Build-in Book Search
Girl on the Train
Paula Hawkins
Mystery
THE RUNAWAY SUNDAY TIMES NO.1 BESTSELLER AND THRILLER OF THE YEAR, NOW A MAJOR FILM STARRING EMILY BLUNT
\'Really great suspense novel. Kept me up most of the night. The alcoholic narrator is dead perfect\' STEPHEN KING
Rachel catches the same commuter train every morning. She knows it will wait at the same signal each time, overlooking a row of back gardens. She’s even started to feel like she knows the people who live in one of the houses. ‘Jess and Jason’, she calls them. Their life – as she sees it – is perfect. If only Rachel could be that happy. And then she sees something shocking. It’s only a minute until the train moves on, but it’s enough. Now everything’s changed. Now Rachel has a chance to become a part of the lives she’s only watched from afar. Now they’ll see; she’s much more than just the girl on the train…
A Man Called Ove: A Novel
Fredrik Backman
Fiction
Meet Ove. He’s a curmudgeon—the kind of man who points at people he dislikes as if they were burglars caught outside his bedroom window. He has staunch principles, strict routines, and a short fuse. People call him “the bitter neighbor from hell.” But must Ove be bitter just because he doesn’t walk around with a smile plastered to his face all the time? Behind the cranky exterior there is a story and a sadness. So when one November morning a chatty young couple with two chatty young daughters move in next door and accidentally flatten Ove’s mailbox, it is the lead-in to a comical and heartwarming tale of unkempt cats, unexpected friendship, and the ancient art of backing up a U-Haul. All of which will change one cranky old man and a local residents’ association to their very foundations. A feel-good story in the spirit of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand, Fredrik Backman’s novel about the angry old man next door is a thoughtful exploration of the profound impact one life has on countless others. “If there was an award for ‘Most Charming Book of the Year,’ this first novel by a Swedish blogger-turned-overnight-sensation would win hands down” (Booklist, starred review).
Left Behind: A Novel of the Earth's Last Days
Part #1 of "Left Behind" series by Tim LaHaye
Religion / Fiction / Nonfiction
An airborne Boeing 747 is headed to London when, without any warning, passengers mysteriously disappear from their seats. Terror and chaos slowly spread not only through the plane but also worldwide as unusual events continue to unfold. For those who have been left behind, the apocalypse has just begun. A repackage of the "New York Times" best-selling novel "Left Behind."
The Collector
Nora Roberts
Fiction / Suspense / Fantasy
From #1 New York Times-bestselling author Nora Roberts comes a novel of a woman who needs nothing, a man who sees everything, and the web of deceit, greed, and danger that brings them together—and could tear them apart . . .When professional house-sitter Lila Emerson witnesses a murder/suicide from her current apartment-sitting job, life as she knows it takes a dramatic turn. Suddenly, the woman with no permanent ties finds herself almost wishing for one. . . .Artist Ashton Archer knows his brother isn’t capable of violence—against himself or others. He recruits Lila, the only eyewitness, to help him uncover what happened. Ash longs to paint her as intensely as he hungers to touch her. But their investigation draws them into a rarified circle where priceless antiques are bought, sold, gambled away, and stolen, where what you possess is who you are, and where what you desire becomes a deadly obsession. . . .
Angels Fall
Nora Roberts
Fiction / Suspense / Fantasy
#1 New York Times-bestselling author Nora Roberts explores the wilds of the Grand Tetons-and the mysteries of love, murder, and madness-in her engrossing and passionate new novel.Reece Gilmore has come a long way to see the stunning view below her. As the sole survivor of a brutal crime back East, she has been on the run, desperately fighting the nightmares and panic attacks that haunt her. Reece settles in Angel\'s Fist, Wyoming-temporarily, at least-and takes a job at a local diner. And now she\'s hiked this mountain all by herself. It was glorious, she thought, as she peered through her binoculars at the Snake River churning below.Then Reece saw the man and woman on the opposite bank. Arguing. Fighting. And suddenly, the man was on top of the woman, his hands around her throat . . .Enjoying a moment of solitude a bit farther down the trail is a gruff loner named Brody. But by the time Reece reaches him and brings him to the scene, the pair has vanished. When authorities comb the area where she saw the attack, they find nothing. No signs of struggle. No freshly turned earth. Not even a tire track.And no one in Angel\'s Fist seems to believe her. After all, she\'s a newcomer in town, with a reputation for being jumpy and jittery-maybe even a little fragile. Maybe it\'s time to run again, to move on . . .Reece Gilmore knows there\'s a killer in Angel\'s Fist, even if Brody, despite his seeming impatience and desire to keep her at arm\'s length, is the only one willing to believe her. When a series of menacing events makes it clear that someone wants her out of the way, Reece must put her trust in Brody-and herself-to find out if there is a killer in Angel\'s Fist before it\'s too late.
Sophie's World: A Novel About the History of Philosophy
Jostein Gaarder
Literature & Fiction / Philosophy
One day fourteen-year-old Sophie Amundsen comes home to find two notes in her mail asking, "Who are you?" and "Where does the world come from?" which lead her to ponder the great questions of Western philosophy.
Before she knows it, she is enrolled in a correspondence course, covering Socrates to Sartre and beyond, with a mysterious philosopher. But Sophie is receiving a separate batch of equally unusual letters. Who is Hilde? And why does her mail keep turning up in Sophie's world?
To unravel this riddle, Sophie must make use of the philosophy she is learning. But the truth is far more complicated than she could have imagined...
The Obsession
Nora Roberts
Fiction / Suspense / Fantasy
The riveting new novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Liar.“She stood in the deep, dark woods, breath shallow and cold prickling over her skin despite the hot, heavy air. She took a step back, then two, as the urge to run fell over her.” Naomi Bowes lost her innocence the night she followed her father into the woods. In freeing the girl trapped in the root cellar, Naomi revealed the horrible extent of her father’s crimes and made him infamous. No matter how close she gets to happiness, she can’t outrun the sins of Thomas David Bowes.Now a successful photographer living under the name Naomi Carson, she has found a place that calls to her, a rambling old house in need of repair, thousands of miles away from everything she’s ever known. Naomi wants to embrace the solitude, but the kindly residents of Sunrise Cove keep forcing her to open up—especially the determined Xander Keaton. Naomi can feel her defenses failing, and knows that the connection her new life offers is something she’s always secretly craved. But the sins of her father can become an obsession, and, as she’s learned time and again, her past is never more than a nightmare away.
Lost and Found Sisters
Jill Shalvis
Romance / Contemporary / Chick Lit
From New York Times bestselling author Jill Shalvis comes her first women\'s fiction novel—an unforgettable story of friendship, love, family, and sisterhood—perfect for fans of Colleen Hoover, Susan Mallery, and Kristan Higgins.They say life can change in an instant…After losing her sister in a devastating car accident, chef Quinn Weller is finally getting her life back on track. She appears to have it all: a loving family, a dream job in one of L.A.\'s hottest eateries, and a gorgeous boyfriend dying to slip an engagement ring on her finger. So why does she feel so empty, like she\'s looking for a missing piece she can\'t find?The answer comes when a lawyer tracks down Quinn and reveals a bombshell secret and a mysterious inheritance that only she can claim. This shocking revelation washes over Quinn like a tidal wave. Her whole life has been a lie.On impulse, Quinn gives up her job, home, and boyfriend. She heads up the coast to the small hometown of Wildstone, California, which is just a few hours north, but feels worlds apart from Los Angeles. Though she doesn\'t quite fit in right away, she can\'t help but be drawn to the town’s simple pleasures…and the handsome, dark-haired stranger who offers friendship with no questions asked.As Quinn settles into Wildstone, she discovers there\'s another surprise in store for her. The inheritance isn\'t a house or money, but rather something earthshattering, something that will make her question everything she thought she knew about herself, about her family. Now with a world of possibilities opening up to Quinn, she must decide if this new life is the one she was always meant to have—and the one that could finally give her the fulfillment she\'s searched so long for.
The Liar
Nora Roberts
Fiction / Suspense / Fantasy
The extraordinary new novel by the #1 New York Times–bestselling author of The Collector. Shelby Foxworth lost her husband. Then she lost her illusions … The man who took her from Tennessee to an exclusive Philadelphia suburb left her in crippling debt. He was an adulterer and a liar, and when Shelby tracks down his safe-deposit box, she finds multiple IDs. The man she loved wasn’t just dead. He never really existed. Shelby takes her three-year-old daughter and heads south to seek comfort in her hometown, where she meets someone new: Griff Lott, a successful contractor. But her husband had secrets she has yet to discover. Even in this small town, surrounded by loved ones, danger is closer than she knows—and threatens Griff, as well. And an attempted murder is only the beginning …
House of Sand and Fog: A Novel
Andre Dubus III
Fiction / Short Stories
In this “page-turner with a beating heart” (Boston Globe), a recovering alcoholic and addict down on her luck struggles to hold on to her home in California. But this becomes contested territory when a recent immigrant from the Middle East—a former colonel in the Iranian Air Force—becomes determined to restore his family’s dignity through buying the house. When the woman’s lover, a married cop, intervenes, he goes to extremes to win her love. Andre Dubus III’s unforgettable characters—people with ordinary flaws, looking for a small piece of ground to stand on—careen toward inevitable conflict. An “affecting, subtle portrait of two hostile but equally fragile camps” (The New Yorker), their tragedy paints a shockingly true picture of the country we still live in today, two decades after this book’s first publication.
Enshrine
Chelle Bliss
Fiction / Romance / Contemporary
STANDALONE NOVEL FROM CHELLE BLISSEVERYTHING CHANGED IN AN INSTANT.I thought I knew what was important, but one phone call sent my life into a tailspin. Alone and afraid, I clung to the one man I shouldn’t. I was warned about him and told to stay away. “He’s dangerous,” they said. But the man who could hurt me the most, gave me the greatest comfort. "He\'s not who they think," I told myself. But just like an illusion, things are never what they seem.
Hot Ice
Nora Roberts
Fiction / Suspense / Fantasy
From New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts comes a seductive novel of red hot passion and cold hard cash, as a Manhattan socialite living at jet-set speed crosses a desperate man on the run—and finds herself trapped in a deadly game that may have no winners or losers . . . or survivors. Reckless Whitney MacAllister possesses all the wealth and beauty every woman dreams of. Streetwise Douglas Lord has the good looks and quick wits to be a success at his chosen profession: larceny. She has the cash and the connections. He has the stolen documents leading to a fabulous hidden fortune. It is a business proposition, pure and simple.But the race to find the treasure, from Manhattan to Madagascar, is only part of the game. For their fierce and dangerous attraction to each other soon threatens to overwhelm them—unless their merciless and shadowy rivals kill them first.
