Twelve-year-old Traci Winchell is a gifted gymnast, but lately she's been having trouble -- so much trouble that her coach warns her she may need to drop out or else risk serious injury. Traci wants to find something to fill the void left by gymnastics, but is diving for her? Views: 22
"The collection consistently does what the oeuvre does best: communicate intense emotion with force, give life to characters that struggle with their circumstances, illuminate the universal through the specific and the particular, and turn the commonplace into art." Globe and Mail "[The anthology] amuses, astonishes, and enlightens; it is a delicious cacophony of voices and engaging stories . . ."Books in Canada The Journey Prize Stories is Canada's most celebrated annual fiction anthology, presenting the best stories published each year by some of our most exciting up-and-coming writers. Among the stories this year: Desperate to reinvent himself, a disgraced diplomat on what will be the last assignment of his career goes in search of a woman from his past in Eastern Croatia. As a teacher begins to unravel in the aftermath of a school shooting, a series of surprising encounters with her former students reveals their differing... Views: 22
The Duke of Rochester marries Lady Isobel Drummond in order to obtain an heir. She marries him to save her family from financial ruin but also because she's fallen in love with the dissolute duke. Alexander, Lord Bentley, realises how much he loves his wife after he has driven her away by his objectionable behaviour. Can he convince Isobel he is a changed man? Can Isobel forgive the man she once loved? Views: 22
Human-like, but not human, the nara ruled Tanyrin for centuries. The most feared among them were their naragi, sorcerers whose power was all but invincible. Not until the coming of Arami Lothlain, King of Tanyrin and Blessed of Loth, did the rein of the nara come to a bloody end. For four hundred years afterwards, the land was at peace. Stefn Eldering was the youngest son of the Earl of Shia, the last in a long, proud line of demon hunters. He was also a sin-catcher, living proof of God's displeasure, the shame of his existence atonement for the sins of his ancestors. Michael Arranz was the son of a duke and one of the despised h'naran, half-bloods cursed with the blood of the nara running through their veins. Of all the h'nara, his family alone was immune from the persecution of the powerful Church of Loth, protected by an ancient covenant. In ordinary times, the paths of Michael and Stefn would never have crossed. Alas, times were no longer ordinary. The latest of the Lothlain kings was a weakling, unable to curb the ambitions of an increasingly powerful, corrupt clergy. Famine stalked the land. Fear of the h'nara, fanned by the Church, spread tentacles everywhere. Tanyrin teetered on the edge of chaos.A loyal and devoted friend to Tanyrin's crown prince, Michael could refuse Severyn Lothlain nothing, not even when Severyn asked the unspeakable of him. Determined to wrest the throne from his brother, Severyn intended nothing less than the resurrection of the ancient naragi. Michael, whose naran blood was the purest in Tanyrin, was the logical choice. But for Michael become what mankind feared most, he needed a conduit through which to take the powerful, dangerous magic of the Dark Stream. He needed a man who carried the ancient blood of the cethera.He needed Stefn Eldering. Views: 22
Veronica Severance feels cut off from the world. Forced to move from the city to rural Oregon with her parents, she is haunted by loneliness and by the chilling sounds of the Santiam, the river that runs through her backyard. Through the fog of isolation, Ronnie finds herself becoming close with Karen, a young girl who she babysits. But when she discovers Karen's body on the banks of the Santiam, the victim of a supposed accident, Ronnie feels compelled to uncover the truth. As she becomes increasingly obsessed with solving Karen's death, Ronnie is led deeper and deeper into the woods surrounding the river and to the dark secret hidden within its midst. The River is a darkly atmospheric story of murder, isolation, obsession and dark secrets that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very last page. Views: 22
Old ghosts of different kinds come back to haunt Fix, in the fourth gripping Felix Castor novel. Names and faces he thought he'd left behind in Liverpool resurface in London, bringing Castor far more trouble than he'd anticipated. Childhood memories, family traumas, sins old and new, and a council estate that was meant to be a modern utopia until it turned into something like hell ...these are just some of the sticks life uses to beat Felix Castor with as things go from bad to worse for London's favourite freelance exorcist. See, Castor's stepped over the line this time, and he knows he'll have to pay; the only question is: how much? Not the best of times, then, for an unwelcome confrontation with his holier-than-thou brother, Matthew. And just when he thinks things can't possibly get any worse, along comes Father Gwillam and the Anathemata. Oh joy ... Views: 22
Illuminations contains the most celebrated work of Walter Benjamin, one of the most original and influential thinkers of the 20th Century: 'The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction', 'The Task of the Translator' and 'Theses on the Philosophy of History', as well as essays on Kafka, storytelling, Baudelaire, Brecht's epic theatre, Proust and an anatomy of his own obsession, book collecting.This now legendary volume offers the best possible access to Benjamin's singular and significant achievement, while Hannah Arendt's introduction reveals how his life and work are a prism to his times. Views: 22
It has the same rather breathless progress round Europe as the other three books, in this case Geneva, Evian, Cannes, Turin, and various towns in Alpine France (see pictures below), and one gets the sense by the end that Canning was ready to ditch his hero and move on to more interesting subjects. Carver is asked to recover a lost car by millionaire Cavan O'Dowda. It soon becomes clear that what O'Dowda wants is not the car but some secret materials hidden in it. The villains include agents of African politicians and, given the rather thin characterisation, it is difficult for the author to keep all traces of racism out of the book. There is no mention of the secret service mandarins Manston and Sutcliffe, though the French agent, Aristide de la Dole, now working for Interpol, reappears from Doubled in Diamonds . Carver himself behaves with unmotivated recklessness, and in the end it is hard to retain much admiration or sympathy for him. Indeed he behaves just like the idiotic heroes that Canning satirised in his essay "The trouble with heroes" in Suspense , August 1960. Views: 22
