In a small Cape Cod village in 1761, one woman is about to engage in the struggle of her life, defying her family, friends, and neighbors in a fight for her freedom that resonates even today. . . When was it that the sense of trouble grew to fear, the fear to certainty? When she sat down to...  more

In a small Cape Cod village in 1761, one woman is about to engage in the struggle of her life, defying her family, friends, and neighbors in a fight for her freedom that resonates even today. . . When was it that the sense of trouble grew to fear, the fear to certainty? When she sat down to another solitary supper of bread and beer and pickled cucumber? When she heard the second sounding of the geese? Or had she known that morning when she stepped outside and felt the wind? Might as well say she knew it when Edward took his first whaling trip to the Canada River ... Lyddie has long been the wife of Edward Berry, a well-liked and successful whaler in Satucket Village, Massachusetts. Married for twenty years, Lyddie is used to the trials of being a whaling wife -- her husband's sudden departures, when whales are sighted in the bay; his long absences at sea, when she must run the house herself; the constant fear that one day Edward will simply not come home. But when the unthinkable does happen and Edward is lost at sea, Lyddie finds that she must bear not only the grief of losing her husband but also the insult of losing her autonomy. As a widow, she finds herself cast into society's cellar, her property and rights now at the whim of her nearest male relative, who happens to be her daughter's husband. With her son-in-law -- who was never Lyddie's first choice for her daughter -- implacable and hostile, Lyddie realizes she cannot live under his roof and under his decrees. Refusing to bow to both her "guardian" and the societal and legal pressures brought to bear upon her, Lyddie finds that defying one rule emboldens her to defy another ... and another. As she moves back into the house she shared with Edward -- the house she is entitled to use only one-third of now -- and begins to figure out how she'll make a living on her own, she finds that her defiance earns her nothing but the abuse of friends and neighbors and puts her home and her family at risk. Ultimately, Lyddie must decide how much she values her personal freedom and how willing she is to become estranged from those she loves. While conjuring the hearths and salt air of eighteenth-century colonial America, The Widow's War captures a timeless human longing. With rich, realistic characters, Sally Gunning weaves a tale of a woman's journey to understand herself and her world, and her place in that world. Honest and moving, The Widow's War is a stunning work of literary magic, a spellbinding tale from an assured and gifted writer.

A TRUE CELEBRATION OF HEROISM AND BRAVERY From America's preeminent military historian, Stephen E. Ambrose, comes a brilliant telling of World War II in Europe, from D-Day, June 6, 1944, to the end, eleven months later, on May 7, 1945. The author himself drew this authoritative narrative...  more

A TRUE CELEBRATION OF HEROISM AND BRAVERY From America's preeminent military historian, Stephen E. Ambrose, comes a brilliant telling of World War II in Europe, from D-Day, June 6, 1944, to the end, eleven months later, on May 7, 1945. The author himself drew this authoritative narrative account from his five acclaimed books about that conflict, to yield what has been called "the best single-volume history of the war that most of us will ever read."

Twenty-three years after the fateful summer of 1990, Trevor Riddell recalls the events surrounding his fourteenth birthday, when he gets his first glimpse of the infamous Riddell House. Built from the spoils of a massive timber fortune, the legendary family mansion is constructed of giant whole...  more

Twenty-three years after the fateful summer of 1990, Trevor Riddell recalls the events surrounding his fourteenth birthday, when he gets his first glimpse of the infamous Riddell House. Built from the spoils of a massive timber fortune, the legendary family mansion is constructed of giant whole trees and is set on a huge estate overlooking Seattle’s Puget Sound. Trevor’s bankrupt parents have separated, and his father, Jones Riddell, has brought Trevor to Riddell House with a goal: to join forces with Aunt Serena, dispatch the ailing and elderly Grandpa Samuel to a nursing home, sell off the house and property for development, and divide up the profits. But as young Trevor explores the house’s hidden stairways and forgotten rooms, he discovers secrets that convince him that the family plan may be at odds with the land’s true destiny. Only Trevor’s willingness to face the dark past of his forefathers will reveal the key to his family’s future.

Set in a beautiful but economically devastated Pennsylvania steel town, American Rust is a novel of the lost American dream and the desperation -- as well as the acts of friendship, loyalty, and love -- that arise from its loss. From local bars to trainyards to prison, it is the story of two...  more

Set in a beautiful but economically devastated Pennsylvania steel town, American Rust is a novel of the lost American dream and the desperation -- as well as the acts of friendship, loyalty, and love -- that arise from its loss. From local bars to trainyards to prison, it is the story of two young men, bound to the town by family, responsibility, inertia, and the beauty around them, who dream of a future beyond the factories and abandoned homes. Left alone to care for his aging father after his mother commits suicide and his sister escapes to Yale, Isaac English longs for a life beyond his hometown. But when he finally sets out to leave for good, accompanied by his temperamental best friend, former high school football star Billy Poe, they are caught up in a terrible act of violence that changes their lives forever. Evoking John Steinbeck's novels of restless lives during the Great Depression, American Rust takes us into the contemporary American heartland at a moment of profound unrest and uncertainty about the future. It is a dark but lucid vision, a moving novel about the bleak realities that battle our desire for transcendence and the power of love and friendship to redeem us.

In the fifteen years since their teenage son, Ray-Ray, was killed in a police shooting, the Echota family has been suspended in private grief. The mother, Maria, increasingly struggles to manage the onset of Alzheimer’s in her husband, Ernest. Their adult daughter, Sonja, leads a life of...  more

In the fifteen years since their teenage son, Ray-Ray, was killed in a police shooting, the Echota family has been suspended in private grief. The mother, Maria, increasingly struggles to manage the onset of Alzheimer’s in her husband, Ernest. Their adult daughter, Sonja, leads a life of solitude, punctuated only by spells of dizzying romantic obsession. And their son, Edgar, fled home long ago, turning to drugs to mute his feelings of alienation. With the family’s annual bonfire approaching -- an occasion marking both the Cherokee National Holiday and Ray-Ray’s death, and a rare moment in which they openly talk about his memory -- Maria attempts to call the family together from their physical and emotional distances once more. But as the bonfire draws near, each of them feels a strange blurring of the boundary between normal life and the spirit world. Maria and Ernest take in a foster child who seems to almost miraculously keep Ernest’s mental fog at bay. Sonja becomes dangerously fixated on a man named Vin, despite -- or perhaps because of -- his ties to tragedy in her lifetime and lifetimes before. And in the wake of a suicide attempt, Edgar finds himself in the mysterious Darkening Land: a place between the living and the dead, where old atrocities echo. Drawing deeply on Cherokee folklore, The Removed seamlessly blends the real and spiritual to excavate the deep reverberations of trauma -- a meditation on family, grief, home, and the power of stories on both a personal and ancestral level.

Theodore Rex is the story—never fully told before—of Theodore Roosevelt’s two world-changing terms as President of the United States. A hundred years before the catastrophe of September 11, 2001, “TR” succeeded to power in the aftermath of an act of terrorism....  more

Theodore Rex is the story—never fully told before—of Theodore Roosevelt’s two world-changing terms as President of the United States. A hundred years before the catastrophe of September 11, 2001, “TR” succeeded to power in the aftermath of an act of terrorism. Youngest of all our chief executives, he rallied a stricken nation with his superhuman energy, charm, and political skills. He proceeded to combat the problems of race and labor relations and trust control while making the Panama Canal possible and winning the Nobel Peace Prize. But his most historic achievement remains his creation of a national conservation policy, and his monument millions of acres of protected parks and forest. Theodore Rex ends with TR leaving office, still only fifty years old, his future reputation secure as one of our greatest presidents.

Ed McBain concocts a brilliant and intricate thriller about a master criminal who haunts the city with cryptic passages from Shakespeare, directing the detectives of the 87th Precinct to a future crime -- if only they can figure out what he means. The 87th Precinct gets a visit from one of the...  more

Ed McBain concocts a brilliant and intricate thriller about a master criminal who haunts the city with cryptic passages from Shakespeare, directing the detectives of the 87th Precinct to a future crime -- if only they can figure out what he means. The 87th Precinct gets a visit from one of the city's most accomplished criminals -- a thief known as the Deaf Man. Because he might be deaf. Or he might not. So little is known about the man who is harassing Detective Steve Carella with puzzling messages that it is hard to tell. But as soon as a pattern emerges, the detectives of the 87th are forced to hit the books and brush up on their Shakespeare -- because each new clue contains a line from one of his works. Unless they can crack the complicated riddles and beat the Deaf Man at his own cat-and-mouse game, someone is going to end up hurt, or something will be stolen -- or both. It's always so hard to tell with the Deaf Man. Ed McBain brings his most intelligent and devious criminal back to the 87th Precinct with a richly plotted and literary crime.

A magnificent tapestry of a grand and glorious era As opulent and passionate as the 18th century it celebrates.Through a Glass Darkly will sweep you away to the splendors of a lost era. Like Gone with the Wind, it is rich with characters so vivid -- from aristocrats toscoundrels--they...  more

A magnificent tapestry of a grand and glorious era As opulent and passionate as the 18th century it celebrates.Through a Glass Darkly will sweep you away to the splendors of a lost era. Like Gone with the Wind, it is rich with characters so vivid -- from aristocrats toscoundrels--they create their own immortality. Here is the story of a great family ruled by a dowager of extraordinary power: of a young woman seeking low in a world of English luxury and French intrigue and of a man haunted by a secret that could turn all their dreams to ashes...

Edgy, suspenseful, and darkly comic, here is the first novel in a riveting new mystery series starring two cranky but brilliant old detectives whose lifelong friendship was forged solving crimes for the London Police Department's Peculiar Crimes Unit. In Full Dark House, Christopher Fowler...  more

Edgy, suspenseful, and darkly comic, here is the first novel in a riveting new mystery series starring two cranky but brilliant old detectives whose lifelong friendship was forged solving crimes for the London Police Department's Peculiar Crimes Unit. In Full Dark House, Christopher Fowler tells the story of both their first and last case -- and how along the way the unlikely pair of crime fighters changed the face of detection. A present-day bombing rips through London and claims the life of eighty-year-old detective Arthur Bryant. For his partner John May, it means the end of a partnership that lasted over half-a-century and an eerie echo back to the Blitz of World War II when they first met. Desperately searching for clues to the killer's identity, May finds his old friend's notes of their very first case and becomes convinced that the past has returned...with a killing vengeance. It begins when a dancer in a risque new production of Orpheus in Hell is found without her feet. Suddenly, the young detectives are plunged in a bizarre gothic mystery that will push them to their limits -- and beyond. For in a city shaken by war, a faceless killer is stalking London's theaters, creating his own kind of sinister drama. And it will take Arthur Bryant's unorthodox techniques and John May's dogged police work to catch a criminal whose ability to escape detection seems almost supernatural -- a murderer who even decades later seems to have claimed the life of one of them... and is ready to claim the other.

A powerful and haunting story about three sisters and the tragedy that becomes the center of their lives from acclaimed New York Times bestselling author Sally Beauman.Summer 1967: In the heart of rural Suffolk, 13-year-old Maisie is at her decaying family home, a former medieval abbey. As an...  more

A powerful and haunting story about three sisters and the tragedy that becomes the center of their lives from acclaimed New York Times bestselling author Sally Beauman.Summer 1967: In the heart of rural Suffolk, 13-year-old Maisie is at her decaying family home, a former medieval abbey. As an artist paints a portrait of Maisie and her older sisters, arrogant, beautiful Julia and brilliant, bookish Finn, Maisie embarks upon a portrait of her own: an account of her troubled family and her village friend Daniel. Before the summer is through, an accident will have befallen the family-one which changes their lives irrevocably for the worse.Winter 1991: As the now-famous portrait of the Mortland sisters is being featured in a huge exhibition, Daniel seeks to free himself of his obsession with these women by unraveling the secrets of that fateful summer. Readers will be transported, fascinated, and have their hearts broken by this page-turning novel of a most extraordinary family.

Fear doesn't come naturally to Mathilda Savitch. She prefers to look right at the things nobody else can bear to mention: for example, the fact that her beloved older sister is dead, pushed in front of a train by a man still on the loose. Her grief-stricken parents have basically been...  more

Fear doesn't come naturally to Mathilda Savitch. She prefers to look right at the things nobody else can bear to mention: for example, the fact that her beloved older sister is dead, pushed in front of a train by a man still on the loose. Her grief-stricken parents have basically been sleepwalking ever since, and it is Mathilda's sworn mission to shock them back to life. Her strategy? Being bad. Mathilda decides she's going to figure out what lies behind the catastrophe. She starts sleuthing through her sister's most secret possessions -- e-mails, clothes, notebooks, whatever her determination and craftiness can ferret out. But she must risk a great deal -- in fact, she has to leave behind everything she loves -- in order to discover the truth. Startling, funny, touching, odd, truthful, page-turning, and, in the end, heartbreaking, Mathilda Savitch is an extraordinary debut. A CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR BEST BOOK OF 2009 A BOOKLIST BEST BOOK OF 2009 A GLOBE AND MAIL BEST BOOK OF 2009

As riveting as a World War II thriller, The Forger's Spell is the true story of Johannes Vermeer and the small-time Dutch painter who dared to impersonate him centuries later. The con man's mark was Hermann Goering, one of the most reviled leaders of Nazi Germany and a fanatic collector of art. ...  more

As riveting as a World War II thriller, The Forger's Spell is the true story of Johannes Vermeer and the small-time Dutch painter who dared to impersonate him centuries later. The con man's mark was Hermann Goering, one of the most reviled leaders of Nazi Germany and a fanatic collector of art. It was an almost perfect crime. For seven years a no-account painter named Han van Meegeren managed to pass off his paintings as those of one of the most beloved and admired artists who ever lived. But, as Edward Dolnick reveals, the reason for the forger's success was not his artistic skill. Van Meegeren was a mediocre artist. His true genius lay in psychological manipulation, and he came within inches of fooling both the Nazis and the world. Instead, he landed in an Amsterdam court on trial for his life. ARTnews called Dolnick's previous book, the Edgar Award-winning The Rescue Artist, "the best book ever written on art crime." In The Forger's Spell, the stage is bigger, the stakes are higher, and the villains are blacker.

The Night Watch series has caused a sensation never before seen in Russia -- its popularity is frenzied and unprecedented, and driven by a truly great, epic story. Set in modern day Moscow, Night Watch is a world as elaborate and imaginative as Tolkien or the best Asimov. Living among us...  more

The Night Watch series has caused a sensation never before seen in Russia -- its popularity is frenzied and unprecedented, and driven by a truly great, epic story. Set in modern day Moscow, Night Watch is a world as elaborate and imaginative as Tolkien or the best Asimov. Living among us are the "Others," an ancient race of humans with supernatural powers who swear allegiance to either the Dark or the Light. A thousand-year treaty has maintained the balance of power, and the two sides coexist in an uneasy truce. But an ancient prophecy decrees that one supreme "Other" will rise up and tip the balance, plunging the world into a catastrophic war between the Dark and the Light. When a young boy with extraordinary powers emerges, fulfilling the first half of the prophecy, will the forces of the Light be able to keep the Dark from corrupting the boy and destroying the world? An extraordinary translation from the Russian by noted translator Andrew Bromfield, this first English language edition of Night Watch is a chilling, engrossing read certain to reward those waiting in anticipation of its arrival.

The second installment of the phenomenal Russian quartet The Night Watch vampire novels set in a richly realized post-Soviet Moscow. The second book in the internationally bestselling fantasy series, The Day Watch begins where The Night Watch left off, set in a modern-day Moscow where the...  more

The second installment of the phenomenal Russian quartet The Night Watch vampire novels set in a richly realized post-Soviet Moscow. The second book in the internationally bestselling fantasy series, The Day Watch begins where The Night Watch left off, set in a modern-day Moscow where the 1,000-year-old treaty between Light and Dark maintains its uneasy balance through careful vigilance from the Others. The forces of darkness keep an eye during the day, the Day Watch, while the agents of Light monitor the nighttime. Very senior Others called the Inquisitors are the impartial judges insisting on the essential compact. When a very potent artifact is stolen from them, the consequences are dire and drastic for all sides. The Day Watch introduces the perspective of the Dark Ones, told in part by a young witch who bolsters her evil power by leeching fear from children?s nightmares as a counselor at a girls? summer camp. When she falls in love with a handsome young Light One, the balance is threatened and a death must be avenged. The Day Watch is replete with the thrilling action and intricate plotting of the first tale, fuelled by cunning, cruelty, violence, and magic. It is a fast paced, darkly humorous, haunting world that will take root in the shadows of your mind and live there forever.From the Trade Paperback edition.

Living among us are the "Others," an ancient race of humans with supernatural powers who must swear allegiance to either the Dark or the Light. A thousand-year treaty has maintained the balance of power between the two sides, but when a renegade Other absconds with a fabled book of...  more

Living among us are the "Others," an ancient race of humans with supernatural powers who must swear allegiance to either the Dark or the Light. A thousand-year treaty has maintained the balance of power between the two sides, but when a renegade Other absconds with a fabled book of spells and appears intent on using it to alter the course of humanity, the forces of Light and Dark must cooperate to stop him. Anton, the hero from Night Watch, is back, but when the culprit turns out be an old friend, the race against time becomes more urgent than ever. In a world where reality and magic commingle, and where different degrees of existence are layered one atop the other, nothing is ever quite what it seems.

As a soldier, Cole Granger fights to restore peace to a world divided by war and evil. His extraordinary talents are enlisted to prevent the president's horrific premonition from becoming reality. Nothing -- and no one -- will stop him from fulfilling his duty. Especially the mysterious...  more

As a soldier, Cole Granger fights to restore peace to a world divided by war and evil. His extraordinary talents are enlisted to prevent the president's horrific premonition from becoming reality. Nothing -- and no one -- will stop him from fulfilling his duty. Especially the mysterious young woman who claims to be his comrade's sister. Enemy or ally, he can't yet determine. But one thing he knows for certain is that he must keep her close. Very close. Megan Fox's quest to uncover a family secret leads her to the center of the vampire riots in West Virginia. To find the answers she needs -- and to clear herself of suspicion -- she must join forces with Cole. They work undercover to bring justice, but they can't disguise the potent attraction and need that draw them together. Yet trust doesn't come easily for Cole...and when Megan unearths the grim, dark truth, can she trust him to believe her?

She's the vampire that could destroy a nation. At least, that's what Pinkerton detective Finn Dunne thinks of Tara Fox. Capturing her aboard a ship sneaking its way northward, he's convinced she's been sent to take out President Lincoln. While she's certainly the most...  more

She's the vampire that could destroy a nation. At least, that's what Pinkerton detective Finn Dunne thinks of Tara Fox. Capturing her aboard a ship sneaking its way northward, he's convinced she's been sent to take out President Lincoln. While she's certainly the most attractive assassin he's ever faced, that won't keep him from his duty. Tara has always been caught between worlds. As a vampire born and raised in Key West, she has many friends among the humans. Many friends that are now fighting and dying in the raging Civil War. When her strange dreams began, she thought of them as abstract visions. But she now knows that she must travel to Washington, D.C., and protect the president at all costs. Finn still won't trust her, despite what he's seen. And if Tara has to go through him - or bring reinforcements - to save Lincoln, she will do whatever it takes, even if it costs her her heart.

In this darkly riveting debut novel -- a sophisticated psychological mystery that is also an heartbreakingly honest meditation on memory, identity, and aging—an elderly woman descending into dementia embarks on a desperate quest to find the best friend she believes has disappeared,...  more

In this darkly riveting debut novel -- a sophisticated psychological mystery that is also an heartbreakingly honest meditation on memory, identity, and aging—an elderly woman descending into dementia embarks on a desperate quest to find the best friend she believes has disappeared, and her search for the truth will go back decades and have shattering consequences. Maud, an aging grandmother, is slowly losing her memory -- and her grip on everyday life. Yet she refuses to forget her best friend Elizabeth, whom she is convinced is missing and in terrible danger. But no one will listen to Maud -- not her frustrated daughter, Helen, not her caretakers, not the police, and especially not Elizabeth’s mercurial son, Peter. Armed with handwritten notes she leaves for herself and an overwhelming feeling that Elizabeth needs her help, Maud resolves to discover the truth and save her beloved friend. This singular obsession forms a cornerstone of Maud’s rapidly dissolving present. But the clues she discovers seem only to lead her deeper into her past, to another unsolved disappearance: her sister, Sukey, who vanished shortly after World War II. As vivid memories of a tragedy that occurred more fifty years ago come flooding back, Maud discovers new momentum in her search for her friend. Could the mystery of Sukey’s disappearance hold the key to finding Elizabeth?

