The Lovely Bones

The Lovely Bones

Alice Sebold

Literature & Fiction / Biographies & Memoirs

**Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers** Shockingly original and completely unforgettable, *The Lovely Bones* is the story of a family devastated by a gruesome murder -- a murder recounted by the teenage victim. Upsetting, you say? Remarkably, first-time novelist Alice Sebold takes this difficult material and delivers a compelling and accomplished exploration of a fractured family's need for peace and closure. The details of the crime are laid out in the first few pages: from her vantage point in heaven, Susie Salmon describes how she was confronted by the murderer one December afternoon on her way home from school. Lured into an underground hiding place, she was raped and killed. But what the reader knows, her family does not. Anxiously, we keep vigil with Susie, aching for her grieving family, desperate for the killer to be found and punished. Sebold creates a heaven that's calm and comforting, a place whose residents can have whatever they enjoyed when they were alive -- and then some. But Susie isn't ready to release her hold on life just yet, and she intensely watches her family and friends as they struggle to cope with a reality in which she is no longer a part. To her great credit, Sebold has shaped one of the most loving and sympathetic fathers in contemporary literature. In the tradition of Alice McDermott, who wrote so elegantly about death in *Charming Billy,* Sebold unveils a book whose presence will linger with readers for a long, long time and signals the arrival of a novelist to be reckoned with. *(Summer 2002 Selection)*
Read online
  • 12 411
Eragon

Eragon

Christopher Paolini

Young Adult / Fantasy / Science Fiction & Fantasy

Perfect for fans of Lord of the Rings, the New York Times bestselling Inheritance Cycle about the dragon rider Eragon has sold over 35 million copies and is an international fantasy sensation. Fifteen-year-old Eragon believes that he is merely a poor farm boy—until his destiny as a Dragon Rider is revealed. Gifted with only an ancient sword, a loyal dragon, and sage advice from an old storyteller, Eragon is soon swept into a dangerous tapestry of magic, glory, and power. Now his choices could save—or destroy—the Empire.
Read online
  • 11 396
The Red Tent

The Red Tent

Anita Diamant

Literature & Fiction / Religion / Memoir

'I genuinely fell into this rich and colourful world and Dinah and Leah have stayed with me as ancestors and sisters brought to life by Anita Diamant's imaginative novel' - Maureen Lipman. Her name is Dinah. In the Bible her fate is merely hinted at in a brief and violent detour within the verses of the Book of Genesis that recount the life of Jacob and his infamous dozen sons. Anita Diamant's The Red Tent is an extraordinary and engrossing tale of ancient womanhood and family honour. Told in Dinah's voice, it opens with the story of her mothers - the four wives of Jacob - each of whom embodies unique feminine traits, and concludes with Dinah's own startling and unforgettable story of betrayal, grief and love. Deeply affecting and intimate, The Red Tent combines outstandingly rich storytelling with an original insight into women's society in a fascinating period of early history and such is its warmth and candour, it is guaranteed to win the hearts and minds of women across the world. Adapted as a TV miniseries starring Rebecca Ferguson and Minnie Driver. **
Read online
  • 11 132

Last Man Standing

David Baldacci

Mystery & Thrillers / Young Adult

When Web London\'s FBI Hostage Rescue Team is ambushed in a dark alley, Web is the only survivor. As the FBI investigates, suspicion surrounding Web deepens. Now, he needs help from an unlikely ally in his desperate search for the killer of his friends, and finds himself up against a force intent on finishing the job that began in the alley.
Read online
  • 9 831
Fools Errand

Fools Errand

Robin Hobb

Science Fiction & Fantasy / History / Mystery

For fifteen years FitzChivalry Farseer has lived in self-imposed exile, assumed to be dead by almost all who once cared about him. But now, into his isolated life, visitors begin to arrive: Fitz’s mentor from his assassin days; a hedge-witch who foresees the return of a long-lost love; and the Fool, the former White Prophet, who beckons Fitz to fulfill his destiny.   Then comes the summons he cannot ignore. Prince Dutiful, the young heir to the Farseer throne, has vanished. Fitz, possessed of magical skills both royal and profane, is the only one who can retrieve him in time for his betrothal ceremony, thus sparing the Six Duchies profound political embarrassment . . . or worse. But even Fitz does not suspect the web of treachery that awaits him—or how his loyalties will be tested to the breaking point.   Praise for Robin Hobb and Fool’s Errand   “Fantasy as it ought to be written . . . Robin Hobb’s books are diamonds in a sea of zircons.”—George R. R. Martin   “[Robin] Hobb has created a world brimming with detail and complexity [and] once again proves herself a full master of the epic fantasy.”—Tulsa World   “Splendid . . . Despite some truly wrenching twists, there is a welcome sense of new beginnings.”—Locus
Read online
  • 9 767
Coraline

Coraline

Neil Gaiman

Fantasy / Horror / Fiction

'An electrifyingly creepy tale likely to haunt young readers for many moons.... a real bedtime-buster'. Read an exclusive excerpt at BookBrowse today. Reading age approx. 9 yrs +. The day after they moved in, Coraline went exploring.... In Coraline's family's new flat are twenty-one windows and fourteen doors. Thirteen of the doors open and close. The fourteenth is locked, and on the other side is only a brick wall, until the day Coraline unlocks the door to find a passage to another flat in another house just like her own. Only it's different. At first, things seem marvelous in the other flat. The food is better. The toy box is filled with wind-up angels that flutter around the bedroom, books whose pictures writhe and crawl and shimmer, little dinosaur skulls that chatter their teeth. But there's another mother, and another father, and they want Coraline to stay with them and be their little girl. They want to change her and never let her go. Other children are trapped there as well, lost souls behind the mirrors. Coraline is their only hope of rescue. She will have to fight with all her wits and all the tools she can find if she is to save the lost children, her ordinary life, and herself. Critically acclaimed and award-winning author Neil Gaiman will delight readers with his first novel for all ages.
Read online
  • 8 816
Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christs Childhood Pal

