Toru, a quiet and preternaturally serious young college student in Tokyo, is devoted to Naoko, a beautiful and introspective young woman, but their mutual passion is marked by the tragic death of their best friend years before. Toru begins to adapt to campus life and the loneliness and isolation he faces there, but Naoko finds the pressures and responsibilities of life unbearable. As she retreats further into her own world, Toru finds himself reaching out to others and drawn to a fiercely independent and sexually liberated young woman.
A poignant story of one college student's romantic coming-of-age, Norwegian Wood takes us to that distant place of a young man's first, hopeless, and heroic love. Views: 59
The translator of The Elegance of the Hedgehog, Alison Anderson, delivers a remarkable literary novel—with a stunning conclusion—inspired by historical events, in which a diary weaves together the lives of three women: a dying Ukranian doctor who befriends Anton Chekov in the 19th century, a modern-day London book editor, and the woman she hires to translate it into English.Blinded by a fatal illness, young Ukrainian doctor Zinaida Lintvaryova is living on her family's rural estate in the summer of 1888. When a family from Moscow rents a cottage on the grounds, Zinaida develops a deep bond with one of their sons, a doctor and writer of modest but growing fame called Anton Pavlovich Chekhov. Intelligent, curious, and increasingly introspective as her condition worsens, Zinaida keeps a diary chronicling this extraordinary friendship that comes to define the last years of her life.In the winter of 2014, Katya Kendall's London publishing house is... Views: 59
From the author of The Lightkeepers, Winner of the 2016 B&N Discover Great New Writers Award for Fiction, comes a story that explores the bonds of siblings and the animal instincts that threaten to tear them apart Mercy, Oklahoma became infamous when a Category Five tornado ravaged the small town. No family was more devastated than the McClouds: four siblings left orphaned, their home and farm gone. Darlene, Jane, and Cora became the media focus of the tornado's aftermath, causing great tension with Tucker, who soon abandoned his sisters to their grief and disappeared. On the three-year anniversary of the tornado, a cosmetics factory outside of Mercy is bombed, and the lab animals trapped within are released. This violent act appears at first to have nothing to do with "the saddest family in Mercy." Then Tucker reappears, injured in the blast, and seeks the help of nine-year-old Cora. Caught up in the thrall of her brilliant, charismatic brother, whom she... Views: 59
A full-hearted novel about a big-city baker who discovers the true meaning of home—and that sometimes the best things are found when you didn't even know you were looking When Olivia Rawlings—pastry chef extraordinaire for an exclusive Boston dinner club—sets not just her flambéed dessert but the entire building alight, she escapes to the most comforting place she can think of—the idyllic town of Guthrie, Vermont, home of Bag Balm, the country's longest-running contra dance, and her best friend Hannah. But the getaway turns into something more lasting when Margaret Hurley, the cantankerous, sweater-set-wearing owner of the Sugar Maple Inn, offers Livvy a job. Broke and knowing that her days at the club are numbered, Livvy accepts. Livvy moves with her larger-than-life, uberenthusiastic dog, Salty, into a sugarhouse on the inn's property and begins creating her mouthwatering desserts for the residents of Guthrie. She soon uncovers the... Views: 59
After briefly eluding Yassir Ali’s ruthless assassins in England, Nick, Marie, and Ishi have fled north, where they hope to track down a forgotten cavern in the Highlands of Scotland. The cavern is linked to the Ambrosius Amulet, and is said to contain the greatest treasure of gold, jewels, and other artifacts ever amassed by the ancient druids…. Finding this sacred place won’t be easy—especially when those trying to kill the forlorn trio are hot on the trail again. Meanwhile, Nick and his cohorts’ search is limited to details from a conversation Marie had with her father prior to his murder a year earlier. Complicating matters is that the Ambrosius Amulet can only tell them when they have found the right location—not how. Relying on Marie’s memory of landmarks and coordinates given by