Showing results by narrator "Michael Page" in All Categories

The Soviet Union was one of the most secretive states that ever existed. Defended by a complex apparatus of rules and checks administered by the secret police, the Soviet state had seemingly unprecedented capabilities based on its near monopoly of productive capital, monolithic authority, and secretive decision making. But behind the scenes, Soviet secrecy was double-edged. Mark Harrison combines quantitative and qualitative evidence to evaluate the impact of secrecy on Soviet state capacity from the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution to the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Elena Rudina lives in the impoverished Russian countryside. Her father has been dead for years. Her brothers have been conscripted into the Tsar's army and taken as servants in the house of the local wealthy landowner. Her mother is dying, slowly, in their tiny cabin. And there is no food. But then a train arrives in the village, a train carrying untold wealth, a cornucopia of food, and a noble family destined to visit the Tsar in St. Petersburg - a family that includes Ekaterina, a girl of Elena's age.

The Dutch are trying to free themselves from the Spanish yolk, and the dynamic and charismatic revolutionary, William of Orange, is risking life and limb for the nation he so desperately loves. But when the Spanish monarch offers glory, titles, and twenty thousand crowns for the man who can silence William, the battle for the Netherlands becomes an assassin's game.

Exiled from the court of Queen Elizabeth for accusing a powerful nobleman of treason, swordsman-turned-spy Mal Catlyn has been living in France with his young valet, Coby Hendricks, for the past year. But Mal harbours a darker secret: he and his twin brother share a soul that once belonged to a skrayling, one of the mystical creatures from the New World.

K52 is a vast artificial intelligence with world domination on its mind.... If it succeeds in creating an artificial reality based on our own universe, it could gain enough data to allow it to alter reality itself, turning k52 into the ultimate arbiter of mankind’s fate. It’s down to Richards and Klein to stop k52 – even though the alternative could be worse!

Some time after the events of Fiendish Schemes, George Dower finds himself a widower, of sorts. On her deathbed, Miss McThane entrusts Dower with a small, ticking clockwork box. The box is mysteriously linked to her. When she breathes her last, the box stops ticking and Dower is able to open it, to find hundreds of letters - written in an unknown hand, signed only with the initial S. They’re not love letters, but refer instead to the letter-writer’s ongoing search for some other person. The last is a simple note, reading “Found him”...

Great Expectations chronicles the progress of Pip from childhood through adulthood. As he moves from the marshes of Kent to London society, he encounters a variety of extraordinary characters: from Magwitch, the escaped convict, to Miss Havisham and her ward, the arrogant and beautiful Estella. In this fascinating story, Dickens shows the dangers of being driven by a desire for wealth and social status. Pip must establish a sense of self against the plans which others seem to have for him—and somehow discover a firm set of values and priorities.

Following the death of her father, Isabel Archer leaves the comforts of Albany, New York, to stay with her aunt, Lydia Touchett, at her London estate. There she meets Lydia's rich husband, David; her cousin, Ralph; and the Touchetts' proud neighbor, Lord Warburton. Soon, too, come marriage proposals from Lord Warburton and Caspar Goodwood, the son of a wealthy mill owner. Although Isabel declines both offers, she eventually gives her hand to Gilbert Osmond, an American expat in Florence.

In David Coe's Dark-Eyes' War, a bitter old woman’s curse has set in motion events that have felled innocent lives across an already war-weary land. She has paid the ultimate price, and an end to the curse is at hand, but her evil has created chaos and destruction.Qirsi all across the Southlands are dying froma plague that turns their own magic against them, allowingan Eandi army from Stelpana to boldly march into their territory.

Sent to execute the king’s cryptic command to destroy an evil sorcerer, capture his castle, and take his daughter to wife, Alain De Crency expects a hard siege. Instead, the castle is undefended, the daughter vanished, and the sorcerer dead, shrouded in a purple cloak. Alain lays claim to the cloak and searches for the missing daughter. But soon he faces a new dilemma: How can he marry the missing lady when a beautiful, evasive servant has captured his desire?

