Set in London and in the South of France, this brilliantly structured novel centers on two women: Gertrude Openshaw, bereft from the recent death of her husband, yet awakening to passion; and Anne Cavidge, who has returned in doubt from many years in a nunnery, only to encounter her personal Christ. A fascinating array of men and women hover in urgent orbit around them: the "Count," a lonely Pole obsessively reliving his &eacutemigr&eacute father's patriotic anguish; Tim Reede, a seedy yet appealing artist, and Daisy, his mistress; the manipulative Mrs. Mount; and many other magically drawn characters moving between desire and obligation, guilt and joy. This edition of Nuns and Soldiers includes a new introduction by renowned religious historian Karen Armstrong.

A shy young man meets a beautiful woman in the company of a young girl. He finds himself swept off of his feet and married to her, bringing her with him to live in his family home. She is his erotic dream come true; she does everything she can to bind him to her and join him in his comfortable life. Soon, however, odd things begin to happen. Things in the house are strangely damp with what looks like seawater, bodies appear under the water that aren't really there. It all winds up to a horrifying conclusion.

In 1812, Francisco Manoel da Silva, escaping a life of poverty in Brazil, sailed to the African kingdom of Dahomey, determined to make his fortune in the slave trade. Armed with nothing but an iron will, he became a man of substance in Ouidah and the founder of a remarkable dynasty. His one remaining ambition is to return to Brazil in triumph, but his friendship with the mad, mercurial king of Dahomey is fraught with danger and threatens his dream.

From Publishers WeeklyIt has been nearly 25 years since Bradford made her name with the female rags-to-riches saga A Woman of Substance, the first in a trilogy of novels that concluded with 1988's To Be the Best. Gambling that there is still life to be squeezed out of the story of indomitable super-survivor Emma Harte and her descendants, Bradford returns to the chase with this present-day sequel. The novel opens in 2001 at Pennistone Royal, Emma's magnificent country estate in Yorkshire, now occupied by her granddaughter Paula's family. Paula heads the Knightsbridge store, flagship of the nationwide Harte chain, and her grown daughters, Linnet and Tessa, work there. A young American, Evan Hughes, with an uncanny Harte family resemblance, appears one day seeking a job. She's hired at once, since Linnet needs help with an upcoming fashion spectacular, a retrospective featuring Emma's couture wardrobe. Linnet's cousin Gideon, who works for the Harte newspapers, is smitten with Evan, and soon the mystery of her background is of concern, especially when it's discovered that Evan's grandmother had a close relationship with Emma. The overwhelming amount of descriptive detail clothing, interior decor, food and drink slows down the narrative, but such Victorian props as a decorative locked box, a key taped behind a photograph and long-lost diaries provide mild suspense. The saga was already losing steam with To Be the Best, and this fourth installment is further diluted. Lacking the dynamic impact of the original, it will be best appreciated by those with an irresistible desire to follow the further adventures of the Harte clan.Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From BooklistEmma Harte, the heroine of Bradford's novel A Woman of Substance (1979), has been dead for more than 30 years when Emma's Secret opens, but her past factors heavily into the events of the novel. At the bequest of her dying grandmother, young American Evan Hughes arrives at Emma's magnificent English clothing store, Hartes, only to find out that Emma has long since died. She is soon hired as a store assistant to Linnet O'Neill, Emma's great-granddaughter, who can't help but notice the American's resemblance to her own mother, Paula. Evan and Gideon Harte, Paula's cousin, fall in love amid whispers that Evan might be the descendant of one of Emma's husbands. The truth lies in Emma's diary, but Paula is reluctant to read it. Curiosity finally gets the better of her, and the journal takes Paula to Emma's life during World War II, and at least partially answers the family's questions about Evan's heritage. It is up to Paula to figure out the rest. Readers new to the series might have a hard time getting a handle on the large cast of characters and their relationships to each other, but those familiar with Emma Harte and her large family will feel right at home. Kristine HuntleyCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Christmas 1138, a local dignitary is poisoned with one of the herbalist's own concoctions and Brother Cadfael has to defend himself against charges of murder.