her father, the task of searching Loch Ness, Loch Lomond, and Loch Morar quickly becomes a hazardous affair. Will one of these famed locations prove to be home to this fabled treasure of the early Brits? Or, will this be one myth that can’t be solved, either by fate or bullets from a ruthless enemy closing in? These questions, and more, are waiting to be answered in the Secret of the Loch…. Acclaim for the novels of Aiden James: "The intense writing style of Aiden James kept my eyes glued to the story and the pages seemed to fly by at warp speed. ...Twists, turns, and surprises pop up at random times to keep the reader off balance. It all blends together to create one of the best stories I have read all year." --Detra Fitch, Huntress Reviews for "The Devil's Paradise" "Aiden James has written a deeply psychological, gripping tale that keeps the readers hooked from page one." --Bookfinds review for "The Forgotten Eden" "Aiden James writing style flows very easily and I found that "Cades Cove" snowballed into a very gripping tale. Clearly the strengths in the piece were as the spirit's interaction became prevalent with the family... The Indian lore and ceremonies and the flashbacks to Allie Mae's (earthly) demise were very powerful. I think those aspects separated the work from what we've seen before in horror and ghost tales." --Evelyn Klebert, author of "A Ghost of a Chance" and "Dragonflies" "Aiden James has a keen eye for detail and an uncanny knack for scaring the hell out of me. We are watching a master at work. "The Raven Mocker" is a nearly perfect thriller. Ghost stories don't get any better than this." --J.R. Rain, Bestselling author of the "Vampire for Hire" series "As with the previous titles I have read by this author, I found the author's writing style to be silky smooth and the main plot line to be extremely creative. The fertile imagination of Aiden James definitely knows what today's readers want to see in their stories." --Detra Fitch, Huntress Reviews for "The Vampires' Last Lover"** Views: 59
Ten years after her stunning debut, Shauna Singh Baldwin returns to Goose Lane with an outstanding new collection of ten stories. Migrating from Central America to the American South, from Metro Toronto to the Ukraine, this book features an unforgettable cast of characters. In the title story, 16-year-old Megan hates her Pakistani grandmother — until Grandma disappears. In the enchanting magical realism of "Naina," an Indo-Canadian woman is pregnant with a baby girl who refuses to be born. "The View from the Mountain" introduces Wilson Gonzales, who makes friends with his new American boss, the aptly named Ted Grand. But following 9/11, Ted's suspicions cloud his judgment and threaten his friendship with Wilson. Each containing an entire world, these stories are marked by indelible images and unforgettable turns of phrase — hallmarks of Baldwin's fictional world. Views: 59
On India's south-western coast, between Goa and Calicut, lies Kittur – a small, nondescript every town. Aravind Adiga acts as our guide to the town, mapping overlapping lives of Kittur's residents. Here, an illiterate Muslim boy working at the train station finds himself tempted by an Islamic terrorist; a bookseller is arrested for selling a copy of "The Satanic Verses"; a rich, spoiled, half-caste student decides to explode a bomb in school; a sexologist has to find a cure for a young boy who may have AIDS. What emerges is the moral biography of an Indian town and a group portrait of ordinary Indians in a time of extraordinary transformation, over the seven-year period between the assassinations of Prime Minister Gandhi and her son Rajiv. Keenly observed and finely detailed, "Between the Assassinations" is a triumph of voice and imagination. Views: 59
There's something happening in Shelter Valley...Shelter Valley, Arizona, is the kind of place where everyone wants to live. Martha Moore, divorced mother of four, has spent her whole life here and can't imagine being anywhere else.But something frightening has happened, and it affects Martha and her children. It also touches David Cole Marks, the new minister in town.Martha's a woman without faith, still bitter about a husband's betrayal. And David's a minister with secrets, a past that haunts him. But they have to put these burdens aside to work together, to make a difference to Shelter Valley. And each other? Views: 59