Till Death
Jennifer L. Armentrout
Young Adult / Romance / Science Fiction & Fantasy
In New York Times bestselling author Jennifer L. Armentrout’s gripping new novel, a young woman comes home to reclaim her life—even as a murderer plots to end it. . . It’s been ten years since Sasha Keaton left her West Virginia hometown . . . since she escaped the twisted serial killer known as the Groom. Returning to help run her family inn means being whole again, except for one missing piece. The piece that falls into place when Sasha’s threatened—and FBI agent Cole Landis vows to protect her the way he couldn’t a decade ago.First one woman disappears; then another, and all the while, disturbing calling cards are left for the sole survivor of the Groom’s reign of terror. Cole’s never forgiven himself for not being there when Sasha was taken, but he intends to make up for it now . . . because under the quirky sexiness Cole first fell for is a steely strength that only makes him love Sasha more.But someone is watching. Waiting. And Sasha’s first mistake could be her last.
The Killer Angels: The Classic Novel of the Civil War
Michael Shaara
Literature & Fiction / Historical Fiction / Science Fiction
“My favorite historical novel . . . a superb re-creation of the Battle of Gettysburg, but its real importance is its insight into what the war was about, and what it meant.”—James M. McPherson
In the four most bloody and courageous days of our nation’s history, two armies fought for two conflicting dreams. One dreamed of freedom, the other of a way of life. Far more than rifles and bullets were carried into battle. There were memories. There were promises. There was love. And far more than men fell on those Pennsylvania fields. Bright futures, untested innocence, and pristine beauty were also the casualties of war. Michael Shaara’s Pulitzer Prize–winning masterpiece is unique, sweeping, unforgettable—the dramatic story of the battleground for America’s destiny.
BONUS: This edition includes an excerpt from Jeff Shaara's Blaze of Glory.
Five Quarters of the Orange: A Novel
Joanne Harris
Literature & Fiction / Mystery & Thrillers / Mythology & Fantasy
When Framboise Simon returns to a small village on the banks of the Loire, the locals do not recognize her as the daughter of the infamous woman they hold responsible for a tragedy during the German occupation years ago. But the past and present are inextricably entwined, particularly in a scrapbook of recipes and memories that Framboise has inherited from her mother. And soon Framboise will realize that the journal also contains the key to the tragedy that indelibly marked that summer of her ninth year. . . .
Tribute
Nora Roberts
Fiction / Suspense / Fantasy
The #1 New York Times bestselling author presents her latest blockbuster novel, the story of a big-screen legend, a small-town scandal and a young woman caught up in the secrets and shadows of both.Cilla McGowan, a former child star, has found a more satisfying life restoring homes. So she comes to Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley to save the dilapidated farmhouse that once belonged to her grandmother—a legendary actress who died of an overdose more than thirty years ago.Plunging into the project with gusto, Cilla’s almost too busy and exhausted to notice her neighbor, graphic novelist Ford Sawyer. Determined not to carry on the family tradition of ill-fated romances, Cilla steels herself against Ford’s quirky charm, though she can’t help indulging in a little fantasy.But it’s reality that holds its share of dangers for Cilla. A cache of unsigned letters found in the attic points to a mysterious romance in her grandmother’s life—and may be the catalyst for a frightening, violent assault. And if Cilla and Ford are unable to sort out who is targeting her and why, she may, like her world-famous grandmother, be cut down in the prime of her life.
Be with Me
Maya Banks
Romance / Erotic Romance / Fiction
She has a killer on her tail and three men in her bed?An author who knows how to please turns up the Heat in a sizzling new novel of erotic suspense?Hutch, Cam, and Sawyer were juvenile delinquents when they formed a friendship with the wealthy but lonely Regina. She felt loved for the first time in her life?by all three. Today she?s a police officer and wary of resuming her relationship with the hot trio?until an attempt is made on her life. When they jump in to protect her, an all-new bond is formed, one riskier than ever before because now a killer looms in the shadows.
Obsession
Jennifer L. Armentrout
Young Adult / Romance / Science Fiction & Fantasy
This is a stand alone novel that is an adult spin-off of the Lux Series You do not need to read a Lux book to read Obsession and vice versa. He’s arrogant, domineering, and. . . To. Die. For. Hunter is a ruthless killer. And the Department of Defense has him firmly in their grasp, which usually doesn’t chafe too badly because he gets to kill bad guys. Most of the time he enjoys his job. That is, until he’s saddled with something he’s never had to do before: protect a human from his mortal enemy. Serena Cross didn’t believe her best friend when she claimed to have seen the son of a powerful senator turn into something. . . unnatural. Who would? But then she witnesses her friend’s murder at the hands of what can only be an alien, thrusting her into a world that will kill to protect their secret. Hunter stirs Serena’s temper and her lust despite their differences. Soon he’s doing the unthinkable—breaking the rules he’s lived by, going against the government to keep Serena safe. But are the aliens and the government the biggest threats to Serena’s life… or is it Hunter?
Veronika Decides to Die: A Novel of Redemption
Part #2 of "On the Seventh Day" series by Paulo Coelho
Literature & Fiction / Nonfiction / Biographies & Memoirs
Twenty-four-year-old Veronika seems to have everything -- youth and beauty, boyfriends and a loving family, a fulfilling job. But something is missing in her life. So, one cold November morning, she takes a handful of sleeping pills expecting never to wake up. But she does -- at a mental hospital where she is told that she has only days to live.
Inspired by events in Coelho's own life, *Veronika Decides to Die* questions the meaning of madness and celebrates individuals who do not fit into patterns society considers to be normal. Bold and illuminating, it is a dazzling portrait of a young woman at the crossroads of despair and liberation, and a poetic, exuberant appreciation of each day as a renewed opportunity.
Midnight Bayou
Nora Roberts
Fiction / Suspense / Fantasy
#1 New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts presents a novel set deep in the bayou of Louisiana—where the only witness to a long-ago tragedy is a once-grand house… Declan Fitzgerald had always been the family maverick, but even he couldn\'t understand his impulse to buy a dilapidated mansion on the outskirts of New Orleans. All he knew was that ever since he first saw Manet Hall, he\'d been enchanted-and obsessed-with it. So when the opportunity to buy the house comes up, Declan jumps at the chance to live out a dream.Determined to restore Manet Hall to its former splendor, Declan begins the daunting renovation room by room, relying on his own labor and skills. But the days spent in total isolation in the empty house take a toll. He is seeing visions of days from a century past, and experiencing sensations of terror and nearly unbearable grief-sensations not his own, but those of a stranger. Local legend has it that the house is haunted, and with every passing day Declan\'s belief in the ghostly presence grows.Only the companionship of alluring Angelina Simone can distract him from the mysterious happenings in the house, but Angelina too has her own surprising connection to Manet Hall-a connection that will help Declan uncover a secret that\'s been buried for a hundred years.
Novel 1987 - The Haunted Mesa (v5.0)
Louis L'Amour
Book DescriptionChronicles the fate of the Anasazi, a race of pre-Navajo cliff dwellers who inhabited the ancient American Southwest and who vanished from the face of the Earth centuries ago.
Storm Warning
Nora Roberts
Fiction / Suspense / Fantasy
Suspicion and seduction collide in this suspenseful novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts.When Autumn Gallagher returns to her aunt\'s rural inn, she is surprised to find Lucas McLean. He\'d broken her heart three years earlier, yet Autumn cannot deny the love still blazing inside her. When a guest of the inn is found dead, Lucas becomes a suspect. Can she risk listening to her heart again to help Lucas clear his name?
Sanctuary
Nora Roberts
Fiction / Suspense / Fantasy
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts comes a seductive and suspenseful novel of dangerous liaisons and family betrayals…Photographer Jo Ellen Hathaway thought she\'d escaped the house called Sanctuary long ago. She\'d spent her loneliest years there, after the sudden, unexplained disappearance of her mother. Yet the sprawling inn on an island off the Georgia coast continues to haunt her dreams. And now, even more haunting are the pictures someone is sending her: strange close-ups and candids, culminating in the most shocking portrait of all—a photo of her mother—naked, beautiful, and dead.Now Jo must return to the island, and to her bitterly estranged family. With the help of Nathan Delaney—who was on the island the summer her mother disappeared—Jo hopes to learn the truth about the tragic past. But Sanctuary may be the most dangerous place of all.
__english.jpg "La dame aux camélias (Novel). English")
La dame aux camélias (Novel). English
Alexandre Dumas
Adventure / Romance / Fiction
One of the greatest love stories of all time, this novel has fascinated generations of readers. Dumas's subtle and moving portrait of a woman in love is based on his own love affair with one of the most desirable courtesans in Paris. This is a completely new translation commissioned for the World's Classics.
Secrets and Shadows: A 13 to Life Novel
Shannon Delany
Young Adult / Romance / Science Fiction & Fantasy
From BooklistJessica's love for Pietr Rusakova is only one reason she is in danger from people who would stop at nothing to capture and control the young werewolf and his siblings; she may hold the cure for the man-made mutation that created the Rusakovas in the first place. The large cast of characters and plot points from 13 to Life (2010) return, but the focus on the young lovers and great sense of impending disaster sharpen this rousing second outing. New readers can dive in without reading the first book, and new fans won't be long in arriving. Grades 7-10. --Cindy Welch ReviewPRAISE for 13 to Life:"A unique tale with a bright heroine and dark secrets.” - New York Times Bestselling YA author Maria V. Snyder "You'll devour 13 to Life in greedy, eager gulps. Pitch-perfect and deliciously paced, this book dishes up your next fiction addiction. Shannon is a rising star!" --Ann Aguirre, national bestselling author of Grimspace and Doubleblind "A fun, gothic romance of suspense, secrets and the dangerous truth behind the new kid in town."-Lucienne Diver, author of Vamped and RevampedJessie and Pietr’s bond is sweet and real, with more than a touch of delicious danger.” –Jeri Smith-Ready, Award-Winning author of Shade and Bad to the Bone
Private Scandals
Nora Roberts
Fiction / Suspense / Fantasy
This deliciously scandalous novel tells us the secrets of the reigning queens of television talk shows, Deanna Reynolds and Angela Perkins.Their high-staked rivalry, fought with public smiles and private betrayals, is more than a ratings competition. It becomes an off-screen war when Deanna replaces Angela both on the air and behind the scenes with Angela\'s former lover after Angela moves to the big time in New York.Angela\'s anger at her former protégé escalates from bitterness to vengeance. And an anonymous fan\'s admiration crosses the line into obsession. Only one woman will emerge with her life in this battle of ego and passion.
