This story initiates with an unnamed grandmother complaining to her son, Bailey, that she does not want to go to Florida but to Tennessee instead, for the family vacation. The family goes to Florida anyway. She spites them by getting up early and waiting in the car, dressed in her Sunday best, so that if she should die in an accident she will be recognized as "a lady." The grandmother talks almost continuously during the trip, recalling her youth in the Old South and commenting on various things they come across. She says children used to be more respectful of their home states and their parents, and that people did right in those days. She then catches sight of a "cute little pickaninny" waving from the door of a shack, and remarks that he probably doesn''t own any britches. When the family stops at an old diner for lunch, she engages the owner, Red Sammy, in conversation about an escaped convict, a murderer known as "The Misfit." The grandmother agrees with Sammy''s assertion that a good man is very hard to find. After they return on the road again, the grandmother, trying to detour the family away from Florida, begins telling the children stories about a nearby home that she had visited as a child. Upon hearing that it has secret passages, the children become fascinated and want to visit the house, and they pester their father until he agrees to let them go and follow grandmother''s directions. When her directions lead them down a dirt road, she realizes that the house is, in fact, in Tennessee and not Georgia. Flustered, she upsets her cat, which panics, causing Bailey to flip the car and end up in a ditch below the road. The children are excited and view the accident as an adventure, and the grandmother fakes an internal injury to evoke sympathy. The family waits for help. A car pulls up and three men get out, the leader a shirtless, bespectacled man. All three have guns. The man in glasses instructs his cohorts to inspect the family''s car and engages Bailey in polite conversation until the grandmother identifies him as an escaped convict known as "The Misfit." The Misfit shot his own father, he says, though he says that''s only what he''s been told—he doesn''t believe it. As The Misfit instructs his accomplices to murder the family one by one, the grandmother begins pleading for her own life by flattering The Misfit. When The Misfit ignores her pleas, she becomes speechless. Panicked, she attempts to witness about Jesus. The Misfit becomes visibly angry: he is angry with Christ for having given no physical evidence for His existence, casting doubt about the legitimacy of Christianity. He does not want to waste his life serving a figure who may not exist, nor does he want to displease an almighty God who may exist; he has settled on the idea that "There''s no pleasure but meanness." The grandmother suddenly exclaims "Why you’re one of my babies. You’re one of my own children!", and reaches out and touches The Misfit. He recoils and shoots her three times. When the accomplice finishes murdering the family, The Misfit takes a moment to clean his glasses, concluding that "she [the grandmother] would have been a good woman, if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life." He echoes O''Connor''s traditional Christian view that this is properly the role of the conscience informed by the Holy Spirit. When his accomplice comments on the fun that they''ve had in killing, The Misfit tells him, "It''s no real pleasure in life." Again, in O''Connor''s view, a phony Christian—that is, the grandmother—through an act of violence finally comes to be genuinely converted. A good man/woman is indeed hard to find. At last the grandmother humbles herself, realizing that she''s no better than a murderer and misfit herself--for such are metaphorically her babies, part of the fallen human family. (He is wearing her son''s shirt by then--as if to increase symbolically the connection.) She can finally receive saving grace.

A Good Man Is Hard to Find

"On the tallest mountain above town," the young Prince Bertie still has not married, as is the custom in his kingdom. His mother, a grouchy Queen who is tired of ruling and wishes to pass on the responsibility to her son, insists he must find a princess to marry. The prince tells his mom "Very well, Mother.... I must say, though, I''ve never cared much for princesses." His mother marches princess after princess through the castle, from places ranging from Greenland to Mumbai, but in spite of their various talents &mdash; Princess Aria of Austria sings opera, Princess Dolly from Texas juggles and does magic tricks &mdash; they fail to interest the prince (though the prince''s page falls in love with the princess from Greenland). After a while, along comes Princess Madeleine escorted by her brother Prince Lee. At the same time, both Bertie and Lee exclaim, "What a wonderful prince!" The princes immediately fall in love, and they begin marriage preparations at once. The wedding is attended by all the rejected princesses and their families; the two princes are declared King and King, and the Queen can finally relax, sunning herself in a lounge chair near the page and the princess from Greenland. The story ends with a kiss between the two kings. The illustrations are created as collages with cut paper and mixed-media art, including ink and paint.

