In mid-air by R. J. McSwiney is a wartime aviation short story written in the early 20th century. It centers on a bomber pilot in World War I whose mission goes awry when his armed bomb fails to release properly, forcing him to choose between certain death and a final act of purposeful sacrifice. During a raid, pilot Charley Reid’s single heavy bomb detaches at the nose but stays hooked at the rear, hanging vertically and armed, battering his old biplane and making landing impossible. After futile attempts to shake it free and a fruitless exchange of messages with his airfield, he resolves to die usefully by crashing into a German headquarters chateau. Diving toward the target, the swinging bomb catches on roadside telephone wires, is torn off the hook, and slams into the chateau’s facade, detonating as Reid’s jolted plane clears the roof. He dodges ground fire, recrosses the lines, and lands, where mechanics lift his limp body from the cockpit, a peaceful smile on his face—his peril turned into an unintended but decisive strike. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

"The life of Abdel Kader, ex-sultan of the Arabs of Algeria" by Churchill is a historical biography written in the mid-19th century. It charts the formation of Abdel Kader’s character and faith, his leadership of a fractured Algeria, and his principled resistance to French expansion, compiled from his own dictation and other contemporary sources. The opening of the book dedicates the work to Napoleon III, then outlines the author’s personal meetings and daily interviews with Abdel Kader in the 1850s, the sources consulted, and the aim to preserve a heroic life from oblivion. It then sketches Abdel Kader’s youth: his father’s guiding influence, early scholarship in the Koran, athletic prowess, strict morals, marriage, and pilgrimages to Mecca, Damascus, and Baghdad before a studious seclusion at home. With the French capture of Algiers, the narrative turns to turmoil in Oran, failed reliance on the Sultan of Morocco, and Abdel Kader’s sudden elevation at Mascara in 1832, where he summons the Djehad and issues a program of order and justice. Early campaigns around Oran display his courage and organization, his seizure of Tlemsen’s town (not its citadel), a failed assault on Mostaganem, and stern enforcement of discipline, even against collaborators. French vacillation leads to negotiations after sharp skirmishes, producing the Treaty of Desmichels, which Abdel Kader interprets to secure a trade monopoly at Arzew and to confine French garrisons. At the start of the ensuing peace he levies war taxes, faces a brief revolt and a setback against Mustapha-ibn-Ismail, then rapidly rallies loyal tribes as the section closes with renewed maneuvering and French attempts to manage the province through native intermediaries. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

"The Crusades" by George W. Cox is a historical account written in the late 19th century. It surveys the origins, course, and consequences of the medieval expeditions to the Holy Land, explaining how popular piety, papal leadership, and European politics converged to launch and sustain the crusading movement and reshape society, commerce, and church power. The opening of the work traces how a universal, non-local early Christianity evolved into fervent pilgrimage to the Holy Land, fueled by relic cults and commerce, then buffeted by Persian-Roman wars, Heraclius’s recovery of the True Cross, Omar’s comparatively tolerant conquest of Jerusalem, and later Fatimid and Seljuk disruptions that imperiled pilgrims and trade. It shows how outrage in the West needed papal sanction, recounts Gregory VII’s failed overtures, and then centers on Urban II at Clermont: the Truce of God, his rousing call, the “Deus vult” response, adoption of the cross, and sweeping spiritual, social, and financial incentives that strengthened papal authority and strained feudal structures. It emphasizes that the crusades were not national enterprises, detailing the varied readiness of regions and the church’s growing wealth and reach. At the start of the narrative proper, it depicts the chaotic first waves: unruly mobs led by Peter the Hermit and Walter the Penniless, further bands under Emico and Gotschalk, brutal pogroms against Jews along the Rhine, a brief imperial intervention for their protection, and the early march across Hungary and Bulgaria toward Constantinople. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Codes by Romaine Lowdermilk and Arch E. Giddings is a crime fiction short story written in the early 20th century. Set inside the bustling world of telegraph operators, it explores money-transfer codes, workplace deception, and an undercover effort to thwart fraud. The plot follows dapper operator Hugo DeMars and his alluring partner Mignonne, who ensnare young op Ralph Harmon to steal code words from the money desk, while newcomer Clyde Winship quietly investigates them from within. After DeMars briefly takes Ralph’s seat at the key, he slips through two fraudulent money orders that Mignonne tries to cash at Hollywood and Pasadena. Winship and company officials spring the trap, arresting her and exposing the pair’s scheme. When confronted, Ralph tries to take the blame to shield Mignonne, but the superintendent reveals the truth, dismisses Ralph for his lapse, and then offers a second chance under Winship at the Pasadena branch. The story closes with Ralph’s resolve to reform and a hinted romance between Winship and June Harmon, Ralph’s level-headed sister. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

