage while searching for the close bond she shared with Sils during the summer at Storyland. In the past, Berie lived with her parents, brother Claude, and adopted sister LaRoue. Her parents hosted numerous guests, ranging from visiting academics to exchange students, that gave Berie "a tin ear for languages" and made it difficult for her to understand "foreignness, code, mood" (7). Berie and Sils made friends with their co-workers at Storyland and saved frogs from teenage boys until Sils began dating Mike, a local boy with a motorcycle. Mike dominated Sils''s time, leaving Berie out and confused by the scarcity of her friend. When Sils became pregnant, Berie stole money from the Storyland register to pay for an abortion. In between recollections of Horsehearts, Berie details her troubles with Daniel. Recently, they fought and he pushed her down the stairs of their house, resulting in a broken arm. Daniel is distant from Berie, and she seeks companionship from friends like Marguerite, a Parisian artist, but is ultimately unable to recreate the closeness of her relationship with Sils. After Sils''s abortion, Berie noticed her manager watching her at odd times. An accident on a ride in the park temporarily forestalled exposure, but she was eventually caught and fired. Baptized by Reverend Filo at a summer camp, she explored organized religion before finally getting her period late in adolescence. Sent to a boarding school, she achieved academic success and was astonished by her own physical development. Berie and Sils later met at a high school reunion but found that their relationship changed as they face middle age. Berie pays a last visit to LaRoue, who later commits suicide after being institutionalized for years, and the novel ends as Berie settles for comfortable distance from Daniel and her past.

Who Will Run the Frog Hospital?

In Jan’s Story, Jan Petersen is introduced as an amazing, lively, and vivacious woman whose love for her husband, Barry, led her around the world and back again. Jan’s laughter and passion for adventure made her perfect for CBS News correspondent Barry Petersen, whose job took them from postings in San Francisco to Tokyo to Moscow to London and then again to Japan and China. In 2005 Jan was diagnosed with Early-onset Alzheimer''s disease, and Barry was suddenly forced into a world of caregiving for which virtually no one is prepared. At only 55 years of age, Jan’s life began to slowly deteriorate, and while medications slowed the disease, they could not conquer it. After years in a profession where bearing witness to tragedy was an everyday occurrence, Alzheimer’s proved the one hurdle cruel enough to bring Barry to his knees. Wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Bosnia were no match to watching his precious Jan fade away. Barry and Jan fought the disease with all they had, but no amount of strength could assuage their anguish. Jan’s behavioral unpredictability, Barry’s determination to control the uncontrollable, paired with the aching and inevitable knowledge that Jan needed to go into an assisted living facility ultimately proved detrimental to both Barry’s physical and mental health. For Barry, then living in Asia, this meant locating a facility for Jan in the United States and moving her half a world away from him. Barry would soon find that in his attempts to do what was best for Jan, he would face both approval and condemnation. There existed those who fervently disagreed with his decisions and those who applauded his strength and offered their own doses of hope and advice. There were fellow caregivers who gave their support and who were able to warn Barry of the changes and challenges that still lay ahead. When the worsening of Jan’s memory caused her to lose Barry, he faced an unenviable dilemma: surrender or survive. In his never ending battle to protect, honor, and cherish his darling Jan, Barry shares his journey in Jan’s Story.

Jan''s story

At the start of the play, Ingenuity, a scholar, pays court to the Lady Riches, but the two quarrel. The Lady''s other suitors, Gettings and Clod (Clod represents country gentlemen, while Gettings represents the London merchant class), also quarrel &mdash; not with their Lady but with each other. The outcome of their dispute is that Clod challenges Gettings to a duel. Lady Honor also has her suitors &mdash; in her case, the Courtier and Soldier ply their suits to her while Ingenuity watches. After Honor and Ingenuity have left them alone, the Courtier and Soldier also argue, and are about to fight, when their nemeses Honesty and No-Pay enter and scare them off. Next, Gettings and Clod are shown on the "field of honor," about to start their duel. But they too are interrupted: Long Vacation and Foul-Weather-in-Harvest enter, and the two suitor/duellists reconcile because of their fear of these figures. (Long Vacation refers to the period at the end of the legal year in August and September, when business in the City of London is slack.) Lady Riches shows up, and accepts Gettings as her intended husband &mdash; but grants a reversion of the office of husband to Clod. The Soldier and Courtier also turn up, searching for Honor &mdash; but they are distracted by the presence of Riches. Finally Honor and Inegnuity arrive to complete the cast: everyone else is surprised to learn that Inegnuity and Honor are now married &mdash; though the news prompts a general reconciliation among all the members of the group.

