A Study Guide for William Nicholson's "Shadowlands," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Drama For Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Drama For Students for all of your research needs.
Jack Lewis is smug in his convictions about God and His plan for the world until Joy and her young son enter his life and the bewildered theoretician of love in the abstract finally confronts its direct presence.
Seventeen-year-olds Maddy Fisher and Rich Ross yearn for love, and after their first attempts at relationships go awry, they find one another and form a deep bond that can only be expressed one way.
Cool, clear-eyed, and bluntly cynical, the young narrator of The Society of Others embarks on a journey without a destination. He hitchhikes through Europe only to find himself in a mystifying country where terrorists are inexplicably after him, and so is a sinister government. In a surreal landscape where people are shot to death without reason and social control runs deep, he must learn who to trust–and what to stand for. Fast paced and provocative, a gripping philosophical thriller, The Society of Others is an ingenious meditation on the nature of contemporary innocence and identity.
From an Oscar-nominated screenwriter, “a wonderfully smooth, sinuous, enigmatic, and sexy tale of two love affairs” (Providence Journal) set in Amherst and illuminated by the presence of Emily Dickinson. Alice Dickinson, a young advertising executive in London, decides to take time off work to research her idea for a screenplay: the true story of the scandalous, adulterous love affair between Emily Dickinson’s married brother, Austin, and a young, Amherst College faculty wife named Mabel Loomis Todd. Austin, twenty-four years Mabel’s senior and the college treasurer, lived next door to his reclusive sister, who allowed her home to be used for Austin and Mabel’s trysts. Alice travels to Amherst, staying in the house of Nick Crocker, a married English academic in his fifties. As Alice researches Austin and Mabel’s story and Emily’s role in their affair, she embarks on her own affair with Nick, an affair that, of course, they both know echoes the one that she’s writing about. Using the poems of Emily Dickinson throughout, historically accurate and meticulously recreated from their voluminous letters and diaries, “William Nicholson deftly weaves Mabel’s story with Alice’s, shedding light on the timeless longing, lust, and loneliness of love” (People). Amherst is a provocative and remarkable novel: “The poetry and history go down easy, the lovers fall hard, and the tragic, treacherous terrain of romantic entanglement is well explored” (Elle).
Following the acclaimed Seeker, this YA fantasy trilogy continues as its three teenage heroes venture to save the island of Anacrea from doom. Seeker, Morning Star, and the Wildman are about to discover that the Nomana, the mysterious warrior sect they were so desperate to join, is not what it appeared to be. Deeply disillusioned, the three escape and head off on quests they think are separate but soon become intertwined—and desperately life threatening. Fortunately, they have acquired the remarkable physical skills of the Noble Warriors, for they are certainly going to need them. The mighty warlord of the Orlan nation is gathering his forces and has vowed to destroy the entire island of Anacrea—and everything and everyone that crosses his path. Includes a teaser to the third book in the sequence, Noman.
How well do we know the people we marry? Is it wrong to decide it’s time to be honest? Is love enough to save a family? In The Retreat from Moscow, William Nicholson, the celebrated author of Shadowlands, tells the powerful story of a husband who decides to be truthful in his marriage, and of the wife and son whose lives will never be the same again. Edward and Alice have been married for thirty-three years. He is a teacher at a boys school, perfectly at home with his daily crossword and lately engrossed in reading about Napoleon’s costly invasion of Moscow. She is an observant Catholic, exacting and opinionated, and has been collecting poems about lost love for a new anthology. Jamie, their diffident thirty-two year old son, is visiting for the weekend when Edward announces he has met another woman. With the coiled intensity of Tom Stoppard’s The Real Thing and the embracing empathy of Edward Albee’s best family dramas, The Retreat from Moscow shines a breathtakingly natural light on the fallout of a shattered marriage.
Clive Staples Lewis was a prolific writer in many fields; some of his most notable titles, such as The Screwtape Letters, Mere Christianity and The Problem of Pain discuss religion and his own passionate commitment after a period of uncertainty. He is perhaps best known among children for the books in his Chronicles of Narnia series. Yet, during his time at the Kilns, the Oxford home he moved to in 1930 and he lived until his death in 1963, the magnitude of his contribution to literature was scarcely recognised. He and his older brother, Warnie, were simply known as the Professor and the Major, respectively. My hope is that this guide will enable you to follow in the footsteps of the many pilgrims who have already completed the C. S. Lewis Tour at your own leisure, to enjoy it, live it and feel close to such a wonderful man.You can then bask in the memories forever! - Ronald K. Brind
The safe haven of the Noble Warriors has been demolished and the Nomana have disbanded. When a young boy preaching peace and joy mesmerizes all who come in contact with him, a large following grows quickly--one that soon includes Morning Star and the Wildman. Yet Seeker, who is obsessed with his increasingly perilous journey to kill the last savanter, finds his mission placing him at odds with this new leader. As loyalties and friendships and faith are tested, all three heroes must question: Who can be trusted? And what can be believed?