"A diary of the wreck of His Majesty's ship Challenger, on the western coast of…." is a maritime diary and historical account written in the early 19th century. It chronicles the 1835 wreck of HMS Challenger off the coast of Chile, the perilous landing through heavy surf, the seven-week beach encampment, and the crew’s dealings with Araucanian caciques and Chilian authorities while organizing salvage, defense, and eventual relief. The opening of A diary of the wreck of His Majesty’s ship Challenger traces the voyage from Rio de Janeiro toward Concepción, storms near Cape Horn, and a sudden nighttime grounding in heavy breakers off Molquilla. The crew cut away spars, held fast their anchors, manned pumps, and salvaged biscuit and ammunition as the bilged ship settled in sand; moonlight revealed a sandy coast but a lethal surf. At dawn attempts to run a line ashore succeeded only after a jolly-boat reached the beach far down-current; a second boat capsized in the rollers, drowning a midshipman and a seaman, before rafts and the cutter began ferrying men and stores with timely help from mounted Indians using lazos. A camp of sails was raised on a low sand-hill beside a fresh-water stream; arms were cleaned, guns emplaced to cover the beach and camp, and a barricade built as the crew managed provisions, kept watches, and navigated tense but mostly helpful contacts with local caciques (notably Cheuquante and Pinoleo) and a Spanish-speaking interpreter, Rafael Lobo. A small militia from Arauco under Don Bernardino Hermosillo arrived as scouts, urging a move north to the Río Leubu, while gales, heavy surf, and even earthquake shocks battered the wreck and tents. Meanwhile two officers rode inland with the guide Camilo Hermosillo to Concepción through forests and rivers, finding the city ruined by a recent quake; the British consul, H. W. Rouse, organized aid and, with the governor of Arauco, returned to the beach to coordinate transport and the crew’s relocation. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

