An unemployed young man is invited to his lover's wedding and decides to gift her a bottle of his own blood. Rumours of a great big flood or the end of days or a rebellion of refugees in Calcutta fly through the country. Haran majhi's starved widow's corpse floats down rivers and swamps and drains as the nation awaits eagerly the unveiling of the golden Gandhi statue from America. The early stories of Subimal Misra took the Bengali literary world by storm upon their publication in the late 1960s. Distinct from the conventional modes of storytelling that preceded him, Misra's pieces are more anti-stories than stories, a montage of images that flow into each other and tell a tale with greater power and urgency than narrative fiction. Every story hits hard, gripping the reader with intensity and an underlying fantastical horror that is firmly rooted in reality. V. Ramaswamy's exceptional translation brings to the fore the contemporaneity of Misra's work while retaining the verve and... Views: 107
Ellis Hock never believed that he would return to Africa. He runs an old-fashioned menswear store in a small town in Massachusetts but still dreams of his Eden, the four years he spent in Malawi with the Peace Corps, cut short when he had to return to take over the family business. When his wife leaves him, and he is on his own, he realizes that there is one place for him to go: back to his village in Malawi, on the remote Lower River, where he can be happy again.Arriving at the dusty village, he finds it transformed: the school he built is a ruin, the church and clinic are gone, and poverty and apathy have set in among the people. They remember him—the White Man with no fear of snakes—and welcome him. But is his new life, his journey back, an escape or a trap?Interweaving memory and desire, hope and despair, salvation and damnation, this is a hypnotic, compelling, and brilliant return to a terrain about which no one has ever written better than Theroux.Review"What we have finally is a relentless tale of suspense adroitly presented. Theroux’s practiced hand in the matter of dialogue and scene-making is strongly in evidence. No one will nod off reading The Lower River...It’s a particular kind of frightening fun to watch evil flexing and spreading its leathery wings, and really feel it. The Lower River gives the reader just that." -- The New York Review of Books " ‘The Lower River’ is riveting in its storytelling and provocative in its depiction of this African backwater, infusing both with undertones of slavery and cannibalism, savagery and disease. Theroux exposes paternalism in Hock’s Peace Corps nostalgia, his ‘sense of responsibility, almost a conceit of ownership.’ That sense of responsibility, and Hock’s modest contribution to the welfare of a people he was once genuinely fond of, has been replaced by a harsher mode of operation, run by coldhearted contractors living apart in impregnable compounds. ‘I have to leave,’ Hock pleads. ‘I’m going home.’ To which the village headman replies, with chilling menace, ‘This is your home, father.’ " -- New York Times Book Review"In this hypnotically compelling fiction, [Theroux] wrestles with questions of good intentions and harsh reality...A gripping and vital novel that reads like Conrad or Greene—in short, a classic." -- Booklist, starred"Theroux successfully grafts keen observations about the efficacy of international aid and the nature of nostalgia to a swift-moving narrative through a beautifully described landscape." -- PW, starred"Extraordinary...The suspense is enriched by Theroux’s loving attention to local customs and his subversive insights...Theroux has recaptured the sweep and density of his 1981 masterpiece The Mosquito Coast. That’s some achievement." -- Kirkus, starred"Theroux's latest can be read as straight-up suspense, but those unafraid of following him into the heart of darkness will be rewarded with much to discuss in this angry, ironic depiction of misguided philanthropy in a country dense with natural resources yet unable to feed its people." -- Library JournalAbout the AuthorPAUL THEROUX is the author of many highly acclaimed books. His novels include The Lower River and The Mosquito Coast, and his renowned travel books include Ghost Train to the Eastern Star and Dark Star Safari. He lives in Hawaii and on Cape Cod. Views: 107
[Ménage Amour ManLove: Erotic Alternative Paranormal Ménage a Quatre Romance, M/M/M/M, werewolves, sex toys, HEA] Life isn’t easy, and Dewey knows that better than most. After living with a pack who used him as a toy and sex slave for two years, he finds hope when the Omega Network is created. But he has one condition… He’s already in love, and he won’t leave Taggart. Taggart wants what’s best for Dewey and has suffered plenty for him. A dire wolf in a gray wolf pack, the Alpha has been drugging him with wolfsbane for years to keep him weak. When the Council steps in and gives them sanctuary in Denver with Tristan and his men, the abuse stops, but difficult decisions follow. Percy and Azyle, the Betas from the closest dire pack, show up unexpectedly to see if Taggart and Dewey will fill the void in their inner circle. Can Taggart recover after being drugged for years, and will Dewey ever truly accept the Betas? Views: 107