A Contention for Honor and Riches

The novel begins with us meeting Emerson Watts as she is on a model shoot in St. Johns, clinging onto a rock cliff over a group of nurse sharks, for a commercial for Stark Brand deodorant. She suddenly falls into the water and is rescued by her on-and-off "boyfriend" Brandon Stark (the son of her boss Robert Stark, C.E.O of mega-corporation "Stark Enterprises"). Later on at the hotel, Em gets a call from her apartment man saying a man keeps coming to her door. Em finds out the man that keeps coming to the door was Nikki''s brother, Steven, there giving her the news that their mother (i.e. Nikki''and Steven''s mother) has gone missing. Em tries to convince Steven she doesn''t know anything, but barely gets him to believe her "amnesia" story. Lulu, attracted Steven, asks him to stay with them at the loft. During his time at the loft, Em notices that they have been bugged and begins to watch what she says and does there and in other places around the house. Shortly after all this drama, Em decided to go see her real family (who are being bugged too), and comes to the realization that she can''t really go back to her old life after she realizes that she couldn''t see her grandmother that Christmas. As she left her family''s apartment in tears and was greeted by Christopher, who asked her to come up to his apartment (which was also being bugged) and began to talk with her about his plans to take down Stark Enterprises for "killing" Em. Em also considers that Christopher must have loved Em after she sees a picture of her in his bedroom. He also says that he can help her find Nikki''s mother if Em can get him an account name and password for a Stark Employee. Em reluctantly agrees to help. Em and several other models from Stark Enterprises are having a rehearsal for the Stark Angels fashion show for the upcoming New Year''s Eve. While the models in their pairs of wings are lining up in a queue to get on stage, a model named Veronica who was standing in front of Em in the queue warns Em to stop sending romantic emails to her boyfriend Justin Bay. Em tells her that she has not been emailing to Justin, saying that it was another girl using her name, but Veronica doesn''t believe her. As Em completes her run and heads for the end of the catwalk, she trips over a pile of feathers seemingly ripped off a pair of Stark Angel wings, believing that it was Veronica who set it up. After the accident Em was taken to Dr Higgins'' office and had a discussion about parts of her body that are in pain. Em says she is fine but while the doctor was typing her user name and password on a Stark Employee login site, Em sees it to give both the user name and password to Christopher. After that, at the annual party that Nikki and Lulu hold, Christopher turns up unexpectedly and asks to speak to Nikki (Em) in private. They then go into her room, where Christopher then starts kissing her. Between a kiss, he mutters the word "Em". When it finally dawns on Em what he just said, she asks him and he says that he knows its really her as he saw her document when he was hacking into the Stark mainframe. He also confesses that he had always loved her and is regretful that it took her death for him to finally see it. Brandon bursts into the room and sees Christopher with Em but tells Em that her sister Frida (who wasn''t invited but eventually invites herself to the party wearing inappropriate clothing)is vomiting and had been lied to by Justin Bay about alcohol being in the fruit punch; Gabriel Luna is trying to help her. Em comes up to Justin and asks for his cellphone but Justin refuses to. With some help from Gabriel, Christopher chokes Justin so he will give his cellphone to Em. Em and Christopher go through Justin''s messages and finds Nikki Howard''s romantic message, asking Felix to track down the person who wrote this. Felix tracks the message to the house of Dr. Jonathan Fong, a Stark neurosurgeon who lives in Westchester using Brandon''s car. After they go there, they realize that Nikki''s mom and Nikki herself (but in another person''s body) is alive. Dr. Fong then explains why he did all those things and even says that he has been hiding Nikki and her mom there otherwise Stark will kill all the 3 of them. Soon, Brandon enters the house, after being asleep in the car. He threatens Em and tells her she must now be his girlfriend, and must help him destroy his fathers career, while telling Em to break up with Christopher. She unwillingly does so, and he takes Em, Nikki, and Mrs. Howard to his summer house, where they will be safe from Stark.

