How have I been lucky enough to come here, to be alive, when so many others are not? I should have died.? But I am here.1945. Surviving the brutality of a Nazi prison camp, Marta Nederman is lucky to have escaped with her life. Recovering from the horror, she meets Paul, an American soldier who...  more

How have I been lucky enough to come here, to be alive, when so many others are not? I should have died.? But I am here.1945. Surviving the brutality of a Nazi prison camp, Marta Nederman is lucky to have escaped with her life. Recovering from the horror, she meets Paul, an American soldier who gives her hope of a happier future. But their plans to meet in London are dashed when Paul's plane crashes.Devastated and pregnant, Marta marries Simon, a caring British diplomat, and glimpses the joy that home and family can bring. But her happiness is threatened when she learns of a Communist spy in British intelligence, and that the one person who can expose the traitor is connected to her past.

In this Edgar Award–winning thriller, a young housewife with two lively daughters and an endlessly crying baby battles domestic chaos as well as growing suspicions of the household's new lodger. Are Louise's fears the product of sleep deprivation, as her unsympathetic husband...  more

In this Edgar Award–winning thriller, a young housewife with two lively daughters and an endlessly crying baby battles domestic chaos as well as growing suspicions of the household's new lodger. Are Louise's fears the product of sleep deprivation, as her unsympathetic husband suggests, or is there really something sinister about the respectable-seeming schoolmistress? During the hours before dawn, Louise suspects, people with a precarious grip on sanity are likeliest to slip over the edge into madness -- especially if there's someone ready to give them a push. Without spilling a drop of blood, this psychological thriller transforms everyday events and settings into the extraordinary, evoking an atmosphere of sheer terror.

As a child in the small village of Scot's Bay, Dora Rare (the first female in five generations of Rares) is befriended by Miss Babineau, an elderly midwife with a kitchen filled with folk remedies and a talent for telling tales. Dora becomes her apprentice at the outset of World War I, and...  more

As a child in the small village of Scot's Bay, Dora Rare (the first female in five generations of Rares) is befriended by Miss Babineau, an elderly midwife with a kitchen filled with folk remedies and a talent for telling tales. Dora becomes her apprentice at the outset of World War I, and together they help women through difficult births, unwanted pregnancies and even unfulfilling marriages. But their traditions and methods are threatened when a Doctor comes to town with promises of painless childbirth, and sets about undermining Dora's credibility. Death and deception, accusations and exile follow, as Dora and her friends fight to protect each other and the women's wisdom of their community.

Barcelona, 1945 -- just after the war, a great world city lies in shadow, nursing its wounds, and a boy named Daniel awakes on his eleventh birthday to find that he can no longer remember his mother's face. To console his only child, Daniel's widowed father, an antiquarian book dealer,...  more

Barcelona, 1945 -- just after the war, a great world city lies in shadow, nursing its wounds, and a boy named Daniel awakes on his eleventh birthday to find that he can no longer remember his mother's face. To console his only child, Daniel's widowed father, an antiquarian book dealer, initiates him into the secret of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, a library tended by Barcelona's guild of rare-book dealers as a repository for books forgotten by the world, waiting for someone who will care about them again. Daniel's father coaxes him to choose a volume from the spiraling labyrinth of shelves, one that, it is said, will have a special meaning for him. And Daniel so loves the novel he selects, The Shadow of the Wind by one Julian Carax, that he sets out to find the rest of Carax's work. To his shock, he discovers that someone has been systematically destroying every copy of every book this author has written. In fact, he may have the last one in existence. Before Daniel knows it his seemingly innocent quest has opened a door into one of Barcelona's darkest secrets, an epic story of murder, magic, madness and doomed love. And before long he realizes that if he doesn't find out the truth about Julian Carax, he and those closest to him will suffer horribly.

"The mind gets up to funny tricks, doesn't it? Shadows grow faces." A book salesman with a grievance picks up a mute hitchhiker, not knowing the silent man in the passenger seat listens altogether too well...An exercise routine on a stationary bicycle takes its rider on a...  more

"The mind gets up to funny tricks, doesn't it? Shadows grow faces." A book salesman with a grievance picks up a mute hitchhiker, not knowing the silent man in the passenger seat listens altogether too well...An exercise routine on a stationary bicycle takes its rider on a captivating—and then terrifying—journey...A blind girl works a miracle with a kiss and the touch of her hand...A psychiatric patient's irrational thinking might create an apocalyptic threat in the Maine countryside or keep the world from falling victim to it. Stories include: -Willa -The Gingerbread Girl -Harvey's Dream -Rest Stop -Stationary Bike -The Things They Left Behind -Graduation Afternoon -N. -The Cat from Hell -The New York Times at Special Bargain Rates -Mute -Ayana -A Very Tight Place These are just some of the tales to be found in the #1 bestselling collection Just After Sunset. Call it dusk or call it twilight, it's a time when human intercourse takes on an unnatural cast, when the imagination begins to reach for shadows as they dissipate to darkness and the living daylights can be scared right out of you. It's the perfect time for master storyteller Stephen King.

A neglected garden. A cottage that holds a secret. A mysterious Frenchman (handsome, naturally). A family in need of some love. These elements are entwined in this heartwarming novel by the author reviewers consistently compare to Maeve Binchy and Rosamunde Pilcher. It begins as Miranda and...  more

A neglected garden. A cottage that holds a secret. A mysterious Frenchman (handsome, naturally). A family in need of some love. These elements are entwined in this heartwarming novel by the author reviewers consistently compare to Maeve Binchy and Rosamunde Pilcher. It begins as Miranda and David Claybourne move into a country house with a once-beautiful garden. But reality turns out to be very different from their dream. Soon the latent unhappiness in the family begins to come to the surface, isolating each family member in a bubble of resentment and loneliness. Then an enigmatic Frenchman arrives on their doorstep. With the wisdom of nature, he slowly begins to heal the past and the present. But who is he? When Miranda reads about his past in a diary she finds in the cottage by the garden, the whole family learns that a garden, like love itself, can restore the human spirit, not just season after season but generation after generation. Wise and winsome, poignant and powerfully moving, The French Gardener is a contemporary story told with an old-fashioned sensibility steeped in the importance of family and the magical power of love.

The Condition tells the story of the McKotches, a proper New England family that comes apart during one fateful summer. The year is 1976, and the family, Frank McKotch, an eminent scientist; his pedigreed wife, Paulette; and their three beautiful children has embarked on its annual vacation at...  more

The Condition tells the story of the McKotches, a proper New England family that comes apart during one fateful summer. The year is 1976, and the family, Frank McKotch, an eminent scientist; his pedigreed wife, Paulette; and their three beautiful children has embarked on its annual vacation at the Captain's House, the grand old family retreat on Cape Cod. One day on the beach, Frank is struck by an image he cannot forget: his thirteen-year-old daughter, Gwen, strangely infantile in her child-sized bikini, standing a full head shorter than her younger cousin Charlotte. At that moment he knows a truth that he can never again unknow: something is terribly wrong with his only daughter. The McKotch family will never be the same. Twenty years after Gwen's diagnosis with Turner's syndrome, a genetic condition that has prevented her from maturing, trapping her forever in the body of a child, all five family members are still dealing with the fallout. Each believes himself crippled by some secret pathology; each feels responsible for the family's demise. Frank and Paulette are acrimoniously divorced. Billy, the eldest son, is dutiful but distant, a handsome Manhattan cardiologist with a life built on compromise. His brother, Scott, awakens from a pot-addled adolescence to a soul-killing job, a regrettable marriage, and a vinyl-sided tract house in the suburbs. And Gwen is silent and emotionally aloof, a bright, accomplished woman who spurns any interaction with those around her. She makes peace with the hermetic life she's constructed until, well into her thirties, she falls in love for the first time. And suddenly, once again, the family's world is tilted on its axis. Compassionate yet unflinchingly honest, witty and almost painfully astute, The Condition explores the power of family mythologies, the self-delusions, denials, and inescapable truths that forever bind fathers and mothers and siblings.

An enthralling historical novel about a young woman's struggle to become a doctor during the Civil War In this stunning first novel, Mary Sutter is a brilliant, head­strong midwife from Albany, New York, who dreams of becoming a surgeon. Determined to overcome the prejudices against women in...  more

An enthralling historical novel about a young woman's struggle to become a doctor during the Civil War In this stunning first novel, Mary Sutter is a brilliant, head­strong midwife from Albany, New York, who dreams of becoming a surgeon. Determined to overcome the prejudices against women in medicine-and eager to run away from her recent heartbreak- Mary leaves home and travels to Washington, D.C. to help tend the legions of Civil War wounded. Under the guidance of William Stipp and James Blevens-two surgeons who fall unwittingly in love with Mary's courage, will, and stubbornness in the face of suffering-and resisting her mother's pleas to return home to help with the birth of her twin sister's baby, Mary pursues her medical career in the desperately overwhelmed hospitals of the capital. Like Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain and Robert Hicks's The Widow of the South, My Name Is Mary Sutter powerfully evokes the atmosphere of the period. Rich with historical detail (including marvelous depictions of Lincoln, Dorothea Dix, General McClellan, and John Hay among others), and full of the tragedies and challenges of wartime, My Name Is Mary Sutter is an exceptional novel. And in Mary herself, Robin Oliveira has created a truly unforgettable heroine whose unwavering determination and vulnerability will resonate with readers everywhere.

Beautiful, intelligent, and hopelessly addicted to luxury, Lily Bart is the heroine of this Wharton masterpiece. But it is her very taste and moral sensibility that render her unfit for survival in this world.

Friendship, loyalty, and love lie at the heart of Meg Waite Clayton's beautifully written, poignant, and sweeping novel of five women who, over the course of four decades, come to redefine what it means to be family. For thirty-five years, Frankie, Linda, Kath, Brett, and Ally have met...  more

Friendship, loyalty, and love lie at the heart of Meg Waite Clayton's beautifully written, poignant, and sweeping novel of five women who, over the course of four decades, come to redefine what it means to be family. For thirty-five years, Frankie, Linda, Kath, Brett, and Ally have met every Wednesday at the park near their homes in Palo Alto, California. Defined when they first meet by what their husbands do, the young homemakers and mothers are far removed from the Summer of Love that has enveloped most of the Bay Area in 1967. These 'Wednesday Sisters'? seem to have little in common: Frankie is a timid transplant from Chicago, brutally blunt Linda is a remarkable athlete, Kath is a Kentucky debutante, quiet Ally has a secret, and quirky, ultra-intelligent Brett wears little white gloves with her miniskirts. But they are bonded by a shared love of both literature - Fitzgerald, Eliot, Austen, du Maurier, Plath, and Dickens - and the Miss America Pageant, which they watch together every year.  As the years roll on and their children grow, the quintet forms a writers circle to express their hopes and dreams through poems, stories, and, eventually, books. Along the way, they experience history in the making: Vietnam, the race for the moon, and a women's movement that challenges everything they have ever thought about themselves, while at the same time supporting one another through changes in their personal lives brought on by infidelity, longing, illness, failure, and success.  

