Beautiful rich poetry read by beautiful rich voices. Can you beat Judi Dench, Michael Williams, Charlotte Attenborough and Paul Rhys. Please, please find me a copy. I need to own this.

I first purchased a copy of this audio collection on a trip to the U.K. Since then I have given several copies as gifts. It is simply superb. You should own it and share it with special people.

Since I read this book when I was twelve, the story has stayed with me. Eleven years later, while I lost my original copy, I have found myself searching for it again and again at libraries and in other places. Finally I found it here on Amazon and have ordered it so that I can read it again and again.

While the mystery isn't really much of a mystery at all, and is easy to solve, this story is heartwarming and compelling, and I truly believe that lovers of a good story should buy this book to keep and read again and again. Too bad it's out of print!

ok, I am doing a report on this book and I liked it very much. I came here to see what other people have said about it but no one has said anything. I guess that that is because it is so old, but it really is good.

The Lonely Planet guides are excellent for any locale..but this edition (covering Italy, Spain, Greece, France, Portugal and even Morocco) is a must-read for the quintessential backpacker jumping on a plane for Europa. These guides excel at recommending lodging of many price ranges (from youth hostels to 5-star hotels) and meal choices of the same range (excellent recommendation for outdoor markets.."buy a loaf of bread, a block of cheese and a bottle of wine here"..which is a plus as many guides catering to this area focus on only older travels with large budgets..or persons seeking to spend only a dollar a day or some insanity..it's always good to have the most information possible..and it's included here. Entertainments ideas from free plaza and park visiting to museums, discotechqes, architecture, boat rides etc. etc. are included..good for young and old. It even lists culture-sensitve information such as appropriate dress for visiting churches and monasteries as well as travel-safe tips for women. Book your Eurorail pass and get going.

Lonely Planet has great books and this one certainly was. It's very thorough and tells alot about things that interest travellers. They are up to date and tell you the pros and cons of the different countries. I liked it alot and I know that other people will too.

Reviewed by Daniel Dervin, Ph.D. Mary Washington College for the Journal of Psychohistory, 26#3(winter 1999), 746-49

One of the best aspects of this far ranging collection of essays is the engagement with cultural diversity, shorn of the usual ideological trappings, hidden agendas and reflexive splitting into oppressor/victim, routinely produced by cultural studies.

It seems clear that the migratory impulse has been a factor in human history from time immemorial. The original Diaspora out out-of-Africa, doubtless driven by changing climate and food supplies, led to further dispersions, racial mutations, and to the rise of distinct cultures. Migrations continue to thrive, only now they are fueled by complex mixtures of external forces and internal motives, culminating not in the creation of new cultures but in countless, often unforeseen blendings of existing ones. In one way or another, everyone is an immigrant or somehow tied into the process. The contributors to the volume seek to enhance our in-depth understanding of this complex continuing process on cultural, personal, and emotional levels.

Perhaps someday the editor's will share the secrets of how they were able over such a wide spectrum while keeping their contributors focused, succinct, and yet highly original. We can all be grateful for this rich tapestry of immigrant experiences to which so many skillful hands have contributed. This book is a work of seminal importance, to be read, cherished, reread, and confidently recommended.

Born of educated German parents before World War II, Peter Petschauer describes being boarded-out for health and safety reason during the war in the Tyrolean village of Afers, an experience, akin in many ways to living in the 19th century. In this rural, somewhat matriarchal environment he underwent a degree of reparenting. Separated from his parents who were imprisoned for a time after the war, he attended monastery schools, eventually came to New Jersey to live with relative while struggling through the history program at NYU. He married a German women and reconnected with his parents. Eventually he settled in North Carolina to teach history, divorced and married an American southerner.

Nobuko Yoshizawa Meadows, a Japanese-American psychoanalyst, helps us, via her story, more clearly conceptualize the changes that Peter went through. She offers a three phase description of the process: an "initial immersion in the new culture," she calls "Survival of Identity;" followed by a straddling, back-and-forth, conflictual process, called "Bicultural Identity;" culminating in an integration of both cultures, called "Transcultural Identity." Although the person who chooses to migrate may be less susceptible to trauma than the refugee, "all immigrants come with various conflicts." They "share the trauma of separation and loss and its attendant psychological consequences such as depression, anxiety, and disorientation of the self."

