Richard Hughes's celebrated short novel is a masterpiece of concentrated narrative. Its dreamlike action begins among the decayed plantation houses and overwhelming natural abundance of late nineteenth-century Jamaica, before moving out onto the high seas, as Hughes tells the story of a group of children thrown upon the mercy of a crew of down-at-the-heel pirates. A tale of seduction and betrayal, of accommodation and manipulation, of weird humor and unforeseen violence, this classic of twentieth-century literature is above all an extraordinary reckoning with the secret reasons and otherworldly realities of childhood. Views: 69
When ER doctor Warwick takes Jack to England to escape Jack's abusive ex, he doesn't plan on falling in love... especially since Jack might stay in the UK. Can a romance work with trust issues and an ocean between them? Views: 69
The Barnes & Noble ReviewSecond in the Cree Black series (following City of Masks), this paranormal thriller is filled with fascinating elements of Navajo culture and traditional beliefs. Author Daniel Hecht finds a careful narrative balance between family drama, eerie occultism, and scientific examination.Teenager Tommy Keeday suffers strange and dangerous seizures while a student at a school for gifted Native Americans in New Mexico and is believed to be possessed by an evil Navajo spirit. Seattle-based parapsychologist Cree Black is asked to study and save the boy. Along with her team of ghost hunters, she uses her own empathic skills to delve into the dark secrets of the teachers and fellow students who might have something to do with Tommy's illness.Hecht makes a bold effort to give readers believable investigations into the supernatural. Cree considers and applies theories involving magnetic fields, mysterious energies, genetics, and geographical forces. The narrative is leavened with a great many separate back-stories, as several fascinating Navajo myths and local legends are discussed in depth. This plausible, spooky, and grabbing mixture of solid detective work and paranormal chills is highly recommended. Views: 69
Joanna suspects that her neighbour, old Mr. Thomas, is keeping stolen horses – but is he an ordinary horse thief or is the situation far more complicated? Only his granddaughter knows the answer and she is protecting her grandfather at all costs.But what if the price turns out to be the lives of the stolen horses and the young man who has gone missing?Joanna is determined to find the truth. When she sets out to investigate further, she discovers a decades-old crime, long hidden – and unfortunately, finds the person who is still very motivated to keep everything concealed. Views: 69
Exploring the way our choices and relationships are shaped by the menace and beauty of the natural world, Megan Mayhew Bergman's powerful and heartwarming collection captures the surprising moments when the pull of our biology becomes evident, when love or fear collide with good sense, or when our attachment to an animal or wild place can't be denied. In "Housewifely Arts," a single mother and her son drive hours to track down an African gray parrot that can mimic her deceased mother's voice. A population-control activist faces the ultimate conflict between her loyalty to the environment and her maternal desire in "Yesterday's Whales." And in the title story, a lonely naturalist allows an attractive stranger to lead her and her aging father on a hunt for an elusive woodpecker. As intelligent as they are moving, the stories in Birds of a Lesser Paradise are alive with emotion, wit, and insight into the impressive power that nature has over all of us. This... Views: 69
'The color is hideous enough, and unreliable enough, and infuriating enough, but the pattern is torturing.'Written with barely controlled fury after she was confined to her room for 'nerves' and forbidden to write, Gilman's pioneering feminist horror story scandalized nineteenth-century readers with its portrayal of a woman who loses her mind because she has literally nothing to do.Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin's 80th birthday. Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics, with books from around the world and across many centuries. They take us from a balloon ride over Victorian London to a garden of blossom in Japan, from Tierra del Fuego to 16th-century California and the Russian steppe. Here are stories lyrical and savage; poems epic and intimate; essays satirical and inspirational; and ideas that have shaped the lives of millions.Charlotte Perkins Gilman... Views: 69
A protege of Flaubert, Maupassant’s stories are characterized by their economy of style and efficient, effortless dénouements. Many of the stories are set during the Franco-Prussian War of the 1870s and several describe the futility of war and the innocent civilians who, caught in the conflict, emerge changed. He authored some 300 short stories, six novels, three travel books, and one volume of verse. The story "Boule de Suif" ("Ball of Fat", 1880) is often accounted his masterpiece. His most unsettling horror story, "Le Horla" (1887), was about madness and suicide. Views: 69