Here we have a history written from living material.  Mr. Trevor-Roper, as an intelligence officer, was given the task of uncovering step by step the events of Hitler's last few weeks of life.  In discharging this duty he has produced a piece of history which is as living as it is...  more

Here we have a history written from living material.  Mr. Trevor-Roper, as an intelligence officer, was given the task of uncovering step by step the events of Hitler's last few weeks of life.  In discharging this duty he has produced a piece of history which is as living as it is accurate, and as monumental as the scale of events he recalls.

From the author of the breakout bestseller The Kitchen Boy, a new novel delving into the mysterious life and death of the notorious Rasputin With the same riveting historical narrative that made The Kitchen Boy a national bestseller and a book-club favorite, Robert Alexander returns to...  more

From the author of the breakout bestseller The Kitchen Boy, a new novel delving into the mysterious life and death of the notorious Rasputin With the same riveting historical narrative that made The Kitchen Boy a national bestseller and a book-club favorite, Robert Alexander returns to revolutionary Russia for the harrowing tale of Rasputin's final days as told by his youthful and bold daughter, Maria. Interrogated by the provisional government on the details of her father's death, Maria vividly recounts a politically tumultuous Russia, where Rasputin's powerful influence over the throne is unsettling to all levels of society and the threats to his life are no secret. With vast conspiracies mounting against her father, Maria must struggle with the discovery of Rasputin's true nature—his unbridled carnal appetites, mysterious relationship with the empress, rumors of involvement in secret religious cults—to save her father from his murderers. Swept away in a plot much larger than the death of one man, Maria finds herself on the cusp of the Russian Revolution itself. With Rasputin's Daughter, Robert Alexander once again delivers an imaginative and compelling story, fashioned from one of history's most fascinating characters who, until now, has been virtually unexplored in fiction.

In the tradition of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca, a modern gothic novel rich in atmosphere and suspense, set in the lush countryside of Provence ... a beguiling story of love, scents, secrets, and murder.  Drawn to a confident and artistic wealthy older man she barely knows, bookish Eve...  more

In the tradition of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca, a modern gothic novel rich in atmosphere and suspense, set in the lush countryside of Provence ... a beguiling story of love, scents, secrets, and murder.  Drawn to a confident and artistic wealthy older man she barely knows, bookish Eve recklessly embarks on a whirlwind affair that soon offers a new life and a new home - Les GenÉvriers, a charming yet decaying hamlet nestled amid the fragrant lavender fields of Provence. But with autumn's arrival the days begin to cool ... and so, too, does Dom.  Though Eve knows he bears the emotional scars of a failed marriage  -which he refuses to talk about-  his silence arouses suspicion and uncertainty.  And, like its owner, Les GenÉvriers is also changing. Bright, warm rooms have turned cold and uninviting; shadows now fall unexpectedly; and Eve senses a presence moving through the garden. Is it a ghost from the past ... or a manifestation of her current troubles with Dom?  Can she trust Dom? or could her life truly be in danger? ~~~Larger Print is an easier to read format only; it does not meet industry standards for Large Print.~~~

A lush, ancient tale of treacherous secrets, forbidden love, and murder in an Ottoman palace. Elizabeth Staveley sits in the Bodleian library, holding in her trembling hands a fragment of ancient paper. It is the key to a story that has been locked away for four centuries—the story of...  more

A lush, ancient tale of treacherous secrets, forbidden love, and murder in an Ottoman palace. Elizabeth Staveley sits in the Bodleian library, holding in her trembling hands a fragment of ancient paper. It is the key to a story that has been locked away for four centuries—the story of a British sea captain’s daughter held captive in the sultan’s harem. Constantinople, 1599. There are rumors and strange stirrings in the sultan’s palace. The chief black eunuch has been poisoned by a taste of a beautiful ship made of spun sugar. The sultan’s mother faces threats to her power from her son’s favorite concubine, and a secret rebellion is rising within the palace’s most private quarters. Meanwhile, the merchant Paul Pindar, secretary to the English ambassador, brings a precious gift to the sultan. As he nears the palace, word comes to Pindar that the woman he once loved, Celia, may be alive, and hidden among the ranks of slaves in the sultan’s harem. Can this really be the same Celia who disappeared in a shipwreck? And if it is, can the two be reunited? Spellbinding and steeped in mystery and sexual intrigue, The Aviary Gate transports readers to exotic sixteenth-century Constantinople, offering the rarest glimpse into the forbidden confines of the sultan’s harem.

Sometimes truth is the greatest illusion of all. In a cold January morning in 1856, Evelyn Atherton’s husband is found murdered after attending an exclusive seance. Having “married up” into New York society, Evie herself is the immediate suspect. Ostracized and...  more

Sometimes truth is the greatest illusion of all. In a cold January morning in 1856, Evelyn Atherton’s husband is found murdered after attending an exclusive seance. Having “married up” into New York society, Evie herself is the immediate suspect. Ostracized and vulnerable, she knows that to clear her name she must retrace her husband’s last steps. And so, joining forces with her husband’s best friend–and the only Manhattan lawyer who will accept her case–Evie dives into the mysterious underworld of the occult. Before long, the trail brings them to a charismatic medium, Michel Jourdain. Evie’s instincts tell her the smooth-talking Jourdain is a charlatan–and her only hope for exoneration. But getting close to Jourdain means embracing a seductive and hypnotic world where clues to murder come through the voices of the dead. Caught in a perilous game in which she is equal player and pawn, predator and victim, Evie finds there is no one to trust, perhaps not even herself. As her powerful in-laws build a case against her, and with time running out, Evie must face the real ghosts of her past if she is to have any hope of avoiding the hangman.

The first book of its kind: a definitive guide to the world of perfume Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez are experts in the world of scent. Turin, a renowned scientist, and Sanchez, a longtime perfume critic, have spent years sniffing the world’s most elegant and beautiful—as well as some truly...  more

The first book of its kind: a definitive guide to the world of perfume Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez are experts in the world of scent. Turin, a renowned scientist, and Sanchez, a longtime perfume critic, have spent years sniffing the world’s most elegant and beautiful—as well as some truly terrible—perfumes. In Perfumes: The Guide, they combine their talents and experience to review more than twelve hundred fragrances, separating the divine from the good from the monumentally awful. Through witty, irreverent, and illuminating prose, the reviews in Perfumes not only provide consumers with an essential guide to shopping for fragrance, but also make for a unique reading experience. Perfumes features introductions to women’s and men’s fragrances and an informative “frequently asked questions” section including: • What is the difference between eau de toilette and perfume? • How long can I keep perfume before it goes bad? • What’s better: splash bottles or spray atomizers? • What are perfumes made of? • Should I change my fragrance each season? Perfumes: The Guide is an authoritative, one-of-a-kind book that will do for fragrance what Robert Parker’s books have done for wine. Beautifully designed and elegantly illustrated, this book will be the perfect gift for collectors and anyone who’s ever had an interest in the fascinating subject of perfume.

London, 1660: Ready to throw off a generation of Puritan rule, all England rejoices when Charles Stuart returns to reclaim the throne. Among those welcoming him is young Barbara Villiers Palmer, a breathtaking Royalist beauty whose sensuality and clever wit instantly captivate the handsome,...  more

London, 1660: Ready to throw off a generation of Puritan rule, all England rejoices when Charles Stuart returns to reclaim the throne. Among those welcoming him is young Barbara Villiers Palmer, a breathtaking Royalist beauty whose sensuality and clever wit instantly captivate the handsome, jaded king. Though each is promised to another, Barbara soon becomes Charles's mistress and closest friend, and the uncrowned queen of his bawdy Restoration court. Rewarded with titles, land, and jewels, she is the most envied and desired woman in England--and the most powerful. But the role of royal mistress is a precarious one, and Barbara's enemies and rivals are everywhere in the palace.

In the tradition of Sarah Waters, a rich, sweeping historical novel set in Victorian London, about a bookbinder’s wife who, to save her family, must take over her husband’s business. London, 1860: On the brink of destitution, Dora Damage illicitly takes over her ailing...  more

In the tradition of Sarah Waters, a rich, sweeping historical novel set in Victorian London, about a bookbinder’s wife who, to save her family, must take over her husband’s business. London, 1860: On the brink of destitution, Dora Damage illicitly takes over her ailing husband's bookbinding business, only to find herself lured into binding expensive volumes of pornography commissioned by aristocratic roués. Dora's charm and indefatigable spirit carry her through this rude awakening as she contends with violent debt collectors, an epileptic daughter, evil doctors, a rheumatic husband, errant workmen, nosy neighbors, and a constant stream of wealthy dilettantes. When she suddenly finds herself forced to offer an internship to a mysterious, fugitive American slave, Dora realizes she has been pulled into in an illegal trade of sex, money, and deceit. The Journal of Dora Damage whips up a vision of London when it was the largest city in the world, grappling with the filth produced by a swollen population. Against a backdrop of power and politics, work and idleness, conservatism and abolitionism, Belinda Starling explores the restrictions of gender, class and race, the ties of family and love, and the price of freedom in this wholly engrossing debut novel.

In The World Without Us, Alan Weisman offers an utterly original approach to questions of humanity's impact on the planet: he asks us to envision our Earth, without us. In this far-reaching narrative, Weisman explains how our massive infrastructure would collapse and finally vanish without...  more

In The World Without Us, Alan Weisman offers an utterly original approach to questions of humanity's impact on the planet: he asks us to envision our Earth, without us. In this far-reaching narrative, Weisman explains how our massive infrastructure would collapse and finally vanish without human presence; which everyday items may become immortalized as fossils; how copper pipes and wiring would be crushed into mere seams of reddish rock; why some of our earliest buildings might be the last architecture left; and how plastic, bronze sculpture, radio waves, and some man-made molecules may be our most lasting gifts to the universe. The World Without Us reveals how, just days after humans disappear, floods in New York's subways would start eroding the city's foundations, and how, as the world's cities crumble, asphalt jungles would give way to real ones. It describes the distinct ways that organic and chemically treated farms would revert to wild, how billions more birds would flourish, and how cockroaches in unheated cities would perish without us. Drawing on the expertise of engineers, atmospheric scientists, art conservators, zoologists, oil refiners, marine biologists, astrophysicists, religious leaders from rabbis to the Dali Lama, and paleontologists -- who describe a prehuman world inhabited by megafauna like giant sloths that stood taller than mammoths -- Weisman illustrates what the planet might be like today, if not for us. From places already devoid of humans (a last fragment of primeval European forest; the Korean DMZ; Chernobyl), Weisman reveals Earth's tremendous capacity for self-healing. As he shows which human devastations are indelible, and which examples of our highest art and culture would endure longest, Weisman's narrative ultimately drives toward a radical but persuasive solution that needn't depend on our demise. It is narrative nonfiction at its finest, and in posing an irresistible concept with both gravity and a highly readable touch, it looks deeply at our effects on the planet in a way that no other book has. Time #1 Nonfiction Book of 2007 Entertainment Weekly #1 Nonfiction Book of 2007 Finalist for the 2007 National Book Critics Circle Award Salon Book Awards 2007 Amazon Top 100 Editors’ Picks of 2007 (#4) Barnes and Noble 10 Best of 2007: Politics and Current Affairs Kansas City Star’s Top 100 Books of the Year 2007 Mother Jones’ Favorite Books of 2007 South Florida Sun-Sentinel Best Books of the Year 2007 Hudson’s Best Books of 2007 St. Louis Post-Dispatch Best Books of 2007 St. Paul Pioneer Press Best Books of 2007

The Wicked Wit of Jane Austen is an absorbing collection of Jane Austen's sharpest, most profound and amusing observations - on human nature, money, marriage, life and society - taken from her novels and also from her extremely entertaining letters. Easy to dip in to and highly quotable, this...  more

The Wicked Wit of Jane Austen is an absorbing collection of Jane Austen's sharpest, most profound and amusing observations - on human nature, money, marriage, life and society - taken from her novels and also from her extremely entertaining letters. Easy to dip in to and highly quotable, this beautifully decorated volume will delight all Austen devotees, as well as readers less familiar with her life and work.

