The Castafiore Emerald - The Adventures of Tintin  (English, Paperback, Herge)

Tintin The Castafiore Emerald is about how trouble comes looking for Tintin in Marlinspike Hall in the form of Bianca Castafiore. Summary Of The Book Tintin The Castafiore Emerald begins with Tintin and the Captain, who are enjoying a stroll through the woods. They see a gypsy camp nearby, and a woman from the camp tries to tell the Captain’s fortune. She warns of some misfortune, but does not specify what it is. Captain Haddock is upset when he discovers that the gypsies have been forced to camp near a garbage dump. He invites them to move into his own private grounds and find a good place to camp. Meanwhile, one of the steps in the marble staircase in the Hall is broken, but the builder does not respond to the calls from Marlinspike Hall. Just when the Captain settles down to enjoy a period of peace and quiet at the Hall, he learns that Bianca Castafiore, the Opera singer, is coming on a visit. The Captain panics and plans to leave for Italy, as it will safely free him of Castafiore. But, in his haste, he trips on the broken step and twists his ankle. He is confined to the house for a few weeks. Castafiore arrives, accompanied by her maid Irma, and her accompanist on the piano, Wagner. She also brings along a noisy parrot which she fondly presents to the Captain. Thus begins a period of torture for Captain Haddock. His plans for a period of rest and quiet vanishes. Just when he thinks things can't get any worse, a television crew arrives for an interview with Castafiore and creates chaos in the Hall. A magazine publishes a rumor linking Castafiore and the Captain. This results in a torrent of congratulatory messages from the Captain's friends, much to his chagrin. Then, Castafiore loses a precious emerald. The Thompson twins arrive to investigate, and promptly make the gypsies their prime suspects. But Tintin has suspicions in other directions, and pursues his own lines of investigation to find the emerald. He receives inspiration when he hears the title of a performance that Castafiore is about to give and realizes who the thief is. About Herge Herge is the pen name of Georges Prosper Remi, a Belgian cartoonist. He is most famous for his Tintin series of comic books. Other titles in the series include The Land of Black Gold, Tintin In Tibet, The Black Island, and Flight 714. Herge (Georges Remi) was born in Etterbeek, Belgium in 1907. He initially did illustrations and created comic strips for the Le Boy-Scout Belge magazine. Later, he began to develop a character called Tintin, a teenage reporter. The stories appeared in the children’s supplement of the Le XXe Siècle. Tintin is now one of the classics in the comic book genre. He was presented with many honours, including the Adamson Awards in 1971, Grand Prix Saint Michel of Brussels, and also has an asteroid named after him. Herge died in 1983 at the age of 75.