Undefeated - A New Adult Romance Novel
Hildreth, Scott
Undefeated is a modern day new adult romance novel.Kace Meadows lives in Austin, Texas. Now 26, she has been in an abusive relationship since she was sixteen years old. As terrible as it is, she can’t seem to find a way to allow herself to end it. With her violent boyfriend, she can’t seem to win. She finds hope in reading about her book boyfriends....and dreaming.Until she meets Shane, a boxer. Holy mother of perfection...Shane Dekkar is an unknown, undefeated, and somewhat shy boxer from Compton California. After the death of his grandfather, he moves to Austin and meets Kace by happenstance as she and her boyfriend are in an argument in public. He is drawn to her, and she to him.When he meets her again two years later, he begins to believe in fate. But, as he prepares for a potential shot at a championship fight, there’s not time in his life or career for a woman.Shane fights his inner demons by using his fists. On the street or in the ring, Shane does what he does best, he wins at any cost. Unlike Kace, Shane can’t seem to lose.Undefeated is an extremely romantic erotica novel about fighting. Fighting for what you believe in. Fighting for life. Fighting to live.And fighting to find love in the most unlikely places.Be prepared to be moved, touched, stand up and cheer, and cry your eyes out. This book will, without a doubt, knock you unconscious. This novel clearly defines the love that we all seem to want, yet can't find.CAUTION: Graphic sexual content. This book contains fighting scenes that are descriptive.Fighter, boxing, boxer romance, fighter romance, boxer erotica, MMA, romance with sex, erotica, erotic novel, romance novel, NA romance novel, New Adult Romance Novel, If you enjoyed Rebel, you'll certainly enjoy this novel
Infatuation - A Club Destiny Novel
Nicole Edwards
At what point does infatuation turn into obsession? McKenna Thorne doesn’t have the answer to that question, but she’s dangerously close to finding out. Tag Murphy’s content with the nontraditional aspect to his relationships and he always has been. Until McKenna unexpectedly walks into his life. Now he has only one goal: to see how fast he can make her pulse race.
Prodigal Summer: A Novel
Barbara Kingsolver
Literature & Fiction / Nonfiction / Poetry
Barbara Kingsolver's fifth novel is a hymn to wildness that celebrates the prodigal spirit of human nature, and of nature itself. It weaves together three stories of human love within a larger tapestry of lives amid the mountains and farms of southern Appalachia. Over the course of one humid summer, this novel's intriguing protagonists face disparate predicaments but find connections to one another and to the flora and fauna with which they necessarily share a place.
The Reef
Nora Roberts
Fiction / Suspense / Fantasy
A "suspenseful" novel by the #1 "New York Times" bestselling author-now in a French flap trade edition. Nora Roberts delivers an exciting tale that takes readers to the depths of the Caribbean-and the heights of passion and suspense-as a marine archaeologist and a salvager join forces to search for a legendary treasure.
Ford County
John Grisham
Thriller / Nonfiction / Young Adult
In his first collection of short stories John Grisham takes us back to Ford County, Mississippi, the setting of his first novel, A Time to Kill. Wheelchair-bound Inez Graney and her two older sons, Leon and Butch, take a bizarre road trip through the Mississippi Delta to visit the youngest Graney brother, Raymond, who\'s been locked away on death row for eleven years. It could well be their last visit. Mack Stafford, a hard-drinking and low-grossing run-of-the-mill divorce lawyer, gets a miracle phone call with a completely unexpected offer to settle some old, forgotten cases for more money than he has ever seen. Mack is suddenly bored with the law, fed up with his wife and his life, and makes drastic plans to finally escape. Quiet, dull Sidney, a data collector for an insurance company, perfects his blackjack skills in hopes of bringing down the casino empire of Clanton\'s most ambitious hustler, Bobby Carl Leach, who, among other crimes, has stolen Sidney\'s wife. Three good ol\' boys from rural Ford County begin a journey to the big city of Memphis to give blood to a grievously injured friend. However, they are unable to drive past a beer store as the trip takes longer and longer. The journey comes to an abrupt end when they make a fateful stop at a Memphis strip club. The Quiet Haven Retirement Home is the final stop for the elderly of Clanton. It\'s a sad, languid place with little controversy, until Gilbert arrives. Posing as a low-paid bedpan boy, he is in reality a brilliant stalker with an uncanny ability to sniff out the assets of those "seniors" he professes to love. One of the hazards of litigating against people in a small town is that one day, long after the trial, you will probably come face-to-face with someone you\'ve beaten in a lawsuit. Lawyer Stanley Wade bumps into an old adversary, a man with a long memory, and the encounter becomes a violent ordeal. Clanton is rocked with the rumor that the gay son of a prominent family has finally come home, to die. Of AIDS. Fear permeates the town as gossip runs unabated. But in Lowtown, the colored section of Clanton, the young man finds a soul mate in his final days. Featuring a cast of characters you\'ll never forget, these stories bring Ford County to vivid and colorful life. Often hilarious, frequently moving, and always entertaining, this collection makes it abundantly clear why John Grisham is our most popular storyteller.
The Sheik: A Novel
E. M. Hull
Romance / Classics
Diana Mayo is young, beautiful, wealthy—and independent. Bored by the eligible bachelors and endless parties of the English aristocracy, she arranges for a horseback trek through the Algerian desert. Two days into her adventure, Diana is kidnapped by the powerful Sheik Ahmed Ben Hassan, who forces her into submission. Diana tries desperately to resist but finds herself falling in love with this dark and handsome stranger. Only when a rival chieftain steals Diana away does the Sheik realize that what he feels for her is more than mere passion. He has been conquered—and risks everything to get her back. The power of love reaches across the desert sands, leading to the thrilling and unexpected conclusion.One of the most widely read novels of the 1920s, and forever fixed in the popular imagination in the film version starring the irresistible Rudolph Valentino, The Sheik is recognized as the immediate precursor to the modern romance novel. When first published there was nothing like it: To readers the story was scandalous, exotic, and all-consuming; to such critics as the New York Times the book was "shocking," although written with "a high degree of literary skill." In the author's native England, the bestselling book was labeled "poisonously salacious" by the Literary Review and banned from some communities. But the public kept reading.The influence of The Sheik on romance writers and readers continues to resonate. Despite controversy over its portrayal of sexual exploitation as a means to love, The Sheik remains a popular classic for its representation of the social order of its time, capturing contemporary attitudes toward colonialism as well as female power and independence that still strike a chord with readers today.
The Scorpio Illusion: A Novel
Robert Ludlum
Thriller / Crime
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
“Don’t ever begin a Ludlum novel if you have to go to work the next day.”—*Chicago Sun-Times
*
Tyrell Hawthorne was a naval intelligence officer—one of the best—until the rain-swept night in Amsterdam when his wife was murdered, an innocent victim of the games spies play. Now he’s called out of retirement for one last assignment. For Hawthorne is the only man alive who can track down the world’s most dangerous terrorist.
Amaya Bajaratt is beautiful, elusive, and deadly—and she has set in motion a chilling conspiracy that a desperate government cannot stop. With his life and the life of the president hanging in the balance, Hawthorne must follow Bajaratt’s serpentine trail, a path of seduction, betrayal, and the looming threat of death. Racing from a millionaire recluse’s fortress to the social whirl of Palm Beach, from the Oval Office to treacherous Caribbean waters, Hawthorne will uncover a sinister network of well-placed men and women who exist to help this consummate killer—and the shattering truth behind the Scorpio Illusion.
“Breakneck . . . readability.”—The New York Times Book Review
*
“A high-voltage tale of drama and suspense.”—*The Denver Post
BONUS: This edition includes an excerpt from Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Identity.
My Purple Scented Novel
Ian Mcewan
Literature & Fiction
Short story published in the March 28, 2016 Edition of The New Yorker. Also available to read online.
‘You will have heard of my friend the once celebrated novelist Jocelyn Tarbet, but I suspect his memory is beginning to fade…You’d never heard of me, the once obscure novelist Parker Sparrow, until my name was publicly connected with his. To a knowing few, our names remain rigidly attached, like the two ends of a seesaw. His rise coincided with, though did not cause, my decline… I don’t deny there was wrongdoing. I stole a life, and I don’t intend to give it back. You may treat these few pages as a confession.’
A jewel of a book: a brand new short story from the author of Atonement. My Purple Scented Novel follows the perfect crime of literary betrayal, scrupulously wrought yet unscrupulously executed, published to celebrate Ian McEwan’s 70th birthday.
The Husband
Dean Koontz
Thriller / Mystery / Science Fiction & Fantasy
With each and every new novel, Dean Koontz raises the stakes--and the pulse rate--higher than any other author. Now, in what may be his most suspenseful and heartfelt novel ever, he brings us the story of an ordinary man whose extraordinary commitment to his wife will take him on a harrowing journey of adventure, sacrifice, and redemption to the mystery of love itself--and to a showdown with the darkness that would destroy it forever. What would you do for love? Would you die? Would you kill? We have your wife. You can get her back for two million cash. Landscaper Mitchell Rafferty thinks it must be some kind of joke. He was in the middle of planting impatiens in the yard of one of his clients when his cell phone rang. Now he's standing in a normal suburban neighborhood on a bright summer day, having a phone conversation out of his darkest nightmare. Whoever is on the other end of the line is dead serious. He has Mitch's wife and he's named the price for her safe return. The caller doesn't care that Mitch runs a small two-man landscaping operation and has no way of raising such a vast sum. He's confident that Mitch will find a way. If he loves his wife enough. . . Mitch does love her enough. He loves her more than life itself. He's got seventy-two hours to prove it. He has to find the two million by then. But he'll pay a lot more. He'll pay anything. From its tense opening to its shattering climax, The Husband is a thriller that will hold you in its relentless grip for every twist, every shock, every revelation. . . until it lets you go, unmistakably changed. This is a Dean Koontz novel, after all. And there's no other experience quite like it.
The Songs of the Kings: A Novel
Barry Unsworth
Literature & Fiction / Historical Fiction
“Troy meant one thing only to the men gathered here, as it did to their commanders. Troy was a dream of wealth; and if the wind continued the dream would crumble.”
As the harsh wind holds the Greek fleet trapped in the straits at Aulis, frustration and political impotence turn into a desire for the blood of a young and innocent woman – blood that will appease the gods and allow the troops to set sail. And when Iphigeneia, Agamemnon’s beloved daughter, is brought to the coast under false pretences, and when a knife is fashioned out of the finest and most precious of materials, it looks as if the ships will soon be on their way. But can a father really go to these lengths to secure political victory, and can a daughter willingly give up her life for the worldly ambitions of her father?
