Bryant Books

Given the other positive reviews, I tried really hard to read and enjoy this book, but just couldn't. The problems are myriad and make the book just not fun or engaging.

First annoyance is the unbelievable, absolutely unbelievable, number of times the main characters are referred to as old (or some variant thereof) - by the author, other characters, or the main characters themselves. I don't really know how old these guys are, but if gauged by the number of references, they should be, like, 1,000 years old and then some. If they are really that old and decrepit, they really shouldn't have the jobs they have. It just isn't credible.

Second annoyance is the incredible number of characters and names mentioned in the book. Most of which are either not developed or are historical references to people who lived years ago and who might (but generally don't) have any bearing whatsoever on the storyline. I just simply glazed over after a while.

Third is the ridiculous number of historical references that come out of nowhere and that go nowhere. Sort of like a DaVinci Code, but without any of the importance or relevance that somehow that author was able to attach to all the obscure references.

Fourth is the crazy representation of water in the book. I guess the book has a 'water' theme, so you'd except higher than average references. But geez, let's get real. And one of the most irritating 'water' things is first-time homeowner Kallie who has just (unknowingly) bought a house over a submerged river/stream and who hears water rushing by/around the basement of her house constantly - apparently as loudly and intensely as you can imagine. She is consumed by fixing up her house and is constantly doing this and that, and yet she never has the good sense to ask somebody what is going on with the water or to call a plumber or to do anything a normal person, especially a first time homeowner, would do in the circumstance she was in. Again, just not credible.

Fifth is the complete and utter inability of any reader to connect any of the activity of the book to the 'answer' of who did it and why. It is simply unguessable because while we are innundated with information, almost all of it is totally irrelevant to whodunit and why. In fact, until the who is revealed, there is absolutely nothing tying that person to the crimes aside from the fact that they are one of the (many) characters in the book. And the motivation for the crimes is barely even discussed until the very end after we've been chasing all sorts of other irrelevant angles for most of the time. The author, it seems, realizes that none of it makes any sense, so he is thoughtful enough to provide us with a concluding chapter called "Mr. Bryant Explains It All for You". But by the time this chapter rolls around, you really don't care and are just thankful you can move on to other things (after skipping the final three remaining chapters that talk about who knows what).

So to me, completely unsatisfying and, frankly, a bit aggravating.

Brayant and May - the main characters of this novel - are detectives of London's Pecular Crimes Unit. London's PCU takes to investigation only very complicated, very odd and sensitive cases which other police departments failed to solve. And the case of The Water Room was supposed to be one of such mysteries.
The begining of the novel really promisses a lot. An old woman dies strange way, forgotten underground river system, people of Balaklava street, each of them has a story and may be something to hide. All this tickles reader's senses promissing a good detective story.
But somehow as the novel progresses you realize that the author actually failed to develope his own brilliant idea. Sometimes the story drifts to history and mythology a little to much. There are a lot of elder characters in the book. This could be a bit excentric if there would be not so MANY of them.
In the key points you'd expect more emotions or more drama. Unfortunately, the Water Room fails here as well. I had a strong impression, that author knows how to write about London's history, but has no idea how to deal with action.
Although, this is not the best detective story I ever read, I have to say The Water Room can be quite entertaining sometimes and overall is a very decent work.

Fowler's second novel appeals too a wide and varied audience it is not esoteric, rather, exoteric. It's an easy read with sharp, undulating plot twists, and the foolery of the geriatric detectives Bryant and May. My, what capers they get involved in, from Crippin the feisty feline, to Tate the misunderstood, affable tramp, the book runs the gamut. Aside from the esotericism of Londons lost waterways, the book engrosses and amazes the reader by making the common occurence seem so illustrative. My hat is off to Fowler along with the totality of my current garb, so to speak. The only problem with the book, and this only pertains to an esoteric audience, is the overuse of the word esoteric.

The first of this series, "Full Dark House," was very good and this was even better. My only two regrets are that (1) the characters are of an age where you wonder how long they can be around and (2) I wish there were more books already there for me to read. But I know the next book is due out soon, so I'll take heart. The relationship and dialogue between the two detectives is priceless, and there are great supporting characters. The writing is wonderful-it's funny, suspenseful and educational, and, as with fine wine, should be savored but thoroughly enjoyed. Very highly recommended.