Danielle Knafo and Ariella Yaari examine issues among Israeli's who have emigrated to America. They define four phases: Planning. Adjustment, Mourning, Acceptance/Assimilation. Mourning, which mediates the idealization of the past as well as moderating the magical appeal of the adopted culture, is crucial for working-through the experience of loss. Their final phase involves retention of "firmly grounded aspects of the original identity," reducing ambivalence, healing, and assimilating elements of both cultures into a newly integrated whole. As Paul Elovitz notes in his Introduction, immigration is not just adjustment, it is an adaptation -- a re-inventing of the self.

Olga Marlin, who came from Prague, completed her psychoanalytic training in New York, and recently went back to her homeland., expands on fantasies felt by many immigrants about a "land of milk and honey, of love and peace, and of freedom and happiness," a lost paradise projected from idyllic childhood fantasy onto a magically gratifying new land. Her odyssey echoes major themes of this study.

For Indian immigrants, Bindignavle Ramanujam observes a three-stage process of euphoria, followed by disenchantment, and - insofar as issues are resolved - a more objective position of equanimity. Alan Roland examines the miscues and dissonance's these immigrants' more inclusive "we-self" may encounter in America where intimacy is often subordinated to autonomy and self-advancement.

John McInerney is acutely sensitized to the distinctive inner conflicts of Irish immigrants. One's leaving the original community -- cohesive but often suffocatingly insular -- is felt by many Irish to be a self-inflicted punishment, a self-banishment. Somewhat analogous to the tightly communal cohesion of Ireland is the Zionism of Israel: to join the community is to ascend; to leave is to descend. Thus many Israelis in America cannot come to terms with their separation from the "motherland who cannot afford to lose her offspring," and subsist for years "out of their suitcase" abroad.

"I became a historian to discover my family secrets," writes Paul Elovitz. He may also want to avoid discovering such secrets, since history, along with all intellectual pursuits, can serve as displacements, sublimation's, and compromise formations. He seems to be suggesting that psychohistory aims to uncover history's secrets and, in the process, our own. His compelling narrative shows the immigrant baggage of parents can evolve into their children's burdens, the parents story his and his story theirs.

Though frequently evoked in positive terms, the ideal of assimilation has had ominous significance for Jews, who have historically faced dilemmas of assimilation or forced exile, of conversion or death. Thus, as Roberta Ann Shechter writes, a once nomadic people can be marginalized into permanent immigrants by anti-Semitism. Even among other immigrant groups, Jews have been scapegoated; thus the price for preservation of ethnic identity may be purchased with the currency of masochism. But a "tolerance for pain" can have a positive side, because the seductive appeal to assimilate may be based on flight from a beleaguered family.

Charlotte Kahn contributes two essays. The first about cross cultural marriages concludes that such unions "might be viewed as the building blocks of a multicultural society." Her second piece on the reunification of Germany is more engaging. She convincingly shows how reunification turned East Germans into anxious ambivalent immigrants without having to move.

The overall effect of the material in the book is dual: the importance of factoring in culture sub species immigration is an invaluable resource for understanding individual personality; yet, at the same time, a psychologically-attuned approach reveals how individuals use the old and new cultures uniquely personal ways to represent, defend-against, and, occasionally, to resolve inner conflicts.

I enjoyed this book, every scrumptious word of it. From the first chapter when a woman falls off her horse to the court intrigue surrounding Louis XIV and his son and grandsons, I felt as though I had an excellent idea of what life was like in this time period. It's an INTERESTING book most of all, but I found myself liking Cecile and Phillip and Madame--I wanted to meet them all. Ms. Casanova does a great job of describing the time, the place, and the people, and the difference between the very wealthy and the very poor. I hope she'll write more books in this series.

I originally picked this up because it was by the same publisher as the American Girls Series (I am a huge fan of the Josephine and the Felicity books), along with Spring Pearl. I dove into this book, to say the least. The story is about the daughter of a widowed French man, named Cecile. One day while out in the woodlands, a royal entourage passes by and a woman losses her course and finds Cecile. As it turns out, she is the Duchesse de Orleans from the Versailles Court. Madame as she known as around Versailles adopts Cecile and takes her to the frivolous court where Cecile is introduced to the royal family and the grandeur of France. The stories of the Versailles intrigues w/ Cecile are wonderful. They are very detailed, very amusing, very entertaining, and full of hidden morals. Although some of the scenes were unecessary, the story overall was a grand treat. The best scene I think was perhaps the Christmas ball, as entertaining and scandalous as it was. The story ends in tragedy, with the death of one of the little dauphins. Cecile is banished because she helped keep the other dauphin from his family, therefore putting him in danger (but really saving him). Cecile is sent to a girls' school, and forever leaves behind Versailles behind the gates of gold.
This story was great, the best in the series I'd say. Great details, development, characters, and enough to capture your mind. Although, I may be overating this book, as I am obsessed with the French courts of Versailles, Marie Antoinette, and all French royalty, I am sure everyone who tries this book will enjoy it. And of course, since I am one of the biggest fans of the Royal Diaries out there, I have to add that Marie Antoinette, Princess of Versailles, would be an excellent book to read alongside Cecile.
Bon travail Mary Casanova!