Anne Elliot is a young woman of perfect breeding and unwavering integrity. Seven years after she is persuaded to reject Captain Wentworth's offer of marriage, her feelings for him are still strong. By the time she realizes this, Wentworth seems to only have eyes for the attractive, though flighty, Louisa Musgrove. Set against the world of the country gentry in Regency England, Persuasion critically portrays the many aspects of proper society.

Doctor Felix Hoffmann is furious when an infusion pump mysteriously fails, nearly killing his 82-year-old patient. But his anger quickly turns to suspicion when he learns the patient’s posh apartment is for sale - without the patient’s knowledge. Together with his vivacious girlfriend, Celine, Felix discovers that someone at the hospital has concocted a deadly scheme to fleece geriatric patients and then hasten their deaths. Turns out he didn’t save his patient from an equipment failure - he saved him from murder.

Emma Bovary, daughter of an uneducated farmer and wife of a dull doctor in northern France, harbors a passion for everything beyond her grasp - sophistication, romance, love, and deliverance from her banal provincial life. Motivated by the primal, idealized, and vain, she seeks adventure. And with each new endeavor, Emma sets for herself an inevitable and inescapable trap.

At Baskerville Hall on the grim moors of Devonshire, a legendary curse has apparently claimed one more victim. Sir Charles Baskerville has been found dead. There are no signs of violence, but his face is hideously distorted with terror. Years earlier, a houndlike beast with blazing eyes and dripping jaws was reported having torn out Hugo Baskerville's throat. Is Sir Henry Baskerville, younger heir to the estate, now in danger?

The Moment of Liberation in Western Europe: Power Struggles & Rebellions, 1943-1948, regards the final two years of World War II and the immediate post-liberation period as a moment in 20th century history when the shape and contours of postwar Western Europe appeared highly uncertain and various alternatives and conflicting visions were up for grabs. After close to six years of total war, Nazi terror, and brutal occupation policies, a growing number of Europeans were no longer content solely to fight for national liberation from fascist control.

A novel of immense power, Wuthering Heights is filled with the raw beauty of the English moors and a deep compassion for the conflicting destinies of men and women. The novel begins with Lockwood, a tenant who takes up residence close to Wuthering Heights. His landlord, Mr. Heathcliff, proves to be surly, unfriendly, and rude. When Lockwood discovers a mildewed book with the names Catherine Earnshaw, Catherine Heathcliff, and Catherine Linton scratched on its cover, he begins to read, sojourning on a strange tale that proves irresistible. The heart-wrenching story he discovers about stubborn Cathy and wild-as-the-wind Heathcliff has been a favorite since its original publication in 1848.

Doctor Felix Hoffmann is a seasoned physician at a Berlin hospital, respected by colleagues and devoted to his intelligent girlfriend, Celine. It’s a life filled with medical work, televised soccer games, and the chill of German beer. And when a former patient shows up dead by causes unknown, curiosity and sheer medical devotion propel Hoffmann to investigate. But his autopsy order goes unfulfilled as the body is cremated and hospital records vanish.

If you have ever been touched with a profound mystical experience, the daily grind of ordinary life can feel soul-crushing at times. How can you thrive in the here and now - managing image, career, and family - while surrendering the ego and embracing a power from beyond? Guided: Journey into the Unknown to Awaken the Soul and Live in Truth reveals an unexpected passage from fragmentation to wholeness, from hiding to being seen, and from fear to love.

Das Motto eines Schreibwettbewerbs der Schülerzeitung heißt: Romantic Love. Biggi möchte auch teilnehmen und kommt auf ungewöhnliche Weise zu einer unwahrscheinlichen Story. Dolly ist eifersüchtig auf Biggis Erfolg und schickt ein riesiges Überraschungspaket.

Ein Zauberer ist in der Stadt. Und wenn der Typ auch ein bisschen merkwürdig ist - seine Tricks sind super. Doch plötzlich passiert etwas mit den vier jungen Vampiren, was nicht eingeplant war. Allerlei Zauberei.