Penelope Lively is one of England's greatest living writers, whom The New York Times Book Review has called "blessed with the gift of being able to render matters of great import with a breath, a barely audible sigh, a touch. The result is wonderful writing." Judgment Day takes us into the life of Clare Paling, who has just moved with her family to Laddenham, a seemingly drowsy village enlivened by sideshows of adultery and gossip. An avowed agnostic, Clare is nonetheless caught up in the restoration of the church, even inciting the villagers to put on a pageant that re-creates the church's dark past. With flawless precision, Lively brings the village and its inhabitants to life as an unpardonable death reminds them all that the world is a very uncertain place. "Penelope Lively exhibits an almost Hardyesque concern with fate and its mysterious workings.... A stimulating novel." -- William Boyd, The Times Literary Supplement "A beautiful and brilliant novel." -- Auberon Waugh "Marvelous observation, wit, control and zest." -- The Observer (U.K.)

Alternate cover edition can be found here At the edge of the Milky Way, the treacherous space race for the legacy of the Ancients begins - a race against time, enemy aliens, and black holes. For outlawed hero Heem of Highfalls and beautiful Jessica of Capella, the extraordinary contest is very simple: They can win or they can die.

A man's life is shattered as he meets a better version of himself. This story was made into an episode of "The New Twilight Zone" and starred a young Bruce Willis. Nebula Award(R) Nominee

Just follow the Grand Master of mystery and suspense to Florida’s Gold Coast and you’ll quickly discover that it’s so. In this classic Elmore Leonard thriller, a beautiful mafia widow stands to lose everything her late mob boss husband left her if she succumbs to her desire for an attractive Detroit ex-con—so the two conspire to outwit the thugs the dead capo assigned to make sure she stays chaste. Superior crime fiction in the vein of John D. MacDonald, Dashiell Hammett, James M. Cain, and Robert Parker—chock full of the eccentric characters, black humor, and razor-sharp dialogue for which the acclaimed creator of U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens (of TV’s Justified) is justifiably famous—Gold Coast is gold standard Leonard.

A protege of Flaubert, Maupassant's stories are characterized by their economy of style and efficient, effortless denouements. Many of the stories are set during the Franco-Prussian War of the 1870s and several describe the futility of war and the innocent civilians who, caught in the conflict, emerge changed. He authored some 300 short stories, six novels, three travel books, and one volume of verse. The story "Boule de Suif" ("Ball of Fat," 1880) is often accounted his masterpiece. His most unsettling horror story, "Le Horla" (1887), was about madness and suicide.

Miles to the west we could see the canyon widen to a spreading valley; the granite uplifts on which we stood sloped away to hilly rolling country. Behind us the snow ranges reared, a piled and awesome jumble. Still, it didn’t seem right. I should have recognized peaks, but they were strange.There were patches of timber below us, some spruce, but broadleafs too, in variety. They shouldn’t have been there. A small band of elk drifted across an open space. They were familiar enough, but out of place.“Denny,” I said, “You’ve flown across to Yakutat. Where are we?”“Vin,” he said, “I never saw those peaks. There’s no country like this west of the St. Elias.” He rubbed his nose and stared into the distance, into the west. “This is funny business.”

Gordon Dickson is a cosmic trailblazer, a true pioneer of science fiction as a literary genre. The subjects of his fertile imagination are as varied and as vast as the universe itself. In this vintage collection of six masterfully told short stories, Gordon Dickson will enlighten, confound, and mesmerize you with his projections of a post-holocaust America, the disintegration of technological society, forced emigration as a means of relieving overpopulation, and problems of legality that arise when dealing with various interstellar communities.A fascinatingly speculative excursion, In Iron Years presents science fiction as no other author has yet to see it: filled with intimations of a future that is already here.

A gripping new novel -nuclear blackmail threatens London