King & King

In the late twenty-first century, far out in a nearby asteroid belt, a gigantic derelict castle-like alien spacecraft is discovered by the space exploration vehicle Hermes, commanded by Captain Olof Carlsen. Investigating the spacecraft''s interior, the astronauts first discover the desiccated corpses of giant bat-like creatures, then three glass coffins containing three immobilized humanoids - two male and one female - preserved in a state of suspended animation. Returning to Earth with the preserved humanoids, Carlsen discovers the true nature of the beings when one of them kills a young man, a reporter (and the son of a friend of Carlsen) whom Carlsen illicitly allowed to view the body. The woman kills her victim by completely draining his life-force (a quantifiable energy measured by a device called "lambda-field scanners"), then, when Carlsen attempts to intervene, partially draining him of energy as well. Carlsen is left still alive, but unable to prevent the woman from escaping from the hospital. Carlsen joins forces with Dr. Hans Fallada, a scientist researching energy vampirism and longevity, to find the escaped vampire and recapture her. In the course of their investigations they discover that the aliens can transfer from one body to another, and that the other two have also escaped; they also discover the potential for energy vampirism - and more generalized voluntary energy transfer - that exists in all humans, and the parallels between vampirism, criminality, and sexual fetishization. At last Carlsen tracks down the vampires in London, their leader having possessed the body of the Prime Minister; but their confrontation is averted when representatives from the Nioth-Korghai, the vampires'' original race, appear and offer the vampires (the Ubbo-Sathla, as they call themselves) the chance to regain their original nature as higher-dimension energy-beings. The vampires accept joyfully, but destroy themselves upon regaining the ability to see themselves for what they had become. An epilogue, set nearly a century later, reveals that Carlsen has used the techniques of benevolent energy transference he learned via his encounters with the vampires to live an extraordinarily long life, and possibly (it is implied) to have achieved a kind of transcendence upon his death.

The Space Vampires

The novel begins with Ben and Anna in bed at the Montecinto Inn. However, they interrupted by a call from Anna''s father who says that Susan is going to back to rehab and wants to say goodbye. Anna considers their farewell to be intimate and is surprised when Ben tags along though she does not voice her displeasure. After Susan boards the plane to her next rehab, Anna must face the consequences of the Steinberg party. Margaret informs Anna that her behavior (abandoning a client in favor of rushing a drunk Susan home) was unacceptable and is about to fire her when Clark Sheppard intervenes. He takes Anna as his intern and gives her the assignment of covering the latest hit TV show Hermosa Beach. Anna meets the young but charming co-executive producer Danny Bluestone who actually dreams of writing the Great American Novel and is appalled by Ben''s increasing jealous attitude towards him and Jonathan Percy''s driver, Django, who has always been friendly to her. Anna is also worried that Ben is dropping his studies for her and tries to get him to go back to Princeton. Their relationship must come to another end when Ben agrees he must go back to Princeton to finish school and not worry about his family so much. Meanwhile, Cammie feels increasingly deserted by her friends: Dee is enamored with her new boyfriend, Stevie, while Sam seems to be showing interest in Adam Flood. To further her dismay, her step-mother announces that her daughter, Mia, will be moving in. Cammie initially hates Mia, a secretive fourteen-year old Valley girl, but takes her out shopping in order to not feel alone. After finding out that Sam is no longer interested in Adam (Adam is still hung up over Anna and Sam refuses to be a rebound), Cammie kisses him at a party but is surprised at the chemistry between them. She not so subtly follows Adam to a Beck concert and the two are invited to a rave by a rapper, Mo Bad. Cammie and Adam kiss again but are interrupted by Dee who nonchalantly mentions inviting Mia along with her as well. Cammie''s protective instincts kick in and the three go find Mia at the party and take her home. Cammie reveals to Adam that even though she doesn''t like Mia, Mia reminds her a lot of how she acted after her mom died. Cammie also mentions that she wished she had a big sister to keep her from making stupid choices which is what she is going to try to do for Mia. However, the next day, Cammie becomes frustrated at Mia''s self-destructive attitude and decides she can''t be Mia''s rescuer. Meanwhile, Adam tells Cammie that they should slow down their relationship because he still has feelings for Anna. Enraged, Cammie plots to sabotage Anna, who is somewhat enjoying her internship, despite the unfamiliar terms and erratic actors. Soon, it all comes crashing down when Clark accused Anna of leaking sensitive information to the press. He fires her and forbids anyone from work associating with her. Anna tries to explain to Danny her side of the story but he sadly tells her that he can''t been seen with her or else he will lose his career. Sam makes Anna realize the true culprit and the two plot a plan for justice. In the meantime, Cammie organizes and throws her sweet 18th birthday party on her own (since Sam and Dee have been too busy to help) and is horrified when her credit and debit cards are denied by the party planner. Even worse, her BMW is towed and when she returns home, Clark reveals that he knows Cammie was the true culprit behind the leaked information and is going to be punished for so, thanks to Mia who collaborated with Sam and Anna to clear Anna''s name. In the morning, Adam shows up to comfort Cammie and the two go on a quiet date to the park while Clark half-heartedly apologizes to Anna for the mistake and offers her job back. Anna politely declines and then surprises Danny at the office. He leaves work early for her and the two go on a date.

