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Tiberius: Allan Massie
$9.00Charles Dickens shuddered at his memory, calling him a 'deified beast'. Tacitus and Seutonius portrayed him as a monster, steeped in vice and guilty of atrocious cruelty. Yet Pliny called him the saddest of all men, and the German historian Mommsen thought him the most capable of emperors. Tiberius is an enigma - a great general and a prudent ruler who abruptly withdrew from the seat of power to live his last years on Capri - years which Tacitus depicted as a reign of horror. Yet to the end, Tiberius remained a conscientious and capable administrator. Now Tiberius speaks for himself, through the author: recounting the story of his life, brooding on the relationship with his mother Livia and his stepfather Augustus, his two wives, his protégé Sejanus and younger members of the Imperial family. The result is a portrait of a withdrawn, secretive man driven by duty rather than love of power. -
This Dickens offering is set in the imaginary Northern Industrial town of Coketown - a place of blackened factories, downtrodden workers and a polluted environment, the soulless domain of the strict schoolmaster Thomas Gradgrind and heartless factory owner Josiah Bounderby. However, there is always Mr. Sleary's Horse-Riding Circus to lighten things up - a gin-soaked and hilarious troupe of open-hearted and affectionate people who are the antidote to the drudgery and misery of Coketown. Attacked for its 'sullen socialism', it is now regarded as Dickens' most important statement on Victorian society. Also - unusually - this is one of Dickens' shorter novels. Cover art: A Street Scene In Copenhagen by Detlov Konrad Blunck. -
The Four Horsemen herald the arrival of the Apocalypse. When the First Horseman thunders through the land, pestilence will spread. His name is Plague. Why is a disease-ravaged village in North Korea razed to the ground, its inhabitants massacred by the army? Who are the shadowy terrorists willing to unleash epidemic and death on the world? And what is the deadly treasure ransacked from 80 year old tombs in the Arctic Circle - taken before an American scientific expedition can investigate their secrets. For reporter Frank Daly, this is the story of a lifetime. But no-one will talk ... -
Escaping the sack of Rome in 1527, beautiful courtesan Fiametta and her dwarf, Bucino, their stomachs full of the jewells they've swallowed, make for Venice. With courage and cunning they infiltrate Venetian society and rebuild their fortunes, despite disfigurement, theft and betrayal. They are a perfect partnership: the sharp witted dwarf and the ideal courtesan, trained from birth to satisfy men. But then the perfect partnership is threatened. The story is told well by Bucino without sentimentality and gives a glowing picture of Renaissance Venice and the society of the times. -
East Of Eden: John Steinbeck
$15.00An epic family history of drama and betrayal that follows the intertwined destinies of two families - the Trasks and the Hamiltons. Adam Trask came to California from the East to farm and raise his family on the new rich land. Aaron and Cal, twins, yet one boy thrives, carefully nurtured by the love of all those around him; the other grows up in loneliness enveloped by a mysterious darkness. There is also the mystery of their mother - is she really dead, as the boys have been told ? Cal determines to find out and succeeds, with awful consequences. This became a major film starring James Dean. -
Book V of Earth's Children. Ayla and Jondalar have finally arrived at Jondalar's home, the Ninth Cave of the Zelandonii. All Ayla wants is to settle down as Jondalar's mate and have children. But her unique spiritual gifts, viewed with wary eyes, still set her apart and the jealousy of Jondalar's former lover causes trouble. Cover art by Larry Rostant. -
'What a world of dreams is this Pompeii, where each one seeks to be what he is not.' The classic tale of betrayal, lust, decadence and intrigue set against the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D. Pompeii, pleasure ground of the wealthy, decadent and rife with corruption. A cast of characters to rival any soap opera: Cloodius, poor yet noble, in love with Julia, the daughter of nouveau riche merchant Diomed, who is trying to forget that his grandfather was ever a slave; Glaucus, the young and wealthy Greek playboy who falls in love with Ione, a wealthy orphan under the wardship of Arbaces, High Priest of Isis, who will stop at nothing to secure Ione and her fortune for the temple; Nydia, the blind slave girl who sells her flowers and yearns for Glaucus; Lydon, the gladiator, the darling of Pompeii, fighting to win enough money to buy the freedom of Medon, his father; there is Apaecides, Ione's brother who learns of Christ from Olinthus, the sail maker...and still more in the cast that make up the last days of the city that was believed to be the wickedest place on earth.
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Trevor Grierson, a Scottish university lecturer, is spending a term in Canberra. Then he receives a garbled phone call from a stranger, claiming knowledge of Trevor's brother Norman who vanished in Australia many years ago. Apparently Norman has become an alcoholic and is in trouble with the police. Trevor sets on out the search: government offices, police stations, doss houses, the Salvation Army. Why does Trevor feel compelled to search? Is he his brother's keeper? Does he care or is he acting from a sense of duty? Jacket design by Pat Doyle. -
The tale of Michael Doolan's growth from boy to manhood in the Gulf Country. Michael's father, Paddy, generated conflict not only within the family, but also in the town. When the advent of motor transport threatens Paddy's living as a teamster and the gold based fortune of the town begin to decline, Paddy goes to the coats to sell his team and Michael realises that Paddy isn't coming back. Michael sets out on the long search for his father.