Being Nikki

Part One: Green Valley In the beginning of the story, we are introduced to Martha Darrell of Green Valley, who is a single woman who is “past her prime” for dating. She is awoken one night by her doorbell and finds Terry Hurley and his sick child Leo. Martha lets the two stay until the child is better but the relationship blossoms and soon Robert is born. Later in his childhood, Martha starts to become more religious as her and Terry grow apart. Leo starts seeing a girl named Anna and Robert accidentally spills the details to a bully named Dogface. Dogface tells his father, Preacher Epperson, who gets Martha involved, and she comes down on Leo pretty hard. He leaves and Anna shortly follows. Part Two: The Green Dragon In anticipation of college Robert goes to visit Boone University that his grandfather was a professor at and his mother was a student. On a train to campus, he meets Alan Vass and Sol Abraham, two returning college students. When Robert goes to the University himself, he adopts many of the same attitudes Alan does. While at school, Robert meets Nell, his first and only love who is also a writer. She follows him after he leaves school and they start living together, he working on his novel and she encouraging him and working at an office responsible for busting up protests. It is at this point that Robert is called back to Green Valley because his mother is ill. After her death, Terry opens up to Robert more and asks that they stay in better touch. Leo comes back into Robert''s life and Leo gets Robert a job at his mill. Robert really does not like the work but he struggles through. Later, the workers of that mill go on strike and come after Leo because they know he is the one that told management about their union plans. After not being pummeled like expected, Leo promises not to go into the mill again. Part Three: Nothing to Lose Now out of a job, Leo finds out Anna is pregnant. They decide to go back to Green Valley where they are sure things will be better. Meanwhile, Robert''s manuscript is turned down and he leaves Nell because he is tired of living off her. Anna and the baby are killed in a car accident at which time Leo decides to make the world feel sorry for what they have been through. Instead, he becomes a wanted man and Robert comes to his rescue, freeing him from the law and renewing their relationship.

A World to Win

The protagonist of this legal thriller is 33 year old, Nikki Hill. Nikki is a lead prosecutor at the District Attorney''s office, and he has trusted her to help find the killer of Madeleine Gray, Hollywood''s most popular TV host of a blackmail show. At first there is a hands down suspect, Jamal Deschamps, who was found at the scene of the crime. He possessed her ring and his skin was also under Maddie''s thumb. After a lie detector test, it was proven that Deschamps was not the killer. It turned out, he merely found the cadaver and whilst stealing its ring, cut himself on her thumb. Nikki, another smart aleck prosecutor, and two quirky homicide detectives have a few loose strings, and bewilderment of who the real killer is. At Maddie''s mansion, there was a missing rug, and a glass a ball that had Maddie''s blood on it. And upstairs, where her blackmail files are, there is a busted drawer with missing contents. Nikki and the team discover that R&B singer, Diana Cooper, had a fight with Maddie the day of the murder. She quickly becomes a major suspect when Maddie''s blood is also found in her trunk. The detectives come up with a scenario: Maddie threatened to give Diana''s blackmail information, so she stole it and killed Maddie. This was soon proven wrong when detective Goodman''s girlfriend confessed to stealing the black mail file for Diana''s husband. Diana''s charges were also dropped due to conflict with her alibi the time of the murder. Next, fingers were pointed towards John Willins, Diana''s huband. Maddie had told Palmer, her neighbor, that she had slept with a J man. There were also logs at a private getaway club that a J. W. and M. Gray went together several times. Nikki and the team try to trace John Willin''s past, and it turned up that he was from a small town. While putting together clues, they find out that John''s family was killed in a fire, and that he could be taking on the identity of his deceased cousin. This leads to another question: did he murder his family with the fire? The only way to really find out was to go to the town and see if there was a grave for "John Willins". When they report this phenomenal news to district attorney, Joe Walden, he decides he wants to come along. And when they finally get to the town''s only cemetery, they find out that Joe Walden, the district attorney, is the J.W....!

The trials of Nikki Hill

Carruthers, a minor official in the Foreign Office is contacted by an acquaintance, Davies, asking him to join in a yachting holiday in the Baltic Sea. Carruthers agrees, as his other plans for a holiday have fallen through. He arrives to find that Davies has a small sailing boat (the vessel was named Dulcibella, a reference to Childers''s own sister of that name), not the comfortable crewed yacht that he expected. Davies gradually reveals that he suspects that the Germans are undertaking something sinister in the German Frisian islands, based on his belief that he was nearly wrecked by a German yacht luring him into a shoal in rough weather. Carruthers and Davies sail back to the Frisian Islands and spend some time exploring the shallow tidal waters of the area, moving closer to the mysterious site where there is a rumoured secret treasure recovery project in progress. They are watched by a German navy patrol boat, which warns them away from the area. Taking advantage of a thick fog, Davies navigates them covertly through the complicated sandbanks in a small boat to investigate the site. They find that it is actually the centre of a German plan to invade England. The invasion plan is master-minded by a renegade Englishman, but Davies has fallen in love with his daughter and he does not want to hurt her by revealing her father''s treason. Eventually they manage to escape with the information and the invasion plan is foiled.