If you like an offbeat, thought-provoking story, I highly recommend this mystery by Christopher Fowler. Bryant and May, the odd-couple detectives of London's peculiar crimes unit are at it again. This time they must solve the mystery of the dry woman drowned in her basement. It leads them through lost rivers, Roman mythology, paganism, and, of course, the history of London and its class struggles.

Although this story isn't as "weird" as others in the series, it's still enjoyable as Bryant and May try to solve two crimes via cell phone while stranded in their car in a blizzard. One crime concerns the death of the coroner inside a locked room which only contains other corpses; the other involves a mother and child being pursued by a man who may or may not be a serial killer. Since the two detectives are relatively immobile in this one, the other members of the Peculiar Crimes Unit get to flex their muscles a little. Very enjoyable entry in the series

Happy to report that (from my perspective) the previous enthusiastic Amazon reviews of "White Corridor," which led me to buy the book, were right on the money. So thanks to those eight and let me add my own applause for this book which is throughly inventive, original and engaging from the first page. Author Fowler has a real knack for the slow revealing of clues that ultimately solve/resolve the several mysteries at work in this book. Also of real interest to me were the wonderful character sketches provided in the book. There are a lot of players here and even the secondary participants are well described and presented for the reader.
This was altogether a great find and encourages me to try other books in the series.

As with all the Bryant and May mysteries, I have to say that I mostly enjoyed it. In fact, I think I enjoyed White Corridor more than some of the previous volumes in the series. For one thing, the solutions to both cases seemed to be more logical, less beyond the realm of believability.

But something disturbed me...

*** SPOILER WARNING!! Stop reading if you haven't finished the book!! ***

What happens to Ryan?! I was dreadfully concerned about that poor little boy, and at the end, it seemed he was abandoned by both the characters and the author. I'm assuming they didn't leave him out in the cold, alone, but you'd never know it from the rest of the book.

WHITE CORRIDOR represents an advance on the formula of previous Bryant and May books and doesn't depend so directly on their Alistair Sim like charms and the mere fact of their being so old and stubborn. Instead author Christopher Fowler bifurcates the space of the novel into four "white corridors," each with its own puzzle. Two of these dominate most of the detective work. In one, we follow the story of Madeline Gilby, a grocery checkout girl and single mother of a restless young son Ryan. Madeline flees an abusive husband and tries to find life again in the south of France, along the Riviera, in the off season. In the warmth of the sun, Madeline comes back to life and responds to the amorous advances of Johann, sort of a Karl-Boehm-in-Peeping-Tom kind of stud who murdered his mother way back when after enduring a childhood of torment and abuse. Uh-oh, not the perfect guy for Madeline, who has incidentally tried developing her psychic powers to weaken men under the guidance of London's notorious chiseler Kate Summerton.

In the second storyline Bryant and May decide to leave the Unit for a holiday in which they plan to attend a psychics convention in the wilds of England, but the worst snowstorm ever to hit a detective story strands them on a lonely stretch of highway in conditions too perilous to proceed further in. The delicious warmth and sun of the Riviera in the first section here gives way to bonechilling cold and a creeping terror as a madman is apparently stalking the snowbound cars one by one and committing terrible murders whenever his fancy calls him. Will Bryant and May be next?

In the third plot, back home at the PCU, crotchety forensic nut Oswald Finch is found horridly murdered inside his own morgue, and all the doors locked from within. Without their two chiefs, the pressure drops on the younger members of the unit, charged with clearing up the case before the visit of a minor royal princess and a judgmental entourage out to dismantle the archaic PCU. This threat to the PCU doesn't have as much built in suspense as Fowler must think it does, for really, who cares, but in all other respects WHITE CORRIDOR is an immense improvement over last year's TEN SECOND STAIRCASE, with interesting characters, a rollicking Steve Coogan like humor, the most picturesque writing this side of William Trevor, and a genuinely new locked room problem.

