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Madness lurks behind the pretty façade of everyday life. An elderly lady offers a young woman a piece of cake. She accepts. The lady resembles the Austrian Empress Elisabeth and lives with her servant in an apartment full of bizarre souvenirs. More invitations follow. A seemingly harmless visit to the museum turns into a meticulously planned raid to steal a royal cocaine syringe. Without realizing, the young woman has become the lady's accomplice. Does she realize she is losing control? Why Peirene chose to publish this book: 'On the surface this is a clever thriller-cum-horror story of three women and their descent into addiction, crime and madness. And at times it's very funny. But don't be fooled. The book also offers an exploration of the way the mind creates its own realities and – quite often – deludes us into believing that we control what is actually controlling us. Uncanny, indeed.' Meike Ziervogel 'Linda Stift breaks the world down into frightening fragments. Impressive.' taz 'Such a wicked psychothriller can only come from Vienna.' KulturSPIEGEL 'The reader finds themselves in the situation of Kafka's Josef K: drifting towards the inevitable.' Literaturkritik.de
Cake can evoke thoughts of home, comfort someone at a time of grief or celebrate a birth or new love. It is a maker of memories, a marker of identities, and delicious! It was the year 878 A.D., and a man claimed sanctuary in a small village home in Wessex. To the surprise of the villager, the man was not a passing vagabond but Alfred, King of the Anglo-Saxons. The village homemaker was happy to hide him from the marauding Danes, provided he keep an eye on the cake she had baking in the oven. Preoccupied with how to re-take his kingdom, Alfred let the cake burn, and the incident passed into folklore forever. From these seemingly ignoble beginnings, not only was Alfred able to reclaim his spot in history, but the humble villager's cake has become a part of world culture as well. Alysa Levene looks at cakes both ancient and modern, from the fruit cake, to the pound cake, from the ubiquitous birthday cake to the angel food cake, all the way up to competitive baking shows on television and our modern obsession with macaroons and cup cakes. Along the way, author Alysa Levene shows how cakes are so much more than just a delicious sugar hit, and reflects on how and why cakes became the food to eat in times of celebration. Cake reflects cultural differences, whether it is the changing role of women in the home, the expansion of global trade, even advances in technology. Entertaining and delightfully informative, Cake: A Slice of History promises to be a witty and joyous celebration of our cultural heritage.
Discover 70 popular cakes from across the globe, brought to you by London's famous bakery. From American and Middle Eastern delicacies to European delights –bake your way across the continents with this exciting range of recipes.
She had been in the palace for a year and hadn't even seen the emperor's face before she mysteriously jumped several levels and became the imperial concubine.After the ceremony, she thought that she would finally be able to experience the pleasures of water and fish, but she didn't think that the one inside the palace wouldn't be the emperor, but the empress.Legend has it that the Empress prefers martial arts, and likes to show off her manhood, giving off an extraordinary heroic air.Under her pressure, she knew that the queen, who was loved by her subjects, was a complete man.The corners of his mouth curled up into an evil smile. "You're the woman that the Emperor specially selected for me.""The Emperor has granted me ten years of life, and I will hold this country for him for ten years."However, when his front legs left, the Emperor forced her onto the dragon bed. "You are my concubine, so you must accept my fortune."
The book is the volume of “History of Customs in the Qing Dynasty” among a series of books of “Deep into China Histories”. The earliest known written records of the history of China date from as early as 1250 BC, from the Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BC) and the Bamboo Annals (296 BC) describe a Xia dynasty (c. 2070–1600 BC) before the Shang, but no writing is known from the period The Shang ruled in the Yellow River valley, which is commonly held to be the cradle of Chinese civilization. However, Neolithic civilizations originated at various cultural centers along both the Yellow River and Yangtze River. These Yellow River and Yangtze civilizations arose millennia before the Shang. With thousands of years of continuous history, China is one of the world's oldest civilizations, and is regarded as one of the cradles of civilization.The Zhou dynasty (1046–256 BC) supplanted the Shang and introduced the concept of the Mandate of Heaven to justify their rule. The central Zhou government began to weaken due to external and internal pressures in the 8th century BC, and the country eventually splintered into smaller states during the Spring and Autumn period. These states became independent and warred with one another in the following Warring States period. Much of traditional Chinese culture, literature and philosophy first developed during those troubled times.In 221 BC Qin Shi Huang conquered the various warring states and created for himself the title of Huangdi or "emperor" of the Qin, marking the beginning of imperial China. However, the oppressive government fell soon after his death, and was supplanted by the longer-lived Han dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD). Successive dynasties developed bureaucratic systems that enabled the emperor to control vast territories directly. In the 21 centuries from 206 BC until AD 1912, routine administrative tasks were handled by a special elite of scholar-officials. Young men, well-versed in calligraphy, history, literature, and philosophy, were carefully selected through difficult government examinations. China's last dynasty was the Qing (1644–1912), which was replaced by the Republic of China in 1912, and in the mainland by the People's Republic of China in 1949.Chinese history has alternated between periods of political unity and peace, and periods of war and failed statehood – the most recent being the Chinese Civil War (1927–1949). China was occasionally dominated by steppe peoples, most of whom were eventually assimilated into the Han Chinese culture and population. Between eras of multiple kingdoms and warlordism, Chinese dynasties have ruled parts or all of China; in some eras control stretched as far as Xinjiang and Tibet, as at present. Traditional culture, and influences from other parts of Asia and the Western world (carried by waves of immigration, cultural assimilation, expansion, and foreign contact), form the basis of the modern culture of China.
This is the story of a power-hungry woman who almost brought down a country destined to become a superpower. Tzu-hsithe empress dowager of the Manchu dynastymanipulated her way into the heart of the palace almost a century and a half ago, using her charm, looks, and intellect to get what she wanted. It wasnt long before she was hiding in the Summer Palace in Peking, running the government behind the curtain and scheming to grow her power at the emperors expense. But when foreign intervention and internal strife combined to threaten her empire, she enlisted the help of a devious eunuch and resorted to extreme tactics to deal with the crisis. The emperor sought help from the intelligentsia in a bid to stay in charge and reform the government, but he made a critical mistake by placing his trust in an ambitious general who had the power to ruin everything. Filled with colorful imagery, forbidden liaisons, sneaky maneuverings, heroes, and villains, this novel tells how one woman sought to rise to the pinnacle of power in a male-dominated societyand how a dedicated emperor tried to stop her.