Blonde Ambition

Harry Keogh discovers that he is being transformed into a member of the Wamphyri by the spores of the mushrooms he inhaled at the ruins of Faethors house in Ploesti. Additionally he experiments with Janos Ferenczy''s "resurrection" necromancy to restore some people - notably Trevor Jordan and Penny Sanderson - to life. E branch begins to suspect Harry may have been infected, but Darcy calls Harry in anyway on a serial killer case. Resolved to do one last favor for humanity, both the living and the dead, Harry hunts down and deals with the necromancer/serial killer/rapist Johnny Found. Shortly after this Harry and Penny, who slept with him while he was literally asleep and thus infected herself, are driven from England by E branch, who cannot risk Harry being allowed to live as a vampire. Eventually Harry and Penny flee for starside, but in the process Penny is killed. Arriving back in the Vampire world Harry finds Lady Karen alive, after he had thought her dead from an attempted cure. The two out of loneliness become lovers for a time. But the vampire lord Shaithis, banished after battle with Harry and Harry Jr to the icelands is returning at the head of a small but vicious army, along side his ancestor from time immemorial, the most feared Wamphyri of all time, Shaitan himself. Unfortunately Harry Jr, has now mostly devolved into a wolf similar to the one who transmitted its egg to him. Gone are most of his powers, leaving his father and Karen to face Shaitan and Shaithis almost alone. Harry and Karen are, after a brief battle, crucified at the gate. However in a last act Karen commits suicide to take Shaithis with her and Harry and Harry Jr, combine their powers one last time to send a plea for help to earth which results in the dead in the Russian complex sending a nuclear armed exorcet through the gate, destroying Harry, Harry Jr, and Shaithis in a nuclear explosion.

Necroscope V: Deadspawn

From Dahomey to the slave state of Mississippi, Flashman has cause to regret a game of pontoon with Benjamin Disraeli and Lord George Bentinck. From his ambition for a seat in the House of Commons, he has to settle instead for a role in the West African slave trade, under the command of Captain John Charity Spring, a Latin-spouting madman. Captured by the United States Navy, Flashman has to talk his way out of prison by assuming the first of his many false identities in America. After a visit to Washington D.C. and an unsettling meeting with Abraham Lincoln (still a junior congressman at the time), he escapes his Navy protectors in New Orleans and holes up at a whorehouse run by an amorous madame, Susie Willinck. He is again taken into custody, this time by members of the Underground Railroad. Traveling up the Mississippi River with a fugitive slave ends badly once again, and the rest of the story has Flashman as a slave driver on a plantation, a potential slave himself, and a slave stealer fleeing from vigilantes. Eventually he ends up back in New Orleans at the mercy of Spring. This story is continued in Flashman and the Redskins. At the end of the novel, the editor (Fraser) claims that the escape of Cassy and Flashman across the Ohio River was the inspiration for the anti-slavery novel, Uncle Tom''s Cabin, with the names altered and the story focusing on the slave Cassy rather than Flashman. This is similar to a claim made by Flashman that his experiences in Royal Flash were the basis for The Prisoner of Zenda.

Flash for Freedom!

