Four Reigns

Four Reigns
Author: Kukrit Pramoj
Publisher: Silkworm Books
Total Pages: 477
Release: 1998-01-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1628401966

Four Reigns (Sri Phaendin), M.R. Kukrit’s longest and best-known novel, is the rich and entertaining story of the life of Phloi and her family, both inside and outside palace walls. The story unfolds during the reign of King Chulalongkorn (King Rama V) in the closing years of the 1800s, ending in the mid 1940s with the death of his grandson, King Ananda Mahidol (King Rama VIII). Over a span of four reigns, we see the lives of minor courtiers under the absolute monarchy and watch the huge social and political changes that Thailand experienced as it opened itself up to international contact. We follow the characters against the historical backdrops of the 1932 revolution, the new constitutional monarchy, the growing Japanese presence in Thailand, the outbreak of World War II, and the Allied bombing raids on Bangkok. Through the lives and relationships of Phloi and her husband and children, we experience modern Thai history in an intimate and personal way, garnering new insights into the sensibilities of an era. Four Reigns was originally written in 1953 as a newspaper serial in the Thai daily, Siam Rath, as were M.R. Kukrit’s other popular novels, including Phai Daeng (1954) (Red Bamboo), and Lai Chiwit (1954) (Many Lives). This is a new version of the original 1981 translation by Tulachandra.

Many Lives

Many Lives
Author: Kukrit Pramoj (M.R.)
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 1999
Genre: Death
ISBN: 9789747100679

"That night, the rain poured and wind howled, raindrops crashing like solid objects onto the ground and water. A passenger boat from Ban Phaen to Bangkok, packed with people, pressed on through the current amidst the rising clamor of the rain and storm. . . ." The boat capsizes in the torrent, and washed up on the shore the next morning are the sodden bodies of the many passengers who lost their lives. Thus begins M. R. Kukrit Pramoj's classic novel set in the Thailand of the early 1950s and first published in 1954. The life of each passenger who perished is retraced from birth, revealing a complex web of experiences and emotions. M. R. Kukrit Pramoj (1911Ð1995) wasa writer of renown, politician, prime minister, intellectual, journalist, and classical dancer. He wrote more than 20 books, including the historical novel Four Reigns.

Henri IV of France

Henri IV of France
Author: Vincent J. Pitts
Publisher: JHU Press
Total Pages: 516
Release: 2009-01-05
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0801890276

Vincent J. Pitts chronicles the life and times of one of France’s most remarkable kings in the first English-language biography of Henri IV to be published in twenty-five years. An unwelcome heir to the throne, Henri ruled over a kingdom plagued by religious civil war and political and economic instability. By the end of his reign in 1610 he had pacified his warring country, restored its prosperity, and reclaimed France’s place as a leading power in Europe. Pitts draws upon the rich scholarship of recent decades to tell the captivating story of this pivotal French king. From boyhood, Henri was destined to be leader and protector of the Huguenot movement in France. He served as chief of the Calvinist party and fought for the Huguenot forces in the bloody Wars of Religion before an extraordinary sequence of dynastic mishaps left the Protestant warlord next in line for the French crown. Henri was forced to renounce his faith in support of his claim to the Catholic throne and to unite his deeply divided country. A master of political maneuvering, Henri restored order to a country in the throes of great religious, political, and economic upheaval. He was assassinated in 1610 by a Catholic zealot. Vincent Pitts expertly recounts this history and skillfully untangles its complex set of personalities and events. Pitts engages the vast amount of literature relating to the king himself as well as the large body of recent scholarship on France during this time. The result is a fascinating biography of a French king and a comprehensive history of sixteenth-century France.

In Four Reigns

In Four Reigns
Author: Emma Marshall
Publisher: London, Seeley
Total Pages: 332
Release: 1887
Genre:
ISBN:

Ryan Rule: A Reverse Harem/ Dark Mafia Romance. New York Ruthless Book 1

Ryan Rule: A Reverse Harem/ Dark Mafia Romance. New York Ruthless Book 1
Author: Sadie Kincaid
Publisher: Red House Press
Total Pages: 264
Release: 2021-11-04
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9781838448394

Jessie Heaton is a fearless, flame-haired computer hacker. Independent and feisty, she's relied on no-one but herself since the age of sixteen. Working for the Russians, she is finally close to getting the one thing she wants most in life, when she's stopped in her tracks by the notorious Ryan brothers. The Ryans are Irish Mafia. They are unstoppable. No-one stands in their way. And nothing comes between a Ryan and his family. That is, until the hurricane that is Jessie, crashes into their lives. With a world full of secrets and a past that she can't outrun, will she be their salvation or their downfall? Ryan Rule is Book 1 in the New York Ruthless series. A Reverse Harem/ Dark Mafia Romance full of heat and suspense that will keep you turning the pages. Publishers Note: this book deals with mature themes.

