Otto


Book Description

Otto is the entertaining and humorous story that spans one man's life from childhood in Germany to adulthood in Australia. Named by his grandfather (referred to as "Opa" in German), Otto conjures up a great deal of trouble and chaos along his journey. Otto's early days seem to be made in heaven--as soon as he is able to talk and walk, his mischievous behavior is both applauded and protected by his grandfather, Opa. Otto's childhood antics include skipping school and lazily relieving himself in a gap between the wall and the bed--instead of going to the toilet. His parents become so frustrated with his behavior that they consider giving him up for adoption, but Opa continues to see only the good in his beloved grandson. It seems Otto could even get away with murder. Will Otto ever be able to take responsibility for his actions, or will his grandfather's loyalty to his grandson stand in the way? Otto's antics will surprise, amuse, and delight you as you follow his never-ending quest to find the greener pasture on the other side of the fence.




Dear Cara


Book Description

In this volume, the story told in The Diary of Anne Frank continues and expands. Through his letters, Otto, Anne's father and the only survivor in the Frank family, became a treasured wise friend to thousands of young people around the world, by giving simple, honest responses to their questions. Cara, a young American girl, kept his letters, followed his advice, and honored Otto as a surrogate father. Nearly 20 years later, as a grown woman and mother, Cara journeyed to Amsterdam to see the home where Anne had been hidden in an attic for two years before her murder. Cara listened to some of the holocaust stories from the Dutch people who had sheltered the Franks, and then traveled to Switzerland to fulfill a life-long dream: to finally meet her mentor in Switzerland. There she found Otto, who had not forgotten those who had betrayed their wartime hiding place, but neither did he wish for revenge. He had managed, through his own radiant spirit and the poignant words of his dead daughter, to embrace the best in people - and forgive those who had been the worst.







The Burgomaster's Family


Book Description




Coward Plays: 3


Book Description

The third volume of Coward's plays contains some of his best work from the thirties. Design for Living is about a triangular alliance between two men and a woman, based on friends of Coward's, which he waited to write "until she and he and I had arrived by different roads in our careers at a time and a place when we felt we could all three play together with a more or less equal degree of success." Cavalcade was Coward's most ambitious stage project, set during the Boer War, which cost £30,000 in its day and which includes scenes of the relief of the sinking of the Titanic and the coming of the Jazz Age. Conversation Piece is a musical comedy that Noël wrote for the Parisian star Yvonne Printemps and includes the song "I'll Follow My Secret Heart". Also in the volume are three short plays from Tonight at 8.30 including Hands Across the Sea, a gentle satire of colonials and London Society; Still Life which became the film Brief Encounter and Fumed Oak a suburban comedy about a 'worm who turns'.




Design for Living


Book Description

'The actual facts are so simple. I love you. You love me. You love Otto. I love Otto. Otto loves you. Otto loves me. There now! Start to unravel from there.' Design for Living is a wickedly witty dark romantic comedy by Noel Coward. Initially banned in the UK, this provocative play portrays three amoral, glib and stylish characters and their hopelessly inescapable, if also unconventional, emotional entanglement. From 1930s bohemian Paris to the dizzying heights of Manhattan society, a tempestuous love triangle unravels between a vivacious interior designer, Gilda, playwright Leo and artist Otto - three people unashamedly and passionately in love with each other. They are trapped in what Coward called 'a three-sided erotic hodge podge.' With Coward's trademark piquant style, this lively, funny but also atypical play looks at dazzling, egotistical creatures and their self-destructive dependence on each other. Exploring themes of bisexuality, celebrity, success and self-obsession, Design for Living is a stylish and scandalous comedy.




Lady Connie


Book Description

Reproduction of the original: Lady Connie by Humphry Ward




Old-Fashioned Girl


Book Description

A tale of love and loss set in a bygone greeting card factory. From its irreverent beginnings to its bittersweet end, OLD-FASHIONED GIRL chronicles the humor and pathos of all who find themselves trapped in a world of changing values.




Chatterbox


Book Description




Lise Meitner


Book Description

She refused to participate in the Allied atomic bomb project and was greatly concerned about the development of nuclear weapons after the war.