The Riddle of the Sands

Having achieved fame and financial security, Captain Sir Horatio Hornblower has married Lady Barbara Leighton (née Wellesley) and is preparing to settle down to unaccustomed life as the squire of Smallbridge in Kent. He still yearns to serve at sea and accepts with alacrity when the Admiralty puts him in command of a squadron and sends him on a diplomatic and military mission to the Baltic. His primary aim is to bring Russia into the war against Napoleon. Hornblower is shown dealing with the problems of squadron command, and using naval mortars (carried on special ships known as bomb vessels) to destroy a French prize. This leads to the French invasion of Swedish Pomerania. Later his squadron calls at Kronstadt, where he meets with Russian officials, including Tsar Alexander I, who is favourably impressed by Hornblower and his squadron. After Russia enters the war, Hornblower''s squadron takes an important role in the defence of Riga, which is besieged by French forces. The bomb vessels again take an important role, and so do amphibious operations under the protection of the squadron. The siege is finally broken, and Hornblower joins the pursuit of the French armies on horseback, only to fall seriously ill with typhus. During the siege and pursuit, Carl von Clausewitz, a German officer in Russian service, who is later to become famous as a military theorist and writer, is a character. The novel occasioned some controversy when it was published. It appeared as a serial in the Saturday Evening Post, and Hornblower, in an implied sexual encounter with a (married) Russian Countess, was the Posts first adulterer. As Forester says in his Hornblower Companion, "...it really caused quite a flutter". Forester wanted to give Hornblower the opportunity to catch typhus, although he does comment that he believes that Hornblower caught typhus during the siege rather than in bed. This book shows Hornblower''s contrary character more strongly than many preceding books in the series. In particular, he is shown to be unable to be happy or self-satisfied in spite of accomplishments highly valued by others, including both professional and personal success. It also shows a growth of paternal feeling by Hornblower toward junior officers. The historical accuracy of this book is limited: Forester later wrote that he did not know what British naval forces, if any, were engaged at the siege of Riga. (Historically they were commanded by Thomas Byam Martin.) The date of publication (1945) reveals Forester''s preoccupation in The Commodore&mdash;he parallels the political situation with that in the second world war. In both cases, Russia was originally allied with a continental dictator (Hitler/Napoleon) but changed sides after being treacherously invaded. In both cases Sweden remained neutral and traded with both sides. Russia similarly occupied other Baltic territories (Finland, Lithuania etc.) raising doubts about the correct response among the British government. In The Commodore (but not in the real Napoleonic period), as in the second world war, the RN offered substantial help to Russia: at the siege of Riga, and by guarding the Arctic convoys. Less obviously, Forester draws parallels between the early 19th century and his own time in one or two of the other Hornblower novels.

The Commodore

Adolphe, the narrator, is the son of a government minister. Introverted from an early age, his melancholy outlook has been formed by conversations with an elderly friend, whose insight into the folly and hypocrisy of the world has hindered rather than helped her in life. When the novel opens, he is 22 years old and has just completed his studies at the University of Göttingen. He travels to the town of D*** in Germany, where he becomes attached to the court of an enlightened Prince. During his stay he gains a reputation for an unpleasant wit. A friend''s project of seduction inspires him to try something similar with the 32-year-old lover of the Comte de P***, a beautiful Polish refugee named Ellénore. The seduction is successful, but they both fall in love, and their relationship becomes all-consuming, isolating them from the people around them. Eventually Adolphe becomes anxious as he realises that he is sacrificing any potential future for the sake of Ellénore. She persuades him to extend his stay by six months, but they quarrel, and when she breaks with the Comte de P*** and leaves her two children in order to be with him, and tends him after he is injured in a duel, he finds himself hopelessly indebted to her. When he leaves the town of D***, Ellénore follows him, only to be expelled from his home town by Adolphe''s father. Adolphe is furious and together they travel to her newly-regained estate in Poland. However, a friend of the father, the Baron de T***, manipulates Adolphe into promising to break with Ellénore for the sake of his career. The letter which contains the promise is forwarded to Ellénore and the shock leads to her death. Adolphe loses interest in life, and the alienation with which the book began returns in a more serious form.