An arms dealer orchestrates acts of terrorism throughout the world, vexing international authorities. Mark Anton is an Internet wunderkind living in Germany, a 27-year-old Californian who went abroad to take advantage of the wild free market conditions in Eastern Europe. Little does Anton know...  more

An arms dealer orchestrates acts of terrorism throughout the world, vexing international authorities. Mark Anton is an Internet wunderkind living in Germany, a 27-year-old Californian who went abroad to take advantage of the wild free market conditions in Eastern Europe. Little does Anton know that his empire has caught the attention of an international terrorist mastermind. The Lion, frequently posing as an old German frau, is a sophisticated and cultured criminal holdover from the Old World who orchestrates attacks from a plush library in his suite at Berlin's finest hotel. The shadowy international financier decides to frame Anton-as well as his unsuspecting mother-as the perpetrator of a series of attacks on NATO intelligence and civilians in Germany, using Anton's online venture, an auction site for sports memorabilia, as a coverup for arms dealing. Anton's only hope of escaping this nefarious web-one that also includes the American vice president (who is a friend of his mother's) Chinese militants and the FBI-is an investigator named John Jaëgerman, a decorated war hero and skilled soldier who somehow knows to warn Anton a few days before the first attack. Jaegërman, however, jumps off the Notre Dame Cathedral into the Seine shortly thereafter, in hopes of meeting a mysterious female entity who resides in the water. He is rescued by a Slovakian nurse driven by her own carnal and spiritual desires. For such an integral character in the book, Jaegërman is touched upon too infrequently and without enough emphasis. His relationship with the Slovak Carmen is distracting and even unnecessary in light of the tremendous amount of action going on elsewhere in the book. These disparate storylines eventually come together, but the novel as a whole feels overly plotted. The European settings are top-notch, a Jason Bourne-like mix of sex, immense manses and fast cars. However, NATO seems like a prosaic and harmless target for such a skilled criminal to focus on, and more so, the ability of The Lion to repeatedly defeat the authorities is not entirely plausible. A dense amalgam of genre elements, but fans of international thrillers will be pleased.-Kirkus Discoveries

At the heart of this vibrant saga is a vast ship, the Ibis. Its destiny is a tumultuous voyage across the Indian Ocean; its purpose, to fight China's vicious nineteenth-century Opium Wars. As for the crew, they are a motley array of sailors and stowaways, coolies and convicts. In a time...  more

At the heart of this vibrant saga is a vast ship, the Ibis. Its destiny is a tumultuous voyage across the Indian Ocean; its purpose, to fight China's vicious nineteenth-century Opium Wars. As for the crew, they are a motley array of sailors and stowaways, coolies and convicts. In a time of colonial upheaval, fate has thrown together a diverse cast of Indians and Westerners, from a bankrupt raja to a widowed tribeswoman, from a mulatto American freedman to a freespirited French orphan. As their old family ties are washed away, they, like their historical counterparts, come to view themselves as jahaj-bhais, or ship-brothers. An unlikely dynasty is born, which will span continents, races, and generations. The vast sweep of this historical adventure spans the lush poppy fields of the Ganges, the rolling high seas, the exotic backstreets of Canton. But it is the panorama of characters, whose diaspora encapsulates the vexed colonial history of the East itself, that makes Sea of Poppies so breathtakingly alive -- a masterpiece from one of the world's finest novelists. A San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of 2008 A Chicago Tribune Best Book of 2008 A Washington Post Best Book of 2008 An Economist Best Book of 2008 A New York Best Book of 2008 A Christian Science Monitor Best Book of 2008 A Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2008 Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize

A mysterious house harbors an unimaginable secret... It's wartime, and the Carver family decides to leave the capital where they live and move to a small coastal village. But from the minute they cross the threshold of their new home, strange things begin to happen. In that mysterious...  more

A mysterious house harbors an unimaginable secret... It's wartime, and the Carver family decides to leave the capital where they live and move to a small coastal village. But from the minute they cross the threshold of their new home, strange things begin to happen. In that mysterious house still lurks the spirit of Jacob, the previous owners' son, who died by drowning. With the help of their new friend Roland, Max and Alicia Carver begin to explore the strange circumstances of that death and discover the existence of a mysterious being called the Prince of Mist -- a diabolical character who has returned from the shadows to collect on a debt from the past. Soon the three friends find themselves caught up in an adventure of sunken ships and an enchanted stone garden -- an adventure that will change their lives forever.    

Jean-Jacques Rousseau mentions his older brother François only two times in his classic Confessions. In The Only Son, Stéphane Audeguy resurrects Rousseau's forgotten brother in a picaresque tale that brings to life the secret world of eighteenth-century Paris. Instructed at...  more

Jean-Jacques Rousseau mentions his older brother François only two times in his classic Confessions. In The Only Son, Stéphane Audeguy resurrects Rousseau's forgotten brother in a picaresque tale that brings to life the secret world of eighteenth-century Paris. Instructed at an early age in the philosophy of libertinage by a decadent aristocrat and later apprenticed to a clock maker, François is ultimately disowned by his family and flees to Paris's underworld. There he finds work in a brothel that caters to politicians and clergy and begins his personal study of the varieties of sexual desire - to its most arcane proclivities. Audeguy uses the libertine's progress to explore the interplay between the individual and society, much in the tradition of Jean-Jacques, but with a very different emphasis. Bold, erotic, and historically fascinating, The Only Son is, in many ways, the anti-Confessions' François' own, decidedly different, portrait of human nature.  

For the new breed of vacationer who craves meaningful trips and unusual locales, the combination of reading and travel can be a heady mix—especially if you happen to be checking into Hemingway?s favorite hotel in Sun Valley, or strolling about Bath?s Royal Crescent while entertaining fantasies...  more

For the new breed of vacationer who craves meaningful trips and unusual locales, the combination of reading and travel can be a heady mix—especially if you happen to be checking into Hemingway?s favorite hotel in Sun Valley, or strolling about Bath?s Royal Crescent while entertaining fantasies of Lizzie Bennett and her Mr. Darcy! Cue National Geographic?s Novel Destinations—a guide for bibliophiles to more than 500 literary sites across the United States and Europe.The book begins with thematic chapters covering author houses and museums, literary festivals and walking tours. Then, in-depth explorations of author and places take readers roaming Franz Kafka?s Prague, James Joyce?s Dublin, Louisa May Alcott?s New England, and other locales. Peppered with great reading suggestions and little-known tales of literary gossip, Novel Destinations is a unique travel guide, an attractive gift book, and the ultimate browser?s delight.

When Molly O'Brien comes into the world in 1951, she never imagines that her life will turn out the way it does. Born into a wealthy family in which her father is a senator and her mother a devout Catholic, Molly receives a good upbringing and has all the reason in the world to be happy. Yet...  more

When Molly O'Brien comes into the world in 1951, she never imagines that her life will turn out the way it does. Born into a wealthy family in which her father is a senator and her mother a devout Catholic, Molly receives a good upbringing and has all the reason in the world to be happy. Yet somehow, at the age of thirty, she is addicted to heroin and hasn't been employed for years. Her father believes that the corrupting influences of society are at fault, while her mother is convinced it's Molly's own depravity that has caused her ruin and her failure to stay in the Catholic Church. Her older brother Sean, however, knows who is really to blame. He holds the family secrets that have caused all of his sister's problems and are leading her down the harrowing road to drug addiction. And ultimately he knows that he and his parents are the only ones who can lead her out. A dramatically written family saga, Two Weeks Since My Last Confession is the story of one woman's survival in the face of serious childhood abuse and addiction. More than this, it is a tale which chronicles the triumph of the human spirit over its enemies - not only external enemies but also the ones we find within ourselves.

"Heart-wrenching but triumphant." --Glamour "A lyrical, haunting, and utterly gripping memoir." --Redbook "A dark, evocative memoir from a woman forced to come to terms with her husband's death and the revelation of his infidelity." --Shelf Awareness "A fascinating memoir." --People...  more

"Heart-wrenching but triumphant." --Glamour "A lyrical, haunting, and utterly gripping memoir." --Redbook "A dark, evocative memoir from a woman forced to come to terms with her husband's death and the revelation of his infidelity." --Shelf Awareness "A fascinating memoir." --People "A delectable summer read." --USA Today "She brings refreshing candor to a startling, painful tale." --New York Times "A riveting memoir." --Real Simple "...lyrical, moving prose." --Working Mother "Metz's Perfection chronicles with lapidary precision one woman's climb back to happiness after not just a spouse's death, but also the shocking recognition that her life before that death was not what she had thought it was. The journey is a painful one, but Ms. Metz is much the stronger for having survived to recount it." --Julie Powell, author of Julie & Julia "Julie Metz's memoir of how her marriage unraveled after her mate's death is piercingly honest, haunting, and heartbreaking. Anyone who has ever been in a bad relationship will over-identify." --Susan Shapiro, author of Five Men Who Broke My Heart and Lighting Up "It is impossible to put Perfection down as we follow Julie Metz through her true story of love, lies, loss, and moving forward. Her raw and brave writing makes you want to cheer Metz on as she pieces her life back together, one beautiful sentence at a time." --Marian Fontana, author of A Widow's Walk "This aching memoir of love, loss, and deception is candid and compelling. I found myself rooting for Julie Metz in her search for a happy `second life.'" --Hilma Wolitzer, author of The Doctor's Daughter and Hearts Julie Metz's life changes forever on one ordinary January afternoon when her husband, Henry, collapses on the kitchen floor and dies in her arms. Suddenly, this mother of a six-year-old is the young widow in a bucolic small town. And this is only the beginning. Seven months after Henry's death, just when Julie thinks she is emerging from the worst of it, comes the rest of it: She discovers that what had appeared to be the reality of her marriage was but a half-truth. Henry had hidden another life from her. "He loved you so much." That's what everyone keeps telling her. It's true that he loved Julie and their six-year-old daughter ebulliently and devotedly, but as she starts to pick up the pieces and rebuild her life without Henry in it, she learns that Henry had been unfaithful throughout their twelve years of marriage. The most damaging affair was ongoing--a tumultuous relationship that ended only with Henry's death. For Julie, the only thing to do was to get at the real truth--to strip away the veneer of "perfection" that was her life and confront each of the women beneath the veneer. Perfection is the story of Julie Metz's journey through chaos and transformation as she creates a different life for herself and her young daughter. It is the story of coming to terms with painful truths, of rebuilding both a life and an identity after betrayal and widowhood. It is a story of rebirth and happiness--if not perfection.

