In Rain of Gold, Victor Villasenor weaves the parallel stories of two families and two countries & bringing us the timeless romance between the volatile bootlegger who would become his father and the beautiful Lupe, his mother & men and women in whose lives the real and the fantastical...  more

In Rain of Gold, Victor Villasenor weaves the parallel stories of two families and two countries & bringing us the timeless romance between the volatile bootlegger who would become his father and the beautiful Lupe, his mother & men and women in whose lives the real and the fantastical exist side by side; and in whose hearts the spirit to survive is fueled by a family's unconditional love.

A well-written, solid novel of character and situation, O'Brien's newest book (after the nonfiction Murder in Little Egypt) presents an authentic picture of vaudeville, the theater and the movie industry in the 1900s. The protagonist is based on the author's own mother, a star of the silent...  more

A well-written, solid novel of character and situation, O'Brien's newest book (after the nonfiction Murder in Little Egypt) presents an authentic picture of vaudeville, the theater and the movie industry in the 1900s. The protagonist is based on the author's own mother, a star of the silent screen. The indulged daughter of a vaudeville impresario who dies nearly penniless, Margaret Spencer is thereafter under the thumb of her greedy, manipulative mother. Now the family breadwinner, teenage Margaret is put to work as a model. Enrolled in the Manhattan's Professional Children's School, she wins the part of Juliet in a school production and (in an insufficiently detailed transition) leaps to a starring role on Broadway. But her mother signs a contract with chicaning agents, thereby sending a reluctant Margaret to Hollywood, where, ironically, Mrs. Spencer loses her firm grip on Margaret's salary. Finally independent, Margaret decides that "the tricks and lies and twists of fate that brought me to Hollywood . . . turned out to be all for the best." Margaret is a spirited, clear-eyed and candid young woman, always willing to indulge her strong libido.

The gruff widower Holland has two possessions he cherishes above all others: his sprawling property of eucalyptus trees and his ravishingly beautiful daughter, Ellen. When Ellen turns nineteen Holland makes an announcement: she may marry only the man who can correctly name the species of each of...  more

The gruff widower Holland has two possessions he cherishes above all others: his sprawling property of eucalyptus trees and his ravishingly beautiful daughter, Ellen. When Ellen turns nineteen Holland makes an announcement: she may marry only the man who can correctly name the species of each of the hundreds of gum trees on his property. Ellen is uninterested in the many suitors who arrive from around the world, until one afternoon she chances on a strange, handsome young man resting under a Coolibah tree. In the days that follow, he spins dozens of tales set in cities, deserts, and faraway countries. As the contest draws to a close, Ellen and the stranger's meetings become more erotic, the stories more urgent. Murray Bail's rich narrative is filled with unexpected wisdom about art, feminine beauty, landscape, and language. Eucalyptus is a shimmering love story that affirms the beguiling power of storytelling itself.

In her first novel since the blockbuster Scarlett, Ripley offers a lively historical about Southern romance and robber barony. As the 19th century draws to a close, Francesca (Chess) Standish, the drab daughter of an old, once wealthy Virginia family, meets handsome Nathaniel (Nate) Richardson,...  more

In her first novel since the blockbuster Scarlett, Ripley offers a lively historical about Southern romance and robber barony. As the 19th century draws to a close, Francesca (Chess) Standish, the drab daughter of an old, once wealthy Virginia family, meets handsome Nathaniel (Nate) Richardson, a struggling North Carolina tobacco farmer with lofty dreams. Though Nate is seven years her junior, Chess thinks he's her only opportunity for happiness. So she persuades him to marry her in exchange for the patent on her grandfather's cigarette manufacturing machine-an invention certain to revolutionize the tobacco industry and make its owner rich. Nate, who values ambition over emotion, agrees and, taking Chess home to his hardscrabble family farm and disapproving mother, sets about transforming himself into a cigarette tycoon. Although Chess is passionately in love with her new husband, he believes that "ladies only put up with" sex, so, while his sexual relations with her remain cold and mechanical, he indulges himself with a series of mistresses, including his brother's scheming wife. Only after Chess is long married and on a visit to England does she prove her husband wrong-in the arms of her cousin, the rakish Lord Randall "Mephisto" Standish. Despite a labored start and the lack of development of several pivotal characters and plot lines, Ripley's feisty heroine and vivid re-creation of the era (there are glimpses of contemporary celebrities including Lillie Langtry and Oscar Wilde) should prove irresistible to readers-or at least to those not put off by protagonists who make their fortunes by nearly singlehandedly creating the cigarette industry.

Bestselling author Gail Tsukiyama is known for her poignant, subtle insights into the most complicated of relationships. Dreaming Water is an exploration of two of the richest and most layered human connections that exist: mother and daughter and lifelong friends.Hana is suffering from Werner's...  more

Bestselling author Gail Tsukiyama is known for her poignant, subtle insights into the most complicated of relationships. Dreaming Water is an exploration of two of the richest and most layered human connections that exist: mother and daughter and lifelong friends.Hana is suffering from Werner's syndrome, a disease that makes a person age at twice the rate of a healthy individual: at thirty-eight Hana has the appearance of an eighty-year-old. Cate, her mother, is caring for her while struggling with her grief at losing her husband, Max, and with the knowledge that Hana's disease is getting worse by the day.Hana and Cate's days are quiet and ordered. Cate escapes to her beloved garden and Hana reads and writes letters. Each find themselves drawn into their pasts, remembering the joyous and challenging events that have shaped them: spending the day at Max's favorite beach, overcoming their neighbors' prejudices that Max is Japanese-American and Cate is Italian-American, and coping with the heartbreak of discovering Hana's disease.One of the great joys of Hana's life has been her relationship with her beautiful, successful best friend Laura. Laura has moved to New York from their hometown in California and has two daughters, Josephine and Camille. She has not been home in years and begs Hana to let her bring her daughters to meet her, feeling that Josephine, in particular, needs to have Hana in her life. Despite Hana's latest refusal, Laura decides to come anyway. When Laura's loud, energetic, and troubled world collides with Hana and Cate's daily routine, the story really begins.Dreaming Water is about a mother's courage, a daughter's strength, and a friend's love. It is about the importance of human dignity and the importance of all the small moments that create a life worth living.

"My parents may love me, but I also know they view me as a houseguest who is turning a weekend stay into an all-expense-paid, lifelong residency, and who (to their horror) constantly forgets to flush the toilet and shut off the lights."Twenty-six-year-old Frannie Hunter has just moved back home....  more

"My parents may love me, but I also know they view me as a houseguest who is turning a weekend stay into an all-expense-paid, lifelong residency, and who (to their horror) constantly forgets to flush the toilet and shut off the lights."Twenty-six-year-old Frannie Hunter has just moved back home. Bright, wry, blunt, and irreverent, she invites you to witness her family's unraveling. Her Harvard-bound sister is anorexic, her mother is having an affair, her father is obsessed with the Food Network, her grandfather wants to plan her wedding (even though she has no fiancé, let alone a steady boyfriend), and, to top it off, Frannie is a waitress who wears a dirty duck apron and serves plates of fried cheese to her ex-boyfriend's parents. By turns wickedly funny and heartbreakingly bittersweet, Hunger Point chronicles Frannie's triumph over her own self-destructive tendencies, and offers a powerful exploration of the complex relationships that bind together a contemporary American family. You will never forget Frannie, a "sultry, suburban Holden Caulfield," who critics have called "the most fully realized character to come along in years," (Paper) and you'll never forget Hunger Point, an utterly original novel that stuns with its amazing insights and dazzles with its fresh, distinctive voice.

In 1894 Carrie McGavock is an old woman, an old woman who has only her former slave to keep her company...along with the almost 1,500 soldiers buried in her backyard. Years ago, rather than let someone plow over the field where these young men had been buried, Carrie dug them up and buried them...  more

In 1894 Carrie McGavock is an old woman, an old woman who has only her former slave to keep her company...along with the almost 1,500 soldiers buried in her backyard. Years ago, rather than let someone plow over the field where these young men had been buried, Carrie dug them up and buried them in her own personal cemetery. Now, as she walks the rows of the dead, an old soldier appears. It is the man she met that day of the battle that changed everything. The man who came to her house as a wounded soldier and left with her heart. He asks if the cemetery has room for one more.

In a rare and gorgeous departure, beloved novelist Alice Hoffman weaves a web of tales, all set in Blackbird House. This small farm on the outer reaches of Cape Cod is a place that is as bewitching and alive as the characters we meet: Violet, a brilliant girl who is in love with books and with a...  more

In a rare and gorgeous departure, beloved novelist Alice Hoffman weaves a web of tales, all set in Blackbird House. This small farm on the outer reaches of Cape Cod is a place that is as bewitching and alive as the characters we meet: Violet, a brilliant girl who is in love with books and with a man destined to betray her; Lysander Wynn, attacked by a halibut as big as a horse, certain that his life is ruined until a boarder wearing red boots arrives to change everything; Maya Cooper, who does not understand the true meaning of the love between her mother and father until it is nearly too late. From the time of the British occupation of Massachusetts to our own modern world, family after family’s lives are inexorably changed, not only by the people they love but by the lives they lead inside Blackbird House. These interconnected narratives are as intelligent as they are haunting, as luminous as they are unusual. Inside Blackbird House more than a dozen men and women learn how love transforms us and how it is the one lasting element in our lives. The past both dissipates and remains contained inside the rooms of Blackbird House, where there are terrible secrets, inspired beauty, and, above all else, a spirit of coming home.

