Author | Danny Scheinmann |
---|---|
Cover artist | Claire Ward (design) Getty and Corbis (images) |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Genre | Fiction: Romance Family saga Tragedy Adventure |
Publisher | Transworld |
Publication date | 2007 |
Media type | Print (hardback and paperback) |
Pages | 432 |
ISBN | 978-0-552-77422-2 |
OCLC | 181069022 |
Random Acts of Heroic Love (2007) is a semi-autobiographical debut novel by the author and actor Danny Scheinmann. It follows the parallel stories of two unconsciously connected men in two different time eras motivated by the memory of love: Moritz Daniecki, a young Austro-Hungarian soldier captured by the Russians during the First World War and sent to a POW camp in Siberia, who decides to escape in 1917 and walk thousands of miles for the sake of his childhood sweetheart Lotte; and Leo Deakin, who loses his beloved girlfriend Eleni in a bus crash in Ecuador in 1992, and in his despair embarks on his own journey of discovery and self-reconciliation. [1]
The novel is based upon the true story of Scheinmann's grandfather Moshe, who too was an Austro-Hungarian soldier captured by the Russians, and undertook a three-year journey back to Europe to be reunited with his lover, also called Lotte. Leo's grief and bereavement of Eleni also reflect the author's personal experiences when he lost his late girlfriend Stella in a similar bus crash in South America in 1992. [2]
The novel was nominated for the Galaxy British Book Awards in the 2008 reading list of the Richard and Judy Book Club. The author is also currently adapting the book for film. [3]
In the novel Moritz is an older man dying of consumption in his home in Berlin (which he caught on his travels and never recovered from) and is recounting his experiences on his deathbed to his son Fischel, whom we later discover to be Frank Deakin.
War and Peace is a literary work by Russian author Leo Tolstoy. Set during the Napoleonic Wars, the work mixes fictional narrative with chapters discussing history and philosophy. An early version was published serially beginning in 1865, after which the entire book was rewritten and published in 1869. It is regarded, with Anna Karenina, as Tolstoy's finest literary achievement and remains an internationally praised classic of world literature.
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Not Wanted on the Voyage is a novel by Canadian author Timothy Findley, which presents a magic realist post-modern re-telling of the Great Flood in the biblical Book of Genesis. It was first published by Viking Canada in the autumn of 1984, and was a shortlisted finalist for the Governor General's Award for English-language fiction at the 1984 Governor General's Awards.
Stamboul Train is the second significant novel by Graham Greene. Set on a train journey from Ostend to Istanbul, the book was renamed Orient Express when it was published in the United States. The novel appeared in 1932 and was Greene's first true success. It was taken on by the Book Society and in 1934 adapted as the film Orient Express.
From Russia with Love is a 1963 spy film and the second in the James Bond series produced by Eon Productions, as well as Sean Connery's second role as MI6 agent 007 James Bond.
Moritz Friedrich Joseph Eugen Freiherr Auffenberg von Komarów was an Austro-Hungarian Military officer in the Austro-Hungarian Army and Minister of War. At the outbreak of World War I, he took command of the Fourth Army.
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The Secret Speech is the second novel in a trilogy by British author Tom Rob Smith; it was released in April 2009. The book features a repeat appearance of Leo Stepanovich Demidov, the protagonist of Smith's first book, Child 44 (2008). The Secret Speech is a further exploration of the Soviet Union Joseph Stalin created. The third novel in the trilogy, Agent 6, was published in 2011.
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Young Goethe in Love is a 2010 German historical drama film directed by Philipp Stölzl and starring Alexander Fehling, Miriam Stein, and Moritz Bleibtreu. It is a fictionalized version of the early years of the poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and the events forming the basis of his novel The Sorrows of Young Werther.
The Idea is a 1932 French animated film by Austro-Hungarian filmmaker Berthold Bartosch (1893–1968), based on the 1920 wordless novel of the same name by Flemish artist Frans Masereel (1889–1972). The protagonist is a naked woman who represents a thinker's idea; as she goes out into the world, the frightened authorities unsuccessfully try to cover up her nudity. A man who stands up for her is executed, and violent suppression by big business greets a workers' revolution she inspires.
The Unconquered is a three-act play written by Russian-American author Ayn Rand as an adaptation of her 1936 novel We the Living. The story follows Kira Argounova, a young woman living in the Soviet Union in the 1920s. Her lover Leo Kovalensky develops tuberculosis. To get money for his treatment, Kira has an affair with a Communist official, Andrei Taganov. After recovering from his illness, Leo becomes involved with black market food sales that Andrei is investigating. When Andrei realizes that Kira loves Leo, he helps his rival avoid prosecution, then commits suicide. Leo leaves Kira, who decides to risk her life escaping the country.
LudwigSokolov, was an Austro-Hungarian-born Slovak-Australian businessman and Holocaust survivor.