April 1945: In the last convulsive days of World War II a convoy of Nazi trucks loaded with Europe's greatest art treasures winds its way through the Alps toward a cavernous Austrian salt mine. With the Allies closing in and chaos erupting, a single truck silently disappears into a mountain...  more

April 1945: In the last convulsive days of World War II a convoy of Nazi trucks loaded with Europe's greatest art treasures winds its way through the Alps toward a cavernous Austrian salt mine. With the Allies closing in and chaos erupting, a single truck silently disappears into a mountain snowstorm with its cargo of stolen masterpieces. Fifty years later, in a seedy Boston pawnshop, one of the truck's paintings surfaces at last, pawned for $100 by a smalltime Russian thug. The next day, the shop owner, Simeon Pawlovsky, himself a Nazi death camp survivor, is dead, the life brutally beaten out of him. The painting is gone. And the chase begins. Ex-curator Benjamin Revere, haunted by his failure to save his elderly friend Simeon, is determined to track down the killer by following the missing painting's trail. But the twisting path is a bewildering and dangerous one that winds through Europe's major cities...and back five decades to a time when Hitler's hated minions looted at will. Soon Ben finds himself caught up in the tangled roots of a conspiracy of greed, lies, hatred, and blood-and imperiled by the half-century-old enigma of the vanished truck and its priceless legacy.

Inspector Angel Cardenas has seen murdered corpses like George Anderson's, but never a case like this. The victim's ID doesn't match his DNA, Anderson's wife and preteen daughter, Katla, are missing, their home has been turned into a time bomb-and mobs from three continents are...  more

Inspector Angel Cardenas has seen murdered corpses like George Anderson's, but never a case like this. The victim's ID doesn't match his DNA, Anderson's wife and preteen daughter, Katla, are missing, their home has been turned into a time bomb-and mobs from three continents are all hunting Katla. Relying on his training as a nearly telepathic intuit, Cardenas embarks on a search for clues that leads him from the Strip's sex parlors and stimstick clubs, where kids are deadly and music can kill, to an undersea hideout where computer crimes are committed by criminal computers. Yet the closer Cardenas gets to the girl, the closer assassins are getting to them both...

This unforgettable story of undying love combines mysticism, suspense, mystery, and romance into a web of good and evil that stretches from 16th-century England to the present day. Richard Marsdon marries a young American woman named Celia, brings her to live at his English estate, and all seems...  more

This unforgettable story of undying love combines mysticism, suspense, mystery, and romance into a web of good and evil that stretches from 16th-century England to the present day. Richard Marsdon marries a young American woman named Celia, brings her to live at his English estate, and all seems to be going well. But now Richard has become withdrawn, and Celia is constantly haunted by a vague dread. When she suffers a breakdown and wavers between life and death, a wise doctor realizes that only by forcing Celia to relive her past can he enable her to escape her illness. Celia travels back 400 years in time to her past life as a beautiful but doomed servant. Through her eyes, we see the England of the Tudors, torn by religious strife, and experience all the pageantry, lustiness, and cruelty of the age. As in other historical romance titles by this author, the past comes alive in this flamboyant classic novel.

Swords Against The Wizard The City of Mandrigyn was conquered and its men enslaved in the foul mines of the evil Wizard King, Altiokis. Now the women of the city; led by Sheera Galernas, had come to hire the mercenary an ally of Captain Sun Wolf. But Sun Wolf was too wise to become involved...  more

Swords Against The Wizard The City of Mandrigyn was conquered and its men enslaved in the foul mines of the evil Wizard King, Altiokis. Now the women of the city; led by Sheera Galernas, had come to hire the mercenary an ally of Captain Sun Wolf. But Sun Wolf was too wise to become involved in fighting against wizardry... ...until he woke to find himself kidnapped and offered a grim choice by Sheera. He could train and lead the ladies of Mandrigyn against Altiokis -- or he could die in lingering agony from the anzid they had given him and for which only they had the antidote. There was more to the ladies than Sun Wolf could have guessed. There was also fair more to the evil of Altiokis than anyone knew But above all there was a great deal more to Sun Wolf and his destiny than he had ever dreamed.

It is England, in the fourteenth century, the old feudal order is starting to crack but the whim of a lord or the pleasure of a bishop can still seal nearly anyones fate. For Lady Kathryn of Blackingham Manor, a widow desperately trying to safeguard her holdings, it is a time made both sweeter...  more

It is England, in the fourteenth century, the old feudal order is starting to crack but the whim of a lord or the pleasure of a bishop can still seal nearly anyones fate. For Lady Kathryn of Blackingham Manor, a widow desperately trying to safeguard her holdings, it is a time made both sweeter and more dangerous by the arrival of Finn, a master illuminator who is lodged at Blackingham by the Church but is secretly working on a forbidden English translation of the Bible. As their hesitant friendship grows into a passionate alliance, wonderful new storyteller Brenda Rickman Vantrease brings us a glorious novel of love, treachery, art, and redemption on the eve of the Renaissance.

In 1471, merchant John Lambert marries off his two beautiful daughters. The elder, Jane Shore, soon begins a notorious liaison with King Edward IV. The other sister, industrious and clever Isabel, is wed to the scion of a wealthy silk dynasty -- and faces a monumental challenge when her husband...  more

In 1471, merchant John Lambert marries off his two beautiful daughters. The elder, Jane Shore, soon begins a notorious liaison with King Edward IV. The other sister, industrious and clever Isabel, is wed to the scion of a wealthy silk dynasty -- and faces a monumental challenge when her husband is killed. Forced into apprenticeship to her mother-in-law, Alice Claver, Isabel learns to love the exotic fabrics from Italy, Persia, Spain, Tunisia, and beyond, discovering both loyal friends and dangerous enemies in this breathtaking new world. But Isabel's most powerful alliance will be with sister Jane's royal lover. And when the political landscape shifts perilously, one sister will fall while the other rises -- as dire choices are made that will change their lives forever.

As the autumn storms of 1271 ravage the East Anglian coast, Crowner Ralf finds the corpse of a brutally murdered soldier in the woods near Tyndal Priory. The dagger in the man's chest is engraved with a strange, cursive design, and the body is wrapped in a crusader's cloak. Was this the...  more

As the autumn storms of 1271 ravage the East Anglian coast, Crowner Ralf finds the corpse of a brutally murdered soldier in the woods near Tyndal Priory. The dagger in the man's chest is engraved with a strange, cursive design, and the body is wrapped in a crusader's cloak. Was this the act of a member of the Assassin sect or was the weapon meant to mislead him in finding the killer? Ralf's decision to take the corpse to the priory for advice may be reasonable, but he is soon caught up in a maelstrom of conflict, both personal and political. The priory is deeply divided over whether to purchase a relic, a decision that endangers both Prioress Eleanor's leadership and the future of the hospital. Brother Thomas becomes a suspect in the murder itself, and Ralf must choose between the demands of his brother, the sheriff, and loyalty to a friend. Meanwhile, the murderer watches and waits.

A nun and a monk defy death and dishonor at her family's Welsh fortress... In the winter of 1271, Death stalks the corridors of Wynethorpe Castle on the Welsh border. When the Grim Reaper touches the beloved grandson of the castle lord, Baron Adam sends for his daughter, Prioress Eleanor...  more

A nun and a monk defy death and dishonor at her family's Welsh fortress... In the winter of 1271, Death stalks the corridors of Wynethorpe Castle on the Welsh border. When the Grim Reaper touches the beloved grandson of the castle lord, Baron Adam sends for his daughter, Prioress Eleanor of Tyndal, and her sub-infirmarian, Sister Anne, to save the child with prayers and healing talents. Escorting them to the remote fortress is Brother Thomas, an unwilling monk fighting his private demons. Death may be denied once in his quest for souls but never twice. Soon after the trio arrives, an important guest is murdered. The prioress's brother, bloody dagger in hand, stands over the corpse. All others may believe in his guilt, but Eleanor is convinced her brother is innocent. Outside her priory, in a world of armed men, Eleanor may have little authority, but she is determined to untangle the Gordian knot of thwarted passions and old resentments even if it means defying her father, a man with whom she longs to make peace. As passions rise with the winter wind and time runs short, Eleanor, Anne and Thomas struggle to find the real killer.

What was it really like when the heavens opened and the world drowned? Everyone knows the story of the Flood: The man called on by God to build an ark. The animals that came on board two by two. The rain that fell for forty days and forty nights. But what about the rest of the story? What...  more

What was it really like when the heavens opened and the world drowned? Everyone knows the story of the Flood: The man called on by God to build an ark. The animals that came on board two by two. The rain that fell for forty days and forty nights. But what about the rest of the story? What about Noah's wife and daughters-in-law? And what if there was a daughter as well? How would it feel to head into the unknown, with only each other and all those animals? What would it be like to turn away friends and neighbors struggling in the water? Could all of it really be part of God's Plan -- the hunger and pain and fear? Carnegie Medalist Geraldine McCaughrean transforms the familiar story into a provocative new tale that is told through the voices of Noah's family, and even the animals. At the heart is a daughter who questions her father when no one else will.

The offspring of a whore mother and a homicidal father, Edward and John Little are driven from their home in the Florida swamplands by a sching parent's treacheries, and by a shameful, horrific act that will haunt their dreams for the rest of their days. Joining the swelling ranks of the...  more

The offspring of a whore mother and a homicidal father, Edward and John Little are driven from their home in the Florida swamplands by a sching parent's treacheries, and by a shameful, horrific act that will haunt their dreams for the rest of their days. Joining the swelling ranks of the rootless--wandering across an almost surreal bloodland populated by the sorrowfully lost and defiantly damned--two brothers are separated by death and circumstance in the lawless "Dixie City" of New Orelans, and dispatched by destiny to opposing sides in a fierce and desperate territorial struggled between Mexico and the United States. And a family bond tempered in hot blood is tested in the cruel, all-consuming fires of war and conscience.With soaring and masterful prose, James Carlos Blake brings to life an enthralling historical time and place--and a cast of memorable characters--in a stunning tale of dark instinct, blood reckoning, and fates forged in the zeal of America's "Manifest Destiny."

1290: Turmoil erupts when the seven-year-old queen of Scotland perishes en route to claim the crown. Two bitter foes -- John Balliol and Robert Bruce -- emerge as possible successors, but England's Edward I has his own designs on Scotland. In London, Edward has expelled all Jews from his...  more

1290: Turmoil erupts when the seven-year-old queen of Scotland perishes en route to claim the crown. Two bitter foes -- John Balliol and Robert Bruce -- emerge as possible successors, but England's Edward I has his own designs on Scotland. In London, Edward has expelled all Jews from his kingdom. Rachel de Anjou is heartbroken to leave behind her best friend, Isabel de Burke, and travel with her family to the Scottish border town of Berwick. Danger is everywhere, but the tall, dark Highlander Kieran MacDonald presents a risk of a different sort. Isabel, appointed as lady-in-waiting to Edward's queen, Eleanor, is soon immersed in a world of privilege and peril where she attracts the notice of two men -- Henry de Boyer, an English knight, and Rory MacGannon, a Highland warrior and outlaw. Isabel and Rachel are soon reunited in Berwick, but as the enmity between Scotland and England reaches its violent peak, each woman must decide where her loyalty -- and her destiny -- lies.

After teaching and raising her family for most of her life, Agnes Scofield is tired of the routine. But how, at 51, can she establish an identity apart from what has so long defined her? Often eloquent, sometimes blunt, and always full of fire, the Scofield family is not one to keep its opinions...  more

After teaching and raising her family for most of her life, Agnes Scofield is tired of the routine. But how, at 51, can she establish an identity apart from what has so long defined her? Often eloquent, sometimes blunt, and always full of fire, the Scofield family is not one to keep its opinions quiet. As much as Agnes would like to, she can no more sidestep their adamant advice than she can step down as their matriarch. But, despite her reluctance to become even more entangled in the family web, Agnes is amazed to feel her life grow because of it. In Being Polite to Hitler, Robb Forman Dew intricately details personal and family life in a moving, frank, and surprising portrait of post-World War II America.

The last unvanquished piece of England, Wessex is eyed hungrily by the fearsome Viking conquerors. A dispossessed young nobleman, Uhtred is tied to the imperiled land by birth and marriage but was raised by the Danish invaders -- and he questions where his allegiance must lie. But blood is his...  more

The last unvanquished piece of England, Wessex is eyed hungrily by the fearsome Viking conquerors. A dispossessed young nobleman, Uhtred is tied to the imperiled land by birth and marriage but was raised by the Danish invaders -- and he questions where his allegiance must lie. But blood is his destiny, and when the overwhelming Viking horde attacks out of a wintry darkness, Uhtred must put aside all hatred and distrust and stand beside his embattled country's staunch defender -- the fugitive King Alfred.

"My family has a grand tradition. After a woman gives birth, she goes mad. I thought that I would be the one to escape." So begins Adrienne Martini's candid, compelling, and darkly humorous history of her family's and her own experiences with depression and postpartum...  more

"My family has a grand tradition. After a woman gives birth, she goes mad. I thought that I would be the one to escape." So begins Adrienne Martini's candid, compelling, and darkly humorous history of her family's and her own experiences with depression and postpartum syndrome. Illuminating depression from the inside, Martini delves unflinchingly into her own breakdown and institutionalization and traces the multigenerational course of this devastating problem. Moving back and forth between characters and situations, she vividly portrays the isolation -- geographical and metaphorical -- of the Appalachia of her forebears and the Western Pennsylvania region where she grew up. She also weaves in the stories of other women, both contemporary and historic, who have dealt with postpartum depression in all its guises, from fleeting "baby blues" to full-blown psychosis. Serious as her subject is, Martini's narrative is unfailingly engaging and filled with witty, wry observations on the complications of new motherhood: "It's like getting the best Christmas gift ever, but Santa decided to kick the crap out of you before you unwrapped it." New mothers and those who have struggled with parenthood -- whether or not they dealt with depression -- will find affirmation in this story of triumph, of escape from a difficult legacy, of hope for others, and of the courage to have another baby. Read by Christina Moore. Audio CD (6 hours and 49 minutes)

In the fifteenth century, with religious intolerance spreading like wildfire across Europe, English-born Anna Bookman and her grandfather, Finn, earn a living in Prague by illuminating precious books, including forbidden translations of the Bible. Finn subscribes to the heresy that people ought...  more

In the fifteenth century, with religious intolerance spreading like wildfire across Europe, English-born Anna Bookman and her grandfather, Finn, earn a living in Prague by illuminating precious books, including forbidden translations of the Bible. Finn subscribes to the heresy that people ought to be able to read the Word of God for themselves, without having to pay a priest for the privilege, but holding that belief is becoming more and more hazardous. When the authorities start burning books and slaughtering heretics---including the man Anna was to marry---Finn urges her to seek sanctuary in England, but her passage abroad will be anything but easy. In London, Friar Gabriel dutifully obeys church doctrine by granting pardons . . . for a small fee. But then he is sent undercover on a spying mission to France, where Anna has set up a temporary stall as a bookseller. Anna has no way of knowing that the wealthy young merchant frequenting her stall is actually a priest---just as Gabriel does not know he has met the woman who will cause him to doubt his vows. As Anna continues her journey to England, where the movement to stamp out heresy is growing ever fiercer, Brenda Rickman Vantrease brings us a richly imagined and immensely rewarding novel of love, faith, and dangerous secrets.

In December 1875 the steamship Deutschland left Bremen, Germany, bound for America. On board were five nuns, exiled by a ban on religious orders, bound to begin their lives anew in Missouri. Their journey would end when the Deutschland ran aground at the mouth of the Thames and all five...  more

In December 1875 the steamship Deutschland left Bremen, Germany, bound for America. On board were five nuns, exiled by a ban on religious orders, bound to begin their lives anew in Missouri. Their journey would end when the Deutschland ran aground at the mouth of the Thames and all five drowned. Ron Hansen tells their harrowing story, but also that of the poet and seminarian Gerard Manly Hopkins, and how the shipwreck moved him to write a grand poem, a revelatory work read throughout the world today. Combining a thrilling tragedy at sea, with the seeming shipwreck of Hopkins's own life, "Hansen brilliantly, if soberly, weaves two interrelated story lines into a riveting novel".

The author of the internationally acclaimed Josephine Bonaparte trilogy returns with another irresistible historical novel, this one based on the life of Louise de la Valliere, who, against all odds, became one of the most mysterious consorts of France's Louis XIV, the charismatic Sun King. Set...  more

The author of the internationally acclaimed Josephine Bonaparte trilogy returns with another irresistible historical novel, this one based on the life of Louise de la Valliere, who, against all odds, became one of the most mysterious consorts of France's Louis XIV, the charismatic Sun King. Set against the magnificent decadence of the seventeenth-century French court, Mistress of the Sun begins when an eccentric young Louise falls in love with a wild white stallion and uses ancient magic to tame him. This one desperate action of her youth shadows her throughout her life, changing it in ways she could never imagine. Unmarriageable, and too poor to join a convent, Louise enters the court of the Sun King, where the king is captivated by her. As their love unfolds, Louise bears Louis four children, is made a duchess, and reigns unrivaled as his official mistress until dangerous intrigue threatens her position at court and in Louis's heart. A riveting love story with a captivating mystery at its heart, Mistress of the Sun illuminates both the power of true and perfect love and the rash actions we take to capture and tame it.

A profoundly moving portrait of the complicated legacies of mothers and daughters, A Short History of Women chronicles five generations of women from the close of the nineteenth century through the early years of the twenty-first. Beginning in 1914 at the deathbed of Dorothy Trevor Townsend,...  more

A profoundly moving portrait of the complicated legacies of mothers and daughters, A Short History of Women chronicles five generations of women from the close of the nineteenth century through the early years of the twenty-first. Beginning in 1914 at the deathbed of Dorothy Trevor Townsend, a suffragette who starves herself for the cause, the novel traces the echoes of her choice in the stories of her descendants -- a brilliant daughter who tries to escape the burden of her mother’s infamy; a granddaughter who chooses a conventional path, only to find herself disillusioned; a great-granddaughter who wryly articulates the free-floating anxiety of post-9/11 Manhattan. In a kaleidoscope of characters and with a richness of imagery, emotion, and wit, A Short History of Women is a thought-provoking and vividly original narrative that crisscrosses a century -- a book for "any woman who has ever struggled to find her own voice; to make sense of being a mother, wife, daughter, and lover" NOMINATED FOR THE LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE

Benjamin January made his debut in bestselling author Barbara Hambly's A Free Man of Color, a haunting mélange of history and mystery. Now he returns in another novel of greed, madness, and murder amid the dark shadows and dazzling society of old New Orleans, named a Notable Book of...  more

Benjamin January made his debut in bestselling author Barbara Hambly's A Free Man of Color, a haunting mélange of history and mystery. Now he returns in another novel of greed, madness, and murder amid the dark shadows and dazzling society of old New Orleans, named a Notable Book of the Year by the New York Times. The summer of 1833 has been one of brazen heat and brutal pestilence, as the city is stalked by Bronze John -- the popular name for the deadly yellow fever epidemic that tests the healing skills of doctor and voodoo alike. Even as Benjamin January tends the dying at Charity Hospital during the steaming nights, he continues his work as a music teacher during the day. When he is asked to pass a message from a runaway slave to the servant of one of his students, January finds himself swept into a tempest of lies, greed, and murder that rivals the storms battering New Orleans. And to find the truth he must risk his freedom...and his very life.

