Frank and Joe are spending the summer on an archaeological dig on an Italian count’s property, and they get to stay in the count’s villa—along with Francesca, his attractive teenage daughter. But no sooner does Joe unearth a fabulous cache of jewelry than it vanishes…

“Our lives are Swiss,” Emily Dickinson wrote in 1859, “So still—so cool.” But over the Alps, “Italy stands the other side.” For Dickinson, as for many other writers and artists, Italy has been the land of light, a seductive source of invention, enchantment, and freedom. So it was for Helen Barolini, who, as a student in Rome after World War II, wrote her first poetry and gave birth to her own creative life, reinvigorating her mother tongue. In this book, Barolini celebrates the lives of other women whose imaginations succumbed to the lure of Italy. Here Barolini profiles six gifted women transformed by Italy’s mythic appeal. Unlike Barolini herself, they were not daughters of the great Italian diaspora. Rather, they were drawn to an idea of “Italy” and its gifts—in whose welcome a new self could be created. Or discovered. Emily Dickinson traveled to Italy only in the imaginative genius of her verse. Margaret Fuller struggled alongside her Italian lover in the political revolutions that gave birth to the Italian Republic, while the novelist and short-story writer Constance Fennimore Woolson found her home in Venice and Florence. Here, too, is the flamboyant artist Mabel Dodge Luhan, entertaining at her villa near Florence; and Marguerite Chapin of Connecticut, who married an Italian prince and in Rome founded the premier literary review of the mid-century, Botteghe Oscure. Finally, here is Iris Cutting Origo, the Anglo-American heiress who, with her Italian nobleman husband, built a Tuscan estate, where she wrote acclaimed biographies—and created a refuge from Mussolini’s fascism. Linking these lives, Barolini shows, is the transforming catalyst of change in a new land. Their Other Side is a wise, warm, and deeply felt literary journey that brilliantly captures the enduring effects of Italy as a place, a culture, and an experience.

IN THE TENNESSEE WOODS, A MOVIE ABOUT A DARING THIEF LANDS THE HARDYS IN DANGER! Years ago Jake "Jumper" Herman bailed out of a plane in the Great Smoky Mountains and disappeared -- with a fortune in treasure. Now Frank and Joe are helping out on a movie about the escape, working with the animal wranglers, who handle trained mountain lions and bears for the film. But the set seems jinxed. A pretty young star's stunt leads to a hair-raising accident, a Bigfoot menaces the crew and cast, and the ghost of Jumper Herman seems to haunt the woods. From a strange abandoned shack to a wild mountain lion, the boys are busy trying to bail out of big trouble!

AN ANCIENT HIDDEN TREASURE STIRS UP A CUNNING PLOT! Teen Village International brings Frank and Joe to the south of France to rebuild a deserted town. The finished project will be a center for refugee children. But word is that the local castle is haunted -- by the centuries-old ghost of its lord, who hid a fortune in diamonds from bandits within its thick stone walls. Spooky lights, strange noises, and several close shaves convince the Hardys that someone is trying to sabotage the project. A pair of French twins, descendants of the owner, want to save the castle from developers. Every facet of the case leads to a dead end -- and the Hardys are hunting a desperate enemy!

CREATURE CARDS ARE HOT, EXPENSIVE -- AND BANNED FROM BAYPORT HIGH! Gaming has already caused too much hassling among the students. But the Hardys' friend Chet is really upset when his confiscated deck is stolen from a teacher's locked desk. It's the latest in a string of thefts, and the big tournament is coming up. The police are stumped, but Frank and Joe are playing their best hand to catch the thief. From a waterfront park to a deserted nighttime mall, the boys uncover a web of Internet action, trading, selling, secret games, and cheating. They're onto a criminal scheme that nets giant profits -- and the decks are stacked against them. But the Hardys have one special trick up their sleeves!

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The beloved memoir of self-discovery set against the spectacular Tuscan countryside that inspired the major motion picture starring Diane Lane—now in a twentieth-anniversary edition featuring a new afterword “This beautifully written memoir about taking chances, living in Italy, loving a house and, always, the pleasures of food, would make a perfect gift for a loved one. But it’s so delicious, read it first yourself.”—USA Today For more Frances Mayes, including a tour of her now iconic Cortona home, Bramasole, watch PBS’s Dream of Italy: Tuscan Sun Special! More than twenty years ago, Frances Mayes—widely published poet, gourmet cook, and travel writer—introduced readers to a wondrous new world when she bought and restored an abandoned Tuscan villa called Bramasole. Under the Tuscan Sun inspired generations to embark on their own journeys—whether that be flying to a foreign country in search of themselves, savoring one of the book’s dozens of delicious seasonal recipes, or simply being transported by Mayes’s signature evocative, sensory language. Now with a new afterword from Frances Mayes, the twentieth-anniversary edition of Under the Tuscan Sun revisits the book’s most popular characters.

A collection of newspaper and magazine extracts from British and US newspapers plus exercises, aiming to give controlled practice in a variety of reading skills for upper-intermediate and advanced students. Each passage is accompanied by reading skills and discussion activities.