Download or read book The Railwayman s Wife written by Ashley Hay and published by Atlantic Books. This book was released on 2017-01-01 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a small town on the land's edge, in the strange space at a war's end, a widow, a poet and a doctor each try to find their own peace, and their own new story. On the south coast of New South Wales, in 1948, people chase their dreams through the books in the railway's library. Anikka Lachlan searches for solace after her life is destroyed by a single random act. Roy McKinnon, who found poetry in the mess of war, has lost his words and his hope. Frank Draper is trapped by the guilt of those his treatment and care failed on their first day of freedom. All three struggle with the same question: how now to be alive. Written in clear, shining prose and with an eloquent understanding of the human heart, The Railwayman's Wife explores the power of beginnings and endings, and how hard it can be sometimes to tell them apart. It's a story of life, loss and what comes after; of connection and separation, longing and acceptance. Most of all, it celebrates love in all its forms, and the beauty of discovering that loving someone can be as extraordinary as being loved yourself.
Download or read book The Railway Man written by Eric Lomax and published by Charnwood. This book was released on 2014 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the Second World War, Eric Lomax was forced to work on the notorious Burma-Siam Railway, and was tortured by the Japanese for making a crude radio. Left emotionally scarred, and unable to form relationships, Lomax suffered for years - until, with the help of the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture, he came to terms with what had happened. Almost 50 years after the war his life was changed by the discovery that his interrogator, the Japanese interpreter, was still alive; their reconciliation is the culmination of this extraordinary story.
Download or read book The Railwayman s Wife written by Ashley Hay and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2016-04-05 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For fans of The Light Between Oceans, this “exquisitely written, true book of wonders” (Geraldine Brooks, Pulitzer Prize-winning author) explores the aftermath of World War II in an Australian seaside town, and the mysterious poem that changes the lives of those who encounter it. In 1948, in a town overlooking the vast, blue ocean, Anikka Lachlan has all she ever wanted—until a random act transforms her into another postwar widow, destined to raise her daughter on her own. Awash in grief, she looks for answers in the pages of her favorite books and tries to learn the most difficult lesson of all: how to go on living. A local poet, Roy McKinnon, experiences a different type of loss. How could his most powerful work come out of the brutal chaos of war, and why is he now struggling to regain his words and his purpose in peacetime? His childhood friend Dr. Frank Draper also seeks to reclaim his pre-war life but is haunted by his failure to help those who needed him most—the survivors of the Nazi concentration camps. Then one day, on the mantle of her sitting room, Ani finds a poem. She knows neither where it came from, nor who its author is. But she has her suspicions. An unexpected and poignant love triangle emerges, between Ani, the poem, and the poet—whoever he may be. Written in clear, shining prose, The Railwayman’s Wife explores the power of beginnings and endings—and how difficult it can be to tell them apart. It is an exploration of life, loss, tragedy, and joy, of connection and separation, longing and acceptance, and an unadulterated celebration of love that “will have you feeling every emotion at once” (Bustle).
Download or read book The Body in the Clouds written by Ashley Hay and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2017-07-18 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Originally published: Australia: Allen & Unwin, 2010.
Download or read book The Silent Wife written by A. S. A. Harrison and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2013-06-25 with total page 211 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The New York Times bestselling novel soon to be a major motion picture starring Nicole Kidman, for fans of The Woman in the Window and The Silent Patient. "I gobbled it down in one sitting." – Anne Lamott, People Jodi and Todd are at a bad place in their marriage. Much is at stake, including the affluent life they lead in their beautiful waterfront condo in Chicago, as she, the killer, and he, the victim, rush haplessly toward the main event. He is a committed cheater. She lives and breathes denial. He exists in dual worlds. She likes to settle scores. He decides to play for keeps. She has nothing left to lose. Told in alternating voices, The Silent Wife is about a marriage in the throes of dissolution, a couple headed for catastrophe, concessions that can’t be made, and promises that won’t be kept. Expertly plotted and reminiscent of Gone Girl and These Things Hidden, The Silent Wife ensnares the reader from page one and does not let go.
