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  The Four Books - A Novel

  Yan Lianke

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  From the Franz Kafka Prize–winning author of Lenin’s Kiss, a “stupendous and unforgettable” novel of Mao’s China (The Times, London).   In the ninety-ninth district of a re-education compound, freethinking artists and academics are detained to strengthen their loyalty to Communist ideologies. Here, the Musician and her lover, the Scholar, along with the Author and the Theologian, are subjected to grinding physical labor. They are also encouraged to inform on each other’s dissident behavior—for the prize of a chance at freedom.   Their preadolescent supervisor, the Child, delights in reward systems and excessive punishments. But when agricultural and industrial production quotas are raised to an unattainable level, the ninety-ninth district dissolves into lawlessness. As inclement weather and famine set in, the people are abandoned by the regime and left alone to survive.   Set inside a labor camp during Mao’s Great Leap Forward, Booklist calls The Four Books a “rich and complex novel,” from “China’s most heralded and censored modern writer” (The South China Morning Post).

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  Phineas Redux

  Anthony Trollope

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  Phineas Finn is the fourth in Trollope's series of six Palliser novels.  At the end of Phineas Finn, the second novel in the series, Phineas had returned to Ireland and married his childhood sweetheart after having left the House of Commons.  As Phineas Redux opens, Phineas is working as a Poorhouse Inspector in Ireland. His wife having died in childbirth, he finds his existence dull and unsatisfying. Phineas' returns to England; his career advances and his romantic adventures continue, while we encounter many familiar characters including Glencora and Plantagenet Palliser, Madame Goesler, and Lizzie Eustace and her husband the Reverand Mr. AEmelius. (Summary by Karen Merline) 
   
  Warning!  Do not read the Wikipedia article linked to the title of this novel unless you are prepared for a SPOILER!!! 
   
  LibriVox recordings of other novels in the series are available:1-Can You Forgive Her?2-Phineas Finn, the Irish Member3-The Eustace Diamonds4-Phineas Redux5-The Prime Minister6-The Duke’s Children

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  Secrets of a Proper Lady

  Victoria Alexander

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  The delicious series about four men desperately trying to avoid matrimony continues—from the #1 New York Times–bestselling author of What a Lady Wants. 
   
  Lady Cordelia Bannister simply cannot marry a man she has not chosen herself, no matter what her father decrees. So, pretending to be her own companion, she decides to seek out information about her intended by meeting with his secretary—a man who soon beguiles her. But Lady Cordelia doesn’t know the truth—the man she can’t resist is really her intended, Daniel Sinclair. 
   
  Daniel has nearly won the wager he made with three of London’s most eligible bachelors. While two of his compatriots have surrendered to the shackles of marriage, he’s remained free to woo any woman he chooses. Yet duty forces him to consider Lady Cordelia, so, determined to find a way to escape honor intact, he continues the masquerade he started. 
   
  Each finds the other completely irresistible, but when they uncover their mutual mistaken identities, Daniel and Cordelia must make the most important choice of all . . . 
   
  “A laugh-out-loud romantic comedy chockfull of witty dialogue, sensual romance and enough twist and turns to keep readers thoroughly entertained.” —Fresh Fiction 
   
  “Alexander knows what her romance readers want—charming characters, sharp banter, missed connections and a happy ending—and delivers with gusto.” —Publishers Weekly

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  The Lady Carey

  Anne R. Bailey

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  “The King will decide what is treason...” 
  These are words Catherine Carey has heard before, and they’ve always led to the block. As a girl, she saw her aunt, Anne Boleyn, go to the scaffold. Now she might see yet another Queen suffer the same fate. She has to decide. To serve her mistress would be treason, to abandon her would mean the doom of a good lady. She knows her duty is to serve her family, but what about her heart and her conscience? 
  In a world where any indiscretion can lead to death, where competition corrupts any friendship, and where your family is ready to abandon you, Catherine must stay ahead of the ever-changing rules. The King is becoming a monster, ready to turn on those he claimed to love. As a lady-in-waiting, Catherine sees first hand the danger of the Tudor court. She finds her dreams changing from grandeur to the peaceful existence of a country life. 
  However, when you are part of the great Howard family, the illegitimate daughter of the King, and cousin to the future Queen of England, there is no place for you but court. 
  Part of the Royal Court Series which can be read as a standalone novel.

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  Windsor Castle Book 1

  William Harrison Ainsworth

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  Book 1 - Anne Boleyn.  The focus of the novels is on the events surrounding Henry VIII's replacing Catherine of Aragon with Anne Boleyn as his wife. During Henry's pursuit of Boleyn, the novel describes other couples, including the Earl of Surrey and Lady Elizabeth Fitzgerald, a match Henry does not support. However, some of the individuals oppose Henry and his desires for Boleyn, including Thomas Wyat who wants her for himself and Cardinal Wolsey, who uses a maiden of mysterious birth, Mabel Lyndwood, to lure Henry away from Boleyn. [...] Intertwined with the Court is the story of Herne the Hunter, a spirit of Windsor Forest. He is an evil force that seeks to take the souls of various individuals, and Henry tries to stop him, but is never able to do so. (Summary adapted from Wikipedia) Other books in the series:Book 2  Book 3Book 4Book 5Book 6

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  The Silk Tree

  Julian Stockwin

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  Forced to flee Rome, merchant Nicander meets an unlikely ally in the form of Marius, a fierce Roman legionary. Escaping to a new life in Constantinople, the two land upon its shores lonely and penniless. Needing to make money fast, they plot a wicked plan to steal precious silk seeds from the faraway land of Seres, Nicander and Marius must embark upon a terrifyingly treacherous journey across unknown lands, never before completed.

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