by Rumer Godden (1979)
Front flap: The heroine is Lise, an English girl who, after the liberation of Paris, falls into bad company and, after a period in one of Paris’s smartest brothels, becomes a successful madam - *La Balafrée*, the Scarred One. The story of her prison sentence, her conversion, and her agonizing work among women whose experiences outdid even her own is also the story of one woman’s searing confrontation with her faith and, above all, herself.
Rumer Godden introduction by Phyllis Tickle
Set in England, this is a novel about a successful career woman in her forties who renounces the world to enter Brede monastery, a cloistered order of English Benedictine nuns and what happens to her thereafter.
Karl-Heinz Paqué
This book contains a theoretical analysis and emperical investigation of philantropic expenditures. Also, a comparison is made between the German and the U.S. tax treatment of philantropic expenditures of taxpayers, as well as suggestions for improvement of the German system.
Bernice Rubens
Bernice Rubens is one of England's elder stateswomen of literature, and I,Dreyfus upholds her reputation for producing stately and polished fiction with a serious moral intent. For Rubens, the anti-semitism which rocked France at the turn of the last century has not gone away. This time it crops up in 1990s England. Sir Alfred Dreyfus is the headmaster of a Church of England school. His only sin has been one of omission--he has concealed his Jewish origins to further his career. However, the novel opens with Sir Alfred imprisoned for a crime far more heinous. Literary agent and fellow Jew Sam Temple (names are emblematic for Rubens, and Temple does indeed prove to be an emotional haven for Dreyfus) visits the prisoner in his cell and persuades him to write a memoir of his downfall. The resulting narrative reveals a man coming to terms with his religious identity, and reclaiming his family's past. It is a deeply felt account of spiritual renewal, and should be read as an expertly crafted parable. Fans of psychological realism may balk at the evil anti-Semites she pits against her hero, but will rally at the sly humour of her ending. --Lilian Pizzichini
Judith Merkle Riley
Violée par son oncle à l'âge de quinze ans, Geneviève Pasquier est sauvée du suicide par La Voisin, la célèbre voyante. Celle-ci va la droguer pour mieux exploiter le don que possède la jeune fille : elle peut lire l'avenir dans un verre d'eau. Sous le nom de la marquise de Morville, Geneviève rend les oracles qui font courir tout Paris et qui vont la conduire jusqu'à Versailles. Mais "l'affaire des poisons" éclate où La Voisin est impliquée ...