Egypt in the twenty-sixth century BC. The young pharaoh Cheops wants to forgo the construction of a pyramid in his honor, but his court sages hasten to persuade him otherwise. The pyramid, they tell him, is not a tomb but a paradox, designed to appease the masses by oppressing them. It is a symbol of nothing, a useless and infinite project designed to waste the country's wealth and keep security and prosperity, ever the fonts of sedition, constantly at bay. And so the greatest pyramid in the world has ever seen begins to rise. Rumors multiply. A secret police is formed. Conspiracies--real and imagined--swirl around the rising edifice. The most drastic purges follow. By the time the first stone is laid, Cheops's subjects are terrified enough to yield to his most murderous whims. Each time one of the massive stones is hoisted into place, dozens of men are crushed, and there are tens of thousands of stones. . . . Views: 68
Runaway Groom By Fiona Lowe Book three of Wedding Fever Amy Sagar’s life is
in ruins. Fired from her fast-track job and dumped by her double-crossing boyfriend, she
retreats to Whitetail, Wisconsin, to lick her wounds and regroup. Meeting an impossible,
sexy Australian isn’t part of her strategy for getting back on track. Ben Armytage is
running away. After being left at the altar and publicly humiliated, he’s taking his
vintage motorcycle on an extended road trip from Argentina to Alaska. Having his journey
interrupted by a breakdown and sharing a house with a curvy, redheaded lawyer in a town
obsessed with weddings was never on his itinerary. Though being stuck in a luxury log
cabin isn’t really a hardship, living together with their broken hearts isn’t easy. When
the attraction between Amy and Ben proves unstoppable, they’ll both begin rethinking
their plans... For more weddings in Whitetail, check out Saved by the Bride and Picture
Perfect Wedding, available now! 99,000 words Views: 68
Thalia and James have been invited to Purgatory to celebrate Christmas with Kalen and Maggie. It's been months since Thalia 'graduated' the program and her and James are happy as can be and Thalia is looking forward to having a normal Christmas. Well... as normal as it can be when it's held at a submissive training school in the middle of rural Scotland and you're helping to cook dinner Views: 68
Read this classic romance by USA Today bestselling author Carole Mortimer, now available for the first time in e-book! Playing the millionaire's mistress Hot-shot London investor Reed Hunter needs his secretary, Darcy Faversham, to pose as his mistress during a business trip to America. Someone is sabotaging his US business deals and Reed needs Darcy to divert attention from the real reason for his visit... Darcy finds the chance to get closer to Reed too tempting to deny. However Darcy can't pretend to be in love with Reed...not when she suspects she already is! Originally published in 1986 Views: 68
Justina was in a dilemma. As she listened to his words, she realized her plan had backfired. "But we're not strangers, are we?" he questioned grimly. "We're husband and wife and somehow I don't find your explanations very reassuring." Who was this man? And why should she let herself care about an amnesia victim? After all, she only needed him to act as her husband temporarily. She had hated the real Andrew. But this man made her feel altogether different. Views: 68
Rachel could tell something was wrong Rachel had been hesitant to spend the Christmas holiday with the Shards in their Newcastle home. After all, Liz and Rob were Jaime's parents and might have been Rachel's in-laws had circumstances been different. But Jaime Shard had lied--a lie that ended whatever there had been between him and Rachel. She was glad he never visited his parents for the holidays. She knew she wouldn't have to face him again. Or so she thought--until she saw Liz Shard's worried face and heard her blurt out, "Jaime's home.... " Views: 68
When school teacher Lily Barton flies to Rome at Christmas to see her brother, the last thing she expects is to be kidnapped by the demanding and sinfully attractive Count Scarletti! Captivated by his glare, will she defy his demands?Dmitri Scarletti's sister has run off with Lily's brother and until he finds them, he's holding Lily hostage. But soon Lily's fiery nature incites a white-hot heat that even the Count can't resist. He has one night beneath the mistletoe to fulfill his every desire, for in the morning he'll be forced to let her go... Won't he? Views: 68