The First Four Georges

The First Four Georges
Author: John Harold Plumb
Publisher:
Total Pages: 188
Release: 2000
Genre: Great Britain
ISBN: 9780141390031

In this volume, the author has written a book whose value as pure history is no less than its interest as a study of four essentially ordinary people under extraordinary circumstances. He was the first to appreciate the complexity of George I, and he surveys the following three Georges with a similarly unjaundiced eye.

Four Princes

Four Princes
Author: John Julius Norwich
Publisher: Open Road + Grove/Atlantic
Total Pages: 274
Release: 2017-04-04
Genre: History
ISBN: 0802189466

“Bad behavior makes for entertaining history” in this bold history of Europe, the Middle East, and the men who ruled them in the early sixteenth century (Kirkus Reviews). John Julius Norwich—“the very model of a popular historian”—is acclaimed for his distinctive ability to weave together a fascinating narrative through vivid detail, colorful anecdotes, and captivating characters. Here, he explores four leaders—Henry VIII, Francis I, Charles V, and Suleiman—who led their countries during the Renaissance (The Wall Street Journal). Francis I of France was the personification of the Renaissance, and a highly influential patron of the arts and education. Henry VIII, who was not expected to inherit the throne but embraced the role with gusto, broke with the Roman Catholic Church and appointed himself head of the Church of England. Charles V was the most powerful man of the time, and unanimously elected Holy Roman Emperor. And Suleiman the Magnificent—who stood apart as a Muslim—brought the Ottoman Empire to its apogee of political, military, and economic power. These men collectively shaped the culture, religion, and politics of their respective domains. With remarkable erudition, John Julius Norwich offers “an important history, masterfully written,” indelibly depicting four dynamic characters and how their incredible achievements—and obsessions with one another—changed Europe forever (The Washington Times).

Bangkok Wakes to Rain

Bangkok Wakes to Rain
Author: Pitchaya Sudbanthad
Publisher:
Total Pages: 370
Release: 2019
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0525534768

"A house in the center of Bangkok becomes the point of confluence where lives are shaped by upheaval, memory, and the lure of home. Witness to two centuries' flux in one of the world's most restless cities, a house plays host to longings and losses past, present, and future. A nineteenth-century missionary doctor pines for the comforts of New England even as he finds the vibrant foreign chaos of Siam increasingly difficult to resist. A post-war society woman marries, mothers, and holds court, little suspecting the course of her future. A jazz pianist is summoned in the 1970s to conjure music that will pacify resident spirits, even as he's haunted by ghosts of his former life. Not long after, a young woman gives swimming lessons in the luxury condos that have eclipsed the old house, trying to outpace the long shadow of her political past. And in the post-submergence Bangkok of the future, a band of savvy teenagers guides tourists and former residents past waterlogged, ruined landmarks, selling them tissues to wipe their tears for places they themselves do not remember. Time collapses as these stories collide and converge, linked by blood, memory, yearning, chance, and the forces voraciously making and remaking the amphibian, ever-morphing city itself"--Provided by publisher.

Behind the Painting

Behind the Painting
Author: Siburapha
Publisher: Random House
Total Pages: 106
Release: 2024-10-10
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1802065725

One of Thailand’s best-known and most highly regarded novels, portraying the romance of a young Thai man and a married older woman ‘In that tranquil and apparently very ordinary picture, I see everything unfolding. Every scene, every part, from the beginning to the final act’ Nopporn, a Thai student studying in Japan, is tasked with hosting a distinguished old family friend and his new wife, the beautiful, aristocratic Kirati. Despite their difference in age and status, and the social constraints of the day, Nopporn and Kirati are inexorably drawn to each other, and love starts to bloom. A stirring portrayal of youthful romantic obsession, and later attempts to come to terms with the frailty of passionate feelings, Behind the Painting also shows the constrained lives of many women of the time. First published in 1937, it is one of Thailand’s best-known and most beloved novels. Translated by David Smyth