There is Victoria, a Pre-Raphaelite beauty intent on marriage; Maurice, shaking his fist at the injustices of the world; Stanley, a follower of Ruskin ad Morris, doing good as radical fashion dictates; Irving, a lusty young capitalist, and Una, born for happy marriage and maternity. All are watched from the sidelines by their sister Rome. Detached, intelligent, urbane, she observes three generations of her family strut and fret their hour upon the stage. To her their sound and fury signify nothing -- but to us the memory of Rome's one brief love affair strikes the final note of truth, defiantly affirming that it is better to have loved and lost...

     Rather than abandoning his parish in search of the truth, Father Paul’s quest is a simple one: to find the true essence of Christianity. A Modern Day Apostle to the Downtrodden Set against the backdrop of a harsh and cold Russian countryside along the River Volga, with its unyielding poverty and hardships, The Archbishop follows Father Paul as he searches to understand God and the parlous state of the world around him. It is not until he meets the eponymous Archbishop that he finds revelations that do more than just answer his soul-searching questions. More than this, he finds a true shepherd determined to spread a more authentic message of Christ to the people who follow him. But even the divine truth that Father Paul finally finds in this dreary, cold hamlet where religion seems to be fading from relevance is not free from earthly machinations. Although he discovers something that will change his life forever, the realities of the world around him remain unyielding and unchanging. The Archbishop is a book that does not shy away from asking big questions – nor from answering them. Author Hieromonk Tihon’s identity has long since been lost to history and his fate unknown, but the vivid characters and intricately drawn world created in this book have indicated that The Archbishop may be an autobiographical work. Condemned, burned, and banned by iconoclastic Bolsheviks during the earliest years of Soviet Russia as it pushed an agenda of militant atheism, The Archbishop's spiritual guidance was almost lost among countless other Eastern Orthodox works. The Archbishop provides deep spiritual insight and guidance into a world distant from ours, despite the chasms of difference in culture, time, and space. Sometimes funny, often tragic, and other times angering, this hidden Orthodox gem does not shy away from asking big questions – nor from answering them. It remains a work full of spiritual lessons that will resonate profoundly with the modern-day American Orthodox clergy and their laity.

    M. Forster, by E. M. Forster. To purchase the entire book, please order ISBN 1417908599.

    But success does not mean he feels like a man. On vacation in Jamaica with his mistress, an ice queen who considers him her personal trophy, his thoughts are back in New York City, with a beautiful young girl he met a few days before he left town. As the stress bears down on him, the brilliant playwright goes nearly to pieces before he finds his salvation under water. On his first deep-sea dive, Grant falls in love with the haunting beauty of the reef. He returns as soon as he can, staying longer and swimming deeper until all his problems seep away. But a man can’t breathe underwater forever—and his obsession will drive him to take increasing risks that will change his life forever.

    Woe betide those who trespass on this Chieftain's kingdom... So when a hapless bunch of Sassenach hikers invades the glens, camping on Ben Nevis's beloved land and disturbing his prized grouse, they are in for the shock of a lifetime, as the MacDonald clan prepare to do battle with the unfortunate travelers. Kilt swinging and sporran flying, fortified with whisky, with his two stout daughters at his side and the welcome support of American millionaire Chester Royde, Ben Nevis wages war on the hikers in the ancient manner of his ancestors (which involves roasting and dungeons among other dubious punishments), with hilarious results....

    The name indicates that this is a set of stories having it's own fragrance.

    The few people who saw it from charabancs on morning or evening or circular drives said: “Isn’t it peaceful?” or “Isn’t it quiet?”. And some said they thought it was a lovely place to be buried in, but while they were alive they preferred a place with more life, if you knew what they meant.The unlikely heroine of this delightful comedy of manners is Jocelyn Renshawe, young widow of the local squire, “a specimen of human cabbage” who “fitted into her surroundings so completely that she was hardly noticeable.” But she’s about to be noticed a bit more—by her jaded, much-widowed mother Ermyntrude, who breezes in on the look-out for her next conquest; by her aunt and mother-in-law, who have decided she should marry Colonel Tidmarsh, an elderly (and extremely dull) retired Army man; and by Gervase Blythe, a mysterious acquaintance of Colonel Tidmarsh’s, who arrives in town and rescues Jocelyn from a rainstorm before coming under suspicion as a jewel thief.One is safe in assuming that Jocelyn is about to leave her mouldering existence behind, but how she does so is the sparkling, cheerful plot of Much Dithering.

