Michael Walmer – förlag

In the small town of Sintiempo in Arizona, in the hot summers of 1942 and 1943, young Millie Delaney is the solitary teacher at the tiny local school. There are only a few students, most of them just biding their time before they leave. The girls most likely will marry; the boys will probably be swallowed up by the town's main employer, the marble mine. Teaching in these circumstances is not very inspiring work, but Millie is used to the dullness, and anyway she's a pillar of the community - her father helped establish the marble mine which put the town on the map.

But this period is different. Firstly, one of her students, Miguel, suddenly shows unexpected signs of brilliance, and a love of poetry. He and Millie develop an intense connection which brings joy and inspiration to them both. When Miguel finally finds the confidence to put pen to paper for himself in a poem, Millie is astonished by the result.

At about the same time, a wanderer slips into town. Karl is incredibly tall, very blond, and at first fascinatingly elusive. He gets a job at the mine, and once they've met, Millie and he cannot avoid their attraction to each other. Millie can feel her quiet life blooming into much more. But the physical side of Karl's love proves not to have the poetic qualities she has always dreamed of. A barrier develops between them.

Miguel is also deeply troubled, because his poem was not all that it seemed. He wants to talk to her about it, but Miss Delaney seems preoccupied. As the summer of 1943 moves into its full peak, the desert landscape ripples not only with ringing waves of heat, but with tension. Before the summer is out, one of the three will be dead, one gone, and the other in hiding.

First published in 1960, Descend Again was Janet Burroway's first novel, heralding an extraordinary talent in prose of startling beauty. The rich southern novel of Carson McCullers and Eudora Welty had been given a new desert-state transformation, by a writer somewhat more lean and spare. It was the inauguration of a brilliant career.

Cuthbert Shaw and Jenny Strangfield are secretly in love. His father is a dogmatic schoolmaster, hers a severe Baptist preacher, harsh stalwarts of their small town on the Kent coast. But so convinced are Cuthbert and Jenny of their rightness for one another that they have slipped off separately to London on false pretences, and married there.

Back in Greystone, they must keep up their secret until they can summon the courage to speak to their respective despotic parents. Finally, Cuthbert determines he can wait no longer, and makes a plan with Jenny to deliver the no doubt shocking news, to her father first, one evening.

But this is 1806, and pressgangs prowl British seaside places, compelling young men into the service of the navy, to fight Napoleon's forces. As he makes his way to Jenny's home for the critical conversation, Cuthbert is taken, and disappears overnight. Jenny, unaware, waits and waits on tenterhooks. But, of course, Cuthbert never comes.

Heartbroken, thinking he may have abandoned her, Jenny despairs, and reveals their secret. But she is not believed - the story appears unfeasible, and seems a cover for shame. Her father is incandescent, and Cuthbert's outraged. How will gentle Cuthbert fare aboard ship, heading into battle? How will Jenny survive the vicious innuendo of the Greystone townspeople, let alone own father's savage accusations of bad character? Will Cuthbert ever return to her, or is he lost forever?

W. Clark Russell followed several extremely popular seafaring tales with this elegantly written novel in 1878, proving that he was much more than a novelist of adventure. The extraordinarily poetic prose and rich imagination of Auld Lang Syne confirmed that here was a writer with more than one string to his bow.

In the reign of Cleopatra, an insignificant young man is in love. Meïamoun is captivated by his beloved, but she seems unattainable. There is a reason why the handsome young fellow is barred from his quest. The one he wants is his queen. He stands on the outskirts of great ceremonies just to catch a glimpse of her. He dreams of her charms and fascinations constantly. One night, having followed her royal cangia along the Nile to a palace at the waters’ edge, his obsession overtakes him – through an open window he fires an arrow with a note attached which bears the simple words “I love you.” Will Cleopatra acknowledge him? What further feats of daring must he undertake to get near her? If he does, what could possibly happen? In this high-stakes undertaking, one thing is for sure – he will risk his life... One of Cleopatra’s Nights was first published with other novellas in a volume entitled A Tear of the Devil in 1839.