Minney, R. J.

A perfect morning (from The young lions) / Irwin Shaw Lunghua camp (from Empire of the Sun) / J.G. Ballard The journey (from A town like Alice) / Nevil Shute The birth of an idea (from The man who never was) / Ewen Montague The big day (from From here to eternity) / James Jones Abducting the general (from Ill met by midnight) / W. Stanley Moss The landing at Kuralei (from Tales of the South Pacific) / James A. Michener Shall I live for a ghost (from The last enemy) / Richard Hillary Billy Pilgrim (from Slaughterhouse Five) / Kurt Vonnegut Battalion in defense (from Officers and gentlemen) / Evelyn Waugh Anopopei (from The naked and the dead) / Norman Mailer 'Plane land here' (from Wingate's raiders) / Charles J. Rolo Mission asymptote (from The white rabbit) / Bruce Marshall Fraternizing with the enemy? (from Reach for the sky) / Paul Brickhill Shooting party (from Grand party) Graham Brooks H-hour (from The longest day) / Cornelius Ryan Into Germany (from Carve her name with pride) / R.J. Minney Ironbottom Sound (from Ironbottom Sound) / Lindsay Baly The first bid for freedom (from The Colditz story) / P.R. Reed Some were unlucky (from Enemy coast ahead) / Guy Gibson, VC May 1941 (from Nella Last's diary) / Nella Last Major major major major (from Catch 22) / Joseph Heller The battle of the bulge (from The face of war) / Martha Gelhorn The invasion of Papua (from Retreat from Kokoda) / Raymond Paull No trouble at all (from The stories of flying officer X) / H.E. Bates Stalingrad The story of the battle (from Stalingrad point of return) / Ronald Seth The soldier looks for his family / John Prebble The white mouse and the Maquis d'Auvergne (from The white mouse) / Nancy Wake Fear of death / F.J. Salfeld The invaders (from The Moon is down) / John Steinbeck The compass rose (from The cruel sea) / Nicholas Monsarrat The diary of a desert rat (from The diary of a desert rat) / R.L. Crimp The Mannerheim Line (from Of many men) / James Aldridge Midway (from Torpedo Junction) / Robert J. Casey Hiroshima the fire (from Hiroshima) / John Hersey

This is one of those novels that is based on truth, but rather like Anna and the King, it is sometimes difficult to know where the truth ends and the fiction starts. The book is about the life of Fanny Knox, a daughter of Thomas Knox, who was the British Consul-General to Siam during the days of Anna Leonowens. One of Fanny's suitors was Louis Leomowens, the son of Anna (who appears as a young boy in the Anna movies. Fanny rejected Louis, who ended up marrying her sister Carolyn Knox. The book tells of the problems caused Fanny also rejecting the advances of a person well connected in Thai society.

"Legend portrays Rasputin as the 'Mad Monk' who rampaged through St. Petersburg in an alcoholic haze, making love to scores of women. A symbol of excess and religious extremism, he was believed to hold a mysterious power, emanating from his hypnotic eyes, over Tsar Nicholas II and his family. The fact that he was neither mad nor a monk has not stopped scores of writers from repeating these and other bogus claims. In Rasputin: the untold story, Rasputin scholar Joseph Fuhrmann shares the fruits of this two-decade search for the truth about Rasputin through previously closed Soviet archives. The man he discovers is entirely human and even more fascinating than the Svengali-like caricature imagined by millions. This definitive biography unveils the truth behind Gregory Rasputin's storied life, controversial relationships, and much-discussed death. Furhmann unearths previously unknown details from Rasputin's childhood and his early years as a farmer and itinerant preacher to his decade-long relationship with the Romanovs."--Jacket.