Bestselling author Barbara Hambly's A Free Man of Color and Fever Season established Benjamin January as one of mystery's most exciting heroes. Now he returns in a powerful new novel, a sensual mosaic of old New Orleans, where cultures clash and murder can hover around every darkened...  more

Bestselling author Barbara Hambly's A Free Man of Color and Fever Season established Benjamin January as one of mystery's most exciting heroes. Now he returns in a powerful new novel, a sensual mosaic of old New Orleans, where cultures clash and murder can hover around every darkened corner.... It is St. John's Eve in the summer of 1834 when Benjamin January -- Creole physician and music teacher -- is shattered by the news that his sister has been arrested for murder. The Guards have only a shadow of a case against her. But Olympe -- mystical and rebellious -- is a woman of color, whose chance for justice is slim. As Benjamin probes the allegation, he is targeted by a new threat: graveyard dust sprinkled at his door, whispering of a voodoo death curse. Now, to save Olympe's life -- and his own -- Benjamin knows he must glean information wherever he can find it. For in the heavy darkness of New Orleans, the truth is what you make it, and justice can disappear with the night's warm breeze as easy as graveyard dust....

In February 1835, the cold New Orleans streets are alight with masked Mardi Gras revelers as the American Theater’s impresario, Lorenzo Belaggio, brings a magnificent yet controversial operatic version of Othello to town. But it’s pitch-black in the alley where free man of color...  more

In February 1835, the cold New Orleans streets are alight with masked Mardi Gras revelers as the American Theater’s impresario, Lorenzo Belaggio, brings a magnificent yet controversial operatic version of Othello to town. But it’s pitch-black in the alley where free man of color Benjamin January hears a slurred whisper, spies the flash of a knife, and is himself wounded as he rescues Belaggio from a vicious attack. Could competition for audiences -- or for Belagio’s affections -- provoke such violent skulduggery? Or is Shakespeare’s tragic tale, with its spectacle of a black man’s passion for a white beauty, one that some Creole citizen -- or American parvenu -- would do anything to keep off the stage? The soaring music will lead January into a tangle of love, hate, and greed more treacherous than any onstage drama, as he must discover who is responsible...and who will Die Upon a Kiss.

Giverny, France. During the day, the town is the home of the famous artist Claude Monet and the gardens where he painted his Water Lilies. But once the tourists have gone, there is a darker side to the peaceful French village. This is the story of thirteen days that begin with one murder and...  more

Giverny, France. During the day, the town is the home of the famous artist Claude Monet and the gardens where he painted his Water Lilies. But once the tourists have gone, there is a darker side to the peaceful French village. This is the story of thirteen days that begin with one murder and end with another. Jérôme Morval, a man whose passion for art was matched only by his passion for women, has been found dead in the stream that runs through the gardens. In his pocket is a postcard of Monet's Water Lilies with the words: Eleven years old. Happy Birthday. Entangled in the mystery are three women: a young painting prodigy, the seductive village schoolteacher, and an old widow who watches over the village from a mill by the stream. All three of them share a secret. But what do they know about the discovery of Jérôme Morval's corpse? And what is the connection to the mysterious, rumored painting of Black Water Lilies?

Evaline Stoker and Mina Holmes never meant to get into the family business. But when you're the sister of Bram and the niece of Sherlock, vampire hunting and mystery solving are in your blood. And when two society girls go missing, there's no one more qualified to investigate. Now...  more

Evaline Stoker and Mina Holmes never meant to get into the family business. But when you're the sister of Bram and the niece of Sherlock, vampire hunting and mystery solving are in your blood. And when two society girls go missing, there's no one more qualified to investigate. Now fierce Evaline and logical Mina must resolve their rivalry, navigate the advances of not just one but three mysterious gentlemen, and solve a murder with only one clue: the strange Egyptian scarab. The stakes are high. If Stoker and Holmes don't unravel why the belles of London society are in such danger, they'll become the next victims.

The Hermit"s Story is Rick Bass's best and most varied fiction yet. In the title story, a man and a woman travel across an eerily frozen lake—under the ice. "The Distance" casts a skeptical eye on Thomas Jefferson through the lens of a Montana man"s visit to Monticello. "Eating" begins...  more

The Hermit"s Story is Rick Bass's best and most varied fiction yet. In the title story, a man and a woman travel across an eerily frozen lake—under the ice. "The Distance" casts a skeptical eye on Thomas Jefferson through the lens of a Montana man"s visit to Monticello. "Eating" begins with an owl being sucked into a canoe and ends with a man eating a town out of house and home, and "The Cave" is a stunning story of a man and woman lost in an abandoned mine. Other stories include "The Fireman," "Swans," "The Prisoners," "Presidents" Day," "Real Town," and "Two Deer." Some of these stories have appeared in The Best American Short Stories, but for many readers, they won"t even be the best in this collection. Every story in this book is remarkable in its own way, sure to please both new readers and avid fans of Rick Bass"s passionate, unmistakable voice.

Summer, 1385. The sun is hot and high, promising a fine harvest - but storm-clouds of insurrection are gathering over England. Lollard heretics, driven from their base at Oxford by the iron fist of the Archbishop Courtenay, now roam the land sowing sedition and a return to the bloodshed that...  more

Summer, 1385. The sun is hot and high, promising a fine harvest - but storm-clouds of insurrection are gathering over England. Lollard heretics, driven from their base at Oxford by the iron fist of the Archbishop Courtenay, now roam the land sowing sedition and a return to the bloodshed that swept over the country during the Great Rebellion seems certain. In the capital, the boy king Richard II is now seventeen; his uncle John of Gaunt still refuses to step aside for his ward. Hildegard of Meaux -- sleuth, spy and now an abbess of the powerful Cistercian order -- has found refuge from a world of violence and blood-feud at her new house in Yorkshire. But by taking a bonded maid into the fold, Hildegard has made a dangerous enemy, an enemy who thinks nothing of destroying her little sanctuary to further his own ends. Meanwhile her own history, and her possession of a priceless relic, threatens to drag her into the schemes of traitors to the crown who seek to overthrow King Richard's regime -- including the ruthless Henry Bolingbroke. And with portents in York that the end of days is imminent; signs expressed by death in fire, can even the resourceful Hildegard unweave the tangled skein of conspiracy?

It is August, 1645, one year since York fell into Puritan hands. As the city suffers through a brutal summer heat, Bridget Hodgson and Martha Hawkins are drawn into a murder investigation more frightening than their last. In order to appease God's wrath -- and end the heat-wave -- the...  more

It is August, 1645, one year since York fell into Puritan hands. As the city suffers through a brutal summer heat, Bridget Hodgson and Martha Hawkins are drawn into a murder investigation more frightening than their last. In order to appease God's wrath -- and end the heat-wave -- the city's overlords have launched a brutal campaign to whip the city's sinners into godliness. But for someone in York, this is not enough. First a prostitute and her client are found stabbed to death, then a pair of adulterers are beaten and strangled. York's sinners have been targeted for execution.  Bridget and Martha -- assisted once again by Will, Bridget's good-hearted nephew -- race to find the killer even as he adds more bodies to his tally. The list of suspects is long: Hezekiah Ward, a fire and brimstone preacher new to York; Ward's son, Praise-God, whose intensity mirrors his father's; John Stubb, one of Ward's fanatic followers, whose taste for blood may not have been sated by his time in Parliament's armies. Or could the killer be closer to home? Will's brother Joseph is no stranger to death, and he shares the Wards' dreams of driving sin from the city.  To find the killer, Bridget, Martha, and Will must uncover the city's most secret sins, and hope against hope that the killer does not turn his attention in their direction, in "The Harlot's Tale" by Sam Thomas. 

Tense, intriguing, and darkly compelling, The Falcon and the Snowman is a uniquely American story of betrayal. On the face of it, there was nothing to indicate that Andrew Dalton Lee and Christopher James Boyce were anything but two devout Catholic boys growing up in happy, warm families in one...  more

Tense, intriguing, and darkly compelling, The Falcon and the Snowman is a uniquely American story of betrayal. On the face of it, there was nothing to indicate that Andrew Dalton Lee and Christopher James Boyce were anything but two devout Catholic boys growing up in happy, warm families in one of the most affluent suburbs in America, living one version of the American Dream and facing nothing but the best of futures.

A tale set against the turmoil of the French Revolution follows the life of Annette Vallon, the mistress and muse of poet William Wordsworth, who transitions from a surgeon's pampered daughter to a headstrong adventurer struggling with mental instability.

Youthful, ambitious Peter Schoeffer is on the verge of professional success as a scribe in Paris when his foster father, wealthy merchant and bookseller Johann Fust, summons him home to corrupt, feud-plagued Mainz to meet “a most amazing man.” Johann Gutenberg, a driven and...  more

Youthful, ambitious Peter Schoeffer is on the verge of professional success as a scribe in Paris when his foster father, wealthy merchant and bookseller Johann Fust, summons him home to corrupt, feud-plagued Mainz to meet “a most amazing man.” Johann Gutenberg, a driven and caustic inventor, has devised a revolutionary -- and to some, blasphemous -- method of bookmaking: a machine he calls a printing press. Fust is financing Gutenberg’s workshop and he orders Peter, his adopted son, to become Gutenberg’s apprentice. Resentful at having to abandon a prestigious career as a scribe, Peter begins his education in the “darkest art.” As his skill grows, so, too, does his admiration for Gutenberg and his dedication to their daring venture: copies of the Holy Bible. But mechanical difficulties and the crushing power of the Catholic Church threaten their work. As outside forces align against them, Peter finds himself torn between two father figures: the generous Fust, who saved him from poverty after his mother died; and the brilliant, mercurial Gutenberg, who inspires Peter to achieve his own mastery. Caught between the genius and the merchant, the old ways and the new, Peter and the men he admires must work together to prevail against overwhelming obstacles -- a battle that will change history . . . and irrevocably transform them.

Lena Papadopoulos has never quite found her place within the circus, even as the daughter of the extraordinary headlining illusionist, Theo. Brilliant and curious, Lena yearns for the real-world magic of science and medicine, despite her father's overprotection and the limits her world places on...  more

Lena Papadopoulos has never quite found her place within the circus, even as the daughter of the extraordinary headlining illusionist, Theo. Brilliant and curious, Lena yearns for the real-world magic of science and medicine, despite her father's overprotection and the limits her world places on her because she is disabled. Her unconventional life takes an exciting turn when she rescues Alexandre, an orphan with his own secrets and a mysterious past. Over several years, as their friendship flourishes and Alexandre trains as the illusionist's apprentice, World War II escalates around them. When Theo and Alexandre are contracted to work and perform in a model town for Jews set up by the Nazis, Lena becomes separated from everything she knows. Forced to make her own way, Lena must confront her doubts and dare to believe in the impossible--herself. A must-read for fans of The Night Circus and Water for Elephants, The Circus Train will take readers on a heart-wrenching and spectacular two-decade journey across Europe. When all is lost, how do you find the courage to keep moving forward?

Everyone knows the story of Elizabeth and Jane Bennet in Pride and Prejudice. But what about their sister Mary? At the conclusion of Jane Austen's classic novel, Mary, bookish, awkward, and by all accounts, unmarriageable, is sentenced to a dull, provincial existence in the backwaters of...  more

Everyone knows the story of Elizabeth and Jane Bennet in Pride and Prejudice. But what about their sister Mary? At the conclusion of Jane Austen's classic novel, Mary, bookish, awkward, and by all accounts, unmarriageable, is sentenced to a dull, provincial existence in the backwaters of Britain. Now, master storyteller Colleen McCullough rescues Mary from her dreary fate with The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet, a page-turning sequel set twenty years after Austen's novel closes. The story begins as the neglected Bennet sister is released from the stultifying duty of caring for her insufferable mother. Though many would call a woman of Mary's age a spinster, she has blossomed into a beauty to rival that of her famed sisters. Her violet eyes and perfect figure bewitch the eligible men in the neighborhood, but though her family urges her to marry, romance and frippery hold no attraction. Instead, she is determined to set off on an adventure of her own. Fired with zeal by the newspaper letters of the mysterious Argus, she resolves to publish a book about the plight of England's poor. Plunging from one predicament into another, Mary finds herself stumbling closer to long-buried secrets, unanticipated dangers, and unlooked-for romance. Meanwhile, the other dearly loved characters of Pride and Prejudice fret about the missing Mary while they contend with difficulties of their own. Darcy's political ambitions consume his ardor, and he bothers with Elizabeth only when the impropriety of her family seems to threaten his career. Lydia, wild and charming as ever, drinks and philanders her way into dire straits; Kitty, a young widow of means, occupies herself with gossip and shopping; and Jane, naive and trusting as ever, spends her days ministering to her crop of boys and her adoring, if not entirely faithful, husband. Yet, with the shadowy and mysterious figure of Darcy's right-hand man, Ned Skinner, lurking at every corner, it is clear that all is not what it seems at idyllic Pemberley. As the many threads of McCullough's masterful plot come together, shocking truths are revealed, love, both old and new, is tested, and all learn the value of true independence in a novel for every woman who has wanted to leave her mark on the world.

?The Sea of Trolls blends ancient history and Norse epics with recognizable bits of Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings? (The New York Times). Jack is kidnapped by berserkers from his Saxon village in the year A.D. 793, an occurrence forewarned by his mentor the Bard. Captured by Viking chief...  more

?The Sea of Trolls blends ancient history and Norse epics with recognizable bits of Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings? (The New York Times). Jack is kidnapped by berserkers from his Saxon village in the year A.D. 793, an occurrence forewarned by his mentor the Bard. Captured by Viking chief Olaf One-Brow, Jack and his sister, Lucy, are swiftly taken to the court of Ivar the Boneless. Ivar is married to a half-troll named Frith, an evil and unpredictable queen with a strange power over her husband?s court. Jack mistakenly casts a charm on her?and is banished to the kingdom of the trolls to find the magic that will undo the charm. Accompanied by Thorgill, a shield maiden who wants to be a berserker, and by the mysterious crow called Bold Heart, Jack sets out on a harrowing and exciting quest for the ages. From National Book Award winner Nancy Farmer, this first book in the Sea of Trolls trilogy is epic fantasy at its best.

Drawn from Queen Victoria’s diaries and correspondences, Evelyn Anthony’s novel reimagines the story of how a sheltered eighteen-year-old girl ascended to the British throne, became a major force in politics, and fell in love with her husband When King William dies, his teenage...  more

Drawn from Queen Victoria’s diaries and correspondences, Evelyn Anthony’s novel reimagines the story of how a sheltered eighteen-year-old girl ascended to the British throne, became a major force in politics, and fell in love with her husband When King William dies, his teenage niece Victoria becomes queen. In spite of her youth and lack of experience, the eighteen-year-old surprises her detractors by taking the reins with poise and grace, vowing to always put the welfare of her realm first. Yet from the moment she meets her cousin, the handsome, fair-haired Albert, she becomes obsessed by love. Homesick for Germany, Albert wishes the petite, birdlike creature would choose someone else. But when Victoria asks him to share her life, he has no choice but to say yes. Evelyn Anthony’s novel captures Victoria’s passion for Albert, along with the contradictions in her personality and monstrous ego that almost destroyed her marriage. Although she bore Albert nine children, Victoria lacked maternal instinct. In many ways she mirrored the callous indifference of the era: Child labor and grueling fourteen-hour workdays were commonplace in Victorian England. Spanning the first twenty-one years of her reign, Victoria and Albert is a love story and a revealing portrait of a marriage.

In these spellbinding stories, six of today's best-known science fiction authors write about women who must fight to develop their own identities. Luz Falco of Ursula K. Le Guin's new novel The Eye of the Heron follows the only truth she knows, even though it means exile in an endless...  more

In these spellbinding stories, six of today's best-known science fiction authors write about women who must fight to develop their own identities. Luz Falco of Ursula K. Le Guin's new novel The Eye of the Heron follows the only truth she knows, even though it means exile in an endless wilderness. elana Driver of Diana L. Paxson's The Song of N'Sardi-El risks her vital scientific work and the safety of her spaceship's crew when a frightened young orphan is taken on board. Amanda of Joan Vinge's novelette becomes an outcase when she defies her father and offers shelter to a stranger who has fallen out of the sky. These women live in alien worlds, but their situations are hauntingly familiar, and their stories have the impact of prophecy. .

Twelve times a week, twenty-eight-year-old Ella May Wiggins makes the two-mile trek to and from her job on the night shift at American Mill No. 2 in Bessemer City, North Carolina. The insular community considers the mill’s owners -- the newly arrived Goldberg brothers -- white but not...  more

Twelve times a week, twenty-eight-year-old Ella May Wiggins makes the two-mile trek to and from her job on the night shift at American Mill No. 2 in Bessemer City, North Carolina. The insular community considers the mill’s owners -- the newly arrived Goldberg brothers -- white but not American and expects them to pay Ella May and other workers less because they toil alongside African Americans like Violet, Ella May’s best friend. While the dirty, hazardous job at the mill earns Ella May a paltry nine dollars for seventy-two hours of work each week, it’s the only opportunity she has. Her no-good husband, John, has run off again, and she must keep her four young children alive with whatever work she can find. When the union leaflets begin circulating, Ella May has a taste of hope, a yearning for the better life the organizers promise. But the mill owners, backed by other nefarious forces, claim the union is nothing but a front for the Bolshevik menace sweeping across Europe. To maintain their control, the owners will use every means in their power, including bloodshed, to prevent workers from banding together. On the night of the county’s biggest rally, Ella May, weighing the costs of her choice, makes up her mind to join the movement -- a decision that will have lasting consequences for her children, her friends, her town -- indeed all that she loves. Seventy-five years later, Ella May’s daughter Lilly, now an elderly woman, tells her nephew about his grandmother and the events that transformed their family. Illuminating the most painful corners of their history, she reveals, for the first time, the tragedy that befell Ella May after that fateful union meeting in 1929.

Inspired by true events, A More Perfect Union is an epic story of love and courage, desperation and determination, and three people whose lives are inescapably entwined… Henry O’Toole sails to America in 1848 to escape the famine in Ireland, only to face anti-immigrant prejudice....  more

Inspired by true events, A More Perfect Union is an epic story of love and courage, desperation and determination, and three people whose lives are inescapably entwined… Henry O’Toole sails to America in 1848 to escape the famine in Ireland, only to face anti-immigrant prejudice. Determined never to starve again, he changes his surname to Taylor and heads south to Virginia, seeking work as a traveling blacksmith on the prosperous plantations. Torn from her home and sold to Jubilee Plantation, Sarah must navigate its intricate hierarchy. And now an enigmatic blacksmith is promising her not just the world but also her freedom. How could she say no? Enslaved at Jubilee Plantation, Maple is desperate to return to her husband and daughter. With Sarah’s arrival, she sees her chance to be reunited at last with her family—but at what cost?

Discovered on the doorstep of a country estate in Wiltshire, England, the infant Fanny is raised to womanhood by her adoptive parents, Lord and Lady Bellars. Fanny wants to become the epic poet of the age, but her plans are dashed when she is ravished by her libertine stepfather. Fleeing to...  more

Discovered on the doorstep of a country estate in Wiltshire, England, the infant Fanny is raised to womanhood by her adoptive parents, Lord and Lady Bellars. Fanny wants to become the epic poet of the age, but her plans are dashed when she is ravished by her libertine stepfather. Fleeing to London, Fanny falls in with idealistic witches and highwaymen who teach her of worlds she never knew existed. After toiling in a London brothel that caters to literati, Fanny embarks on a series of adventures that teach her what she must know to live and prosper as a woman. Soon to be a major Broadway musical. Reading group guide included.

On the afternoon of August 20, 1910, a battering ram of wind moved through the drought-stricken national forests of Washington, Idaho, and Montana, whipping the hundreds of small blazes burning across the forest floor into a roaring inferno. Forest rangers had assembled nearly ten thousand...  more

On the afternoon of August 20, 1910, a battering ram of wind moved through the drought-stricken national forests of Washington, Idaho, and Montana, whipping the hundreds of small blazes burning across the forest floor into a roaring inferno. Forest rangers had assembled nearly ten thousand men—college boys, day workers, immigrants from mining camps—to fight the fire. But no living person had seen anything like those flames, and neither the rangers nor anyone else knew how to subdue them. Egan narrates the struggles of the overmatched rangers against the implacable fire with unstoppable dramatic force. Equally dramatic is the larger story he tells of outsized president Teddy Roosevelt and his chief forester, Gifford Pinchot. Pioneering the notion of conservation, Roosevelt and Pinchot did nothing less than create the idea of public land as our national treasure, owned by and preserved for every citizen.

