Small Acts of Defiance
Small Acts of Defiance

Author: Michelle Wright

Publisher: HarperCollins

Published: 2022-07-19

Total Pages: 371

ISBN-13: 0063223899

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"In Small Acts of Defiance, Michelle Wright paints a beautifully intimate portrait that celebrates the courage and resilience of the human spirit."— Jane Harper, author of The Survivors A stunning debut WWII novel from award-winning short story writer Michelle Wright, about the small but courageous acts a young woman performs against the growing anti-Jewish measures in Nazi-occupied Paris. “Doing nothing is still a choice. A choice to stand aside and let it happen.” January 1940: After a devastating tragedy, young Australian woman Lucie and her mother Yvonne are forced to leave home and flee to France. There they seek help from the only family they have left, Lucie’s uncle, Gérard. As the Second World War engulfs Europe, the two women find themselves trapped in German-occupied Paris, sharing a cramped apartment with the authoritarian Gérard and his extremist views. Drawing upon her artistic talents, Lucie risks her own safety to engage in small acts of defiance against the occupying Nazi forces and the collaborationist French regime – illustrating pro-resistance tracts and forging identity cards. Faced with the escalating brutality of anti-Jewish measures, and the indifference of so many of her fellow Parisians, Lucie must decide how far she will go to protect her friends and defend the rights of others before it’s too late.

Puff Piece
Puff Piece

Author: John Safran

Publisher: Random House Australia

Published: 2022-08-30

Total Pages: 370

ISBN-13: 1760890162

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Resistance
Resistance

Author: Agnes Humbert

Publisher: A&C Black

Published: 2008-11-03

Total Pages: 420

ISBN-13: 1408801620

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'Agnès Humbert bears devastating witness to her time ... An insider's account of the germination of the French Resistance' William Boyd 'Sober and testifying, sardonic and humorous ... A beautiful and powerful work of literature' The Times In the summer of 1940, as the German Occupation tightened its grip on Paris, Agnès Humbert helped to establish one of the first resistance cells. She had no experience in warfare: she was an art historian, as were most of her early comrades, colleagues from the Musée de l'Homme in Paris. All they had was an unquenchable desire to free their country from the horrors of Nazi occupation. Within a year the group was publishing a news bulletin, helping allied airmen escape and passing military information back to London. Then came the catastrophe of betrayal, followed by arrest and interrogation, imprisonment and trial and, for Agnès, deportation to slave labour camp in Germany. Résistance is the secret journal of a woman who never gave up hope, even in the face of impossible odds.

Our Missing Hearts
Our Missing Hearts

Author: Celeste Ng

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2022-10-04

Total Pages: 286

ISBN-13: 0593492552

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An instant New York Times bestseller • A New York Times Notable Book of 2022 • Named a Best Book of 2022 by People, TIME Magazine, The Washington Post, USA Today, NPR, Los Angeles Times, and Oprah Daily, and more • A Reese's Book Club Pick • New York Times Paperback Row Selection From the #1 bestselling author of Little Fires Everywhere, comes the inspiring new novel about a mother’s unshakeable love. “It’s impossible not to be moved.” —Stephen King, The New York Times Book Review “Riveting, tender, and timely.” —People, Book of the Week “Thought-provoking, heart-wrenching . . . I was so invested in the future of this mother and son, and I can’t wait to hear what you think of this deeply suspenseful story!” —Reese Witherspoon (Reese’s Book Club Pick) Twelve-year-old Bird Gardner lives a quiet existence with his loving father, a former linguist who now shelves books in a university library. His mother Margaret, a Chinese American poet, left without a trace when he was nine years old. He doesn’t know what happened to her—only that her books have been banned—and he resents that she cared more about her work than about him. Then one day, Bird receives a mysterious letter containing only a cryptic drawing, and soon he is pulled into a quest to find her. His journey will take him back to the many folktales she poured into his head as a child, through the ranks of an underground network of heroic librarians, and finally to New York City, where he will finally learn the truth about what happened to his mother, and what the future holds for them both. Our Missing Hearts is an old story made new, of the ways supposedly civilized communities can ignore the most searing injustice. It’s about the lessons and legacies we pass on to our children, and the power of art to create change.

Small Acts of Defiance
Small Acts of Defiance

Author: Michelle Wright

Publisher:

Published: 2021-06

Total Pages: 352

ISBN-13: 9781760292652

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The remarkable debut novel from acclaimed prize-winning short fiction writer Michelle Wright, author of Fine.

2084
2084

Author: Alexander McLennan

Publisher: Alexander McLennan

Published: 2033-12-12

Total Pages: 214

ISBN-13:

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"Twenty-Eighty-Four" stands as a stark warning in the vein of George Orwell's visionary work, echoing the concerns of a world on the brink of losing its freedoms to technological and political forces. Set in a future where an illusion of security overshadows personal liberties, this narrative unfolds in a society where the line between ideological control and dystopian reality is thin. The year 2084 reveals a world transformed by decades of legal and regulatory changes that have reshaped societal norms and individual freedoms. Under the rule of an all-powerful regime, the essence of nature, history, and time is manipulated, leaving humanity in a state of controlled existence. In this world, Jack Jones, an editor at the Ministry of Truth, begins to question the narratives he's been complicit in crafting. Lena, a figure adept in technology and resistance, ignites his journey to awakening. Together, they embark on a dangerous path to undermine the regime's pervasive influence, using Jack's knowledge of the Ministry and Lena's technological skills. "Twenty-Eighty-Four" is more than a speculative glimpse into a dystopian future; it's a narrative deeply rooted in contemporary societal shifts, reflecting the ongoing struggle for freedom and authenticity. This tale of resilience and rebellion is a reminder and a call to action, urging readers to maintain vigilance against the erosion of independence. It's a tribute to human resilience in the face of authoritarianism, echoing Orwell's timeless message and urging readers to play their part in preventing such a future. In "Twenty-Eighty-Four," the fight for truth and freedom transcends the pages, mirroring the challenges of our own time.

