Alice is a formerly mousy and high-strung London girl who marries Joe, a wealthy business executive whom she had a crush on as a girl. It is revealed that Joe is a serial philanderer who, in spite of his best efforts, is unable to avoid chasing women. He married Alice because he viewed her as a compliant "project" he could craft into the perfect trophy wife. In this, he succeeded. As Alice intermittently suspects Joe is having affairs she becomes unhappy with her marriage, which is blessed with enormous wealth and prestige but has no warmth or passion. Joe becomes increasingly involved with a new business executive named Josie, and their relationship is discovered. Joe is forced by the company to relocate to its New York office or lose his job. Desperate, Joe convinces his wife of the merits of moving to the United States and she agrees to the move on the condition that they have a house in the country as well as their original apartment in New York City. After the move Alice becomes increasingly invigorated and secure with herself as she takes on the project of restoring an old country home to immaculate condition. Joe, a fastidious urbanite, dislikes being in the country and the couple begins growing apart from one another: Joe spends more and more time in the city alone, but Alice no longer misses him as much because she feels increasingly fulfilled with small-town life and her new friends. Alice''s longtime best friend, Emily, visits her and brings along her boyfriend, Harry, whom Alice and Joe met back in England before the move. Emily reveals that she no longer thinks Harry is "the one" and is instead enamored with a man named Colin...who has a girlfriend. Alice is aghast that her friend would consider infidelity and advises her to give Harry a chance. As the lengthy visit continues and Emily and Harry share Alice and Joe''s country home with them, Alice and Harry grow close. Eventually, on the night Joe is finally rejected by his latest extramarital pursuit and all four are at a local party, Alice and Harry kiss under the stars while intoxicated. Emily sees Alice and Harry kissing and renounces her friendship with Alice. She and Harry return to England the next day as planned, where they promptly end their relationship. Days later, Josie has moved to New York as well and contacts Joe, who immediately falls for her once more. They continue their extramarital relationship, but Alice quickly discovers it by checking Joe''s e-mail accounts. Alice separates from Joe, who suffers a nervous breakdown in his New York apartment while Alice remains in their country home. In the end, Alice and Emily reconcile and Emily encourages Alice to start a relationship with Harry, whom she obviously fancies. She does so.

Spellbound

Eldon Fochs is a 38-year-old accountant and lay provost. He is happily married with four children. Feshtig works as a therapist in an Institute of Psychoanalysis funded and controlled by the church. Fochs is persuaded to go to Feshtig by his wife, who has a growing suspicion that her husband harbours dark secrets. Fochs slowly reveals the contents of his dreams and his "disturbing thoughts" about children to Feshtig. He reveals two dreams; one when he strangles and dismembers a girl and another of a 12-year-old boy. In the dream, the boy comes into his office and Fochs brutally sodomises him. He frightens the boy with threats and forces him to admit to having been molested by an uncle, something that never happened. Fochs claims that in his dream he was guided by God. In the chapters where Fochs is in the first person, he describes how he assaulted and murdered a 14-year-old girl. He also describes his ecclesiastical superior confronting him with allegations from two mothers that he has molested their boys. He denies the allegations, and his superiors choose to believe him. Feshtig meets with one of the mothers and starts to counsel her son Nathan Mears, and he gradually uncovers the extent of the damage that Fochs has done to the young boy. As the abuse allegations reach the media, the pressure on the church mounts, but it does everything to protect itself and its reputation, going as far as to excommunicate the two mothers. The pressure on Fochs from his wife is more difficult to answer as she presses him on what he was doing the night the girl was murdered. Eventually he rams his car into a tree, having surreptitiously unclipped his wife’s seat belt. She is thrown through the window and killed. Feshtig reveals his conclusions to the police, but their DNA tests are inconclusive. Protected by the church, Fochs still contrives to spend time alone with young boys in order to molest them. He is eventually transferred to a teaching position in another city, free to carry on his abuse. As the novel ends, having assaulted his children’s babysitter, Fochs sinks to further level of depravity and starts a cycle of incest with his eldest daughter.