"The Adventures of Harlequin" by Francis Bickley is a romantic novel written in the early 20th century. Drawing on the commedia dell’arte, it follows the irrepressible Harlequin from a mischievous boyhood in Bergamo to a career of dancing and adventure in Venice, where he partners with the mandoline-playing Scaramouche and falls for the radiant Columbine. Around them swirl Violetta, Pierrot, the pompous Captain Spavente, and the domineering doctor Pantaloon, whose schemes and pride complicate young love and lively art. The opening of the book traces Harlequin’s birth to a fruit-seller and his light-footed wife, his impish pranks, and his flight from Bergamo after a firecracker fiasco. On the road he meets Scaramouche, and together they captivate Venice from Burattino’s inn, humbling the blustering Spavente and dazzling aristocratic salons—while Harlequin hears of the sad Lady Isabella, jilted by Lelio for the mysterious Columbine. Smitten at first sight, Harlequin’s bungled visit to Dr. Pantaloon leads Violetta to outwit the household so Columbine can watch him dance; soon, with Scaramouche distracting Pantaloon, a rope at the window brings the lovers together. Spavente’s eavesdropping exposes the ruse, Pantaloon storms home, Harlequin narrowly escapes, and Columbine is locked away—until the loyal, heartsore Pierrot vows to help, setting the stage for further daring and deception. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Vuoristokansaa by Karl Schönherr is a one-act stage tragedy written in the early 20th century. Set in a poor mountain village, it portrays the crushing weight of poverty and pride as illness, debt, and human frailty converge on a struggling family. The drama unfolds in the home of woodcarver Friedl Sonnleitner, whose infected hand after a workshop accident requires urgent amputation. His steadfast wife Anna tends him while their friend, the gentle carver Gebhart Perathoner, works and fends off predatory traders and creditors. Doctor Walder arrives with a medical student and insists the hand must be removed immediately to save Friedl’s life; Anna’s courage steadies her husband, and preparations for the hospital sleigh begin. In a searing episode, the shoemaker’s wife refuses to leave their little girl’s long-promised slippers without cash; Gebhart, desperate to spare the child, forces money from his own miserly father to pay. The old man then jeers that Gebhart acts from secret love for Anna. In a moment of raw gratitude Anna embraces Gebhart, and Friedl, seeing and understanding, is crushed. Believing himself replaced, he refuses the life-saving operation; the doctor departs, and Friedl quietly yields to despair, while Gebhart breaks down and Anna clings to her husband—leaving the family facing tragedy born from compassion, humiliation, and jealousy. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Onnellinen aviomies by Karl August Görner is a three-act comedic play written in the mid-19th century. It centers on a farcical impersonation scheme in an artist’s household when a carefree friend tries to “borrow” a wife to deceive his rich uncle. The key figures are the placid painter Reino Aarnio, his conscientious wife Elli, Elli’s sharp sister Laura, the prodigal Heikki Tuulispää, and Heikki’s uncle Petäjä, whose visit sparks a cascade of deceptions about marriage, money, and respectability. The opening of the play shows Aarnio painting while Elli good‑naturedly lectures him on husbands’ habits, then Laura breezes in with flirtatious letters before the exuberant Heikki barrels onto the scene with a trunk and a crisis: he has long pretended to be married to tap his uncle’s generosity, and the uncle is arriving that very day. Heikki begs to borrow Aarnio’s household; Elli refuses to play the wife but lends the home and nudges Laura to impersonate Heikki’s spouse for three days. When Uncle Petäjä arrives, Laura first performs the model homemaker—adjusting his collar, planning menus, even lighting his pipe—while Heikki scrambles to cover contradictions in his past fabrications (her name, her father, a melodramatic elopement). Elli fumes about smoking and disorder, Heikki ostentatiously praises her to sway the uncle, and Laura vows to switch from sweetness to shrewishness as needed to make the ruse work—setting the stage for the coming complications. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

L'Acerba è un poema di Cecco d'Ascoli composto di 4.865 endecasillabi in sestine (che l'autore chiama "mosse"). (This summary is from Wikipedia.)

"Walks and talks of an American farmer in England (Part 2 of 2)" by Olmsted is a travelogue of rural observation and social commentary written in the mid-19th century. It follows a young American farmer on foot through western and southern England, studying agriculture, village life, architecture, and public institutions. The narrative mixes vivid scenes with practical notes on farming (especially orchards and drainage) and frank reflections on class, religion, and reform, with occasional tips for budget travelers. The opening of this work takes the narrator from Shrewsbury to Church Stretton and Ludlow, blending wry encounters and close rural observation. He haggles with an Irish guide over directions, samples Shrewsbury’s famed cakes, notes anglers’ coracles on the Severn, crosses bleak sheep-walks thick with gorse, and copies quirky epitaphs, before a comic taproom exchange with an ardent free-trader. A shoestring breakfast with a country carrier and a farcical roasting-jack mishap frame sketches of laborers dining on bread, bacon, and beer, and a graceful portrait of Ludlow’s castle, church, and lanes. Introduced to the Christian Brethren, he attends their plain worship, admires their charity, visits the poor-house where a bereaved mother refuses food, and continues across orchard country to farm kitchens, tidy stables, and trout streams. These scenes open into concise essays on English orcharding—mild climates and calcareous soils, canker, drainage, manures, pruning, and the debated “decay of varieties”—and even a Devonshire satire on wassailing. Notes on thatch, tile, and clay walls lead into Hereford, where generous hosts (including men who left military careers for conscience) exemplify a “primitive” Christian spirit. The section closes with a tour of a Pentonville-style prison—cells, exercise cranks, chapel boxes—prompting a sharp contrast between meticulous care for offenders and the neglect of public education, and a turn toward newer reform ideas such as Captain Maconochie’s mark system. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