Throwing off the heroic values we expect of them, Barry Unsworth’s mythic characters embrace the political ethos of the twenty-first century and speak in words we recognize as our own. The blowhard Odysseus warns the men to not “marginalize” Agamemnon and to “strike while the bronze is hot.” High-sounding principles clash with private motives, and dark comedy ensues. Here is a novel that stands the world on its head.
From the Hardcover edition.
The Swarm: A Novel
Frank Schätzing
Whales begin sinking ships. Toxic, eyeless crabs poison Long Island's water supply. The North Sea shelf collapses, killing thousands in Europe. Around the world, countries are beginning to feel the effects of the ocean's revenge as the seas and their inhabitants begin a violent revolution against mankind. At stake is the survival of the Earth's fragile ecology—and ultimately, the survival of the human race itself.
The apocalyptic catastrophes of The Day After Tomorrow meet the watery menace of The Abyss in this gripping, scientifically realistic, and utterly imaginative thriller.
North Face: A Novel
Mary Renault
Literature & Fiction / Historical Fiction
Two wary souls explore the possibility of new love
On vacation in the North Devon countryside, Neil Langton looks back on the wreckage of his past. The wounds from his former marriage are still raw; his wife cheated on him and his young daughter died. The teacher and rock climber believes hope to be behind him until he comes across Ellen, a young woman staying at the same guesthouse as he, and whom he saves from a mountainside accident. Struggling to deal with her feelings for a pilot step-cousin who died in service, Ellen has her own romantic scars. If their connection is to endure, Neil and Ellen must carefully confront their painful pasts.
Filled with a memorable cast of secondary characters in austerity Britain, North Face is a love story rich in atmosphere and tension, from a master of the novelist’s craft.
Madame Tussaud: A Novel of the French Revolution
Michelle Moran
Historical Fiction
The world knows Madame Tussaud as a wax artist extraordinaire . . . but who was this woman who became one of the most famous sculptresses of all time? In these pages, her tumultuous and amazing story comes to life as only Michelle Moran can tell it. The year is 1788, and a revolution is about to begin.
Smart and ambitious, Marie Tussaud has learned the secrets of wax sculpting by working alongside her uncle in their celebrated wax museum, the Salon de Cire. From her popular model of the American ambassador, Thomas Jefferson, to her tableau of the royal family at dinner, Marie’s museum provides Parisians with the very latest news on fashion, gossip, and even politics. Her customers hail from every walk of life, yet her greatest dream is to attract the attention of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI; their stamp of approval on her work could catapult her and her museum to the fame and riches she desires. After months of anticipation, Marie learns that the royal family is willing to come and see their likenesses. When they finally arrive, the king’s sister is so impressed that she requests Marie’s presence at Versailles as a royal tutor in wax sculpting. It is a request Marie knows she cannot refuse—even if it means time away
from her beloved Salon and her increasingly dear friend, Henri Charles.
As Marie gets to know her pupil, Princesse Élisabeth, she also becomes acquainted with the king and queen, who introduce her to the glamorous life at court. From lavish parties with more delicacies than she’s ever seen to rooms filled with candles lit only once before being discarded, Marie steps into a world entirely different from her home on the Boulevard du Temple, where people are selling their teeth in order to put food on the table.
Meanwhile, many resent the vast separation between rich and poor. In salons and cafés across Paris, people like Camille Desmoulins, Jean-Paul Marat, and Maximilien Robespierre are lashing out against the monarchy. Soon, there’s whispered talk of revolution. . . . Will Marie be able to hold on to both the love of her life and her friendship with the royal family as France approaches civil war? And more important, will she be able to fulfill the demands of powerful revolutionaries who ask that she make the death masks of beheaded aristocrats, some of whom she knows?
Spanning five years, from the budding revolution to the Reign of Terror, Madame Tussaud brings us into the world of an incredible heroine whose talent for wax modeling saved her life and preserved the faces of a vanished kingdom.
From the Hardcover edition.
The Road to Gandolfo: A Novel
Part #1 of "Road to" series by Robert Ludlum
Thriller / Crime
War hero and infamous ladies’ man General MacKenzie Hawkins is a living legend. His life story has even been sold to Hollywood. But now he stands accused of defacing a historic monument in China’s Forbidden City. Under house arrest in Peking with a case against him pending in Washington, this looks like the end of Mac’s illustrious career. But he has a plan of his own: kidnap the Pope. What’s the ransom? Just one American dollar—for every Catholic in the world. Add to the mix a slew of shady “investors,” Mac’s four persuasive, well-endowed ex-wives, and a young lawyer and fellow soldier who wants nothing more than to return to private life, and readers have in their hands one relentlessly irreverent page-turner.
Praise for Robert Ludlum
“Don’t ever begin a [Robert] Ludlum novel if you have to go to work the next day.”—Chicago Sun-Times
*
“Ludlum stuffs more surprises into his novels than any other six-pack of thriller writers combined.”—The New York Times*
BONUS: This edition includes an excerpt from Robert Ludlum’s *The Bourne Identity.*
Thunder of Heaven: A Joshua Jordan Novel
Part #2 of "The End Series" series by Tim LaHaye
Religion / Fiction / Nonfiction
Thunder of Heaven pulls readers into an adrenaline-fueled thriller laced with End Times prophecy. From Tim LaHaye, creator and coauthor of the Left Behind series---the most successful adult fiction series ever written---and Craig Parshall comes an epic story ripped from the headlines of world events and filtered through Scriptural prophecy. Set in the near future, Edge of Apocalypse chronicles the beginning of The End---the earth-shattering events leading up to the Apocalypse foretold in Revelation.
Roger's Version: A Novel
John Updike
Fiction
As Roger Lambert tells it, he, a middle-aged professor of divinity, is buttonholed in his office by Dale Kohler, an earnest young computer scientist who believes that quantifiable evidence of God’s existence is irresistibly accumulating. The theological-scientific debate that ensues, and the wicked strategies that Roger employs to disembarrass Dale of his faith, form the substance of this novel—these and the current of erotic attraction that pulls Esther, Roger’s much younger wife, away from him and into Dale’s bed. The novel, a majestic allegory of faith and reason, ends also as a black comedy of revenge, for this is Roger’s version—Roger Chillingworth’s side of the triangle described by Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter—made new for a disbelieving age.
By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept: A Novel of Forgiveness
Part #1 of "On the Seventh Day" series by Paulo Coelho
Literature & Fiction / Nonfiction / Biographies & Memoirs
From Paulo Coelho, author of the international bestseller *The Alchemist*, comes a poignant, richly poetic story that reflects the depth of love and life.
Rarely does adolescent love reach its full potential, but what happens when two young lovers reunite after eleven years? Time has transformed Pilar into a strong and independent woman, while her devoted childhood friend has grown into a handsome and charismatic spiritual leader. She has learned well how to bury her feelings . . . and he has turned to religion as a refuge from his raging inner conflicts.
Now they are together once again, embarking on a journey fraught with difficulties, as long-buried demons of blame and resentment resurface after more than a decade. But in a small village in the French Pyrenees, by the waters of the River Piedra, a most special relationship will be reexamined in the dazzling light of some of life's biggest questions.
Sniper's Honor: A Bob Lee Swagger Novel
Stephen Hunter
Mystery & Thrillers / Nonfiction
In this tour de force—part historical thriller, part modern adventure—from the New York Times bestselling author of I, Sniper, Bob Lee Swagger uncovers why World War II’s greatest sniper was erased from history…and why her disappearance still matters today.
Ludmilla “Mili” Petrova was once the most hunted woman on earth, having raised the fury of two of the most powerful leaders on either side of World War II: Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler. But Kathy Reilly of The Washington Post doesn’t know any of that when she encounters a brief mention of Mili in an old Russian propaganda magazine, and becomes interested in the story of a legendary, beautiful female sniper who seems to have vanished from history.
Reilly enlists former marine sniper Bob Lee Swagger to parse out the scarce details of Mili’s military service. The more Swagger learns about Mili’s last mission, the more he’s convinced her disappearance was no accident—but why would the Russian government go to such lengths to erase the existence of one of their own decorated soldiers? And why, when Swagger joins Kathy Reilly on a research trip, is someone trying to kill them before they can find out?
As Bob Lee Swagger, “one of the finest series characters ever to grace the thriller genre, now and forever” (Providence Journal-Bulletin), races to put the pieces together, Sniper’s Honor takes readers across oceans and time in an action-packed, compulsive read.
Spark: A Novel
John Twelve Hawks
Literature & Fiction / Science Fiction & Fantasy
THE MOST DANGEROUS ASSASSIN IS THE ONE WHO BELIEVES HE IS ALREADY DEAD.
A razor-sharp, high-tech, wildly imaginative new novel from internationally bestselling author John Twelve Hawks, Spark *features a narrator unlike any in recent fiction—a man whose view of life and death is different from anything you’ve ever imagined.
Jacob Underwood is a contract employee of the Special Services Section, a small shadow department buried within the multinational corporation DBG, headquartered in New York City. Jacob is not a businessman . . . he is a hired assassin . . . and his job is to neutralize problems deemed unacceptable by the corporation. But Jacob is not like other employees, nor is he like other people. After a catastrophic motorcycle accident leaves him with Cotard’s syndrome—an actual condition that causes those afflicted to believe they are dead—Jacob perceives himself as nothing but a “Shell,” with no emotions and no tether to the concept of right and wrong.
Emily Buchanan is a bright young second-year associate for DBG, and she has disappeared without a trace. Suspecting that Emily has stolen either vast sums of money or valuable information from the company, Ms. Holquist, Jacob’s handler at DBG, assigns him the task of tracking down the young woman and neutralizing her. Jacob’s condition allows him to carry out assignments with ruthless, logical precision, devoid of guilt, fear, or dishonor. But as his new assignment draws him inside a labyrinthine network of dark dealings, Jacob finds himself up against something he is completely incapable of understanding.
Shifting with riveting precision from New York to London, Paris to New Delhi, Spark is a thriller that delves into the surveillance state we prognosticate today . . . and will live in tomorrow. In the hands of master storyteller John Twelve Hawks, a unique character’s startling transformation comes to life, making Spark* a thriller that resonates and satisfies on many levels.
From the Hardcover edition.
Fortune's Daughter: A Novel
Alice Hoffman
Literature & Fiction / Young Adult / Magical Realism
In a city bracing for a cataclysm, two remarkable women cross paths and find their lives forever changed
Rae Perry has been in love with Jessup since high school. Two weeks before her eighteenth birthday, they ran away from Boston together and have been moving ever since—five states in seven years. Now they are in Southern California in what they call “earthquake weather,” a time when anything can happen, and Jessup is restless again. This time, Rae fears, he plans to leave without her.