I wound up giving Christopher Fowler a lathering last year when STAIRCASE, his "Highwayman" novel, failed to meet my impossibly high standards. Mr. Fowler wrote me a forgiving note that touched me, and now I regret having written from my high horse. I asked him if he were a Buddhist, since in my limited experience who else would have gotten up so amiably after having his arse kicked to the curb, but Fowler replied that he wasn't a Buddhist, only an Englishman LOL.

If Ken Bruen's east London crime novels featuring the brutal and boorish Inspector Brant are literature as rugby, then Christopher Fowler's mysteries of the aging Brant and May detective duo are symphonies. Both entertaining, but Bruen is jarring and violent where Fowler is refined, cultured, and subtle. Fowler writes the classic British mystery: dryly humorous, understated, unadorned, and intelligent. In this outing, inspectors Arthur Brant and John May, the irascible and unorthodox heads of London's Peculiar Crimes Division, find themselves stranded in a freak blizzard on the moors of southern England, leaving Sergeant Janice Longbright in charge to solve the ultimate "murder in the inside-locked room" mystery of the team's chief forensic scientist. Meanwhile, a serial killer is on the loose in the snowdrifts, keeping our discerning duo occupied between cell phone-assist calls to Longbright and her short-handed crew. But despite facing simultaneous murder investigations and answering some nagging questions about the apparent drug overdose death of a young woman whose body occupies the morgue, the real terror facing the PCU team is the looming stationhouse tour of an insufferable princess and PCU nemesis Oskar Kasavian, the London PD bureaucrat bent on shutting the renegade crime-solving unit down.

Rich in allegory and clever forensics, contemporary crime fiction's most eccentric inspectors plough through deliciously convoluted threads of seemingly unrelated mysteries, taking a few keenly twisted turns before arriving at a clever and, at least for me, a totally unexpected climax. Brilliant character development and sharp, witty, dialogue add up for one of the year's most engaging and enjoyable crime novels. If you haven't met Brant and May yet, this is as good a place as any to start - and chances are you'll not remain a stranger.

I found this book an excellent introduction to real analysis. The math courses I took during my US undergraduate engineering degree (your standard Calc I - Calc III) focused more on computation than theory. This book gave me a deeper understanding of the real number line, sequences and series, functions, differentiation, and integration, as well as some much-needed practice in writing proofs.

I was a bit worried starting the book that it would be too difficult, but fortunately, the book started at just the right level for me and continued at a good pace. The book is written in a friendly and conversational style and all the concepts are well-explained, with lots of graphs to make things clear.

The exercises often have you proving some key theory that is referred to later on, which gives a strong motivation to work through all the exercises. For someone with little experience writing proofs like myself, the exercises were not overly difficult, but provided a good challenge. The book provides full, worked-out solutions to all the exercises, which makes it great for self-study (I used the book to get some background on analysis over summer before I started my master's).

Overall, I found this to be an excellent book. I highly recommend it for self-study or as a supplement to a course.

Just right!

This is the real analysis book for all us Goldie Locks out there.

Look inside the book! This book has a table of content, with only 5 entries. You you want to look up a thema to repeat it, or to learn a special thing you are interested in, you have to read 50 pages. This is realy stupid!

Victor Bryant's informal, conversational text, Yet Another Introduction to Analysis, offers an engaging, well-motivated introduction to real analysis, but it is not a full substitute for a more formal, more axiomatically structured approach. However, Bryant's text is a great companion text, and is especially suitable for self-tutoring purposes, or as pre-read prior to taking that first rigorous analysis class. The reader need only be familiar with first year calculus.

As is so often said, mathematics is not a spectator sport, and Bryant clearly expects his readers to work the problem sets; the text frequently makes direct use of the results of previous problems. Bryant provides full solutions to nearly every problem, another reason why this book is so good for self-study. (The solutions section is 67 pages.) Bryant's problems were rarely difficult or overly time consuming, and are most notable for clarifying key points in the text.

Bryant begins with a brief examination of real numbers, looking at why the irrational numbers so out number the rational ones. (The completeness axiom is introduced in the short first chapter.) I particularly enjoyed the next section, Bryant's examination of whether a series converges or not and ways to determine the sum of an infinite series. (I had not previously been all that interested in the study of series, but Bryant's approach peaked my interest. I have now purchased a more advanced Dover reprint, Infinite Series by James M. Hyslop, for follow-up reading.)