The Los Angeles Times called Beverly Swerling's City of Dreams "a near-perfect historical novel." Now, in Shadowbrook, set against the backdrop of the famously bloody French and Indian War, Swerling once again tells a gripping, multilayered story of colonial America that will captivate both new...  more

The Los Angeles Times called Beverly Swerling's City of Dreams "a near-perfect historical novel." Now, in Shadowbrook, set against the backdrop of the famously bloody French and Indian War, Swerling once again tells a gripping, multilayered story of colonial America that will captivate both new readers and admirers of her critically acclaimed earlier novel. 1754. In a low-lying glen in the Ohio Country, where both the French and the English claim dominion, the first musket ball fired signals the start of the savage seven-year conflict destined to dismantle France's overreaching empire and pave the way for the American Revolution. It is here that Swerling introduces a cast of unforgettable characters: Quentin Hale, the fearless gentleman-turned-scout the Indians call Red Bear; Cormac Shea, the part-Irish, part-Indian woodsman with a foot in both worlds, sworn to drive every white man from Canada; and the beautiful Nicole Crane, who, struggling to reconcile her love for Hale and her calling to the convent, becomes a pawn in the British quest for territory. Quentin and Cormac were raised as brothers on Shadowbrook, a prosperous plantation in the northern wilderness whose fertile land, worked by slaves, sits between Hudson's River and the Adirondack Mountains. Though fiercely devoted to each other, they often find themselves on opposite sides of a fight, but not in this war, or in the struggle to wrest control of Shadowbrook from Quentin's depraved older brother. From Iroquois longhouses to the elegant rooms of Shadowbrook, from the virgin forests of the frontier to the cobbled streets of Québec, Swerling weaves a tale of passion and intrigue, faith and devotion, courage and betrayal. Peopled by historical figures including a young George Washington, the fabled Ottawa chief Pontiac, and the legendary generals Wolfe and Montcalm, this richly textured novel vividly captures the conflict that ignited the eighteenth century and presaged our nation's quest for independence. But it is through Swerling's powerfully drawn characters -- the ordinary men and women living in a world on the brink of astonishing change -- that this novel comes searingly alive. A classic in the making, Shadowbrook is a page-turning tale of ambition, war, and the transforming power of both love and duty.

An Arab-American novel as delicious as Like Water for Chocolate. Praised by critics from The New Yorker to USA Today for her first novel, Arabian Jazz ("an oracular tale that unfurls like gossamer"), Diana Abu-Jaber weaves with spellbinding magic a multidimensional love story set...  more

An Arab-American novel as delicious as Like Water for Chocolate. Praised by critics from The New Yorker to USA Today for her first novel, Arabian Jazz ("an oracular tale that unfurls like gossamer"), Diana Abu-Jaber weaves with spellbinding magic a multidimensional love story set in the Arab-American community of Los Angeles. Thirty-nine-year-old Sirine, never married, lives with a devoted Iraqi-immigrant uncle and an adoring dog named King Babar. She works as a chef in a Lebanese restaurant, her passions aroused only by the preparation of food—until an unbearably handsome Arabic literature professor starts dropping by for a little home cooking. Falling in love brings Sirene's whole heart to a boil—stirring up memories of her parents and questions about her identity as an Arab American. Written in a lush, lyrical style reminiscent of The God of Small Things, infused with the flavors and scents of Middle Eastern food, and spiced with history and fable, Crescent is a sensuous love story and a gripping tale of risk and commitment.

Nothing in Japanese literature prepares us for the stark, tension-filled, plot-driven realism of Natsuo Kirino’s award-winning literary mystery Out. This mesmerizing novel tells the story of a brutal murder in the staid Tokyo suburbs, as a young mother who works the night shift making...  more

Nothing in Japanese literature prepares us for the stark, tension-filled, plot-driven realism of Natsuo Kirino’s award-winning literary mystery Out. This mesmerizing novel tells the story of a brutal murder in the staid Tokyo suburbs, as a young mother who works the night shift making boxed lunches strangles her abusive husband and then seeks the help of her coworkers to dispose of the body and cover up her crime. The coolly intelligent Masako emerges as the plot’s ringleader, but quickly discovers that this killing is merely the beginning, as it leads to a terrifying foray into the violent underbelly of Japanese society. At once a masterpiece of literary suspense and pitch-black comedy of gender warfare, Out is also a moving evocation of the pressures and prejudices that drive women to extreme deeds, and the friendships that bolster them in the aftermath.  

In the middle of tending to the everyday business at her vintage clothing shop and sidestepping her married boyfriend's attempts at commitment, Iris Lockhart receives a stunning phone call: Her great-aunt Esme, whom she never knew existed, is being released from Cauldstone Hospital -- where she...  more

In the middle of tending to the everyday business at her vintage clothing shop and sidestepping her married boyfriend's attempts at commitment, Iris Lockhart receives a stunning phone call: Her great-aunt Esme, whom she never knew existed, is being released from Cauldstone Hospital -- where she has been locked away for over sixty years. Iris's grandmother Kitty always claimed to be an only child. But Esme's papers prove she is Kitty's sister, and Iris can see the shadow of her dead father in Esme's face. Esme has been labeled harmless -- sane enough to coexist with the rest of the world. But Esme's still basically a stranger, a family member never mentioned by the family, and one who is sure to bring life-altering secrets with her when she leaves the ward. If Iris takes her in, what dangerous truths might she inherit? Maggie O'Farrell's intricate tale of family secrets, lost lives, and the freedom brought by truth will haunt readers long past its final page.

Crow Lake is that rare find, a first novel so quietly assured, so emotionally pitch perfect, you know from the opening page that this is the real thing–a literary experience in which to lose yourself, by an author of immense talent. Here is a gorgeous, slow-burning story set in the...  more

Crow Lake is that rare find, a first novel so quietly assured, so emotionally pitch perfect, you know from the opening page that this is the real thing–a literary experience in which to lose yourself, by an author of immense talent. Here is a gorgeous, slow-burning story set in the rural “badlands” of northern Ontario, where heartbreak and hardship are mirrored in the landscape. For the farming Pye family, life is a Greek tragedy where the sins of the fathers are visited on the sons, and terrible events occur–offstage. Centerstage are the Morrisons, whose tragedy looks more immediate if less brutal, but is, in reality, insidious and divisive. Orphaned young, Kate Morrison was her older brother Matt’s protegee, her fascination for pond life fed by his passionate interest in the natural world. Now a zoologist, she can identify organisms under a microscope but seems blind to the state of her own emotional life. And she thinks she’s outgrown her siblings–Luke, Matt, and Bo–who were once her entire world. In this universal drama of family love and misunderstandings, of resentments harbored and driven underground, Lawson ratchets up the tension with heartbreaking humor and consummate control, continually overturning one’s expectations right to the very end. Tragic, funny, unforgettable, Crow Lake is a quiet tour de force that will catapult Mary Lawson to the forefront of fiction writers today.

From Publishers Weekly Set against an exotic background complete with a tiger hunt and the opium trade of 19th-century India, a tragedy of surprising scope is played out here. In the center is pseudonymous Ryman's heroine, freethinking American Olivia O'Rourke, who comes to...  more

From Publishers Weekly Set against an exotic background complete with a tiger hunt and the opium trade of 19th-century India, a tragedy of surprising scope is played out here. In the center is pseudonymous Ryman's heroine, freethinking American Olivia O'Rourke, who comes to Calcutta's "village of palaces" to visit her relatives Sir Joshua and Lady Bridget Templewood. Her radiant innocence proves out of place in the stiflingly proper atmosphere, and from the moment her path crosses that of the enigmatic Eurasian Jai Raventhorne she is caught up in an obsessive affair, with only her formidable intelligence and courage enabling her to endure Jai's savage betrayal of herself, her aunt and her uncle. Yet her romantic ordeal transforms Olivia into as ruthless an adversary as the man to whom she gave her love and trust, and out of the ill-fated choices she must make a great cynicism is forged. Beneath the propriety of the staid expatriate British community in Calcutta fester secrets of unspeakable defilements, and Ryman, a spellbinding storyteller, captivates the reader from the first page.

A prostitute clad in a green velvet gown is found murdered in a warehouse on the backstreets of 1870's Manhattan. The ball gown she is wearing has a name-label, bearing the name of the wife of prominent attorney Vance Walburton. When the police question Walburton, it emerges that his wife left...  more

A prostitute clad in a green velvet gown is found murdered in a warehouse on the backstreets of 1870's Manhattan. The ball gown she is wearing has a name-label, bearing the name of the wife of prominent attorney Vance Walburton. When the police question Walburton, it emerges that his wife left him some several months earlier. Walburton hires Harp, a streetwise Civil War veteran, to locate his wife and discover her connection to the slain woman. Harp questions everyone who had business at the warehouse, including the owner and gangsters who were robbing it near the time of the murder, then with the help of a secret lover, he follows a hunch that the disappearance and the murder are somehow connected to the incipient women's movement.