Lila Grey is a fortune-teller. More than a quarter century ago, on a cold and icy night in New York City, she gave birth to a daughter she never saw again. Lila is determined to find her lost child, even if it means an end to her happy life with Richard, the loving husband she refuses to let into her past.
It is Lila who tells Rae she is pregnant—but the other symbol she reads in the Rae’s tea leaves, she refuses to reveal. From that moment forward, their fates are inextricably linked. While Rae searches for the strength to navigate an uncertain future alone, Lila sets out to resolve her history once and for all.
This luminous novel, a New York Times Notable Book, is an enthralling tribute to the profound mysteries of motherhood and childbirth from a writer who, in the words of Amy Tan, “takes seemingly ordinary lives and lets us see and feel extraordinary things.”
Four Souls: A Novel
Louise Erdrich
Literature & Fiction / Poetry / Children's Books
From New York Times bestselling author Louise Erdrich comes a haunting novel that continues the rich and enthralling Ojibwe saga begun in her novel Tracks.
After taking her mother’s name, Four Souls, for strength, the strange and compelling Fleur Pillager walks from her Ojibwe reservation to the cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul. She is seeking restitution from and revenge on the lumber baron who has stripped her tribe’s land. But revenge is never simple, and her intentions are complicated by her dangerous compassion for the man who wronged her.
Beautiful You: A Novel
Chuck Palahniuk
Literature & Fiction
"A billion husbands are about to be replaced."
From the author of Fight Club, the classic portrait of the damaged contemporary male psyche, now comes this novel about the apocalyptic marketing possibilities of female pleasure. Sisters will be doing it for themselves. And doing it. And doing it. And doing it some more . . . Penny Harrigan is a low-level associate in a big Manhattan law firm with an apartment in Queens and no love life at all. So it comes as a great shock when she finds herself invited to dinner by one C. Linus Maxwell, aka "Climax-Well," a software mega-billionaire and lover of the most gorgeous and accomplished women on earth. After dining at Manhattan's most exclusive restaurant, he whisks Penny off to a hotel suite in Paris, where he proceeds, notebook in hand, to bring her to previously undreamed-of heights of orgasmic pleasure for days on end. What's not to like? This: Penny discovers that she is a test subject for the final development of a line of sex toys to be marketed in a nationwide chain of boutiques called Beautiful You. So potent and effective are these devices that women by the millions line up outside the stores on opening day and then lock themselves in their room with them and stop coming out. Except for batteries. Maxwell's plan for erotically enabled world domination must be stopped. But how?
The Accidental Apprentice: A Novel
Vikas Swarup
Fiction / Cultural / India
From the author of the book behind the blockbuster movie Slumdog Millionaire, a brilliant novel about life changing in an instant.
Life pivots on a few key moments. This is one of them.
Sapna Sinha works in an electronics store in downtown Delhi. She hates her job, but she is ambitious and determined to succeed, and she knows without the money she brings in, her family won't be able to survive. Little does she know it but her life is about to change forever.
As she leaves the shop on her lunch break one day, she is approached by a man who claims to be CEO of one of India's biggest companies. He tells her he is looking for an heir for his business empire. And that he has decided it should be her.
There are just seven tests she must pass. And then the biggest lottery ticket of all time will be hers.
The Heritage of the Desert: A Novel
Zane Grey
Literature & Fiction / Westerns
The Heritage of the Desert: A Novel By Zane Grey
The Golden Age: A Novel
Gore Vidal
Biography / Fiction / Historical Fiction
The Golden Age is the concluding volume in Gore Vidal's celebrated and bestselling Narratives of Empire series-a unique pageant of the national experience from the United States' entry into World War Two to the end of the Korean War.
The historical novel is once again in vogue, and Gore Vidal stands as its undisputed American master. In his six previous narratives of the American empire-Burr, Lincoln, 1876, Empire, Hollywood, and Washington, D.C.-he has created a fictional portrait of our nation from its founding that is unmatched in our literature for its scope, intimacy, political intelligence, and eloquence. Each has been a major bestseller, and some have stirred controversy for their decidedly ironic and unillusioned view of the realities of American power and of the men and women who have exercised that power.
The Golden Age is Vidal's crowning achievement, a vibrant tapestry of American political and cultural life from 1939 to 1954, when the epochal events of World War Two and the Cold War transformed America, once and for all, for good or ill, from a republic into an empire. The sharp-eyed and sympathetic witnesses to these events are Caroline Sanford, Washington, D.C., newspaper publisher turned Hollywood pioneer producer-star, and Peter Sanford, her nephew and publisher of the independent intellectual journal The American Idea. They experience at first hand the masterful maneuvers of Franklin Roosevelt to bring a reluctant nation into World War Two, and later, the actions of Harry Truman that commit the nation to a decades-long twilight struggle against Communism-developments they regard with a marked skepticism, even though they end in an American global empire. The locus of these events is Washington, D.C., yet the Hollywood film industry and the cultural centers of New York also play significant parts. In addition to presidents, the actual characters who appear so vividly in the pages of The Golden Age include Eleanor Roosevelt, Harry Hopkins, Wendell Willkie, William Randolph Hearst, Dean Acheson, Tennessee Williams, Joseph Alsop, Dawn Powell-and Gore Vidal himself.
The Golden Age offers up United States history as only Gore Vidal can, with unrivaled penetration, wit, and high drama, allied to a classical view of human fate. It is a supreme entertainment that will also change readers' understanding of American history and power.
The Gemini Contenders: A Novel
Robert Ludlum
Thriller / Crime
Salonika, Greece: December 1939. In the dead of night, a clandestine order of monks embarks on a desperate mission: to transport a mysterious vault to a hiding place high in the Italian Alps. The sinister cache, concealed for centuries, could rip apart the Christian world. Now, as the Nazi threat marches inexorably closer, men both good and evil will be drawn into a violent and deadly hunt, sparking a relentless struggle that could forever change the world as we know it.
Praise for Robert Ludlum and The Gemini Contenders
*
“[Robert Ludlum’s] most ambitious novel . . . Its twist and turns carry the reader on a fast bobsled run. . . . A marvelously unflagging imagination.”—The New York Times
“A winner . . . one of those books you intend to put down after just one more chapter . . . suddenly it’s two in the morning and you’ve read the whole thing.”*—United Press International
“A skyrocket of a book . . . The action never stops for a second.”—The Plain Dealer
*
“Packed full of excitement.”—The Denver Post***
BONUS: This edition includes an excerpt from Robert Ludlum’s *The Bourne Identity.*
Tipperary: A Novel of Ireland
Frank Delaney
Historical / Historical Fiction / Fiction
“My wooing began in passion, was defined by violence and circumscribed by land; all these elements molded my soul.” So writes Charles O’Brien, the unforgettable hero of bestselling author Frank Delaney’s extraordinary new novel–a sweeping epic of obsession, profound devotion, and compelling history involving a turbulent era that would shape modern Ireland.
Born into a respected Irish-Anglo family in 1860, Charles loves his native land and its long-suffering but irrepressible people. As a healer, he travels the countryside dispensing traditional cures while soaking up stories and legends of bygone times–and witnessing the painful, often violent birth of land-reform measures destined to lead to Irish independence.
At the age of forty, summoned to Paris to treat his dying countryman–the infamous Oscar Wilde–Charles experiences the fateful moment of his life. In a chance encounter with a beautiful and determined young Englishwoman, eighteen-year-old April Burke, he is instantly and passionately smitten–but callously rejected. Vowing to improve himself, Charles returns to Ireland, where he undertakes the preservation of the great and abandoned estate of Tipperary, in whose shadow he has lived his whole life–and which, he discovers, may belong to April and her father.
As Charles pursues his obsession, he writes the “History” of his own life and country. While doing so, he meets the great figures of the day, including Charles Parnell, William Butler Yeats, and George Bernard Shaw. And he also falls victim to less well-known characters–who prove far more dangerous. Tipperary also features a second “historian:” a present-day commentator, a retired and obscure history teacher who suddenly discovers that he has much at stake in the telling of Charles’s story.
In this gloriously absorbing and utterly satisfying novel, a man’s passion for the woman he loves is twinned with his country’s emergence as a nation. With storytelling as sweeping and dramatic as the land itself, myth, fact, and fiction are all woven together with the power of the great nineteenth-century novelists. Tipperary once again proves Frank Delaney’s unrivaled mastery at bringing Irish history to life.
Praise for Frank Delaney’s TIPPERARY:
“[T]he narrative moves swiftly and surely…A sort of Irish Gone With the Wind, marked by sly humor, historical awareness and plenty of staying power.” — *Kirkus Reviews
“[A]nother meticulously researched journey…Delaney’s careful scholarship and compelling storytelling bring it uniquely alive. Highly recommended.” — Library Journal* (starred)
“Sophisticated and creative.” — Booklist
“Delaney’s confident storytelling and quirky characterizations enrich a fascinating and complex period of Irish history.” — Publishers Weekly
“Read just a few sentences of Frank Delaney’s writing and you’ll see why National Public Radio called him ‘the world’s most eloquent man.’” — Kirkus Reviews, “Big Book Guide 2007”**
From the Hardcover edition.
Outside - a post-apocalyptic novel
Shalini Boland
Thriller / Suspense
A post-apocalyptic romance thriller. Riley leaves the safety of The Perimeter to hunt her sister's killer across a ravaged and unrecognisable Britain. But she's not prepared for what lies outside.
Rage of Angels
Sidney Sheldon
Literature & Fiction / Mystery & Thrillers / Children's Books
A worldwide bestseller first published in 1980, this novel tells the story of Jennifer Parker, a successful lawyer who is loved by two men, one a politician, the other, a mafia don. Other work by the author includes The Other Side of Midnight and If Tomorrow Comes.
Along the River: A Chinese Cinderella Novel
Adeline Yen Mah
Biographies & Memoirs
Bestselling Chinese American author Adeline Yen Mah weaves her authentic accounts of life in China into an absorbing novel about a Chinese girl and her vision of a previous life.
After a fall, CC is whisked away to a hospital. As she drifts in and out of consciousness, she is haunted by vivid dreams that seem strange—yet somehow familiar. Thus begins CC’s emotional journey back to a privileged life lived eight hundred years ago during the Song dynasty.
CC is the daughter of a wealthy and influential man, but she finds herself drawn to a poor orphan boy with a startling ability to capture the beauty of the natural world. As the relationship between these two young people deepens, the transforming power of art and romantic love comes into conflict with the immovable rules of Chinese society.
This stunning fantasy adventure novel, inspired by China’s most famous painting, Along the River at the Qing Ming Festival, tells the story of a friendship both tender and bold. CC’s remarkable journey reminds readers that though time moves on, art and love endure.