A longer section examines the familiar concept of a function from various perspectives, using the inverse relationship between exp and the log as one of the key examples. The final two chapters focus on a primary topic of analysis, the basic theorems of differentiation and integration. Familiarity with partial differentiation and multiple integration is not needed.

Some readers may find Bryant's conversational approach to be too wordy and occasionally digressive, but I personally enjoy his leisurely style. I also recommend Bryant's short text titled Metric Spaces, Iteration and Application, published by Cambridge University Press.

Another good choice is Maxwell Rosenlicht's Introduction to Analysis, available in an inexpensive Dover edition. It offers a more traditional, structured approach to analysis that is suitable either as follow-up to Yet Another Introduction to Analysis, or as a stand-alone self-tutorial text. Although Rosenlicht's text emphasizes generality and abstraction to a greater extent, it is still more concrete and less terse than many standard texts on real analysis.

Bryant's book on analysis is a great illustration of what a textbook should be. He takes what many upper level college mathematics students consider to be the most tedious and boring topic - analysis- and presents it in a clear, interesting and effective way. Calculus at the college undergraduate level is usually taught in 3 semester long classes where integrals and derivatives are seen as tools for finding areas under curves, or volumes of objects, etc. which is the way engineers are made to view Calculus during their scholastic careers. Past that introductory level, in their junior years students of pure mathematics must be reintroduced to Calculus in a rigorous proof-driven way - thus enters the dreaded subject of "analysis", also sometimes called "advanced calculus" and thankfully, thus also enters this book. Bryant starts off assuming that rational numbers behave as we know from elementary school and then constructs the real numbers by adding a completeness axiom. From there he introduces the concept of limits and also the epsilon-delta technique in an accessible way before going on to the topics of differentiation and integration. Even though this is a mathematically rigorous book, the author manages to keep things interesting by introducing topics and theorems in bite-sized chunks. Basically, the book doesn't go beyond the analysis of calculus normally taught at the undergraduate level, but rather reintroduces it properly and puts it on the rigorous plane with which all graduate mathematics students shall become familiar. Along with all that, there's an excellent selection of interesting exercises with solutions at the back. These exercises range from the rather simple to the very tricky. If you are a mathematics major, you will probably not be lucky enough to have this as your textbook in analysis class, but you should buy a copy and read it before and during the class so that you know what is really trying to be conveyed.

It all was really good, and it even has 1 of my fave Saddle Club books in it, "Purebred!" One of the best things is how it tells how Stevie meets Carole! I had always wondered that, and now I know. If you ask me, it is a must have. You can learn many things that wern't told in the book it's summerizing, like that Carole has a journal that she writes in. I loved it when Stevie hijacked Carole's journal while they were out West. This part just gives laughes and giggeles!

This is all about Carole, a member of the Saddle club. Carole, being totally horse crazy, keeps journals and diaries about her horse's training and her own personal thoughts and feelings. As she is sifting through her old journals one day, she comes across her diary. the diary that contians all her feelings and thoughts from when her mother died. Is she ready to reread those thoughts and feelings and relive the sadness? A definatly must read book.

This is one of the very best saddle club books i have ever read! It tells so much information about horses and how to deal with losing loved ones. It is an inspiring book and when your finished you feel like you dont want it to end. This is a real tearjerker. A must have book!

I thought that this was an excellent book. So often when I read the Saddle Club books I find myself wondering what Carole, Lisa and Stevie are thinking as they go through their adventures. This book helps you understand the characters so much better. After reading this book, I can't wait to read the other two.

This book was great! You have to read it! I liked how it talked about Carole's mother and Carole's feelings about things. In the other books, it doesn't really talk about the girls feelings, but this one does. I also liked that it showed how Stevie and Carole became best friends. You must read this book!!!

I thought this book was just plain boring! It took me ages to read it because I kept getting distracted. I do'nt recomend this book!!

I think this is my alltime favorite Saddle Club book. I think the best part of this book is the relationship between John and Lisa. The part where Stevie acted as Stewballs manager was really funny; so was the secret of the special die.