In this gripping and timely work, William Safire unveils the story behind the nation's first great political scandals. James Thomson Callender, the "scandalmonger" of the title, is an ambitious gossip-peddling editor secretly hired by Thomas Jefferson as a political...  more

In this gripping and timely work, William Safire unveils the story behind the nation's first great political scandals. James Thomson Callender, the "scandalmonger" of the title, is an ambitious gossip-peddling editor secretly hired by Thomas Jefferson as a political weapon. After carefully damaging Alexander Hamilton's reputation, thereby paving the way for Jefferson's success, Callender is shunned by the very politicians on whose behalf he was jailed for sedition. Broke and betrayed, Callender seeks revenge by exposing an illicit affair between Jefferson and his slave Sally Hemmings, an accusation that ultimately cost Callender his career and would not be authenticated for two centuries. By using actual letters, records, and notes to re-create dialogue and events, Scandalmonger embodies historical fiction at its best, politics at its most intriguing, and our Founding Fathers at their most notorious. For those who think that Washington sex scandals and lurid journalism are recent developments, this novel will be a revelation, for Safire shows how media intrusiveness into private lives -- and politicians' cool manipulation of the press -- are practices as old as the Constitution. The bestselling historical novel that exposes the less than honorable side of our Founding Fathers by the Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist.

Murray Katz, the celibate keeper of an abandoned lighthouse near Atlantic City, has been blessed with a daughter conceived of his own seed and a holy ovum. Like her half brother Jesus, Julie Katz can walk on water, heal the blind, and raise the dead. But being the Messiah isn't easy, and...  more

Murray Katz, the celibate keeper of an abandoned lighthouse near Atlantic City, has been blessed with a daughter conceived of his own seed and a holy ovum. Like her half brother Jesus, Julie Katz can walk on water, heal the blind, and raise the dead. But being the Messiah isn't easy, and Julie, bewildered by her role in the divine scheme of things, is tempted by the Devil and challenged by neo-Christian zealots in this lively odyssey through Hell and New Jersey.  

Rose is a wonderfully rich and intricate novel set in nineteenth-century Wigan, a town located in the coal country of Lancashire.  Its protagonist, Jonathan Blair, is a mining engineer who has been chased out of Africa for "stealing" from the missionaries' Bible Fund in order to pay...  more

Rose is a wonderfully rich and intricate novel set in nineteenth-century Wigan, a town located in the coal country of Lancashire.  Its protagonist, Jonathan Blair, is a mining engineer who has been chased out of Africa for "stealing" from the missionaries' Bible Fund in order to pay off the porter of his expedition into the interior of the Gold Coast; he is now down and out in London.Blair's employer, Bishop Hannay, promises to send him back to Africa if he can find John Maypole, the curate who was engaged to his daughter, Charlotte Hannay, when he disappeared three months previously without explanation.  Charlotte herself is an ill-tempered young woman who takes an instant dislike to Blair when he tries to investigate her fiancé's disappearance.  Other characters include assorted townspeople, miners at the Hannay family mine, and Rose Molyneux, a "pit girl" with whom Blair falls in love.Exceeding even the high expectations of Smith's readers, Rose is richly detailed and compelling--his most accomplished and fascinating novel to date.

Sam was a Chicago lawyer content to drift though life on his good looks and his wife's money, until a violent crime shatters his world. Newly addicted to watching Sister North, a nun with a popular television show, Sam embarks on a trip to Lake Eagleton, Wisconsin, to see the nun personally,...  more

Sam was a Chicago lawyer content to drift though life on his good looks and his wife's money, until a violent crime shatters his world. Newly addicted to watching Sister North, a nun with a popular television show, Sam embarks on a trip to Lake Eagleton, Wisconsin, to see the nun personally, seeking forgiveness and spiritual guidance. In Lake Eagleton, he finds out much more about Sister North, himself, and falling in love than he ever expected. Sister North is a novel of forgiveness and hope that takes a poignant and humorous look at what passes for love and faith in the twenty-first century.

Every family has a story. Every story, eventually, must be told.  For most of their lives, Julian Perel and his sister, Paula, lived in a house cast in silence, witnesses to a father struggling with a devastating secret too painful to share. Though their father took his demons to the...  more

Every family has a story. Every story, eventually, must be told.  For most of their lives, Julian Perel and his sister, Paula, lived in a house cast in silence, witnesses to a father struggling with a devastating secret too painful to share. Though their father took his demons to the grave, his past refuses to rest. As adults, brother and sister struggle to find their voices. A scientist governed by numbers and logic, Julian now lives an ordered life of routine and seclusion. My father gave up his language and his homeland. But he carried his sadness with him, under his skin. It was mine now. In contrast, Paula has entered the world as eagerly as Julian retracts from it. An aspiring opera singer, she is always moving, buoyant with sound. Singing was the only gift I could offer to my father. I filled the house with music. I tried to give him joy.... Yet both their lives begin to change on a Wednesday, miercoles, the day that sounds like miracles. Before embarking on a European opera tour, Paula asks her housekeeper, Sola, to stay at her place--and to look after Julian in the apartment above. Yet Sola, too, has a story. I want to clean myself like the window of a house, make myself clear for things to pass through. Flat and quiet. As Paula uncovers pieces of her father's early life in Budapest and the horrifying truth of his past, Julian bears witness to Sola's story--revelations that help all three learn how to both surrender and revere the shadows that have followed them for so long. The Speed of Light is a powerful debut about three unforgettable souls who overcome the tragedies of the past to reconnect with one another and the world around them. In an extraordinary accomplishment, Elizabeth Rosner has created a novel of love and redemption that proves the pain of the untold story is far greater than even the most difficult truth.

As a child, the flamboyant, brooding, and beautiful Rozzie was always the star of her family -- especially in her younger sister Jemma's eyes. So when Rozzie takes up acting and, as a teenager, wins a part in a major motion picture, life changes irrevocably for both sisters. Rozzie is...  more

As a child, the flamboyant, brooding, and beautiful Rozzie was always the star of her family -- especially in her younger sister Jemma's eyes. So when Rozzie takes up acting and, as a teenager, wins a part in a major motion picture, life changes irrevocably for both sisters. Rozzie is catapulted into the chaotic adult world of celebrity while Jemma travels to movie sets and relishes her sister's fame -- never seeing the strain that the spotlight puts on Rozzie. Soon Jemma develops her own artistic ambitions as a photographer, and Rozzie is forced to reveal the secret she has kept from her family for years -- a rare eye condition that threatens her vision. Only then does Jemma begin to see the truth about her sister and herself -- a reality that threatens the delicate balance of their relationship. A moving and profound story about family, celebrity, envy, and ultimately love, The Art of Seeing is a brilliant exploration of the powerful and enduring connection between sisters.

Successful London lawyer Carter Graham has power, sex appeal, and a well-ordered life. Everything has gone according to plan, including her recent marriage to Kim Betz, an investment banker with the right combination of looks and position. On the surface it appears to be a match made in heaven....  more

Successful London lawyer Carter Graham has power, sex appeal, and a well-ordered life. Everything has gone according to plan, including her recent marriage to Kim Betz, an investment banker with the right combination of looks and position. On the surface it appears to be a match made in heaven. The only problem is Kim?s ex-wife. Sophie begins to follow Carter like a shadow, making outrageous claims about Kim?s involvement in the occult. Convincing herself that Sophie is mad, Carter moves ahead with her life. But something is amiss?and as Sophie?s stories are corroborated by other unwelcome disclosures from Kim?s past, Carter is thrown into a terrifying web of suspicion and betrayal, pushing her sanity to the edge. In desperation, Carter seeks help from Nicholas Darrow, the charismatic priest of St. Benet?s Healing Center. Though a religious skeptic, Carter hopes to stem the tide of darkness that threatens to envelop her life?and begins a compelling journey into the very nature of good and evil, wisdom and redemption. . . .

Ariveting, old-fashioned story with a modern spirit, Mary Sharratt"sfollow-up to her much-acclaimed debut, Summit Avenue, is thestory of three women forging their own paths in a midwestern farmingcommunity. In 1923, as book-loving Penny enters adolescence, hermother pulls her out of school to go...  more

Ariveting, old-fashioned story with a modern spirit, Mary Sharratt"sfollow-up to her much-acclaimed debut, Summit Avenue, is thestory of three women forging their own paths in a midwestern farmingcommunity. In 1923, as book-loving Penny enters adolescence, hermother pulls her out of school to go to work. Penny, the only child ofBarbara, an embittered single mother who works as a cleaning womanfor a wealthy family, sees no escape from her bleak existence until ascandalous figure arrives in the town of Minerva, Minnesota, and setstongues wagging. Cora, very pregnant, very headstrong, and very alone,has come to make a home on her grandfather"s farm. Intrigued by thiscurious woman, Penny goes to work for her. Like Sue Monk Kidd"sThe Secret Life of Bees, The Real Minerva is a suspenseful and movingnovel about the strength of women and the unexpected bonds that formbetween them.

