The luminous novella and stories in The Age of Grief explore the vicissitudes of love, friendship, and marriage with all the compassion and insight that have come to be expected from Jane Smiley, the Pulitzer Prize—winning author of A Thousand Acres.
In “The Pleasure of Her Company,” a lonely, single woman befriends the married couple next door, hoping to learn the secret of their happiness. In “Long Distance,” a man finds himself relieved of the obligation to continue an affair that is no longer compelling to him, only to be waylaid by the guilt he feels at his easy escape. And in the incandescently wise and moving title novella, a dentist, aware that his wife has fallen in love with someone else, must comfort her when she is spurned, while maintaining the secret of his own complicated sorrow. Beautifully written, with a wry intelligence and a lively comic touch, The Age of Grief captures moments of great intimacy with grace, clarity, and indelible emotional power.
From the Trade Paperback edition. Views: 477
In The Mirror of Her Dreams, the dazzling first volume of Mordant’s Need, New York Times bestselling author Stephen R. Donaldson introduced us to the richly imagined world of Mordant, where mirrors are magical portals into places of beauty and terror. Now, with A Man Rides Through*, Donaldson brings the story of Terisa Morgan to an unforgettable conclusion. . . .
***Aided by the powerful magic of Vagel, the evil Arch-Imager, the merciless armies are marching against the kingdom of Mordant. In its hour of greatest need, two unlikely champions emerge. One is Geraden, whose inability to master the simplest skills of Imagery has made him a laughingstock. The other is Terisa Morgan, transferred to Mordant from a Manhattan apartment by Geraden’s faulty magic. Together, Geraden and Terisa discover undreamed-of talents within themselves—talents that make them more than a match for any Imager . . . including Vagel himself.
Unfortunately, those talents also mark them for death. Branded as traitors, they are forced to flee the castle for their lives. Now, all but defenseless in a war-torn countryside ravaged by the vilest horrors Imagery can spawn, Geraden and Terisa must put aside past failures and find the courage to embrace their powers—and their love—before Vagel can spring his final trap. Views: 467
"A novel of classical proportions and virtues...humane and moving."–*The Washington Post Book World
"A love story on more than one level, and Ms. Willis does justice to them all. It was only toward the end of the book that I realized how much tension had been generated, how engrossed I was in the characters, how much I cared about their fates."–The New York Times Book Review*
For Jeff Johnston, a young historical reseacher for a Civil War novelist, reality is redefined on a bitter cold night near the close of a lingering winter. He meets Annie, an intense and lovely young woman suffering from vivid, intense nightmares. Haunted by the dreamer and her unrelenting dreams, Jeff leads Annie on an emotional odyssey through the heartland of the Civil War in search of a cure. On long-silenced battlefields their relationship blossoms–two obsessed lovers linked by unbreakable chains of history, torn by a duty that could destroy them both. Suspenseful, moving, and highly compelling, Lincoln’s Dreams is a novel of rare imaginative power.
From the Paperback edition. Views: 455
This is a compelling novel of counterfeit perfumes and counterfeit emotions . . . of twists and turns of the story and the knife. In it, there is a romantic flash of green at sunset--and the deadly flash of steel at the end. Views: 455
By the author of The Forever War: Caught between the USSR and the United States, a professor fights to create a better world
Nicholas Foley survived the horrific siege of Leningrad. Since World War II ended, he has risen through the ranks of American academia to his current post as a respected university professor with a loving wife. His one secret: He works for the KGB. Foley acts as a sleeper agent for the Russians, pointing out potential talent for recruitment. This precarious position takes a turn for the deadly when Foley creates an invention that will change the world: a device that makes people obey orders, no matter what.
The fate of the world is balanced on a razor’s edge. As both superpowers pursue Foley, doing whatever they can to get their hands on his miraculous superweapon, he realizes he must choose a side.
Nebula and Hugo Award winner Joe Haldeman is one of America’s finest creators of science fiction, and Tool of the Trade is a masterful adventure.
This ebook features an illustrated biography of Joe Haldeman including rare images from the author’s personal collection. Views: 453
Matilda Delaney, nicknamed Manda, felt the black flame opal calling to her from the abandoned mines on Deadman's Ridge, and she knew the missing jewel was the treasure she must find. She was always in search of the great adventure that was her destiny, and when film director Roman Gallagher barely missed her with his Jeep, she knew that lightning had struck!
