Kirjahaku

Shortly before WWII erupts, George Ghikas starts having recurring dreams about an unknown dancing girl. Because George has Greek ancestry, the military sends him behind enemy lines on occupied Crete with orders to organize partisan groups in the White Mountains. While George is performing his important work, he has hallucinations of the same dancing girl who has appeared so often in his dreams. Progressively, George is enmeshed in a 3,600-year-old world, where it appears he was once the victim of a human sacrifice ceremony that was taking place in a restored Minoan temple located near his current base camp. The girl who has been haunting his dreams is the officiating priestess during the ancient sacrificial ceremony... until the temple is destroyed by an earthquake. Back in the 20th century, George narrowly avoids a suicide attempt by reenacting the sacrificial ceremony of so long ago...until the temple is once again destroyed, this time by German bombs. Author Nigel Patten loves words and the music behind them. He teaches English literature for the French Baccalaureate in an international alpine college. Patten grew up in the United Kingdom and later moved to Switzerland. He now lives and writes in a ski resort in the mountains above Lake Geneva. Publisher's website: http://www.strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/TheHoundsOfSamaria.html

« L'imagination nous emporte souvent vers des mondes qui n'ont jamais exist s, mais sans elle, nous allons nulle part. - Carl SaganSans archives pour la r gion du Chablais avant le XI si cle, ce conte populaire, appuy par des d ductions historiques, nous parle des premiers habitants d'un village alpin au-dessus de la vall e du Rh ne la fin du IX si cle.Nous suivons les aventures d'un jeune couple, une fille serve et un jeune homme affranchi, un rapport incompatible l' poque. Ils se r fugient la montagne en hiver et survivent avec l'appui d'un moine et d'un garde-chasse.« J'habite sur le plateau de Gryon/Villars depuis un demi-si cle. Il tait temps de mettre mes sentiments sur papier pour cette r gion , d clare l'auteur. « J'ai toujours essay d'imaginer qui taient les premiers habitants y passer l'hiver et pas seulement pratiquer la transhumance d' t avec leur moutons et leurs ch vres. (A propos de l'auteur)Nigel Patten est n pr s de Londres en 1940 et vit en Suisse depuis 1961 o il a enseign l'anglais dans un lyc e fran ais. Il a publi dix livres, des romans historiques, une biographie, un cours d'anglais pour des francophones et une pi ce de th tre sur les derni res semaines de la vie du po te Shelley. Il a gagn un Readers Favorite Award deux reprises. L'auteur voyage beaucoup en camping-car comme par exemple jusqu'en Inde. Pendant 15 ans, il a navigu entre les les grecques dans son propre voilier chaque t . Ayant atteint deux fois le sommet du Mont Kilimandjaro, il pratique encore la marche en montagne dont les Grandes Randonn es comme le GR20 en Corse. Acteur et metteur en sc ne, il a fait partie d'une troupe de th tre amateur Vevey pendant 40 ans.

In 1823, Lord Byron rented the Casa Saluzzo at Albaro in the hills east of Genoa, Italy. The poet shared the 16th-century palazzo with his mistress, Teresa Giuccioli, her brother, and their exiled father, Count Gamba.His neighbors were Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein, whose poet husband had recently drowned; Leigh Hunt, the critic and editor; and Edward Trelawney, a Cornish adventurer and close friend of both poets.A frequent visitor that summer was Lady Marguerite Blessington, who kept detailed notes of their many conversations. From these conversations, an intimate insight is gained into Byron's personality, philosophy, mental state, opinion of himself, and the impression he made on others and society.The complexity of Byron's character is revealed, as well as his phobias and rejection by English society for the scandals attached to his numerous amorous activities.This three-act play paints the portrait of a tormented man, obsessed with his congenital lameness and a pressing sense of solitude, despite or because of his numerous affairs with married women in his elusive quest for love.(About the Author)Nigel Patten was born near London in 1940, and has lived in Switzerland since 1961, where he taught English at a French high school. He has published 12 books, including historical novels, a biography, an English course for French speakers, and a play on the last weeks of the poet Shelley's life. A two-time Reader's Favorite Award winner, the author travelled in a motorhome to India, and for 15 years sailed his sailboat between the Greek islands. Having reached the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro twice, he still hikes mountains. An actor and director, he was part of an amateur theatre troupe in Vevey for 40 years.

