This is the story of a house that enchants those who enter its doors. Where love, passion and deceit are born. In South-Eastern England, this beautiful country Tudor mansion is haven to the Chandler family, whose lives are shattered by two wars - World War I & World War II. A Saga of two brothers: Gavin, inspired by love of his country enlists in the Great War. And Charles, whose enduring passion for his home is driven to deception. Pulled in different directions by inescapable forces - a fortune coveted, a brother betrayed. Who will possess the Belvedere Legacy?

Driving down the Mediterranean to inspect the family papers held by his cousin in Narbonne, David Lambert reviews his own troubled times against the backdrop of his family who fled Germany in the 1880s on pain of death for mutiny and desertion, to face genocide, espionage, bombs, bullets, tragic accidents, murderous designs and that curious fruit cordial Great-Grandma used to make.

Classify under genealogy, or something.

This is the story of a house that enchants those who enter its doors. Where love, passion and deceit are born. In South-Eastern England, this beautiful country Tudor mansion is haven to the Chandler family, whose lives are shattered by two wars - World War I & World War II. A Saga of two brothers: Gavin, inspired by love of his country enlists in the Great War. And Charles, whose enduring passion for his home is driven to deception. Pulled in different directions by inescapable forces - a fortune coveted, a brother betrayed. Who will possess the Belvedere Legacy?

This is the story of a house that enchants those who enter its doors. Where love, passion and deceit are born. In South-Eastern England, this beautiful country Tudor mansion is haven to the Chandler family, whose lives are shattered by two wars - World War I & World War II. A Saga of two brothers: Gavin, inspired by love of his country enlists in the Great War. And Charles, whose enduring passion for his home is driven to deception. Pulled in different directions by inescapable forces - a fortune coveted, a brother betrayed. Who will possess the Belvedere Legacy?

KING OF THE JUNGLE brings a movie Tarzan, Johnny Weismuller, to Flushing Meadows in 1939, and transports the reader to the world of a heroic immigrant Polish mother trying to raise her two children among New York City tenements, where people with hopeful dreams are preyed upon by very real nightmares. In the tradition of Crane, Norris, and Dreiser, author Jan Merlin gives us an utterly Darwinian view of survival. Encompassing the cruel use of Hollywood´s escapism, the novel clearly and sensitively presents real people and their contributions to America and the national identity. This book serves as another Rosetta Stone to American immigrant experience. Not since “Call It Sleep” and “Angela’s Ashes” has one work so encompassed the joy and despair of family life.

KING OF THE JUNGLE brings a movie Tarzan, Johnny Weismuller, to Flushing Meadows in 1939, and transports the reader to the world of a heroic immigrant Polish mother trying to raise her two children among New York City tenements, where people with hopeful dreams are preyed upon by very real nightmares. In the tradition of Crane, Norris, and Dreiser, author Jan Merlin gives us an utterly Darwinian view of survival. Encompassing the cruel use of Hollywood´s escapism, the novel clearly and sensitively presents real people and their contributions to America and the national identity. This book serves as another Rosetta Stone to American immigrant experience. Not since “Call It Sleep” and “Angela’s Ashes” has one work so encompassed the joy and despair of family life.

Eighteen twenty-five dash eighteen sixty-eight: a man’s life summed up on a gravestone, as though his birth and death are the only cardinal facts of his existence. Certainly, a Mozart concerto is much more than the first and the last notes or even the total number of notes contained in the work. It is the manner in which Mozart arranged those notes, the themes they demonstrate, and the sentiments they elicit that give the composition its beauty and importance. In the same sense, the dash on the gravestone really represents the whole fabric of the life of the deceased and consists of a complex weft and warp of events, emotions, and actions – all the threads that produced, day by day, the cloth of that man’s life. At least some of those threads are undoubtedly worthy of note in the existence of any man. The story that follows is the dash of Daniel Locke Todd, M.D.

Eighteen twenty-five dash eighteen sixty-eight: a man’s life summed up on a gravestone, as though his birth and death are the only cardinal facts of his existence. Certainly, a Mozart concerto is much more than the first and the last notes or even the total number of notes contained in the work. It is the manner in which Mozart arranged those notes, the themes they demonstrate, and the sentiments they elicit that give the composition its beauty and importance. In the same sense, the dash on the gravestone really represents the whole fabric of the life of the deceased and consists of a complex weft and warp of events, emotions, and actions – all the threads that produced, day by day, the cloth of that man’s life. At least some of those threads are undoubtedly worthy of note in the existence of any man. The story that follows is the dash of Daniel Locke Todd, M.D.