It's 1895, and after the suicide of her mother, 16-year-old Gemma Doyle is shipped off from the life she knows in India to Spence, a proper boarding school in England. Lonely, guilt-ridden, and prone to visions of the future that have an uncomfortable habit of coming true, Gemma's...  more

It's 1895, and after the suicide of her mother, 16-year-old Gemma Doyle is shipped off from the life she knows in India to Spence, a proper boarding school in England. Lonely, guilt-ridden, and prone to visions of the future that have an uncomfortable habit of coming true, Gemma's reception there is a chilly one. To make things worse, she's been followed by a mysterious young Indian man, a man sent to watch her. But why? What is her destiny? And what will her entanglement with Spence's most powerful girls -- and their foray into the spiritual world -- lead to?

From Publisher's Weekly: In this delightful first novel, the opening salvo of a trilogy, Novik seamlessly blends fantasy into the history of the Napoleonic wars. Here be dragons, beasts that can speak and reason, bred for strength and speed and used for aerial support in battle. Each nation has...  more

From Publisher's Weekly: In this delightful first novel, the opening salvo of a trilogy, Novik seamlessly blends fantasy into the history of the Napoleonic wars. Here be dragons, beasts that can speak and reason, bred for strength and speed and used for aerial support in battle. Each nation has its own breeds, but none are so jealously guarded as the mysterious dragons of China. Veteran Capt. Will Laurence of the British Navy is therefore taken aback after his crew captures an egg from a French ship and it hatches a Chinese dragon, which Laurence names Temeraire. When Temeraire bonds with the captain, the two leave the navy to sign on with His Majesty's sadly understaffed Aerial Corps, which takes on the French in sprawling, detailed battles that Novik renders with admirable attention to 19th-century military tactics. Though the dragons they encounter are often more fully fleshed-out than the stereotypical human characters, the author's palpable love for her subject and a story rich with international, interpersonal and internal struggles more than compensate.

History is thick with secrets in The Sugar Camp Quilt, seventh in the beloved Elm Creek Quilts series from bestselling author Jennifer Chiaverini. Set in Creek's Crossing, Pennsylvania, in the years leading up to the Civil War, the story begins with friends and neighbors taking sides in the...  more

History is thick with secrets in The Sugar Camp Quilt, seventh in the beloved Elm Creek Quilts series from bestselling author Jennifer Chiaverini. Set in Creek's Crossing, Pennsylvania, in the years leading up to the Civil War, the story begins with friends and neighbors taking sides in the abolitionist debate, and as events unfold, an ex-traordinary young heroine passes from innocence to wisdom against the harrowing backdrop of the American struggle over slavery. A dutiful daughter and niece, Dorothea Granger finds her dreams of furthering her education thwarted by the needs of home. A gifted quilter, she tragically loses her hope chest in a flood. A superior student, she is promoted from pupil to teacher -- only to lose her position to the privileged son of a town benefactor. But the ultimate test of her courage and convictions comes with the death of her stern uncle Jacob, who inexplicably had asked Dorothea to stitch him a quilt with four unusual patterns of his own design. After he meets with a violent end, Dorothea discovers that the quilt contains hidden clues to guide runaway slaves along the Underground Railroad. Emboldened by the revelations about her uncle's bravery, Dorothea resolves to continue his dangerous work. Armed with the Sugar Camp Quilt and its mysterious symbols, she must evade slavecatchers and outwit unscrupulous neighbors, embarking upon a heroic journey that allows her to discover her own courage and resourcefulness -- unsuspected qualities that may win her the heart of the best man she has ever known.

These ominous words, slashed from the pages of a book of Psalms, are the last threat that the darling of London society, Sir Edward Grey, receives from his killer. Before he can show them to Nicholas Brisbane, the private inquiry agent he has retained for his protection, Sir Edward collapses and...  more

These ominous words, slashed from the pages of a book of Psalms, are the last threat that the darling of London society, Sir Edward Grey, receives from his killer. Before he can show them to Nicholas Brisbane, the private inquiry agent he has retained for his protection, Sir Edward collapses and dies at his London home, in the presence of his wife, Julia, and a roomful of dinner guests. Prepared to accept that Edward's death was due to a long-standing physical infirmity, Julia is outraged when Brisbane visits and suggests that Sir Edward has been murdered. It is a reaction she comes to regret when she discovers the damning paper for herself, and realizes the truth. Determined to bring her husband's murderer to justice, Julia engages the enigmatic Brisbane to help her investigate Edward's demise. Dismissing his warnings that the investigation will be difficult, if not impossible, Julia presses forward, following a trail of clues that lead her to even more unpleasant truths, and ever closer to a killer who waits expectantly for her arrival.  

Both a finely crafted mystery and a disturbingly honest depiction of the kinship between love and madness, The Brimstone Wedding tells an unsettling story about the power and the poison of love. A gracious, dignified woman, who's dying in an English nursing home, reveals the secrets of her...  more

Both a finely crafted mystery and a disturbingly honest depiction of the kinship between love and madness, The Brimstone Wedding tells an unsettling story about the power and the poison of love. A gracious, dignified woman, who's dying in an English nursing home, reveals the secrets of her erotic past to her young caretaker.

Victor Milan's The Dinosaur Princess is a thrilling epic fantasy adventure set in an alternative world of intrigue, beauty, brutality--and dinosaurs. WELCOME TO PARADISE: A primordial world with every species of dinosaur, large and small. And humans, who were brought to this world on the...  more

Victor Milan's The Dinosaur Princess is a thrilling epic fantasy adventure set in an alternative world of intrigue, beauty, brutality--and dinosaurs. WELCOME TO PARADISE: A primordial world with every species of dinosaur, large and small. And humans, who were brought to this world on the whim of the gods. Knights ride into battle on Triceratops; their heroes lead them on T-Rexes. Karyl Bogomirskiy is one such hero. Once, he held power. Betrayed by those closest to him, he was resurrected by the Fae, magical beings native to the world, who seek to use him in their eternal battle against alien gods. Karyl just wants to be left in peace, reluctant to be anyone's tool, much less a savior. But the gods have returned to judge their human experiment and to finally rid the planet of the Fae. And while Karyl doesn't feel like a hero, he's humanity's last best hope.

Karen Harper tells the tale of Consuelo Vanderbilt, her “The Wedding of the Century” to the Duke of Marlborough, and her quest to find meaning behind “the glitter and the gold.” On a cold November day in 1895, a carriage approaches St Thomas Episcopal Church on New...  more

Karen Harper tells the tale of Consuelo Vanderbilt, her “The Wedding of the Century” to the Duke of Marlborough, and her quest to find meaning behind “the glitter and the gold.” On a cold November day in 1895, a carriage approaches St Thomas Episcopal Church on New York City’s Fifth Avenue. Massive crowds surge forward, awaiting their glimpse of heiress Consuelo Vanderbilt. Just 18, the beautiful bride has not only arrived late, but in tears, yet her marriage to the aloof Duke of Marlborough proceeds. Bullied into the wedding by her indomitable mother, Alva, Consuelo loves another. But a deal was made, trading some of the vast Vanderbilt wealth for a title and prestige, and Consuelo, bred to obey, realizes she must make the best of things. At Blenheim Palace, Consuelo is confronted with an overwhelming list of duties, including producing an “heir and a spare,” but her relationship with the duke quickly disintegrates. Consuelo finds an inner strength, charming everyone from debutantes to diplomats including Winston Churchill, as she fights for women’s suffrage. And when she takes a scandalous leap, can she hope to attain love at last…? From the dawning of the opulent Gilded Age, to the battles of the Second World War, American Duchess is a riveting tale of one woman’s quest to attain independence -- at any price.

Academy Award-winning actor Gene Hackman and leading underwater archeologist Daniel Lenihan have combined their talents to create one of the most exciting-and critically acclaimed-adventure novels of our time. A rousing saga of shipwrecks, pirates, and the sea, it chronicles the fate of a young...  more

Academy Award-winning actor Gene Hackman and leading underwater archeologist Daniel Lenihan have combined their talents to create one of the most exciting-and critically acclaimed-adventure novels of our time. A rousing saga of shipwrecks, pirates, and the sea, it chronicles the fate of a young man forced by tragedy to join the crew of the Perdido Star in 1805.

Book looks like it was never opened.

From the best-selling author Jeffrey Lent, Lost Nation is a tour de force novel. Impelled by sensuous prose and atmospheric storytelling, Lost Nation delves beneath the bright, promising veneer of early-nineteenth-century New England to unveil a startling parable of individualism and...  more

From the best-selling author Jeffrey Lent, Lost Nation is a tour de force novel. Impelled by sensuous prose and atmospheric storytelling, Lost Nation delves beneath the bright, promising veneer of early-nineteenth-century New England to unveil a startling parable of individualism and nationhood. The novel opens with a man known as Blood, guiding an oxcart of rum toward the wild country of New Hampshire, an ungoverned territory called the Indian Stream—a land where the luckless or outlawed have made a fresh start. Blood is a man of contradictions, of learning and wisdom, but also a man with a secret past that has scorched his soul. He sets forth to establish himself as a trader, hauling with him Sally, a sixteen-year-old girl won from the madam of a brothel over a game of cards. Their arrival in the Indian Stream triggers an escalating series of clashes that serves to sever the master/servant bond between them, and offers both a second chance with life. But as the conflicts within the community spill over and attract the attention of outside authorities, Blood becomes a target to those seeking easy blame for their troubles. As plots unravel and violence escalates, two young men of uncertain identity appear, and Blood is forced to confront dreaded apparitions of his past, while Sally is offered a final escape. Lost Nation is a vivid tale of unexpected strengths, terrible and sad misconceptions, and the yearning toward civil society in a landscape raw and with little pity for human strivings. In prose both lucid and seductive, it carries us deeply into human and natural conditions of extreme desolation and harrowing hardship, but also the relentless beat of hope and, finally, the redeeming capacity of love.

Set in the apocalyptic atmosphere of 1900--a time when many Americans were looking for signs foretelling the end of the world--Feather Crowns is the story of a young woman who unintentionally creates a national sensation. A farm wife living near the small town of Hopewell, Kentucky, Christianna...  more

Set in the apocalyptic atmosphere of 1900--a time when many Americans were looking for signs foretelling the end of the world--Feather Crowns is the story of a young woman who unintentionally creates a national sensation. A farm wife living near the small town of Hopewell, Kentucky, Christianna Wheeler gives birth to the first recorded set of quintuplets in North America. Christie is suddenly thrown into a swirling storm of public attention. Thousands of strangers descend on her home, all wanting too see and touch the "miracle babies." One visitor crawls right in through the window! The fate of the babies and the bizarre events that follow their births propel Christie and her husband far from home, on a journey that exposes them to the turbulent pageant of life at the beginning of the modern era. Richly detailed and poignant, Feather Crowns focuses on one woman but opens out ultimately into the chronicle of a time and a people. Written in Bobbie Ann Mason's taut yet lyrical prose, the novel ranges from a peaceful farming community to a fire-and-brimstone revival camp, from seamy traveling shows to the hushed precincts of the nation's capital. Moving through the center of it all is Christie, a charming, headstrong, loving woman who struggles heroically to come to terms with the extraordinary events of her long life. Feather Crowns is an American parable of profound resonance. Spellbindingly readable, it is a novel of classic stature destined to confirm Bobbie Ann Mason as one of America's most important writers.

A magnetic novel about two families, strangers to each other, who are forced together on a long weekend gone terribly wrong Amanda and Clay head out to a remote corner of Long Island expecting a vacation: a quiet reprieve from life in New York City, quality time with their teenage son...  more

A magnetic novel about two families, strangers to each other, who are forced together on a long weekend gone terribly wrong Amanda and Clay head out to a remote corner of Long Island expecting a vacation: a quiet reprieve from life in New York City, quality time with their teenage son and daughter, and a taste of the good life in the luxurious home they’ve rented for the week. But a late-night knock on the door breaks the spell. Ruth and G. H. are an older black couple -- it’s their house, and they’ve arrived in a panic. They bring the news that a sudden blackout has swept the city. But in this rural area -- with the TV and internet now down, and no cell phone service -- it’s hard to know what to believe. Should Amanda and Clay trust this couple -- and vice versa? What happened back in New York? Is the vacation home, isolated from civilization, a truly safe place for their families? And are they safe from one another?  Suspenseful and provocative, Rumaan Alam’s third novel is keenly attuned to the complexities of parenthood, race, and class. Leave the World Behind explores how our closest bonds are reshaped -- and unexpected new ones are forged -- in moments of crisis.

865 A.D. Warring kings rule over the British Isles, but the Church rules over the kings, threatening all who oppose them with damnation. Only the dreaded Vikings of Scandinavia do not fear the priests. Shef, the bastard son of a Norse raider and a captive English lady, is torn by divided...  more

865 A.D. Warring kings rule over the British Isles, but the Church rules over the kings, threatening all who oppose them with damnation. Only the dreaded Vikings of Scandinavia do not fear the priests. Shef, the bastard son of a Norse raider and a captive English lady, is torn by divided loyalties and driven by strange visions that seem to come from Odin himself. A smith and warrior, he alone dares to imagine new weapons and tactics with which to carve out a kingdom--and launch an all-out war between....The Hammer and the Cross.

A craftsman, visionary, and warrior, Shef has risen from slavery to become king of a mighty Viking nation. But his growing kingdom menaces all of Europe, and he has made many powerful enemies. Chief among his enemies are the Knights of the Lance, a fanatical order of soldiers sworn to bring...  more

A craftsman, visionary, and warrior, Shef has risen from slavery to become king of a mighty Viking nation. But his growing kingdom menaces all of Europe, and he has made many powerful enemies. Chief among his enemies are the Knights of the Lance, a fanatical order of soldiers sworn to bring Shef down, no matter what the cost. To defeat Shef, they will go to extraordinary lengths to find the sacred spear of Christ--and resurrect the Holy Roman Empire. Driven by dreams, Shef battles to change the course of history, but even the gods themselves may be plotting against him....

Driven by prophetic dreams, the Viking warrior Shef as become the One King, the undisputed ruler of the North. Now he must face the reborn power of the Holy Roman Empire.Rome threatens Shef's fearsome Viking navy with a new invention of unparalleled destruction: Greek fire. Unable to defend his...  more

Driven by prophetic dreams, the Viking warrior Shef as become the One King, the undisputed ruler of the North. Now he must face the reborn power of the Holy Roman Empire.Rome threatens Shef's fearsome Viking navy with a new invention of unparalleled destruction: Greek fire. Unable to defend his fleet against this awesome weapon, Shef travels East in search of new wisdom. His quest leads him to the lavish court of the Muslim Caliph and, ultimately, to the secret hiding place of the Holy Grail.

Miriam is trying. Really, she is. But this whole "settling down thing" that Louis has going for her just isn't working out. She lives on Long Beach Island all year around. Her home is a run-down double-wide trailer. She works at a grocery store as a check-out girl. And her...  more

Miriam is trying. Really, she is. But this whole "settling down thing" that Louis has going for her just isn't working out. She lives on Long Beach Island all year around. Her home is a run-down double-wide trailer. She works at a grocery store as a check-out girl. And her relationship with Louis--who's on the road half the time in his truck--is subject to the piss and vinegar Miriam brings to everything she does. It just isn't going well. Still, she's keeping her psychic ability--to see when and how someone is going to die just by touching them--in check. But even that feels wrong somehow. Like she's keeping a tornado stoppered up in a tiny bottle. Then comes one bad day that turns it all on her ear.

Believers in the theory of nominalism have set some Cambridge colleges at the throats of those who believe them to be heretics, and Brother Michael, the Senior Proctor, is struggling to keep the peace. When a nominalist is murdered during a riot, Michael is certain he will find the killer among...  more

Believers in the theory of nominalism have set some Cambridge colleges at the throats of those who believe them to be heretics, and Brother Michael, the Senior Proctor, is struggling to keep the peace. When a nominalist is murdered during a riot, Michael is certain he will find the killer among the Dominicans—but before he can act, his junior proctor, Walcote, is found hanged. Meanwhile, Matthew Bartholomew discovers evidence that leads to Michael himself. Unable to believe his lifelong friend could be capable of such acts, Bartholomew knows that the only way he can quiet his own conscience is to solve the murders himself.

Spring, 1353. Matthew Bartholomew, doctor of medicine and fellow of Michaelhouse, Cambridge, is traveling with a party from the college to accept the gift of a parish church in Suffolk. But when the benefactor begins to unduly rush the deed to legalize the transfer, Bartholomew senses that...  more

Spring, 1353. Matthew Bartholomew, doctor of medicine and fellow of Michaelhouse, Cambridge, is traveling with a party from the college to accept the gift of a parish church in Suffolk. But when the benefactor begins to unduly rush the deed to legalize the transfer, Bartholomew senses that Suffolk is not the tranquil retreat that he had been led to believe. And when Michaelhouse’s student priest is found murdered in the church that was to become his living, Bartholomew realizes that he and his party are threatened by dark forces within the village. Compelled to investigate, he descends into a nightmarish world of superstition and heresy.

Cambridgeshire, 1354, and the Bishop of Ely has been accused of a most terrible murder. Glovere was steward to Lady Blanche de Wake, a close relative of the King. A malicious gossip, his body was discovered days after the Bishop had publicly threatened him. Protesting his innocence, the Bishop...  more

Cambridgeshire, 1354, and the Bishop of Ely has been accused of a most terrible murder. Glovere was steward to Lady Blanche de Wake, a close relative of the King. A malicious gossip, his body was discovered days after the Bishop had publicly threatened him. Protesting his innocence, the Bishop summons Cambridge proctor Brother Michael to help clear his name. When Michael and his friend, Matthew Bartholomew, inspect the body, they realize someone has stabbed him quite precisely in the back of the neck. When two similar murders are discovered, it is clear that whoever the murderer is, he is getting better and better at his modus operandi…

Denise Lemoyne is an Uptown New Orleans girl -- a well-born aristocrat whether she likes it or not. Unwilling to sit life out on the sidelines, lunching with the other society women, she's engaged to Wes Colvin, a backwoods boy turned hotshot reporter. When that's not enough to give her...  more

Denise Lemoyne is an Uptown New Orleans girl -- a well-born aristocrat whether she likes it or not. Unwilling to sit life out on the sidelines, lunching with the other society women, she's engaged to Wes Colvin, a backwoods boy turned hotshot reporter. When that's not enough to give her life some grit, working as an assistant D.A. in her beloved, crime-ridden hometown gives her plenty. For Denise, though, there are crimes and then there are crimes. It's one thing to defuse a tense hostage situation at a grocery store, when a lowlife mobster's got a gun pointed at a defenseless stockgirl. It's another to show up for brunch at your godmother's and find her still in bed -- a bullet through the bodice of her white silk nightgown.

A New Orleans Mystery

Meet Wes Colvin.  He's the kind of guy who's on his way up and out---up from police beat reporter and out of New Orleans.  A horrible mass murder in his favorite French Quarter bar offers him a one-way ticket to fame and fortune.  This is the kind of story Pulitzer Prizes...  more

Meet Wes Colvin.  He's the kind of guy who's on his way up and out---up from police beat reporter and out of New Orleans.  A horrible mass murder in his favorite French Quarter bar offers him a one-way ticket to fame and fortune.  This is the kind of story Pulitzer Prizes are awarded for. Why?  Among the victims of the bloody massacre is Auguste Lemoyne, a member of one of New Orlean's most important old families and, half a century ago, a deadly foe of the populist governor and redneck hero Huey Long. As Wes Colvin begins to dig into the story, he realizes that more may be riding on it than a Pulitzer.  His own life, for example.  As well as his sudden fascination with Lemoyne's beautiful granddaughter, who could be just the friend he needs.  Or something else entirely.

What mystical secrets lie beneath the Great Pyramids? The world changes for Ethan Gage -- one -- time assistant to the renowned Ben Franklin -- on a night in post-revolutionary Paris, when he wins a mysterious medallion in a card game. Framed soon after for the murder of a prostitute and...  more

What mystical secrets lie beneath the Great Pyramids? The world changes for Ethan Gage -- one -- time assistant to the renowned Ben Franklin -- on a night in post-revolutionary Paris, when he wins a mysterious medallion in a card game. Framed soon after for the murder of a prostitute and facing the grim prospect of either prison or death, the young expatriate American barely escapes France with his life -- choosing instead to accompany the new emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte, on his glorious mission to conquer Egypt. With Lord Nelson's fleet following close behind, Gage sets out on the adventure of a lifetime. And in a land of ancient wonder and mystery, with the help of a beautiful Macedonian slave, he will come to realize that the unusual prize he won at the gaming table may be the key to solving one of history's greatest and most perilous riddles: who built the Great Pyramids... and why?