The circumstances of Molly Marx’s death may be suspicious, but she hasn’t lost her joie de vivre. Newly arrived in the hereafter, aka the Duration, Molly, thirty-five years old, is delighted to discover that she can still keep tabs on those she left behind: Annabel, her beloved...  more

The circumstances of Molly Marx’s death may be suspicious, but she hasn’t lost her joie de vivre. Newly arrived in the hereafter, aka the Duration, Molly, thirty-five years old, is delighted to discover that she can still keep tabs on those she left behind: Annabel, her beloved four-year-old daughter; Lucy, her combustible twin sister; Kitty, her piece-of-work mother-in-law; Brie, her beautiful and steadfast best friend; and, of course, her husband, Barry, a plastic surgeon with more than a professional interest in many of his female patients. As a bonus, Molly quickly realizes that the afterlife comes with a finely tuned bullshit detector. As Molly looks on, her loved ones try to discern whether her death was an accident, suicide, or murder. She was last seen alive leaving for a bike ride through New York City’s Riverside Park; her body was found lying on the bank of the Hudson River. Did a stranger lure Molly to danger? Did she plan to meet someone she thought she could trust? Could she have ended her own life for mysterious reasons, or did she simply lose control of her bike? As the police question her circle of intimates, Molly relives the years and days that led up to her sudden end: her marriage, troubled yet tender; her charmed work life as a magazine decorating editor; and the irresistible colleague to whom she was drawn. More than anything, Molly finds herself watching over Annabel–and realizing how motherhood helped to bring out her very best self. As the investigation into her death proceeds, Molly will relive her most precious moments–and take responsibility for the choices in her life.

After her plane crashes, a seventeen-year-old girl spends eleven days walking through the Peruvian jungle. Against all odds, with no food, shelter, or equipment, she gets out. A better-equipped group of adult survivors of the same crash sits down and dies. What makes the...  more

After her plane crashes, a seventeen-year-old girl spends eleven days walking through the Peruvian jungle. Against all odds, with no food, shelter, or equipment, she gets out. A better-equipped group of adult survivors of the same crash sits down and dies. What makes the difference? Examining such stories of miraculous endurance and tragic death -- how people get into trouble and how they get out again (or not) -- Deep Survival takes us from the tops of snowy mountains and the depths of oceans to the workings of the brain that control our behavior. Through close analysis of case studies, Laurence Gonzales describes the "stages of survival" and reveals the essence of a survivor -- truths that apply not only to surviving in the wild but also to surviving life-threatening illness, relationships, the death of a loved one, running a business during uncertain times, even war. Fascinating for any reader, and absolutely essential for anyone who takes a hike in the woods, this book will change the way we understand ourselves and the great outdoors.

After summer rains uncover a corpse bearing tattoos like those of eighteenth-century seafarers, many residents of the English Lake District can’t help but wonder whether it’s the body of one of the town’s most legendary fugitives. Scholar and native Lakelander Jane Gresham...  more

After summer rains uncover a corpse bearing tattoos like those of eighteenth-century seafarers, many residents of the English Lake District can’t help but wonder whether it’s the body of one of the town’s most legendary fugitives. Scholar and native Lakelander Jane Gresham feels compelled to finally discover the truth about the myths and buried secrets rooted in her hometown. What she never expected was to find herself at the heart of a 200-year-old mystery that still has the power to put lives on the line. And with each new lead she pursues, death follows hard on her heels….

Estranged sisters Ginny and Vivien Stone reunite after 50 years, releasing a flood of painful memories in Stone's eerie, accomplished debut. Ginny and her younger sister Vivien lead an idyllic childhood in West Dorset, England, until Vivien nearly dies in an accident (the aftermath of which...  more

Estranged sisters Ginny and Vivien Stone reunite after 50 years, releasing a flood of painful memories in Stone's eerie, accomplished debut. Ginny and her younger sister Vivien lead an idyllic childhood in West Dorset, England, until Vivien nearly dies in an accident (the aftermath of which takes decades to unravel) when Ginny is 11 and Vivien is eight. Later, after the pair is expelled from school, a 15-year-old Vivien moves to London, and Ginny stays behind, covering up her mother Maud's alcoholism while trying to assist her father, Clive, with his research on moths and butterflies. After Maud's death and Clive's subsequent dementia, Ginny lives alone in the massive house, a brilliant but increasingly reclusive scientist whose insular world is cracked open when Vivien announces her desire to return and live out her days with Ginny. Long-buried secrets float to the surface as Ginny narrates with scientific precision her life's slow disintegration... Adams expertly captures Ginny's voice and the dynamics of a deeply troubled family as the book barrels toward its chilling conclusion.

A chronicle of life of an eighteenth-century man born without the ability to feel pain, this amazing book ?offers a panoply of literary pleasures? (Washington Post Book World). Winner of Britain?s James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the 1999 IMPAC Award. ?Astoundingly good? (New York Times Book...  more

A chronicle of life of an eighteenth-century man born without the ability to feel pain, this amazing book ?offers a panoply of literary pleasures? (Washington Post Book World). Winner of Britain?s James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the 1999 IMPAC Award. ?Astoundingly good? (New York Times Book Review).

In the debut crime novel from the Booker-winning author, a Dublin pathologist follows the corpse of a mysterious woman into the heart of a conspiracy among the city's high Catholic society It's not the dead that seem strange to Quirke. It's the living. One night, after a few...  more

In the debut crime novel from the Booker-winning author, a Dublin pathologist follows the corpse of a mysterious woman into the heart of a conspiracy among the city's high Catholic society It's not the dead that seem strange to Quirke. It's the living. One night, after a few drinks at an office party, Quirke shuffles down into the morgue where he works and finds his brother-in-law, Malachy, altering a file he has no business even reading. Odd enough in itself to find Malachy there, but the next morning, when the haze has lifted, it looks an awful lot like his brother-in-law, the esteemed doctor, was in fact tampering with a corpse -- and concealing the cause of death. It turns out the body belonged to a young woman named Christine Falls. And as Quirke reluctantly presses on toward the true facts behind her death, he comes up against some insidious -- and very well-guarded -- secrets of Dublin's high Catholic society, among them members of his own family. Set in Dublin and Boston in the 1950s, the first novel in the Quirke series brings all the vividness and psychological insight of Booker Prize winner John Banville's fiction to a thrilling, atmospheric crime story.

What are the inner workings of the hospitals that control your health and destiny? Who are physicians and can you trust that they are trained, certified and what they appear to be. Medicine is business and business is making money. Follow Bishell, a rising star in a surgery program until it is...  more

What are the inner workings of the hospitals that control your health and destiny? Who are physicians and can you trust that they are trained, certified and what they appear to be. Medicine is business and business is making money. Follow Bishell, a rising star in a surgery program until it is discovered that he is creating his own patients just to look good in his training program. Follow the trail as he is discovered working under falsified documents and assumed names for many years. Watch as he is tracked down and finally exposed and captured. How did he do it, read and see. Can this happen? Researching the documentation of a physician?s training is a critical process in the awarding of privileges to practice medicine in a hospital, but there are ways to work around this process. Bishell discovers these methods and continues his career in mayhem.

A young mother commits suicide in a 19th century asylum after her child is taken away from her. The child is sent to Canada and, generations later, her descendant comes to Britain to investigate her family. Her quest takes place among the many human stories being acted out by the people who work...  more

A young mother commits suicide in a 19th century asylum after her child is taken away from her. The child is sent to Canada and, generations later, her descendant comes to Britain to investigate her family. Her quest takes place among the many human stories being acted out by the people who work and use the public library which is in the old asylum building.

Eddie Chapman was a charming criminal, a con man, and a philanderer. He was also one of the most remarkable double agents Britain has ever produced. Inside the traitor was a man of loyalty; inside the villain was a hero. The problem for Chapman, his spymasters, and his lovers was to know where...  more

Eddie Chapman was a charming criminal, a con man, and a philanderer. He was also one of the most remarkable double agents Britain has ever produced. Inside the traitor was a man of loyalty; inside the villain was a hero. The problem for Chapman, his spymasters, and his lovers was to know where one persona ended and the other began. In 1941, after training as a German spy in occupied France, Chapman was parachuted into Britain with a revolver, a wireless, and a cyanide pill, with orders from the Abwehr to blow up an airplane factory. Instead, he contacted MI5, the British Secret Service. For the next four years, Chapman worked as a double agent, a lone British spy at the heart of the German Secret Service who at one time volunteered to assassinate Hitler for his countrymen. Crisscrossing Europe under different names, all the while weaving plans, spreading disinformation, and, miraculously, keeping his stories straight under intense interrogation, he even managed to gain some profit and seduce beautiful women along the way. The Nazis feted Chapman as a hero and awarded him the Iron Cross. In Britain, he was pardoned for his crimes, becoming the only wartime agent to be thus rewarded. Both countries provided for the mother of his child and his mistress. Sixty years after the end of the war, and ten years after Chapman’s death, MI5 has now declassified all of Chapman’s files, releasing more than 1,800 pages of top secret material and allowing the full story of Agent Zigzag to be told for the first time. A gripping story of loyalty, love, and treachery, Agent Zigzag offers a unique glimpse into the psychology of espionage, with its thin and shifting line between fidelity and betrayal.

In life, at least before the espionage charges, it was Mata Hari's body that made her mesmerizing; in this alluring novel, it is her hypnotic voice. As softly poetic as it is insistent, it entices the reader from the first lines to give Mata Hari what she always craved: not the secrets that are...  more

In life, at least before the espionage charges, it was Mata Hari's body that made her mesmerizing; in this alluring novel, it is her hypnotic voice. As softly poetic as it is insistent, it entices the reader from the first lines to give Mata Hari what she always craved: not the secrets that are the currency of a spy, but the rapt attention that is oxygen to a performer. Shifting time and perspective, the tale moves among Mata Hari's early childhood in the late 19th-century Netherlands, her years in Java as a caring young mother married to a brutal military man, her glamorous but desperate career as a famed dancer and courtesan and her bleak existence in a Paris prison after her arrest as a spy for Germany during WWI. Murphy (Here They Come) sticks with the true ending to her subject's story, which was death by firing squad, and what makes the novel an unlikely achievement is how Murphy nurtures, before the shots are fired, a potent skepticism about the guilt of a woman whose name even today is synonymous with treachery. In its subdued way, this novel is an eloquent cri de coeur and a belated witness for the defense.

