Empress orchid pdf free download

Your Comment:. Read Online Download. Great book, Empress Orchid pdf is enough to raise the goose bumps alone. Add a review Your Rating: Your Comment:. This is the dark fantasy I've been waiting for, and I can't get enough! Although shrouded in scandal, the canny and sophisticated Roxelana became a shrewd diplomat and administrator, who helped Suleyman keep pace with a changing world in which women--from Queen Elizabeth to Catherine de Medici--increasingly held the reins of power.

In Empress of the East, Pierce reveals the true history of an elusive figure who pushed the Ottoman Empire towards modernity" In this Japanese folklore—inspired YA fantasy for fans of The Hunger Games, a lowly young woman with a monstrous secret competes to become empress.

Each generation, a competition is held to find the next empress of Honoku. The rules are simple. Conquer Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall. Marry the prince. Mari has spent a lifetime training to become empress. Winning should be easy. And it would be, if she weren't hiding a dangerous secret.

If discovered, her life will be forfeit. A narrative that will engage fans of the genre with a much-needed non-Western setting. The book was forbidden in the Ukrainian SSR and returned to the readers only after Ukraine gained independence in Nazaruk put a lot of effort into creating his book. He read old Polish, German, Latin sources about the Ottoman empire and Roxelana, studied Koran, books on medieval philosophers, old maps of Istanbul, legends and travellers' accounts.

He added copious footnotes to explain many of the facts and traditions of that era. Throughout the book the author describes Roxelana through the prism of her Ukrainian nationality, raises the problems of religious intolerance, slave trade in Europe, occupation, oppression using poetic language and deep philosophical undertones.

The book has never been translated into English before. Author's notes and afterword, translator's notes. The section "Notes and Clarifications" contains the author's afterword with additional historical information, sources and explanations about how the book was written. Osyp Nazaruk writes: "I dedicate this work about a great Ukrainian female who sparkled with wit and happiness, decisiveness and compassion, pearls and blood, to the Ukrainian women.

Dedicate to ensure that they, even in the most difficult times of their people and theirs, do not lose the cheerfulness of their spirit and were the support of their husbands and sons and the active individuals of their people - primarily through learning some profession and loving it. She only drank water and was so weakened that she could no longer walk.

But she was afraid that Tatar would think that she was just pretending so used the remains of her strength to stay up on her feet. She fell in the evening - on the plains of Pantalyha. As if conspired with her, almost at the same time several other women fell on the road. To save her family, one girl will sacrifice her very identity.

Living in poverty in the shadow of the Forbidden City, Daiyu never imagined that the life of the emperor would impact her own. But a chance meeting with a girl who looks exactly like her changes everything. Daiyu's family is offered enough money to support them for life if she only agrees to take the stranger's place at the emperor's selection for new consorts.

In order to pull off the ruse, Daiyu must abandon everything she ever knew and become a completely different person, a person she despises. And if she fails, if she is discovered, she will be guilty of treason and put to death. Daiyu cannot allow her family to suffer if it is within her power to save them, so she strikes the deadly bargain. But living within the Forbidden City is even more dangerous than she imagined In this incredible retelling of The Princess and the Pauper, based on true events, authors Zoey Gong and Amanda Roberts bring to life the opulent and dangerous world of imperial consorts trapped within the great red walls of the Forbidden City.

Author : Ruby Lal Publisher : W. When it came to hunting, she was a master shot. As a dress designer, few could compare. A fictional portrait of the last empress of China follows Orchid, a beautiful teenager from an aristocratic family, who is chosen to become a low-ranking concubine of the emperor and rises to a position of power in the Chinese court. The acclaimed author of Motoring with Mohammed brings us a compelling adventure into the remarkable world of the orchid and the impossibly bizarre array of international characters who dedicte their lives to it.

The orchid is used for everything from medicine for elephants to an aphrodisiac ice cream. A Malaysian species can grow to weigh half a ton while a South American species fires miniature pollen darts at nectar-sucking bees. But the orchid is also the center of an illicit international business: one grower in Santa Barbara tends his plants while toting an Uzi, and a former collector has been in hiding for seven years after serving a jail sentence for smuggling thirty dollars worth of orchids into Britain.

Deftly written and captivatingly researched, Orchid Fever is an endlessly enchanting and entertaining tour of an exotic world. Hansen's vivid descriptions of the complex techniques some orchids use to pollinate themselves will raise your eyebrows at nature's sexual ingenuity. Spanning from the s to the present day, from the Wharton Park estate in England to Thailand, this sweeping novel tells the tale of a concert pianist and the aristocratic Crawford family, whose shocking secrets are revealed, leading to devastating consequences.

As a child, concert pianist Julia Forrester spent many idyllic hours in the hothouse of Wharton Park, the grand estate reminiscent of Downton Abbey where her grandfather tended exotic orchids. Years later, while struggling with overwhelming grief over the death of her husband and young child, she returns to this tranquil place.

There she reunites with Kit Crawford, heir to the estate and her possible salvation. When they discover an old diary, Julia seeks out her grandmother to learn the truth behind a love affair that almost destroyed the estate. Their search takes them back to the s when Harry, a former heir to Wharton Park, married his young society bride, Olivia, on the eve of World War II.

