After thirteen years, all passion spent, Ellen and Richard have called it a day. With her life in suitcases and boxes, Ellen agrees to help her parents sell their unoccupied Cotswold cottage – then she plans to travel the world. Little does she know that idyllic Oddlode contains the world’s sexiest hell-raiser, and she finds herself travelling uncharted waters to unknown territory – headlong into love. Views: 44
Against Nature is the perfect illustration of Oscar Wilde's famous paradox that life imitates art, and not the other way around. First published in Paris in 1884 when the Naturalistic school - of which Huysmans himself was a major figure - was at its height, it delivered a body-blow to Zola's brand of literary realism, and almost single-handedly redefined the literary and artistic canon of the nineteenth century in the process. To a rising generation of readers, writers and artists across Europe, Huysmans' novel was the instruction manual of a movement that was to become emblematic of fin-de-siecle France: Decadence. The novel tells the story of its decadent aristocratic anti-hero, Jean Floressas des Esseintes, who, bored by the aesthetic and carnal pleasures the Parisian beau monde has to offer, decides to sell up and move to an isolated house in the suburbs. There he constructs a world of artifice that exactly minors his super-subtle, perverse and painfully neurotic sensibility. The result is one of the most bizarre, intriguing and influential books of the period. Whether read as an existential fable, psychological analysis, style manual, cultural critique or social satire, the novel remains as audacious and original today as when first published. Views: 43
"Identify the weapon, and use it first." Such is the code of Captain James Hook, in this lyrical sequel to Hook & Jill. And this time, the turmoil begins not with 'The Boy' " but with a girl.Ten days out of Neverbay, Hook and Jill capture a ship's surgeon, pressing him to join the Roger. But Doctor Hanover is a gentleman, with a daughter to defend. When Red-Handed Jill shows him favor, his heart is taken prisoner, too. Hanover contrives to deliver Jill from the pirate king, and redeem her to society . . . as his wife.But Captain Hook is impossible to escape. Other rivals contend for Jill's red hand, and Hook fights for supremacy with his skill and brilliance. When the doctor's daughter draws Hook's eye, she emulates Jill, using feminine weapons to charm him.With no word of farewell, Hook vanishes, and Jill is a queen without a king. To hold Hook's power, she must come to terms with each of the dangerous men in her domain. When a challenger seizes command of the Roger " and over Jill " Hook and Jill's dominion will be overthrown unless, as Hook has taught Jill to do, she can identify the weapon . . . and wield it wickedly.Other Oceans is an unabashed study in loyalty, vibrant with the dynamics of power. From the pen of a masterful crafter, Book Two of the Hook & Jill Saga delivers all the exhilaration that a clash of wills, hearts, and fortune can arouse.Winner, Best Literary Fiction, USA Book News Best Books Awards 2012Winner, Best Cover Design, Fiction, USA Book News Best Books Awards 2012 Views: 43
