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William Manchester met Winston Churchill on January 24, 1953. Their encounter on the Queen Mary sparked an intense curiosity in Manchester that would eventually result in his classic three-volume magnum opus The Last Lion. In this, the first volume, we follow Churchill from his birth to 1932, when he began to warn against the remilitarization of Germany. Born of a lovely, wanton American mother and a gifted but unstable son of a duke, his childhood was one of wretched neglect. He sought glory on the battlefields of Cuba, Sudan, India, South Africa and the trenches of France. In Parliament he was the prime force behind the creation of Iraq and Jordan, laid the groundwork for the birth of Israel, and negotiated the independence of the Irish Free State. Yet, as Chancellor of the Exchequer he plunged England into economic crisis, and his fruitless attempt to suppress Gandhi's quest for Indian independence brought political chaos to... Views: 114
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. Views: 113
I had been dreading this day for more than a year. Everyone's favorite Idiot Girl, Laurie Notaro, is very close to wearing out her welcome in her hometown of Eugene, Oregon. Just a year ago, she was eighty-sixed from the local satellite post office for buying too many two-cent stamps ("The post office lady looked at me like I had just asked her if she wanted to buy my sex tape"). Now Notaro, needing to send an important care package to her nephew, returns to the scene of the non-crime--which is located inside a drugstore that is stocked with everything from Hello Kitty trinkets to fake poo to "the largest collection of aging candy on the West Coast." Will the post office lady who banned her the first time around kick her to the curb, or will Laurie use her Idiot Girl wiles to work her way back into the Mean Lady's good graces? In this hilarious story, New York Times bestselling author Laurie Notaro's signature pluck and... Views: 113
Amazon.com ReviewMultiple time-lines and alternate branching destinies are more often associated with science fiction than horror, but in this first novel by an African-American woman, a man who has cheated death finds that his ability to walk through doorways in time brings dark forces into his life. Due employs a lucid, almost stately, prose style to evoke an escalating sense of menace toward a middle-class American family with connections to Ghana. Dreams? Madness? Ghosts? A racist killer? What is happening to these people? From Publishers WeeklyAlthough set largely in the black and Hispanic communities of Florida's Dade County, Due's first novel, a skillful blend of horror and the supernatural, poses questions about life and identity that transcend racial boundaries. Thirty years after he was saved from drowning by the beloved grandmother who died in his place, Hilton James has built a secure middle-class life for his African American family and saved a few lives himself through his social work in Miami's inner city. His comfortable existence is shattered when his wife, a judge, begins receiving racist death threats and he starts having nightmares of alternate life experiences so authentic that they begin to loosen his grip on reality. Is Hilton a latent schizophrenic, as his therapist thinks? Or are the dreams and death threats both signs of a cosmic scheme in which Hilton is meant to accept the death that he eluded before? The mystical explanation Due posits for Hilton's predicament, involving "travelers," or persons who unconsciously use dreams as "doorways" to elude fate and live in "the between" world, is not nearly as disturbing as her depiction of Hilton's gradual decline from caring husband and father to a man who lashes out in frustration against those he loves. Her sympathetic and credible portrait of Hilton as a man discomposed by his encounter with the unknown compensates for the novel's underdeveloped supporting cast. Due also subtly suggests the horrifying thought that pervades the story but is left tactfully unspoken: if each of us creates our own reality, then ultimately we are all alone in the world. $25,000 ad/ promo; author tour. U.K. and translation rights, HarperCollins; other rights, Marie Brown Associates. Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. Views: 112
From the author of the critically acclaimed New York Times bestselling Archie Sheridan/Gretchen Lowell thrillers: The first in a nail-biting new series featuring Kick Lannigan, a young woman whose complicated past has given her a very special skill set. Famously kidnapped at age six, Kick captured America’s hearts when she was rescued five years later. Now, twenty-one, she finds herself unexpectedly entangled in a missing child case that will put her talents to the test. Trained as a marksman, lock picker, escape artist and bomb maker by her abductor, Kick could not return to the life of the average young girl after her release. So, in lieu of therapy, she mastered martial arts, boxing, and knife throwing; learned how to escape from the trunk of a car, jimmy a pair of handcuffs, and walk without making a sound—all before she was thirteen. Kick has trained herself to be safe. But then two children go missing in three weeks, and an enigmatic and wealthy former weapons dealer approaches her with a proposition. John Bishop uses his fortune and contacts to track down missing children. Not only is he convinced Kick can help recover the two children—he won’t take no for an answer. With lives hanging in the balance, Kick is set to be the crusader she has always imagined herself. Little does she know that the answers she and Bishop seek are hidden in one of the few places she doesn’t want to navigate—the dark corners of her own mind. A heart-stopping, entertaining thrill ride, One Kick announces the arrival of a blistering new series by a stunning talent in the thriller realm.** Views: 111