While the New Republic struggles to decide what to do with the deadly Sun Crusher--a new doomsday weapon stolen from the Empire by Han Solo--the renegade Imperial Admiral Daala uses her fleet of Star Destroyers to conduct guerrilla warfare on peaceful planets. And now she threatens Mon Calamari, the watery homeworld of Admiral Ackbar and important shipyard for the New Republic. But as the battle for a planet rages, an even greater danger emerges at Luke Skywalker''s Jedi academy on Yavin 4. A strong but untrained student named Gantoris delves dangerously into the dark side of the Force and unleashes the spirit of the ancient dark side master Exar Kun, who instructs him in the creation of a unique, three crystal lightsaber that can be focused to extend beyond the normal length to that of a spear. The spirit of Exar Kun also tries, with disastrous consequences, to entice him toward the dark side. Although unsuccessful, this sets the stage for another of Luke''s students, Kyp Durron, to face the same choice as Gantoris. Working together, they may become an enemy greater than any the New Republic has ever fought...more powerful than even a Jedi Master can face. Kyp Durron begins his Jedi training with Luke Skywalker during this story, but first, he is being treated to the time of his life by Han Solo. Han felt that because Kyp had been in the mines most of his entire life, that he deserved to have a little fun. When he does get to the Jedi Praxeum, he starts learning the ways of the light side of the Force, astonishing all the other students with his extraordinary talent and his aptitude for Force-training; unfortunately, he also starts learning of the dark side of the Force after Gantoris'' death (Gantoris had been corrupted by the spirit of Exar Kun, but turned against him; in revenge, Exar Kun burned Gantoris alive). Exar Kun''s spirit began tempting Kyp. Kyp''s power increases considerably, and he is tainted by the dark side and the lies Kun told him of the history of the Jedi Order. After a violent disagreement with Tionne over ancient history (involving the fall of Exar Kun), Kyp assaulted Skywalker; with the dark aid of Kun, Kyp ripped Luke''s soul from his body, placing him into a coma. With his strength in the Force, Kyp reached out and guided the Sun Crusher from the heart of the gas giant, Yavin, and set out on a mission of vengeance against Admiral Daala and the Imperial Remnant. He knows that his brother, Zeth Durron, is still part of the Empire and he sets course for Carida, intending to rescue him by force if need be.

Dark Apprentice

Two servants, Ellie and Sigrid, are taking a walk when they discover a baby abandoned in a church. A note with the infant says she is to be taken to a nunnery in Vienna. When Ellie and Sigrid find that the nunnery is in quarantine for typhus, they decide to take the baby home and raise her as their own. They name her Annika after Ellie''s mother. Annika grows up as a servant in the house where Ellie and Sigrid work. For Annika, life in Vienna is perfect. She has friends, Pauline and Stefan, and she loves her adopted family (Ellie and Sigrid, and the three professors) very much. Annika is asked by Loremarie Egghart, a snobby rich girl whom Annika despises, to read to her great-aunt. Annika does so and the two become friends, telling each other about their lives. Loremarie''s great aunt was a famous theatre personality who went by the stage name La Rondine. They become so close that the great-aunt leaves Annika her jewels when she dies, unaware that they are real; she dies thinking that the jewels are pastings of the real ones which she thought she had sold. Annika is happy but sometimes wonders about the missing piece of the puzzle: the mystery of her real mother and why she was abandoned. When a beautiful, rich lady announces she is Annika’s long lost mother, Annika is delighted. Her mother takes her to Spittal, the family''s estate in Germany, and she meets her brother Hermann, her uncle Oswald, and her cousin Gudrun, but she doesn’t enjoy it. The mansion is derelict and gloomy, the walls are crumbling, and the paint peeling. She meets a friendly Romany/gypsy boy called Zed who works on the farm and cares for Hermann''s horse Rocco. Annika''s mother asks her to sign some important documents without really explaining them, and then goes to Zurich. Annika has actually signed over La Rondine''s jewels, including her famous Star of Kazan, but is unaware of what she has done. When her mother comes back, she says a relative died and left them lots of money, but in fact she sold all of Annika''s jewels so Hermann can go to the army school that he wants to attend, and Annika can have galoshes, which her mother buys a size too small. Annika is then sent away to a very harsh boarding school for young ladies called Grossenfluss, but the professors and Ellie and Stefan manage to rescue her after discovering that a pupil died there. (The pupil died by committing suicide but the police were not allowed to investigate and were told that it was an accident.) Annika then discovers that her mother is a liar and a fraud when Annika finds a picture of La Rondine and her lover at the bottom of the trunk which had contained the jewels, revealing that the trunk has been opened. Her mother blames the theft on Zed. Zed flees to Vienna with Rocco, to tell the professors his suspicions about Annika''s mother. Annika manages to escape back home to Vienna, to those she loves.