The Final Thanksgiving – Full SummaryAbington, Pennsylvania – During a visit to his doctor, Stewart Sherman, 75, a widower and retired from teaching high school English, is told that he has hodgkins disease, in all likelihood curable by radiation treatments. He decides not to tell his children, who live in four different cities. Stewart and Dr. Brady are both fond of opera and chamber music.Since retiring, Stewart has written theater reviews for one of his brother’s local-community newspapers, has tutored adults in English (mostly Asians) in a library-sponsored program, has conducted monthly book-review sessions (tutoring and book discussions are done in the township library). A fairly new student, Mee Oh, appeals to Stewart. She is visiting one of her three daughters who lives in Seattle.Stewart’s family is scheduled to travel to his younger son Wade’s home in Austin, Texas for Thanksgiving 1999, the final Thanksgiving of the decade, of the century, of the millennium. However, his older son Dirk and younger daughter Fern (and their families) are forced to cancel. Hid older daughter Gale, a lawyer in Chicago, her two grown children, will attend as well as the family of Laura, his daughter-in-law.Stewart has written several novels since retirement. Gale is paying $10,000 to Mercury Press in London to publish one. Wade will transcribe the typed manuscript of another for publication on the Internet, free.Before leaving for Austin, Stewart undergoes a radiation treatment, reviews an amateur performance of The Fantasticks, leads a discussion of Camus’ The Stranger, tutors, drives to New York to see Deborah Voigt in Aida. Rose, the former wife of one of his brothers, William (she lives in New York, William is remarried and living in Peru) manages to get an invitation from Wade. Rose and Stewart will meet in Dallas, rent a car; all the guests are saying at a motel and will need transportation.The meeting in Dallas, renting a car, reaching Wade’s home turn out to be more troubling than Stewart had expected.Austin, Texas – The 10-day stay is rewarding, and taxing. Wade, Laura, and her mother Dora are staunch Bush supporters, Laura’s two bothers and sister in-law are non-committal; grandmother Milcah (Dora and Milcah are widows) and everyone else (Rose, Stewart, and his family) favor Gore. The political exchanges stay mostly friendly. Thanksgiving Day dinner is mostly friendly too.The transcription of his novel, Continental Divide, is full of errors; making corrections on Wade’s word processor is an arduous task. Before leaving for home, Stewart is unable to complete the manuscript that Wade can send to bookfair, the Internet publisher.San Francisco, California – Mee returns. Stewart enjoys his tutoring sessions with her. The radiation treatment isn’t helping but isn’t hurting. Stewart attends the funeral of a former student from 1966 and speaks at the pre-burial ceremony. Matters do not go well with the London publisher or with Wade. Mercury Press changed all the punctuation to British style, and Stewart won’t accept it. Wade keeps putting off completing the corrections. Stewart is certain that he will encounter complete failure.His visits to Dirk and Emily, and their four children, for the end of 1999 and beginning of 2000 is thoroughly rewarding. All potential voters in this household favor Gore.Boston, Massachusetts – His daughter Fern who runs a public relations firm is divorced, has two grown children, mostly recovered from surgery that prevented her from traveling to Austin for Thanksgiving. She has a boyfriend and during Stewart’s visit is often too busy to spend time with him.Chicago, Illinois – Older daughter Gale will receive an honor from a state legal association. Stewart decides to attend the ceremony and visit for a few days, but she is too occupied during much of his stay.New York, New York – Rose calls him and asks him to visit her, but it doesn’t turn out well. Later, William calls, he has business in New York (is not visiting his ex-wife Rose) and wants to see Stewart again. The brothers enjoy their reunion.The radiation treatments are improving his condition. Theater reviews, book discussion sessions, tutoring lessons are winding down before the summer comes. Mee and Stewart become closer and more comfortable together, traveling to New York several times for a Broadway show and chamber music concert.Abington, Pennsylvania – Mee and Stewart decide to spend Thanksgiving 2000 together, and later to marry on that date, inviting a few of his relatives even though they aren’t close. Both Stewart and Mee face some medical problems, but as they give thanks at the special-event dinner are certain that they can surmount the difficulties.

Bilby Mcmillan is a very wealthy old man. Greedy children and associates try to bilk him out of his money. He deals with the wretches by letting each be the cause of his own undoing. This humorous and clever dark comedy depicts a man who finds solace in uncovering and eliminating individuals who would do anything for that most evil of temptations--- money.

Bilby Mcmillan is a very wealthy old man. Greedy children and associates try to bilk him out of his money. He deals with the wretches by letting each be the cause of his own undoing. This humorous and clever dark comedy depicts a man who finds solace in uncovering and eliminating individuals who would do anything for that most evil of temptations--- money.

Bilby Mcmillan is a very wealthy old man. Greedy children and associates try to bilk him out of his money. He deals with the wretches by letting each be the cause of his own undoing. This humorous and clever dark comedy depicts a man who finds solace in uncovering and eliminating individuals who would do anything for that most evil of temptations--- money.

Immigration is a basic reality in the history of the United States of America. With every wave of newcomers the palate of this country has been enhanced with variety, energy, and challenge. The Irish are but one strain of this mix. Especially in the middle of the nineteenth century the unique flavors of both Ulster and Southern families entered these shores. Some, however, did not come directly from the Olde Sod. This story is of one of them whose journey from Londonderry to Trenton, New Jersey, came by way of Australia. He was not the first, nor last, of those who are carelessly labeled as illegal aliens.

Imagine reading that the spirited Maud de Saint Valerie may have built Haie Castle in one moonlit night--and discovering that she was your 22nd Great Grandmother! Then, those who came to America’s shores tell their own tales of settling in the New World. The famous and the unknown share their stories with their descendants who enjoy accounts of valor and fearlessness. Finding Mettle illuminates family history inspiring admiration for achievements great and small.

Imagine reading that the spirited Maud de Saint Valerie may have built Haie Castle in one moonlit night--and discovering that she was your 22nd Great Grandmother! Then, those who came to America’s shores tell their own tales of settling in the New World. The famous and the unknown share their stories with their descendants who enjoy accounts of valor and fearlessness. Finding Mettle illuminates family history inspiring admiration for achievements great and small.