James Hilton

Random Harvest is a novel written by James Hilton, first published in 1941. Like previous Hilton works, including Lost Horizon and Goodbye, Mr. Chips, the novel was immensely popular, placing second on The New York Times list of best-selling novels for the year. The novel was successfully adapted into a film of the same name in 1942 under the direction of Mervyn LeRoy. Claudine West, George Froeschel and Arthur Wimperis adapted the novel for the screen, and received an Academy Award nomination for their work. Though the film departs from the novel's narrative in several significant ways, the novel's surprise ending, cleverly built on inferences drawn by the reader, would not work in a purely visual medium. ... Though set in the years immediately following World War I, the novel featured the timely subject of combat stress reaction, or "shellshock." World War II, which was being fought as the novel was written, provided extensive case studies of the condition. A theme common to this and James Hilton's other novels is lost innocence - here, the destructive effects of two world wars on England - and a concomitant yearning to return to apparently simpler times. Charles Rainier's complex, pressure-filled business and political life and his outward sophistication are contrasted with the happy simplicity of his time with Paula; similarly stark contrasts are drawn between the grimness of London and the idyll of Beachings Over. Hilton draws parallels between Rainier's ability to sense impending doom but inability to do anything about it and British governmental paralysis in responding to Hitler's manoeuvres preceding the outbreak of the Second World War. (wikipedia.org)

Lost Horizon is a novel by English writer James Hilton. It is best remembered as the origin of Shangri-La, a fictional utopian lamasery high in the mountains of Tibet. Hugh Conway, a veteran member of the British diplomatic service, finds inner peace, love, and a sense of purpose in Shangri-La, whose inhabitants enjoy unheard-of longevity. Among the book's themes is an allusion to the possibility of another cataclysmic world war brewing, as indeed it was at the time. It is said to have been inspired at least in part by accounts of travels in Tibetan borderlands, published in the National Geographic by the explorer and botanist Joseph Rock. The remote communities he visited, such as Muli, show many similarities to the fictional Shangri-La. One such town, Zhongdian, has now officially renamed itself as Shangri La (Chinese: Xianggelila) because of its claim to be the inspiration for the novel. The book explicitly notes that having made war on the ground man would now fill the skies with death, and that all precious things were in danger of being lost, like the lost histories of Rome ("Lost books of Livy"). It was hoped that overlooked by the violent, Shangri-la would preserve them and reveal them later to a receptive world exhausted by war. That was the real purpose of the Lamasary; study, inner peace and long life were a side benefit to living there. Conway is a veteran of the trench warfare of WWI, with the emotional state frequently cited after that war--a sense of emotional exhaustion or accelerated emotional aging. This harmonizes with the existing residents of the lamasary and he is strongly attracted to life at Shangri-La.

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN 1933, LOST HORIZON GAINED UNRIVALED POPULARITY FROM COAST TO COAST, PARTICULARLY AFTER FRANK CAPRA XS SPELLBINDING 1937 FILM INTRODUCED AUDIENCES NATIONWIDE TO ITS STUNNING TALE OF REVOLUTION, UTOPIA, EMOTION, AND ADVENTURE SET IN A HIDDEN MOUNTAINTOP ESCAPE KNOWN ONLY AS SHANGRI-LA. WHEN AN UPRISING IN BASKUL FORCES A SMALL GROUP OF ENGLISH AND AMERICAN RESIDENTS TO FLEE, THEIR PLANE CRASH-LANDS IN THE FAR WESTERN REACHES OF THE TIBETAN HIMALAYAS. THERE, THE BEWILDERED PARTY FINDS THEMSELVES STRANDED OUTSIDE THE PROTECTIVE BORDERS OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE, AND DISCOVERS ACCESS TO A PLACE BEYOND THE BOUNDS OF THE IMAGINATION&MDASHXA LEGENDARY PARADISE, THE MYSTIC MONASTERY SHANGRI-LA. NEW P. S. EDITION FEATURING AN ESSAY BY KENNETH C. DAVIS, AUTHOR OF DON XT KNOW MUCH ABOUT(R)X HISTORY AND TWO-BIT CULTURE: THE PAPERBACKING OF AMERICA.

Set in Russia, it is the story of Ainsely Fothergill, an Englishman who served as a British spy and was exiled to Siberia for eight years. The book reminds us that James Hilton was one of the best storytellers of our era, and that a good story never loses its appeal.

When the Gunn brothers Danny and Clay answer a call to help old friends, they are plunged into a volatile and deadly situation. Larry and Pamela Duke own one of the most popular nightclubs in the Spanish resort town of Ultima, but a local gang known as the Locos are determined to take it. Danny and Clay are hired to protect the club, but new adversaries enter the game. Against such odds there are only two choices: fight or die...

Brothers Danny and Clay Gunn were brought up an ocean apart. Both served in the military, and both know how to kill, taking work as private military contractors and freelance "fixers". But when they save a woman from an assassination attempt in the Nevada desert, it is they who become targets. Vowing to protect her, they are stalked by a paramilitary team known only as The Presidents, under orders from the heart of government. Why is Andrea, a seemingly harmless journalist, the object of a search and destroy order? The only way to discover the truth-and stay alive-will be to turn the tables, and become hunters once again.

It is set in the period preceding the Second World War. It is told in the first person of Harrison, and tells the story of Charles Rainier, a wealthy businessman, and politician, from his time in the army during World War I, his subsequent memory loss and partial recovery, his assuming control of the family business and his attempts to recover his memory as Hitler invades Poland.6 women, 6 men

Baskulin lentokentällä Intiassa nousee matkustajakoneeseen pieni ihmisryhmä, jonka Kauko-Idän kärjistynyt tilanne on pakottanut hakeutumaan turvallisemmille seuduille. Matkan kuluessa he äkkiä huomaavat tuleensa kaapatuiksi. Tuntematon ohjaaja on suunnannut lennon kohti Himalajan huippuja ja jossain Tibetin ylätasangon vaiheilla hän suorittaa epäonnistuneen laskun saaden itse surmansa. Tästä hetkestä alkaa näiden ihmisten elämässä merkillinen, mielikuvituksellinen seikkailu, jonka tapahtumapaikkana on Karakalin sinihohtoisessa laaksossa sijaitseva Shangri Lan luostari, selittämättömien ihmeiden tyyssija.