A life of wealth and splendor fills the dreams of twelve-year-old Cecile Revel. When given the unexpected honor of serving in the court of King Louis XIV, she leaves home with her father's blessing and eagerly accepts a position with the Duchess of Orleans. However, life at court is far more difficult and dangerous than she ever imagined, and a single misstep could cost her her position or her life. Then tragedy strikes the royal family, and Cecile is placed under suspicion. And a dark secret from her past is suddenly revealed.

Superbly written, this book offers readers of today a glimpse of the splendor and majesty of the French court in its height of glory. Through the eyes of the heroine, readers will see important events in the history of France unfold. Highly recommended for readers of all ages.

For further reading of the French court, I also recommend "The Royal Diaries: Marie Antoinette: Princess of Versailles."

If you would like to read a confusing and a all right book you should read the Pigman and Me by Paul Zindel. In the book the Pigman is a "Person who can see everything you can do and he will be there for you when you need him the most." The Pigman is like your guardian angel. Paul is another character in the story. He is a boy that has no father but has a mother that is a little disabled and moves around to different places a lot. He looks up to a person named Nonno Frankie. He is a person who lives with Paul and Paul's mother. Paul lives with his mom and Nonno Frankie at Victory Boulevard. It doesn't say exactly where he lives in the story. I gave this book 3 stars because the book got really boring during the last half of it.

hi my name is not bob and im here to tell you about the pig man and me. It is about the funnyest and coolest book i have ever read.It is an autobiography about young paul zindal.
one reson i liked this book is becouas its by my favirite autherp.anuther reson is becous it is funny and one more reson is becouse the moral is rellay cool i cant tell you or else i would tell you mommy.
in conclustion this book has 100 some pages.its by paul zindal.and this is not bob this is not arin this is not lorry this is not bobby and this is not me.goodbye ogha bugha boohahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha im still not bob

Readers of Paul Zindel's young adult novels, especially The Pigman, will enjoy reading about the difficulties he and his sister endured growing up with a single mother in New Jersey in the 40's and 50's. After his mother takes in a roommate with 2 young sons, Zindel is exposed to the boys' grandfather, who becomes a surrogate father, a grown-up playmate, an inspiration, and a support to him as he struggles with his coming of age, his mother's strange schemes, and his own insecurities. As he shares his adventures with his pigman, Nonno Frankie, and his best friend, Jennifer, Zindel reveals the source of his humor and the basis for many of his stories and characters. Younger readers will find his light touch and reslience in dealing with difficulty a source of strength. A great introduction to this author and to the memoir genre.

The King of Time is the best of that wacked out genre we call the manifesto. Khlebnikov imagines a future that is half socialist utopia, half bladerunner. The most outlandish idea might be the transparent glass spheres stacked up like bee hives in which we would live if old Velimir had his way. What makes this work a palatable read is that it's heavy on imagining new ways of social interaction but light on theorizing -- the guy's got concrete, if bizarre, ideas. Add to this enough exclamation marks to choke a donkey and you get something akin to Marx's Communist Manifesto -- only this time, it's in technicolor. Of all the crazy stuff coming out of Russia during and after the Bolshevik revolution, this work most clearly conveys the enthusiasm of artist-politicos in their attempts to reorder society. If you think "communist" is a bad word, read The King of Time -- it'll give you a new perspective.

I am sorry to see Phoenix Island is currently out of print. I have an old, worn copy that I have read at least five times. It's a story of survival by people who have nothing in common but their plight. A respected scientist and his wife, a criminal, an artist, a lawyer, and several other characters find themselves stranded on an island after a nuclear blast triggers a tidal wave. Their survival depends on them working together, to remember everything they may have forgotten they ever knew. It's an adventure, a romance, and a survival guide all in one. I've always felt this book would make a great movie. Stephen Spielberg where are you?