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  Nobel Prize The: Ten Winners - A...

  WB Yeats

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  Being acknowledged for what you do is always very welcome.   When it comes to Oscar’s, Emmy’s, Pulitzer’s and Nobel’s it’s also international news and for many, the pinnacle of their career. 
   
  The Nobel Prize is much lauded and very difficult to secure.  In this volume we list ten of its winners over the decades who were famed for their literature.  The prize is given with an emphasis on its contribution to literature and its influence in the world and for the individual, more usually, for the body of work created. 
   
  So, whilst none of the stories in this volume were winners in their own right, their authors most certainly were.  They perfectly illustrate both the nature and mastery of the writing and the power and the purpose set within its storied prose. 
   
  1 - The Nobel Prize - Ten Winners - An Introduction 
  2 - The Father by Bjornstjerne Bjornson 
  3 - The Phantom Rickshaw by Rudyard Kipling 
  4 - The Victory by Rabindranath Tagore 
  5 - An Arch Rascal by Knut Hamsun 
  6 - The Daughter of Lilith by Anatole France 
  7 - Dhoya by W B Yeats 
  8 - Speed by Sinclair Lewis 
  9 - The Salvation of a Forsythe - Part 1 by John Galsworthy 
  10 - The Salvation of a Forsythe - Part 2 by John Galsworthy 
  11 - Son by Ivan Bunin 
  12 - Sicilian Limes by Luigi Pirandello

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  The Chouans

  Honoré de Balzac

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  The Chouans by Honoré de Balzac is a sweeping historical novel that brings to life one of the most turbulent periods in French history. Set in 1799 during the aftermath of the French Revolution, this gripping narrative plunges readers into the violent struggle between Royalist insurgents and Republican forces in the rugged countryside of Brittany. Blending political conflict with intense personal drama, Balzac crafts a story of loyalty, betrayal, passion, and destiny against the backdrop of civil war.
  
  At the center of the novel is Marie de Verneuil, a beautiful and intelligent woman sent by the Republican government on a covert mission to capture or eliminate a charismatic Royalist leader known as the Marquis de Montauran. Determined and resourceful, Marie enters the volatile region under false pretenses, prepared to use charm and deception to accomplish her objective. Yet as she encounters Montauran, she finds herself torn between duty and unexpected emotion.
  
  Montauran, courageous and devoted to the Royalist cause, embodies the fading ideals of nobility and honor. His leadership of the Chouans—a band of Breton insurgents fiercely loyal to the monarchy—places him at the heart of a desperate resistance movement. The dense forests and isolated villages of Brittany become a battlefield where ambushes, shifting allegiances, and political maneuvering determine survival.
  
  Balzac vividly portrays the tension between revolutionary ideals and traditional loyalties, capturing the uncertainty of a nation struggling to redefine itself. Through detailed descriptions of the Breton landscape and its people, he immerses readers in a world marked by suspicion, secrecy, and fierce conviction. The novel's atmosphere is charged with danger, as personal motives intertwine with political agendas.
  
  At its core, The Chouans is also a tragic love story. Marie's growing affection for Montauran complicates her mission, forcing her to confront the moral consequences of her choices. The clash between love and ideology drives the narrative toward a dramatic and poignant conclusion, revealing how political conflict can devastate private lives.
  
  As Balzac's first major success and an early work in his vast literary project, La Comédie Humaine, The Chouans showcases his talent for combining historical realism with psychological depth. The novel not only recreates a specific moment in French history but also explores timeless themes of honor, sacrifice, and the cost of loyalty.
  
  Rich in suspense, romance, and political intrigue, The Chouans remains a compelling portrait of a divided nation and the individuals caught within its storm. Balzac's masterful storytelling transforms historical events into a vivid human drama, making this novel a classic of French literature and a powerful meditation on love and war.

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  Don't Break My Rice Bowl - A...

  Robert H. Dodd, Patricia Rykiel,...

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  Feeling life is slipping him by, an American agriculturalist heads to Vietnam to try and make a difference in the lives of the people as part of President Johnson's 'Hearts and Minds' campaign. There is just one big problem - there's a war going on. 
  Eddie joins a small group of civilian advisors chosen to work with local farmers to help make Vietnam once again self-sufficient in rice. He is drawn to the adventure, the challenge, and the opportunity to make a difference, but he is leaving some problems behind. 
  His story follows the ups and downs of cultural and tropical agriculture training in Washington DC and the Philippines, and then his assignment in the Gia Dinh province just outside Saigon. The stakes increase as the war intensifies and Eddie's connections in the country deepen, providing the backdrop for the cultural, political and personal struggles that unfold. 
  This semi-autobiographical novel shines a light on a relatively unknown part of Vietnam War history as elements of Asian history and culture, including the introduction of 'miracle rice', are woven into the challenges of being a civilian trying to work - and live - in a war zone. 
  The poignant Foreword by his daughter, the Afterword by his second wife, the Appendix, and 25 hand painted illustrations by his granddaughter provide added layers to the story. The fragility of life was the late author's parting lesson; however, these words left behind were his ultimate gift.

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  Gods are Athirst

  Anatole France

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  The Gods Are Athirst (French: Les dieux ont soif, also translated as The Gods Are Thirsty or The Gods Will Have Blood) is a 1912 novel by Anatole France. The story follows the young Parisian painter Évariste Gamelin, who rises speedily from his humble beginnings to a member of the Revolutionary Tribunal in the second and third year of the French Revolution. In brilliant prose, Anatole France describes how Évariste's idealism turns into fanaticism, and he allows more and more heads to roll and blood to flow, placing himself and those he loves into ever greater danger. - Summary by Wikipedia and Carolin

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  The Hollow Vale - Short Stories:...

  Alexander Paul Burton

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  In a land veiled by mists and steeped in history, The Hollow Vale weaves a haunting tale of fate, sacrifice, and the indelible pull of memory. Velden Nan-once Eadgifu-heeds the call of the Wyrd, leaving behind her daughter, Ethelwyn, and the familiar rhythms of life in Elderglen. Under the shadow of the Thorn Tree, where ancient roots coil around secrets long buried, the Spiral turns, binding past, present, and future in unyielding threads. 
   Set against a backdrop inspired by the marshes, hills, and ruins of Somerset, this richly imagined story explores the tension between faith and folklore, memory and loss. From the perilous waters of the Wyther Isles, where the sea tolls its mournful bell, to the sacred Isle of Batt, where Pagan shrines and Christian sanctuaries whisper uneasily of the past, the narrative dances between the tangible and the ethereal. 
   As Ethelwyn uncovers her family's legacy, she is drawn ever deeper into the Wyrd's embrace-a force that echoes through glades where silence breathes, through ruins where shadows linger, and through lives intertwined by the spiral's eternal turning. History becomes a mirror and a shadow, refracted through longing and the toll of unspoken truths. 
  Evocative and timeless, The Hollow Vale is a journey into the spaces between myth and reality, where the weight of ancestral memory and the call of the unknown ask the ultimate question: How far would you follow the threads of fate?

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  A Caribbean Mystery - A Miss...

  Agatha Christie

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  The delightful Miss Marple is ensnared in A Caribbean Mystery when a retired military man sparks her curiosity with a photograph and a strange story of a murderer 
  As Miss Marple sat basking in the Caribbean sunshine, she felt mildly discontented with life. True, the warmth eased her rheumatism, but here in paradise nothing ever happened. 
  Eventually, her interest was aroused by an old soldier’s yarn about a murderer he had known. Infuriatingly, just as he was about to show her a snapshot of this acquaintance, the Major was suddenly interrupted. A diversion that was to prove fatal.

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