She was just writing a story. When Anna Koval decides to creatively kill time at her library job in Austin by teaching herself HTML and posting partially fabricated stories about her life on the Internet, she hardly imagines anyone besides her friend Dale is going to read them. He's been...  more

She was just writing a story. When Anna Koval decides to creatively kill time at her library job in Austin by teaching herself HTML and posting partially fabricated stories about her life on the Internet, she hardly imagines anyone besides her friend Dale is going to read them. He's been bugging her to start writing again since her breakup with Ian over a year ago. And so what if the "Anna K" persona in Anna's online journal has a fabulous boyfriend named Ian? It's not like the real Ian will ever find out about it. The story started writing itself. Almost instantly Anna K starts getting e-mail from adoring fans that read her daily postings religiously. One devotee, Tess, seems intent on becoming Anna K's real-life best friend and another, a male admirer who goes by the name of "Ldobler," sounds like he'd want to date Anna K if she didn't already have a boyfriend. Meanwhile, the real Anna can't help but wonder if her newfound fans like her or the alter ego she's created. It's only a matter of time before fact and fiction collide and force Anna to decide not only who she wants to be with, but who she wants to be.

Relentless, remorseless, and inspirational, this "horrific, hope-filled story" (Newsday) is certain to haunt a generation of readers. Precious Jones, 16 years old and pregnant by her father with her second child, meets a determined and highly radical teacher who takes her on a journey...  more

Relentless, remorseless, and inspirational, this "horrific, hope-filled story" (Newsday) is certain to haunt a generation of readers. Precious Jones, 16 years old and pregnant by her father with her second child, meets a determined and highly radical teacher who takes her on a journey of transformation and redemption.

There is pure evil at work, infesting the body and spirit, driving its victims to insanity, suicide, and murder. To cast it out, a Jesuit priest must take a frightening journey into the heart of a Southern family tormented by an unspeakable curse. As he unravels three generations of secrets...  more

There is pure evil at work, infesting the body and spirit, driving its victims to insanity, suicide, and murder. To cast it out, a Jesuit priest must take a frightening journey into the heart of a Southern family tormented by an unspeakable curse. As he unravels three generations of secrets and battles for the very soul of the family's last surviving member, he will wrestle with his faith in the face of lust and collide with dark forces hell-bent on destroying him. Brilliantly imagined and compulsively readable, DARK DEBTS is a pulse-pounding supernatural thriller--a remarkable novel that will grip you with its nightmare vision of evil and hold you spellbound until the very last page.

There are places that can remake you -- slippery, gray places. Places that hold their secrets in the fog and whisper them on the wind. And when Brandy, a floundering, trashy, Latin-spewing cocktail waitress, finds herself drifting across the line between the ordinary world and just such a place,...  more

There are places that can remake you -- slippery, gray places. Places that hold their secrets in the fog and whisper them on the wind. And when Brandy, a floundering, trashy, Latin-spewing cocktail waitress, finds herself drifting across the line between the ordinary world and just such a place, something fearsome and beautiful happens. Something changes. Sweeping across centuries and into the Aleutian Islands of Alaska's Bering Sea, And She Was begins with a decision and a broken taboo when three starving Aleut mothers decide to take their fate into their own hands and survive the devastation of Russian conquest. The shadow of their heroic and tragic decision reaches forward across the generations, and as cultural upheavals undulate through the Aleutian chain, their descendants are willing to risk even more as the gold rush and World War II internment threatens their people's survival. Two hundred and fifty years later, by the time Brandy steps ashore in the 1980s, Unalaska Island has absorbed their dark secret, a secret that is both salvation and shame. Brandy doesn't know why she's there. She's too old and too smart to be drifting so close to the edge of the known world. As usual, she is following a man with curly hair and no long-range goals. She takes a job slinging drinks at the notoriously dangerous Elbow Room, studies Aleutian history, learns to ride a motorcycle, and with a practiced psyche avoids thinking about her withered past and her abandoned future. She is fighting her own battle for survival, a battle she does not even recognize. But the island's secret follows her -- in the odd bathroom graffiti, the old Aleut women who hike in the night, the unexplained deaths clouding the island, and the enigmatic smile of a young Aleut woman sketched centuries before. Brandy begins to pay attention. She begins to long for her life to change. In a tense interplay between past and present, And She Was explores Aleut history, taboos, mummies, conquest, survival, and the seamy side of the 1980s in a fishing boomtown at the edge of the world. It leaps across time and culture to a lost woman, who more than anything needs to understand the gray shades between heroism and evil, between freedom and bondage, between this place and the rest of her life.

"I'd gladly sell my soul to Satan for a year of freedom," cries impetuous Rosamond Vivian to her callous grandfather.  Then, one stormy night, a brooding stranger appears in her remote island home, ready to take Rosamond to her word. Spellbound by the mysterious Philip Tempest,...  more

"I'd gladly sell my soul to Satan for a year of freedom," cries impetuous Rosamond Vivian to her callous grandfather.  Then, one stormy night, a brooding stranger appears in her remote island home, ready to take Rosamond to her word. Spellbound by the mysterious Philip Tempest, Rosamond is seduced with promises of love and freedom, then spirited away on Tempest's sumptuous yacht.  But she soon finds herself trapped in a web of intrigue, cruelty, and deceit. Desperate to escape, she flees to Italy, France, and Germany, from Parisian garret to mental asylum, from convent to chateau, as Tempest stalks every step of the fiery beauty who has become his obsession.A story of dark love and passionate obsession that was considered "too sensational" to be published in the authors lifetime, A Long Fatal Love Chase was written for magazine serialization in 1866, two years before the publication of Little Women. Buried among Louisa May Alcott's papers for more than a century, its publication is a literary landmark--a novel that is bold, timeless, and mesmerizing."

A journalist's provocative and spellbinding account of her eighteen months spent disguised as a man Norah Vincent became an instant media sensation with the publication of Self-Made Man, her take on just how hard it is to be a man, even in a man's world. Following in the tradition of John...  more

A journalist's provocative and spellbinding account of her eighteen months spent disguised as a man Norah Vincent became an instant media sensation with the publication of Self-Made Man, her take on just how hard it is to be a man, even in a man's world. Following in the tradition of John Howard Griffin (Black Like Me), Norah spent a year and a half disguised as her male alter ego, Ned, exploring what men are like when women aren't around. As Ned, she joins a bowling team, takes a high-octane sales job, goes on dates with women (and men), visits strip clubs, and even manages to infiltrate a monastery and a men's therapy group. At once thought- provoking and pure fun to read, Self-Made Man is a sympathetic and thrilling tour de force of immersion journalism.

Fiona, a New York librarian filled with a sense of adventure and a desire to do good, heads to Kenya to run the camel bookmobile. She has long romanticized Africa, and she arrives determined but naive. Her most remote stop is Mididima, a seminomadic farming village with a makeshift school, led...  more

Fiona, a New York librarian filled with a sense of adventure and a desire to do good, heads to Kenya to run the camel bookmobile. She has long romanticized Africa, and she arrives determined but naive. Her most remote stop is Mididima, a seminomadic farming village with a makeshift school, led by Matani, who has studied in Nairobi but returned to educate his fellow villagers. Young Kanika, who wants to leave and study as well; the reclusive Scar Boy; and their families are among Fiona's patrons. When Scar Boy doesn't return the books he's borrowed, the overly rigid local librarian threatens to end the Mididima stop. Fiona, Matani, and Kanika each have stake in keeping the bookmobile coming, so they all try to get the boy to return them. However, he has his own compelling reason to keep them. All of the characters take a turn at narrating chapters, allowing readers to understand their place in the story more fully. Ultimately, each one is changed by the bookmobile, but not in ways that they (or we) might expect.

"We are each the love of someone's life." So begins The Confessions of Max Tivoli, a heartbreaking love story with a narrator like no other. Born with the physical appearance of an elderly man, Max grows older mentally like any child, but his body appears to age backwards, growing younger...  more

"We are each the love of someone's life." So begins The Confessions of Max Tivoli, a heartbreaking love story with a narrator like no other. Born with the physical appearance of an elderly man, Max grows older mentally like any child, but his body appears to age backwards, growing younger every year. And yet, his physical curse proves to be a blessing, allowing him to try to win the heart of the same woman three times as at each successive encounter she fails to recognize him, taking him for a stranger, so giving Max another chance at love. Set against the historical backdrop of San Francisco at the turn of the twentieth century, The Confessions of Max Tivoli is a beautiful and daring feat of the imagination, questioning the very nature of love, time, and what it means to be human.

For years, Jina, Irene, Mary, and Alice have been telling their secrets over sushi. But when struggling novelist Alice finally writes a bestseller, the other three are horrified to see their lives in its pages. Alice says she never meant to hurt anyone. But her novel could very well destroy them...  more

For years, Jina, Irene, Mary, and Alice have been telling their secrets over sushi. But when struggling novelist Alice finally writes a bestseller, the other three are horrified to see their lives in its pages. Alice says she never meant to hurt anyone. But her novel could very well destroy them all. In search of answers and healing, these four women journey into the wilderness together. There they face their greatest test-one of physical and emotional endurance that will reveal more about them than any tell-all book.

