Johannes Scheffler assumed the name Angelus Silesius on his leaving the Lutheran church to become a Catholic. He became enmeshed in the bitter controversies of post-Reformation Europe. Soon after his death, however, his masterpiece was claimed by Protestants and Catholics alike as their mystical classic. Frederick Franck shows the poets macro-ecumenical significance in the essay that introduces his translation of these verses, and by adding a "running commentary" of sayings by the ancient Japanese and Chinese masters, with whom this Christian mystic shows a remarkable affinity.

January 1 1916: Europe is bleeding to death as the corpses rot from Poland to Gallipoli in the cruel grip of the Great War... Heart of War follows the fate and fortunes of the Rowland family and those people bound up in their lives: the Cate squirearchy, the Strattons who manage the Rowland owned factory, and the humble, multi-talented Gorse family. In this all-consuming conflict, not a single family will remain untouched. With Quentin and Boy Rowland fighting in the trenches and Guy flying the skies above, it would be a miracle for the whole family to come home untouched... During the years 1916 and 1917, the appalling slaughter of the Somme and Passchendaele cuts deep into the hearts of British people as military conscription looms over Britain for the first time in a thousand years. As babies are born, fathers, sons and brothers killed, and women strike out in the work-place, Britain looks to never be the same again. First published in 1980 – book two in a three volume saga including Now, God be Thanked, and By The Green of Spring – Heart of War explores the emotional turmoil of Britain at war from every angle: from the eyes of the upper class aristocracy who are losing their grip on power, to the lower classes rising up as they fight alongside those previously thought their betters.

In this spellbinding blend of suspense and human drama, Danielle Steel tells a powerful and unusual story of one woman’s journey from darkness into light, as she fights to escape a mesmerizing sociopath who holds her in his thrall. . . . Top photographer Hope Dunne has known joy and heartbreak, and finds serenity through the lens of her camera. Content in her SoHo loft, she isn’t looking for a man or excitement. But these things find her when she flies to London to photograph one of the world’s most celebrated writers. Finn O’Neill exudes warmth and a boyish charm. Enormously successful, he is a perfect counterpoint to Hope’s quiet, steady grace—and he’s taken instantly by her. He courts her as no one ever has before, whisking her away to his palatial, isolated Irish estate. Hope finds it all, and him, irresistible. But soon cracks begin to appear in his stories: Gaps in his history, a few innocent lies, and bouts of jealousy unnerve her. Suddenly Hope is both in love and deeply in doubt, and ultimately frightened of the man she loves. Is it possible that this adoring man is hiding something even worse? The spell cast by a brilliant sociopath has her trapped in his web, too confused and dazzled to escape, as he continues to tighten his grip on her. Danielle Steel delivers an unforgettable tale of danger and obsessive love, as she explores the dark secrets that sometimes lurk just below the surface of ordinary lives, writing about men and women and their courage to prevail even in the face of evil.

Unlike most other formal religions, the Japanese school of Zen Buddhism has no canonized corpus of sacred literature which will reveal the "truth" to diligent readers. There are, however, numerous collections of anecdotes and aphorisms that may serve to convey the sensibility which underscores the practice of Zen. Drawing on these traditional sources, Dr. Irmgard Schloegl of the Buddhist Society in London has gathered into one short volume a sampling of stories and sayings that are a valuable introduction to the study of Zen. "If in every mind burns a flame of the Buddha's Enlightenment," Christmas Humphreys writes in his foreword to The Wisdom of the Zen Masters, "there is nothing to seek and nothing to acquire. We are enlightened, and all the words in the world will not give us what we already have. The man of Zen, therefore, is concerned with one thing only, to become aware of what he already is…" The task of the Japanese Zen master has been to guide his pupils in their awakening. The means used vary––from severe physical discipline to the proposition of enigmatic riddles, or koans––but always to the same end, Enlightenment: experiencing the Great Death of the worldly "I."