Summer of 1988. Leavenworth, Kansas: a town with four major prisons, gripped by the recent escape of a convict. Yet for two young brothers, all that matters is the pool in their apartment complex. They spend their blissful days practicing dives while their divorcée mother works her day shift at the golf course and their policeman father patrols the streets. But when a mysterious stranger appears poolside and creates a rift between the brothers, the younger one wonders just what these visits to the pool might ultimately cost. Based on Cote Smith's well-received short story of the same name, Hurt People will hold you in its grip to the very last page. Eerily atmospheric, lean, and forceful, this is a debut from a slyly talented new writer. Views: 8
Another story collection from the prolific Watson (Salvage Rites, Evil Water, Slow Birds), this one comprising 12 tall tales published between 1985 and 1990. The longest piece here is brilliantly conceived: a company of Ushabti, tiny clay figurines placed in the sarcophagus of a pharaoh as his attendants, explore their sarcophagus-universe, then attempt to revive their dead master; what makes no stylistic or literary sense, and irredeemably flaws the story, is Watson's introduction of some investigating Egyptologists in the form of a play and, worse, chanting blank verse. Also noteworthy: the impressively imagined title yarn, which probes the strange consequences arising from deliberately distorted maps but all too soon meanders off into unfathomable byways; and a persuasive yarn that features the surrealist architect Gaudi. Elsewhere, three clumsily obvious metaphors (time travel and race hatred; rich vs. poor; a human chicken becomes chancellor of Oxford University) irritate rather than uplift; a jailer physically and psychically absorbs his prisoners; an English village hides odd goings-on; Sherlock Holmes ponders Cinderella, to astonishing effect; and an ayatollah's eyeball elicits only routine irony. Amazingly inventive – but too often inattentive or downright eccentric in the execution. Views: 8
Researcher Ruth Goldman has developed a vaccine with the potential to inoculate the world's survivors against the nanotech plague that devastated humanity. But the fractured U.S. government will stop at nothing to keep it for themselves. Views: 8
There's one test that a single woman doesn't want to come out positiveFor Pam Carver, trouble comes in the form of a home pregnancy kit. She wants her baby, but with the father completely out of the picture, she's all on her own. Then her friend and colleague Grant Gilbert makes her an incredible offer. Marriage for one year.Pam needs a father for her baby. Grant needs help with his estranged son. Marriage in name only is a good idea. But it isn't easy trying to fool your family and friends into thinking you're in love. It's even harder trying to convince your spouse that you're not in love--especially when you actually are. Views: 8
Now in paperback?the hilarious YA novel in which a starring role on a reality TV show gives fifteen-year-old Kendra Bishop the chance to swap her strict parents for a less uptight family. Views: 8
Wartime secrets threaten one woman's life in the latest thrilling drama from the author of The Gunner Girl and The English Agent. World-renowned war artist Dame Laura Knight is commissioned to paint propaganda portraits of factory girls and is sent to the ordnance factories in her hometown of Nottingham. At first she relishes the opportunity for a nostalgia trip, but when she starts work on a portrait of two particular women, Violet Smith, and her co-worker Zelah Fitzlord, memories begin to resurface that she has spent half a lifetime trying to forget. Violet is an industrial conscript, and her wages help support a sprawling family back home in Kent. But working in munitions also meant freedom from a small-town mentality, and the disappointment of a first love turned sour. For Zelah, too, working in the gun factory meant escape: her dreams of the future were dashed in the carnage of the Plymouth Blitz, and she found... Views: 8
The sexual tension between Ellie and wealthy Australian Brett Spencer is overwhelming, but Ellie is dismayed when he proposes a marriage of convenience. How can she marry a man she is so sure could never love her?At first Ellie refuses to put her heart, and that of her son, on the line. But she doesn't know how long she can resist Brett.... Views: 8
**One of PureWow's "20 Books We Can't Wait to Read in 2018" and "Books to Read in April"****One of InStyle UK's "Best New Books to Read in 2018"****One of LitHub's 20 Books You Should Read This April**A memoir of growing up on the run—and what happens when it comes to a stop."Lucid, tender, exquisitely re-imagined, and compulsively readable." —Jessica Nelson, author of If Only You People Could Follow Directions"In this wondrous and richly detailed coming of age story, Tyler Wetherall follows the breadcrumbs of her childhood to discover a family home that is unlike any other." —Katy Lederer, author of Poker FaceTyler had lived in thirteen houses and five countries by the time she was nine. A willful and curious child, she never questioned her strange upbringing, that is, until Scotland Yard showed up outside her ramshackle... Views: 8