"UNFORGETTABLE . . . Hassler has skillfully encapsulated an entire world of humanity and emotion in one tiny town in northern Minnesota."--San Diego Union-TribuneRookery State College in the late 1960s is an academic backwater if ever there was one. Then, one frigid afternoon, the Icejam Quintet...  more

"UNFORGETTABLE . . . Hassler has skillfully encapsulated an entire world of humanity and emotion in one tiny town in northern Minnesota."--San Diego Union-TribuneRookery State College in the late 1960s is an academic backwater if ever there was one. Then, one frigid afternoon, the Icejam Quintet is born. With Leland Edwards on piano, Neil Novotny on clarinet, Victor Dash on drums, and Connor on bass, the group comes together with the help of its muse, the lovely Peggy Benoit, who plays saxophone and sings. But soon isolated Rookery State will be touched by the great discontent sweeping the country. News of a salary freeze electrifies the rabble-rousing Victor, and the first labor union in the college's history comes noisily to campus. As a teachers' strike takes shape, threatening both the draft-dodging students and the complacent administration, the five musicians must struggle with their loyalties--to the school, the town, their families, and each other. . . ."IRRESISTIBLY DELIGHTFUL . . . TOUCHING AND UPLIFTING."--The Orlando Sentinel"AN UPROARIOUSLY FUNNY, WONDERFULLY SATISFYING SENDUP OF ACADEMIC TOMFOOLERY."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

In the tradition of Susan Isaacs comes a charming debut novel featuring a lovable phone psychic, whose talents will either save her family from financial ruin -- or ruin her family altogether.What do you do when your husband's business is failing, your daughter is ashamed of you, and your faith...  more

In the tradition of Susan Isaacs comes a charming debut novel featuring a lovable phone psychic, whose talents will either save her family from financial ruin -- or ruin her family altogether.What do you do when your husband's business is failing, your daughter is ashamed of you, and your faith in your own talents hits rock bottom? Miriam is a modern-day Long Island housewife, who just happens to be a professional phone psychic. But while she can heal broken hearts, mend relationships, and help others find new careers, her own life is in shambles.It starts with the family business. Her husband, Rory, is working every spare minute to keep his business, Mirror Pharmacy, afloat, but no matter what cost-saving measures he takes, a profit seems farther and farther away. Using her gift, Miriam tries to channel to the heart of the problem, but Rory's patience with her "readings" has worn as thin as his cash flow. Then there is Miriam's teenage daughter, Cara, who cannot stand to be in the same room with her, much less listen to any psychically generated advice. Now involved with a particularly bad-news boyfriend, she's too in love to take Miriam's warnings seriously. Miriam struggles to maintain a positive outlook -- things are bad, but they can always be worse, goes her mantra. So when a persistent agent proclaims her talents remarkable and marketable, Miriam decides to take action. But will going public ruin her family's already questionable standing in their prim Long Island community? And will her trusted spirits -- her dear departed Dad and Russian grandmother, Bubbie -- remain faithful if she "sells out"? Miriam struggles to sort through her escalating troubles and trust her abilities in times of crisis, even as her visions are becoming too cloudy to interpret.In a quirky tale full of humor and heartache, Rochelle Shapiro captures the universal desire to find one's true self, no matter the opinions of others. Smart and sassy, Miriam the Medium is the debut of a talented and imaginative author -- one who is able to conjure with words and spirit.

Police officer Francesca Colon, 38, a Puerto Rican single mother of two teenagers, is starting a new high-profile assignment in the NYPD's Public Information Office. Her excitement over her promotion pales when she discovers that she must work with the angry and lecherous Dick Walsh, her...  more

Police officer Francesca Colon, 38, a Puerto Rican single mother of two teenagers, is starting a new high-profile assignment in the NYPD's Public Information Office. Her excitement over her promotion pales when she discovers that she must work with the angry and lecherous Dick Walsh, her former partner, whom she had hoped never to see again. When a police officer kills a young Latino who was possibly a drug dealer, and another officer is accused of throwing a young boy off a rooftop, Francesca finds herself thrust into the spotlight as a spokesperson whom the Department is counting on to calm the tense Latino community. The beleaguered cop must also deal with family troubles. Her daughter has returned home from Madrid, pregnant by her gypsy boyfriend. Her son has run off to stay with his AIDS-stricken father, who's living with squatters. Her sister and her sister's lesbian lover have a new baby, conceived with the help of a turkey baster, and her mother is practicing magical love spells. Amidst all this strife, Francesca makes peace with Walsh and begins a fiery affair with Denzel Brown, an activist lawyer representing both the squatters and the mother of one of the dead boys. Amid all the conflict, Francesca retains passion, humor, and hope - for herself, for her family, and for her community.

In one bloody night, three of Washington's most powerful politicians are executed with surgical precision. Their assassins then deliver a shocking ultimatum to the American government: set aside partisan politics and restore power to the people. No one, they warn, is out of their reach --...  more

In one bloody night, three of Washington's most powerful politicians are executed with surgical precision. Their assassins then deliver a shocking ultimatum to the American government: set aside partisan politics and restore power to the people. No one, they warn, is out of their reach -- not even the president. A joint FBI-CIA task force reveals the killers are elite military commandos, but no one knows exactly who they are or when they will strike next. Only Michael O'Rourke, a former U.S. Marine and freshman congressman, holds a clue to the violence: a haunting incident in his own past with explosive implications for his country's future....

With Entering Normal and Leaving Eden, Anne LeClaire brilliantly probed the interior lives of women–friends, mothers, daughters–bringing to vivid life the conflict, surprises, and resilience of their complex relationships. Now in her new novel, The Law of Bound Hearts, LeClaire...  more

With Entering Normal and Leaving Eden, Anne LeClaire brilliantly probed the interior lives of women–friends, mothers, daughters–bringing to vivid life the conflict, surprises, and resilience of their complex relationships. Now in her new novel, The Law of Bound Hearts, LeClaire focuses her gaze on sisters, with the same compassion, insight, and startling breadth of emotion.Sisters Libby and Sam Lewis were inseparable as little girls, best friends and soul mates. But a terrible event during in their 30s completely shatters their tender connection. Now the sisters live entirely unconnected lives. Happily married, Libby manages a spotless household, clings to schedules, and maintains a vigorous exercise routine; a pastry chef who harbors no romantic delusions, Sam runs a successful decorative cake business out of her newly purchased Victorian home. Neither wishes to be the first to reach out and make amends–until a sobering turn of events forces action.Libby discovers she has contracted a rare kidney disease that could end her life. A transplant will increase her chances for survival. Sam would be the ideal donor. But Libby is stubborn and unwilling to seek help from others. Much to the dismay of her husband, she is resolved to face her illness alone. Sam avoids the sentimental and refuses to allow Libby back in her life. Once she knows the truth, will Sam bury the past and reach out to her estranged sister?Anne LeClaire’s The Law of Bound Hearts is an extraordinary story of family that lingers in the mind. It is a novel about courage, betrayal, and forgiveness that penetrates the very core of love.From the Hardcover edition.

Comic and tragic, unique and outlandish, CRAZY IN ALABAMA is the story of two journeys--Lucille's from Industry, Alabama, to Los Angeles, to star on 'THE BEVERLY HILL BILLIES' and her 12-year-old nephew Peejoe's, who is about to discover two kinds of Southern justice, and what...  more

Comic and tragic, unique and outlandish, CRAZY IN ALABAMA is the story of two journeys--Lucille's from Industry, Alabama, to Los Angeles, to star on 'THE BEVERLY HILL BILLIES' and her 12-year-old nephew Peejoe's, who is about to discover two kinds of Southern justice, and what that means about the stories he's heard and the people he knows. A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK A FEATURED ALTERNATE SELECTION OF THE LITERARY GUILD

Some bus drivers never meet a "white widow" -- a wild card, a woman traveling alone who can change the course of a driver's life, and not always for the best. In this subtle, poignant novel, based on the true experiences of the anchor of PBS's News Hour with Jim Lehrer, Jack T. Oliver, who...  more

Some bus drivers never meet a "white widow" -- a wild card, a woman traveling alone who can change the course of a driver's life, and not always for the best. In this subtle, poignant novel, based on the true experiences of the anchor of PBS's News Hour with Jim Lehrer, Jack T. Oliver, who drives the Houston to Corpus Christi run for the Great Western Trailways bus line, is about to meet his.