I loved this book.I read it at least 3 times.The funniest part is the "secret" die.I think Lisa & John's relationship is a very important part(of course I'm a sucker for things like that).I recomend this book.READ IT TODAY!!!:}

This book was great!! It showed great detail, humor, and most importantly, horses and friendship. John and Lisa's relationship was also an important part. The Saddle Club books are all good!

This book was interesting, funny, and had a great ending. Skye Ransom comes to film a movie at the Bar None, and Stevie, Carole, and Lisa go out to visit him, Kate Devine, Christine Lontree and John Brightstar. However, the horse that Skye is supposed to ride for the movie has had no experience with cattle, so Carole works with him and Stevie makes up a plan to get Skye to ride Stewball, her favorite Bar None horse. Meanwhile, Lisa has to figure out what's bothering John, since he seems to be angry with her. Let's all hope the Saddle Club can get out of this mess!

This time the Saddle Club heads out West, to visit their friend Kate Devine's parents' dude ranch. Though they are greeted with derision from one of the stablehands, they set out to prove that they aren't just ignorant dudes. They go on a real cattle roundup, as well as celebrate Stevie's birthday. Entertaining.

The saddle club's adventure out west is one not to be missed! They are so lucky in every aspect. The tale of how Tomahawk saves Stevie from the rattler was touching. Stewball is a very funny horse and is great in future sc books to come. This book was a real hanger-oner. I liked it alot.

A really good one. All of Bonnie Bryants are good, especially the western ones. it was a little sad but GOOD!

i liked this book a lot. but i was crying at the part when cristines dog tomahawk saved stevie. dogs and horses are my two favorite animals so i recomend this book to horse lovers and dog lovers. it is a must have!

I thought that The Saddle Club No. 6 Was a very good book ! IT is a must have for horse and dog lovers. When the Saddle Club flys out to there Friends Dude ranch The Saddle Club has an adventure waiting for them . In the early morning the girls encounter a mysterious rider who the find out is a young girl named Christine . It made me a little angery becasue the girls are so prejudiced twards her but it all turns out good in the end . Also stevies birthday is coming and nobody seems to care. Do lisa and Carole have a surprize? read this book and find out also will stevie be trapped by a rattle snake ? This a really good book and I suggest you read it !!!!!!!!!!!

This is a wonderful book for the advanced knitter. You can make about every sweater with any yarn you can dream of. The only down side is you have to be good at going back and forth between pages to fill out the pattern sheets. But if you have the patience, the results can be amazing.

Great book, very informative and will be used for a long time

It so great full of ideas, easy to start on to create your own stylish, it is a must to buy this book if you like extraordinary clothes

One of the major problems faced by knitters is getting their garments to fit properly. Patterns in books and magazine can be beautiful, garments made by following prefab instructions don't always fit the real life bodies for which they're intended. Many knitters eventually come to the realization that if they want something that really looks good, they're going to have to design it themselves. But designing a sweater can be an intimidating thing if you've never done it before. How much ease do you need? How do you shape the armholes and the neckline? The fact that there's MATH involved only makes it worse. That's where this book comes in.

"A Knitter's Template" makes the process much easier. Although there are some patterns included, they're not the reason to buy the book. The real meat lies in the introductory sections that deal with the nuts and bolts of design, fit, and pattern writing. The authors provide a basic set of instructions for knitting a garment with a few different style options and blank spaces where you plug in the stitch numbers and measurements that fit your gauge and size. They follow this with lots of charts that give you the numbers you need.

By and large, this is a great book. My first garment, a shell made with a ribbon yarn, turned out well enough that I'm now working on my second project, another shell with a few design differences. The reason that I gave these book 4 stars instead of 5 is that the book seemed a little disorganized and I sometimes found it difficult to find the specific information I needed. Also the charts are a little rigid in that the sizes are based on even numbers of inches. That can be a problem if you're an odd number size, or, for that matter, if your gauge runs, for example, 3.75 stitches per inch instead of 3.5 or 4, which is what the charts are set up for. Do you use the chart with the smaller gauge or the higher gauge? Which size do you use? There's a fudge factor here that can't really be eliminated, but I wish the authors had provided more information (and handholding) on how to deal with this. As for row gauge, if you're row gauge isn't the same as that given on the charts for your stitch gauge; you'll need to use the chart that does fit your row gauge. It can be confusing, but the authors do warn you about that.