Father of Lies

The book is divided into 13 chapters spanning over 400 pages, and includes an appendix called "The History-Deniers" in the end material. #Only a Theory? (Nature of scientific theory and fallibility) #Dogs, Cows and Cabbages (Artificial Selection) #The Primrose Path to Macro-Evolution #Silence and Slow Time (Discusses the Age of the Earth and the Geological Time Scale) #Before Our Very Eyes (Examples of Evolution Observed) #Missing link? What do you mean, ''Missing''? (the fossil record) #Missing persons? Missing no longer (Human Evolution) #You did it yourself in nine months (a statement attributed to J. B. S. Haldane; discusses developmental biology) #The ark of the continents (biogeography and plate tectonics) #The tree of cousinship (the tree of life, homology and analogy) #History written all over us (vestigiality and unintelligent design) #Arms races and ''evolutionary theodicy'' (coevolution and evolutionary arms races) #There is grandeur in this view of life (based on the final passage of On the Origin of Species)

The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution

Jeff marches off to Fort Leavenworth from Linn County, Kansas in 1861, on his way to join the Union volunteers. He''s off to fight for the North; his zeal having been fueled by reaction to the guerilla war of "bushwhackers" that was taking place in eastern Kansas. However, Stand Watie is on the side of the South. We meet many soldiers and civilians on both sides of the war, including Watie''s raiding parties, itinerant printer Noah Babbitt and, in Tahlequah, Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) the beautiful Cherokee girl, Lucy Washbourne. Jeff''s story is notable as he eventually winds up fighting for both the North and the South at different times during the conflict while making new friends on each side. It is also notable for the detailed depiction of contemporary Cherokee life in Indian Territory, including various tribal political factions. Keith portrays how Jeff Bussey, in the midst of huge conflicts, had to choose one side or another at various times and how this was not always as simple as it may seem in historical hindsight.

Rifles for Watie

The book takes its name from Dostoevsky''s The Possessed, and it attempts to investigate the passion for revolutionary change which developed strongly in Central Europe and Russia starting with the French Revolution of 1789. Unlike many other histories of revolutions and revolutionaries Billington does not focus on events and social causes leading to popular uprisings. Instead he follows a sometimes almost invisible thread of incendiary ideas sometimes transferred via occult societies, but all having the common genesis in the motto of the French Revolution: "Liberté, égalité, fraternité". In Billington''s historiography he presents the second and third terms as reactions to and expansions of the more rudimentary and susceptible to egoism liberty. He describes how the idea of brotherhood was inherited from secret and occult societies such as the freemasons and became an inflammatory idea which led to the Paris Commune but then was extinguished as far as popular revolutions went (until it resurfaced as national socialism in 1920s'' Germany). Instead the idea of egality would become the fuel for socialism and communism. Billington equates the two schools of thought, that both while working toward establishing these mutual goals together, are socially opposed in outside appearance. Both working toward this goal of a secular humanist society that is both egalitarian and utilitarian in their own respective way (one promoting individualism, the other collectivism). These two social power factions being founded by the two thinkers Proudhon and Marx. Proudhon being the social and secularist republican (anti-monarchist) individualist and Marx the socialist anarchist (communism) collectivist.