Learning the Hard Way Carmen DuPrè knows she's one fine-looking woman -- and any man who insists on making a fool of himself over her deserves the heartless treatment she's so good at dishing out. As far as Carmen's concerned, being gorgeous entitles her to anything she wants: an undeserved...  more

Learning the Hard Way Carmen DuPrè knows she's one fine-looking woman -- and any man who insists on making a fool of himself over her deserves the heartless treatment she's so good at dishing out. As far as Carmen's concerned, being gorgeous entitles her to anything she wants: an undeserved promotion, expensive gifts, courtside Lakers tickets, and more. But the results of a routine medical exam threaten to knock this beauty off her pedestal -- she might have to trade her looks for her life. Is a life without beauty worth living? Carmen's not so sure -- which is why she's risking hers by ignoring her doctor's advice. Then one day a very sexy stranger walks into her world, insisting there's a whole lot more to Carmen Duprè than what's on the surface -- and he's dishing out some serious schooling in a few subjects Carmen knows little about -- like faith and hope ... and love.

"Wise and funny. Venise Berry is a welcome addition to the literature of African-American women."-Charlotte Watson Sherman, author of Touch (on So Good)So Good, Venise Berry's first novel, spent six months on Essence magazine's Blackboard bestseller list and was an Alternate Selection of the...  more

"Wise and funny. Venise Berry is a welcome addition to the literature of African-American women."-Charlotte Watson Sherman, author of Touch (on So Good)So Good, Venise Berry's first novel, spent six months on Essence magazine's Blackboard bestseller list and was an Alternate Selection of the Literary Guild(r). With All of Me, Berry again delivers a compelling, humorous, and poignant story on a subject that plagues half the women in America-weight. Serpentine Williamson has a good life: an exciting career as a television reporter in Chicago, a sexy boyfriend, membership in a popular gospel choir, and a family who loves her. But in the midst of her positives lies a powerful negative-her lifelong struggle with weight. After years of buying into fads and labels, Serpentine finds her world crumbling. And, finally losing the battle to uphold her plummeting self-esteem, she breaks down and needs to be hospitalized. All of Me is a heartwarming, inspiring, and often funny chronicle of Serpentine's fight for recovery. As she learns to meet her challenges with dignity and strength she also learns to love herself, for the first time, just the way she is. All of Me will resonate with women of all shapes and sizes and will once again affirm Venise Berry as a fresh voice in African-American women's fiction, whose snappy characters, according to Rosalyn McMillan, "double-dare you to put the book down."

Who she really is and what she really does are bewildering questions even for Toy Johnson. She only knows that a near death experience has launched her on a journey into the unknown -- a journey she is destined to repeat again and again with astonishing results. When she returns to her familiar...  more

Who she really is and what she really does are bewildering questions even for Toy Johnson. She only knows that a near death experience has launched her on a journey into the unknown -- a journey she is destined to repeat again and again with astonishing results. When she returns to her familiar work world as a teacher in Southern California and her seemingly ideal marriage to a brilliant surgeon, she is haunted by dreamlike memories of children on the brink of death -- children she believes she somehow has saved....

A mystery and a love story spanning five decades, The Colony of Unrequited Dreams is an epic portrait of passion and ambition, set against the beautiful, brutal landscape of Newfoundland. In this widely acclaimed novel, Johnston has created two of the most memorable characters in recent fiction:...  more

A mystery and a love story spanning five decades, The Colony of Unrequited Dreams is an epic portrait of passion and ambition, set against the beautiful, brutal landscape of Newfoundland. In this widely acclaimed novel, Johnston has created two of the most memorable characters in recent fiction: Joey Smallwood, who claws his way up from poverty to become New Foundland's first premier; and Sheilagh Fielding, who renounces her father's wealth to become a popular columnist and writer, a gifted satirist who casts a haunting shadow on Smallwood's life and career. The two meet as children at school and grow to realize that their lives are irreversibly intertwined, bound together by a secret they don't know they share. Smallwood, always on the make, torn between love of country and fear of failure, is as reluctant to trust the private truths of his heart as his rival and savior, Fielding--brilliant, hard-drinking, and unconventionally sexy. Their story ranges from small-town Newfoundland to New York City, from the harrowing ice floes of the seal hunt to the lavish drawing rooms of colonial governors, and combines erudition, comedy, and unflagging narrative brio in a manner reminiscent of John Irving and Charles Dickens. A tragicomic elegy for the "colony of unrequited dreams" that is Newfoundland, Wayne Johnston's masterful tribute to a people and a place establishes him as a novelist who is as profound as he is funny, with an impeccable sense of the intersection where private lives and history collide.

In Starr Bright Will Be With You Soon, she takes this scenario to terrifying new heights as we enter the mind and heart of a female serial killer who seeks refuge with her estranged twin sister. When Lily Merrick's twin returns home after 15 years, Lily is overjoyed. What she has no way of...  more

In Starr Bright Will Be With You Soon, she takes this scenario to terrifying new heights as we enter the mind and heart of a female serial killer who seeks refuge with her estranged twin sister. When Lily Merrick's twin returns home after 15 years, Lily is overjoyed. What she has no way of knowing is that, under the alias Starr Bright, Sharon has left a trail of murdered men in seedy motel rooms across the country. She is driven by an insatiable need for love and security, yet has found only lust and degradation and time and again, a murderous rage forces her to strike out against them. A novel of tense and mesmerizing power, Starr Bright Will Be With You Soon is a haunting exploration of the helplessness and rage buried deep in the female psyche -- and of the intimate, unspoken bond sisters share. As Rosamond Smith, Joyce Carol Oates has explored the secret kinship of twins, often depicted as diabolical doubles who are mirror-images of our darker more violent selves.

When her father kills himself during the Depression so that his family can live on his insurance money, Melinda realizes that she will not be happy leading the genteel life desired for her by her mother. Joining the Red Cross rather than making her debut, she becomes embroiled in a bloody...  more

When her father kills himself during the Depression so that his family can live on his insurance money, Melinda realizes that she will not be happy leading the genteel life desired for her by her mother. Joining the Red Cross rather than making her debut, she becomes embroiled in a bloody coal-miners' strike in Kentucky, where she witnesses firsthand a poverty and desperation she scarcely knew existed. Then she volunteers for the Republican cause in Spain, where amid the horrors of war she falls in love with and marries Tye Dunston, an idealistic young doctor. As the war reaches its tragic end, she escapes Spain with barely her life and a demure little orphaned girl in tow. And in the turbulent sixties, she returns to America to champion the civil rights cause, aiding a brilliant young man whose only crime is his skin color.

When April Harlency and her parents move from Streatham to The Copper Kettle Tearoom in Kent, April's whole life changes. Through her eyes we witness her rite of passage from childhood to adolescence. With her best friend, the wonderfully exciting but dangerous Ruby, they discover an idyllic...  more

When April Harlency and her parents move from Streatham to The Copper Kettle Tearoom in Kent, April's whole life changes. Through her eyes we witness her rite of passage from childhood to adolescence. With her best friend, the wonderfully exciting but dangerous Ruby, they discover an idyllic secret world in the orchard. However, their lives are permeated with a sense of menace which is mainly centered on Mr Greenidge who befriends April and involves her in a sinister and uncomfortable relationship that will eventually lead to trouble for all her family.

Common sense dictates that it simply cannot exist -- the "Leopardi Madonna," a glorious treasure by the fifteenth-century master Santi Raphael. All the reference books and reliable scholarship indicate that the painting was destroyed in 1945, when the Allies bombed a Nazi warehouse filled with...  more

Common sense dictates that it simply cannot exist -- the "Leopardi Madonna," a glorious treasure by the fifteenth-century master Santi Raphael. All the reference books and reliable scholarship indicate that the painting was destroyed in 1945, when the Allies bombed a Nazi warehouse filled with looted art. Only now the Madonna has reappeared, it seems, in this stunning, original thriller that uncovers greed and treachery in the rarefied precincts of the art world. Summoned to Venice from America to view the painting, Renaissance scholar and sometime-art dealer Jordan Brooks returns to the city that had enchanted him twenty years before. As he ponders the possibility that a fake was set afire a half century earlier and the authentic work has resurfaced -- or that the actual masterpiece was lost in the conflagration and a magnificent fake has taken its place -- he also contemplates the strange and secret auction which offers him a chance to bid on the painting. Set against the backdrop of Venice in late autumn, when the timeless city's rain-swollen lagoons threaten to swamp all her treasures, the novel limns the path that lands Jordan on the doorstep of his former teacher, Giorgio Sagredo, who has compromised his ideals to sell the Madonna. It leads Jordan, too, into a horde of amoral art dealers eager to make a killing and, more fortuitously, introduces him to Katie, a young American student who has a scent for the truth and a way of turning up at the moment he needs her most.

Harris' early novel, never before published in the United States, is a powerful, darkly Gothic evocation of Victorian artistic life. An illicit love draws a controlling artist's wife into a dangerous world of intrigue, blackmail, and revenge.

Now available in paperback--an urgent generational novel by a talented Australian writer. When two frustrated artists take jobs at a remote weather station in Australia's Northern Territory--in hopes of finding solitude and inspiration--their journey affords an unflinching, original, and at...  more

Now available in paperback--an urgent generational novel by a talented Australian writer. When two frustrated artists take jobs at a remote weather station in Australia's Northern Territory--in hopes of finding solitude and inspiration--their journey affords an unflinching, original, and at times, hilarious look at what it means to grow up in the world today.