Illumination Night: A Novel
Alice Hoffman
Literature & Fiction / Young Adult / Magical Realism
An exquisitely crafted ensemble piece about marriage, identity, and desire set on the island of Martha’s Vineyard
In Chilmark, a grandmother imagines she can fly. A reclusive giant feels an immediate kinship with a boy who cannot grow. A wife who never used to worry is overwhelmed by debilitating fears. And a husband who prefers to be alone is drawn to a reckless teenage girl with the power to ruin his life.
Over the course of one fateful year, these characters, as vividly drawn and expertly choreographed as any in contemporary fiction, will come together and drift apart as they experience breakthroughs, true love, and epiphanies. Alice Hoffman finds mystery and magic in our everyday world, and Illumination Night showcases her signature talent for endowing real life with the power of myth. It is one of her finest novels, radiant and emotional with a cast of characters you will never forget.
Ham on Rye: A Novel
Charles Bukowski
Fiction / Contemporary / Poetry
In what is widely hailed as the best of his many novels, Charles Bukowski details the long, lonely years of his own hardscrabble youth in the raw voice of alter ego Henry Chinaski. From a harrowingly cheerless childhood in Germany through acne-riddled high school years and his adolescent discoveries of alcohol, women, and the Los Angeles Public Library's collection of D. H. Lawrence, Ham on Rye offers a crude, brutal, and savagely funny portrait of an outcast's coming-of-age during the desperate days of the Great Depression.
The Marriage Game: A Novel of Queen Elizabeth I
Alison Weir
History / Literature & Fiction
The sequel to The Lady Elizabeth
Their affair is the scandal of Europe. From the time of her accession in 1558, the young Elizabeth I – already reinventing herself as the Virgin Queen – and her dashing but married Master of Horse, Lord Robert Dudley, cast caution to the winds in pursuing their passion for each other. Many believe them to be lovers in the fullest sense, and Elizabeth soon becomes aware of rumours that she is no virgin at all, and that she has secretly borne Lord Robert children.
The young Queen is regarded by most of Christendom as a bastard, a heretic and a usurper, yet many princes seek her hand in marriage. Knowing her hold on her throne to be desperately insecure, Elizabeth encourages them in order to keep them friendly towards England. And thus she plays what becomes known as ‘the marriage game’, appearing seriously to entertain these suitors while holding them off indefinitely. The truth is that she has no inclination to marry, bear children or render herself subservient to any man. The prospect of marriage is anathema to her, and she has deep and compelling psychological reasons for wishing to avoid it. It is the game of love that is the breath of life to her - the thrill of the chase, the lure of forbidden fruit. She plays this dangerous, tantalising game with Lord Robert Dudley – but it is a game, she realises - almost too late, that could ultimately cost her the throne.
For Robert is the son and grandson of traitors, and his growing intimacy with Elizabeth makes him deeply unpopular: he is distrusted by her more sober ministers – notably William Cecil - and resented by her courtiers, who think him inordinately ambitious, unscrupulous – and worse.
The notorious affair between Dudley and the Queen quickly gives rise to rampant speculation throughout Christendom that she is determined to marry him, and even that they are plotting the murder of Robert's sick wife, Amy. There is universal shock when Amy is found dead, lying at the foot of a staircase with her neck broken.
In telling the captivating, tempestuous, often hilarious and ultimately poignant story of this most extraordinary love affair, and the political intrigues and marriage negotiations that surrounded it, I have delved into the various mysteries that encompass Elizabeth’s relationship with Dudley.
Did they or didn`t they? Rivers of ink have been spilt in determining the answer to this question, and as a historian I have my own strong views about it – not necessarily those that prevail in The Lady Elizabeth! In The Marriage Game, Elizabeth has reinvented herself as the Virgin Queen, but Robert Dudley is determined to overcome her fears of intimacy and become her lover, if not her husband. The other crucial issue is, of course, the fate of Amy Robsart, and this novel offers a dramatised version of my own theory.
It is a book packed with all the colour and splendour of the Tudor court – and a story played out amidst the most famous events of the Elizabethan age, culminating with the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots and the defeat of the Spanish Armada. It is a poignant tale of love and loss, focusing on the highs and lows of Elizabeth`s long affair with Dudley and the dynamics that enabled it to last for so long. A wealth of source material has enabled me to bring Elizabeth, that feisty, formidable, witty and mercurial woman, to life – and to get inside her head and relive this most extraordinary and controversial of royal love affairs.
Joe Hill: A Biographical Novel
Wallace Stegner
Literature & Fiction
A remarkable portrait of one of American labor's most enduring legends: Blending fact with fiction, Wallace Stegner retells the story of Joe Hill, the Wobbly bard who became the stuff of legend when, in 1915, he was executed for the alleged murder of a Salt Lake City businessman. Organizer, agitator, "Labor's Songster"--a rebel from the skin inwards, with an absolute faith in the One Big Union--Joe Hill fought tirelessly in the frequently violent battles between organized labor & industry. But tho songs & stories still vaunt him & his legend continues to inspire those who feel the injustices he fought against, Joe Hill may not have been a saintly crusader, & may have been motivated by impulses darker than the search for justice. Joe Hill is full-bodied portrait of both the man & the myth: from his entrance into the short-lived Industrial Workers of the World union, the most militant organization in the history of American labor, to his trial, imprisonment & final martyrdom-- his last words to the I.W.W., "Don't waste time mourning. Organize."
Empire: A Novel
Gore Vidal
Biography / Fiction / Historical Fiction
Empire, the fourth novel in Gore Vidal's monumental six-volume chronicle of the American past, is his prodigiously detailed portrait of the United States at the dawn of the twentieth century as it begins to emerge as a world power.
------While America struggles to define its destiny, beautiful and ambitious Caroline Sanford fights to control her own fate. One of Vidal's most in-spired creations, she is an embodiment of the complex, vigorous young nation. From the back offices of her Washington newspaper, Caroline confronts the two men who threaten to thwart her ambition: William Randolph Hearst and his protégé, Blaise Sanford, Caroline's half brother. In their struggles for power the lives of brother and sister become intertwined with those of Presidents McKinley and Roosevelt, as well as Astors, Vanderbilts, and Whitneys--all incarnations of America's Gilded Age.
------"Mr. Vidal demonstrates a political imagination and insider's sagacity equaled by no other practicing fiction writer," said The New York Times Book Review. "Like the earlier novels in his historical cycle, Empire is a wonderfully vivid documentary drama."
------With a new Introduction by the author.
From the Hardcover edition.
On Fire: A Teen Wolf Novel
Nancy Holder
Young Adult / Science Fiction & Fantasy
Based on the hit MTV series Teen Wolf—a teenage boy’s life changes forever after he’s bitten by a werewolf.Scott was just a regular guy until one bite changed his life. Now he struggles to understand who he is and what he might become. Is he more wolf than human—or is it the other way around? Whichever it is, it’s not going to be easy. Scott tries to control his urges, but mostly he’s scared that it’s his urges that could end up controlling him. On Fire is the story of what happens when you to walk the line between what you want and what you can’t help from wanting. Will the bite end up being a gift? Or will it be a curse? And what will it all mean for Scott’s relationship with Allison—the girl he can’t get enough of? Only time will tell if he should embrace his newfound powers, or if he should fear them.
Crooked Little Vein: A Novel
Warren Ellis
Comics & Graphic Novels / Science Fiction & Fantasy / Mystery & Thrillers
Burned-out private dick Michael McGill needs to jump-start his career. What he gets instead is a cattle prod to the crotch. The president's heroin-addicted chief of staff wants McGill to find the Constitution—the real one the Founding Fathers secretly devised for the time of gravest crisis. And with God, civility, and Mom's homemade apple pie already dead or dying, that time is now. But McGill has a talent for stumbling into every imaginable depravity—and this case is driving him even deeper into America's darkest, dankest underbelly, toward obscenities that boggle even his mind.
Gone to Soldiers: A Novel
Marge Piercy
Poetry / Literature & Fiction / Feminism
Ten characters, from occupied France to the Pacific Theater and from the frontlines to the home front, are profoundly changed by the events of World War II in this New York Times bestseller
Epic in scope, Marge Piercy’s sweeping novel encompasses the wide range of people and places marked by the Second World War. Each of her ten narrators has a unique and compelling story that powerfully depicts his or her personality, desires, and fears. Special attention is given to the women of the war effort, like Bernice, who rebels against her domineering father to become a fighter pilot, and Naomi, a Parisian Jew sent to live with relatives in Detroit, whose twin sister, Jacqueline—still in France—joins the resistance against Nazi rule.
The horrors of the concentration camps; the heroism of soldiers on the beaches of Okinawa, the skies above London, and the seas of the Mediterranean; the brilliance of code breakers; and the resilience of families waiting for the return of sons, brothers, and fathers are all conveyed through powerful, poignant prose that resonates beyond the page. Gone to Soldiers is a testament to the ordinary people, with their flaws and inner strife, who rose to defend liberty during the most extraordinary times.
.jpg "Tic Tac Toe (A Suspense Novel)")
Tic Tac Toe (A Suspense Novel)
Kel E. Mitchell
How well do we really know those we love? That is the question Irene Duncan asks herself after her father’s brutal murder and the secrets she later discovers.Following a painful betrayal from her life-long friend, Maxwell Frost, Irene flees to her aunt’s home in Paris to escape. Six years later, Irene’s father, the honorable Judge William Duncan, is murdered, and the investigation grows cold when no arrest is made. Confident key clues in the case have been overlooked, Max, now a renowned journalist, tracks Irene down in Europe and persuades her to return to Boston to help unravel the mystery surrounding her father’s death. Will Irene have the courage to face her past as well as the secrets she may uncover about her father’s life? And can she trust Max again? With the help of some close friends, Max and Irene begin to put together the missing pieces of the crime. Yet will they be able to reveal the truth in time, or will their probing set them up as the next target?
Three Days to Never: A Novel
Tim Powers
Science Fiction & Fantasy
Albert Einstein's groundbreaking scientific discoveries made possible the creation of the most terrible weapon the world had ever known. But he made another discovery that he chose to reveal to no one—to keep from human hands a power that dwarfed the atomic bomb.
When twelve-year-old Daphne Marrity takes a videotape labeled Pee-wee's Big Adventure from her recently deceased grandmother's house, neither she nor her college-professor father, Frank, realize what they now have in their possession. In an instant they are thrust into the center of a world-altering conspiracy, drawing the dangerous attentions of both the Israeli Secret Service and an ancient European cabal of occultists. Now father and daughter have three days to learn the rules of a terrifying magical chess game in order to escape a fate more profound than death—because the Marritys hold the key to the ultimate destruction of not only what's to come . . . but what already has been.
