A sweeping story of passion and obsession, set against the upheavals of 19th-century imperial China. Samuel Pickens, a blue blood from Connecticut's Gold Coast, narrates this tale of obsession, lust, and lost love from his home within the walls of the Forbidden City.
If a woman wanted revenge, what other weapons could she use other than her body?When she met him, she was the daughter of a traitor who had been exterminated.When he met her, he was the king of the pirates;He pitied her, he doted on her, but in her eyes he was a demon that took over her body and freedom.There were two reasons for her survival: to kill the ruler of her people, and to kill the pirates who had tainted her life.And years later, when the Dwarf had been captured and the pirates were overpowering, this drifting feeling would rest in whose heart.
If a woman wanted revenge, what other weapons could she use other than her body?When she met him, she was the daughter of a traitor who had been exterminated.When he met her, he was the king of the pirates;He pitied her, he doted on her, but in her eyes he was a demon that took over her body and freedom.There were two reasons for her survival: to kill the ruler of her people, and to kill the pirates who had tainted her life.And years later, when the Dwarf had been captured and the pirates were overpowering, this drifting feeling would rest in whose heart.
If a woman wanted revenge, what other weapons could she use other than her body?When she met him, she was the daughter of a traitor who had been exterminated.When he met her, he was the king of the pirates;He pitied her, he doted on her, but in her eyes he was a demon that took over her body and freedom.There were two reasons for her survival: to kill the ruler of her people, and to kill the pirates who had tainted her life.And years later, when the Dwarf had been captured and the pirates were overpowering, this drifting feeling would rest in whose heart.
If a woman wanted revenge, what other weapons could she use other than her body?When she met him, she was the daughter of a traitor who had been exterminated.When he met her, he was the king of the pirates;He pitied her, he doted on her, but in her eyes he was a demon that took over her body and freedom.There were two reasons for her survival: to kill the ruler of her people, and to kill the pirates who had tainted her life.And years later, when the Dwarf had been captured and the pirates were overpowering, this drifting feeling would rest in whose heart.
If a woman wanted revenge, what other weapons could she use other than her body?When she met him, she was the daughter of a traitor who had been exterminated.When he met her, he was the king of the pirates;He pitied her, he doted on her, but in her eyes he was a demon that took over her body and freedom.There were two reasons for her survival: to kill the ruler of her people, and to kill the pirates who had tainted her life.And years later, when the Dwarf had been captured and the pirates were overpowering, this drifting feeling would rest in whose heart.
The Book of Firsts is an entertaining, enlightening, and highly browsable tour of the major innovations of the past twenty centuries and how they shaped our world. Peter D’Epiro makes this handy overview of human history both fun and thought-provoking with his survey of the major “firsts”—inventions, discoveries, political and military upheavals, artistic and scientific breakthroughs, religious controversies, and catastrophic events—of the last two thousand years. Who was the first to use gunpowder? Invent paper? Sack the city of Rome? Write a sonnet? What was the first university? The first astronomical telescope? The first great novel? The first Impressionist painting? The Book of Firsts explores these questions and many more, from the earliest surviving cookbook (featuring parboiled flamingo) and the origin of chess (sixth-century India) to the first civil service exam (China in 606 AD) and the first tell-all memoir about scandalous royals (Byzantine Emperor Justinian and Empress Theodora). In the form of 150 brief, witty, erudite, and information-packed essays, The Book of Firsts is ideal for anyone interested in an enjoyable way to acquire a deeper understanding of history and the fascinating personalities who forged it.
Adora!Her beauty was legend. And in the dying days of the great Byzantine Empire - that last vestige of what had once been Imperial Rome - her value as the emperor's daughter was priceless. Three men claimed her as wife. Orkhan, the powerful Ottoman sultan; the dashing pirate Alexander, lord of Mesembria; and Prince Murad, to whom Adora's heart truly belonged. In a grand epic that sweeps the reader from the golden palaces of fourteenth-century Byzantium to the blazing sensuality of the sultan's harem, Adora was a woman who firmly controlled her own destiny because she and Murad were meant only for each other. And together their passions would forge an empire. Adora! Her name was the secret of all love. Publisher Note: This story was previously published elsewhere, 1980-1995.