"Smart, gritty, and tough as a Brooklyn cop bar" (New York Post), Denis Hamill's thrillers have won him a well-deserved cadre of fans. Now, in an electrifying departure, he unfurls a deeply moving tale of illfated love played out amid the romantic squalor and violent underpinnings of...  more

"Smart, gritty, and tough as a Brooklyn cop bar" (New York Post), Denis Hamill's thrillers have won him a well-deserved cadre of fans. Now, in an electrifying departure, he unfurls a deeply moving tale of illfated love played out amid the romantic squalor and violent underpinnings of contemporary Dublin and New York -- delivering a work of greater resonance than anything he has yet written. Looking back, the passion that bloomed between Colin Coyne, young American filmmaker seeking aesthetic inspiration in Ireland, and Gina Furey, stunningly beautiful, iron-willed denizen of Dublin's gypsy criminal underground, seemed as unlikely as it was overpowering. Colin had just crossed the Atlantic hoping to immerse himself in Ireland's rich local color, experience a bit of the storied romance of his forebears' homeland, and then return to New York having gained a greater sense of the country's mythic and troubled cultural history. But before he knew what was happening, all of Colin's bright-eyed hopes were realized, only too vividly -- and at a cruel, life-altering price. When Colin literally catches Gina red-handed as she picks his pocket in a hotel pub teeming with hard-edged locals, all it takes is one look into her dazzling eyes, and Colin falls hard. Purely for the sake of research -- or so he tells himself -- he hurtles headlong into the bewitching world of Gina Furey, and finds himself a star player in a Pygmalion-like relationship rich with dramatic film possibilities: the earnest Yankee auteur woos and wins the dangerous gypsy thief. But the tenuous lines separating art and reality soon dissolve, and the neatly linear screenplay unfolding inside Colin's head is eclipsed by the brutal chaos and unpredictability of true life. Imbuing every scene with a distinctive vibrancy and immediacy, Hamill employs a powerfully cinematic narrative style that is by turns devastating and hopeful, bittersweet and hilarious. Fork in the Road is both a tragic love story and the riveting drama of one man's heartbreaking journey from exhilaration to desolation.

What Tales of the City did for San Francisco, Misadventures in the (213) does double for L.A. in this audacious, satirical tale of a struggling screenwriter, his media-whore best friend, and their circle of celebrity-seeking pals."(213)?" you'll likely ask.Well, the area code, of...  more

What Tales of the City did for San Francisco, Misadventures in the (213) does double for L.A. in this audacious, satirical tale of a struggling screenwriter, his media-whore best friend, and their circle of celebrity-seeking pals."(213)?" you'll likely ask.Well, the area code, of course."Misadventures?"Just the high jinks underemployed Tinseltown wannabes are usually up to. Like making off with fish from Tina Louise's koi pond. Or harassing Alicia Silverstone with tales of watermelon-loving porn stars. Or auctioning off Andrew Shue's chicken wing and Heather Locklear's lip print for charity. You know. Packed with Hollywood life lessons and more B-level celebs than you can shake a casting sheet at, Misadventures in the (213) is a brilliantly witty dagger straight through the heart of the L.A. entertainment machine.

"Don't let us down." With these words, Amanda's mother leaves her only child at a dauntingly prestigious boarding school. At her mother's insistence, Amanda has come here solely to gain the credentials she needs to get into an Ivy League college. And she will do it-or die trying.

In the sleepy and secluded town of Barrow, Alaska -- the northernmost settlement in North America -- its citizens are preparing for the annual coming of the Dark, when the sun will set for more than thirty consecutive days and nights. But this year, the Dark will bring something...  more

In the sleepy and secluded town of Barrow, Alaska -- the northernmost settlement in North America -- its citizens are preparing for the annual coming of the Dark, when the sun will set for more than thirty consecutive days and nights. But this year, the Dark will bring something else. From across the frozen wasteland, a horrifying evil descends upon Barrow, mercilessly besieging its residents with unrelenting terror and swift death. And as the darkness continues and the thirty days of night seemingly have no end in sight, Barrow's only remaining hope lies with Sheriff Eben Oleson and Deputy Stella Oleson, a husband and wife who are torn between saving the town they love and their own survival...    

Join a circle of friends that will never be broken -- Cassandra King’s celebrated national bestseller, The Same Sweet Girls, is now in paperback None of the Same Sweet Girls are really girls anymore, and none of them have actually ever been that sweet. But the story of this spirited group...  more

Join a circle of friends that will never be broken -- Cassandra King’s celebrated national bestseller, The Same Sweet Girls, is now in paperback None of the Same Sweet Girls are really girls anymore, and none of them have actually ever been that sweet. But the story of this spirited group of six southern women, who have been holding biannual reunions ever since they were together in college, is nothing short of compelling. On an island every summer and in the mountains every fall, the Same Sweet Girls come together to share their stories. When one of the group faces the most difficult challenge of her life, the novel builds to an almost unbearably powerful conclusion, one of the most memorable in current fiction. Without a touch of sentimentality, Cassandra King writes of the way close friends can help each other through even the most cataclysmic life events. Both heartbreaking and hilarious, The Same Sweet Girls will touch, move, and inspire readers to cherish their own lifelong friendships. Perfect for reading groups, The Same Sweet Girls is a story of friendship that readers will want to share with their special girlfriends.

Set in a small Vermont town in the early decades of the twentieth century, Housewrights tells the story of Lily Willard, the town librarian, and her relationship with Oren and Ian Pritchard, housewrights who roam New England building houses for others though they themselves are homeless. Lily...  more

Set in a small Vermont town in the early decades of the twentieth century, Housewrights tells the story of Lily Willard, the town librarian, and her relationship with Oren and Ian Pritchard, housewrights who roam New England building houses for others though they themselves are homeless. Lily first meets the twins when they are children, and the boys arrive with their father to build Lily's family a new farmhouse. Ten years later, Oren returns for Lily. He asks her to marry him. She agrees, if he will settle down-for the first time in his life. Always lurking, though, is the question of Ian, off fighting the Great War. But when he returns, shell-shocked and wounded, Lily welcomes him into their home. Eyebrows are raised only silently at this unusual household, until one evening at the Grange Hall dance the three take a heady, impetuous waltz together-with practically the entire town watching. Rich in detail and emotion, this unforgettable novel marks the debut of a singular storyteller who writes with extraordinary beauty, depth, and clarity.

Horrifying in a way no fiction can be, Zodiac is the gripping story of the serial murderer who terrorized the San Francisco bay area from 1966 to 1978. The book contains reproductions of the killer's communiques to the police as well as the author's own chilling speculations on Zodiac's true...  more

Horrifying in a way no fiction can be, Zodiac is the gripping story of the serial murderer who terrorized the San Francisco bay area from 1966 to 1978. The book contains reproductions of the killer's communiques to the police as well as the author's own chilling speculations on Zodiac's true identity--and his whereabouts today. Martin's.

If its true that you are where you live, then cunning super-agent Lucinda Wells controls the destiny of New York high society. Embezzlement, forgery, dot-com buststhese are the scandals that pepper the lives of the financiers, entrepreneurs, socialites and inheritors who are vying for the best...  more

If its true that you are where you live, then cunning super-agent Lucinda Wells controls the destiny of New York high society. Embezzlement, forgery, dot-com buststhese are the scandals that pepper the lives of the financiers, entrepreneurs, socialites and inheritors who are vying for the best locations and who will risk everything to own them. Only Lucinda knows how to expose their weaknesses and play them off against each other, holding the precious key to their kingdoms in the palm of her manicured hand. In three scenarios through which we learn the devastating and occasionally blissful effects of the markets twists and turns, Margolis captures the zeitgeist of a cultural moment. He keeps us on the edge of our seat with the rise and fall of his characters fortunes, in a sizzling tale of the citys power players. Neither The Right Address nor The Gotham Diaries can come close to the mesmerizing realness of Closing Costs.

At once a love story, a riveting tale of suspense, and an illumination of the artist's psyche, this searing novel introduces one of Australia's most acclaimed authors to American readers. A seductive work of vast geographical and psychological scope, Hungry Ghosts follows two young painters from...  more

At once a love story, a riveting tale of suspense, and an illumination of the artist's psyche, this searing novel introduces one of Australia's most acclaimed authors to American readers. A seductive work of vast geographical and psychological scope, Hungry Ghosts follows two young painters from Sydney to London to Hong Kong, probing the raw terrain between love and friendship, creativity and madness. Emerging from Susan Johnson's hallucinatory evocation of late twentieth-century Hong Kong -- a fading colony bathed in neon, teeming with political and emotional refugees and evaporating dreams -- are the overlapping stories of two best friends and the man who comes between them. Rachel Gallagher is careful, inhibited, and achingly self-conscious. Anne-Louise Buchan is fearless, charismatic, and intent on wresting meaning from life's chaos. Polar opposites, they are bound together as artists hungering for experience. Martin James Bannister, exceptionally handsome, is a futures dealer with a talent for reinvention and a menacing hunger of his own. Through this trio, Johnson explores the fragility of the unquiet mind and love's capacity to glean redemption from even the darkest malignancies. In Hungry Ghosts she presents a vision of life that is eerie, passionate, and affecting.