Daddy Love: A Novel
Joyce Carol Oates
Literature & Fiction / Short Stories / Criticism
From the author of Bellefleur: A “psychologically incisive” glimpse into the mind of a deranged predator and the boy he abducts to be his son (Booklist).
Robbie Whitcomb is five years old when he’s taken from his mother in a mall parking lot. In her attempt to chase the kidnapper, she’s left badly injured and permanently disfigured. Such are the methods of the man who calls himself Daddy Love—a man known to the rest of the world as charismatic preacher Chester Cash.
For the next six years, Robbie is to be Daddy’s son. That means doing whatever Daddy says—and giving him whatever he wants. Soon Robbie learns to accept his new name, Gideon. He also learns that he is not the first of Daddy Love’s sons. And that each of the others, after reaching a certain age, was never seen again.
As Robbie’s mother recovers from her wounds, her life and marriage are a daily struggle. But as years go by, she maintains a flicker of hope that her son is still alive. Meanwhile, Robbie approaches the “bittersweet age” with no illusions about his fate. But somewhere within this tortured child lies a spark of rebellion. And he knows all too well what survival requires.
“After all these years, Joyce Carol Oates can still give me the creeps.” —Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review
“A lean and disturbing tale that reverberates after its ending.” —The Columbus Dispatch
“Oates makes us squirm as she forces us to see some of the action through Love’s twisted and warped perspective.” —Kirkus Reviews
“This unsettling tale showcases Oates’s masterful storytelling.” —Publishers Weekly
Sealed With a Secret: A Wish Novel
Lisa Schroeder
Young Adult / Children's Books
When Phoebe finds a beautiful antique at a flea market, she's not sure whether it's as valuable as it looks. But inside she discovers something truly amazing a letter written during World War II, from a young girl to her sister who's been evacuated from London. The letter includes a "spell" for bringing people closer together: a list of clues leading all through the city. Each stop along the way adds up to magic.
Phoebe is stunned. Not only has she found a priceless piece of history, the letter is exactly what she needs -- she's also separated from her sister, though not by distance. Alice leaves for university soon, but in the meantime, she wants nothing to do with Phoebe. They used to be so close. Now that Phoebe has this magical list, maybe she can fix everything! That is, unless she accidentally makes everything worse instead...
From the author of My Secret Guide to Paris comes an unforgettable trip through London, with secret treasures around every corner!
The October Horse: A Novel of Caesar and Cleopatra
Part #6 of "Masters of Rome" series by Colleen McCullough
Historical Fiction / Romance / Memoir
A SWEEPING EPIC OF ANCIENT ROME FROM THE #1 BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE THORN BIRDSWith her renowned storytelling gifts in full force, Colleen McCullough delivers a breathtaking novel that is both grand in scope and vivid in detail -- and proves once again why she is the top historical novelist of our time.
In the last days of the Roman Republic, Gaius Julius Caesar is both adored and despised -- but his rule is unshakable. Forced by civil war to leave his beguiling mistress Cleopatra, Caesar turns his eye to the future: who is to inherit the throne of Roman power? But in the shadows of the empire, the talk is of murder. Who among his associates has the cunning and skill to fell the fierce leader -- and brave the dangerous consequences of that cataclysmic act?
Heartstone: A Shardlake Novel
C. J. Sansom
Historical Fiction / Mystery / Thriller
Shardlake goes to war...
Summer, 1545. England is at war. Henry VIII's invasion of France has gone badly wrong, and a massive French fleet is preparing to sail across the Channel. As the English fleet gathers at Portsmouth, the country raises the largest militia army it has ever seen. The King has debased the currency to pay for the war, and England is in the grip of soaring inflation and economic crisis. Meanwhile Matthew Shardlake is given an intriguing legal case by an old servant of Queen Catherine Parr. Asked to investigate claims of "monstrous wrongs" committed against a young ward of the court, which have already involved one mysterious death, Shardlake and his assistant, Barak, journey to Portsmouth.
Once arrived, Shardlake and Barak find themselves in a city preparing to become a war zone; and Shardlake takes the opportunity to also investigate the mysterious past of Ellen Fettipace, a young woman incarcerated in the Bedlam. The emerging mysteries around the young ward, and the events that destroyed Ellen's family nineteen years before, involve Shardlake in reunions with both an old friend and an old enemy close to the throne. Events will converge on board one of the King's great warships, primed for battle in Portsmouth harbour...
From the Hardcover edition.
Bailey's Story: A Dog's Purpose Novel
Part #1.50 of "A Dogs Purpose" series by W. Bruce Cameron
Literature & Fiction / Humor
From W. Bruce Cameron, the author of the New York Times and USA Today bestselling novel A Dog's Purpose, which is now a major motion picture!
Bailey's Story is a heartwarming illustrated novel adapted for young readers from the beloved and New York Times bestselling A Dog's Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron.
Every dog has work to do. Every dog has a purpose.
When Bailey meets eight-year-old Ethan, he quickly figures out his purpose: to play with the boy, to explore the Farm during summers with the boy, and to tidy the boy's dishes by licking them clean (only when Mom isn't watching). But Bailey soon learns that life isn't always so simple--that sometimes bad things happen--and that there can be no greater purpose than to protect the boy he loves.
Bailey's Story is a moving tale about a dog and his boy for young animal lovers by W. Bruce Cameron, bestselling author of the acclaimed novel A Dog's Purpose. Adorable black-and-white illustrations by Richard Cowdrey bring Bailey and his world to life. A discussion and activity guide at the end of the book will help promote family and classroom discussions about Bailey's Story and the insights it provides about humankind's best friends.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Liberation Day - A Thorn Byrd Novel
Dustin Stevens
Suspense / Sports / Contemporary
At the center of a vicious Boston turf battle between the various cartels stands Thorn Byrd, a newly minted employee task with trying to maintain the peace and unravel the source of the tension, something going back more than seventy years, reaching into the annals of World War II and beyond.In occupied Germany in 1942, the young son of a Russian diplomat is picked up by the SS police, never to be seen again. In present day Washington, D.C., an employee stands before the controlling board of his company and makes a pitch that will either make or end his career. In Boston Harbor, shipments of high-end automobiles bound for Italy and containers of refugees inbound from Cuba continue to go missing.At the center of everything stands Thorn Byrd, a recent college graduate just twenty-two years old. Plucked away from the life he had planned and thrust into one he never knew existed, he is forced to decipher who is behind the sinister plot unfolding around him and the global implications it holds.Aiding in his journey are the combined forces of the Cuban and Irish cartels, both of which have lost a great deal of face and are seeking revenge, along with a brother/sister pair desperate to find a lost family member. Opposing them are a conglomerate with ties reaching back to the Second World War and bent on righting wrongs seventy years in the making.Armed only with his instincts and the help of those around him, Thorn must determine who to trust and what to do before it is too late.
Ancient Blood: A Novel of the Hegemony
Brian McKinley
Fantasy / Paranormal / Vampires
Avery Doyle loves vampires; he's read every novel, seen all the movies, and researched the folklore. When his first one-night-stand, Caroline, turns out to be a true vampire on the run, he jumps at the chance to leave his ordinary life and join her as a "child of the night." The honeymoon ends, however, when Caroline's brutal Creator Sebastian enslaves them on his island estate and Avery must confront the dehumanizing reality behind his dreams. In order to survive, Caroline and Avery take their place as servants in Sebastian's household during a gathering of the most powerful vampires on Earth, the Hegemony, and soon find themselves involved in the myriad schemes, plots, and revenges that form the night-to-night existence of The Order. A society of wealth, power, and inhuman decadence whose existence is protected by human complicity and disbelief, The Order is the immortal aristocracy hidden behind the giant corporations and political leaders of the world. Sebastian, however, has a plan that will change The Order forever and shatter human civilization. A fast-paced thriller that both re-imagines and pays tribute to the traditional vampire, Ancient Blood is a story of love, ambition, sacrifice, and betrayal that is frighteningly human.
The Bull From the Sea: A Novel
Mary Renault
Literature & Fiction / Historical Fiction
“Mary Renault is a shining light to both historical novelists and their readers. She does not pretend the past is like the present, or that the people of ancient Greece were just like us. She shows us their strangeness; discerning, sure-footed, challenging our values, piquing our curiosity, she leads us through an alien landscape that moves and delights us.”—Hilary Mantel
In The Bull from the Sea, the story of Theseus resumes with the hero’s return from Knossos. In the wake of his father’s suicide, Athens is now Theseus’s to rule. With his close friend Pirithoos, Theseus sets out for the land of the Amazons, falling in love with their beautiful leader, Hippolyta. Her boldness and sense of honor match his own, but though they’re happy and bear a son, tragedy lies ahead. The Athenians mistrust the foreign Hippolyta, and Theseus is forced to marry Phaedra, his betrothed. War wracks the land, and brings with it death that will change the Athenian king forever. As the darkness gathers, a valiant hero’s life draws poignantly to a close.
This ebook features an illustrated biography of Mary Renault including rare images of the author.
The Weekend: A Novel
Bernhard Schlink
Literature & Fiction / Philosophy / Politics
Old friends and lovers reunite for a weekend in a secluded country home after spending decades apart.
They excavate old memories and pass clandestine judgments on the wildly divergent paths they’ve taken since their youth. But this isn’t just any reunion, and their conversations about the old days aren’t your typical reminiscences: After twenty-four years, Jörg, a convicted murderer and terrorist, has been released from prison. The announcement of his pardon will send shock waves through the country, but before the announcement, his friends—some of whom were Baader-Meinhof sympathizers or those who clung to them—gather for his first weekend of freedom. They have been summoned by Jörg’s devoted sister, Christiane, whose concern for her brother’s safety is matched only by the unrelenting zeal of Marko, a young man intent on having Jörg continue to fight for the cause.
Bernhard Schlink is at his finest as The Weekend unfolds. Passions are pitted against pragmatism, ideas against actions, and hopes against heartbreaking realities.
From the Hardcover edition.
The Road to Omaha: A Novel
Part #2 of "Road to" series by Robert Ludlum
Thriller / Crime
Robert Ludlum’s wayward hero, the outrageous General MacKenzie Hawkins, returns with a diabolical scheme to right a very old wrong—and wreak vengeance on the [redacted] who drummed him out of the military. Discovering a long-buried 1878 treaty with an obscure Indian tribe, the Hawk, a.k.a. Chief Thunder Head, hatches a brilliant plot that will ultimately bring him and his reluctant legal eagle, Sam Devereaux, before the Supreme Court. Their goal is to reclaim a choice piece of American real estate: the state of Nebraska, which just so happens to be the headquarters of the U.S. Strategic Air Command. Their outraged opposition will be no less than the CIA, the Pentagon, and the White House. And only one thing is certain: Ludlum will keep us in nonstop suspense—and side-splitting laughter—through the very last page.
