Kingdom Of The Sun

A child's introduction to the planets in our solar system. Dr Jacqueline Mitton describes each planet, drawing on scientific information. She also discusses the gods that the planets are named after, and examines the relationships between contemporary facts and ancient myths.

There were two Norman Conquests. John Julius Norwich is the consummate historian of the 'other' one: the conquest of Sicily. When on Christmas Day 1130 Roger de Hauteville was crowned first King of Sicily, the island entered a golden age. Norman and Italian, Greek and Arab, Lombard, Englishman and Jew all contributed to a culture that was as brilliant as it was cosmopolitan; and to an atmosphere of racial and religious toleration unparalleled in Europe. But sixty-four years later, to the day, the sun set on the Sicilian Kingdom. In this second volume of his history (The Normans in the South 1016-1130 is also in Faber Finds) Norwich describes the reigns of the grotesquely misnamed William the Bad and the Good and the bastard Tancred. We read, too, of St Bernard, magnetic but insufferable; of Adrian IV, the only English Pope; of Richard the Lionheart (behaving abominably in Messina); and other notables. This scintillating narrative history is also a superb traveller's guide, listing every Norman building extant on Sicily.

Set in southwestern New Mexico, the stories in James Terry's stunning debut explore the joys, insecurities, and failures of memorable characters as they attempt to connect with--or disconnect from--others around them. The elderly landlady of the Darling Courts apartments hires a reclusive handyman who suffers from a fear of water, and the pair forms an unlikely bond. A worker's unscrupulous plan to build a road in the middle of the desert is threatened by a lonely pregnant woman living in a trailer parked directly in his path. Overcome by nostalgia, a married trucker making the California run from Waco to Los Angeles takes a truck-stop waitress to the Deming drive-in theater with disappointing results. Together, these surprising stories uncover how our environment manifests itself in our everyday lives.

Cancer is an unexpected turn which Peggy didn't consider on this Journey of Hope. Heading south looking for a warmer climate she ends up in New Mexico. Just as she was finding a place to settle chemo therapy brings challenges that change the plans and hopes along the way. In the Kingdom of the Sun her love of animals results in interviewing the pets of the residents (via their owners) from which she creates interesting stories. The maze of trials that retirement brings can bring deeper faith. The Journey of Hope began with great faith and determination. Will the journey end in tragedy or a deeper spiritual realization.

A young Inca girl succeeds where her brothers and others have failed, when her bird friends help her find the special water that will cure the king's son.

When an emissary sent by the Konig himself stops by the remote mouse colony of Long Meadow, the peaceful life Sommer and Nesbit have shared is turned upside down-and the brothers are catapulted into separate death-defying adventures. Sommer, levelheaded and clever, is ordered to the palace to join the Konig's illustrious Eagle Guard as it prepares to face a full-scale invasion by the nefarious Emperor Wolfsmilch and his army of a hundred thousand forest mice. Meanwhile, the small but spirited Nesbit is banished to the Forest of Lost Life for insulting the Konig, and must dodge hungry predators at every turn. The brothers struggle to reunite and defy the oppressors who threaten everyone and everything they have ever known and loved. But time is quickly running out for both of them-and the fate of the kingdom hinges on one last, daring mission.

Providing an original overview covering nearly 4,000 years of history, the book includes approximately 350 works reproduced in lush colour illustrations: a large selection of pre-Columbian treasures, masterpieces dating from the colonial era and striking modern paintings and sculptures from the first half of the 20th century, many reproduced here for the first time. The book is divided into three sections: the mythologies and rituals of ancient Andean civilizations; their perpetuation, concealment, or hybridisation with Catholicism during the 18th and 19th centuries; and the rediscovery of Peruvian popular traditions and faiths in the 20th century, mainly due to the popular Indigenist movement.