Patricia Dougherty, an army nurse stationed at Tripler Army Medical Hospital in Hawaii, and Michael McCarthy, an injured sailor, met and fell in love. The war separated them. Patricia returned to her hometown of Helena, MT. She got married, continued with her nursing career, and raised a family. She never forgot Michael. Years passed. Patricia, widowed, vacations in Hawaii. Michael, a widower, is a successful businessman. He, too, never forgot his first love. A late-night walk on Waikiki Beach, a moment of recognition . . . the island gods magic at work. Will they find their way back to each other? Can they be happy with a second chance at love?
In the bustling city of Bangkok, Nongchat seemed to have it all - youth, charm, and a privileged upbringing. But one drunken night, a lost bet lands him at an elephant sanctuary in Krabi. There, he meets Thanasak, a rugged veterinarian, and sparks fly amidst hilarious mishaps. What began as clashes of city versus country soon blossomed into a deep bond, filled with laughter, love, and a shared passion for the gentle giants. Join them on a heartwarming journey of discovery, where unexpected twists lead to a life filled with joy, understanding, and the true meaning of love.
A stunning, powerful debut novel set against the backdrop of the Cambodian War, perfect for fans of Chris Cleave and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie For seven-year-old Raami, the shattering end of childhood begins with the footsteps of her father returning home in the early dawn hours bringing details of the civil war that has overwhelmed the streets of Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital. Soon the family's world of carefully guarded royal privilege is swept up in the chaos of revolution and forced exodus. Over the next four years, as she endures the deaths of family members, starvation, and brutal forced labour, Raami clings to the only remaining vestige of childhood - the mythical legends and poems told to her by her father. In a climate of systematic violence where memory is sickness and justification for execution, Raami fights for her improbable survival. Displaying the author's extraordinary gift for language, In the Shadow of the Banyanis testament to the transcendent power of narrative and a brilliantly wrought tale of human resilience. 'In the Shadow of the Banyanis one of the most extraordinary and beautiful acts of storytelling I have ever encountered' Chris Cleave, author of The Other Hand 'Ratner is a fearless writer, and the novel explores important themes such as power, the relationship between love and guilt, and class. Most remarkably, it depicts the lives of characters forced to live in extreme circumstances, and investigates how that changes them. To read In the Shadow of the Banyan is to be left with a profound sense of being witness to a tragedy of history' Guardian 'This is an extraordinary debut … as beautiful as it is heartbreaking' Mail on Sunday
Thomas Lichauco was born in about 1813 in China. He married Cornelia Laochangco (1819-1900) in 1836 in Manila, Philippines.. They had five children. Ancestors, descendants and relatives lived mainly in China, Philippines and Hong Kong.
Human population growth has been a topic of speculation and spirited debate since the English economist Thomas Malthus predicted that population will increase faster than the food supply, with catastrophic results. Today, even as fertility rates decline on a global scale, relentless increases in population and other population-driven factors threaten not only the food supply, but also the stability of entire regions of the world. No single individual has contributed more to our understanding of scientific matters related to human population than Sheldon Segal has. Pioneer in contraceptive research and developer of Norplant, Segal has orchestrated many of the international clinical trials of new contraceptives in the last quarter century. In this one volume Segal examines how population factors impact critical scientific elements of human affairs: contraception, family planning, environmental degradation, climate change, food and fresh water supply, and the threat of newly emerging diseases. As we follow Segal from meetings with heads of state and foreign ministers through to his impassioned, grassroots efforts to secure suitable funds for impoverished countries, we gain a behind-the-scenes perspective on how individuals and nations juggle humanitarian and scientific concerns with political agendas. Informed at every turn by Segal's keen intelligence and humane values,Under The Banyan Tree skillfully blends engaging narrative with history and analysis, providing a dramatic and all-encompassing portrait of this most basic of human concerns.
This is a book about religious conceptions of trees within the cultural world of tree worship at the tree shrines of northern India. Sacred trees have been worshipped for millennia in India and today tree worship continues there among all segments of society. In the past, tree worship was regarded by many Western anthropologists and scholars of religion as a prime example of childish animism or decadent ''popular religion.'' More recently this aspect of world religious cultures is almost completely ignored in the theoretical concerns of the day. David Haberman hopes to demonstrate that by seriously investigating the world of Indian tree worship, we can learn much about not only this prominent feature of the landscape of South Asian religion, but also something about the cultural construction of nature as well as religion overall. The title People Trees relates to the content of this book in at least six ways. First, although other sacred trees are examined, the pipal-arguably the most sacred tree in India-receives the greatest attention in this study. The Hindi word ''pipal'' is pronounced similarly to the English word ''people.''Second, the ''personhood'' of trees is a commonly accepted notion in India. Haberman was often told: ''This tree is a person just like you and me.'' Third, this is not a study of isolated trees in some remote wilderness area, but rather a study of trees in densely populated urban environments. This is a study of trees who live with people and people who live with trees. Fourth, the trees examined in this book have been planted and nurtured by people for many centuries. They seem to have benefited from human cultivation and flourished in environments managed by humans. Fifth, the book involves an examination of the human experience of trees, of the relationship between people and trees. Haberman is interested in people's sense of trees. And finally, the trees located in the neighborhood tree shrines of northern India are not controlled by a professional or elite class of priests. Common people have direct access to them and are free to worship them in their own way. They are part of the people's religion. Haberman hopes that this book will help readers expand their sense of the possible relationships that exist between humans and trees. By broadening our understanding of this relationship, he says, we may begin to think differently of the value of trees and the impact of deforestation and other human threats to trees.