This intriguing transformation turns a legend into a person of history.The patron saint of Palermo, Italy (romanized as Balarm) is Santa Rosalia Sinibaldi. There's no documented proof of her existence, so this historical tale imagines how Rosalia (Rus lia in the book) may have lived, from her birth in 1130 to her death in 1165.The daughter of a Lombard count and a Norman noblewoman, she was also a distant cousin of King Roger II (Rujari). Educated in the Norman palace of Qasr, Rus lia was given in marriage by the king at age fourteen to the French Count Baudouin.Rus lia took refuge in a Basilian monastery to avoid the marriage. She then fled to her family estates and lived partly in a cave. Years later, she was forced to return to Balarm and became one of Queen Margaret's ladies. Known for performing minor "miracles," Rus lia fled once more to live in another cave under Mount Pellegrino, where she lived until her death.In 1642 during the plague in Balarm, her bones were discovered, taken down the mountain, and paraded round the city. Three days later, the plague disappeared.(About the Author)Of Swiss nationality and British origin, Nigel Patten has lived in Switzerland since 1961, teaching English at an international alpine school that prepared students for the French baccalaureate. The author previously published ten books and two plays, twice receiving a Readers' Favorite Award. Having twice climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro, he also sailed his own yacht in Greece for fifteen years. The retired teacher is a lifetime amateur actor and director, having appeared in major stage roles. He has driven overland to India, and camped in Australia, the U.S., and in every European country.

By the end of the 18th century, Corsica had been occupied by France for over thirty years. Islanders yearned to recover their lost independence, and the French Revolution gave them the opportunity. Their leader, Pasquale Paoli, realized that alone they could never defeat the well-organized French forces. He offered Corsica to King George III of England, on condition that the French were driven from the island.Based on documented historical fact, the author paints a detailed portrait of Corsica through the captivating adventures of Damian Berra, a young man from what is today the Swiss canton of Valais. After wandering through Lombardy to the Ligurian coast, as the victim of a press gang on a French frigate, he becomes marooned on Corsica, an island infested with bandits and crippled with vendettas, where murders are seven times more numerous than in mainland France. The story also describes the attempts of the English to administer an island they eventually called "The Ungovernable Rock."Nigel Patten was born near London in 1940 and has lived in Switzerland since 1961, writing and teaching English in an alpine lyc e. He has published nine books, including historical novels, a biography, and a three-act play on the last weeks of the life of poet Percy Shelley, and has twice won a Reader's Favorite Award. The author has traveled widely on all continents, driving from Switzerland to India and back. For many years he sailed his own boat in the Greek islands, and has twice climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro, as well as hiked other famous mountain trails. He has also directed and acted in numerous stage plays.

"Imagination will often carry us to world that nver were, but without it we go nowhere." - Karl SaganWithout archives for the Swiss Chablais region dating from the 11th century, this tale imagines, with some historical deduction, who the first permanent settlers were in an alpine village overlooking the Rhone Valley at the end of the 9th century.The novel follows the adventures of a young couple, a serf girl, and a freed man, both socially incompatible, who flee to the mountain in the winter, and survive with the help of a monk and a gamekeeper."I have lived in Gryon, the village featured in my story, for so long that I felt it was time to show it my gratitude," says the author. "I have always tried to imagine who were the first people to spend a whole winter there, rather than simply bringing the sheep and goats up for the summer season."(About the Author)Nigel Patten was born near London in 1940 and has lived in Switzerland since 1961, writing and teaching English for the French baccalaur at. He has published ten books, including historical novels, a biography, an English drill book, and a three-act play about the last weeks in the life of the poet Shelley. He has twice won a Reader's Favorite Award. The author has travelled widely on all continents, often by camper van, including an overland drive to India and back. For many years he sailed his own yacht in the Greek islands, has twice climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro, and hiked a number of famous trails. He was also a competitive cross-country skier. For forty years he directed and acted in a theater group in Vevey, on Lake Geneva.