The Star of Kazan

The play opens with a Prologue, (a figure otherwise unidentified), who stresses that the audience will see a serious play, and appeals to the audience members, "The first and happiest hearers of the town," to "Be sad, as we would make ye." Act I opens with a conversation between the Dukes of Norfolk and Buckingham and Lord Abergavenny. Their speeches express their mutual resentment over the ruthless power and overweening pride of Cardinal Wolsey. Wolsey passes over the stage with his attendants, and expresses his own hostility toward Buckingham. Later Buckingham is arrested on treason charges— Wolsey''s doing. The play''s second scene introduces King Henry VIII, and shows his reliance on Wolsey as his favourite. Queen Katherine enters to protest about Wolsey''s abuse of the tax system for his own purposes; Wolsey defends himself, but when the King revokes the Cardinal''s measures, Wolsey spreads a rumour that he himself is responsible for the King''s action. Katherine also challenges the arrest of Buckingham, but Wolsey defends the arrest by producing the Duke''s Surveyor, the primary accuser. After hearing the Surveyor, the King orders Buckingham''s trial to occur. At a banquet thrown by Wolsey, the King and his attendants enter in disguise as masquers. The King dances with Anne Boleyn. Two anonymous Gentlemen open Act II, one giving the other an account of Buckingham''s treason trial. Buckingham himself enters in custody after his conviction, and makes his farewells to his followers and to the public. After his exit, the two Gentlemen talk about court gossip, especially Wolsey''s hostility toward Katherine. The next scene shows Wolsey beginning to move against the Queen, while the nobles Norfolk and Suffolk look on critically. Wolsey introduces Cardinal Campeius and Gardiner to the King; Campeius has come to serve as a judge in the trial Wolsey is arranging for Katherine. Anne Boleyn is shown conversing with the Old Lady who is her attendant. Anne expresses her sympathy at the Queen''s troubles; but then the Lord Chamberlain enters to inform her that the King has made her Marchioness of Pembroke. Once the Lord Chamberlain leaves, the Old Lady jokes about Anne''s sudden advancement in the King''s favour. A lavishly-staged trial scene portrays Katherine''s hearing before the King and his courtiers. Katherine reproaches Wolsey for his machinations against her, and refuses to stay for the proceedings. But the King defends Wolsey, and states that it was his own doubts about the legitimacy of their marriage that led to the trial. Campeius protests that the hearing cannot continue in the Queen''s absence, and the King grudgingly adjourns the proceeding. Wolsey and Campeius confront Katherine among her ladies-in-waiting; Katherine makes an emotional protest about her treatment. Norfolk, Suffolk, Surrey, and the Lord Chamberlain are shown plotting against Wolsey. A packet of Wolsey''s letters to the Pope have been re-directed to the King; the letters show that Wolsey is playing a double game, opposing Henry''s planned divorce from Katherine to the Pope while supporting it to the King. The King shows Wolsey his displeasure, and Wolsey for the first time realises that he has lost Henry''s favour. The noblemen mock Wolsey, and the Cardinal sends his follower Cromwell away so that Cromwell will not be brought down in Wolsey''s fall from grace. The two Gentlemen return to observe and comment upon the lavish procession for Anne Boleyn''s coronation as Queen, which passes over the stage in their presence. Afterward they are joined by a third Gentleman, who updates them on more court gossip – the rise of Thomas Cromwell in royal favour, and plots against Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury. Katherine is shown, ill; she has a vision of dancing spirits. Cardinal Campeius visits her; Katherine expresses her continuing loyalty to the King despite their divorce, and wishes the new Queen well. The King summons a nervous Cranmer to his presence, and expresses his support; later, when Cranmer is shown disrespect by the King''s Council, Henry reproves them and displays his favour of the churchman. Anne Boleyn gives birth to a daughter, the future Queen Elizabeth. In the play''s closing scenes, the Porter and his Man complain about trying to control the massive and enthusiastic crowds that attend the infant Elizabeth''s christening; another lush procession is followed by a prediction of the glories of the new born princess''s future reign and that of her successor, the play''s Epilogue.