Adolphe

Carnelian, son and heir to Lord Suth, and prince Osidian have been abducted, drugged and smuggled out of the capital of the three lands, Osrakum, in funeral urns. Carnelian is awakened by a would-be grave robber seeking spoils in the urns. The robber is immediately placed in the dilemma of having looked upon the face of one of the exalted chosen lords, for which the penalty is death, of killing them and risking eventual discovery and death, of being caught in the inevitable hunt for such exalted missing persons and being executed, or fleeing far from the capital with his captives in the hope of selling them as valuable slaves. He chooses the latter as his only chance of survival and thus Carnelian and Osidian are set upon a very different course than Osidians anticipated coronation. Osidian having failed to appear at the coronation, his brother Molochite would automatically be made emperor instead. As mortal brother to the new divine emperor, Osidian would take Molochite''s place as blood sacrifice. Carnelian and Osidian are bound and disguised and marched away from the capital. Osidian is in worse shape than Carnelian, so that Carnelian must make the difficult choices of attempting their escape. Carnelian has a possibility of escape and return to the capital, but either abandoning Osidian or bringing him back would mean his inevitable death. Instead he seizes the opportunity of an attack by nomad tribesmen to transfer them to captivity with the tribesmen, instead of the slavers. As the party returns to the plains which are home to the ochre tribe, Osidian recovers somewhat and his reckless determination defending the party from wild animals, plus his navigational skills and knowledge of the plains drawn from his unconventional and privileged education, impresses the tribesmen. Some of them start to defer to Osidian both as a clearly recognisable member of the ruling race which they have been taught to fear, and as a natural replacement for the dead leaders of their party. The tribesmen return to their village, where a combination of fast talking by Carnelian (whose family had a number of plainsmen as slaves), and growing respect for Osidian mean they are allowed to live as part of the village. Carnelian is accepting of their new life, but Osidian is at first suicidal, but then vengeful. He embarks on a plan to recover his position and sets about manipulating the tribesmen to his ends. By a number of staged encounters, he sets tribesmen from different villages against each other, until he controls a steadily growing warband. This he intends to use as the start of an army to wage war against his brother.

The Standing Dead

Frederica Merriville has long been in charge of her younger siblings. Since her parents'' death, she has taken it upon herself to make sure that her beautiful sister Charis is well married, whilst believing herself to be on the shelf. To further this end, she brings the family from their country home to London and introduces herself to a distant relation, the selfish and indolent Marquis of Alverstoke, asking him to sponsor her sister into "the ton" and the subsequent Season. The Marquis is initially reluctant but agrees to sponsor the Merriville ladies out of mischief, mostly to annoy his sister Louisa who had been demanding similar assistance to launch her own daughter into society. At their combined debut ball, Alverstoke''s homely niece is easily outshone by Charis'' beauty. The Merrivilles are liked by everyone for their easy and engaging manners and good breeding. Charis is admired by many young men but she falls for the Marquis''s slow-witted and handsome cousin Endymion Dauntry. Frederica also acquires her own share of admirers, including (to his own astonishment) Alverstoke himself. Alverstoke is fascinated by her frank and open manners, unlike the society manners of London''s fashionable ladies. He is also delighted by the high spirits of the two youngest Merrivilles, her brothers Felix and Jessamy, and comes to like them for their own sakes. He slowly but deeply falls in love with Frederica and is ready to do anything for her sake.

Frederica

The Emersons return to Egypt in 1895-96 to excavate at Dahshoor - finally, some real pyramids for Amelia! In looking for a keeper for Ramses, they find a demoralized Englishman named Donald Fraser. Donald has troubled family relationships and a hashish habit, both of which Amelia means to reform. Enid Debenham, a young lady whose behavior scandalizes Cairo society, also takes a hand when Amelia takes her under her wing. Meanwhile, the Master Criminal reappears personally, taking an interest not only in illegally obtained antiquities but in the person of Amelia herself. The story is key in the series because it is the first time the reader learns the pseudonym of the Master Criminal: Sethos. It is the name of a number of Pharaohs, and is tied to Set or Seth, the Egyptian god of the desert. Sethos interacts in a number of ways, including offering gifts and returning the communion set stolen from Mazghuna the previous year. Sethos also appears in a number of guises, only one of which Amelia sees through. She does, however, assume a number of others are either Sethos or in his gang, almost always incorrectly. Donald and Enid return in a later novel, Seeing a Large Cat.

Over 8000 Takeaways For Your Brain!

Read - Listen - Learn

Who Will Run the Frog Hospital?

By Lorrie Moore

Jan's story

No Author Listed

A Contention for Honor and Riches

No Author Listed

Being Nikki

By Meg Cabot

A World to Win

No Author Listed

The trials of Nikki Hill

By Dick Lochte

The Riddle of the Sands

By Robert Erskine Childers

The Commodore

By C. S. Forester

Adolphe

By Benjamin Constant

The Standing Dead

By Ricardo Pinto

Frederica

By Georgette Heyer

Lion in the Valley

By Barbara Mertz