When the two lovers are cruelly separated, the impact will be felt for generations to come. Filled with twists and turns, passions and lies, and ultimately redemption, The Orchid House is a beautiful, romantic, and poignant novel. Returning to the tranquil estate of her childhood after suffering the losses of her husband and young child, Julia reunites with the estate's heir, with whom she discovers an old diary and learns the story of an ancestor's heartbreak on the eve of World War II.

Veteran governess Laura Grey joins the Selwick Spy School expecting to find elaborate disguises and thrilling adventures in service to the spy known as the Pink Carnation.

At first the job is as lively as Latin, but Laura begins to notice Jaouen's increasingly strange behavior. As Laura edges closer to her employer, she is surprised to learn that she has much in common with him. And Jaouen finds he's hired more than he's bargained for In the Forgotten Empires magic is forbidden, dreams are destiny, and love is the greatest power of all But in her dreams, she sees a man, one with the power to build a better world—a man whose spirit is as strong, and whose passion is as fierce as her own But he needs the fabled Abiding Ring to succeed.

The ring that Lia holds so dear to her heart. When the two banished rulers meet face to face, neither can deny the flames of rebellion that flicker in their eyes—nor the fires of desire that draw them together. But in this broken world of shattered kingdoms, can they ever really trust each other? Can their fiery alliance defeat the shadows of evil that threaten to engulf their hearts and souls?

A book that offers hope and a pathway to success for parents, teachers, psychologists, and child development experts coping with difficult children. In Tom Boyce's extraordinary new book, he explores the "dandelion" child hardy, resilient, healthy , able to survive and flourish under most circumstances, and the "orchid" child sensitive, susceptible, fragile , who, given the right support, can thrive as much as, if not more than, other children.

Boyce writes of his pathfinding research as a developmental pediatrician working with troubled children in child-development research for almost four decades, and explores his major discovery that reveals how genetic make-up and environment shape behavior. He writes that certain variant genes can increase a person's susceptibility to depression, anxiety, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and antisocial, sociopathic, or violent behaviors.

But rather than seeing this "risk" gene as a liability, Boyce, through his daring research, has recast the way we think of human frailty, and has shown that while these "bad" genes can create problems, they can also, in the right setting and the right environment, result in producing children who not only do better than before but far exceed their peers.

Orchid children, Boyce makes clear, are not failed dandelions; they are a different category of child, with special sensitivities and strengths, and need to be nurtured and taught in special ways.

And in The Orchid and the Dandelion, Boyce shows us how to understand these children for their unique sensibilities, their considerable challenges, their remarkable gifts. Berliocchi , former lecturer in garden history at the University of Reggio Calabria, Italy, presents a lively history of orchids, including myths and legends, their uses from prehistory to modern times, patrons and hunters, arts and customs, the plants' habitat and structure, descriptions of the genera, and basic culture.

Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc. An engaging account of humanity's growing fascination with orchids from ancient times onward, together with a biographical gallery of 50 great scientists, naturalists, and explorers who contributed to our knowledge of orchids.

The nomenclature and bibliography have been updated for this edition. In this dazzlingly original debut novel, award-winning Irish writer Caoilinn Hughes introduces a heroine of mythic proportions in the form of one Gael Foess.

It became an international bestseller. Twenty years later, Min returns to give us the next chapter, as she moves from the shocking deprivations of her homeland to the sudden bounty of the promised land of America, without language, money or a clear path. She shows a portfolio of her self-taught brush paintings at the US consulate and is granted an entry visa, but once in America, Anchee finds she is on her own, forced to survive by her wits and indomitable spirit.

She teaches herself English by watching Sesame Street, has five jobs at once sleeps in unheated rooms in desolate neighbourhoods. As well as her struggle to understand her new country — the food, the warm showers — Anchee suffers rape, collapses from exhaustion, marries poorly and divorces after giving birth to her daughter, Lauryann. Despite her tough, lonely journey, Anchee finds that it is Lauryann who will save her and root her, finally, in America. As a child, Anchee understood herself as a mere 'bolt on the great machine that was Communism'; in America she learns how to succeed in a radically different culture despite bitter hardships and countless setbacks.

The Cooked Seed is an unforgettable story. A wide range of topics are discussed, including writers' inspiration, their favorite books, their working and research habits, and their opinion of the state of literature today. An introductory essay accompanies each interview and provides a brief biographical and critical discussion of the author's background and work. Interviews with Margaret Atwood, T. Min lets [Madame Mao] be seen as never before.

In a sweeping, erotically charged story, Anchee Min creates a finely nuanced portrait of one of the most fascinating, and vilified, women of the twentieth century.

It was the first act of rebellion for this headstrong, beautiful, and charismatic girl, who would find fame as an actress in Shanghai, and later fall in love and marry Mao Zedong. The great revolutionary leader proved to be an inattentive husband with a voracious appetite for infidelity, but the couple stayed together through the Communist victory, the disastrous Great Leap Forward, and the chaos of the Cultural Revolution. Min uses historical facts and her lush, penetrating psychological imagination to take us beyond the myth of the person who so greatly influenced an entire generation of Chinese.

The result is a complex portrait of a woman who railed against the confines of her culture, whose deep-seated insecurities propelled her to reinvent herself constantly, and whose ambition was matched only by her ferocious, never-to-be-fulfilled need to be loved.

The true heroine is writer Anchee Min. The young and beautiful Wild Ginger is only in elementary school, but has already survived hell through her sheer iron will.