Download or read book Fire and Steam written by Christian Wolmar and published by Atlantic Books. This book was released on 2008-05-01 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Now in paperback, Fire and Steam tells the dramatic story of the people and events that shaped the world's first railway network, one of the most impressive engineering achievements in history. The opening of the pioneering Liverpool and Manchester Railway in 1830 marked the beginning of the railways' vital role in changing the face of Britain. Fire and Steam celebrates the vision and determination of the ambitious Victorian pioneers who developed this revolutionary transport system and the navvies who cut through the land to enable a country-wide network to emerge. The rise of the steam train allowed goods and people to circulate around Britain as never before, stimulating the growth of towns and industry, as well many of the facets of modern life, from fish and chips to professional football. From the early days of steam to electrification, via the railways' magnificent contribution in two world wars, the checkered history of British Rail, and the buoyant future of the train, Fire and Steam examines the social and economical importance of the railway and how it helped to form the Britain of today.
Download or read book Night Trains written by Andrew Martin and published by Profile Books. This book was released on 2017-02-09 with total page 275 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Night trains have long fascinated us with the possibilities of their private sleeping compartments, gilded dining cars, champagne bars and wealthy travellers. Authors from Agatha Christie to Graham Greene have used night trains to tell tales of romance, intrigue and decadence against a rolling background of dramatic landscapes. The reality could often be as thrilling: early British travellers on the Orient Express were advised to carry a revolver (as well as a teapot). In Night Trains, Andrew Martin attempts to relive the golden age of the great European sleeper trains by using their modern-day equivalents. This is no simple matter. The night trains have fallen on hard times, and the services are disappearing one by one. But if the Orient Express experience can only be recreated by taking three separate sleepers, the intriguing characters and exotic atmospheres have survived. Whether the backdrop is 3am at a Turkish customs post, the sun rising over the Riviera, or the constant twilight of a Norwegian summer night, Martin rediscovers the pleasures of a continent connected by rail. By tracing the history of the sleeper trains, he reveals much of the recent history of Europe itself. The original sleepers helped break down national barriers and unify the continent. Martin uncovers modern instances of European unity - and otherwise - as he traverses the continent during 'interesting times', with Brexit looming. Against this tumultuous backdrop, he experiences his own smaller dramas, as he fails to find crucial connecting stations, ponders the mystery of the compartment dog, and becomes embroiled in his very own night train whodunit.
Download or read book Tony Ryan written by Richard Aldous and published by Gill & Macmillan Ltd. This book was released on 2013-08-30 with total page 310 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this authorised biography of one of the most remarkable Irishmen of the twentieth century, Richard Aldous is independent in his judgements and frank in his examination of his subject's shortcomings and eccentricities. But most of all, he writes with verve and pace. Tony Ryan was born in a railwayman's cottage and rose to enormous success, overseeing the spectacular making of two business fortunes and the dramatic loss of one. After an early spell in Aer Lingus, he set up an airline leasing company, Guinness Peat Aviation (GPA), which had its headquarters in Shannon and quickly became the largest such enterprise in the world. Ryan was a hard taskmaster and the company reflected his ferocious work ethic. Yet, despite a stellar board of directors, a botched and poorly timed Initial Public Offering in the 1990s saw GPA crash and burn. Ryan lost almost everything. All that remained was a little airline running massive deficits. Ryan set about turning Ryanair around, putting in one of his assistants, Michael O'Leary, to help knock it into shape. The rest is history. Ryan remade his fortune, lived lavishly and elegantly, was a generous patron of the arts, and in every respect larger than life. His spirit is one that Ireland needs more than ever today. As the nation strives for its own recovery, it can find inspiration in the story of how one of its most famous sons rose and fell, and then rose again. Not one to stand still or lament mistakes, Tony Ryan's determination never to give up is the real lesson of this story. He was in so many ways Ireland's Aviator.