Farthing
Farthing

Author: Jo Walton

Publisher: Macmillan

Published: 2006-08-08

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 1429944404

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An influential family’s weekend party is the stage for murder in this alternative history trilogy opener set in a post-WWII England where the Nazis won. Eight years have passed since the upper-crust “Farthing Set” overthrew Winston Churchill and led Britain into a separate peace with Hitler. Now those families have gathered for a weekend retreat. Among them is estranged scion Lucy Kahn, who can’t understand why she and her husband, David, were so enthusiastically invited. But all becomes clear when the eminent Sir James Thirkie is found murdered—with a yellow Star of David pinned to his chest. Lucy realizes that her Jewish husband is about to be framed for the crime, an outcome that would be altogether too politically convenient, given the machinations underway in Parliament in the coming week. The Farthing Set are determined to pass laws further restricting the right to vote, and a new outcry against Jews and foreigners would suit them fine. But whoever’s behind the murder and the frame-up didn’t count on the principal investigator from Scotland Yard being so prone to look beyond the obvious—or his being a man with his own private reasons for sympathizing with outcasts and underdogs . . . Praise for Farthing “If le Carré scares you, try Jo Walton. Of course her brilliant story of a democracy selling itself out to fascism sixty years ago is just a mystery, just a thriller, just a fantasy—of course we know nothing like that could happen now. Don’t we?” —Ursula K. Le Guin “Walton . . . crosses genres without missing a beat with this stunningly powerful alternative history set in 1949. . . . While the whodunit plot is compelling, it’s the convincing portrait of a country’s incremental slide into fascism that makes this novel a standout. Mainstream readers should be enthralled as well.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Defiance
Defiance

Author: Nechama Tec

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2008-12-26

Total Pages: 408

ISBN-13: 0199744025

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The prevailing image of European Jews during the Holocaust is one of helpless victims, but in fact many Jews struggled against the terrors of the Third Reich. In Defiance, Nechama Tec offers a riveting history of one such group, a forest community in western Belorussia that would number more than 1,200 Jews by 1944--the largest armed rescue operation of Jews by Jews in World War II. Tec reveals that this extraordinary community included both men and women, some with weapons, but mostly unarmed, ranging from infants to the elderly. She reconstructs for the first time the amazing details of how these partisans and their families--hungry, exposed to the harsh winter weather--managed not only to survive, but to offer protection to all Jewish fugitives who could find their way to them. Arguing that this success would have been unthinkable without the vision of one man, Tec offers penetrating insight into the group's commander, Tuvia Bielski. Tec brings to light the untold story of Bielski's struggle as a partisan who lost his parents, wife, and two brothers to the Nazis, yet never wavered in his conviction that it was more important to save one Jew than to kill twenty Germans. She shows how, under Bielski's guidance, the partisans smuggled Jews out of heavily guarded ghettos, scouted the roads for fugitives, and led retaliatory raids against Belorussian peasants who collaborated with the Nazis. Herself a Holocaust survivor, Nechama Tec here draws on wide-ranging research and never before published interviews with surviving partisans--including Tuvia Bielski himself--to reconstruct here the poignant and unforgettable story of those who chose to fight.

Year of the Dunk
Year of the Dunk

Author: Asher Price

Publisher: Crown

Published: 2015-05-12

Total Pages: 290

ISBN-13: 0804138044

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By embarking on a quest to dunk a basketball at the age of 34, journalist Asher Price investigates the limits of human potential—starting with his own. We all like to think that (with a little practice) we could run faster, learn another language, or whip up a perfect soufflé. But few of us ever put those hopes to the test. In Year of the Dunk, Asher Price does, and he seizes on basketball’s slam dunk--a feat richly freighted with distinctly American themes of culture, race, and upward mobility--as a gauge to determine his own hidden potential. The showmanship of the dunk mesmerized Asher as a child, but even with his height (six foot plus) and impressive wingspan, he never pushed himself to try it. Now, approaching middle age, Asher decides to spend a year remaking his body and testing his mind as he wonders, like most adults, what untapped talent he still possesses. In this humorous and often poignant journey into the pleasures and perils of exertion, Asher introduces us to a memorable cast of characters who help him understand the complexity of the human body and the individual drama at the heart of sports. Along the way he dives into the history and science of one of sports' most exuberant acts, examining everything from our genetic predisposition towards jumping to the cultural role of the slam dunk. The year-long effort forces him to ask some fundamental questions about human ability and the degree to which we can actually improve ourselves, even with great determination.

All the Pasha's Men
All the Pasha's Men

Author: Khaled Fahmy

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 1997-11-13

Total Pages: 356

ISBN-13: 9780521560078

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While previous scholarship has viewed Mehmed Ali Pasha as the founder of modern Egypt, Khaled Fahmy offers a new interpretation of his role in the rise of Egyptian nationalism, locating him in the Ottoman context as an ambitious Ottoman reformer. Basing his work on previously neglected archival material, the author demonstrates how Mehmed Ali sought to develop the Egyptian economy and to build up the army, not as a means of gaining Egyptian independence from the Ottoman Empire, but to further his own ambitions for hereditary rule over the province. In its analysis of nation-building and the construction of state power, the book makes a significant contribution to the larger theoretical debates. It will therefore be essential reading for students in the field, as well as for Ottomanists, military historians and those interested in the development of the modern nation-state.