Praise for Robert Ludlum and The Road to Omaha
*
“A very funny book . . . No character is minor: They’re all hilarious.”—Houston Chronicle
“Don’t ever begin a Ludlum novel if you have to go to work the next day.”—Chicago Sun-Times*
BONUS: This edition includes an excerpt from Robert Ludlum’s *The Bourne Identity.*
Missing Mom: A Novel
Joyce Carol Oates
Literature & Fiction / Short Stories / Criticism
Nikki Eaton, single, thirty-one, sexually liberated, and economically self-supporting, has never particularly thought of herself as a daughter. Yet, following the unexpected loss of her mother, she undergoes a remarkable transformation during a tumultuous year that brings stunning horror, sorrow, illumination, wisdom, and even—from an unexpected source—a nurturing love.
King of the Gun Trail: A Frontier G-Man Novel
Franklin D. Lincoln
Exciting western adventures of Secret Agent Jack Clayton and his gallant black stallion Regret as they fight America's worst enemies in the late 1870's, seeking justice for all and forging a nation where all its citizens can be proud to be called Americans.By 2050 the country has gone through some slight changes thanks to a dramatic shift in the makeup in the country's populace giving liberals, referred to by various uncomplimentary names, control over Washington. In that thirty years the country becomes the veritable paradise moonbats have long sought to create, but more resembling a third-world banana republic where English is replaced by twenty-five variations of gang slang, no one gets beyond third grade, rioting and something resembling football with hockey sticks are the national pastimes. There is now a "Forever President," welfare moms have replaced small business, corn is the cornerstone of industry, and people drive around in either battery-powered bubble cars or Latino lowriders. All the while, non-thinking Schwartz is led around on a doggie leash, and has become a 'pinball,' with names ranging from Vic to Dick to Bic, and spends his day bouncing around the fenced playground of a former elementary school turned asylum for the insane. One fine spring day the gate to the compound suddenly opens and Schwartz, along with a hundred or so inmates, unthinkingly escape. While walking aimlessly down a highway, he is struck by another truck (an electric bus) and suddenly awakens from his long sleep to find the liberals' variation of paradise has really arrived in America! Schiessen!
Hornet Flight
Ken Follett
Mystery & Thrillers / Literature & Fiction
Ken Follett follows his bestsellers Jackdaws and Code to Zero with an extraordinary novel of early days of World War II. . . It is June 1941 and the war is not going well for England. Across the North Sea, eighteen-year-old Harald Olufsen takes a shortcut on the German-occupied Danish island of Sande an discovers an astonishing sight that will change the momentum of the war. He must get word to England-except that he has no way to get there. He has only an old derelict Hornet Moth biplane rusting away in a ruined church: a plane so decrepit that it is unlikely ever to get off the ground. . . even if Harald knew how to fly it.
A Novel Idea
Aimee Friedman
Young Adult / Fantasy / Mythology
Required reading has never been so hot.
Once upon a time there was a Brooklyn hipster named Norah. Unlucky in love, and short on extracurriculars for her college apps, Norah decided to start a book group. She knew the perfect locale -- a local indie bookstore with a crush-worthy cutie manning the soy latte counter.
When the first meeting arrives, Norah gets a page-turning surprise. The attendees may be bookish, but there are also a few hotties! Most noteworthy: sweet, literary James. He's like a modern Jane Austen hero.... Only, how to snag him?
Ever the romantic heroine, Norah devises a secret plan. And if it works, Norah may just find her "Happily Ever After" love story. The End.
A Pillar of Iron: A Novel of Ancient Rome
Taylor Caldwell
Literature & Fiction / Historical Fiction
New York Times * Bestseller: A magnificent novel of ancient Rome and the tragic life of Cicero*, who tried in vain to save the republic he loved from tyranny.
In this riveting tale, the Roman Empire in its final glory is seen through the eyes of philosopher, orator, and political theorist Marcus Tullius Cicero.
From his birth in 106 BC in the hill town of Arpinum, Cicero, the educated son of a wealthy member of the equestrian order, is destined for greatness. At a young age, he discovers the legend of the Unknown God, the coming Messiah, and it propels the rising lawyer on a journey of spiritual conflict and self-discovery. From his tumultuous family life to his tenuous alliance with Julius Caesar to a fateful love affair with the Roman empress Livia and, finally, to the political role that will make him a target of powerful enemies, A Pillar of Iron is the story of Cicero’s legacy as one the greatest influences on Western civilization.
Based on hundreds of speeches, voluminous private correspondence, and ancient texts and manuscripts, this bestselling epic brings into focus Cicero’s complicated relationships with his contemporaries, including Caesar, Mark Antony, and Crassus, and brilliantly captures the pageantry, turmoil, and intrigue of life in ancient Rome. According to legendary editor Maxwell Perkins, author “Taylor Caldwell is a storyteller first, last and foremost, and once you begin reading one of her books, you can’t help finishing it.”
This ebook features an illustrated biography of Taylor Caldwell including rare images from the author’s estate.
The Rehearsal: A Novel
Eleanor Catton
Literature & Fiction
All the world's a stage--and nowhere is that more true than at an all-girls high school, particularly one where a scandal has just erupted. A teacher has had an affair with his underage student, and though her friends pretend to be dismayed, they are secretly curious and jealous. They obsessively examine the details of the affair under the watchful eye of their stern and enigmatic saxophone teacher, whose focus may not be as strictly on their upcoming recital as she implies.
When the local drama school turns the story of the scandal into their year-end show, the real world and the world of the theater are forced to meet. With both performances--the musicians' and the acting students'--approaching, the boundaries between dramas real and staged, private and public, begin to dissolve. THE REHEARSAL is a tender portrait of teenage yearning and adult regret, an exhilarating, darkly funny, provocative novel about the complications of human desire.
The Mark and the Void: A Novel
Paul Murray
Humor
What links the Investment Bank of Torabundo, www.myhotswaitress.com (yes, with an s, don't ask), an art heist, a novel called For the Love of a Clown, a six-year-old boy with the unfortunate name of Remington Steele, a lonely French banker, a tiny Pacific island, and a pest control business run by an ex-KGB agent?
The Mark and the Void is Paul Murray's madcap new novel of institutional folly, following the success of his wildly original breakout hit, Skippy Dies. While marooned at his banking job in the bewilderingly damp and insular realm known as Ireland, Claude Martingale is approached by a down-on-his-luck author, Paul, looking for his next great subject. Claude finds that his life gets steadily more exciting under Paul's fictionalizing influence; he even falls in love with a beautiful waitress. But Paul's plan is not what it seems--and neither is Claude's employer, the Investment Bank of Torabundo, which swells through dodgy takeovers and derivatives trading until--well, you can probably guess how that shakes out.
The Mark and the Void is the funniest novel ever written about the recent financial crisis, and a stirring examination of the deceptions carried out in the names of art and commerce.
Exo: A Novel
Steven Gould
Science Fiction & Fantasy / Young Adult
Award-winning author, Steven Gould, returns to the world of his classic novel Jumper in Exo, the sequel to Impulse, blending the drama of high school with world shattering consequences.
Cent can teleport. So can her parents, but they are the only people in the world who can. This is not as great as you might think it would be--sure, you can go shopping in Japan and then have tea in London, but it's hard to keep a secret like that. And there are people, dangerous people, who work for governments and have guns, who want to make you do just this one thing for them. And when you're a teenage girl things get even more complicated. High school. Boys. Global climate change, refugees, and genocide. Orbital mechanics.
But Cent isn't easily daunted, and neither are Davy and Millie, her parents. She's going to make some changes in the world.
The Second Empress: A Novel of Napoleon's Court
Michelle Moran
Historical Fiction
National bestselling author Michelle Moran returns to Paris, this time under the rule of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte as he casts aside his beautiful wife to marry a Hapsburg princess he hopes will bear him a royal heir
After the bloody French Revolution, Emperor Napoleon’s power is absolute. When Marie-Louise, the eighteen year old daughter of the King of Austria, is told that the Emperor has demanded her hand in marriage, her father presents her with a terrible choice: marry the cruel, capricious Napoleon, leaving the man she loves and her home forever, or say no, and plunge her country into war.
Marie-Louise knows what she must do, and she travels to France, determined to be a good wife despite Napoleon’s reputation. But lavish parties greet her in Paris, and at the extravagant French court, she finds many rivals for her husband’s affection, including Napoleon’s first wife, Joséphine, and his sister Pauline, the only woman as ambitious as the emperor himself. Beloved by some and infamous to many, Pauline is fiercely loyal to her brother. She is also convinced that Napoleon is destined to become the modern Pharaoh of Egypt. Indeed, her greatest hope is to rule alongside him as his queen—a brother-sister marriage just as the ancient Egyptian royals practiced. Determined to see this dream come to pass, Pauline embarks on a campaign to undermine the new empress and convince Napoleon to divorce Marie-Louise.
As Pauline’s insightful Haitian servant, Paul, watches these two women clash, he is torn between his love for Pauline and his sympathy for Marie-Louise. But there are greater concerns than Pauline’s jealousy plaguing the court of France. While Napoleon becomes increasingly desperate for an heir, the empire’s peace looks increasingly unstable. When war once again sweeps the continent and bloodshed threatens Marie-Louise’s family in Austria, the second Empress is forced to make choices that will determine her place in history—and change the course of her life.
Based on primary resources from the time, The Second Empress takes readers back to Napoleon’s empire, where royals and servants alike live at the whim of one man, and two women vie to change their destinies.
Good Grief: A Novel
Lolly Winston
Literature & Fiction
The brilliantly funny and heartwarming New York Times bestseller about a young woman who stumbles, then fights to build a new life after the death of her husband. 36-year-old Sophie Stanton loses her young husband to cancer. In an age where women are expected to be high-achievers, Sophie desperately wants to be a good widow?a graceful, composed Jackie Kennedy kind of widow. Alas, Sophie is more of a Jack Daniels kind. Downing cartons of ice-cream for breakfast, breaking down in the produce section of supermarkets, showing up to work in her bathrobe and bunny slippers?soon she?s not only lost her husband, but her job and her waistline as well. In a desperate attempt to reinvent her life, Sophie moves to Ashland, Oregon. But instead of the way it?s depicted in the movies, with a rugged Sam Shepherd kind of guy finding her, Sophie finds herself in the middle of Lucy-and-Ethel madcap adventures with a darkly comic edge. Still, Sophie proves that with enough humor and chutzpah, it is possible to have life after loss.