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christs Childhood Pal

Christopher Moore

Literature & Fiction / Humor

The birth of Jesus has been well chronicled, as have his glorious teachings, acts, and divine sacrifice after his thirtieth birthday. But no one knows about the early life of the Son of God, the missing years -- except Biff, the Messiah\'s best bud, who has been resurrected to tell the story in the divinely hilarious yet heartfelt work "reminiscent of Vonnegut and Douglas Adams" (Philadelphia Inquirer).Verily, the story Biff has to tell is a miraculous one, filled with remarkable journeys, magic, healings, kung fu, corpse reanimations, demons, and hot babes. Even the considerable wiles and devotion of the Savior\'s pal may not be enough to divert Joshua from his tragic destiny. But there\'s no one who loves Josh more -- except maybe "Maggie," Mary of Magdala -- and Biff isn\'t about to let his extraordinary pal suffer and ascend without a fight.
Read online
  • 7 667
Middlesex

Middlesex

Jeffrey Eugenides

Fiction

Middlesex tells the breathtaking story of Calliope Stephanides, and three generations of the Greek-American Stephanides family, who travel from a tiny village overlooking Mount Olympus in Asia Minor to Prohibition-era Detroit, witnessing its glory days as the Motor City and the race riots of 1967 before moving out to the tree-lined streets of suburban Grosse Pointe, Michigan. To understand why Calliope is not like other girls, she has to uncover a guilty family secret, and the astonishing genetic history that turns Callie into Cal, one of the most audacious and wondrous narrators in contemporary fiction. Lyrical and thrilling, Middlesex is an exhilarating reinvention of the American epic.
Read online
  • 7 315

Cordina's Crown Jewel

Nora Roberts

Fiction / Suspense / Fantasy

AVAILABLE DIGITALLY FOR THE FIRST TIME From #1 "New York Times" bestselling author Nora Roberts comes a royal tale of deception and desire. For a few blessed weeks, Camilla de Cordina plans on leaving her imperial duties behind to be commoner Camilla MacGee. Working for archaeologist Delaney Caine in rural Vermont seems the perfect escape, but her handsome employer is also an utterly cantankerous distraction. As Camilla\'s irritation with Del quickly turns into a burning passion, the runaway knows she\'ll have to confess. But will Del see her as the woman he loves, or dismiss her as a royal pain? "Cordina\'s Crown Jewel" includes an exclusive preview of Nora Roberts\'s new book "The Witness."
Read online
  • 6 131

Irish Rebel

Nora Roberts

Fiction / Suspense / Fantasy

Roberts\' Irish series continues with this brand-new story in Silhouette Special Edition(! Upon arriving at Royal Meadows Farms from Ireland, rugged horse trainer Brian Donnelly is stunned by the beauty of his boss\'s daughter, Keeley Grant. Now it\'s up to this innocent beauty to tame this handsome Irish rogue. Satellite media tour.
Read online
  • 5 549
The Arctic Incident

The Arctic Incident

Eoin Colfer

Literature & Fiction / Science Fiction & Fantasy / Mystery & Thrillers

Артемис Фаул получает весточку о своем без вести пропавшем отце. А в это время полиция Нижних Уровней выходит на след преступников торгующих с людьми. Пути Артемиса и Волшебного народца вновь пересеклись, но на этот раз люди и эльфы объединяются в борьбе с общим врагом. Их ждет полный опасностей путь по тайным тропинкам подземелья и по заснеженным просторам России.
Read online
  • 5 084
Face the Fire

Face the Fire

Nora Roberts

Fiction / Suspense / Fantasy

The conclusion of the Three Sisters Island trilogy. The new owner of the island's only hotel, Sam has returned to Three Sisters with hopes of winning back Mia's affections. But Mia needs his help to face her greatest challenge, and the deadline for breaking a centuries-old curse draws near.  
Read online
  • 4 963
She's Come Undone

She's Come Undone

Wally Lamb

Literature & Fiction

In this extraordinary coming-of-age odyssey, Wally Lamb invites us to hitch a wild ride on a journey of love, pain, and renewal with the most heartbreakingly comical heroine to come along in years. "Mine is a story of craving: an unreliable account of lusts and troubles that began, somehow, in 1956 on the day our free television was delivered. . ."Meet Dolores Price. She's thirteen, wise-mouthed but wounded, having bid her childhood good-bye. Beached like a whale in front of her bedroom TV, she spends the next few years nourishing herself with the Mallomars, potato chips, and Pepsi her anxious mother supplies. When she finally rolls into young womanhood at 257 pounds, Dolores is no stronger and life is no kinder. But this time she's determined to rise to the occasion and give herself one more chance before really going belly-up.At once a fragile girl and a hard-edged cynic, so tough to love yet so inimitably lovable, Dolores is as poignantly real as our...
Read online
  • 4 860

Three Fates

Nora Roberts

Fiction / Suspense / Fantasy

When the Lusitania sank, one survivor became a changed man, giving up his life as a petty thief—but keeping the small silver statue he lifted, a family heirloom to future generations. Now, nearly a century later, that priceless heirloom, one of a long-separated set of three, has been stolen. And Malachi, Gideon, and Rebecca Sullivan are determined to recover their great-great-grandfather’s treasure, reunite the Three Fates, and make their fortune.The quest will take them from their home in Ireland to Helsinki, Prague, and New York where they will meet a brilliant scholar who will aid them in their hunt—and an ambitious woman who will stop at nothing to acquire the Fates... 
Read online
  • 4 760
234