Fire in the Minds of Men: Origins of the Revolutionary Faith

The novel narrates the story of a Peruvian Army captain, Pantaleón Pantoja, whose superiors involve him, despite his reluctance, in a mission to satisfy the sex drives of soldiers stationed in the Peruvian department of Amazonas. Pantoja is chosen to carry out the mission by virtue of being a model soldier, free from vices and without children of his own. At first Pantaleón rejects the idea since it contradicts his principles, but nonetheless finds himself forced to carry it out. He decides to clean up the zone and military base since they are in terrible condition, and does not say anything to his wife Pochita, since his mission is top secret. The services—which are designated by the term “benefits”—that Pantoja tries to provide are called Servicio de Visitadoras para Guarniciones, Puestos de Frontera y Afines (SVGPFA) (Audit Services for Garrisons and Border-Related Posts), and consist in supplying prostitutes (“visitadoras”) to the barracks in Iquitos, where they are supposed to sexually satisfy the enlisted soldiers first, and to then be made available to the officers, while being an entirely secret matter. Among these sex workers is a very seductive woman, Olga Arellano (nicknamed “the Brazilian”), who becomes involved with Pantaleón, as the latter winds up being unfaithful to Pochita. Pantaleón is a man who is drowned by the solidity of his principles.—Mario Vargas Llosa After “the Brazilian” is assassinated by a group of furious locals, Pantaleón shows up at her funeral dressed in military uniform (thus going public with the nature of the audit services and revealing the secret which he was obliged to keep) in order to raise the morale of the sex workers. Due to the SVGPFA receiving a series of internal and external complaints from the Army, Pantaleón is thus forced to shut down the service under pressure from his superiors. The ensuing complication leads him to believe that his military career has come to an end, but his superiors grant him a last chance and send him far away, to Lake Titicaca (Peruvian Andes), to take charge of a garrison located there.

Captain Pantoja and the Special Service

It was a squyer of lowe degréThat loved the kings doughter of Hungré. After seven years of undeclared love the squire opens his heart to the princess. She replies that she loves him, but that as a mere squire he will have to prove himself by fighting his way to Jerusalem and laying his sword on the Holy Sepulchre. Only this, she believes, will be enough to convince her father that they should marry. Their conversation is overheard by the king&#39;s steward, who steals off to the king to report it, and adds the malicious lie that the squire has made an attempt on the princess&#39;s virtue. The king has a good opinion of the squire and is reluctant to believe this, but tells the steward to watch the princess&#39;s room closely to see whether the squire will visit her. The squire now goes to the king to ask his leave to go abroad adventuring. On being given this permission the squire sets out, but turns aside from his way to visit the princess&#39;s chamber and make his farewells. There, finding the steward and a numerous body of men-at-arms lying in wait for him, he asks the princess to let him in. Anone he sayde: "Your dore undo!Undo," he sayde, "nowe, fayre lady!I am beset with many a spy.Lady as whyte as whales bone,There are thyrty agaynst me one." But she, as a virtuous unmarried lady, turns him from her door and tells him to win her in marriage. Now the steward and his men approach the chamber to take the squire prisoner. Though he resists to such good effect that the steward is killed, the squire is finally taken prisoner by the steward&#39;s men. These men mutilate the dead steward&#39;s face, dress him in the squire&#39;s clothes, and leave him at the princess&#39;s door hoping she will mistake him for the squire. The princess is taken in by this trick, embalms the body of the dead steward and keeps it in a tomb by her bed. Meanwhile the squire is taken to the king, who imprisons him. Finally, finding that his daughter is inconsolable, the king releases the squire and allows him to go abroad. Anone the squyer passed the se.In Tuskayne and in Lumbardy,There he dyd great chyvalry.In Portyngale nor yet in Spayne,There myght no man stand hym agayne;And where that ever that knyght gan fare,The worshyp with hym away he bare.And thus he travayled seven yereIn many a land bothe farre and nere,Tyll on a day he thought hym thoUnto the sepulture for to go.And there he made his offerynge soone,Right as the kinges doughter bad him don. Having done all this he returns to Hungary. Here the princess, still lamenting her supposedly dead lover, has decided to retire from the world: And, squyer, for the love of thee,Fy on this worldes vanyté!Farewell golde pure and fyne;Farewell velvet and satyne;Farewell castelles and maners also;Farewell huntynge and hawkynge to;Farewell revell, myrthe, and play;Farewell pleasure and garmentes gay;Farewell perle and precyous stone;Farewell my juielles everychone;Farewell mantell and scarlet reed;Farewell crowne unto my heed;Farewell hawkes, and farewell hounde;Farewell markes and many a pounde;Farewell huntynge at the hare;Farewell harte and hynde for evermare.Nowe wyll I take the mantell and the rynge,And become an ancresse in my lyvynge.And yet I am a mayden for thee. Her father now belatedly tells her that she has been mourning the steward, and that the squire has returned from Jerusalem. He gives the lovers his blessing, and they marry.