Mighty Rome subjugated the isle of Britain only to abandon it, leaving behind a bloody patchwork of warring tribes. The fragile peace imposed by the conquerors has been shattered, compelling Artoria Argantel -- Lady of the Lake and Druid priestess -- to call upon the Spirit of War and Justice...  more

Mighty Rome subjugated the isle of Britain only to abandon it, leaving behind a bloody patchwork of warring tribes. The fragile peace imposed by the conquerors has been shattered, compelling Artoria Argantel -- Lady of the Lake and Druid priestess -- to call upon the Spirit of War and Justice to deliver a champion who will unite the broken land. It is from Argantel's ancient and royal blood that the hero will spring; his sword will be forged from star-steel by ancient spells, carried by soldier-priests from the steppes of Asia to the edges of the Empire. Only one man can wield this holy steel, aided by the wizard Merlin, whose heritage is a magic wilder still. Only one man can free the sword from its prison of stone. Artor, a fosterling of unknown parentage. The promised High King.

Tales of Passion, Tales of Woe is the much-awaited sequel to Sandra Gulland's highly acclaimed first novel, The Many Lives & Secret Sorrows of Josephine B. Beginning in Paris in 1796, the saga continues as Josephine awakens to her new life as Mrs. Napoleon Bonaparte. Through her...  more

Tales of Passion, Tales of Woe is the much-awaited sequel to Sandra Gulland's highly acclaimed first novel, The Many Lives & Secret Sorrows of Josephine B. Beginning in Paris in 1796, the saga continues as Josephine awakens to her new life as Mrs. Napoleon Bonaparte. Through her intimate diary entries and Napoleon's impassioned love letters, an astonishing portrait of an incredible woman emerges. Gulland transports us into the ballrooms and bedrooms of exquisite palaces and onto the blood-soaked fields of Napoleon's campaigns. As Napoleon marches to power, we witness, through Josephine, the political intrigues and personal betrayals -- both sexual and psychological -- that result in death, ruin, and victory for those closest to her.

The Last Great Dance on Earth is the triumphant final volume of Sandra Gulland's beloved trilogy based on the life of Josephine Bonaparte. When the novel opens, Josephine and Napoleon have been married for four tumultuous years. Napoleon is Josephine's great love, and she his. But their...  more

The Last Great Dance on Earth is the triumphant final volume of Sandra Gulland's beloved trilogy based on the life of Josephine Bonaparte. When the novel opens, Josephine and Napoleon have been married for four tumultuous years. Napoleon is Josephine's great love, and she his. But their passionate union is troubled from within, as Josephine is unable to produce an heir, and from without, as England makes war against France and Napoleon's Corsican clan makes war against his wife. Through Josephine's heartfelt diary entries, we witness the personal betrayals and political intrigues that will finally drive them apart, culminating in Josephine's greatest tragedy: her divorce from Napoleon and his exile to Elba. The Last Great Dance on Earth is historical fiction on a grand scale and the stirring conclusion to an unforgettable love story.

ONE MORE LIE… Seventeen-year-old Hazel Winslow doesn't want the burden of keeping yet another secret. With luck, she'll soon be putting her tourist-trap hometown and her unhappy past behind her. But for now, keeping silent about her uncle's sick cattle is the only way she can protect those...  more

ONE MORE LIE… Seventeen-year-old Hazel Winslow doesn't want the burden of keeping yet another secret. With luck, she'll soon be putting her tourist-trap hometown and her unhappy past behind her. But for now, keeping silent about her uncle's sick cattle is the only way she can protect those she loves. Until most everyone starts acting strangely. Until they are all cut off from help…and long-festering lies and hatred explode into terrifying violence. And as unexplainable madness engulfs their remote mountain town, Hazel's last chance to save lives means confronting her own past and her town's dark history. No matter what the cost….

Lanky lizards! The slinkster-cool novels in Francesca Lia Block's Weetzie Bat series have finally been compiled into one delicious volume. All of the ethereal, mesmerizing titles are here--Weetzie Bat, Witch Baby, Cherokee Bat and the Goat Guys, Missing Angel Juan, and Baby Be-Bop--together like...  more

Lanky lizards! The slinkster-cool novels in Francesca Lia Block's Weetzie Bat series have finally been compiled into one delicious volume. All of the ethereal, mesmerizing titles are here--Weetzie Bat, Witch Baby, Cherokee Bat and the Goat Guys, Missing Angel Juan, and Baby Be-Bop--together like the big, beautiful family described on their pages. Block's unique, poetic style immediately draws readers into an intoxicating magical-realist world populated by empathetic, original characters (as well as a few ghosts, fairies, and genies): "He kissed her. A kiss about apple pie ? la mode with the vanilla creaminess melting in the pie heat. A kiss about chocolate, when you haven't eaten chocolate in a year. A kiss about palm trees speeding by, trailing pink clouds when you drive down the Strip sizzling with champagne. A kiss about spotlights fanning the sky and the swollen sea spilling like tears all over your legs." We cheer for these young women and men as they struggle with the universal trials of growing up, finding love, and letting go--all within the vivid, glittering, urban embrace of Los Angeles. Block's stories about finding yourself, being true to your dreams, and believing in what might seem impossible will inspire teens and adults alike with the resounding messages of hope and the transformative power of love. --Brangien Davis Contents: Weetzie Bat -- Witch Baby -- Cherokee Bat and the Goat Guys -- Missing Angel Juan -- Baby Be-Bop.

At the end of the Second World War, Cyril Conroy combines luck and a single canny investment to begin an enormous real estate empire, propelling his family from poverty to enormous wealth. His first order of business is to buy the Dutch House, a lavish estate in the suburbs outside of...  more

At the end of the Second World War, Cyril Conroy combines luck and a single canny investment to begin an enormous real estate empire, propelling his family from poverty to enormous wealth. His first order of business is to buy the Dutch House, a lavish estate in the suburbs outside of Philadelphia. Meant as a surprise for his wife, the house sets in motion the undoing of everyone he loves. The story is told by Cyril’s son Danny, as he and his older sister, the brilliantly acerbic and self-assured Maeve, are exiled from the house where they grew up by their stepmother. The two wealthy siblings are thrown back into the poverty their parents had escaped from and find that all they have to count on is one another. It is this unshakeable bond between them that both saves their lives and thwarts their futures. Set over the course of five decades, The Dutch House is a dark fairy tale about two smart people who cannot overcome their past. Despite every outward sign of success, Danny and Maeve are only truly comfortable when they’re together. Throughout their lives they return to the well-worn story of what they’ve lost with humor and rage. But when at last they’re forced to confront the people who left them behind, the relationship between an indulged brother and his ever-protective sister is finally tested.

Rome: September, 96 AD. When the body of Sextus Verpa, a notorious senatorial informer and libertine, is found stabbed to death in his bedroom, his slaves are suspected. Pliny is ordered by the emperor Domitian to investigate. However, the Ludi Romani, the Roman Games, have just...  more

Rome: September, 96 AD. When the body of Sextus Verpa, a notorious senatorial informer and libertine, is found stabbed to death in his bedroom, his slaves are suspected. Pliny is ordered by the emperor Domitian to investigate. However, the Ludi Romani, the Roman Games, have just begun and for the next fifteen days the law courts are in recess. If Pliny can't identify the murderer in that time, Verpa's entire slave household will be burned alive in the arena. Pliny, a very respectable young senator and lawyer, teams up with Martial, a starving author of bawdy verses and denizen of the Roman demimonde. Pooling their respective talents, they unravel a plot that involves Jewish and Christian 'atheists,' exotic Egyptian cultists, and a missing horoscope that forecasts the emperor's death. Their investigation leads them into the heart of the palace, where no one is safe from the paranoid emperor. As the deadline approaches, Pliny struggles with the painful dilemma of a good man who is forced to serve a brutal  regime -- a situation familiar in our own age as well.

She is Nefertiti—beautiful and revered. With her husband, Akhenaten, she rules over Egypt, the most affluent, formidable, sophisticated empire in the ancient world. But an epic power struggle is afoot, brought on by the royal couple's inauguration of an enlightened new religion and the...  more

She is Nefertiti—beautiful and revered. With her husband, Akhenaten, she rules over Egypt, the most affluent, formidable, sophisticated empire in the ancient world. But an epic power struggle is afoot, brought on by the royal couple's inauguration of an enlightened new religion and the construction of a magnificent new capital. The priests are stunned by the abrupt forfeiture of their traditional wealth and influence; the people resent the loss of their gods—and the army is enraged by the growing turbulence around them. Then, just days before the festival that will celebrate the new capital, Nefertiti vanishes. Rahotep, the youngest chief detective in the Thebes division, has earned a reputation for his unorthodox yet effective methods. Entrusted by great Akhenaten himself with a most secret investigation, Rahotep has but ten days to find the missing Queen. If he succeeds, he will bask in the warmth of Akhenaten's favor. But if Rahotep fails, he and his entire family will die.

Convicted of treason, Crispin Guest was stripped of his title, his land, his money and his friends. Now with only his considerable wits to sustain him, Guest works the mean streets of 14th century London, building a small reputation for his skill. In 1383, a simple-minded tavern girl comes to...  more

Convicted of treason, Crispin Guest was stripped of his title, his land, his money and his friends. Now with only his considerable wits to sustain him, Guest works the mean streets of 14th century London, building a small reputation for his skill. In 1383, a simple-minded tavern girl comes to his door -- a body was found where she works and she’s the only person who could have killed him. Except for the fact that the man was killed in place by a precisely aimed crossbow bolt. Making matters worse, the murdered man was one of three couriers from the French king, transporting a relic intended to smooth the troubled relations between France and England. Events quickly spin out of control and Guest now finds himself the prime suspect in the murder, one with terrible diplomatic implications. As the drumbeat of war between the two countries grow, Guest must unravel the con spiracy behind the murder to save not only his country, but himself as well.

In his eighth outing, Metis-Indian fiddler, tracker, and amateur sleuth Gabriel Du Pre is called upon by his daughter Maria and her fiance to act as historical advisor for a documentary film about the Lewis & Clark expedition. Du Pre is the descendant of Pierre Cruzatte, one of the scouts...  more

In his eighth outing, Metis-Indian fiddler, tracker, and amateur sleuth Gabriel Du Pre is called upon by his daughter Maria and her fiance to act as historical advisor for a documentary film about the Lewis & Clark expedition. Du Pre is the descendant of Pierre Cruzatte, one of the scouts who accompanied Lewis and Clark during their expedition, and has the relevant know-how to authentically recreate props. When Du Pre arrives at the shooting site, located in a remote region of Montana along the Missouri River, he finds himself in a volatile situation: major trouble is brewing between the local community and the tourists and the film makers of the documentary who are descending upon the historical site with increased frequency. The hostility takes its toll on the film production: the star quits and someone has set fire to the props. Then two bodies, that of a photojournalist and his companion who were retracing Lewis & Clark's route, are fished out of the Missouri -- shot to death. A disgruntled local? Or someone with even more insidious intentions? Meanwhile, Du Pre stumbles upon a secret cache left behind by the original Lewis & Clark expedition, containing Merriweather Clarks' journals. Suddenly, the backwater locale is swarming with media, and tensions rise to a boiling point.

In the simmering hot summer of 1492, a monstrous evil is stirring within the Eternal City of Rome. The brutal murder of an alchemist sets off a desperate race to uncover the plot that threatens to extinguish the light of the Renaissance and plunge Europe back into medieval...  more

In the simmering hot summer of 1492, a monstrous evil is stirring within the Eternal City of Rome. The brutal murder of an alchemist sets off a desperate race to uncover the plot that threatens to extinguish the light of the Renaissance and plunge Europe back into medieval darkness. Determined to avenge the killing of her father, Francesca Giordano defies all convention to claim for herself the position of poisoner serving Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia, head of the most notorious and dangerous family in Italy. She becomes the confidante of Lucrezia Borgia and the lover of Cesare Borgia. At the same time, she is drawn to the young renegade monk who yearns to save her life and her soul. Navigating a web of treachery and deceit, Francesca pursues her father’s killer from the depths of Rome’s Jewish ghetto to the heights of the Vatican itself. In so doing, she sets the stage for the ultimate confrontation with ancient forces that will seek to use her darkest desires to achieve their own catastrophic ends.

The murder of Abraham Lincoln set off the greatest manhunt in American history -- the pursuit and capture of John Wilkes Booth. From April 14 to April 26, 1865, the assassin led Union cavalry and detectives on a wild twelve-day chase through the streets of Washington, D.C., across the swamps of...  more

The murder of Abraham Lincoln set off the greatest manhunt in American history -- the pursuit and capture of John Wilkes Booth. From April 14 to April 26, 1865, the assassin led Union cavalry and detectives on a wild twelve-day chase through the streets of Washington, D.C., across the swamps of Maryland, and into the forests of Virginia, while the nation, still reeling from the just-ended Civil War, watched in horror and sadness. At the very center of this story is John Wilkes Booth, America's notorious villain. A Confederate sympathizer and a member of a celebrated acting family, Booth threw away his fame and wealth for a chance to avenge the South's defeat. For almost two weeks, he confounded the manhunters, slipping away from their every move and denying them the justice they sought. Based on rare archival materials, obscure trial transcripts, and Lincoln's own blood relics, Manhunt is a fully documented work, but it is also a fascinating tale of murder, intrigue, and betrayal. A gripping hour-by-hour account told through the eyes of the hunted and the hunters, this is history as you've never read it before.

The year is 1929, and newlyweds George and Serena Pemberton travel from Boston to the North Carolina mountains where they plan to create a timber empire. Although George has already lived in the camp long enough to father an illegitimate child, Serena is new to the mountains -- but she soon...  more

The year is 1929, and newlyweds George and Serena Pemberton travel from Boston to the North Carolina mountains where they plan to create a timber empire. Although George has already lived in the camp long enough to father an illegitimate child, Serena is new to the mountains -- but she soon shows herself to be the equal of any man, overseeing crews, hunting rattlesnakes, even saving her husband's life in the wilderness. Together this lord and lady of the woodlands ruthlessly kill or vanquish all who fall out of favor. Yet when Serena learns that she will never bear a child, she sets out to murder the son George fathered without her. Mother and child begin a struggle for their lives, and when Serena suspects George is protecting his illegitimate family, the Pembertons' intense, passionate marriage starts to unravel as the story moves toward its shocking reckoning. Rash's masterful balance of violence and beauty yields a riveting novel that, at its core, tells of love both honored and betrayed.

'We never should've gone up there...' One Sunday, nine-years-old Jess Hall watches in horror as his autistic brother is smothered during a healing service in the mountains of North Carolina. The unimaginable violence that follows must be untangled by a local sheriff with his own...  more

'We never should've gone up there...' One Sunday, nine-years-old Jess Hall watches in horror as his autistic brother is smothered during a healing service in the mountains of North Carolina. The unimaginable violence that follows must be untangled by a local sheriff with his own tragic past. "A Land More Kind Than Home" is a spellbinding, heartbreaking story about cruelty and innocence, and the failure of religion and family to protect a child. It is a novel thick with stories and characters connected by faith, infidelity, and a sense of hope that is both tragic and unforgettable.

The year is 1880, the place San Francisco. Intelligent, outspoken Sarah Woolson is a young woman with a goal and the fortitude to achieve it. She has always dreamed of becoming a lawyer. The trouble is, everyone believes women belong in the home---that it is not only unnatural, but against...  more

The year is 1880, the place San Francisco. Intelligent, outspoken Sarah Woolson is a young woman with a goal and the fortitude to achieve it. She has always dreamed of becoming a lawyer. The trouble is, everyone believes women belong in the home---that it is not only unnatural, but against God's will for them to seek a career. When Sarah finagles an interview with one of the city's most prestigious law firms, no one thinks she has a prayer of being hired. Except Sarah. Using her brains and a little subterfuge, she not only manages to become the firm's newest (and only female) associate attorney, she also acquires her first client---a lovely young society matron suspected of brutally stabbing to death her wealthy but abusive husband. Sarah is sure of her client's innocence, but the revelation of the woman's secret lover may make that innocence impossible to prove. When four more victims fall prey to the killer's knife, Sarah fears she has bitten off more than she can chew. Bucking her boorish employer and the judicial system, Sarah finds herself embroiled in shady legal maneuvers, a daring Chinatown raid, and a secret and very scandalous sex club in this irresistible blend of history, romance, and murder.

In this remarkable biography, Carolly Erickson brings Elizabeth I to life and allows us to see her as a living, breathing, elegant, flirtatious, diplomatic, violent, arrogant and outrageous woman who commands our attention, fascination and awe.

Lorna Doone relays the perenially popular story of John Ridd and his love for the beautiful and aristocratic Lorna Doone who was kidnapped as a child by an outlaw family. This version remains the only critical edition of a work which, since 1869, has never gone out of print.

In the magnificent tradition if Gore Vidal's  Lincoln and Burr, Max Byrd reveals a Thomas Jefferson  we've never met before... It is 1784, and  Jefferson, the newly appointed American ambassador to the  court of Louis XVI...  more

In the magnificent tradition if Gore Vidal's  Lincoln and Burr, Max Byrd reveals a Thomas Jefferson  we've never met before... It is 1784, and  Jefferson, the newly appointed American ambassador to the  court of Louis XVI and  Marie-Antoinette had just arrived in Paris -- a city adrift  in intrigue, upheaval, and temptation that will  challenge his principles, incite his passions, and  change Thomas Jefferson forever... Through the eyes  of his impressionable young secretary, William Short, we watch as the future president builds his dream of an America with fellow patriots John Adams and Ben Franklin, and as he struggles between political ambition and an unexpected crisis of the heart with a woman who has the power to destroy him.  And we discover--behind the face the complex Virginian show the world -- an enigmatic statesman who fights for individual liberty even as he keeps the slave, who champions freewill even a he denies it to his daughters, and who holds men to the highest standards of honor -- even as he embarks on a shadowy double life of his own...

We all know the story of the March sisters, heroines of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women. But while everyone cheers on Jo March, based on Louisa herself, Amy March is often the least favorite sister. Now, it’s time to learn the truth about the real “Amy”,...  more

We all know the story of the March sisters, heroines of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women. But while everyone cheers on Jo March, based on Louisa herself, Amy March is often the least favorite sister. Now, it’s time to learn the truth about the real “Amy”, Louisa’s sister, May. Stylish, outgoing, creative, May Alcott grows up longing to experience the wide world beyond Concord, Massachusetts. While her sister Louisa crafts stories, May herself is a talented and dedicated artist, taking lessons in Boston, turning down a marriage proposal from a well-off suitor, and facing scorn for entering what is very much a man’s profession. Life for the Alcott family has never been easy, so when Louisa’s Little Women is published, its success eases the financial burdens they’d faced for so many years. Everyone agrees the novel is charming, but May is struck to the core by the portrayal of selfish, spoiled “Amy March.” Is this what her beloved sister really thinks of her? So May embarks on a quest to discover her own true identity, as an artist and a woman. From Boston to Rome, London, and Paris, this brave, talented, and determined woman forges an amazing life of her own, making her so much more than merely “The Other Alcott.”