Mackenzie Allen Philips' youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later in the midst of his Great Sadness, Mack receives a suspicious...  more

Mackenzie Allen Philips' youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later in the midst of his Great Sadness, Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend. Against his better judgment he arrives at the shack on a wintry afternoon and walks back into his darkest nightmare. What he finds there will change Mack's world forever. In a world where religion seems to grow increasingly irrelevant "The Shack" wrestles with the timeless question, Where is God in a world so filled with unspeakable pain? The answers Mack gets will astound you and perhaps transform you as much as it did him. You'll want everyone you know to read this book!

The author of the "enchanting" and "delightful" (USA Today) debut novel For Matrimonial Purposes returns with a romantic comedy about a new bride leading a secret double life. After an arranged marriage in her native India, Priya moves with her husband to California, where they share a house...  more

The author of the "enchanting" and "delightful" (USA Today) debut novel For Matrimonial Purposes returns with a romantic comedy about a new bride leading a secret double life. After an arranged marriage in her native India, Priya moves with her husband to California, where they share a house with his parents. Playing the traditional daughter- in-law role, she?s expected to clean, cook, and?because she doesn?t immediately get pregnant?find a job as well! But the job, at a glossy Hollywood gossip magazine, isn?t at all what Priya?s in-laws had in mind for a traditional Indian wife. She soon finds herself with a secret life that she must hide from her disapproving new family. All the while, she is growing into a marriage with a man whose loyalty is decidedly torn between his parents and his bride. This is hardly surprising, given that he met his wife only a week before their wedding. The question is, can this fragile new love survive the pull between tradition and ambition?

Meet Bobby Kahn: a smart enough, decent enough man of middle-of-the-road tastes and weaknesses, and network TV's boy-wonder programming executive--until, that is, the morning he gets unceremoniously fired. Frantic to land a new position before the news breaks, he lunges for the job of running a...  more

Meet Bobby Kahn: a smart enough, decent enough man of middle-of-the-road tastes and weaknesses, and network TV's boy-wonder programming executive--until, that is, the morning he gets unceremoniously fired. Frantic to land a new position before the news breaks, he lunges for the job of running a sorry family cable dynasty in the cozy town of New Bedlam, Rhode Island. It won't take Bobby Kahn long to learn that the length in miles between New York City and New Bedlam does not begin to do justice to the distance between the two cities. But that itself only begins to explain the gulf in taste and instincts between Bobby Kahn and the Kings, one of the more hilariously dysfunctional families in recent American fiction. The patriarch, Dom, who made his fortune in car dealerships and lucked into a cable monopoly in the industry's dark ages, has ceded control of the three networks to his three quarreling children: Annie, the sincere naïf who runs Eureka!, the pretentious arts channel; Skyler, the cocky social climber who runs BoomerBox, the old sitcom rerun channel; and the family black sheep, the cretinous Kenny, who presides over the Comic Book Channel, a safe house for ill-socialized comic book devotees. Complicating matters, Bobby learns, is the extent to which the family is in foul odor in New Bedlam: the Kings' family secrets, and the enemies the family has made along the way, are just a few of the obstacles Bobby has to traverse if he's going to make turning around King Cable, his shot at redemption, work out. From the acclaimed writer, MTV creative leader, and author of A&R comes a wise, wicked, and hilarious novel about the business of television and the business of families, from an author who has richly earned his insights into both.

The New York Times comes each morning and never fails to deliver news of the important dead. Every day is new; every day is fraught with significance. I arrange my cup of tea, prop up my slippers. Obituaries are history as it is happening. Whose time am I living in? Was he a success or a...  more

The New York Times comes each morning and never fails to deliver news of the important dead. Every day is new; every day is fraught with significance. I arrange my cup of tea, prop up my slippers. Obituaries are history as it is happening. Whose time am I living in? Was he a success or a failure, lucky or doomed, older than I am or younger? Did she know how to live? I shake out the pages. Tell me the secret of a good life!Where else can you celebrate the life of the pharmacist who moonlighted as a spy, the genius behind Sea Monkeys, the school lunch lady who spent her evenings as a ballroom hostess? No wonder so many readers skip the news and the sports and go directly to the obituary page. The Dead Beat is the story of how these stories get told. Enthralled by the fascinating lives that were marching out of this world, Marilyn Johnson tumbled into the obits page to find out what made it so lively. She sought out the best obits in the English language and chased the people who spent their lives writing about the dead. Surveying the darkest corners of Internet chat rooms, surviving a mass gathering of obituarists, and making a pilgrimage to London to savor the most caustic and literate obits of all, Marilyn Johnson leads us into the cult and culture behind the obituary page. The result is a rare combination of scrapbook and compelling read, a trip through recent history and the unusual lives we don't quite appreciate until they're gone.

As one of New York's top sex therapists, Dr. Morgan Snow sees everything from the abused to the depraved, from couples grappling with sexual boredom to twisted sociopaths with dark, erotic fetishes. And the Butterfield Institute is the sanctuary where she helps soothe and heal these battered...  more

As one of New York's top sex therapists, Dr. Morgan Snow sees everything from the abused to the depraved, from couples grappling with sexual boredom to twisted sociopaths with dark, erotic fetishes. And the Butterfield Institute is the sanctuary where she helps soothe and heal these battered souls. Cleo Thane is one of those special patients Morgan connects to immediately. A high-priced prostitute, Cleo is remarkably sensitive and unscathed, a woman desperate to reconcile her successful professional life with her neglected personal one. And when she asks Morgan to read her unpublished tell-all book about her exclusive clientele, Morgan realizes that what she has in her hands could be explosive. Then Cleo disappears. Detective Noah Jordan is trying to stay one step ahead of a serial killer who has been targeting prostitutes, killing them with ritualistic precision. When a missing person's report is filed on Cleo Thane, Noah wonders if she, too, has fallen prey to the psycho's wrath. He approaches Dr. Morgan Snow for any insight on her patient, but Morgan refuses to breach patient confidentiality. Instead she begins her own investigation into Cleo's disappearance. Certain that the answers lie in the manuscript that Cleo has entrusted her with, Morgan delves into the private confessions of a woman paid to act out the sexual fantasies of some of the city's most powerful men. But she is shocked by how much the intimate sexual details of another woman's life affect her own. Too late she realizes she's ventured into dangerous -- even deadly -- territory.

Lyn, Cat, and Gemma Kettle, beautiful thirty-three-year-old triplets, seem to attract attention everywhere they go. Whenever they're together, laughter, drama, and mayhem seem to follow. But apart, each is very much her own woman, dealing with her own share of ups and downs. Lyn has...  more

Lyn, Cat, and Gemma Kettle, beautiful thirty-three-year-old triplets, seem to attract attention everywhere they go. Whenever they're together, laughter, drama, and mayhem seem to follow. But apart, each is very much her own woman, dealing with her own share of ups and downs. Lyn has organized her life into one big checklist, juggling the many balls of work, marriage, and motherhood with expert precision, but is she as together as her datebook would have her seem? Cat has just learned a startling secret about her marriage -- can she bring another life into her very precarious world? And can free-spirited Gemma, who bolts every time a relationship hits the six-month mark, ever hope to find lasting love? In this novel, we follow the Kettle sisters through their thirty-third-year, as they struggle to survive their divorced parents' dating each other, their technologically savvy grandmother, a cheating husband, champagne hangovers, and the fabulous, frustrating life of forever being part of a trio.

John Cornwell evokes a vanished time and way of life in this moving and, at times, troubling memoir of an adolescence spent in the isolated all-male world of the seminary. Born into a destitute family with a dominating Irish-Catholic mother and an absconding father during World War II in...  more

John Cornwell evokes a vanished time and way of life in this moving and, at times, troubling memoir of an adolescence spent in the isolated all-male world of the seminary. Born into a destitute family with a dominating Irish-Catholic mother and an absconding father during World War II in London, John Cornwell's childhood was deeply dysfunctional. When he was thirteen years old he was sent to Cotton College, a remote seminary for boys in the West Midlands countryside. For the next five years Cornwell lived under an austere monastic regime as he wrestled with his emotional and spiritual demons. In the hothouse atmosphere of the seminary he strove to find stable, loving friendships among his fellows and fatherly support from the priests, one of whom proved to be a sexual predator. The wild countryside around the seminary, the moving power of church ritual and music, and a charismatic priest enabled him to persevere. But while normal teenagers were being swept up by the rock ’n’ roll era, Cornwell and his fellow seminarians continued to be emotionally and socially repressed. Secret romantic attachments between seminarians were not uncommon; on visits home they were overwhelmed by the powerful attractions of the emerging youth culture of the 1950s. But when they returned to Cotton College, the boys were once again governed by the age-old traditions and disciplines of seminary life. And like many young seminarians, Cornwell struggled with a natural adolescent rebelliousness, which in one crucial instance provoked a crisis that would eventually lead to his decision to abandon his dream of becoming a priest. Written with tremendous warmth and humor, Seminary Boy is a truly unforgettable memoir and a penetrating glimpse into the hidden world of seminary life.