In this captivating debut, Christi Phillips blends fact and fiction, suspense and sensuality into a vibrant, richly imagined novel in which a modern historian uncovers a courtesan's secret role in a shocking conspiracy of seventeenth-century Venice. Claire Donovan always dreamed of visiting Venice, though not as a chaperone for a surly teenager. But she can't pass up this chance to complete her Ph.D. thesis on Alessandra Rossetti, a mysterious courtesan who wrote a secret letter to the Venetian Council warning of a Spanish plot to overthrow the Venetian Republic in 1618. Claire views Alessandra as a heroine and harbors a secret hope that her findings will elevate Alessandra to a more prominent place in history. But an arrogant Cambridge professor is set to present a paper at a prestigious Venetian university denouncing Alessandra as a co-conspirator -- a move that could destroy Claire's paper and career. As Claire races to locate the documents that will reveal the courtesan's true motives, Alessandra's story comes to life with all the sensuality, political treachery, and violence of seventeenth-century Venice. Claire also falls under the city's spell. She is courted by a handsome Italian, matches wits with her academic adversary, bonds with her troubled young charge, and, amid the boundless beauty of Venice, recaptures the joy of living every moment.... Layering wit and warmth into her portraits of two very different yet equally dynamic heroines, Christi Phillips shifts effortlessly between past and present in a remarkable novel that is at once a love story, a mystery, and an intriguing historical drama. Filled with beautifully rendered details of one of the world's oldest and most magical cities, The Rossetti Letter marks Phillips's debut as a writer of extraordinary skill and grace. From Publishers WeeklyWhen the Venetian courtesan Alessandra Rossetti wrote a letter that exposed the 1618 Spanish Conspiracy, Venice was saved. Four hundred years later in Phillips's lovingly researched half-historical, half-contemporary debut, Claire Donovan, an American graduate student, struggles to finish her dissertation on the courtesan's brave act. Claire attends a Venice conference to check out the work of British superstar historian Andrew Kent, who sees Rossetti as nothing more than the pawn of very powerful men in a diplomatic double cross: once Andrew's work is published, his ideas could derail Claire's fledgling career. Phillips, developing parallel plots, unspools Alessandra's story directly to the reader in detail denied Claire and Andrew, who overcome their initial animosity to solve the greater mystery. Academic machinations and missing manuscripts soon add complications. Further, Claire has to deal with her difficult teenage charge, Gwendolyn Fy, and with Giancarlo Baldessari, a handsome and rich admirer. Andrew has to deal with his gorgeous harridan of an Italian girlfriend—and, inevitably, his growing attraction to Claire. Such a profusion of textual plots and characters spread out over past and present recalls A.S. Byatt's Possession, but Phillips, while not aiming as high, misses her mark. Despite a nicely detailed Venice, a clear affection for the main characters and extensive period touches, Phillips's ambitious debut founders long before its predictable happy ending. (Mar.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From BooklistWith impeccable research into seventeenth-century Venetian politics, Phillips plots an intriguing literary suspense debut novel contrasted with the delightful modern romance between two rival academics. For Claire Donovan, it is critical that her thesis regarding the role of Alessandra Rossetti, a Venetian courtesan in the Spanish conspiracy to overthrow the Venetian government, be accepted as her entry into her chosen profession. On learning that an academic conference in Venice features a Cambridge professor who may refute her theories, she is desperate enough to take on the thankless task of chaperoning a troubled teen to Venice to finance her trip. Not only will a Harvard doctorate fulfill Claire's academic aspirations, it will also be her ticket out of the bad memories of a failed marriage. The parallel tale of Alessandra Rossetti gives the reader a compelling look at the mind of an intellectually curious young woman forced into the life of a courtesan because of poverty and loss of family. Moving effortlessly from the seventeenth to the twenty-first century and back, Phillips crafts an entertaining story with intrigue, espionage, and romance in both centuries. Views: 69