Just in time for the centennial anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic comes a vivid, romantic, and relentlessly compelling historical novel about a spirited young woman who survives the disaster only to find herself embroiled in the media frenzy left in the wake of the tragedy. Tess, an...  more

Just in time for the centennial anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic comes a vivid, romantic, and relentlessly compelling historical novel about a spirited young woman who survives the disaster only to find herself embroiled in the media frenzy left in the wake of the tragedy. Tess, an aspiring seamstress, thinks she's had an incredibly lucky break when she is hired by famous designer Lady Lucile Duff Gordon to be a personal maid on the Titanic's doomed voyage. Once on board, Tess catches the eye of two men, one a roughly-hewn but kind sailor and the other an enigmatic Chicago millionaire. But on the fourth night, disaster strikes. Amidst the chaos and desperate urging of two very different suitors, Tess is one of the last people allowed on a lifeboat. Tess's sailor also manages to survive unharmed, witness to Lady Duff Gordon's questionable actions during the tragedy. Others -- including the gallant Midwestern tycoon -- are not so lucky. On dry land, rumors about the survivors begin to circulate, and Lady Duff Gordon quickly becomes the subject of media scorn and later, the hearings on the Titanic. Set against a historical tragedy but told from a completely fresh angle, The Dressmaker is an atmospheric delight filled with all the period's glitz and glamour, all the raw feelings of a national tragedy and all the contradictory emotions of young love.

Alone among the young girls taught by nuns at a convent school in nineteenth-century France, orphaned Herculine has neither wealth nor social connections. When she's accused of being a witch, the shy student is locked up with no hope of escape ... until her rescue by a real witch, the...  more

Alone among the young girls taught by nuns at a convent school in nineteenth-century France, orphaned Herculine has neither wealth nor social connections. When she's accused of being a witch, the shy student is locked up with no hope of escape ... until her rescue by a real witch, the beautiful, mysterious Sebastiana. Swept away to the witch's manor, Herculine will enter a fantastic, erotic world to discover her true nature -- and her destiny -- in this breathtaking, darkly sensual first novel.

The Library: Only a handful know it exists ... It holds the world's most astonishing -- and terrifying -- information . . . But the one book that is the key to the greatest secret of all time ... is missing. Former FBI Special Agent Will Piper solved -- and survived -- the 'Doomsday...  more

The Library: Only a handful know it exists ... It holds the world's most astonishing -- and terrifying -- information . . . But the one book that is the key to the greatest secret of all time ... is missing. Former FBI Special Agent Will Piper solved -- and survived -- the 'Doomsday Killer' case ... and his reward was a forced early retirement. But the shattering truths he learned about the government's most covert operations won't let him rest -- and now he's on the trail of a mysterious volume that's been lost for six centuries. This is the book that inspired Shakespeare and the prophecies of Nostradamus, and once Will gets his hands on it, his life will be worth nothing -- his death sentence a top priority handed down from the very highest levels of power. Because there are some truths too dangerous for anyone to know -- those that concern the future, world domination . . . and the end of everything.

Nefertiti and her younger sister, Mutnodjmet, have been raised in a powerful family that has provided wives to the rulers of Egypt for centuries. Ambitious, charismatic, and beautiful, Nefertiti is destined to marry Amunhotep, an unstable young pharaoh. It is hoped by all that her strong...  more

Nefertiti and her younger sister, Mutnodjmet, have been raised in a powerful family that has provided wives to the rulers of Egypt for centuries. Ambitious, charismatic, and beautiful, Nefertiti is destined to marry Amunhotep, an unstable young pharaoh. It is hoped by all that her strong personality will temper the young Amunhotep's heretical desire to forsake Egypt's ancient gods, overthrow the priests of Amun, and introduce a new sun god for all to worship. From the moment of her arrival in Thebes, Nefertiti is beloved by the people. Her charisma is matched only by her husband's perceived generosity: Amunhotep showers his subjects with lofty promises. The love of the commoners will not be enough, however, if the royal couple is not able to conceive an heir, and as Nefertiti turns her attention to producing a son, she fails to see that the powerful priests, along with the military, are plotting against her husband's rule. The only person wise enough to recognize the shift in political winds and brave enough to tell the queen's her younger sister, Mutnodjmet. Observant and contemplative, Mutnodjmet has never shared her sister's desire for power. She yearns for a quiet existence away from family duty and the intrigues of court. Her greatest hope is to share her life with the general who has won her heart. But as Nefertiti learns of the precariousness of her reign, she declares that her sister must remain at court and marry for political gain, not love. To achieve her independence, Mutnodjmet must defy her sister, the most powerful woman in Egypt, while also remaining loyal to the needs of her family. Love, betrayal, political unrest, plague, and religious conflict Nefertiti brings ancient Egypt to life in vivid detail. Fast-paced and historically accurate, it is the dramatic story of two unforgettable women living through a remarkable period in history.

In ancient Egypt, a forgotten princess must overcome her family's past and remake history. The winds of change are blowing through Thebes. A devastating palace fire has killed the Eighteenth Dynasty's royal family -- all with the exception of Nefertari, the niece of the reviled former...  more

In ancient Egypt, a forgotten princess must overcome her family's past and remake history. The winds of change are blowing through Thebes. A devastating palace fire has killed the Eighteenth Dynasty's royal family -- all with the exception of Nefertari, the niece of the reviled former queen, Nefertiti. The girl's deceased family has been branded as heretical, and no one in Egypt will speak their names. A relic of a previous reign, Nefertari is pushed aside, an unimportant princess left to run wild in the palace. But this changes when she is taken under the wing of the Pharaoh's aunt, then brought to the Temple of Hathor, where she is educated in a manner befitting a future queen. Soon Nefertari catches the eye of the Crown Prince, and despite her family's history, they fall in love and wish to marry. Yet all of Egypt opposes this union between the rising star of a new dynasty and the fading star of an old, heretical one. While political adversity sets the country on edge, Nefertari becomes the wife of Ramesses the Great. Destined to be the most powerful Pharaoh in Egypt, he is also the man who must confront the most famous exodus in history. Sweeping in scope and meticulous in detail, The Heretic Queen is a novel of passion and power, heartbreak and redemption.

In this ingenious debut, Rory Clements introduces John Shakespeare, Elizabethan England's most remarkable investigator, and delivers a tale of murder and conspiracy that succeeds brilliantly as both historical fiction and a crime thriller. In a burnt-out house, one of Queen...  more

In this ingenious debut, Rory Clements introduces John Shakespeare, Elizabethan England's most remarkable investigator, and delivers a tale of murder and conspiracy that succeeds brilliantly as both historical fiction and a crime thriller. In a burnt-out house, one of Queen Elizabeth's aristocratic cousins is found murdered, her young flesh marked with profane symbols. At the same time, a plot to assassinate Sir Francis Drake, England's most famous sea warrior, is discovered - a plot which, if successful, could leave the country utterly defenseless against a Spanish invasion. It's 1587, the Queen's reign is in jeopardy, and one man is charged with the desperate task of solving both cases: John Shakespeare. With the Spanish Armada poised to strike, Mary Queen of Scots awaiting execution, and the pikes above London Bridge decorated with the grim evidence of treachery, the country is in peril of being overwhelmed by fear and chaos. Following a trail of illicit passions and family secrets, Shakespeare travels through an underworld of spies, sorcerers, whores, and theater people, among whom is his own younger brother, the struggling playwright, Will. Shadowed by his rival, the Queen's chief torturer, who employs his own methods of terror, Shakespeare begins to piece together a complex and breathtaking conspiracy whose implications are almost too horrific to contemplate. For a zealous and cunning killer is stalking England's streets. And as Shakespeare threatens to reveal a madman's shocking identity, he and the beautiful woman he desires come ever closer to becoming the next martyrs to a passion for murder and conspiracy whose terrifying consequences might still be felt today.

A richly woven biography of the beloved patriot Betsy Ross, and an enthralling portrait of everyday life in Revolutionary War-era PhiladelphiaBetsy Ross and the Making of America is the first comprehensively researched and elegantly written biography of one of America's most captivating figures...  more

A richly woven biography of the beloved patriot Betsy Ross, and an enthralling portrait of everyday life in Revolutionary War-era PhiladelphiaBetsy Ross and the Making of America is the first comprehensively researched and elegantly written biography of one of America's most captivating figures of the Revolutionary War. Drawing on new sources and bringing a fresh, keen eye to the fabled creation of "the first flag," Marla R. Miller thoroughly reconstructs the life behind the legend. This authoritative work provides a close look at the famous seamstress while shedding new light on the lives of the artisan families who peopled the young nation and crafted its tools, ships, and homes.Betsy Ross occupies a sacred place in the American consciousness, and Miller's winning narrative finally does her justice. This history of the ordinary craftspeople of the Revolutionary War and their most famous representative will be the definitive volume for years to come.

Lynn Shepherd’s first acclaimed novel of historical suspense, Murder at Mansfield Park, brilliantly reimagined the time of Jane Austen. Now, in this spellbinding new triumph, she introduces an unforgettable duo of detectives into the gaslit world of Dickens.   London, 1850. Charles...  more

Lynn Shepherd’s first acclaimed novel of historical suspense, Murder at Mansfield Park, brilliantly reimagined the time of Jane Austen. Now, in this spellbinding new triumph, she introduces an unforgettable duo of detectives into the gaslit world of Dickens.   London, 1850. Charles Maddox had been an up-and-coming officer for the Metropolitan police until a charge of insubordination abruptly ended his career. Now he works alone, struggling to eke out a living by tracking down criminals. Whenever he needs it, he has the help of his great-uncle Maddox, a legendary “thief taker,” a detective as brilliant and intuitive as they come.   On Charles’s latest case, he’ll need all the assistance he can get.   To his shock, Charles has been approached by Edward Tulkinghorn, the shadowy and feared attorney, who offers him a handsome price to do some sleuthing for a client. Powerful financier Sir Julius Cremorne has been receiving threatening letters, and Tulkinghorn wants Charles to—discreetly—find and stop whoever is responsible.   But what starts as a simple, open-and-shut case swiftly escalates into something bigger and much darker. As he cascades toward a collision with an unspeakable truth, Charles can only be aided so far by Maddox. The old man shows signs of forgetfulness and anger, symptoms of an age-related ailment that has yet to be named.   Intricately plotted and intellectually ambitious, The Solitary House is an ingenious novel that does more than spin an enthralling tale: it plumbs the mysteries of the human mind.

When an Austrian nobleman offers a substantial donation to the University of Oxford, Charles Maddox is called on to investigate the generous benefactor. It is a decidedly mundane task for the increasingly renowned criminal investigator, but Maddox welcomes the chance to trade London's...  more

When an Austrian nobleman offers a substantial donation to the University of Oxford, Charles Maddox is called on to investigate the generous benefactor. It is a decidedly mundane task for the increasingly renowned criminal investigator, but Maddox welcomes the chance to trade London's teeming streets for the comforts of a castle in the Viennese countryside. Comfort, however, is in short supply once Maddox steps onto foreign soil -- and into the company of the mysterious Baron Von Reisenberg.  A man of impeccable breeding, the Baron is nonetheless the subject of frightened whispers and macabre legends among his countrymen. Though Maddox isn't one to entertain supernatural beliefs, the dank halls and foreboding shadows of the castle begin to haunt his sleep with nightmares. But in the light of day the veteran detective can find no evidence of the sinister -- until a series of disturbing incidents prove him gravely mistaken, and thrust Maddox into a harrowing quest to expose whatever evil lurks behind the locked doors of the Baron's secretive domain. After a terrifying encounter nearly costs him his sanity, Maddox is forced to return home mentally defeated -- and still pursued by the horror he's unearthed.   London is on the verge of widespread panic, thanks to a string of gruesome murders committed by an elusive predator branded the Vampire. But there's little doubt in Maddox's mind who is responsible. And whether his enemy proves merely mortal -- or something more -- Maddox must finally end the monstrous affair . . . before more innocent blood is spilled.  

From internationally bestselling author Tracy Chevalier, a riveting drama of a pioneer family on the American frontier 1838: James and Sadie Goodenough have settled where their wagon got stuck in the muddy, stagnant swamps of northwest Ohio. They and their five children work relentlessly to...  more

From internationally bestselling author Tracy Chevalier, a riveting drama of a pioneer family on the American frontier 1838: James and Sadie Goodenough have settled where their wagon got stuck in the muddy, stagnant swamps of northwest Ohio. They and their five children work relentlessly to tame their patch of land, buying saplings from a local tree man known as John Appleseed so they can cultivate the fifty apple trees required to stake their claim on the property. But the orchard they plant sows the seeds of a long battle. James loves the apples, reminders of an easier life back in Connecticut; while Sadie prefers the applejack they make, an alcoholic refuge from brutal frontier life. 1853: Their youngest child Robert is wandering through Gold Rush California. Restless and haunted by the broken family he left behind, he has made his way alone across the country. In the redwood and giant sequoia groves he finds some solace, collecting seeds for a naturalist who sells plants from the new world to the gardeners of England. But you can run only so far, even in America, and when Robert s past makes an unexpected appearance he must decide whether to strike out again or stake his own claim to a home at last. Chevalier tells a fierce, beautifully crafted story in "At the Edge of the Orchard," her most graceful and richly imagined work yet."

This Pulitzer Prize-winning novel captures the essence of the Southwest in the early 1900s-and depicts a young Native American couple experiencing all the uncertainties and joys of first love. Laughing Boy is one of the most powerful novels in American fiction."Lucid beauty, vital artistic...  more

This Pulitzer Prize-winning novel captures the essence of the Southwest in the early 1900s-and depicts a young Native American couple experiencing all the uncertainties and joys of first love. Laughing Boy is one of the most powerful novels in American fiction."Lucid beauty, vital artistic imagination, and a clear, almost hypnotic style."-New York Times"Daring...triumphantly successful!"-Owen Wister, author of The Virginian

Impeccably evoking Regency England, this period thriller stars historically authentic detective Julian Kestrel. During an elegant country weekend, Kestrel finds the corpse of an attractive young woman in his bed, and sets out to find the killer among the glittering denizens of a titled house...  more

Impeccably evoking Regency England, this period thriller stars historically authentic detective Julian Kestrel. During an elegant country weekend, Kestrel finds the corpse of an attractive young woman in his bed, and sets out to find the killer among the glittering denizens of a titled house harboring too many secrets.

Julian Kestrel stalks a diabolical killer through high places and low life in Regency England. In London's notorious Haymarket district, Sally Stokes, a bold and bewitching Cockney prostitute, picks up three men one after the other and nicknames them Bristles, Blue Eyes, and Blinkers....  more

Julian Kestrel stalks a diabolical killer through high places and low life in Regency England. In London's notorious Haymarket district, Sally Stokes, a bold and bewitching Cockney prostitute, picks up three men one after the other and nicknames them Bristles, Blue Eyes, and Blinkers. From each of them Sally steals a handkerchief -- and from one of them she mistakenly steals a letter that contains an urgent plea for help from a distraught young woman. Luckily, Sally's brother is none other than Dipper, reformed pickpocket and valet to gifted amateur sleuth Julian Kestrel. After the writer of the letter is found dead, the authorities dismiss her death as suicide. But to Kestrel it looks like murder, and he forms an unlikely -- but highly entertaining -- alliance with Sally to track down the three clients. The two embark on a quest that leads them from a house of reclamation for fallen women to the abodes of England's highest-ranking families as they race to unmask a dangerous killer.

The author of Cut to the Quick and A Broken Vessel returns to Regency England for a third case in the historical mystery series that is charming Anne Perry and Elizabeth George fans. Alexander Falkland hasn't an enemy in the world. Young, talented, and charming, he shines in every field he...  more

The author of Cut to the Quick and A Broken Vessel returns to Regency England for a third case in the historical mystery series that is charming Anne Perry and Elizabeth George fans. Alexander Falkland hasn't an enemy in the world. Young, talented, and charming, he shines in every field he enters: law, architecture, the investment market. But one night his luck runs out with a vengeance. In the midst of one of his famous parties, he is found dead with his head smashed, a bloodstained poker beside him. No wonder the inscription on his grave reads: Whom the Gods Love Die Young. When the Bow Street Runners fail to solve the crime, Alexander's distraught father turns to Julian Kestrel, elegant dandy and intrepid amateur sleuth. Soon Kestrel is up to his ears in suspects -- and enigmas. Who was Alexander, really? Social reformer or butterfly, devoted husband or rake? Kestrel must peel off one mask after another, until at last he discovers an Alexander no one knew -- except, perhaps, the killer.

"A sprawling historical tale...Entertaining." THE KIRKUS REVIEWS Rebecca Lopez, the beautiful, fiery daughter of Roderigo Lopez, Queen Elizabeth's own physician, keeps many secrets. Not only are she and her family conversos, or secret Jews who must practice their religion in secret, but...  more

"A sprawling historical tale...Entertaining." THE KIRKUS REVIEWS Rebecca Lopez, the beautiful, fiery daughter of Roderigo Lopez, Queen Elizabeth's own physician, keeps many secrets. Not only are she and her family conversos, or secret Jews who must practice their religion in secret, but Rebecca craves adventure and walks about London in male dress. One day she actually crosses swords with a fledgling dramatist named Will Shakespeare. And the two embark on an adventure of passion and danger that shakes the very foundations of the Court--and nearly alters the course of history....

When she is thirteen years old, Evalina Toussaint, the orphaned child of an exotic dancer in New Orleans, is admitted as a mental patient to Highland Hospital in Asheville, North Carolina. The year is 1936, and the hospital, under the direction of celebrity psychiatrist Robert S. Carroll, is...  more

When she is thirteen years old, Evalina Toussaint, the orphaned child of an exotic dancer in New Orleans, is admitted as a mental patient to Highland Hospital in Asheville, North Carolina. The year is 1936, and the hospital, under the direction of celebrity psychiatrist Robert S. Carroll, is famous for its up-to-the-minute shock therapies and for Dr. Carroll?s revolutionary theory of the benefits of nonintrospection.  A troubled yet brilliant young pianist, Evalina finds herself in the midst of a kaleidoscope of characters, including jazz-age icon Zelda Fitzgerald, estranged wife of F. Scott. Evalina?s role as accompanist for all theatricals and programs at the hospital gives her privileged insight into the events that transpire over the twelve years leading up to a tragic 1948 fire?its mystery unsolved to this day?that killed nine women in a locked ward on the top floor, including Zelda.  In Evalina Toussaint, Lee Smith has created a narrator whose story is one of unstoppable and defiant introspection. At the risk of Dr. Carroll?s ire and at all costs, Evalina listens, observes, delves, pursues, accompanies, remembers?and tells us everything. This is her wildly prescient story about a time and a place where creativity and passion, theory and medicine, fact and fiction are luminously intertwined. 

It is Scotland, in the spring of 1297, and Margaret Kerr's merchant husband, Roger, has been missing since winter. Though he originally set out for trading purposes, Margaret now worries that he may have been caught up in the rebellion against the English---or may have been killed....  more

It is Scotland, in the spring of 1297, and Margaret Kerr's merchant husband, Roger, has been missing since winter. Though he originally set out for trading purposes, Margaret now worries that he may have been caught up in the rebellion against the English---or may have been killed. Roger's cousin Jack travels to Edinburgh seeking news of the missing merchant, but his body is returned home bearing wounds that could not be self-inflicted. Now Margaret sets out in search of her husband and the truth about Jack's death. The journey takes her to British-occupied Edinburgh, where Margaret's uncle reluctantly agrees to let her stay at his inn. As the two become part of the perilous activities, they risk endangering his clandestine war-time work.

Put on trial by her slaveholder husband and convicted of madness by a Virginia judge, Iris Dunleavy has been sent to the very expensive Sanibel Asylum to be restored as a good plantation wife. She will, the institution's superintendent assures her, be convinced of her wrongdoing, but Iris...  more

Put on trial by her slaveholder husband and convicted of madness by a Virginia judge, Iris Dunleavy has been sent to the very expensive Sanibel Asylum to be restored as a good plantation wife. She will, the institution's superintendent assures her, be convinced of her wrongdoing, but Iris knows that her husband is the real criminal and that her ... more »efforts to gain restitution for herself and his slaves were wholly justified, especially in the eyes of God. Sanibel Asylum is populated by the most wonderful lunatics: Lydia Helms Truman, who swallows anything in sight and was sent to the asylum by her husband after she attended the Seneca Falls convention; a man who finds himself stranded in the most inconvenient places because his feet are suddenly too heavy to move; a woman who can still see her dead husband and who remains blissfully in love, dancing with him on the beach some sunsets; and Ambrose Weller, a Confederate soldier whose memories of war terrorize him into wild fits that require sedation with laudanum, but whose gentleness and dark eyes beckon to Iris. The institution is meant to be modern and encouraging, but Iris is skeptical of the superintendent's methods, particularly a much-whispered-about "water treatment." And she is no lunatic, only wrongfully accused by her cruel, abusive husband and the justice system built around protecting his property, which includes his plantation, his slaves, and her. She plots her escape and, having fallen in love with Ambrose, vows to take him with her. Iris has the sharp wits and good looks of Scarlett O'Hara and Ambrose broods as seductively as any Rhett Butler, but their mutual cause here is not just true love but also true freedom, as they each yearn for a world of honor and peace.