"Walks and talks of an American farmer in England (Part 1 of 2)" by Olmsted is a travelogue written in the mid-19th century. It follows an American farmer’s voyage to and exploration of England, observing everyday life, labor, agriculture, and social institutions, told in a frank letter-diary style that blends practical detail with sharp, humane portraits. The opening of the book sets the purpose and tone: the narrator travels with two companions to study wages, working people, and ordinary farming practices, aiming to see the country beyond elite showpieces. He recounts a duplicitous second-cabin booking, a brief shipboard mutiny quelled by a heavy-handed captain, and a delayed departure, then offers vivid sea-life sketches—whales, phosphorescent waters, a comic mid-ocean “what’s the news?” hail, and a stiff gale. Life on board brings encounters with artisans and radicals debating politics and religion, a thoughtful but combative deist, and stark contrasts between steerage misery and the narrator’s more comfortable quarters; a doctor’s tale of cholera at sea underscores negligence in emigrant shipping. Approaching Britain, he notes Channel craft, pilots, and tugs, then records first impressions of Liverpool—its massive docks, disciplined police, railway station bustle, cheap but decent lodgings, and the somber, pitiable nighttime presence of prostitutes along the quays. He closes this opening stretch with practical notes on costs, brick and stone building, shopfronts, and markets, grounding the narrative in the textures of urban English life. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

"A Lent in earnest" by Lucy Ellen Guernsey is a devotional Christian guide written in the late 19th century. It offers day-by-day Lenten meditations grounded in Scripture and the Anglican Prayer Book, urging practical repentance, self-examination, and disciplined prayer. Aimed at ordinary believers—especially those confined at home—it explains fasting and abstinence sensibly and encourages whole-life consecration. The tone is pastoral and actionable, helping readers keep Lent with sincerity rather than mere form. The opening of this devotional lays out a Lenten path beginning with repentance and confession, defining repentance as turning from all known sin and confession as honest acknowledgment to oneself and to God, followed by assurance of full forgiveness and a call to entire consecration. It explains fasting through Christ’s wilderness example, then shows how to keep Lent through worship, Scripture, and Prayer Book use—offering concrete practices for shut-ins—and frames abstinence as a personal, consistent rule that avoids giving offense. Guidance for invalids urges prayer for missions, simple acts of service, and small, cheerful self-denials. The text teaches that fasting subdues the flesh, warns against spiritual pride and despising the body, and counsels daily reliance on God for even the smallest needs. It tackles evil thoughts by naming them as sin, crowding them out with Scripture, meditation, and prayer, and then provides clear, practical instruction for meditation (with Bible passages and collects) and for persevering, faithful prayer and intercession. Finally, it asks God’s defense against enemies and identifies the true foes—the world, the flesh, and the devil—beginning a vivid critique of “the world” in business, society, and home life. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Altneuland ist ein utopischer Roman des österreichischen jüdischen Publizisten Theodor Herzl (1860–1904), der erstmals 1902 in Leipzig erschien. Herzl war der Begründer des politischen Zionismus und präsentierte in diesem Roman sechs Jahre nach seinem sachlich-konzeptuellen Buch Der Judenstaat seine Utopie einer jüdischen Gesellschaftsordnung in Palästina. (This summary is from Wikipedia.)