It’s fire season in Montana ... A disillusioned litigator forges a new life in Big Sky Country and stumbles onto the toughest case of his career in this electrifying thriller from New York Times bestselling author Stephen Frey. When lawyer Hunter Lee decides to turn his back on the New...  more

It’s fire season in Montana ... A disillusioned litigator forges a new life in Big Sky Country and stumbles onto the toughest case of his career in this electrifying thriller from New York Times bestselling author Stephen Frey. When lawyer Hunter Lee decides to turn his back on the New York City rat race that has made him rich but cost him his marriage, he escapes to beautiful but isolated Fort Mason, Montana. He befriends a Fire Jumper—one of an elite corps of firefighters—and gets a terrifying firsthand look at vast tracts of forest being reduced to ash in seconds. In this tiny town where everyone seems to have a secret, Hunter suspects these fires are anything but accidental. As he follows his instincts, Montana becomes a crucible where good and evil collide—and where one man, running from his past, must expose the guilty before he’s sacrificed to the inferno.

On the first day of the new year, no one dies. This of course causes consternation among politicians, religious leaders, morticians, and doctors. Among the general public, on the other hand, there is initially celebration?flags are hung out on balconies, people dance in the streets. They have...  more

On the first day of the new year, no one dies. This of course causes consternation among politicians, religious leaders, morticians, and doctors. Among the general public, on the other hand, there is initially celebration?flags are hung out on balconies, people dance in the streets. They have achieved the great goal of humanity: eternal life. Then reality hits home?families are left to care for the permanently dying, life-insurance policies become meaningless, and funeral parlors are reduced to arranging burials for pet dogs, cats, hamsters, and parrots.Death sits in her chilly apartment, where she lives alone with scythe and filing cabinets, and contemplates her experiment: What if no one ever died again? What if she, death with a small d, became human and were to fall in love?

Young Cambridge scholar Adam Strickland is in Tuscany, assigned to write a scholarly monograph about the famous garden at Villa Docci - a mysterious world of statues, grottoes, meandering rills and classical inscriptions. As his research deepens, Adam comes to suspect that buried in the garden's...  more

Young Cambridge scholar Adam Strickland is in Tuscany, assigned to write a scholarly monograph about the famous garden at Villa Docci - a mysterious world of statues, grottoes, meandering rills and classical inscriptions. As his research deepens, Adam comes to suspect that buried in the garden's strange iconography is the key to uncovering a long-ago murder. But the ancient house holds its own secrets as well - an entire floor unchanged for years in memory of the dead. As Adam delves into his subject, he also begins to suspect that his seemingly innocent history project might be part of a scheme already in motion. Is he really just the naive student, stumbling upon clues, or is he being used to discover the truth behind the villa's murderous past?

Richly imagined, gothically spooky, and replete with the ingenious storytelling ability of a born novelist, The Good Thief introduces one of the most appealing young heroes in contemporary fiction and ratifies Hannah Tinti as one of our most exciting new talents. Twelve year-old Ren is...  more

Richly imagined, gothically spooky, and replete with the ingenious storytelling ability of a born novelist, The Good Thief introduces one of the most appealing young heroes in contemporary fiction and ratifies Hannah Tinti as one of our most exciting new talents. Twelve year-old Ren is missing his left hand. How it was lost is a mystery that Ren has been trying to solve for his entire life, as well as who his parents are, and why he was abandoned as an infant at Saint Anthony's Orphanage for boys. He longs for a family to call his own and is terrified of the day he will be sent alone into the world. But then a young man named Benjamin Nab appears, claiming to be Ren's long-lost brother, and his convincing tale of how Ren lost his hand and his parents persuades the monks at the orphanage to release the boy and to give Ren some hope. But is Benjamin really who he says he is? Journeying through a New England of whaling towns and meadowed farmlands, Ren is introduced to a vibrant world of hardscrabble adventure filled with outrageous scam artists, grave robbers, and petty thieves. If he stays, Ren becomes one of them. If he goes, he's lost once again. As Ren begins to find clues to his hidden parentage he comes to suspect that Benjamin not only holds the key to his future, but to his past as well.

Author and screenwriter Benioff follows up The 25th Hour with this hard-to-put-down novel based on his grandfather's stories about surviving WWII in Russia. Having elected to stay in Leningrad during the siege, 17-year-old Lev Beniov is caught looting a German paratrooper's corpse....  more

Author and screenwriter Benioff follows up The 25th Hour with this hard-to-put-down novel based on his grandfather's stories about surviving WWII in Russia. Having elected to stay in Leningrad during the siege, 17-year-old Lev Beniov is caught looting a German paratrooper's corpse. The penalty for this infraction (and many others) is execution. But when Colonel Grechko confronts Lev and Kolya, a Russian army deserter also facing execution, he spares them on the condition that they acquire a dozen eggs for the colonel's daughter's wedding cake. Their mission exposes them to the most ghoulish acts of the starved populace and takes them behind enemy lines to the Russian countryside. There, Lev and Kolya take on an even more daring objective: to kill the commander of the local occupying German forces. A wry and sympathetic observer of the devastation around him, Lev is an engaging and self-deprecating narrator who finds unexpected reserves of courage at the crucial moment and forms an unlikely friendship with Kolya, a flamboyant ladies' man who is coolly reckless in the face of danger. Benioff blends tense adventure, a bittersweet coming-of-age and an oddly touching buddy narrative to craft a smart crowd-pleaser.

A Michigan Notable Book for 2010 One of the Washington Post Book World's "Best Books of 2009," Memoir Beth Luxenberg was an only child. Or so everyone thought. Six months after Beth's death, her secret emerged. It had a name: Annie. Praise for Annie's Ghosts "Annie's Ghosts is one of...  more

A Michigan Notable Book for 2010 One of the Washington Post Book World's "Best Books of 2009," Memoir Beth Luxenberg was an only child. Or so everyone thought. Six months after Beth's death, her secret emerged. It had a name: Annie. Praise for Annie's Ghosts "Annie's Ghosts is one of the most remarkable books I have ever read . . . From mental institutions to the Holocaust, from mothers and fathers to children and childhood, with its mysteries, sadness, and joy--this book is one emotional ride." --Bob Woodward, author of The War Within and State of Denial "Steve Luxenberg sleuths his family's hidden history with the skills of an investigative reporter, the instincts of a mystery writer, and the sympathy of a loving son. His rediscovery of one lost woman illuminates the shocking fate of thousands of Americans who disappeared just a generation ago." --Tony Horwitz, author of A Voyage Long and Strange and Confederates in the Attic "I started reading within minutes of picking up this book, and was instantly mesmerized. It's a riveting detective story, a moving family saga, an enlightening if heartbreaking chapter in the history of America's treatment of people born with what we now call special needs." --Deborah Tannen, author of You Just Don't Understand and You're Wearing That? "This is a memoir that pushes the journalistic envelope . . . Luxenberg has written a fascinating personal story as well as a report on our communal response to the mentally ill." --Helen Epstein, author of Where She Came From and Children of the Holocaust "A wise, affecting new memoir of family secrets and posthumous absolution." --The Washington Post "Annie's Ghosts will resonate for many, whether the chords have to do with family secrets, the Depression, memories of a thriving Detroit, the Holocaust's horrors, or the immigrant experience." --The Detroit Free Press

An epic and gripping tale of catastrophe and survival, The Passage is the story of Amy -- abandoned by her mother at the age of six, pursued and then imprisoned by the shadowy figures behind a government experiment of apocalyptic proportions. But Special Agent Wolgast, the lawman sent to track...  more

An epic and gripping tale of catastrophe and survival, The Passage is the story of Amy -- abandoned by her mother at the age of six, pursued and then imprisoned by the shadowy figures behind a government experiment of apocalyptic proportions. But Special Agent Wolgast, the lawman sent to track her down, is disarmed by the curiously quiet girl -- and risks everything to save her. As the experiment goes nightmarishly wrong, Wolgast secures her escape -- but he can’t stop society’s collapse. And as Amy walks alone, across miles and decades, into a future dark with violence and despair, she is filled with the mysterious and terrifying knowledge that only she has the power to save the ruined world.

Spanning the Lancastrian, Plantagenet and Tudor empires, this saga of fifteenth-century England offers a history lesson from the viewpoint of one woman, Eleanor Morland. From her arranged marriage at age 18 to her death at 70, Harrod-Eagles blends historical fact with fictional emotion into...  more

Spanning the Lancastrian, Plantagenet and Tudor empires, this saga of fifteenth-century England offers a history lesson from the viewpoint of one woman, Eleanor Morland. From her arranged marriage at age 18 to her death at 70, Harrod-Eagles blends historical fact with fictional emotion into one cohesive whole. While Eleanor's many descendants are often indistinguishable, the more constant characters in the story stand out clearly. Perhaps the author's best skill is the ability to age Eleanor and her faithful servant, Job, at appropriate intervals throughout their lives, culminating in believable elderly attitudes.

He is a brilliant math professor, with a peculiar problem -- since a traumatic head injury, he has lived with only eighty minutes of short-term memory. She is an astute young housekeeper with a ten-year-old son who is hired to care for him. And between them a strange, beautiful relationship...  more

He is a brilliant math professor, with a peculiar problem -- since a traumatic head injury, he has lived with only eighty minutes of short-term memory. She is an astute young housekeeper with a ten-year-old son who is hired to care for him. And between them a strange, beautiful relationship blossoms. Though the professor can hold new memories for only eighty mintues, his mind is still alive with elegant equations from the past; and through him, the numbers, in all of their articulate order, reveal a sheltering and poetic world to both the housekeeper and her son. The Housekeeper and the Professor is an enchanting story about what it means to live in the present, and about the curious equations that can create a family where one before did not exist.

Senhor José is a low-grade clerk in the city's Central Registry, where the living and the dead share the same shelf space. A middle-aged bachelor, he has no interest in anything beyond the certificates of birth, marriage, divorce, and death that are his daily routine. But one day,...  more

Senhor José is a low-grade clerk in the city's Central Registry, where the living and the dead share the same shelf space. A middle-aged bachelor, he has no interest in anything beyond the certificates of birth, marriage, divorce, and death that are his daily routine. But one day, when he comes across the records of an anonymous young woman, something happens to him. Obsessed, Senhor José sets off to follow the thread that may lead him to the woman -- but as he gets closer, he discovers more about her, and about himself, than he would ever have wished. The loneliness of people's lives, the effects of chance, the discovery of love -- all coalesce in this extraordinary novel that displays the power and art of José Saramago in brilliant form.  