When Emma's father goes to the hospital for surgery, she is sent to stay with Aunt Bea the "terror" and kindly Uncle Crispin. Emma wonders how she will survive two weeks with the always hostile Aunt Bea.Luckily, Emma makes a friend, Bertie, and the two girls begin a project on the beach....  more

When Emma's father goes to the hospital for surgery, she is sent to stay with Aunt Bea the "terror" and kindly Uncle Crispin. Emma wonders how she will survive two weeks with the always hostile Aunt Bea.Luckily, Emma makes a friend, Bertie, and the two girls begin a project on the beach. Together they build tiny houses out of stones, shells, and all sorts of sea treasures. Here at the beach with Bertie, Emma finds comfort and friendship and takes pride in her carefully planned village.Then one day Emma and Bertie's village is destroyed...

Product Description A pocket compendium of food wisdom-from the author of The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food Michael Pollan, our nation's most trusted resource for food-related issues, offers this indispensable guide for anyone concerned about health and food. Simple,...  more

Product Description A pocket compendium of food wisdom-from the author of The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food Michael Pollan, our nation's most trusted resource for food-related issues, offers this indispensable guide for anyone concerned about health and food. Simple, sensible, and easy to use, Food Rules is a set of memorable rules for eating wisely, many drawn from a variety of ethnic or cultural traditions. Whether at the supermarket or an all-you-can-eat-buffet, this handy, pocket-size resource is the perfect guide for anyone who would like to become more mindful of the food we eat.

The bestselling author of Practical Magic offers "an affecting love story, laced with humor" (Booklist) that tells the tale of a man and a woman, an activist and a therapist, so consumed with helping others that they are in danger of failing in their duty to themselves. This is an unforgettable...  more

The bestselling author of Practical Magic offers "an affecting love story, laced with humor" (Booklist) that tells the tale of a man and a woman, an activist and a therapist, so consumed with helping others that they are in danger of failing in their duty to themselves. This is an unforgettable tale about the true meaning of commitment, from "one of our quirkiest and most interesting novelists." (Jane Smiley, USA Today)

A Novel of ancient Byznatium -- where love was a game of chance and intrigue a way of life. Hagen, an unsophisticated Frankish pilgrim in Constantinople at the beginning of the 9th century, blunders into politics at the court of the Empress Irene, where nothing has value but power.

This entrancing and deeply searching novel will touch a nerve in every reader. Celia Grinstead, 40-year-old mother of three almost-grown children, on a sudden impulse, walks away from her marriage, hitches a ride into the unknown, and settles in a strange new town. But soon after she begins her...  more

This entrancing and deeply searching novel will touch a nerve in every reader. Celia Grinstead, 40-year-old mother of three almost-grown children, on a sudden impulse, walks away from her marriage, hitches a ride into the unknown, and settles in a strange new town. But soon after she begins her impersonal, unencumbered new life, fresh responsibilities inevitably accumulate.

Rural Wisconsin, 1909. In the bitter cold, Ralph Truitt, a successful businessman, stands alone on a train platform waiting for the woman who answered his newspaper advertisement for "a reliable wife." But when Catherine Land steps off the train from Chicago, she's not the...  more

Rural Wisconsin, 1909. In the bitter cold, Ralph Truitt, a successful businessman, stands alone on a train platform waiting for the woman who answered his newspaper advertisement for "a reliable wife." But when Catherine Land steps off the train from Chicago, she's not the "simple, honest woman" that Ralph is expecting. She is both complex and devious, haunted by a terrible past and motivated by greed. Her plan is simple: she will win this man's devotion, and then, ever so slowly, she will poison him and leave Wisconsin a wealthy widow. What she has not counted on, though, is that Truitt — a passionate man with his own dark secrets —has plans of his own for his new wife. Isolated on a remote estate and imprisoned by relentless snow, the story of Ralph and Catherine unfolds in unimaginable ways. With echoes of Wuthering Heights and Rebecca, Robert Goolrick's intoxicating debut novel delivers a classic tale of suspenseful seduction, set in a world that seems to have gone temporarily off its axis.

Fanny’s father, Henry Harding, has known Oliver Barebones since the two men were children. Together they survived the Great Plague and the Great Fire, and now they are rich, middle-aged, and unmarried. Everyone’s shocked when Oliver, a lifelong bachelor, falls headfirst for a...  more

Fanny’s father, Henry Harding, has known Oliver Barebones since the two men were children. Together they survived the Great Plague and the Great Fire, and now they are rich, middle-aged, and unmarried. Everyone’s shocked when Oliver, a lifelong bachelor, falls headfirst for a superstitious young girl named Rose. In two days he’s decided to marry her. For the Hardings and the Barebones, it will be years before they find such happiness again. Ruin comes to them all in the shape of Alfred Montagu, a cold-hearted moneylender who ensnares them in crushing debt and schemes to marry Fanny. After her father dies, Fanny attempts to take refuge in France. It’s not far enough to escape her troubles, so with Oliver and Rose, she departs for a far-off place called Connecticut, dodging Montagu by diving into the teeth of dangers no London girl could ever imagine.

John Charles Fremont was a fiery young officer, bent on mapping the vast trackless American west, and desperately needing government backing. Jessie Benton was the exquisitely beautiful, dazzlingly accomplished, and jealously guarded sixteen-year-old daughter of the most powerful politician in...  more

John Charles Fremont was a fiery young officer, bent on mapping the vast trackless American west, and desperately needing government backing. Jessie Benton was the exquisitely beautiful, dazzlingly accomplished, and jealously guarded sixteen-year-old daughter of the most powerful politician in America. They broke through all the barriers to come together -- and together set out to defy every danger of nature and man to lead America across the Rockies to the Pacific... to carve out a kingdom of gold.. to come within grasp of the Presidency itself... and to create an epic saga of courage and love as great and enthralling as has ever been told...

Through the honeymoon and then the challenges of Elizabeth assuming the role of Mistress of Pemberley, the Fitzwilliams' passion and love for each other grows. To Lizzy's delight, Darcy's sister, Georgiana, returns home just as Christmas preparations are underway, but all is not calm...  more

Through the honeymoon and then the challenges of Elizabeth assuming the role of Mistress of Pemberley, the Fitzwilliams' passion and love for each other grows. To Lizzy's delight, Darcy's sister, Georgiana, returns home just as Christmas preparations are underway, but all is not calm -- the marquis of Orman, whom Elizabeth first encounters at the Twelfth Night Ball, has sinister intentions.

One month in 1865 witnessed the frenzied fall of Richmond, a daring last-ditch Southern plan for guerrilla warfare, Lee's harrowing retreat, and then, Appomattox. It saw Lincoln's assassination just five days later and a near-successful plot to decapitate the Union government, followed...  more

One month in 1865 witnessed the frenzied fall of Richmond, a daring last-ditch Southern plan for guerrilla warfare, Lee's harrowing retreat, and then, Appomattox. It saw Lincoln's assassination just five days later and a near-successful plot to decapitate the Union government, followed by chaos and coup fears in the North, collapsed negotiations and continued bloodshed in the South, and finally, the start of national reconciliation. In the end, April 1865 emerged as not just the tale of the war's denouement, but the story of the making of our nation. Jay Winik offers a brilliant new look at the Civil War's final days that will forever change the way we see the war's end and the nation's new beginning. Uniquely set within the larger sweep of history and filled with rich profiles of outsize figures, fresh iconoclastic scholarship, and a gripping narrative, this is a masterful account of the thirty most pivotal days in the life of the United States.

An international bestseller, Kate Lord Brown's debut novel The Perfume Garden has sold especially well in Canada, where it was selected as Walmart's Read of the Month for June 2015 and made it to the Globe & Mail bestseller list. High in the hills of Valencia, a forgotten house guards its...  more

An international bestseller, Kate Lord Brown's debut novel The Perfume Garden has sold especially well in Canada, where it was selected as Walmart's Read of the Month for June 2015 and made it to the Globe & Mail bestseller list. High in the hills of Valencia, a forgotten house guards its secrets. Untouched since Franco's forces tore through Spain in 1936, the whitewashed walls have crumbled, and the garden, laden with orange blossom, grows wild. Emma Temple, London's leading perfumier, is the first to unlock its doors in seventy years. Her free-spirited mother, Liberty, has just passed away, leaving her the house mysteriously purchased just before her death. At the same time, Emma broke up with her long-time lover and business partner, although she carries his baby.Emma, guided by a series of letters and a key bequeathed to her in Liberty's will, travels to Valencia, where she will give birth in the beautiful but decaying house. Emma makes it her mission to restore the place to its former glory. But for her aging grandmother, Freya, a British nurse who stayed in Valencia during Spain's devastating civil war, Emma's new home evokes memories of a terrible secret, a part of her family's past that until now has managed to stay hidden. With two beautifully interwoven narratives and a lush, atmospheric setting, Kate Lord Brown's The Perfume Garden is a dramatic, emotional debut that readers won't soon forget.

An evocative and wildly absorbing novel about the Winters, a family living in New York City?s famed Dakota apartment building in the year leading up to John Lennon?s assassinationIt?s the fall of 1979 in New York City when twenty-three-year-old Anton Winter, back from the Peace Corps and on the...  more

An evocative and wildly absorbing novel about the Winters, a family living in New York City?s famed Dakota apartment building in the year leading up to John Lennon?s assassinationIt?s the fall of 1979 in New York City when twenty-three-year-old Anton Winter, back from the Peace Corps and on the mend from a nasty bout of malaria, returns to his childhood home in the Dakota. Anton?s father, the famous late-night host Buddy Winter, is there to greet him, himself recovering from a breakdown. Before long, Anton is swept up in an effort to reignite Buddy?s stalled career, a mission that takes him from the gritty streets of New York, to the slopes of the Lake Placid Olympics, to the Hollywood Hills, to the blue waters of the Bermuda Triangle, and brings him into close quarters with the likes of Johnny Carson, Ted and Joan Kennedy, and a seagoing John Lennon. But the more Anton finds himself enmeshed in his father?s professional and spiritual reinvention, the more he questions his own path, and fissures in the Winter family begin to threaten their close bond. By turns hilarious and poignant, The Dakota Winters is a family saga, a page-turning social novel, and a tale of a critical moment in the history of New York City and the country at large.

On an Illinois farm in the 1920s, a man is murdered, and in the same moment the tenous friendship between two lonely boys comes to an end. In telling their interconnected stories, American Book Award winner William delivers a masterfully restrained and magically evocative meditation on the past....  more

On an Illinois farm in the 1920s, a man is murdered, and in the same moment the tenous friendship between two lonely boys comes to an end. In telling their interconnected stories, American Book Award winner William delivers a masterfully restrained and magically evocative meditation on the past. "A small, perfect novel."--Washington Post Book World.

The optimism of the early sixties, infused with the excitement of the space race and the menace of the Cold War, is filtered through the rich imagination of high-spirited, eight-year-old Madeleine, who welcomes her family's posting to a quiet Air Force base near the Canadian border. Secure...  more

The optimism of the early sixties, infused with the excitement of the space race and the menace of the Cold War, is filtered through the rich imagination of high-spirited, eight-year-old Madeleine, who welcomes her family's posting to a quiet Air Force base near the Canadian border. Secure in the love of her beautiful mother, she is unaware that her father, Jack, is caught up in a web of secrets. When a very local murder intersects with global forces, Jack must decide where his loyalties lie, and Madeleine will be forced to learn a lesson about the ambiguity of human morality -- one she will only begin to understand when she carries her quest for the truth, and the killer, into adulthood twenty years later.

Still troubled by the events in The Sanctity of Hate, Prioress Eleanor goes on a pilgrimage in the spring of 1277 to a famous East Anglian shrine. There are rumors that King Edward may also come here soon to seek God?s blessing for his invasion of Wales.    Lurking in this sacred place, however,...  more

Still troubled by the events in The Sanctity of Hate, Prioress Eleanor goes on a pilgrimage in the spring of 1277 to a famous East Anglian shrine. There are rumors that King Edward may also come here soon to seek God?s blessing for his invasion of Wales.    Lurking in this sacred place, however, is an assassin hoping to murder a king.    Soon after Prioress Eleanor and Brother Thomas arrive, a nun falls to her death from the priory bell tower. Brother Thomas finds the body, leading some to fervently pray that the monk and his prioress do not grow curious. But the pair quickly grasps that this nun?s death was not a simple tragedy. The circumstances point to murder, but this slaying is further tainted with treason. Amongst the pilgrims, merchants, and religious, too many betray an interest in this death, including a canny street child. At least one of that number is most certainly a killer.   Can Prioress Eleanor and Brother Thomas succeed in exposing the assassin or will they also fall victim to one who has made a covenant with hell?  

Maud Heighton came to Lafond's famous Academie to paint, and to flee the constraints of her small English town. It took all her courage to escape, but Paris, she quickly realizes, is no place for a light purse. While her fellow students enjoy the dazzling decadence of the Belle Epoque, Maud...  more

Maud Heighton came to Lafond's famous Academie to paint, and to flee the constraints of her small English town. It took all her courage to escape, but Paris, she quickly realizes, is no place for a light purse. While her fellow students enjoy the dazzling decadence of the Belle Epoque, Maud slips into poverty. Quietly starving, and dreading another cold Paris winter, she stumbles upon an opportunity when Christian Morel engages her as a live-in companion to his beautiful young sister, Sylvie. Maud is overjoyed by her good fortune. With a clean room, hot meals, and an umbrella to keep her dry, she is able to hold her head high as she strolls the streets of Montmartre. No longer hostage to poverty and hunger, Maud can at last devote herself to her art. But all is not as it seems. Christian and Sylvie, Maud soon discovers, are not quite the darlings they pretend to be. Sylvie has a secret addiction to opium and Christian has an ominous air of intrigue. As this dark and powerful tale progresses, Maud is drawn further into the Morels' world of elegant deception. Their secrets become hers, and soon she is caught in a scheme of betrayal and revenge.Revealing a side of the city that few see, Imogen Robertson's The Paris Winter plunges into the darkness that lies beneath this glittering city of light.

Now, in The Third Angel, Hoffman weaves a magical and stunningly original story that charts the lives of three women in love with the wrong men: Headstrong Madeleine Heller finds herself hopelessly attracted to her sister's fiance. Frieda Lewis, a doctor's daughter and a runaway, becomes...  more

Now, in The Third Angel, Hoffman weaves a magical and stunningly original story that charts the lives of three women in love with the wrong men: Headstrong Madeleine Heller finds herself hopelessly attracted to her sister's fiance. Frieda Lewis, a doctor's daughter and a runaway, becomes the muse of an ill-fated rock star. And beautiful Bryn Evans is set to marry an Englishman while secretly obsessed with her ex-husband. At the heart of the novel is Lucy Green, who blames herself for a tragic accident she witnessed at the age of twelve, and who spends four decades searching for the Third Angel - the angel on earth who will renew her faith. Brilliantly evoking London's King's Road, Knightsbridge, and Kensington while moving effortlessly back in time, The Third Angel is a work of startling beauty about the unique, alchemical nature of love.

The year is 878. Uhtred, the dispossessed son of a Northumbrian lord, has helped the Saxons of Wessex defeat the invading Danes. Now, finally free of his allegiance to the victorious, ungrateful King Alfred, he is heading home to rescue his stepsister, a prisoner of Kjartan the Cruel in the...  more

The year is 878. Uhtred, the dispossessed son of a Northumbrian lord, has helped the Saxons of Wessex defeat the invading Danes. Now, finally free of his allegiance to the victorious, ungrateful King Alfred, he is heading home to rescue his stepsister, a prisoner of Kjartan the Cruel in the formidable Danish stronghold of Dunholm. Uhtred's best hope is his sword, Serpent-Breath, for his only allies are Hild, a West Saxon nun fleeing her calling, and Guthred, a slave who believes himself king. Rebellion, chaos, fear, and betrayal await them in the north, forcing Uhtred to turn once more, reluctantly, to the liege he formerly served in battle and blood: Alfred the Great.

The year is 885, and England is at peace, divided between the Danish kingdom to the north and Alfred's kingdom of Wessex in the south. But trouble stirs, a dead man has risen and new Vikings have arrived to occupy London. It is a dangerous time, and it falls to Uhtred, half Saxon, half Dane,...  more

The year is 885, and England is at peace, divided between the Danish kingdom to the north and Alfred's kingdom of Wessex in the south. But trouble stirs, a dead man has risen and new Vikings have arrived to occupy London. It is a dangerous time, and it falls to Uhtred, half Saxon, half Dane, a man feared and respected the length and breadth of Britain, to expel the Viking raiders and take control of London for Alfred. His uncertain loyalties must now decide England's future. A gripping tale of love, rivalry and violence, Sword Song tells the story of England's making.

In "Fariy Dust," Sookie finds her mind-reading talents in demand when a fairy from a set of triplets gets dusted.   "Dracula Night" may be the commemoration of the Prince of Darkness's birth, but it's Sookie who gets a tasty-looking present. Learning...  more

In "Fariy Dust," Sookie finds her mind-reading talents in demand when a fairy from a set of triplets gets dusted.   "Dracula Night" may be the commemoration of the Prince of Darkness's birth, but it's Sookie who gets a tasty-looking present. Learning that her cousin is dead is shocking enough for Sookie.  Learning that her cousin was a vampire who got staked leaves her speechless in "One Word Answer." When Sookie teams up with her witchy friend Amelia to discover who has it out for Bon Temps's most successful insurance agent, they get "Lucky". A solo Sookie has the holiday blues in "Gift Wrap" under she has an unexpected encounter with someone who has bigger problems than loneliness. With a southern charm all her own -- and a myriad of voices inside her head -- Sookie has quickly become everyone's favorite barmaid and the catalyst fo rall the supernatural goings-on in "a world that is both a weird possibility and a wild ride" (The Anniston Star).

Australian bestselling novelist Karen Brooks rewrites women back into history with this breathtaking novel set in 17th century London?a lush, fascinating story of the beautiful woman who is drawn into a world of riches, power, intrigue?and chocolate.Damnation has never been so sweet...Rosamund...  more

Australian bestselling novelist Karen Brooks rewrites women back into history with this breathtaking novel set in 17th century London?a lush, fascinating story of the beautiful woman who is drawn into a world of riches, power, intrigue?and chocolate.Damnation has never been so sweet...Rosamund Tomkins, the illegitimate daughter of a nobleman, spends most of her young life in drudgery at a country inn. To her, the Restoration under Charles II, is but a distant threat as she works under the watchful eye of her brutal, abusive stepfather . . . until the day she is nearly run over by the coach of Sir Everard Blithman.Sir Everard, a canny merchant, offers Rosamund an ?opportunity like no other,? allowing her to escape into a very different life, becoming the linchpin that will drive the success of his fledgling business: a luxurious London chocolate house where wealthy and well-connected men come to see and be seen, to gossip and plot, while indulging in the sweet and heady drink.Rosamund adapts and thrives in her new surroundings, quickly becoming the most talked-about woman in society, desired and respected in equal measure.But Sir Everard?s plans for Rosamund and the chocolate house involve family secrets that span the Atlantic Ocean, and which have already brought death and dishonor to the Blithman name. Rosamund knows nothing of the mortal peril that comes with her new title, nor of the forces spinning a web of conspiracy buried in the past, until she meets a man whose return tightens their grip upon her, threatening to destroy everything she loves and damn her to a dire fate.As she fights for her life and those she loves through the ravages of the Plague and London?s Great Fire, Rosamund?s breathtaking tale is one marked by cruelty and revenge; passion and redemption?and the sinfully sweet temptation of chocolate.  

Historian Norton revisits the witchcraft panic of the late 17th century in the U.S., situating it in the context of anxiety over the Indian wars that may have precipitated the hysteria. A New York Times Notable Book for 2002.