Download or read book The Mystery of the Blue Train written by Agatha Christie and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2024-01-02 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Agatha Christie’s beloved detective Hercule Poirot solves the murder of an American heiress by restaging her final journey by night train—with all of the suspects aboard. When the fabled Blue Train, the luxury overnight passenger express to the Riviera, arrives at Nice, a guard attempts to awaken Ruth Kettering from her slumbers. But the wealthy American socialite will never wake again, for a brutal blow has killed her, disfiguring her almost beyond recognition. What is more, her famously valuable rubies are missing. The prime suspect is Ruth’s estranged husband, Derek. Yet Hercule Poirot is not convinced, and so he stages an eerie reenactment of the journey—with all of the suspected murderers aboard. A VINTAGE CLASSIC MYSTERY
Download or read book Eleven Minutes Late written by Matthew Engel and published by Pan Macmillan. This book was released on 2010-02-05 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Britain gave railways to the world, yet its own network is the dearest (definitely) and the worst (probably) in Western Europe. Trains are deeply embedded in the national psyche and folklore - yet it is considered uncool to care about them. For Matthew Engel the railway system is the ultimate expression of Britishness. It represents all the nation's ingenuity, incompetence, nostalgia, corruption, humour, capacity for suffering and even sexual repression. To uncover its mysteries, Engel has travelled the system from Penzance to Thurso, exploring its history and talking to people from politicians to platform staff. Along the way Engel ('half-John Betjeman, half-Victor Meldrew') finds the most charmingly bizarre train in Britain, the most beautiful branch line, the rudest railwayman, and - after a quest lasting decades - an Individual Pot of Strawberry Jam. Eleven Minutes Late is both a polemic and a paean, and it is also very funny.
Download or read book The Railwayman s Daughter written by Dee Yates and published by Ulverscroft Large Print Books. This book was released on 2008-01 with total page 478 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Railwayman Tom Swales with his wife and five daughters take the end cottage. With no room to spare in the loving Swales household, eldest daughter Mary accepts a position as housemaid to the nearby Stationmaster. There she battles his brutal, lustful nature. When Mary falls pregnant, she flees to York.
Download or read book The Man from the Train written by Bill James and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2017-09-19 with total page 480 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An Edgar Award finalist for Best Fact Crime, this “impressive…open-eyed investigative inquiry wrapped within a cultural history of rural America” (The Wall Street Journal) shows legendary statistician and baseball writer Bill James applying his analytical acumen to crack an unsolved century-old mystery surrounding one of the deadliest serial killers in American history. Between 1898 and 1912, families across the country were bludgeoned in their sleep with the blunt side of an axe. Jewelry and valuables were left in plain sight, bodies were piled together, faces covered with cloth. Some of these cases, like the infamous Villasca, Iowa, murders, received national attention. But few people believed the crimes were related. And fewer still would realize that all of these families lived within walking distance to a train station. When celebrated baseball statistician and true crime expert Bill James first learned about these horrors, he began to investigate others that might fit the same pattern. Applying the same know-how he brings to his legendary baseball analysis, he empirically determined which crimes were committed by the same person. Then after sifting through thousands of local newspapers, court transcripts, and public records, he and his daughter Rachel made an astonishing discovery: they learned the true identity of this monstrous criminal. In turn, they uncovered one of the deadliest serial killers in America. Riveting and immersive, with writing as sharp as the cold side of an axe, The Man from the Train paints a vivid, psychologically perceptive portrait of America at the dawn of the twentieth century, when crime was regarded as a local problem, and opportunistic private detectives exploited a dysfunctional judicial system. James shows how these cultural factors enabled such an unspeakable series of crimes to occur, and his groundbreaking approach to true crime will convince skeptics, amaze aficionados, and change the way we view criminal history.
Download or read book Railroad Radicals in Cold War Mexico written by Robert F. Alegre and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2020-04-01 with total page 378 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Despite the Mexican government's projected image of prosperity and modernity in the years following World War II, workers who felt that Mexico's progress had come at their expense became increasingly discontented. From 1948 to 1958, unelected and often corrupt officials of STFRM, the railroad workers' union, collaborated with the ruling Institutionalized Revolutionary Party (PRI) to freeze wages for the rank and file. In response, members of STFRM staged a series of labor strikes in 1958 and 1959 that inspired a nationwide working-class movement. The Mexican army crushed the last strike on March 26, 1959, and union members discovered that in the context of the Cold War, exercising their constitutional right to organize and strike appeared radical, even subversive. Railroad Radicals in Cold War Mexico examines a pivotal moment in post-World War II Mexican history. The railroad movement reflected the contested process of postwar modernization, which began with workers demanding higher wages at the end of World War II and culminated in the railway strikes of the 1950s, a bold challenge to PRI rule. In addition, Robert F. Alegre gives the wives of the railroad workers a narrative place in this history by incorporating issues of gender identity in his analysis.