Henry VIII

A year before the novel opens, Peadar and Matty Power, two elderly bachelor brothers, sold a portion of their land to Norwegian fish farmers. However, they resent no longer being able to use the land in question and, one night, they release the entire stock of fish into the sea. In doing so, they set in train a series of events that lead to tragic consequences. For several years, rumours have been rife in the locality that a major industrial project might be located in Ross. This would be very welcome as there is little local employment there. Now, as news of the act of sabotage at the fish farm spreads through the community, fears grow that subversive elements were behind it and that outside investors will be discouraged. The local policeman, Sergeant McMenamin, suspects that the Powers released the fish. However, as concern among the locals about a Republican plot develops into virtual paranoia, he is pressured into changing the focus of his investigation. He turns his attention to a small band of local extremists known as The Sons of Ireland. Their leader is a young man who, for patriotic reasons, has ''gaelicised'' his name from Johnny Conroy to Seagrun Ó Maelchonaire. Several years earlier, Ó Maelchonaire had been part of another Republican group along with a school friend, Michael Carmody. When their activities began to attract police attention, Michael fled to England where he became involved in radical student politics. Now, older and wiser, he has returned to Ross to live a quiet life. He has found a job as a handyman at a local hotel owned by Hubert Kershaw, one of the diminishing number of Protestants still living in Ross. Jenny Kershaw, Hubert''s daughter, is in love with Michael and they are developing a relationship, much to her parents'' disapproval. The day after the fish were released, Ó Maelchonaire visits Michael at the hotel to persuade him to join The Sons of Ireland. Michael refuses and the two part on bad terms. Sergeant McMenamin arrests Michael on suspicion of involvement in the fish release. Anxious to establish his credentials as a serious Republican, Ó Maelchonaire and his followers stage an attack on the local gaol in order to free Michael. They take the reluctant escapee to a hiding place in a local wood. As darkness falls, it is clear that Ó Maelchonaire has no idea what to do next and everyone''s nerves become fraught. In the late evening, Sir Philip Eagan, a local Protestant aristocrat, stumbles upon the small group while out walking his dog. Thinking that the police have found them, Ó Maelchonaire fires his gun into the darkness, mortally wounding Sir Philip. Michael manages to escape and makes his way to the hotel and Jenny''s room. He tells her what has happened and explains that he must flee Ireland. In the final chapter, a year has passed, and we learn how the events of those few days have affected all involved. Michael is living in Paris and earning a living as a folk-singer. Ó Maelchonaire is dead, shot by a British soldier on the streets of Belfast. The hotel has been sold to Benedict Mulcahy, a local politician and Government minister. Sir Philip Eagan''s estate has been turned into a stud farm.

Tread Softly in this Place

Renia and Josl Bensky grow up in the Polish town of Łódź, Poland. Shortly after their marriage, they are forced to move to the Ghetto of Łódź, and soon, they are deported to the concentration camp of Auschwitz. After the downfall of the Third Reich, they meet again, and their first daughter Lola is born in a DP camp in 1946. In 1948, The Benskys move to Melbourne and try to start a new life, far away from the horrible crimes they had to endure during the Holocaust. They find good friends among fellow Jewish Immigrants, and with this tight group of friends, they try to live as normal a life as possible. Josl and Renia both try to live with their past; in this mixture of trying to forget and to commemorate, they raise Lola to be an Australian girl. Lola knows she will never understand her parents completely since she will never experience what they had to live through. She has her own problems. She has overweight, weird boyfriends and a first husband whom she does not love. When she turns 19, Lola starts to write for a rock magazine and gets to travel around the world to interview the stars of her time. Apart from her job, she raises her children and tries to figure out her life. Finally, she marries the artist Garth and moves to New York.

Things Could Be Worse

The wild young Viscount Sheringham is fast running through his considerable income through gambling and other extravagant pursuits; and he cannot as yet touch the principal, unless he marries. As the lady with whom he currently fancies himself in love, the beautiful Isabella Milborne, is also an heiress, he proposes. Isabella rejects him with contumely, citing his dissipated lifestyle. A lively quarrel then follows with his obnoxious widowed mother and her brother, who wish to retain control of his father''s fortune themselves. The Viscount storms off in a fit of pique, vowing to marry the first female he meets. This turns out to be the pretty but orphaned and shy Hero Wantage, who has secretly loved him since they were children, and who now lives with one of his neighbours in the position of Cinderella, complete with Ugly Sisters. The rest of the novel, chronicling the Viscount''s gradual transition to maturity and the realisation that the one he really loves is Hero (the "loving and giving" child of the title), is told with Miss Heyer''s characteristic wit, and features some of her most memorable dialogue, plot twists and characters (such as the fiery but lovelorn George Wrotham, whose hobby is fighting duels).

Over 8000 Takeaways For Your Brain!

Read - Listen - Learn

A Good Man Is Hard to Find

By Flannery O''Connor

King & King

No Author Listed

The Space Vampires

By Colin Wilson

Blonde Ambition

By Zoey Dean

Necroscope V: Deadspawn

By Brian Lumley

Flash for Freedom!

By George MacDonald Fraser

Dark Apprentice

By Kevin J. Anderson

The Star of Kazan

By Eva Ibbotson

Henry VIII

By John Fletcher

Tread Softly in this Place

By Brian Cleeve

Things Could Be Worse

By Lily Brett

Friday's Child

By Georgette Heyer