The Squire of Low Degree

Elspeth McGillicuddy has come from Scotland to visit her old friend Jane Marple. On the way, her train passes another train running parallel to her. Then, a blind in one of the compartments flies up and she sees a woman being strangled to death! Only Miss Marple believes her story as there is no evidence of wrongdoing. The first task is to ascertain where the body could have been hidden. Comparison of the facts of the murder with the train timetable and the local geography lead to the grounds of Rutherford Hall as the only possible location: it is shielded from the surrounding community, the railway abuts the grounds, and so on. Lucy Eyelesbarrow, a young professional housekeeper and an acquaintance of Miss Marple, is sent undercover to Rutherford Hall. Josiah Crackenthorpe, purveyor of tea biscuits, built Rutherford Hall. His son, Luther, now a semi-invalid widower, had displayed spendthrift qualities in his youth. To preserve the family fortune, Josiah has left his considerable fortune in trust, the income from which is to be paid to Luther for life. After Luther''s death, the capital is to be divided equally among Luther''s children. Luther Crackenthorpe is merely the trustee of Rutherford Hall and hence cannot sell the house as per the will. The house itself will be inherited by Luther Crackenthorpe''s eldest surviving son or his issue. The eldest of Luther Crackenthorpe''s children, Edmund, died during World War II. His youngest daughter, Edith, died four years before. The remaining heirs to the estate are Cedric, a bohemian painter and lover of women who lives on Ibiza; Harold, a cold and stuffy banker; Alfred, the black sheep of the family who is known to engage in shady business dealings; Emma Crackenthorpe, a spinster who lives at home and takes care of Luther; and Alexander, son of Edith. The complement of characters is completed by Bryan Eastley, Alexander''s father; and Dr. Quimper, who looks after Luther''s health and is secretly romantically involved with Emma. Lucy uses golf practice as an excuse to search the grounds. She eventually finds the woman''s body hidden in a sarcophagus in the old stables amongst Luther''s collection of dubious antiques. But who is she? The police eventually identify the victim''s clothing as being of French manufacture. Emma tells the police that she has received a letter claiming to be from Martine, a French girl whom her brother Edmund had wanted to marry. He had written about Martine and their impending marriage days before his death in the retreat to Dunkirk in 1940. The letter purporting to be from Martine claims that she was pregnant when Edmund died and that she now wishes their son to have all of the advantages to which his parentage should entitle him. The police conclude that the body in the sarcophagus is that of Martine, but this proves not to be the case, when Lady Stoddart-West, mother of James Stoddart-West, a schoolfriend of Alexander''s, reveals that she is Martine. Although she and Edmund had intended to marry, Edmund died before they could do so and she later married an SOE officer, settling in England. The whole family takes ill suddenly and Alfred dies. Later, the curry made by Lucy on the fateful day is found to contain arsenic. Some days later, Harold, after returning home to London, receives a delivery of some tablets that appear to be the same as the sleeping pills prescribed to him by Dr Quimper, who had told him he need not take them any more. They prove to be poisoned and Harold dies. One by one, the heirs to Josiah''s fortune are being eliminated. Lucy arranges an afternoon-tea visit to Rutherford Hall for Miss Marple, and Mrs McGillicuddy is also invited. Mrs McGillicuddy is instructed by Miss Marple to ask to use the lavatory as soon as they arrive, but is not told why. Miss Marple is eating a fish-paste sandwich when she suddenly begins to choke. It seems she has a fishbone stuck in her throat. Dr Quimper moves to assist her. Mrs McGillicuddy enters the room at that moment, sees the doctor''s hands at Miss Marple''s throat, and cries out, "But that''s him &mdash; that''s the man on the train!" Miss Marple had correctly concluded that her friend would recognise the real murderer if she saw him again in a similar pose. It transpires that the murdered woman''s name was Anna Stravinska, a French ballet dancer who had been married to Dr Quimper many years earlier. Being a devout Catholic, she refused to divorce him, so he decided to murder her so as to be free to marry Emma, thus inheriting Josiah''s fortune, once he had eliminated the other heirs. He poisoned the cocktail when he sent a sample of the curry to be tested, he poisoned it "then". There was not enough to kill however, so he poisoned Alfred''s medicine and tea so the overdose murdered Alfred.