"A Knitter's Template" is a very useful resource for designing your own garments, It's not the be-all and end-all of books on knitwear design, but it is a good place to start.

I rate this book right up there with The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns. One of the best tools yet! Kudos to Barry Klein, Laura Bryant and all the other contributors to this wonderful book. It is nice to see books that more advanced AND beginners can use equally.

There are gauge and measurement charts for a variety of yarns and pattern styles and garment sizes, pluse some basic well written patterns that allow for lots of embellishments and customization by the knitter.

Buy it and enjoy it! You won't be sorry.

In this book, Lisa's friend Merrill comes to ride at Pine Hollow. She is a good rider but lacks confidence. When she does well on one school horse, she decides to buy him. The Saddle Club launches a scheme to keep the horse and prove to Merrill that she can ride anyone well she chooses.

Personally, I thought the Club members should have been more realistic. It wasn't like any of them rode Barq anymore, so why not let him go home with Merrill? That seemed a little selfish as well as unrealistic.

This book was good for girls ages 10 and under. If you are older, you will probably find this book unrealistic and boring. If you are looking for something for older readers, get Thoroughbred and Heartland. This book was about Lisa's friend and her visit to Pine Hollow.

The saddle club books are good but a little unrealistic. That makes it more interesting but I think that the Thoroughbred series are better.

I have read these books since I was 9 and I'm 12 now. They are very good and well written, always exciting and interesting. I would not reccomend these for people under 9 or 10 because you may find it too complicated like I did. Unlike boring Thoroughbred books that drag out or unrealistic, poorly written heartland books, these move quickly and are very realistic. This one was especially funny and intruiguing. Read it!

THE SADDLE CLUB #50: YANKEE SWAP

WRITTEN BY: Bonnie Bryant
COVER ART BY: Paul Casale
PUBLISHED: 1996
PUBLISHED BY: Skylark
PAGES: 137
PRICE: ...
EXTRAS: A summary for The Saddle Club #52: Pleasure Horse

SUMMARY:
Lisa Atwood's visitor, Merrill, loves horses almost as much as The Saddle Club does. Lisa, Stevie Lake, and Carole Hanson are happy to give Merrill a few pointers on her form over the fences during their rides at Pine Hollow Stables.
Then Merrill becomes convinced that she can ride only one horse. When The Saddle Club learns that she wants to take a beloved stable horse home to Maine, they know they have to do something. The girls have already planned a birthday party - a Yankee Swap - for Merrill. Will a Yankee Swap off another kind ersuade Merrill that she can ride any horse well, or is one of The Saddle Club's favorite horses leaving Pine Hollow for good?

COVER ART REVIEW:
It doesn't stand out and it's not a scene from the book. Lisa looks like she's eight and Merrill's boats look like they have have issues, but that's about it. I think this might be one of Barq's only covers. Which is a shame; he's a good looking horse.
OVERALL: YELLOW. Thanks to Braq.

BOOK REVIEW:
Merrill? Her parents never even gave her a chance. This book is pretty much a water down version of the events in Horse Tale. It's a filler, plain and simple. However, unlike Horse Tale, Lisa is stable in this book. Although, she's a little selfish in this book. Only wanting to keep Barq because she'll miss him to much. Carole's reason was much better. I liked Merrill. The Saddle Club should go visit her in Maine. A whole new adventure right there.
OVERALL: RED. A filler and a repeat, but still pretty good. And Lisa doesn't completely suck in this book.

This is undoubtedly one of the worst books I've ever read on Australian history and I've read a great many including several on Mary Bryant by authors who knew what they were talking about.
Almost everything about Mary Bryant in this book is just plain wrong. Or, to put it more clearly, most of it didn't happen that way. Don't waste your money.

A gripping page turner illustrating incredible endurance and survival of an eighteenth century English convict sent to Australia's Botany Bay.

Found guilty of highway robbery in 1787, Mary Bryant was sentenced to seven years imprisonment at England's newest penal colony in Botany Bay (Sydney Cove). She was one of more than a hundred convicts onboard the harrowing First Fleet.