In England's young silent-film industry, the megalomaniacal Randolph Fflytte is king. Nevertheless, at the request of Scotland Yard, Mary Russell is dispatched to investigate rumors of criminal activities that swirl around Fflytte's popular movie studio. So Russell is traveling...  more

In England's young silent-film industry, the megalomaniacal Randolph Fflytte is king. Nevertheless, at the request of Scotland Yard, Mary Russell is dispatched to investigate rumors of criminal activities that swirl around Fflytte's popular movie studio. So Russell is traveling undercover to Portugal, along with the film crew that is gearing up to shoot a cinematic extravaganza, Pirate King. Based on Gilbert and Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance, the project will either set the standard for moviemaking for a generation . . . or sink a boatload of careers. Nothing seems amiss until the enormous company starts rehearsals in Lisbon, where the thirteen blond-haired, blue-eyed actresses whom Mary is bemusedly chaperoning meet the swarm of real buccaneers Fflytte has recruited to provide authenticity. But when the crew embarks for Morocco and the actual filming, Russell feels a building storm of trouble: a derelict boat, a film crew with secrets, ominous currents between the pirates, decks awash with budding romance -- and now the pirates are ignoring Fflytte and answering only to their dangerous outlaw leader. Plus, there's a spy on board. Where can Sherlock Holmes be? As movie make-believe becomes true terror, Russell and Holmes themselves may experience a final fadeout. The book also includes the short story "Beekeeping for Beginners," an early tale of Holmes and Russell.

Laurie R. King’s New York Times bestselling novels of suspense featuring Mary Russell and her husband, Sherlock Holmes, comprise one of today’s most acclaimed mystery series. Now, in their newest and most thrilling adventure, the couple is separated by a shocking circumstance in a...  more

Laurie R. King’s New York Times bestselling novels of suspense featuring Mary Russell and her husband, Sherlock Holmes, comprise one of today’s most acclaimed mystery series. Now, in their newest and most thrilling adventure, the couple is separated by a shocking circumstance in a perilous part of the world, each racing against time to prevent an explosive catastrophe that could clothe them both in shrouds. In a strange room in Morocco, Mary Russell is trying to solve a pressing mystery: Who am I? She has awakened with shadows in her mind, blood on her hands, and soldiers pounding on the door. Out in the hivelike streets, she discovers herself strangely adept in the skills of the underworld, escaping through alleys and rooftops, picking pockets and locks. She is clothed like a man, and armed only with her wits and a scrap of paper containing a mysterious Arabic phrase. Overhead, warplanes pass ominously north. Meanwhile, Holmes is pulled by two old friends and a distant relation into the growing war between France, Spain, and the Rif Revolt led by Emir Abd el-Krim -- who may be a Robin Hood or a power mad tribesman. The shadows of war are drawing over the ancient city of Fez, and Holmes badly wants the wisdom and courage of his wife, whom he’s learned, to his horror, has gone missing. As Holmes searches for her, and Russell searches for herself, each tries to crack deadly parallel puzzles before it’s too late for them, for Africa, and for the peace of Europe.  

For years, Heather Tradescant had dreamed of the journey she and her father would take to England--a pilgrimage to the great gardens of history.Now that her father is dead, Heather is determined to fulfill his dreams. Unfortunately, her request to see the fabled 17th-century garden of Troytan...  more

For years, Heather Tradescant had dreamed of the journey she and her father would take to England--a pilgrimage to the great gardens of history.Now that her father is dead, Heather is determined to fulfill his dreams. Unfortunately, her request to see the fabled 17th-century garden of Troytan House is denied by the owner. Though unwelcome, she braves the walls of briars and reaches the Victorian manor house beyond. She senses a strange mission of evil lurking, tainting the manor's peaceful beauty. Only then does Heather begin to wonder whether it is only stories of long-vanished witchcraft that haunt Troytan House or whether there is some more modern horror, hearer at hand, and far, far more dangerous. Continuing in the classic tradition she established with such acclaimed novels of suspense as Stitches in Time, Vanish with the Rose, and House of Stone, New York Times bestselling author Barbara Michaels has penned a chilling tale that will keep you reading until the last page.

Over the last two decades, Mary Schmich?s bi-weekly column in the Chicago Tribune has offered advice, humor, and discerning commentary on a broad array of topics including family, milestones, mental illness, writing, and life in Chicago. Schmich won the 2012 Pulitzer for Commentary for “her...  more

Over the last two decades, Mary Schmich?s bi-weekly column in the Chicago Tribune has offered advice, humor, and discerning commentary on a broad array of topics including family, milestones, mental illness, writing, and life in Chicago. Schmich won the 2012 Pulitzer for Commentary for “her down-to-earth columns that reflect the character and capture the culture of her famed city.? This collection brings together her ten Pulitzer-winning columns along with 154 others, creating a compelling collection that reflects Schmich?s thoughtful and insightful sensibility. The book is divided into 13 sections, with topics focused on loss and survival, relationships, Chicago, travel, holidays, reading and writing, and more. Schmich?s 1997 “Wear Sunscreen? column (which has had a life of its own as a falsely attributed Kurt Vonnegut commencement speech) is included, as well as her columns focusing on the demolition of Chicago?s infamous Cabrini-Green housing project. One of the most moving sections is her twelve-part series with U.S. District Judge Joan Lefkow, as the latter reflected on rebuilding her life after the horrific murders of her mother and husband. Schmich?s columns are both universal and deeply personal. The first section of The Best of Mary Schmich is dedicated to columns about her mother, and her stories of coping with her mother?s aging and eventual death. Throughout the book, Schmich reflects wisely and wryly on the world we live in, and her fond observances of Chicago life bring the city in all its varied character to warm, vivid life.

When young professor of English Karen Holloway happens on a privately printed volume of verse dating from the early 19th century, it's all in a day's work. But when a battered manuscript bearing the same mysterious attribution, "Ismene," turns up, Karen realizes that it is an...  more

When young professor of English Karen Holloway happens on a privately printed volume of verse dating from the early 19th century, it's all in a day's work. But when a battered manuscript bearing the same mysterious attribution, "Ismene," turns up, Karen realizes that it is an important discovery that could be the making of her academic career. Karen immerses herself in a headlong search for the true identity of the unknown author, tracking the provenance of the manuscript to Virginia's historic Tidewater region. She is not alone in her quest; academic rivals shadow her steps, trying to gain possession of the valuable manuscript, and the locals are more inquisitive about her activities than seems natural. Fortunately, Karen has the help of her eccentric and able mentor, Peggy, whose historical expertise proves to be invaluable. And, as she painstakingly deciphers the crabbed, charred pages, she begins to wonder whether she has the assistance of Ismene herself. Is the tale of Gothic horror that Ismene tells not a novel but a memoir, the very possession of which may jeopardize Karen's life? Ismene's legacy calls out from the past, from an eerie world fraught with terrifying impressions of fire and ice that will not die until the painful truths that inhabit houses of stone are revealed.

Upon the death of her grandfather, Meg Venturi unexpectedly inherits the eccentric millionaire's antique jewelry business. There is one catch to her sudden windfall -- she must share the wealth with a taciturn and oddly attractive young man who has an entire town stirring up rumors -- about...  more

Upon the death of her grandfather, Meg Venturi unexpectedly inherits the eccentric millionaire's antique jewelry business. There is one catch to her sudden windfall -- she must share the wealth with a taciturn and oddly attractive young man who has an entire town stirring up rumors -- about murderous secrets and a dark legacy. Now Meg is about to learn the truth behind an old adage: all that glitters is not gold... From the sparkle of priceless antique jewels to the terrifying shadows of murderous madness, this story weaves an intricate web of romance, suspense and intrigue. The setting is a small country town in the United States. The suspense in this novel builds into a smashing final chapter that does full credit to Michaels' power of invention.

Benjamin Weaver, a Jew and an ex-boxer, is an outsider in eighteenth-century London, tracking down debtors and felons for aristocratic clients. The son of a wealthy stock trader, he lives estranged from his family until he is asked to investigate his father's sudden death. Thus Weaver...  more

Benjamin Weaver, a Jew and an ex-boxer, is an outsider in eighteenth-century London, tracking down debtors and felons for aristocratic clients. The son of a wealthy stock trader, he lives estranged from his family until he is asked to investigate his father's sudden death. Thus Weaver descends into the deceptive world of the English stock jobbers, gliding between coffee houses and gaming houses, drawing rooms and bordellos. The more Weaver uncovers, the darker the truth becomes, until he realizes that he is following too closely in his father's footsteps and they just might lead him to his own grave. An enthralling historical thriller, A Conspiracy of Paper will leave readers wondering just how much has changed in the stock market in the last three hundred years. . . .

THE NEW YEAR'S QUILT tells the story of how the newlyweds celebrate their first holiday season as husband and wife. Not content to rest at home by the fire, they set out on a journey across the snow-covered fields of Pennsylvania. Their destination is Connecticut, and the home of Andrew's...  more

THE NEW YEAR'S QUILT tells the story of how the newlyweds celebrate their first holiday season as husband and wife. Not content to rest at home by the fire, they set out on a journey across the snow-covered fields of Pennsylvania. Their destination is Connecticut, and the home of Andrew's daughter Amy. Unlike the Elm Creek Quilters, Amy has not offered her blessing to the union. Though her father has reminded her that marriage endures in sickness and in health, Amy fears that Andrew and Sylvia have passed the age where marriage remains a prudent choice. Sylvia hopes to win over her new daughter-in-law through the lessons that quilting reveals about the bonds of love and family. As a gift for Amy, she undertakes a quilt titled New Year s Reflections, whose blocks represent the holiday traditions of Elm Creek Manor. As she stitches the blocks, memories of a lifetime come flooding back, along with words of wisdom meant to celebrate the achievements of generations past and create hope for the future.

Vidocq! Master of disguise and chief of a newly created plainclothes police force, Vidocq is a man whose name sends terror rippling through the Parisian underworld of 1818—and the inconsequential life of Hector Carpentier is violently shaken when Vidocq storms into it. A former...  more

Vidocq! Master of disguise and chief of a newly created plainclothes police force, Vidocq is a man whose name sends terror rippling through the Parisian underworld of 1818—and the inconsequential life of Hector Carpentier is violently shaken when Vidocq storms into it. A former medical student living in his mother's Latin Quarter boardinghouse, Hector finds himself dragged into a dangerous mystery surrounding the fate of the dauphin, the ten-year-old son of King Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette presumed to have suffered a cruel death years earlier in Paris's dreaded Temple. But the truth of what happened may be even more shocking—and it will fall to an aimless young man and the most feared detective in Paris to see justice done for a frightened little boy in a black tower . . . no matter what the cost.

Everything changes in a single moment for Dawn Edelstein. She's on a plane when the flight attendant makes an announcement: prepare for a crash landing. She braces herself as thoughts flash through her mind. The shocking thing is, the thoughts are not of her husband, but a man she last saw...  more

Everything changes in a single moment for Dawn Edelstein. She's on a plane when the flight attendant makes an announcement: prepare for a crash landing. She braces herself as thoughts flash through her mind. The shocking thing is, the thoughts are not of her husband, but a man she last saw fifteen years ago: Wyatt Armstrong. Dawn, miraculously, survives the crash, but so do all the doubts that have suddenly been raised. She has led a good life. Back in Boston, there is her husband, Brian, her beloved daughter, and her work as a death doula, where she helps ease the transition between life and death for patients in hospice. But somewhere in Egypt is Wyatt Armstrong, who works as an archaeologist unearthing ancient burial sites, a job she once studied for, but was forced to abandon when life suddenly intervened. And now, when it seems that fate is offering her second chances, she is not as sure of the choice she once made. After the crash landing, the airline ensures the survivors are seen by a doctor, then offers transportation wherever they want to go. The obvious option for Dawn is to continue down the path she is on and go home to her family. The other is to return to the archaeological site she left years before, reconnect with Wyatt and their unresolved history, and maybe even complete her research on The Book of Two Ways -- the first known map of the afterlife. As the story unfolds, Dawn's two possible futures unspool side by side, as do the secrets and doubts long buried beside them. Dawn must confront the questions she's never truly asked: What does a life well-lived look like? When we leave this earth, what do we leave behind? Do we make choices... or do our choices make us? And who would you be, if you hadn't turned out to be the person you are right now?

When Tiro, the confidential secretary (and slave) of a Roman senator, opens the door to a terrified stranger on a cold November morning, he sets in motion a chain of events that will eventually propel his master into one of the most suspenseful courtroom dramas in history. The stranger is a...  more

When Tiro, the confidential secretary (and slave) of a Roman senator, opens the door to a terrified stranger on a cold November morning, he sets in motion a chain of events that will eventually propel his master into one of the most suspenseful courtroom dramas in history. The stranger is a Sicilian, a victim of the island's corrupt Roman governor, Verres. The senator is Marcus Cicero -- an ambitious young lawyer and spellbinding orator, who at the age of twenty-seven is determined to attain imperium -- supreme power in the state. Of all the great figures of the Roman world, none was more fascinating or charismatic than Cicero. And Tiro -- the inventor of shorthand and author of numerous books, including a celebrated biography of his master (which was lost in the Dark Ages) -- was always by his side. Compellingly written in Tiro's voice, Imperium is the re-creation of his vanished masterpiece, recounting in vivid detail the story of Cicero's quest for glory, competing with some of the most powerful and intimidating figures of his -- or any other -- age: Pompey, Caesar, Crassus, and the many other powerful Romans who changed history.  

An epic account of one remarkable woman's quest for justice from the New York Times bestselling author of The Widow of the South and A Separate Country. In the years following the Civil War, Mariah Reddick, former slave to Carrie McGavock--the "Widow of the South"--has quietly built a new ...  more

An epic account of one remarkable woman's quest for justice from the New York Times bestselling author of The Widow of the South and A Separate Country. In the years following the Civil War, Mariah Reddick, former slave to Carrie McGavock--the "Widow of the South"--has quietly built a new life for herself as a midwife to the women of Franklin, Tennessee. But when her ambitious, politically-minded grown son, Theopolis, is murdered, Mariah--no stranger to loss--finds her world once more breaking apart. How could this happen? Who wanted him dead? Mariah's journey to uncover the truth leads her to unexpected people--including Robert Cannon, a recent arrival to town, fleeing a difficult past of his own--and forces her to confront the truths of her own past. Brimming with the vivid prose and historical research that has won Robert Hicks recognition as a "master storyteller" (San Francisco Chronicle).

Quinn's Book tells the story of Daniel Quinn, of his adventure-filled search for true love and the answer to the riddle of his own fate.

A major talent debuts with this beguiling novel whose characters are Dakota Sioux and their spirit ancestors. Covering some of the same themes as Louise Erdrich but displaying her own distinctive voice and transcendent imagination, Power has produced an authentic portrait of Native American...  more

A major talent debuts with this beguiling novel whose characters are Dakota Sioux and their spirit ancestors. Covering some of the same themes as Louise Erdrich but displaying her own distinctive voice and transcendent imagination, Power has produced an authentic portrait of Native American culture and characters who are as resilient and tangible as the grass moving over the Great Plains. In interconnected stories that begin in 1981 and range back to 1864, the residents of a Sioux reservation endure poverty, epidemic illness, injustice and--no less importantly--jealousy, greed, anger and unrequited love. The tales begin and end with Harley Wind Soldier, a 17-year-old whose soul is a "black, empty hole" because his mother has not spoken a word since the accident 17 years earlier in which Harley's father and brother died. Eventually we discover the true circumstances surrounding that event and other secrets--of clandestine love affairs, of childrens' paternity--that stretch back several generations but hold a grip on the present. Meanwhile, Harley falls in love with enchanting Pumpkin, an amazingly adept grass dancer whose fate will make readers gasp. Mercury Thunder and her daughter Anna use magic in a sinister way, and tragedy results. Herod Small War, a Yuwipi (interpreter of dreams), tries to bring his community into harmony with the spiritual world. The existence of ghosts in the real world is accepted with calm belief by the characters, who know the old legends and understand that the direction of their lives is determined by their gods and ancestors. Power weaves historical events--the Apollo Moon landing; the 19th-century Great Plains drought--into her narrative, reinforcing the seamless coexistence of the real and the spirit realm. A consummate storyteller whose graceful prose is plangent with lyrical metaphor and sensuous detail, she deftly uses suspense, humor, irony and the gradual revelation of dramatic disclosures to compose a tapestry of human life. Seduced by her humane vision and its convincing depiction, one absorbs the traditions and lore of the Sioux community with a sense of wonder reflecting that with which the characters view the natural world. This is a book that begs to be read at one sitting, and then again. A chapter appeared in The Best American Short Stories 1993. BOMC and QPB selection.

New York Times bestselling author Jeffery Deaver delivers an electrifying collection of sixteen award-winning stories that will widen your eyes and stretch your imagination. Diverse and provocative, Twisted showcases Deaver's amazing range and signature plot twists: a beautiful woman goes to...  more

New York Times bestselling author Jeffery Deaver delivers an electrifying collection of sixteen award-winning stories that will widen your eyes and stretch your imagination. Diverse and provocative, Twisted showcases Deaver's amazing range and signature plot twists: a beautiful woman goes to extremes to rid herself of her stalker; a contemporary of William Shakespeare vows to avenge his family's ruin; and Deaver's most beloved character, brilliant criminalist Lincoln Rhyme, is back to solve a chilling Christmastime disappearance.

Deaver, author of a string of best-selling thrillers, says in the introduction to this story collection (his second, following 2003's Twisted) that short fiction is inherently different from a novel. And he proves it in every one of the 16 stories, which include a new Lincoln Rhyme mystery....  more

Deaver, author of a string of best-selling thrillers, says in the introduction to this story collection (his second, following 2003's Twisted) that short fiction is inherently different from a novel. And he proves it in every one of the 16 stories, which include a new Lincoln Rhyme mystery. These stories aren't about character development or setting; they're about misdirection and plot twists, Deaver's signatures. Every one of these gems includes at least one act of narrative sleight of hand: sometimes it's a subtle shift in direction, but more often it's a neck-wrenching, right-angle turn. And they all feature Deaver's sharply observed dialogue and jackrabbit pacing. The majority of the stories were previously published in magazines and anthologies, but even the most devoted of the author's followers will find a few things here they have never seen before. Chapter and verse The commuter The Westphalian ring Surveillance Born bad Interrogation Afraid Double jeopardy Tunnel girl Locard's principle A dish served cold Copycat The voyeur Ninety-eight point six A nice place to visit Afterword to Afraid

Things are turning around for seventeen-year-old Peggy Fitzroy, a once-orphaned spy. Her father is back from the dead, and her unwanted engagement has been called off for good. But when a mysterious veiled woman shows up, Peggy uncovers a fresh slew of questions about her past, present, and...  more

Things are turning around for seventeen-year-old Peggy Fitzroy, a once-orphaned spy. Her father is back from the dead, and her unwanted engagement has been called off for good. But when a mysterious veiled woman shows up, Peggy uncovers a fresh slew of questions about her past, present, and future. Now Peggy is back at the palace, unsure of the loyalties she thought she held. With the Jacobite uprising stalking ever closer to the throne, it's imperative that Peggy discover who she can really trust. Can she save herself and the royal family, or is she doomed as a pawn in this most deadly game? 

Twenty-five year old Ivy Rowan rises from her bed after being struck by the flu, only to discover the world has been torn apart in just a few short days. But Ivy’s life-long gift—or curse—remains. For she sees the uninvited ones—ghosts of loved ones who appear to her,...  more

Twenty-five year old Ivy Rowan rises from her bed after being struck by the flu, only to discover the world has been torn apart in just a few short days. But Ivy’s life-long gift—or curse—remains. For she sees the uninvited ones—ghosts of loved ones who appear to her, unasked, unwelcomed, for they always herald impending death. On that October evening in 1918 she sees the spirit of her grandmother, rocking in her mother’s chair. An hour later, she learns her younger brother and father have killed a young German out of retaliation for the death of Ivy’s older brother Billy in the Great War. Horrified, she leaves home, to discover the flu has caused utter panic and the rules governing society have broken down. Ivy is drawn into this new world of jazz, passion, and freedom, where people live for the day, because they could be stricken by nightfall. But as her ‘uninvited guests’ begin to appear to her more often, she knows her life will be torn apart once more, but Ivy has no inkling of the other-worldly revelations about to unfold.