4.50 From Paddington

Marius, a sensitive only child of a patrician family, growing up near Luna in rural Etruria, is impressed by the traditions and rituals of the ancestral religion of the Lares, by his natural surroundings, and by a boyhood visit to a sanctuary of Aesculapius. His childhood ends with the death of his mother (he had early lost his father) and with his departure for boarding school in Pisae. As a youth he is befriended by and falls under the influence of a brilliant, hedonistic older boy, Flavianus, who awakens in him a love of literature (the two read with delight the story of Cupid and Psyche in Apuleius, and Pater in due course makes Flavian, who is "an ardent student of words, of the literary art", the author of the Pervigilium Veneris). Flavian falls ill during the Festival of Isis and Marius tends him during his long death-agony (end of ''Part the First''). Grown to manhood, Marius now embraces the philosophy of the ''flux'' of Heraclitus and the Epicureanism (or Cyrenaicism) of Aristippus. He journeys to Rome (166 AD), encountering by chance on the way a blithesome young knight, Cornelius, who becomes a friend. Marius explores Rome in awe, and, "as a youth of great attainments in Greek letters and philosophy", is appointed amanuensis to the Emperor Marcus Aurelius. Aurelius''s Meditations on Stoicism and on Plato, and the public lectures of the rhetorician Fronto, open Marius'' eyes to the narrowness of Epicureanism. Aurelius''s indifference, however, to the cruelty to animals in the amphitheatre, and later to the torments inflicted on people there, causes Marius to question the values of Stoicism (end of ''Part the Second''). Disillusioned with Rome and the imperial court which seem "like some stifling forest of bronze-work, transformed as if by malign enchantment out of the living trees", puzzled by the source of Cornelius''s serenity, still Epicurean by temperament but seeking a more satisfying life-philosophy, Marius makes repeated visits alone to the Campagna and Alban Hills, on one occasion experiencing in the Sabine Hills a sort of spiritual "epiphany" on a perfect day of peace and beauty (end of ''Part the Third''). Later he is taken by Cornelius to a household in the Campagna centred on a charismatic young widow, Cecilia, where prevails an atmosphere of peace and love, gradually revealing itself as a new religion with liturgy and rituals that appeal aesthetically and emotionally to Marius. The sense of purposeful community there, set against the persecution of Christians by the authorities and the competing philosophical systems in Rome, contributes to Marius'' mood of isolation and emotional failure. Overshadowed by thoughts of mortality he revisits home and pays his respects to the family dead, burying their funerary urns, and sets out again for Rome in Cornelius''s company. On the way the two are arrested as part of a sweep of suspected Christians. It emerges that only one of the young men is of this sect, and Marius, unbeknown to Cornelius, makes their captors believe it is he. Cornelius is set free, deceived into thinking that Marius will follow shortly. The latter endures hardship and exhaustion as he journeys captive towards Rome, falls ill, and dying is abandoned by his captors. "Had there been one to listen just then," Pater comments, "there would have come, from the very depth of his desolation, an eloquent utterance at last, on the irony of men''s fates, on the singular accidents of life and death." Marius is tended in his last days by some poor country people, secret believers who ironically take him to be one of their own. Though he has shown little interest in the doctrines of the new faith and dies more or less in ignorance of them, he is nevertheless, Pater implies, "a soul naturally Christian" (anima naturaliter christiana ) and he finds peace in his final hours as he reviews his life (end of ''Part the Fourth'').

