How are our lives shaped by the difficult choices of our parents and even grandparents? How will our own choices direct the future for our children? Following generations of one family across nearly a century, each of Andrea Lewis's intertwined, engaging short stories evokes an intense sense of place and time, from New Orleans in 1895 to Grand Isle, Louisiana, during the hurricane of 1901 and on to London during the Olympic Games of 1948. The people in these ten vivid tales face tragedy and real-world catastrophic events—war, hurricanes, the Great Depression, racial tension—in their pursuit of love, family, and belonging. Each character struggles to discover and preserve his or her identity and dreams while grappling with the expectations of family and culture and trying to cope with loss. Some succeed, some compromise, and some fail, but all have a traceable impact on a story to come. Views: 49
Ford Madox Ford’s novel about the doomed Katharine Howard, fifth queen of Henry VIII, is a neglected masterpiece. Kat Howard—intelligent, beautiful, naively outspoken, and passionately idealistic—catches the eye of Henry VIII and improbably becomes his fifth wife. A teenager who has grown up far from court, she is wholly unused to the corruption and intrigue that now surround her. It is a time of great upheaval, as unscrupulous courtiers manuever for power while religious fanatics—both Protestant and Catholic—fight bitterly for their competing beliefs. Soon Katharine is drawn into a perilous showdown with Thomas Cromwell, the much-feared Lord Privy Seal, as her growing influence over the King begins to threaten too many powerful interests. Originally published in three parts (The Fifth Queen, Privy Seal, and The Fifth Queen Crowned), Ford’s novel serves up both a breathtakingly visual evocation of the Tudor world and a timeless portrayal of the insidious operations of power and fear in any era.From the Trade Paperback edition. Views: 49
The Italian's savage passion... When Juliet meets broodingly handsome Italian Raphael Marchese, there is an instant and dangerous attraction between them. But because of the pretense Juliet has agreed to in order to help a friend, Rafe mistakenly thinks she's a gold-digger who's engaged to another man! However, the tension between Juliet and Rafe is stronger than reason, and it erupts. Raphael makes love to her—passionately and savagely. He reasons that though he can never have her, he can enjoy the pleasure of her body... Views: 49
Between 1995 and 2002, Dark Terrors: The Gollancz Book of Horror was Britain's premier non-themed anthology of original horror stories.Over six volumes, it published some of the biggest names in the field as well as many newcomers who have gone on to forge impressive careers in the genre.Edited by the World Fantasy Award-winning team of Stephen Jones and David A. Sutton, Dark Terrors established itself as a cutting-edge market for some of the most literary and disturbing fiction being produced on both sides of the Atlantic, winning the British Fantasy Award and the International Horror Guild Award in the process.Now Darker Terrors collects together nineteen of the most memorable stories from the original books in a new volume, which also includes reminiscences by both the editors plus an exclusive Index detailing the authors and their work that were included in the legendary anthology series. For fans of superior horror fiction, things just got Darker... Views: 49
The Counterlife is a novel unlike any that Philip Roth has written before, a book of astonishing 180-degree turns, a book of conflicting perspectives and points of view, and, by far, Roth's most radical work of fiction.The Counterlife is about people enacting their dreams of renewal and escape, some of them going so far as to risk their lives to alter seemingly irreversible destinies. Every major character (and most of the minor ones) is investigating, debating, and arguing the possibility of remaking the future.Illuminating these lives in transition and guiding us through all the landscapes, familiar and foreign, where these people are seeking self-transformation, is the mind of the novelist Nathan Zuckerman. His is the skeptical, enveloping intelligence that calculates the price that's paid in the struggle to change personal fortune and to reshape history.Yet his is hardly the only voice. This is a novel in which speaking out with force and lucidity... Views: 49
Oengus, the stolen son of the Celtic Gods, has come of age. He must serve his apprenticeship and as a first step, he is made the God of Inconsequential Things. He must go to New York to recover a sword called ‘The Great Fury’. Oengus finds his task is shrouded in complexity. Morag the Witch is plotting to contaminate the Manhattan Water System. Oengus is supported by the apprentice witch Maedbh and they are targeted by Morag and her crew of the Greyman with the embrace of death, Dearg Due the Vampire and Leanan Sidhe the seductress.Will Oengus recover the lost sword and save New York from a plague of rats? Views: 49
When a criminal lawyer meets a beautiful Nigerian immigrant, his life starts to spiral out of control. Disillusioned with his marriage and the path his life has taken, Richard finds respite in Abayomi's exotic and sensual world. But, as his involvement in Cape Town's refugee community deepens, he is drawn into a murky underworld of deception, brutality and corruption. Not even his professional dealings with a notorious Russian ganglord have prepared him for the dangers that await.Provocative, shocking and unflinchingly honest, Refuge explores the plight of refugees in South Africa, the entanglements of the criminal justice system and the pervasiveness of organised crime. With this gripping tale of prejudice, desire and betrayal, award-winning author Andrew Brown has again produced an intelligent page-turner. Views: 49