Download or read book A Hundred Small Lessons written by Ashley Hay and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2017-11-28 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Through the richly intertwined narratives of two women from different generations, Ashley Hay, known for her “elegant prose, which draws warm and textured portraits as it celebrates the web of human stories” (New York Times Book Review) weaves an intricate, bighearted tale of the many small decisions—the invisible moments—that come to make a life. “Readers who loved the quiet introspection of Anita Shreve’s The Pilot’s Wife and Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kitteridge will enjoy the detailed emotional journeys of Hay’s characters. Their stories will linger long after the final page is turned” (Library Journal). When Elsie Gormley falls and is forced to leave her Brisbane home of sixty-two years, Lucy Kiss and her family move in, eager to make the house their own. Still, Lucy can’t help but feel that she’s unwittingly stumbled into an entirely new life—new house, new city, new baby—and she struggles to navigate the journey from adventurous lover to young parent. In her nearby nursing facility, Elsie traces the years she spent in her beloved house, where she too transformed from a naïve newlywed into a wife and mother, and eventually, a widow. Gradually, the boundary between present and past becomes more porous for her, and for Lucy—because the house has secrets of its own, and its rooms seem to share with Lucy memories from Elsie’s life. Luminous and deeply affecting, A Hundred Small Lessons is a “lyrically written portrayal” (BookPage, Top Pick) of what it means to be human, and how a place can transform who we are. It’s about a house that becomes much more than a home, and the shifting identities of mother and daughter; father and son. Above all else, this is a story of the surprising and miraculous ways that our lives intersect with those who have come before us, and those who follow.
Download or read book The Death of Jean Moulin written by Patrick Marnham and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "According to legend Jean Moulin was General de Gaulle's emissary to the resistance movements in occupied France and became the political head of the Resistance in 1943. But despite the fact that he has entered French history as one of the great heroes of the Second World War, surprisingly little is known about him. He was captured in Lyons and tortured by the Gestapo and is thought to have died a few days later without talking. Ever since his disappearance arguments have raged in France as to whether or not he was betrayed by other Resistance leaders. Why should they have been suspected of doing that? Was Jean Moulin just a brave civil servant who volunteered to become a secret agent? Or was he, as some believe, a French Philby, working to promote a Communist insurrection in France? But in order to find out who he was, one must first know who killed him.In this fascinating book, Patrick Marnham traces the childhood and early career of Jean Moulin and places him in the context of French political life in the 1930s, when Left and Right fought violent battles in the streets of Paris. He searches for the key to Jean Moulin's political convictions and examines the way in which a countr
Download or read book Hachiko written by Pamela S. Turner and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 2009-04-06 with total page 37 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Imagine walking to the same place every day, to meet your best friend. Imagine watching hundreds of people pass by every morning and every afternoon. Imagine waiting, and waiting, and waiting. For ten years. This is what Hachiko did. Hachiko was a real dog who lived in Tokyo, a dog who faithfully waited for his owner at the Shibuya train station long after his owner could not come to meet him. He became famous for his loyalty and was adored by scores of people who passed through the station every day. This is Hachiko’s story through the eyes of Kentaro, a young boy whose life is changed forever by his friendship with this very special dog. Simply told, and illustrated with Yan Nascimbene’s lush watercolors, the legend of Hachiko will touch your heart and inspire you as it has inspired thousands all over the world.
Download or read book India s Railway Man written by Rajendra B. Aklekar and published by Rupa Publications. This book was released on 2017 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sreedharan's expertise and foresight-on behalf of those not as richly blessed as he was-ensured that political will was converted into a multipurpose railway project. The [Chithoni railway link] bridge was completed eleven weeks ahead of schedule and proved to be helpful to one and all. Two key railway projects changed the way India travels by train-the 760-km stretch of Konkan Railway and the Delhi Metro. Both the projects were up and running in seven years flat and the man in charge was Dr Elattuvalapil Sreedharan, popularly known as the Railway Man. He has been hailed as the messiah of new-age infrastructure projects and his success stories have become railway engineering benchmark. Respected, loved and equally hated, this book covers the amazing story of one man-his perseverance, beliefs, and public and private battles. India's Railway Man: A Biography of E. Sreedharan is a tribute to this extraordinary man.