Praise for Rebecca Pawel: "Pawel anchors a tense and exciting story with a terrific and complex plot."--Detroit Free Press "[Pawel] turns the clock back to 1939 and Madrid's tumultuous past. . . . An intriguing juxtaposition of the political and the personal."--Kirkus Reviews "An intriguing tale amid the gloom of war-torn Madrid. It is a humane and moving portrait of a divided people coming to grips with the virtues of enemies and the villainy of friends."--Dan Fesperman Madrid 1939. Carlos Tejada Alonso y León is a Sergeant in the Guardia Civil, a rank rare for a man not yet thirty, but Tejada is an unusual recruit. The bitter civil war between the Nationalists and the Republicans has interrupted his legal studies in Salamanca. Second son of a conservative Southern family of landowners, he is an enthusiast for the Catholic Franquista cause, a dedicated, and now triumphant, Nationalist. This war has drawn... Views: 69
A new collection of stories, including some that have never before been seen, from the New York Times best-selling author of the Silo trilogy Hugh Howey is known for crafting riveting and immersive page-turners of boundless imagination, spawning millions of fans worldwide, first with his best-selling novel Wool, and then with other enthralling works such as Sand and Beacon 23. Now comes Machine Learning, an impressive collection of Howey's science fiction and fantasy short fiction, including three stories set in the world of Wool, two never-before-published tales written exclusively for this volume, and fifteen additional stories collected here for the first time. These stories explore everything from artificial intelligence to parallel universes to video games, and each story is accompanied by an author's note exploring the background and genesis of each story. Howey's incisive mind makes Machine Learning: New... Views: 69
Mason is not imaginary.He's not a ghost, either.And he's most definitely not a hallucination.Mason is an Aerling, and the Sentinels' number one target.Separated to keep each other safe and alive until Mason's eighteenth birthday when Olivia is expected to guide him back to the world of the Aerlings, neither one was prepared to be stripped of their best friend, of the person they love most. The pain being away from each other causes is the least of their worries, though, as the Sentinels intensify their search for Mason and bring the threat of danger to a whole new level. Views: 69
For seventeen years, Marina Roeswood had lived in the care of close friends of her wealthy, aristocratic parents. As the ward of bohemian artists in turn-of-the-century England, she had grown to be a free thinker in an environment of fertile creativity and cultural sophistication. But the real core of her education was far outside societal norms. For she and her foster parents were Elemental Masters of magic, and learning to control her growing powers was Marina's primary focus. But though Marina's life seemed idyllic, her existence was riddled with mysteries. Why had she never seen her parents, or been to Oakhurst, her family's ancestral manor? And why hadn't her real parents trained her themselves? Marina could get no clues out of her guardians. But with the sudden death of her birth parents, Marina met her new guardian—her father's eldest sister Arachne. Aunt Arachne exuded a dark magical aura unlike anything Marina had encountered, a stifling evil that seemed to threaten Marina's very spirit. Slowly Marina realized that her aunt was the embodiment of the danger her parents had been hiding her from in the depths of the country. But could Marina unravel the secrets of her life in time to save herself? Views: 69
Product DescriptionA new and powerful crime alliance holds Los Angeles in a grip of terror. Anyone who opposes them suffers a horrible fate…but not by human hands. Bizarre accidents, sudden illnesses, inexplicable and gruesome deaths, all eliminate the alliance’s enemies and render the crime bosses unstoppable. Every deadly step of the way, their constant companions are four mysterious women, four shadowy figures who wield more power than the crime bosses could ever dream of. But at the heart of the nightmare lies the final puzzle, the secret of…The 5th Witch Views: 69
I don’t see how a relationship with a rockstar can work, but Donovan doesn’t give me a chance to push him away, even though I try. Before I know what hits me, my life takes a turn for the worst and I find out that he may be hiding a secret. When my health becomes something I can no longer ignore, will he stay by my side, or pack his things to go on to the next stop in his road to stardom? Views: 69
Newly transplanted Seattle resident Martin Benson is on a sight-seeing tour of museums and the Space Needle when he meets handsome, heavily tattooed Chase Reed. They hit it off, and Chase offers to show Marty his Seattle: grunge rock and good times. The men are total opposites, with only one thing in common -- an intense attraction to each other, which culminates in a weekend of white hot passion. Desperate to hang on to the new relationship, Martin attempts to change wild and crazy Chase into someone more responsible. Will he be able to give Chase the space he needs, and somehow strike a balance? Views: 69