His suspicious nature did nothing to discourage Manda's exultation at meeting the brilliant, cynical man with the devil's temper. Losing himself in her silken hair and the reckless promise of her lips, Roman felt a primitive jealousy of any man who'd known her before, and swore to make her forget. But his dark, tormented soul refused to accept the love she vowed. Could she persuade him that her siren's song was only for his ears? Views: 451
Murder and Mistaken Identity Lead to Love in Violet Fire, a Historical Romance by Jo Goodman— 1746, England and Virginia Colony —Wrongly accused of murdering her abusive step-father, Shannon Kilmartin never expected to leave Newgate prison until she's sold as an indentured servant to work as a governess in the Virginia Colony.Brandon Fleming never escaped the memory of the beautiful raven-haired woman he met in Cambridge. He was so captivated that upon returning to the Tidewater Plantation in the Virginia Colony, he married Aurora because she held an uncanny resemblance to that raven-haired beauty. But it was in appearance, only. Now, abandoned by Aurora and left to raise a child on his own, Brandon faces a lonely future and needs a governess for his daughter.When Shannon arrives in Tidewater, she's immediately mistaken for the wayward Aurora and is not greeted with enthusiasm by anyone except Brandon's daughter. Brandon recognizes Shannon as... Views: 451
All the king's men could not surpass the intellect, nor all the king's ladies the beauty of Merlin Lambourne. As the infamous Napoleon's deadly army grows ever closer, Lord Ransom Falconer frantically searches for an inventor who can create a new way to defeat the advancing forces. He unexpectedly finds that only the lovely Merlin is adequate for the challenge. Drunk from her intoxicating beauty, Falconer whisks Merlin backto his home on a trail of tender kisses, oblivious to mounting whispers of scandal. His quickly falls under the spell of her magical touch. But as Napoleon draws nearer, Falconer must use Merlin's own inventions to protect her from danger. The magic of love surrounds them as they fall under the spell of undeniable passion. Views: 436
A road trip novel from the author of Fup that "reads like Kerouac's On the Road as it might have been written by Hunter S. Thompson" (The Plain Dealer). George Gastin is a Bay Area tow-truck operator who wrecks cars as part of an insurance scam. One of the cars he is hired to demolish is a snow-white Cadillac that was supposed to be a present for the Big Bopper, who died in the Iowa plane crash that killed Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens. Gastin has a change of heart and takes off in the car, heading for Texas where the Bopper is buried. Armed with a thousand hits of Benzedrine and chased by adversaries real and imagined, Gastin navigates a road trip that covers many miles and states of mind. Traveling in time from the Beat era to the dawn of the sixties, from the coffeehouses of North Beach to the open plains of America, Gastin picks up some extraordinary hitchhikers: the self-proclaimed "world's greatest salesman," the... Views: 429
In The Aftermath of War, A Young Woman Struggles to Find Peace and Love in Velvet Night, a Historical Romance by Jo Goodman— England Countryside and London; Boston 1815 —Abducted, drugged, and sold to a brothel, Kenna Dunne is believed dead. If not for Rhys Canning's timely rescue, her death would be a reality. Escaping England and a shadowy past with Rhys, the only person she trusts to protect her, Kenna arrives in Boston as Rhys's wife and with a newfound purpose. Together they will save the shipping line inherited from his father.Believing Kenna is safe from her father's killer and the trauma of witnessing his death, Rhys truly enjoys his time with her. But peace is short-lived when the past catches up to them.Now, they must learn the truth behind Kenna's father's murder. With Kenna's life at risk once again, she acknowledges that someone she loves may be trying to kill her.Publisher Note: For new and old fans of Jo Goodman comes... Views: 428
The long awaited sequel to Gene Wolfe’s four-volume classic, The Book of the New Sun. We return to the world of Severian, now the Autarch of Urth, as he leaves the planet on one of the huge spaceships of the alien Hierodules to travel across time and space to face his greatest test, to become the legendary New Sun or die. The strange, rich, original spaceship scenes give way to travels in time, wherein Severian revisits times and places which fill in parts of the background of the four-volume work, that will thrill and intrigue particularly all readers of the earlier books. But The Urth of the New Sun is an independent structure all of a piece, an integral masterpiece to shelve beside the classics, one itself. Views: 428
An English lieutenant is ordered to stage a play starring prisoners of the Australian penal colony he supervises in this phantasmagoric historical fiction masterwork from the author of *Schindler’s List*
In the penal colony of Sydney Cove, Australia, at the farthest reaches of the late-nineteenth-century British Empire, Lieutenant Ralph Clark has received a bizarre commission. In honor of the king’s birthday, Clark is charged with staging a production of the George Farquhar comedy The Recruiting Officer using as cast and production crew the highwaymen, whores, cutpurses, killers, and other assorted disreputables exiled there from the British Isles. Pining over the family he left behind, Clark must work miracles with only two printed scripts, a company of unstable and largely illiterate “actors,” and the dubious assistance of his colleagues. But the success—or failure—of the mammoth enterprise rests largely on the shoulders of lead actress Mary Brenham, the mesmerizing and enigmatic female convict to whom Clark finds himself strangely and dangerously attracted.
Based on the lieutenant’s real diaries, The Playmaker is a truly remarkable achievement. Atmospheric, dreamlike, and richly evoking time and place, featuring a monumental cast of magnificently drawn, unforgettable characters, it is a work of insight, imagination, and true genius by one of the most notable names in historical fiction. Views: 425
While enjoying a fabulous party hosted by wealthy Joanna Tate, Nancy finds herself investigating a major jewel theft. Joanna's newest prize -- a diamond and ruby necklace -- is missing. And since Joanna hasn't kept the necklace a secret, Nancy has plenty of suspects. Her chief problem is rookie police detective John Ryan, who wants to nab the thief himself. But a rash of copycat robberies -- and some devishly original murder attempts -- convince Nancy to collar the country club burglar right away... or pay dearly later. Views: 424