In this sparkling collection of nineteen stories, Irish author Emma Donoghue of Slammerkin fame, returns to contemporary affairs, exposing the private dilemmas that result from some of our most public controversies. How do you make conversation with a sperm donor? How do you say someone's...  more

In this sparkling collection of nineteen stories, Irish author Emma Donoghue of Slammerkin fame, returns to contemporary affairs, exposing the private dilemmas that result from some of our most public controversies. How do you make conversation with a sperm donor? How do you say someone's novel is drivel? Would you give a screaming baby brandy? In what words would you tell your girlfriend to pluck a hair on her chin? Touchy Subjects is about things that make people wince: taboos, controversies, secrets and lies. Some of the events that characters crash into are grand, tragic ones: miscarriage, overdose, missing persons, a mother who deserts her children. Other topics, like religion and money, are not inherently taboo, but they can cause acute discomfort because people disagree so vehemently. Many of these stories are about the spectrum of constrained, convoluted feeling that runs from awkwardness through embarrassment to shame.

The bestselling author of Slammerkin turns her attention to the Beau Monde of late eighteenth-century England, turning the private drama of three celebrated Londoners into a robust, full-bodied portrait of a world, and lives, on the brink of revolution. The Honourable Mrs. Damer is a young widow...  more

The bestselling author of Slammerkin turns her attention to the Beau Monde of late eighteenth-century England, turning the private drama of three celebrated Londoners into a robust, full-bodied portrait of a world, and lives, on the brink of revolution. The Honourable Mrs. Damer is a young widow of eccentric tastes, the only female sculptor of her time. The Earl of Derby, inventor of the horse race that bears his name, is the richest man in the House of Lords-and the ugliest. Miss Eliza Farren, born a nobody, now reigns as Queen of Comedy at Drury Lane Theatre. In a time of looming war and terrorism, of glittering spectacle and financial disasters, the wealthy liberals of the Whig Party work to topple a tyrannical prime minister and a lunatic king. Their marriages and friendships stretch or break; political liaisons prove as dangerous as erotic ones. Will Eliza Farren ever gain entry to that elite circle that calls itself the World? Can Lord Derby's pride endure public mockery of his long, unconsummated courtship of the actress? And how is Anne Damer ever to silence the whispers of Sapphism that haunt her? Let the games begin...

The Periodic Table is one of man's crowning scientific achievements. But it's also a treasure trove of stories of passion, adventure, betrayal, and obsession. The infectious tales and astounding details in THE DISAPPEARING SPOON follow carbon, neon, silicon, and gold as they play out...  more

The Periodic Table is one of man's crowning scientific achievements. But it's also a treasure trove of stories of passion, adventure, betrayal, and obsession. The infectious tales and astounding details in THE DISAPPEARING SPOON follow carbon, neon, silicon, and gold as they play out their parts in human history, finance, mythology, war, the arts, poison, and the lives of the (frequently) mad scientists who discovered them. We learn that Marie Curie used to provoke jealousy in colleagues' wives when she'd invite them into closets to see her glow-in-the-dark experiments. And that Lewis and Clark swallowed mercury capsules across the country and their campsites are still detectable by the poison in the ground. Why did Gandhi hate iodine? Why did the Japanese kill Godzilla with missiles made of cadmium? And why did tellurium lead to the most bizarre gold rush in history? From the Big Bang to the end of time, it's all in THE DISAPPEARING SPOON.

An obsessive scientist and his eclectic team of researchers race to discover one of the hidden treasures of neuroscience—the physical makeup of memory—and in the process pursue a pharmaceutical wonder drug.Gary Lynch is the real thing, the epitome of the rebel scientist: malnourished,...  more

An obsessive scientist and his eclectic team of researchers race to discover one of the hidden treasures of neuroscience—the physical makeup of memory—and in the process pursue a pharmaceutical wonder drug.Gary Lynch is the real thing, the epitome of the rebel scientist: malnourished, contentious, inspiring, explosive, remarkably ambitious, and consistently brilliant. He is one of the foremost figures of contemporary neuroscience, and his decades-long quest to understand the inner workings of the brain’s memory machine has begun to pay off. Award-winning journalist Terry McDermott spent nearly two years observing Lynch at work and now gives us a fascinating and dramatic account of daily life in his lab—the highs and lows, the drudgery and eureka moments, the agonizing failures. He provides detailed, lucid explanations of the cutting-edge science that enabled Lynch to reveal the inner workings of the molecular machine that manufactures memory. After establishing the building blocks, Lynch then set his sights on uncovering the complicated structure of memory as it is stored across many neurons. Adding practical significance to his groundbreaking work, Lynch discovered a class of drugs that could fix the memory machine when it breaks, drugs that would enhance brain function during the memory process and that hold out the possibility of cures for a wide range of neurological conditions, including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Here is an essential story of science, scientists, and scientific achievement—galvanizing in the telling and thrilling in its far-reaching implications.

Meet Ed Kennedy—underage cabdriver, pathetic cardplayer, and useless at romance. He lives in a shack with his coffee-addicted dog, the Doorman, and he’s hopelessly in love with his best friend, Audrey. His life is one of peaceful routine and incompetence, until he inadvertently stops...  more

Meet Ed Kennedy—underage cabdriver, pathetic cardplayer, and useless at romance. He lives in a shack with his coffee-addicted dog, the Doorman, and he’s hopelessly in love with his best friend, Audrey. His life is one of peaceful routine and incompetence, until he inadvertently stops a bank robbery. That’s when the first Ace arrives. That’s when Ed becomes the messenger. . . .Chosen to care, he makes his way through town helping and hurting (when necessary), until only one question remains: Who’s behind Ed’s mission?Winner of the 2003 Children’s Book Council Book of the Year Award in Australia, I Am the Messenger is a cryptic journey filled with laughter, fists, and love.From the Hardcover edition.

Matteo Alacrán was not born; he was harvested. His DNA came from El Patrón, lord of a country called Opium -- a strip of poppy fields lying between the United States and what was once called Mexico. Matt's first cell split and divided inside a petri dish. Then he was placed in...  more

Matteo Alacrán was not born; he was harvested. His DNA came from El Patrón, lord of a country called Opium -- a strip of poppy fields lying between the United States and what was once called Mexico. Matt's first cell split and divided inside a petri dish. Then he was placed in the womb of a cow, where he continued the miraculous journey from embryo to fetus to baby. He is a boy now, but most consider him a monster -- except for El Patrón. El Patrón loves Matt as he loves himself, because Matt is himself. As Matt struggles to understand his existence, he is threatened by a sinister cast of characters, including El Patrón's power-hungry family, and he is surrounded by a dangerous army of bodyguards. Escape is the only chance Matt has to survive. But escape from the Alacr n Estate is no guarantee of freedom, because Matt is marked by his difference in ways he doesn't even suspect.

I don?t want to get out of bed. I?m so stupid. I did so many things wrong. I don?t know what to do. I?m going to be in so much trouble. What am I going to do? I?m completely screwed. In 1991, fourteen-year-old Brent Runyon came home from school, doused his bathrobe in gasoline, put it...  more

I don?t want to get out of bed. I?m so stupid. I did so many things wrong. I don?t know what to do. I?m going to be in so much trouble. What am I going to do? I?m completely screwed. In 1991, fourteen-year-old Brent Runyon came home from school, doused his bathrobe in gasoline, put it on, and lit a match. He suffered third-degree burns over 85% of his body and spent the next year recovering in hospitals and rehab facilities. During that year of physical recovery, Runyon began to question what he?d done, undertaking the complicated journey from near-death back to high school, and from suicide back to the emotional mainstream of life. In the tradition of Running with Scissors and Girl, Interrupted, The Burn Journals is a truly remarkable book about teenage despair and recovery.

The inimitable William Trevor returns with a story of suspicion, guilt, forbidden love and the possibility of starting over. It’s summer, and nothing much is happening in Rathmoye. So it doesn’t go unnoticed when a dark-haired stranger begins photographing the mourners at Mrs. Connulty’s...  more

The inimitable William Trevor returns with a story of suspicion, guilt, forbidden love and the possibility of starting over. It’s summer, and nothing much is happening in Rathmoye. So it doesn’t go unnoticed when a dark-haired stranger begins photographing the mourners at Mrs. Connulty’s funeral. Florian Kilderry couldn’t know that the Connultys were said to own half the town. But Miss Connulty resolves to keep an eye on Florian … and she becomes a witness to the ensuing events. In a characteristically masterful way, Trevor evokes the passions and frustrations in an Irish town during one long summer.

Imagine a nation banishing the outside world for two centuries, crushing all vestiges of Christianity, forbidding its subjects to leave its shores on pain of death, and harbouring a deep mistrust of European ideas.  The year is 1799, the place Dejima in Nagasaki Harbor, the Japanese...  more

Imagine a nation banishing the outside world for two centuries, crushing all vestiges of Christianity, forbidding its subjects to leave its shores on pain of death, and harbouring a deep mistrust of European ideas.  The year is 1799, the place Dejima in Nagasaki Harbor, the Japanese Empire’s single port and sole window onto the world, designed to keep the West at bay. It is also the farthest-flung outpost of the powerful Dutch East Indies Company.   To this place of superstition and swamp fever, crocodiles and costly courtesans, earthquakes and typhoons, devious merchants and deceitful interpreters, comes Jacob de Zoet, a devout young clerk who has five years in the East to earn a fortune of sufficient size to win the hand of his wealthy fiancée back in Holland. But Jacob’s original intentions are eclipsed after a chance encounter with Orito Aibagawa, the disfigured midwife to the city’s powerful magistrate. In this world where East and West are linked by one bridge, Jacob sees the gaps shrink between pleasure and piety, propriety and profit, and the borders blur until Jacob finds his vision clouded, one rash promise made and then fatefully broken -- the consequences of which will extend beyond Jacob’s worst imaginings.

A riveting true crime story that vividly recounts the birth of modern forensics. At the end of the nineteenth century, serial murderer Joseph Vacher, known and feared as ?The Killer of Little Shepherds,? terrorized the French countryside. He eluded authorities for years?until he ran up against...  more

A riveting true crime story that vividly recounts the birth of modern forensics. At the end of the nineteenth century, serial murderer Joseph Vacher, known and feared as ?The Killer of Little Shepherds,? terrorized the French countryside. He eluded authorities for years?until he ran up against prosecutor Emile Fourquet and Dr. Alexandre Lacassagne, the era?s most renowned criminologist. The two men?intelligent and bold?typified the Belle Époque, a period of immense scientific achievement and fascination with science?s promise to reveal the secrets of the human condition. With high drama and stunning detail, Douglas Starr revisits Vacher?s infamous crime wave, interweaving the story of how Lacassagne and his colleagues were developing forensic science as we know it. We see one of the earliest uses of criminal profiling, as Fourquet painstakingly collects eyewitness accounts and constructs a map of Vacher?s crimes. We follow the tense and exciting events leading to the murderer?s arrest. And we witness the twists and turns of the trial, celebrated in its day. In an attempt to disprove Vacher?s defense by reason of insanity, Fourquet recruits Lacassagne, who in the previous decades had revolutionized criminal science by refining the use of blood-spatter evidence, systematizing the autopsy, and doing groundbreaking research in psychology. Lacassagne?s efforts lead to a gripping courtroom denouement. The Killer of Little Shepherds is an important contribution to the history of criminal justice, impressively researched and thrillingly told. From the Hardcover edition.