The voyage out to Australia and then the trial and errors of establishing a settlement are alive with all the unbelievable horrors one can imagine. Their escape to Indonesia is an unsurpassed human feat of courage and determination. Scurvy, malaria, ocean storms, inhumane and cruel treatments, brutal living conditions, thirst and hunger, it's all here.

This is Mary Bryant's astonishing story and Carolly Erickson's descript narrative is of the highest caliber. Highly recommend.

I BOUGHT THIS BOOK THINKING IT WAS A NOVEL. I WAS DISSAPOINTED WHEN I FOUND IT WAS NOT. I WAS NOT DISSAPOINTED WHEN I READ IT. IT WAS VERY WELL WRITTEN IN STORY FORM. I REALLY GOT TO KNOW THE PEOPLE SHE WRITES ABOUT. IT WOULD MAKE A GREAT MOVIE. I HIGHLY RECOMEND THIS BOOK AS A NICE CHANGE OF PASE BOOK.

This short book retelling the legendary tale of the Girl from Botany Bay--actually Sydney Cove--who was sentenced to penal camp labor in Australia for highway robbery in England in the late 1700s is an entertaining read.

Pieced largely from a few contemporary mentions of Mary Broad in newspapers, journals, and personal memoirs of people who were in the journey with her, Ms. Erickson has put together a short, well researched book.

Though less than 200 pages, the book could have probably been shorter. Since there is so little in the public record about Mary Broad, who was illiterate herself and hence couldn't write down her own story, Ms. Erickson has to spend a great deal of time on conjecture and educated guesses about what may have been going through Mary's mind at a particular point in time. This distraction aside, the book is still worth the short time it would take to read.

Terrifying story of the dangers of the sea and the horrors of life on prison ships.

Thank heavens I have never committed any of the crimes (or at least been caught) that would have doomed me to the punishment of being on a ship bound for Botany Bay.

Mary Broad's story of "Crime and Punishment" is a vivid description of 18th century survival under the harshest conditions.

Sealed into a filthy, animalistic hold of a ship and bound for halfway around the world to be imprisioned on the primative Botany Bay, Mary's life goes from bad to worse prompting a plan to escape via a small boat.

With her husband and friends, Mary sets off to get anywhere but Botany Bay. Battered by weather that would have challenged the largest of ships, the little group of escaped convicts suffer hunger and thirst, lose sight of the coast, and find themselves in the open sea.

Finally they drag into the harbor of Kupang where they are accepted and given the warmest of welcomes. Finally, for the first time in her life, Mary experiences pleasures of life that had always been out of her reach. But this dream-life comes to an end when the residents of Kupang realize that their new friends are escaped prisoners.

Mary is turned over to the British and returned to England. Standing trial once again she is to be remanded to Newgate Prison -- it was new then -- but public sentiment moves the courts to determine that Mary has been punished enough and she is released.

The rest of her life is spent quietly and she passes into history without any more notice. The only reason we know her story or even have any interest in the story of Mary Brand is because she was "The Girl from Botany Bay".

Callie's finally back in the saddle and she's found her dream horse. However, she is being stalked and things come to a head when she is out on the trails, miles from any help or safety. Carole and Cam go at it hot and heavy some more. Lisa tries seeing other people, after taking a break from her relationship with Alex. And Stevie's busy helping Max with the Starlight Ride, an annual Pine Hollow tradition.

It's a good book. But I really want Alex Lake and Lisa Atwood to get back together. They look good together. I think that it would be funny and good if Lisa and Alex's Boy/Girl friends started dating they would look good together Scott and Nicole.
I hope this set of books go on for alot longer than 17 books.

This book was really good, i loved it! The PH series is really good! I cant wait to read PH 15, i would highly recomend this book, I could hardly put it down, lots happened in it!

Overall, a great book. Lots of romance, a little mystery. Perfect combination. If you buy it for a gift, don't give it to anyone under 12, at the least.(That's just my opinion!) If you like horses more than guys, stick with the Saddle Club series.

Okay, so I know these are for teens but the romance seems to take over these books. I LOVE HORSES and want to read horse stuff. a alittle guy stuff is okay, but let's keep the horse story the most important thing. A great horse mystery--with a little romance is Shadow Horse. Get it for Christmas!