Marius the Epicurean

Dickens divides the book into five chapters, which he labels "staves", that is, song stanzas or verses, in keeping with the title of the book. He uses a similar device in his next two Christmas books, titling the four divisions of The Chimes, "quarters", after the quarter-hour tolling of clock chimes, and naming the parts of The Cricket on the Hearth "chirps". The tale begins on a "cold, bleak, biting" Christmas Eve in 1843 exactly seven years after the death of Ebenezer Scrooge''s business partner, Jacob Marley. Scrooge is established within the first stave as "a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner!" who has no place in his life for kindness, compassion, charity or benevolence. He hates Christmas, calling it "humbug", refuses his nephew Fred''s dinner invitation, and rudely turns away two gentlemen who seek a donation from him to provide a Christmas dinner for the Poor. His only "Christmas gift" is allowing his overworked, underpaid clerk Bob Cratchit Christmas Day off with pay - which he does only to keep with social custom, Scrooge considering it "a poor excuse for picking a man’s pocket every twenty-fifth of December!". Returning home that evening, Scrooge is visited by Marley''s ghost. Dickens describes the apparition thus - "Marley''s face...had a dismal light about it, like a bad lobster in a dark cellar." It has a bandage under its chin, tied at the top of its head; "...how much greater was his horror, when the phantom taking off the bandage round its head, as if it were too warm to wear indoors, its lower jaw dropped down upon its breast!" Marley warns Scrooge to change his ways lest he undergo the same miserable afterlife as himself. Scrooge is then visited by three additional ghosts&nbsp;– each in its turn, and each visit detailed in a separate stave&nbsp;– who accompany him to various scenes with the hope of achieving his transformation. The first of the spirits, the Ghost of Christmas Past, takes Scrooge to Christmas scenes of his boyhood and youth, which stir the old miser''s gentle and tender side by reminding him of a time when he was more innocent. They also show what made Scrooge the miser that he is, and why he dislikes Christmas. The second spirit, the Ghost of Christmas Present, takes Scrooge to several differing scenes - a joy-filled market of people buying the makings of Christmas dinner, the celebration of Christmas in a miner''s cottage, and a lighthouse. A major part of this stave is taken up with the family feast of Scrooge''s impoverished clerk Bob Cratchit, introducing his youngest son, Tiny Tim, who is seriously ill but cannot receive treatment due to Scrooge''s unwillingness to pay Cratchit a decent wage. The third spirit, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, harrows Scrooge with dire visions of the future if he does not learn and act upon what he has witnessed including Tiny Tim''s death. It is shown that Scrooge has passed away where businessmen planned to attend if lunch is provided. Scrooge''s charwoman Mrs. Dilber had stolen some of Scrooge''s belongings and given them to a fence named Old Joe. Scrooge''s own neglected and untended grave is then revealed, prompting the miser to aver that he will change his ways in hopes of changing these "shadows of what may be." In the fifth and final stave, Scrooge awakens on Christmas morning with joy and love in his heart, then spends the day with his nephew''s family after anonymously sending a prize turkey to the Cratchit home for Christmas dinner. Scrooge has become a different man overnight and now treats his fellow men with kindness, generosity and compassion, gaining a reputation as a man who embodies the spirit of Christmas. The story closes with the narrator confirming the validity, completeness and permanence of Scrooge''s transformation.