"Sophie Kennedy's experience" by Lucy Ellen Guernsey is a didactic domestic novel written in the mid-19th century. It follows sensitive schoolgirl Sophie as she faces gossip about her father’s remarriage, meets a gentle, capable stepmother, and begins learning obedience, patience, and Christian duty. The work challenges common prejudices against stepmothers while highlighting charity, self-discipline, and Protestant family life. The opening of the novel shows school gossipmonger Laura blurting out Mr. Kennedy’s impending remarriage, sending Sophie into distress until Nancy, the family’s faithful nurse, calms her with examples of kind stepmothers. Mrs. Gaylord soon involves Sophie in visiting Betsey, a poor, badly burned child devoted to her own stepmother, which draws Sophie into practical charity and keeping promises. Mr. Kennedy returns with Sophie’s new mother, whose warmth, music, and thoughtful guidance quickly reassure the girl, and who establishes orderly worship and steady home lessons. As music, sewing, arithmetic, and Bible study begin, Sophie’s impatience and daydreaming surface; a tantrum over arithmetic costs her a drawing lesson, but a visit with her mother to Betsey reveals the child’s serene Christian faith and forgiveness, prompting Sophie to reflect on duty over reverie. Soon after, Sophie’s carelessness in the cold brings on a severe illness, and Dr. Werner orders rest, barring her from seeing the now-dying Betsey—setting the stage for Sophie’s struggle between impulse and the firm, loving guidance around her. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Syksyä by Hilja Aaltonen is a collection of lyric poems written in the early 20th century. The book dwells on autumn and its echoes in rural life, intertwining longing, faith, love, and loss as a solitary voice weighs the pull of home against the call of the wider world. Across four parts, the speaker first lingers in harvested fields, bogs, and barns, hearing cranes overhead and watching migrants depart while she dreams of city lights and a larger life. The mood shifts to wandering and hardship: nights at strangers’ doors, a prisoner’s brief dream of freedom, remorseful prayers, fragile hopes, and a sudden, sanctified joy in impending motherhood, before a tentative spring brightens the gloom. Love then arrives as a consuming gaze—ecstasy, betrayal, forgiveness—and culminates in a shepherd girl’s songs that cradle absent heroes and say secret farewells. The closing poems turn to memory and conscience: a lilac keeps confidences, a mother’s moral legacy lies shattered, rivers swell with storm-blood, and Sorrow and Night are addressed as stern companions. Even amid orphanhood, disappointment, and withered blossoms, the voice chooses endurance: to rise or be broken, but above all to keep singing. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Muuttolintu by Hilja Aaltonen is a collection of poems written in the early 20th century. The book centers on grief, longing, love, and spiritual reflection, framed by the rhythms of rural Finnish life and the changing seasons. Across four parts, the poems move from intimate mourning to wider meditations on nature, love, and faith. The opening cycle grieves a mother with stark funeral scenes and tender lullabies, then turns to addresses to Thought and Loneliness, where worldly striving has dimmed the inner light; nature images—waterlily, storm, autumn plains—mirror poverty, isolation, and homesickness. The middle section traces a love story of distance and return: sea-borne separation, self-exile, the pull back home, praise of the beloved, and a hard-won renunciation for another’s good, with a companion piece on two friends sharing loss. The final section confronts life’s harshness and the nearness of death, listens for a higher Word, and finds moments of grace in Christmas bells, Easter bonfires, moonlit nights, and the day’s renewal. A long retrospective poem recalls ancestral toil, famine and war, and the cyclical labor of fields and looms, before the book closes on a spring evening’s quiet question about darkness, stars, and what endures. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

"Roman Catholic Opposition to Papal Infallibility" by W. J. Sparrow-Simpson is a historical and theological study written in the early 20th century. It examines how significant numbers of Roman Catholic bishops, clergy, and laity struggled with, resisted, and ultimately were pressed to accept the doctrine of Papal Infallibility, especially around the First Vatican Council. Drawing almost entirely on Roman Catholic sources, it traces arguments across countries and centuries and emphasizes the inner history of the opposition rather than a full chronicle of Vatican I. The opening of the work sets out its aim: to narrate, from Roman Catholic evidence, the intellectual and moral difficulties many Catholics faced in assenting to Papal Infallibility, deliberately excluding Protestant critiques. The preface highlights newly available letters and biographies, notes the pressures shaping Ultramontane biographies, mentions the Indexing of Turmel’s book, and acknowledges scholarly assistance, before listing extensive authorities and a contents roadmap. The first chapter tests the scriptural cornerstone (Luke 22:32), arguing that Christ’s words to Peter do not establish papal inerrancy: the prayer is exclusive and conditional; “faith” concerns personal devotion rather than guaranteed utterances; “strengthen thy brethren” denotes moral support and a command, not an infallible promise; and successors are not implied. The next chapter surveys the Fathers, showing contested or limited support: appeals to Irenaeus, Cyprian, Augustine, Jerome, Gelasius, and especially Vincent of Lerins emphasize universality, antiquity, and consent, and illustrate councils critically weighing papal letters (e.g., Leo’s Tome at Chalcedon). The third chapter focuses on Pope Honorius and Monothelitism, recounting the Sixth Ecumenical Council’s condemnation of Honorius and later papal confirmations, the Liber Diurnus profession anathematising him, and the range of Roman Catholic attempts to explain or mitigate the case. The fourth chapter then turns to the scholastic era, noting the transformed context and the growth of papal (including temporal) power. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