    Now, the war is over but victory's wine has soured and Brodie's back in Scotland to try and save childhood friend Hugh Donovan from the gallows. Everyone thought Donovan was dead, shot down in the war. Perhaps it would have been kinder if he had been killed. The man who returned was unrecognizable: mutilated, horribly burned. Donovan keeps his own company, only venturing out for heroin to deaden the pain of his wounds. When a local boy is found raped and murdered, there is only one suspect...Donovan claims he's innocent but a mountain of evidence says otherwise. Despite the hideousness of the crime, ex-policeman Brodie feels compelled to try and help his one-time friend. Working with Donovan's advocate Samantha Campbell, Brodie trawls both the mean streets of the Gorbals and the green hills of western Scotland in their search for the truth. What they find is an unholy alliance of church, police and Glasgow's deadliest razor gang, happy to slaughter to protect their dark secrets. As time runs out for the condemned man, and the tally of murdered innocents rises, Brodie reverts to his wartime role as a trained killer. It's them or him.

    A plume of steam, white against the purple-heathered hills, marks the train. Beyond, blooming along the shoreline, the flowers of high summer, as a tall-funnelled paddle steamer beats and froths down the wide Clyde estuary . . .A narrative in the great Cronin tradition, this is the stirring chronicle of Laurence Carroll as he grows from childhood to adult years in Scotland. The tale of his struggles - early illness, a widowed mother, poverty, the uncles who try to help him, and the women who have such an unhappy effect upon him, is told with warm humour and with that intense and sympathetic realism for which A J Cronin is known.In the magnificent narrative tradition of The Citadel, The Stars Look Down and Cronin's other classic novels, A Song of Sixpence is a great book by a much-loved author.

    Join a controversial scientist in exile on a journey through a near future ruled by cyber mobs and a violent ancient past he confronts when he closes in on dark energy discovery. 400 pp. debut multi-genre dystopian sci-fi mixed with historical fiction and elements of alchemy and mysticism that trace back to ancient Egypt.Book Viral, Feb 27, 2017"Antioch is, in every sense of the word, a masterpiece and epic beginning to what will undoubtedly be an epic series and one you must certainly add to your reading shelf. It is recommended without reservation."First Goodreads review of 2nd edition:"Antioch, by Gregory Ness is a masterful piece of writing. I had the opportunity to read an earlier version of this book published in 2014. I considered it a good book at that reading, but now, having just read the 2016 edition, I rate this book as excellent! Without spoiling this beautifully done story, it takes us back and forth between the present, which is some years ahead of contemporary times, and thousands of years into the past, and then rolls us back and forth in an ever-consuming tale between now and then. The detail and imagery laced into the text about ancient Rome and Egypt, as well as Persia and Turkey, and their cultures and people, animates them, as if the reader is walking the stony streets of Alexandria. There is a beautiful love story which transcends time, depiction of brutal wars and great power struggles between Rome, Egypt and others – and the perspective of how Julius Caesar was, as a man, and a leader, makes the history books seem shallow in design. But what really makes this story shine is the way the author draws us into the world of our memories, of past lives we have lived, and the scientific dialogues and intrigue which are unfolding in the now, and how, all of this ties into the grand story which we are reliving thousands of years before when Pharaohs were the most powerful rulers on Earth, when Caesar and his armies marched into Egypt and when the infamous Cleopatra had the two most powerful nations of that time, in the palm of her hands. Antioch makes you think about the nature of who we really are, about the veracity of having lived countless past lives, about the scientific import of a tiny organ in our brain – a portal which not only allows us to interact with the world around us, but quite possibly, is also the very link to our immensely distant past. An entertaining, gripping, beautifully written and highly insightful piece of work."

    Was that so much to ask? A baby to nourish in her body, to give birth with pain and pleasure, to adore. A baby to suckle and care for, to clean and cuddle and comfort. A baby to make her whole and complete. But her womb was empty and its emptiness filled her days and her nights, invaded her dreams, determined every waking thought. A baby. All she wanted was a baby…

    You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.

     While up in the mountains, he discovered a wilderness plagued by nature and haunted by superstition, but one that he thought he could tame with his experience and strong back. He didn't know he was going to have to kill to keep the home he planned for his family, but he didn't let that stop him. Sam had been looking for a home for his family for years. That search had been interrupted by the Civil War. Now Sam is putting down roots, and not even the Devil himself can stand in the way.

    You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.

    The kindly Dean Harcourt with his simple wisdom has encouraged many to write to Lloyd Douglas for advice and help. He has brought pleasure, solace and inspiration into many lives. Dean Harcourt, of a Middle-western cathedral, is the motivational force in this story of present-day America. The dean had been crippled by infantile paralysis early in his career and his subsequent suffering had made him more aware when the time came to right the wrong done to a young surgeon. He is also instrumental in bringing about the happiness of lonely, young Phyllis Dexter.The Chicago Daily Tribune says, "There is something of the simple faith in it that has been proclaimed to be more than Norman blood."