Readers Digest Condensed Fiction Books Volume 4

Description

Readers Digest Condensed Books Volume 4 published in 1982 containing condensed versions of the stories Flanagan’s Run, A Parting Gift, The Big Bridge and Last Quadrant. It contains several very nice illustrations.

Flanagan’s Run by Tom McNab -It is depression-era America and notorious huckster, Flanagan, plans the ultimate race, reeling in contestants with the promise of a glittering jackpot prize. Two thousand audacious hopefuls line up at the starting line from every walk of life and all ends of the globe, each with something to prove. As they run themselves ragged across America, they come up against numerous hazards, including the precipitous Rockies, shady mobsters and crooked officials. Their different stories, ambitions and dreams converge through a shared determination which will inspire you to push on to the finishing line

A Parting Gift by Frances Sharkey, M.D. – A pediatrician describes her experiences with dying children and how her own feelings about death were changed by a boy’s acceptance of his death

The Big Bridge by Richard Martin Stern – Combining authentic details of high technology, natural disaster, and human weakness and greed, this spellbinding novel recounts the many-faceted drama that revolves around the construction of a gigantic suspension bridge over a treacherous gorge.

Last Quadrant by Meira Chand – English doctor Eva Kraig has spent her life making a home for abandoned children. Twenty years ago, she herself had adopted the illegitimate. half-American daughter of Kyo, an orphan who had grown up in the home and then turned to prostitution. Now Eva may lose her beloved Akiko, for Kyo – ravaged by time and drink – has returned to claim her grown daughter in the hope that Akiko will support her.As the winds intensify, so do the private struggles of the characters. When the storm abruptly switches course, trapping everyone inside the orphanage, Akiko finds herself stranded with her adoptive mother, the natural mother she has never known and a troubled young American who has fallen in love with her.In the brief calm of the typhoon’s eye, the group leaves the battered orphanage to guide the staff and children to the comparative safety of a wealthy English couple’s concrete house. There they must wait out the violence of the last quadrant – the wildest part of the storm. As the refugees draw together in a fight for survival, their perceptions of themselves and each other take on new dimensions – and the terrible night becomes a turning point for each of them.

The hardback book is in readable condition, 574 pages, 7/3/4″ x 5-1/2″ x 1-3/4″