A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS by Khaled Hosseini
A Thousand Splendid Suns
is a breathtaking story set against the volatile events of Afghanistan’s
last thirty years—from the Soviet invasion to the reign of the Taliban
to the post-Taliban rebuilding—that puts the violence, fear, hope, and
faith of this country in intimate, human terms. It is a tale of two
generations of characters brought jarringly together by the tragic sweep
of war, where personal lives—the struggle to survive, raise a family,
find happiness—are inextricable from the history playing out around
them.
Propelled by the same storytelling instinct that made The Kite Runner
a beloved classic, A Thousand Splendid Suns is at once a
remarkable chronicle of three decades of Afghan history and a deeply
moving account of family and friendship. It is a striking,
heart-wrenching novel of an unforgiving time, an unlikely friendship,
and an indestructible love—a stunning accomplishment.
THE ACCIDENTAL by Ali Smith
Amber—thirtysomething and barefoot—shows up at the door of the Norfolk cottage that the Smarts are renting for the summer. She talks her way in. She tells nothing but lies. She stays for dinner." "Eve Smart, the author of a best-selling series of biographical reconstructions, thinks Amber is a student with whom her husband, Michael, is sleeping. Michael, an English professor, knows only that her car broke down.
Daughter Astrid, age twelve, thinks she's her mother's friend. Son Magnus, age seventeen, thinks she's an angel." As Amber insinuates herself into the family, the questions of who she is and how she's come to be there drop away.
Instead, dazzled by her seeming exoticism, the Smarts begin to examine the accidents of their lives through the searing lens of Amber's perceptions. When Eve finally banishes her from the cottage, Amber disappears from their sight, but not—they discover when they return home to London—from their profoundly altered lives.
THE INHERITORS by William Golding
Eight Neanderthals encounter another race of beings like themselves, yet strangely different. This new race, Homo sapiens, fascinating in their skills and sophistication, terrifying in their cruelty, sense of guilt, and incipient corruption, spell doom for the more gentle folk whose world they will inherit. Golding, author of Lord of the Flies, won the 1983 Nobel Prize for Literature.
THE WARDEN by Anthony Trollope
The Warden by Anthony Trollope
The Warden concerns Mr Septimus Harding, the meek, elderly
warden of Hiram's Hospital and
precentor of Barchester
Cathedral, in the fictional county of
Barsetshire.
Hiram's
Hospital is an almshouse supported by a
medieval charitable bequest to the Diocese of Barchester. The income maintains
the almshouse itself, supports its twelve bedesmen, and, in addition, provides a
comfortable abode and living for its warden. Mr Harding was appointed to this
position through the patronage of his old friend the Bishop of Barchester, who
is also the father of Archdeacon Grantly to whom Harding's older daughter,
Susan, is married. The warden, who lives with his remaining child, an unmarried
younger daughter Eleanor, performs his duties conscientiously.
The story
concerns the impact upon Harding and his circle when a zealous young reformer,
John Bold, launches a campaign to expose the disparity in the apportionment of
the charity's income between its object, the bedesmen, and its officer, Mr
Harding. John Bold embarks on this campaign in a spirit of public duty despite
his romantic involvement with Eleanor and previously cordial relations with Mr
Harding. Bold starts a lawsuit and Mr Harding is advised by the indomitable Dr
Grantly, his son-in-law, to stand his ground.
Bold
attempts to enlist the support of the press and engages the interest of The
Jupiter (a newspaper representing The Times) whose editor, Tom Towers, pens
editorials supporting reform of the charity, and presenting a portrait of Mr
Harding as selfish and derelict in his conduct of his office. This image is
taken up by commentators Dr Pessimist Anticant, and Mr Popular Sentiment, who
have been seen as caricatures of Thomas Carlyle and Charles Dickens respectively.[2]
Ultimately,
despite much browbeating by his son-in-law, the Archdeacon, and the legal
opinion solicited from the barrister, Sir Abraham Haphazard, Mr Harding
concludes that he cannot in good conscience continue to accept such generous
remuneration and resigns the office. John Bold, who has appealed in vain to Tom
Towers to redress the injury to Mr Harding, returns to Barchester where he
marries Eleanor after halting legal proceedings.
Those of
the bedesmen of the hospital who have allowed their appetite for greater income
to estrange them from the warden are reproved by their senior member, Bunce,
who has been constantly loyal to Harding whose good care and understanding
heart are now lost to them. At the end of the novel the bishop decides that the
wardenship of Hiram's Hospital be left vacant, and none of the bedesmen are
offered the extra money despite vacancy of the post. Mr Harding, on the other
hand, becomes Rector of St. Cuthbert's, a small parish near the Cathedral
Close, drawing a much lesser income than before.
Characters of the novel
- Septimus Harding, the quiet, music-loving
Warden of Hiram's Hospital, who has two daughters and is also the precentor of Barchester Cathedral. He
becomes the centre of a dispute concerning his substantial income as the
hospital's warden.
- Archdeacon Grantly, Mr Harding's indefatigable
son-in-law, married to Susan Harding. The archdeacon's father is the
Bishop of Barchester. He does not agree with John Bold and stands opposed
to his father-in-law relinquishing his office.
- Mrs Susan Grantly, Mr Harding's elder
daughter and the Archdeacon's wife.
- John Bold, a young surgeon, a zealous
church reformer. He is interested in Eleanor Harding and later drops the
suit.
- Mary Bold, John Bold's sister and
friend to Elneaor.
- Eleanor Harding, the romantic interest of
John Bold, who is Mr Harding's younger daughter.
- Abraham Haphazard, a London barrister of high
renown.
- Tom Towers, the editor of the
influential newspaper, The Jupiter. He writes an editorial
deploring Harding as a greedy clergyman who receives more than he deserves
in a sinecure post.
- Bunce, the senior bedesman at
Hiram's Hospital, who supports Mr Harding retaining his position.