A Christmas Carol

The story follows the adventures of a fictional "Cyrus Spitama", an Achaemenid Persian diplomat of the 5th century BCE who travels the known world comparing the political and religious beliefs of various nation states of the time. Over the course of his life, he meets many influential philosophical figures of his time, including Zoroaster, Socrates, the Buddha, Mahavira, Lao Tsu, and Confucius. Cyrus, who is the grandson of Zoroaster and who survives his murder, grows up at the Achaemenid court as a quasi-noble, and becomes a close friend of his schoolmate Xerxes. Because of Cyrus'' talent for languages, the Achaemenid King, Darius I, sends him as an ambassador to certain kingdoms in India, but Cyrus is more interested in the many religious theories he encounters there than in establishing profitable trade relations for Darius. After coming to power, Cyrus'' former schoolmate, now King Xerxes I, sends Cyrus to China, where he spends several years as a captive and "honored guest" in one of the warring states of the Middle Kingdom, and spends a great deal of time with Confucius. Upon returning home, Cyrus witnesses the defeat of Xerxes and the end of the Greco-Persian wars. Cyrus then goes into retirement, but is called upon by Xerxes'' successor, Artaxerxes I, to serve as ambassador to Athens and witness to the secret peace treaty between Pericles and himself. The story is related in the first person as recalled to his Greek great-nephew Democritus. Cyrus''s recollection is said to be motivated in part by his desire to set the record straight following the publication by Herodotus of an account of the Greco-Persian wars.

Creation

The novel begins approximately three weeks after the events of the story "The Melancholy Journey of Mr. Teal" in The Holy Terror. Simon Templar, accompanied by his lover/partner Patricia Holm, has departed England on a well-deserved holiday from crime-fighting. While visiting Innsbruck, Austria with their friend, book editor Monty Hayward (making his first appearance in the series), the trio are out for a late-night walk when they see a man being attacked by thugs. They stop the attack, but the victim is particularly ungrateful, forcing Templar to knock him out, too. Intrigued by the man''s attitude -- as well as by a steel box attached to his wrist (which later turns out to be a miniature safe filled with recently-stolen diamonds), Templar decides to take the unconscious man back to his hotel room. Before long, however, the man is stabbed to death in Templar''s bed and Templar finds himself in yet another encounter with Prince Rudolf -- one of the men responsible for the death of his friend Norman Kent in The Last Hero. Simon and Patricia (with very reluctant adventurer Monty in tow) find themselves on a cross-continent race against Rudolf and his minions (who are pursuing the diamonds) and the police (who want Templar and Monty for the murder of the courier). Along the way, the trio picks up a female crime reporter who takes part in the adventure in her quest for a career-making scoop on The Saint. Whereas the previous book, The Holy Terror, takes place over the course of nearly a year, the events of Getaway take place over little more than 24 hours. The text indicates that this story takes place about two years after the events of The Last Hero. It is the first Saint story to take place completely outside of Great Britain since the novella "The Wonderful War" in Featuring the Saint. Some editions of the novel (such as the Fiction Publishing Co. edition) omit a prologue that recaps the events of "The Melancholy Journey of Mr. Teal". According to this prologue (and later repeated within the main body of the text), the Saint has been "buccaneering" for 10 years by the time of this novel, during which time he had amassed a personal fortune of approximately 100,000 pounds, which was finally topped up by his absconding with a villain''s diamonds at the end of "Melancholy Journey". Much of the book is told from Monty Hayward''s point of view. According to The Saint: A Complete History in Print, Radio, Film and Television 1928-1992 by Burl Barer, the character was based upon Charteris'' real-life editor, Monty Haydon.

Over 8000 Takeaways For Your Brain!

Read - Listen - Learn

Spellbound

By Jane Green

Father of Lies

By Brian Evenson

The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution

By Richard Dawkins

Rifles for Watie

By Harold Keith

Fire in the Minds of Men: Origins of the Revolutionary Faith

By James H. Billington

Captain Pantoja and the Special Service

By Mario Vargas Llosa

The Squire of Low Degree

No Author Listed

4.50 From Paddington

By Agatha Christie

Marius the Epicurean

By Walter Pater

A Christmas Carol

By Charles Dickens

Creation

By Gore Vidal

Getaway

By Leslie Charteris