"Sven Hankatuuli" by Bernt Lie is a school novel written in the early 20th century. It follows an average, quick-witted but habitually unprepared boy, Sven, as he navigates strict classrooms, fragile pride, and the tug-of-war between talent and effort. Key figures include the sarcastic teacher Svenningsen, the fair and steady headmaster Holst, the principled classmate Anton Bech, and the competitive Simon Selmer. The story focuses on school life, friendship, and the moral fallout when small evasions grow into real trouble. The opening of the novel introduces Sven’s middling standing and his knack for guessing, excuses, and daydreaming, which earn him both a teasing nickname and teachers’ distrust. When Svenningsen finds and publicly reads Sven’s Columbus poem, refuses to return it, and strikes him for protesting, Anton Bech calmly defends Sven; later, headmaster Holst handles the matter with tact, returns the poem, and quietly wins Sven’s admiration, while a tentative friendship forms between Sven and Anton. The narrative then shifts to Sven’s worsening math troubles: a detention, ominous notes, and a letter from Holst advising private tutoring that Sven panics over, secretly opens and burns, then covers with lies about getting help and by buying a new gradebook. To keep the pretense, he copies Anton’s Saturday homework from the unlocked cabinet; after an ink mishap, he rewrites solutions from Simon Selmer’s work and unknowingly reproduces a telltale error, leading Lange to accuse Anton of cheating and lying, while Sven sits silent, gripped by fear as his deception begins to ensnare others. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Scepticism and Animal Faith (1923) is a later work by Spanish-born American philosopher George Santayana. He intended it to be "merely the introduction to a new system of philosophy," a work that would later be called The Realms of Being, which constitutes the bulk of his philosophy, along with The Life of Reason. Scepticism is Santayana's major treatise on epistemology; after its publication, he wrote no more on the topic. His preface begins humbly, with Santayana saying: Here is one more system of philosophy. If the reader is tempted to smile, I can assure him that I smile with him...I am merely trying to express for the reader the principles to which he appeals when he smiles. Moreover, he does not claim philosophical supremacy: I do not ask anyone to think in my terms if he prefers others. Let him clean better, if he can, the windows of his soul, that the variety and beauty of the prospect may spread more brightly before him. While Santayana acknowledges the importance of skepticism to philosophy, and begins by doubting almost everything; from here, he seeks to find some kind of epistemological truths. Idealism is correct, claims Santayana, but is of no consequence. He makes this pragmatic claim by asserting that men do not live by the principles of idealism, even if it is true. We have functioned for eons without adhering to such principles, and may continue, pragmatically, as such. He posits the necessity of the eponymous "Animal Faith", which is belief in that which our senses tell us; "Philosophy begins in medias res", he assures us at the beginning of his treatise. (This summary is from Wikipedia.)

"The Girl He Loved" by Adelaide Stirling is a novel written in the early 20th century. It charts a romantic drama of secret vows, pride, and social scheming, centering on Ravenel Annesley, her brother Tommy, their calculating stepmother Lady Annesley, the dashing Captain Adrian Gordon, and the cynical aristocrat Lord Levallion. Early signals point to a tale of love imperiled by class ambition and manipulation, with a vulnerable heroine forced to choose between her heart and her safety. The opening of the story introduces Ravenel and Tommy living under Lady Annesley’s tight control at Annesley Chase. Ravenel secretly pledges herself to Captain Adrian Gordon, accepts a distinctive emerald-and-opal ring, and agrees to a clandestine wedding at Effingham before his post to India—plans overheard by the stepmother’s spying maid. The ring mysteriously disappears after Lady Annesley outfits Ravenel in white for the duchess’s garden party; Adrian fails to appear, and Lord Levallion (intrigued and oddly protective) drives the distraught girl home, later coolly announcing that Gordon has sailed, which breaks her spirit. The duchess whisks Ravenel and Tommy to London, while Lady Annesley enlists Mrs. Hester Murray to wound Ravenel with “a bit of the truth,” implying Adrian has a wife; stung into icy pride, Ravenel dazzles at the duchess’s ball, where Levallion pointedly courts her and proposes marriage as an escape from Sylvia’s power. Reeling and bent on revenge—and to secure Tommy’s future—Ravenel accepts, setting the novel’s central conflict in motion. (This is an automatically generated summary.)