They each had their reasons for being a soldier.They each had their illusions. Goodrich came from Harvard. Snake got the tattoo ? Death Before Dishonor ? before he got the uniform. And Hodges was haunted by the ghosts of family heroes.They were three young men from different worlds plunged into...  more

They each had their reasons for being a soldier.They each had their illusions. Goodrich came from Harvard. Snake got the tattoo ? Death Before Dishonor ? before he got the uniform. And Hodges was haunted by the ghosts of family heroes.They were three young men from different worlds plunged into a white-hot, murderous realm of jungle warfare as it was fought by one Marine platoon in the An Hoa Basin, 1969. They had no way of knowing what awaited them. Nothing could have prepared them for the madness to come. And in the heat and horror of battle they took on new identities, took on each other, and were each reborn in fields of fire....Fields of Fire is James Webb?s classic, searing novel of the Vietnam War, a novel of poetic power, razor-sharp observation, and agonizing human truths seen through the prism of nonstop combat. Weaving together a cast of vivid characters, Fields of Fire captures the journey of unformed men through a man-made hell ? until each man finds his fate.

Here are the first three titles in John Flanagan's New York Times bestselling series, all collected in one boxed set. The Ranger's Apprentice series has taken readers by storm, captivating them with the adventures of Will, apprentice to the secretive Ranger Halt.

Thaniel, just seventeen, is a wych-hunter. Together, he and Cathaline - his friend and mentor - track down the fearful creatures that lurk in the Old Quarter of London. It is on one of these hunts that he first encounters Alaizabel Cray. Alaizabel is half-crazed, lovely, and possessed. ...  more

Thaniel, just seventeen, is a wych-hunter. Together, he and Cathaline - his friend and mentor - track down the fearful creatures that lurk in the Old Quarter of London. It is on one of these hunts that he first encounters Alaizabel Cray. Alaizabel is half-crazed, lovely, and possessed. Whatever dreadful entity has entered her soul has turned her into a strange and unearthly magnet - attracting evil and drawing horrors from ever dark corneer. Cathaline and Thaniel must discover its cause - and defend humanity at all costs.

A curious thing happened to Tim Wallace-Murphy and Marilyn Hopkins when they published Rex Deus, their first book on the bloodline of Christ: they were contacted by a man from the very lineage they were studying. And instead of denying the existence of the bloodline or berating them for...  more

A curious thing happened to Tim Wallace-Murphy and Marilyn Hopkins when they published Rex Deus, their first book on the bloodline of Christ: they were contacted by a man from the very lineage they were studying. And instead of denying the existence of the bloodline or berating them for revealing secrets, he actually confirmed that the Rex Deus lineage exists and even disclosed some of its fundamental secrets. The story of the Rex Deus families, direct descendents of Christ--who is believed to have survived the crucifixion--turns out to be much more extensive than the authors first thought. Instead of beginning during the time of Jesus, it stretches far back into antiquity, to the Egyptian Mystery Schools. Instead of being only a propagation of the holy bloodline, the Rex Deus families are also carriers of the secret teachings of Jesus. Custodians of Truth reveals the purpose and secrets of the Rex Deus lineage. Jesus was not only a holy man, but an adept of ancient knowledge, which informed his own teachings. This secret knowledge was suppressed by the Church in their voracious quest for power and influence in the secular world. These teachings have manifested throughout history in different forms--Gnostic philosophy around the time of Jesus, the Order of the Knights Templar, Freemasons, and the current resurgence of interest in New Age thought. Finally, the time is right for the hidden message of Jesus to be revealed--a message of tolerance, brotherhood, and respect for nature.

Married young to a man hand-picked by her father, Elizabeth Petre is an ideal Victorian lady. She has borne two sons and endured sixteen years of selfless duty in a passionless marriage. Craving a man's loving touch yet loyal to her wedding vows, Elizabeth is determined to seduce her coldly...  more

Married young to a man hand-picked by her father, Elizabeth Petre is an ideal Victorian lady. She has borne two sons and endured sixteen years of selfless duty in a passionless marriage. Craving a man's loving touch yet loyal to her wedding vows, Elizabeth is determined to seduce her coldly indifferent husband. She knows of only one man who can teach her the erotic secrets of love. The bastard son of an English countess and an Arab sheik, Ramiel Devington was reared to embrace both Western culture and Eastern pleasure. Scorned by society and challenged by prim Elizabeth's request, he undertakes her instruction in the art of sensual delight. But when the lessons become a temptation neither can resist, Elizabeth is forced to choose between obligation and a bold, forbidden passion...

From the author of To Dance with Kings, here is a lush new novel of romance and adventure set against the background of dazzling pageantry and tarnished splendor that was eighteenth-century Venice. Although the glorious Venetian City State is still an exciting and glamorous center for arts and...  more

From the author of To Dance with Kings, here is a lush new novel of romance and adventure set against the background of dazzling pageantry and tarnished splendor that was eighteenth-century Venice. Although the glorious Venetian City State is still an exciting and glamorous center for arts and culture, it is by this time past its prime. And it is not only decadent but dangerous. Violence hides behind the fanciful masks that Venetians wear to disguise their identity: women are in thrall to their husbands...and life is cheap in "the brothel of Europe." In the heart of this rich and rolling city stands the Ospedale della Pieta, a renowned music conservatory for orphaned girls. And within its cloistered walls three children meet and become lifelong friends. Adrianna, the oldest, who gives up a glamorous operatic career to marry a Venetian maskmaker, becomes the solid base of their triangle. Elena, bright, blond, and vivacious, is betrothed to one of the rich and powerful Celano family, while the titian-haired, golden-voiced Marietta weds a Torrisi, sworn enemy of the Celanos. As a result, she and Elena are forbidden to see or speak to each other. Yet, with Adrianna acting as go-between, their friendship endures. Through illicit births, violent deaths, personal vendettas, and political plots, the "Pieta girls" support one another and even, literally, save one another's lives. Filled with all the passion and richness of detail that have made Rosalind Lake's novels so popular, The Venetian Mask will sweep its readers into another time and place.

In 323 B.C.E, having conquered Persia, Alexander the Great set his sights on Arabia, then suddenly succumbed to a strange fever. Locating his final resting place–unknown to this day–remains a tantalizing goal for both archaeologists and treasure hunters. Now the quest for this...  more

In 323 B.C.E, having conquered Persia, Alexander the Great set his sights on Arabia, then suddenly succumbed to a strange fever. Locating his final resting place–unknown to this day–remains a tantalizing goal for both archaeologists and treasure hunters. Now the quest for this coveted prize is about to heat up. And Cotton Malone–former U.S. Justice Department agent turned rare-book dealer–will be drawn into an intense geopolitical chess game. After narrowly escaping incineration in a devastating fire that consumes a Danish museum, Cotton learns from his friend, the beguiling adventurer Cassiopeia Vitt, that the blaze was neither an accident nor an isolated incident. As part of campaign of arson intended to mask a far more diabolical design, buildings across Europe are being devoured by infernos of unnatural strength. And from the ashes of the U.S.S.R., a new nation has arisen: Former Soviet republics have consolidated into the Central Asian Federation. At its helm is Supreme Minister Irina Zovastina, a cunning despot with a talent for politics, a taste for blood sport, and the single-minded desire to surpass Alexander the Great as history’s ultimate conqueror. Backed by a secret cabal of powerbrokers, the Federation has amassed a harrowing arsenal of biological weapons. Equipped with the hellish power to decimate other nations at will, only one thing keeps Zovastina from setting in motion her death march of domination: a miraculous healing serum, kept secret by an ancient puzzle and buried with the mummified remains of Alexander the Great–in a tomb lost to the ages for more than 1,500 years. Together, Cotton and Cassiopeia must outrun and outthink the forces allied against them. Their perilous quest will take them to the shores of Denmark, deep into the venerated monuments of Venice, and finally high inside the desolate Pamir mountains of Central Asia to unravel a riddle whose solution could destroy or save millions of people–depending on who finds the lost tomb first.

Buddhism and insomnia led novelist Susan Trott to invent an alternative to counting sheep: she counted a line of people waiting to see a holy man. This mental game, unresolved each night as sleep arrived, inspired The Holy Man. Each chapter of this charming book tells the tale of a pilgrim...  more

Buddhism and insomnia led novelist Susan Trott to invent an alternative to counting sheep: she counted a line of people waiting to see a holy man. This mental game, unresolved each night as sleep arrived, inspired The Holy Man. Each chapter of this charming book tells the tale of a pilgrim and his problem. There is a man who is incurably jealous of his wife, the grandmother who never receives thank-you notes from her grandchildren, the war veteran who can't forgive himself for the lives he took. As their stories unfold, we come to realize that we're all in here, somewhere, with our wounded egos, insecurities, bad tempers, impatience, and ambitiousness. These simple and beautiful tales help us unravel the knots of everyday anxieties with profound ease, humor, wisom, and elegance. Through them, we understand that a guru's cures never really cure us; they simply show us the good things we are but cannot see. "If you look on everyone as a holy person," Holy Man advises, "you will be happy."

Restless and impulsive, Bruno Ranieri has the temperament to fit right in with the McClouds. And just like the McCloud brothers, Bruno has a dangerous past to contend with -- one that’s about to come crashing back into his life… Bruno Ranieri has always lived at a chaotic pace,...  more

Restless and impulsive, Bruno Ranieri has the temperament to fit right in with the McClouds. And just like the McCloud brothers, Bruno has a dangerous past to contend with -- one that’s about to come crashing back into his life… Bruno Ranieri has always lived at a chaotic pace, and that goes double lately.  Since his uncle's untimely demise, Bruno is working himself to the bone, trying to keep his nose clean and save the family business.  Not easy when the nightmares that plagued his childhood are hi-jacking what little rest he gets. So when exotically beautiful Lily Parr sashays into his all-night restaurant, claiming to be on the run from mysterious assassins, Bruno starts to wonder if sleep deprivation is finally getting to him.  Especially when Lily implies that Bruno is involved.  But the violence that accompanies her arrival is no illusion.  Nor is the blisteringly hot, completely inconvenient desire that explodes between them. Lily Parr has been a fugitive ever since her father's death a month ago in a mental hospital.  Officials claimed it was suicide, but Lily's gut -- and the savage murder attempt she barely escaped afterwards -- say different.  Snippets of information led Lily to Bruno's door... and his magnetic charisma compelled her right into his bed.  But there are cold-blooded killers on her heels, with resources as limitless as their cruelty. Running won't help, not when the biggest threat is the terrifying secret lurking in Bruno and Lily's pasts.  A secret their mysterious enemy will gladly destroy them to protect -- unless they can uncover it first....  

