The extraordinary story of an all-American girl’s conversion to Islam and her ensuing romance with a young Egyptian man, The Butterfly Mosque is a stunning articulation of a Westerner embracing the Muslim world.When G. Willow Wilsonalready an accomplished writer on modern religion and the Middle East at just twenty-sevenleaves her atheist parents in Denver to study at Boston University, she enrolls in an Islamic Studies course that leads to her shocking conversion to Islam and sends her on a fated journey across continents and into an uncertain future.She settles in Cairo where she teaches English and submerges herself in a culture based on her adopted religion. And then she meets Omar, a passionate young man with a mild resentment of the Western influences in his homeland. They fall in love, entering into a daring relationship that calls into question the very nature of family, belief, and tradition. Torn between the secular West and... Views: 44
AN EARL WHO CAN'T BE BRIBED Gayle Windham, Earl of Westhaven, is the first legitimate son and heir to the Duke of Moreland. To escape his father's inexorable pressure to marry, he decides to spend the summer at his townhouse in London, where he finds himself intrigued by the secretive ways of his beautiful housekeeper... A LADY WHO CAN'T BE PROTECTED ... Anna Seaton is a beautiful, talented, educated woman, which is why it is so puzzling to Gayle Windham that she works as his housekeeper. As the two draw closer and begin to lose their hearts to each other, Anna's secrets threaten to bring the earl's orderly life crashing down - and he doesn't know how he's going to protect her from the fallout... Views: 44
Meet Marcus Donovan; astronomer, day dreamer, and smart ass. He was just another researcher in a jumpsuit until he saw something that didn't fit. At the time, it was nothing but a blip on a sensor read-out, an asteroid that wasn't an asteroid, but it became his obsession. He named it Zebra-1, and now he's hurtling through the solar system on a mission to see it in person. Meanwhile, the Earth has its own visitors. Seven massive vessels appear out of nowhere and rain hell down from orbit, reducing civilization to a pile of ashes and rubble. Our world is conquered before anyone even knows we're under attack. Enter Jack Hernandez, a search & rescue specialist and true blue everyday hero. After crash-landing in the wasted ruins of China, he links up with the scattered resistance and begins to fight back. Having witnessed the invader's arrival first hand, he's willing to do whatever it takes to make them pay in blood. Neither Jack nor Marcus ever could have predicted it, but humanity's future now depends on them both. One will be bonded to an ancient warship and asked to lead, while the other is imprisoned, tortured and forced to submit; before it's over, they'll each face challenges beyond imagination in a savage war as old as time. When the stars rain down from the sky, who will rise up to meet them? Read a free sample today! Views: 44
It was his third visit to the gloomy house on Orchard Drive. Each time, he parked in the same place. Each time, he carried a briefcase. And each time, Louise North greeted him at the door. Susan Townsend was the only resident with no interest in the affair going on next door, or in the neighbourhood gossip about it. Yet it was Susan who found the murdered bodies of the lovers, locked not in passion, but in death. And it was Susan whose own life would be imperilled by a monstrous crime far beyond the imaginings of the vilest gossiping tongues. A classic Rendellian murder mystery. Views: 44
Just after 'Bring Up the Bodies' author Hilary Mantel won the Man Booker for 'Wolf Hall', she fell gravely ill. This is her remarkable hospital diary. Originally published in the London Review of Books, this diary by the acclaimed author Hilary Mantel explores in forensic detail her loss of dignity, her determination, the concentration of the senses into an animalistic struggle to get through, and the attendant hallucinations she was plagued by during her stay in hospital. With her health now improved, and the acknowledgement of the Man Booker prize-winning follow-up to 'Wolf Hall', 'Bring Up the Bodies' as one of our greatest works of fiction, 'Ink in the Blood' remains a significant testament to the traumas of illness, and one of the most incredible and haunting essays published in a very long time. Views: 44
Some bad ideas go back a long way and this one goes all the way back to the original home planet: Someone's god told them they had a right to more territory--so they figure they can take what they want by divine right. In the far future among the colonized worlds of the galaxy there's a war going on between the majority of civilized worlds and a colonial theocracy.Trystin Desoll grows up fighting against religious fanatics and becomes a hero, a first-class pilot, then, amazingly, a spy.What do you do if you're a relatively humane soldier fighting millions of suicidal volunteers on the other side who know that they are utterly right and you are utterly wrong, with no middle ground?Trystin Desoll has an idea.** Views: 44
It’s the height of the tourist season in Rome, and security is tight as world leaders gather for a G8 summit. While politicians bicker behind the walls of the illustrious Palazzo del Quirinale, a terrible threat is lurking outside — a threat that’s been dormant for a long time but is now very much awake. In David Hewson’s powerful new thriller, Detective Nic Costa and the men and women of the Questura must work in secret to thwart a conspiracy that reaches higher than any of them could have imagined. In the early hours of a sultry summer evening, a government car comes under fire along the narrow Via delle Quattro Fontane. When the shots die away, one person lies dead and another — Ministry of Interior official Giovanni Batisti — has been abducted. The terrible fate of the missing bureaucrat is soon revealed — leaving all of Italy in shock. Who would do such a thing? And why? All signs point to a mysterious terrorist group that calls itself the Blue Demon, an organization whose last campaign of violence ended two decades ago. For Detective Nic Costa, solving this case is an all-consuming obsession. But as he and his team begin their investigation, they find themselves reduced to expensive bodyguards — and their hands tied with red tape — until tragedy strikes and claims one of their own. Hampered at every turn by the Ministry of Interior’s meddling security chief and a cagey and powerful prime minister, Costa and the members of his team are determined to pursue their quest for justice. As one terror attack after another sends the Eternal City spiraling into panic, Nic Costa vows that nothing will stop him from catching a vengeful madman bent on tearing apart his city, its people, and its very history. Originally published as Blue Demon . London: Macmillan, 2009. Views: 44
How can she love the king of kings without forsaking her Lord of
lords?Kasia grew up in a poor Jewish home with more siblings than
luxuries. But when a chance encounter forces her to the palace of
Xerxes, she becomes a concubine to the richest man in the world. She
alone, of all Xerxes' wives, loves the man beneath the crown. She alone,
of all his wives, holds the heart of the king of kings.Traveling with
Xerxes through Europe as he mounts a war against Greece, Kasia knows
enemies surround her, but they're not the Spartans or Athenians. The
threat lies with those close to the king who hate her people. She
determines to put her trust in Jehovah–even if it costs her her
marriage.Years of prayers are answered when Kasia's childhood friend
arrives at the palace after the war, but even as she determines to see
Esther crowned in place of the bloodthirsty former queen, she knows the
true battle is far from over. How far will her enemies go to see her
undone?Combining the biblical account of Esther with Herodotus's
Histories, Jewel of Persia is the story of a love that nearly destroys
an empire . . . and the friendship that saves a nation. Views: 44
The year is 1199, and King Richard the Lionheart is dead, leaving his brother John to inherit both his French and English lands. Young Isabelle of Angoulême is betrothed to the son of her father's enemy, Hugh de Lusignan, and taken to his castle to be educated, where she is initiated into the 'Old Religion'. Isabelle is then told that she is to be married not to Hugh de Lusignan but to King John of England, in a complex and treacherous plot to gain the English succession.The Lusignans envisage an empire ruled by their young puppet queen, which will eventually oust Christianity and restore the Old Religion to Europe. But when Isabelle takes matters into her own hands, passions will rage and dynastic fortunes will rise and fall.Set against the vivid backdrop of the great political struggles of medieval Europe, The Stolen Queen will delight lovers of intrigue and adventure. Views: 44