The moving sequel to the Newbery Honor book, The Upstairs Room. After years of hiding from the Nazis during World War II, Annie is told the war is over and she must return home. Despite all odds she has survived the war, but can she save her family from being ripped apart when she returns back to her war-ravaged town. In this fascinating autobiographical account, Johanna Reiss shows us that sometimes real courage isn't displayed in battle, it's displayed by a thirteen-year old learning to survive in the aftermath of war. Views: 111
Wayward backbencher Tom Goodfellowe makes his third appearance in the new novel of treachery at the highest levels from the bestselling author of House of Cards. Colonel Peter Amadeus is an old soldier with a grievance. He wants an apology from the Prime Minister. But this Prime Minister does not believe in apologizing for anything. For Amadeus it becomes a matter of honour – and retribution. Soon London is a city under siege, its lifelines cut. Then comes his ultimatum: the Prime Minister must resign – or London will be destroyed. Only one man stands between the capital and disaster – Tom Goodfellowe, a backbench MP who can't even sort out his own life, let alone save the lives of others. He is a man torn between ambition, honour and love – with the fate of London slipping swiftly through his fingers. Views: 110
This is the brooding love story on the themes of music, deafness and nationality, set in London, Vienna and Venice, and is the first novel by Vikram Seth since his 'A Suitable Boy'. Views: 110
Spanning the years of 1940-1965, THE LAST LION picks up shortly after Winston Churchill became Prime Minister-when his tiny island nation stood alone against the overwhelming might of Nazi Germany. The Churchill conjured up by William Manchester and Paul Reid is a man of indomitable courage, lightning fast intellect, and an irresistible will to action. THE LAST LION brilliantly recounts how Churchill organized his nation's military response and defense; compelled FDR into supporting America's beleaguered cousins, and personified the "never surrender" ethos that helped the Allies win the war, while at the same time adapting himself and his country to the inevitable shift of world power from the British Empire to the United States. More than twenty years in the making, THE LAST LION presents a revelatory and unparalleled portrait of this brilliant, flawed, and dynamic leader. This is popular history at its most stirring. Views: 110
From Arthur C Clarke award-winning author Lauren Beukes comes an unsettling yet compulsive new thriller. Broken city, broken dreams ... In the city that's become a symbol for the death of the American dream, a nightmare killer is unravelling reality. A terrifying new thriller from Lauren Beukes, award-winning author of The Shining Girls. Detective Gabi Versado no longer believes in justice. She's seen too much stupidity, corruption and just plain badness. But never anything like this. And now it's bleeding into her life.He was a broken man. The dreams which once fueled his ambition have curdled inside him - dreams of recognition, love and family. But now he has new dreams - dreams of flesh and bone made monstrously beautiful.Detroit is the decaying corpse of the American Dream. Motor-city. Murder-city. Now a killer with the touch of an artist is turning it into the worst kind of nightmare ... Praise for Broken Monsters: "Reading Lauren Beukes is like watching a fireworks display. Her sentences pop, fizz and explode across the page; leaving you oohing and ahhing with your mouth open"Michael Robotham, author of Watching You"I unhesitatingly urge you to buy it and read it now!" James Ellroy, author of American Tabloid "A genuinely unsettling-in all the best ways-blend of suspense and the supernatural makes this a serial-killer tale like you've never seen . . . A truly terrifying horror story." Kirkus (starred review) "What Beukes is doing here is using the conventions of the cop novel . . . to do something incredibly clever and incredibly interesting. The plot is slippery and strange, and the tension and the weirdness build and build, to a climax like nothing you've ever read-not in crime fiction, not in literary fiction, not anywhere" Ben H. Winters, author of The Last Policeman "Engrossing, thought-provoking and powerful." Sci-Fi Now "The wildly talented Lauren Beukes has created a darkly majestic jewel of a novel ... Part harrowing thriller, part urban-Grimm's fairytale, but always filled with a deeply affecting humanity, Broken Monsters is the kind of book you'll find yourself pressing into the hands of everyone you know so they can experience it too." Megan Abbott, author of The Fever and Dare Me "Red Dragon meets The Wire. . . . Beukes is a supremely talented author" Library Journal "Beukes is a novelist of unflinchingly keen eye and ambitious ideas. Her love of the cityscape is palpable in her work, and her social commentary biting... This is no Red Dragon - this is something more sinister and beautiful than that." Zoe Hinis, The Book Armada "Seamlessly fuses the unbridled ingenuity of Stephen King with the master craftsmanship of Michael Connelly's police procedurals. Broken Monsters is an unabashedly contemporary thriller, fresh in its approach and narrated with the stylish prose we've come to expect from Beukes." Simon McDonald, WrittenBySime "Beautiful, horrifying, thrilling, and most impressive of all, possessed of a deep and remarkable compassion. I wish I'd written it." Ivy Pochoda, author of Visitation Street "Lauren Beukes is a marvel. Broken Monsters is a brilliant genre-defying thriller that breathes humanity and compassion for its rich, complex characters even as it gives you a hair-raising, nail-biting ride through gritty inner-city Detroit. A must-read." Alice LaPlante, author of Turn of Mind Views: 110
