![]() ![]() Before long Fusun, too, has "deliberately elected to give her virginity" to Kemal (the deflowering is ominously juxtaposed with images of the Feast of the Sacrifice, with lambs being butchered on every corner of Istanbul), and she vows never to sleep with another man. But as the engagement party approaches, Kemal runs into his sweet, 18-year-old, declassée cousin, Fusun, working in a boutique, and the two become rapidly, catastrophically, infatuated with each other. Daringly, she has already – as Kemal puts it – "given me her virginity", though only because she trusts in his honour as her betrothed. Kemal is happily engaged to Sibel, a suitable woman from his own class. The first part reads like a classic tale of reckless passion colliding with bourgeois convention. ![]() I doubt whether the subject of a woman's virginity has been so firmly at the forefront of a significant novel since Richardson's Clarissa. Adding to the fraughtness (and disquieting pleasure) of the endeavour is its setting in a society – upper-class Istanbul of the 1970s and 80s – poised uncomfortably between modern and traditional attitudes to love and sex, with eros half out of his cage, but honour and shame still coordinating the perception of private conduct. ![]()
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![]() Never mind that you may have never moved a pawn to King four the story will grip you.’ Economist ‘His great achievement in short form’The Times A staunch pacifist after his time in the Ministry of War during the First World War, Stefan Zweig was, at his peak, one of the bestselling and most widely acclaimed authors in the world. ‘The rediscovery of this extraordinary writer could well be on a par with last year’s refinding of the long-lost Stoner, by John Williams, and which similarly could pluck his name out of a dusty obscurity.’ Simon Winchester, Telegraph ‘Perhaps the best chess story ever written, perhaps the best about any game. But in agreeing to take on Czentovic, what price will Dr B ultimately pay? A moving portrait of one man’s madness, A Chess Story is a searing examination of the power of the mind and the evil it can do. But there is another passenger with a passion for chess: Dr B, previously driven to insanity during Nazi imprisonment by the chess games in his imagination. ![]() Dull-witted in all but chess, he entertains himself on board by allowing others to challenge him in the game, before beating each of them and taking their money. Chess world champion Mirko Czentovic is travelling on an ocean liner to Buenos Aires. ![]() One of the most perfectly gripping novellas from a master of the form, Stefan Zweig. An epic chess match on a transatlantic liner unearths a story of persecution and obsession. ![]() ![]() ![]() In fact, she has been in a depressed state for most of her time on Venus. Marot refuses to participate in any classroom activity that doesn't include the sun. ![]() She still has many memories of the sun, and the sun continues to fascinate her. Margot, a thin, pale girl that the rest of the children resent for various reasons, lived in Ohio until she was five. This is true for all but one of the children. To prepare for the day, they have constantly read about the sun and completed classroom activities, such as writing a poem, about the sun. The children have only seen the sun once in their lives, but they were two years old and they don't remember how it looks or feels. After 5 years of continuous rain, the scientists on Venus have predicted that the sun will come out today for a brief period of time. ![]() They are nine years old, and they are eagerly awaiting a momentous occasion. In "All Summer in a Day," a group of schoolchildren live on the planet Venus with their families. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() He's promised his girlfriend, Helene, a nifty fashion model, that he'll marry her if she doesn't become seasick or bored while circling the world on his yacht. Billy Wynn, a Texas billionaire, plays mysterious roles as the mood strikes him. ![]() The most successful pirate, driving his Mercedes around Djibouti, appears to be a good guy, but his pal, a cultured Saudi diplomat, has dubious connections. They learn soon enough that almost no one in the Middle East is who he seems to be. Now, looking for a bigger challenge, Dara and her right-hand-man, Xavier LeBo, a six-foot-six, seventy-two-year-old African American seafarer, head to Djibouti, on the Horn of Africa, to film modern-day pirates hijacking merchant ships. She's covered the rape of Bosnian women, neo-Nazi white supremacists, and post-Katrina New Orleans, and has won awards for all three. Dara Barr, documentary filmmaker, is at the top of her game. ![]() |