The Republicans are coming to St. Paul for their convention. Throwing a big party is supposed to be fun, but crashing the party are a few hard cases the police would rather stayed away. Chief among them is a crew of professional stickup men who've spotted several lucrative opportunities,...  more

The Republicans are coming to St. Paul for their convention. Throwing a big party is supposed to be fun, but crashing the party are a few hard cases the police would rather stayed away. Chief among them is a crew of professional stickup men who've spotted several lucrative opportunities, ranging from political moneymen with briefcases full of cash to that armored-car warehouse with the weakness in its security system. All that's headache enough for Lucas Davenport -- but what's about to hit him is even worse. A while back, a stray bullet put a pimp and petty thief named Randy Whitcomb in a wheelchair, and, ever since, the man has been nursing his grudge into a full head of psychotic steam. He blames Davenport for the bullet, but it's no fun just shooting him. That wouldn't be painful enough. Not when Davenport has a pretty fourteen-year-old adopted daughter that Whitcomb can target instead. . . . And then there's the young man with the .50 caliber sniper rifle and the right- wing-crazy background, roaming through a city filled with the most powerful politicians on earth...

Welcome to a world of intrigue of the most intriguing kind, where emperors and popes desperately vie for power, even as their subjects and servants engage in behind-the-scenes machinations of their own. The Holy Roman Empire circa 1200 A.D. Impoverished young knight Willem of Dole...  more

Welcome to a world of intrigue of the most intriguing kind, where emperors and popes desperately vie for power, even as their subjects and servants engage in behind-the-scenes machinations of their own. The Holy Roman Empire circa 1200 A.D. Impoverished young knight Willem of Dole believed he would spend his life in rural Burgundy, struggling to provide for his widowed mother and younger sister, Lienor. And so it's with surprise and apprehension that he obeys a summons to the magnificent court of Konrad, Holy Roman Emperor, whose realm spans half of Europe. Willem's mischievous friend Jouglet, Konrad's favorite minstrel, is no doubt behind it somehow... but what's in it for Jouglet? Court life is overwhelming to the idealistic young Willem, who is shocked by the behavior of his fellow knights, for whom chivalry is a mere game. Yet under Jouglet's witty, relentless tutelage, the naïve knight quickly rises in Emperor Konrad's esteem, until suddenly his sister, Lienor, becomes a prospect for the role of Empress. This unexpected elevation of the sibling "nobodies" delights Jouglet, but threatens three powerful and dangerous men at the court: the Emperor's brother, Cardinal Paul, who has in mind a different bride for Konrad; the Emperor's uncle, Alphonse, Count of Burgundy, who would keep secret certain things that only Willem can reveal; and most especially the Emperor's own steward Marcus, who is hopelessly in love with Konrad's cousin Imogen. For if Willem's star keeps rising, Imogen will be betrothed to the knight by royal decree and Willem's star will surely continue to rise, unless Marcus figures out a way tostop it. But that would entail outscheming clever Jouglet, ablest of schemers. Gossip, secrets, and lies are the fuel of daily life in Konrad's court. As Konrad edges closer to proclaiming Lienor his bride, those around Willem play a perilous game of cat-and-mouse as they attempt to secure their own fortunes, knowing that even the slightest move can shift the playing field entirely. And through it all, Jouglet remains Willem's most maddening yet staunchest ally. But what, really, does Jouglet stand to gain... or lose? Transporting the reader to the brilliant, conniving heart of the largest empire of medieval Europe, Revenge of the Rose is a novel rich in irony and tongue-in-cheek wit, and reveals all the grit and color, politics and passion, of court life in the Holy Roman Empire.

Whether he is nurturing a single rare seedling into a blossoming tree or planning acres of exquisitely conceived royal gardens, John Tradescant's fame and skill as a gardener are unsurpassed in seventeenth-century England. But it is Tradescant's clear-sighted honesty and loyalty that...  more

Whether he is nurturing a single rare seedling into a blossoming tree or planning acres of exquisitely conceived royal gardens, John Tradescant's fame and skill as a gardener are unsurpassed in seventeenth-century England. But it is Tradescant's clear-sighted honesty and loyalty that make him an invaluable servant, and in his role as informal confidant during garden strolls with Sir Robert Cecil, adviser to King James I, he witnesses the making of history, from the Gunpowder Plot to the accession of King Charles I and the growing animosity between Parliament and court. Tradescant's talents soon come to the attention of the most powerful man in the country, the irresistible Duke of Buckingham, the lover of King Charles I. Tradescant has always been faithful to his masters, but Buckingham is unlike any he has ever known: flamboyant, outrageously charming, and utterly reckless. Every certainty upon which Tradescant has based his life -- his love of his wife and children, his passion for his work, his loyalty to his country -- is shattered as he follows Buckingham to court, to war, and to the forbidden territories of human love. From the details of garden design and innovation to the politics of a growing revolution which was to kill a king and turn a world upside down, Philippa Gregory once again makes history come alive through the people whose passions shaped that world.

A contemporary psychological thriller in the style of Ruth Rendell, from one of today's most versatile and compelling storytellers. It was easy for Elizabeth. She married the man she loved, bore him two children and made a home for him which was the envy of their friends. It was harder for...  more

A contemporary psychological thriller in the style of Ruth Rendell, from one of today's most versatile and compelling storytellers. It was easy for Elizabeth. She married the man she loved, bore him two children and made a home for him which was the envy of their friends. It was harder for Ruth. She married Elizabeth's son and then found that, somehow, she could never quite measure up! Isolation, deceit and betrayal fill the gaps between the two individual women and between their different worlds. In this complex thriller, Philippa Gregory deploys all her insight into what women want and what women fear, as Ruth confronts the shifting borders of her own sanity. Laying bare the comfortable conventions of rural England, this spine-tingling novel pulses with suspense until the whiplash double-twist of the denouement.

John Tradescant the Younger has inherited his father's unique collection of plants along with his unerring ability to nurture them. But as gardener to Charles I, he confronts an unbearable dilemma when England descends into Civil War. Fleeing from the chaos, John travels to the Royalist...  more

John Tradescant the Younger has inherited his father's unique collection of plants along with his unerring ability to nurture them. But as gardener to Charles I, he confronts an unbearable dilemma when England descends into Civil War. Fleeing from the chaos, John travels to the Royalist colony of Virginia in America. But the virgin land is not uninhabited. John's plant hunting takes him into the world of the native people--a world he learns to value just as it comes under threat from the colonial settlers. In both the new world and the old, the established order is breaking down and every family has to find its own way to survive. For the Tradescants, through the upheavals of the Commonwealth and the Restoration, this means consolidating their reputations as the greatest gardeners in the country. In this enthralling, free-standing sequel to Earthly Joys, Philippa Gregory again delivers a tour-de-force of powerful politics, personal discovery, and glorious gardening, brilliantly evoking the uncertainties and emotions of these turbulent times.

Audere, agere, auferre. To dare, to strive, to conquer. For generations, elite young men have attended St. Oswald’s School for Boys, groomed for success by the likes of Roy Straitley, the eccentric classics teacher who has been a revered fixture for more than 30 years. But this year,...  more

Audere, agere, auferre. To dare, to strive, to conquer. For generations, elite young men have attended St. Oswald’s School for Boys, groomed for success by the likes of Roy Straitley, the eccentric classics teacher who has been a revered fixture for more than 30 years. But this year, things are different. Suits, paperwork, and Information Technology rule the world, and Straitley is reluctantly contemplating retirement. He is joined in this, his 99th, term by five new faculty members, including one who -- unknown to Straitley and everyone else -- holds intimate and dangerous knowledge of St. Ozzie’s ways and secrets, it’s comforts and conceits. Harboring dark ties to the school’s past, this young teacher has arrived with one terrible goal: Destroy St. Oswald’s. As the new term gets underway, a number of incidents befall students and faculty alike. Beginning as small annoyances -- a lost pen, a misplaced coffee mug -- they soon escalate to the life threatening. With the school unraveling, only Straitley stands in the way of St. Ozzie’s ruin. But the old man faces a formidable opponent -- a master player with a strategy that has been meticulously planned to the final move.

A major literary event-nothing short of a "tour de force" (New York Times) by the acclaimed and beloved author. Marooned in an apartment that overflows with mementos from the past, 91-year-old Ptolemy Grey is all but forgotten by his family and the world. But when an unexpected opportunity...  more

A major literary event-nothing short of a "tour de force" (New York Times) by the acclaimed and beloved author. Marooned in an apartment that overflows with mementos from the past, 91-year-old Ptolemy Grey is all but forgotten by his family and the world. But when an unexpected opportunity arrives, everything changes for Ptolemy in ways as shocking and unanticipated as they are poignant and profound.

"It might be thought the height of poor taste to ascribe good fortune to a healthy man with a young family struck down at the age of sixty by an incurable degenerative disorder from which he must shortly die. But there is more than one sort of luck. To fall prey to a motor neuron disease is...  more

"It might be thought the height of poor taste to ascribe good fortune to a healthy man with a young family struck down at the age of sixty by an incurable degenerative disorder from which he must shortly die. But there is more than one sort of luck. To fall prey to a motor neuron disease is surely to have offended the Gods at some point, and there is nothing more to be said. But if you must suffer thus, better to have a well-stocked head..." (Tony Judt). "The Memory Chalet" is a memoir unlike any you have ever read before. Each essay charts some experience or remembrance of the past through the sieve of Tony Judt's prodigious mind. His youthful love of a particular London bus route evolves into a reflection on public civility and interwar urban planning. Memories of the 1968 student riots of Paris meander through the divergent sex politics of Europe, before concluding that his generation 'was a revolutionary generation, but missed the revolution'. A series of roadtrips across America lead not just to an appreciation of American history, but to an eventual acquisition of citizenship. Foods and trains and long-lost smells all compete for Judt's attention; but for us, he has forged his reflections into an elegant arc of analysis. All as simply and beautifully arranged as a Swiss chalet o a reassuring refuge deep in the mountains of memory.

16 year old Daphne Sawle lying in a hammock excitedly waiting for her brother George and his friend Cecil to come home for a long weekend. Home is "Two Acres" near London, where Daphne lives with her widowed mother Freda, her older brother Hubert, and George (when he's not at...  more

16 year old Daphne Sawle lying in a hammock excitedly waiting for her brother George and his friend Cecil to come home for a long weekend. Home is "Two Acres" near London, where Daphne lives with her widowed mother Freda, her older brother Hubert, and George (when he's not at Cambridge).

In the summer of 1983, twenty-year-old Nick Guest moves into an attic room in the Notting Hill home of the Feddens: conservative Member of Parliament Gerald, his wealthy wife Rachel, and their two children, Toby -- whom Nick had idolized at Oxford -- and Catherine, highly critical of her...  more

In the summer of 1983, twenty-year-old Nick Guest moves into an attic room in the Notting Hill home of the Feddens: conservative Member of Parliament Gerald, his wealthy wife Rachel, and their two children, Toby -- whom Nick had idolized at Oxford -- and Catherine, highly critical of her family's assumptions and ambitions. As the boom years of the eighties unfold, Nick, an innocent in the world of politics and money, finds his life altered by the rising fortunes of this glamorous family. His two vividly contrasting love affairs, one with a young black clerk and one with a Lebanese millionaire, dramatize the dangers and rewards of his own private pursuit of beauty, a pursuit as compelling to Nick as the desire for power and riches among his friends.