First-century Corinth is a city teeming with commerce and charm. It’s also filled with danger and corruption—the perfect setting for Ariadne’s greatest adventure. After years spent living with her mother and oppressive grandfather in Athens, Ariadne runs away to her father’s home in Corinth, only to discover the perilous secret that destroyed his marriage: though a Greek of high birth, Galenos is the infamous thief who has been robbing the city’s corrupt of their ill-gotten gains. Desperate to keep him safe, Ariadne risks her good name, her freedom, and the love of the man she adores to become her father’s apprentice. As her unusual athletic ability leads her into dangerous exploits, Ariadne discovers that she secretly revels in playing with fire. But when the wrong person discovers their secret, Ariadne and her father find their future—and very lives—hanging in the balance. When they befriend a Jewish rabbi named Paul, they realize that his radical message challenges everything they’ve fought to build, yet offers something neither dared hope for. Be transported back in time by this gripping tale of adventure, bravery, and redemption, and discover why Debbie Macomber says, “No one brings the Bible to life like Tessa Afshar.”
'Pure escapism in the mould of Dan Brown or Indiana Jones...vivid evocations of place' Saturday Age 'Achilles? Because...?' 'Obsession of mine. Half man, half god - and his own worst enemy. My kind of man.' He laughed. Istanbul, Turkey 1955 Benedict Hitchens, once a world-renowned archaeologist, is now a discredited - but still rather charming - shell of his former self. Once full of optimism and adventure, his determination to prove that Achilles was a real historical figure led him to his greatest love, Karina, on the island of Crete and to his greatest downfall, following the disappearance of an enigmatic stranger, Eris. He has one last chance to restore his reputation, solve the mystery of Eris and prove his Achilles theory. But it is full of risk, and possibly fatal consequences... In her breakout novel, Meaghan Wilson Anastasios weaves an action-packed tale of honour, passion, heroes and thieves across an epic backdrop of history. PRAISE FOR THE HONOURABLE THIEF 'Strongly drawn...Dialogue pithy, scenes great, locations colourful, action pedal-to-the-metal...Lights, camera, action' Herald Sun '...enthralling tale of mystery and archaeology. Set across three periods of the protagonist's life, Anastasios masterfully weaves the storylines together, while also exploring significant periods of Greek and Turkish history. A powerful and remarkable story.' Canberra Weekly 'Action, adventure and archaeology all rolled into a well-researched, engagingly written narrative, this novel is sure to appeal to a wide readership who are prepared for a bumpy, but enjoyable, ride.' Good Reading 'Anastasios is an exciting storyteller with a flair for pace and dramatic tension - this is a gripping adventure, beautifully realised.' Herald Weekly Times 'There is action and drama aplenty...the archaeological details, both real and fictional, as well as the Mediterranean setting...are beautifully described with the passion and knowledge expected from an author whose former occupation was as an archaeologist.' Books and Publishing 'Set mostly in Turkey and Greece between 1939 and 1955, this action-packed historical novel follows the adventures of discredited archaeologist, Benedict Hitchens. It's a classic hero's journey with a slightly unlikely hero. Hitchens is an emotionally and ethically dubious character whose life-long passion is to prove the existence of the mythical character, Achilles. This all-encompassing quest and his part in selling dodgy antiquities, taint Hitchens' reputation as a respected academic. Along the way he encounters love and loss and finds himself in a life and death battle with several dramatic outcomes.' Historical Novel Society 'A very compelling story about the intersection of mythology, history and archaeology' Writing NSW
Set in the early 1500s in Renaissance Italy this novel is the story of Andrea Orsini, a peasant boy who rises far and becomes a secret agent for Cesare Borgia, who entrusts him with the most delicate political, military and romantic missions, Orson Welles was cast as Borgia, Tyronne Power as Orsini in the film version.
This fascinating book is the first volume in a projected cultural history of the United States, from the earliest English settlements to our own time. It is a history of American folkways as they have changed through time, and it argues a thesis about the importance for the United States of having been British in its cultural origins. While most people in the United States today have no British ancestors, they have assimilated regional cultures which were created by British colonists, even while preserving ethnic identities at the same time. In this sense, nearly all Americans are "Albion's Seed," no matter what their ethnicity may be. The concluding section of this remarkable book explores the ways that regional cultures have continued to dominate national politics from 1789 to 1988, and still help to shape attitudes toward education, government, gender, and violence, on which differences between American regions are greater than between European nations.
Originally published in 1984, Reading the Romance challenges popular (and often demeaning) myths about why romantic fiction, one of publishing's most lucrative categories, captivates millions of women readers. Among those who have disparaged romance reading are feminists, literary critics, and theorists of mass culture. They claim that romances enforce the woman reader's dependence on men and acceptance of the repressive ideology purveyed by popular culture. Radway questions such claims, arguing that critical attention "must shift from the text itself, taken in isolation, to the complex social event of reading." She examines that event, from the complicated business of publishing and distribution to the individual reader's engagement with the text. Radway's provocative approach combines reader-response criticism with anthropology and feminist psychology. Asking readers themselves to explore their reading motives, habits, and rewards, she conducted interviews in a midwestern town with forty-two romance readers whom she met through Dorothy Evans, a chain bookstore employee who has earned a reputation as an expert on romantic fiction. Evans defends her customers' choice of entertainment; reading romances, she tells Radway, is no more harmful than watching sports on television. "We read books so we won't cry" is the poignant explanation one woman offers for her reading habit. Indeed, Radway found that while the women she studied devote themselves to nurturing their families, these wives and mothers receive insufficient devotion or nurturance in return. In romances the women find not only escape from the demanding and often tiresome routines of their lives but also a hero who supplies the tenderness and admiring attention that they have learned not to expect. The heroines admired by Radway's group defy the expected stereotypes; they are strong, independent, and intelligent. That such characters often find themselves to be victims of male aggression and almost always resign themselves to accepting conventional roles in life has less to do, Radway argues, with the women readers' fantasies and choices than with their need to deal with a fear of masculine dominance. These romance readers resent not only the limited choices in their own lives but the patronizing atitude that men especially express toward their reading tastes. In fact, women read romances both to protest and to escape temporarily the narrowly defined role prescribed for them by a patriarchal culture. Paradoxically, the books that they read make conventional roles for women seem desirable. It is this complex relationship between culture, text, and woman reader that Radway urges feminists to address. Romance readers, she argues, should be encouraged to deliver their protests in the arena of actual social relations rather than to act them out in the solitude of the imagination. In a new introduction, Janice Radway places the book within the context of current scholarship and offers both an explanation and critique of the study's limitations.
"A Source Book of Australian History" is a concise full history of Australia from the discovery of Tasmania to the National Australian Convention and the establishment of the Commonwealth of Australia. The book was aimed at students interested in learning the subject. Each chapter has a short synopsis at the beginning to better comprehend the subject.
A Greek tycoon’s innocent Cinderella has a few shocking secrets to reveal in this international billionaire romance. Leo Parnassus has returned to Athens to head the family empire. A New Yorker since childhood, he finds life is certainly different here with its dramatic family feuds—and expectations to marry and produce heirs! Amid all this stifling tradition, the beautiful girl who catches Leo’s eye is a welcome distraction. She may be a lowly waitress, but Angel has her secrets. Leo will be pleased to discover she’s a virgin, but not that she’s the daughter of his adversary! Or that, in nine months, there will be one more secret revealed . . .