Set in the untamed landscape of mid-nineteenth century Australia, The Dreaming is a rich and potent tale of hidden passion and broken taboo.Australia, 1871—Following her mother's sudden death, Joanna Drury sets sail from India and arrives in Melbourne to claim the property left to her by her mother—and to trace the mysteries of her family's past.From her first steps on shore, Joanna becomes entangled with a lost boy who leads her to the fascinating Hugh Westbrook. She agrees to look after the child in exchange for Hugh's help in finding her inheritance. But she falls deeply in love with Hugh and with life at his sheep station, Merinda.When strange nightmares begin to plague her—the same that tormented her mother—Joanna starts to notice the Aborigines' strange reaction to her. Delving into Australia's past, she discovers the tragic events that have marked her family's destiny and her own life, events that happened long ago in the time the Aborigines call “the Dreaming.”Full of intriguing historical detail, Wood's compelling story brings the clash of immigrant and Aboriginal cultures to stunning life, capturing the danger, mystery, and romance of an emerging country. Views: 107
With an essay by Lyn Pykett.'But what added most to the grotesque expression of his face, was a ghastly smile, which, appearing to be the mere result of habit and to have no connexion with any mirthful or complacent feeling, constantly revealed the few discoloured fangs that were yet scattered in his mouth, and gave him the aspect of a panting dog'The tale of Little Nell gripped the nation when it first appeared in 1841. Described as a 'tragedy of sorrows', the story tells of Nell uprooted from a secure and innocent childhood and cast into a world where evil takes many shapes, the most fascinating of which is the stunted, lecherous Quilp. Blending realism with non-realistic genres such as fairy-tale, allegory, and pastoral, the tale of Nell's tragedy contains some of Dickens most memorable comic and grotesque creations, including the dwarf Daniel Quilp, Dick Swiveller and Kit Nubbles.The Penguin English Library - 100 editions of the best fiction in English,... Views: 107
Although highly regarded as a writer of fiction, nonfiction, and drama, N. Scott Momaday considers himself primarily a poet. This first book of his poems to be published in over a decade, Again the Far Morning comprises a varied selection of new work along with the best from his four earlier books of poems: Angle of Geese (1974), The Gourd Dancer (1976), In the Presence of the Sun (1992), and In the Bear's House (1999).To read Momaday's poems from the last forty years is to understand that his focus on Kiowa traditions and other American Indian myths is further evidence of his spectacular formal accomplishments. His early syllabic verse, his sonnets, and his mastery of iambic pentameter are echoed in more recent work, and prose poetry has been part of his oeuvre from the beginning. The new work includes the elegies and meditations on mortality that we expect from a writer whose career has been as long as Momaday's, but it also includes light... Views: 107
Ellie’s sweet sixteen is a summer of firsts. First car. First kiss. First boyfriend. First serial-killing stalker?Hockey-obsessed
tomboy Eleanor Westley has never been the object of a guy’s affection
before. So when the hottest boy she’s ever seen moves in across the
street and starts treating her like she’s the center of his universe,
naturally she’s going to be a little skeptical. But everything starts to
make sense when girls who look just like Ellie start dying all around
the city. Obviously the new guy is the killer, and of course he only
likes her because he wants to slice her into tiny pieces. Right?The
more Ellie gets to know Seth the more she’s convinced he’s a
psychopathic killer. The problem is he’s the sweetest psychopathic
killer she’s ever met. Not to mention he’s brutally hot. No matter how
hard she tries, she can’t help but fall for him. Will Ellie find true
love, or will her summer of firsts turn out to be a summer of lasts? Views: 106
Travel writer Lea Sutter finds herself on a small island off the coast of South Carolina, the wrong place at the wrong time. A merciless, unanticipated hurricane cuts a path of destruction through the island and Lea barely escapes with her life.In the storm’s aftermath, she discovers two orphaned boys—twins. Filled with a desire to do something to help, to make something good of all she witnessed, Lea impulsively decides to adopt them. The boys, Samuel and Daniel, seem amiable and immensely grateful; Lea’s family back on Long Island—husband Mark, a child psychologist, and their two children, Ira and Elena—aren’t quite so pleased. But even they can’t anticipate the twins’ true nature—or predict that, within a few weeks’ time, Mark will wind up implicated in two brutal murders, with the police narrowing in. For the millions of readers who grew up on Goosebumps, and for every fan of deviously inventive horror, this is a must-read from a beloved master of the genre. Views: 106
