In the tradition of It's a Wonderful Life and John Grisham's Skipping Christmas... Newspaper reporter Ben Raines is a full-fledged cynic trying to bypass what he feels is the least wonderful time of the year-Christmas. But his plan to escape on a dream vacation overseas is foiled when the boss assigns him to write the annual front-page holiday story. With a humbug twist, Ben chooses to investigate a World War II legend involving his own father that will expose the fallacies of religion and everything related to December 25th. Willy Raines fought in the Battle of the Bulge at Bastogne during Christmas 1944 and-to Ben's embarrassment-believes a real angel saved the lives of every man in the 101st Airborne unit. Some angel that was. Life was never easy for Willy after the war, and he was far from heroic in his son's eyes. Ben sets out to find other veterans who witnessed the angel of Bastogne, sure to return empty-handed. Instead, he comes home with a heart that is overflowing.About the AuthorGilbert Morris is among today's most popular Christian writers, his books having sold nearly six million copies worldwide. A former pastor and English professor, he specializes in historical fiction and won a 2001 Christy Award for the Civil War drama Edge of Honor. Morris lives with his wife in Gulf Shores, Alabama. Views: 24
A moving and utterly extraordinary debut novel about love and loss and the unforeseeable darkness that lurks around the corners of everyday life Respected professor and noted author Jack Owens brought his son, Danny, to Gilbert, Indiana, to escape a past and a betrayal too painful to endure elsewhere. In this quiet midwestern college town Jack believed they'd be safe to start over -- and for ten years, it appeared to be so. But on an ordinary-seeming day at the end of a semester everything changed in an instant -- a moment transformed by tragedy into the bitter realization of a parent's worst nightmare. The world Jack thought he knew and the future he had anticipated for himself and his boy has abruptly come apart at the seams, leaving him broken and haunted by the twin, life-shattering questions Why? and What next? Redemption, however, could come with the arrival of an unexpected new friend -- a local detective tormented by his own personal demons -- whose world-weary sympathy and prescient understanding slowly help Jack to cope with the unacceptable. But with healing comes clarity -- and secrets best left unrevealed by the stark, glaring light of reality. For Jack Owens, the toughest road back to life winds through inhospitable country, where memory taunts and misleads ... and the shocking truth about what drove one exceptional teenager to commit an unthinkable and irreversible act hides in the shadows. Author Jamie M. Saul's Light of Day is a brilliant, powerful, and illuminating masterwork of literary art -- a story that shines with lyrical, tragic beauty that will long linger in the mind and the heart, immediately elevating its creator into the upper ranks ofcontemporary American novelists. Views: 24
In separate locations in Leek, Staffordshire, three separate tableaux
are being performed. DI Joanna Piercy is writing to her lover Matthew to
try and explain recent events; her sikekick Mike Korpanski is filling
in his insurance form after his wife has had a minor accident in the
car; and an unknown person is penning love letters to a local doctor. It
seems that no one could lead a more mundane life than Beatrice
Pennington, a woman who joins Joanna's cycling club, anxious to regain
her figure by dieting and keeping fit. Unexciting; mid-forties; married;
a part-time librarian; grown-up kids; her life appears unremarkable.
But weeks later a drama unfolds around her. A month after Beatrice
begins her quest for health and glamour her distraught husband arrives
at the police station to report her missing. At first Joanna
assumes Beatrice has decamped with another man. Evidence certainly seems
to point this way. But as Joanna begins to peel back the layers of
Beatrice's seemingly uneventful life she begins to realise: Beatrice was
no ordinary woman. Views: 24
Emily and husband Colin have come to the French Riviera for what should be a joyous occasion - the engagement party of her lifelong friend Jeremy, Duke of Bainbridge, and Amity Wells, an American heiress. But the merrymaking is cut short with the shocking death of one of the party in an apparent suicide. Not convinced by the coroner's verdict, Emily must employ all of her investigative skills to discover the truth and avert another tragedy. Views: 24
A collection drawing from the many areas of Mary Anne Mohanraj's work, Silence and the Word includes everything from enticing erotica to Sri Lankan-American immigrant tales, from romantic poetry to provocative essays, like "Esthely Blue" (a magical-realist semi-autobiographical story of sex, work, and disappearing body parts) Views: 24
Ros falls instantly in love with the beautiful black and white pony that she discovers tethered in a field near her home. She has always longed for a pony of her own. If only he belonged to her . . .But Badger (as Ros and her friend, Leo, name the pony) belongs to someone else, and Ros watches with mounting horror as she sees the way his real owners treat him. At first it is just neglect, but worse is to come and, as the long cold winter nights draw in, Ros knows that she can no longer bear to stand by and see the once-beautiful pony suffer. Together with Leo she hatches a desperate plan - a plan to rescue poor Badger . . .A heartwarming and dramatic tale from award-winning author K. M. Peyton. Views: 24
A delicious, sexy, laugh-out-loud modern romance about a newly single woman and her journey to find love again, from New York Times bestselling author Alice Clayton and debut author Nina Bocci.Avery Bardot steps off the plane in Rome, looking for a fresh start. She's left behind a soon-to-be ex-husband in Boston and plans to spend the summer with her best friend Daisy, licking her wounds—and perhaps a gelato or two. But when her American-expat friend throws her a welcome party on her first night, Avery's thrown for a loop when she sees a man she never thought she'd see again: Italian architect Marcello Bianchi. Marcello was the man—the one who got away. And now her past is colliding with her present, a present where she should be mourning the loss of her marriage and—hey, that fettuccine is delicious! And so is Marcello... Slipping easily into the good life of summertime in Rome, Avery spends her days exploring a city that makes... Views: 24
A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice A Rocky Mountain News Best Book of the Year Finalist for the Story PrizeAt once expertly crafted and undeniably moving, these ten stories deftly explore our immutable connection with nature. The centerpiece of the collection is the arresting title story, in which a woman alone in her mountain cabin confronts a terminal illness. In the equally remarkable Her First Elk," the same character recalls her most memorable and significant hunting experience. Set in locations ranging from Montana to Texas to Mississippi, the remaining stories further illuminate the consequences of our attitudes toward the environment and each other. This masterly collection lays bare the essentials of life with unparalleled passion and grace.. Views: 24
Mahmoud Darwish was the Palestinian national poet. One of the greatest poets of the last half-century, his work evokes the loss of his homeland and is suffused with the pain of dispossession, exile and loss. His poems also display a brilliant acuity, a passion for and openness to the world and, above all, a deep and abiding humanity. Here, his close friends John Berger and Rema Hammami present a beautiful new translation of two of Darwish’s later works, his long masterpiece “Mural,” a contemplation of his life and work written following life-threatening surgery, and his last poem, “The Dice Player,” which Darwish read in Ramallah a month before his death. Illustrated with original drawings by John Berger, Mural is a testimony to one of the most important and powerful poets of our age. Views: 24
RECRUITED: A crack team of cover agents. Word is out to ex-Marine sniper Charlie Dean and his team of the National Security Agency: Infiltrate the highest stratum of Peruvian political power and derail a renegade general from acing an election. All Dean has to do is find a way inside an impenetrable bank vault protected by armed guards round the clock — it’s all in a day’s work for the men and women of Deep Black.
ENGAGED: A violent political coup. But things get complicated when Dean and company discover the renegade general’s second plot. The military madman’s ruse — a nuclear weapon he claims is in the hands of Marxist guerillas, a bomb that only he can rescue…and control.
IGNITED: A devastating terrorist plot. When the general and his plot are exposed, the NSA concludes the greatest threat is over. But in fact, it’s only just beginning… Views: 24
