Spy Princess


Book Description

This is the riveting story of Noor Inayat Khan, a descendant of an Indian prince, Tipu Sultan (the Tiger of Mysore), who became a British secret agent for SOE during World War II. Shrabani Basu tells the moving story of Noor's life, from her birth in Moscow – where her father was a Sufi preacher – to her capture by the Germans. Noor was one of only three women SOE agents awarded the George Cross and, under torture, revealed nothing, not even her real name. Kept in solitary confinement, her hands and feet chained together, Noor was starved and beaten, but the Germans could not break her spirit. Ten months after she was captured, she was taken to Dachau concentration camp and, on 13 September 1944, she was shot. Her last word was 'Liberté.'




White Dove and the Heirs of Falcon Ridge


Book Description

White Dove is a story about a young lady by the name of Anne, who, at the age of ten, was living with her mother and grandfather. Annes mother is abused by her father and beaten continually. Her mothers dreams are of finding a better life for her daughter and herself. In chapter 1, Anne and her mother leave and find such a dream. A wealthy woman by the name of Abigail Boyd hires her as her full-time seamstress, along with living accommodations and board. Here too her mother meets William Boyd, who is in the lumber business and is a lumber baron. Chapter 2 begins as Anne and her mother become acquainted with their new employers. Annes mother becomes William Boyds wife in a short time, fulfilling a dream for Anne. But upon arriving after a months honeymoon, Anne sees a change in her mother. Her father was now restless and always away for long periods of time. Her mother was always unhappy. A wicked villain enters the story by the name of Zachary Taylor who preys on William Boyds money and life. William Boyd loses his fortune to Zachary Taylor and loses his entire estate. He explains to Anne what had happened the day Zachary Taylor came to the estate to claim his prize. Anne swears she will return to it and reclaim it. Her father secretly hands her a leather-covered envelope and makes her promise to guard it with her life, for it is very valuable. Anne, her mother, and father set out on a new life, enduring pain, even a near-death situation. Her mother has a miscarriage. Her father becomes very upset and refuses to deal with it. After reaching their new surroundings, her mother is again pregnant within a month. During her arrival in California, her mother has a son but brings terrible heartbreak to his parents. He is killed in an accident. Annes father leaves again and returns too late to find his wife has had another baby, and this time, it is a girl. They somehow find work on a beautiful ranch where Anne and her new sister could be free. It was to be Annes inheritance! Anne is now a young woman and falls in love with a young man who is her neighbors son who has come home from college. He has known Anna since she was in school as a shy but beautiful girl. He is a handsome man who is every girls catch but has an eye for the one perfect girl, Anna. On a sunny summer day, he takes her for a carriage ride. It was like a meeting of old times, and they fall in love. After a short courtship, he proposes to her. Moreover, she accepts. After a short honeymoon, he leaves to fight a war and is captured by the Mexicans who are at war with the States. Anna is determined to search for him, only to find herself in danger. During the search, the Apache Indians hold her captive. And finally a chiefs wife adopts her and makes her a warrior princess through training, becoming White Dove. But she has to leave the village in order to escape the wrath of the chief, for she has a daughter, and not a son, to carry on his name. A friend travels with her, only to become ill after they are both raped by men who find them in a cabin they used as a shelter. Finally, after a few months, her friend dies and leaves her baby with the people who have taken care of them all this time. A fur trader tells her of hearing of a renegade tribe to the north that has white men who are slaves for them in their mines. One is a soldier who may be her husband. During their travels, she proves that she is not only unafraid to go but is also a good shooter. Finding her husband alive but very ill and tortured, she wins his freedom in a contest. His freedom was won. A family is started, twin boys, one bearing the mark of a hawk. Annas daughter, Little Dove, whom she now calls Sarah, sits beside her mothers bedside as she becomes ill and dies. And shortly after, she too becomes ill and passes away, leaving the two sons to continue with the business of carrying on the Falcon Ridge Winery, which is known to be the makers of the best champagne and wine in the world. O







Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: Wolmark-Zuylestein


Book Description

55,000 biographies of people who shaped the history of the British Isles and beyond, from the earliest times to the year 2002.




André-Louis Cholesky


Book Description

This book traces the life of Cholesky (1875-1918), and gives his family history. After an introduction to topography, an English translation of an unpublished paper by him where he explained his method for linear systems is given, studied and replaced in its historical context. His other works, including two books, are also described as well as his involvement in teaching at a superior school by correspondence. The story of this school and its founder, Léon Eyrolles, are addressed. Then, an important unpublished book of Cholesky on graphical calculation is analyzed in detail and compared to similar contemporary publications. The biography of Ernest Benoit, who wrote the first paper where Cholesky ́s method is explained, is provided. Various documents, highlighting the life and the personality of Cholesky, end the book.




Neslishah


Book Description

Twice a princess, twice exiled, Neslishah Sultan had an eventful life. When she was born in Istanbul in 1921, cannons were fired in the four corners of the Ottoman Empire, commemorative coins were issued in her name, and her birth was recorded in the official register of the palace. After all, she was an imperial princess and the granddaughter of Sultan Vahiddedin. But she was the last member of the imperial family to be accorded such honors: in 1922 Vahiddedin was deposed and exiled, replaced as caliph--but not as sultan--by his brother (and Neslishah's other grandfather) Abdülmecid; in 1924 Abdülmecid was also removed from office, and the entire imperial family, including three-year-old Neslishah, was sent into exile. Sixteen years later on her marriage to Prince Abdel Moneim, the son of the last khedive of Egypt, she became a princess of the Egyptian royal family. And when in 1952 her husband was appointed regent for Egypt's infant king, she took her place at the peak of Egyptian society as the country's first lady, until the abolition of the monarchy the following year. Exile followed once more, this time from Egypt, after the royal couple faced charges of treason. Eventually Neslishah was allowed to return to the city of her birth, where she died at the age of 91 in 2012. Based on original documents and extensive personal interviews, this account of one woman's extraordinary life is also the story of the end of two powerful dynasties thirty years apart.













Herd Book


Book Description