A nurse worth waiting for Nurse Mia Latham thinks she-s found the perfect solution to get her life in order - a new job on an idyllic tropical island. But, thanks to her arrogant, teasing and devastatingly handsome new boss Dr Flynn Harrington, life isn-t quite as simple as she might have hoped! Flynn can see Mia is hiding secrets, but the one thing she can-t disguise is her passion for him! Flynn knows a thing or two about running away, but something about this beautiful nurse makes him want to unpack his suitcases and settle down - with Mia! Views: 68
A ferocious political satire in the great tradition, Our Gang is Philip Roth's brilliantly indignant response to the phenomenon of Richard M. Nixon.In the character of Trick E. Dixon, Roth shows us a man who outdoes the severest cynic, a peace-loving Quaker and believer in the sanctity of human life who doesn't have a problem with killing unarmed women and children in self-defense. A master politician with an honest sneer, he finds himself battling the Boy Scouts, declaring war on Pro-Pornography Denmark, all the time trusting in the basic indifference of the voting public.From the Trade Paperback edition. Views: 68
Lori Lansens became one of Canada’s most sought after writers more than a year before her internationally heralded first book, Rush Home Road, would see publication in April 2002. So immediately and passionately was her novel embraced that it was already front-page arts news back in April 2001. Knopf Canada was the first publisher to buy this extraordinary debut novel, but just before the 2001 London Book Fair, Little, Brown US bought the rest of the world rights for a major six-figure sum (for Rush Home Road and the author's yet-to-be-written second novel), and rights have now been sold in numerous countries.The Globe and Mail reported the record-breaking news with full, front-page coverage, and Little, Brown International Rights Director Linda Biagi found herself talking of nothing else in London; she sold Rush Home Road to a further 9 territories with the manuscript still unedited. Biagi likened the book to some of the most important literary achievements of our time, saying, “It’s as if John Irving had written The Color Purple.” Louise Dennys, the Executive Publisher of Knopf Canada, describes it as “a novel of startling beauty and great heart that will immediately find a place within that small, special tribe of books beloved by readers the world over.” The untold story of the descendants of the Underground RailroadHeartbreaking and wise, Rush Home Road tells the life story of Adelaide Shadd, who finds redemption in old age, and Sharla, a five-year-old mixed race girl abandoned to Addy’s care by her white mother. Born in the first decade of the 20th century in Rusholme (inspired by the real town of Buxton), in southwestern Ontario, an all-black community settled by fugitive slaves, Addy Shadd is raped as a teenager and forced to flee the family home. She makes her way on foot to Detroit, where she becomes the housekeeper for an elderly man and his grown son, both of whom develop a crush on her. When misfortune strikes again, she sets off to make a new life for herself in Canada. Thrown off the train at Keating, not far from her birthplace, she meets and eventually marries the train porter, the wonderful Mose, with whom she has a daughter. But when tragedy strikes, Addy is left alone. Now an old woman, she lives a quiet existence in a trailer park near Chatham. Her whole world changes when a young mother asks her to babysit her daughter, as it soon becomes clear that the mother is never coming back. Addy is glad of the company, but not sure if she’s up to the job of mothering this sweet, awkward five-year-old. Nor is she sure how much longer she’ll be around to do so. How she manages is part of the story of this brilliantly captivating novel.Written with verve, grace and unflinching emotional acuity, Rush Home Road is an epic story that explodes our notions of identity, justice, and heroism, penetrating one of our darkest periods with profound insight and humanity. Addy Shadd is a protagonist like no other -- full of quiet, steely bravery and tenderness of heart. This spellbinding novel will leave no reader untouched.From Publishers WeeklyCertain novels recall fairy tales. Their heroes are banished, repeatedly challenged, until finally, foes vanquished, they make their triumphant homecoming. Though it opens in 1978 in a Chatham, Ontario, trailer park, Lansens's poignant debut is just such a novel. At its heart is Adelaide Shadd, a 70-year-old black woman who takes in five-year-old Sharla Cody when Sharla's "white trash" mother abandons her. As Addy turns Sharla from a malnourished, heedless child into a healthy, thoughtful girl, she recollects her own past. Addy grew up in Rusholme, a fictional cousin to the many Ontario communities founded by fugitive slaves brought north by the Underground Railroad. By 1908, when Addy is born, Rusholme is settled almost entirely by black farmers and is close to idyllic. But a rape and subsequent pregnancy force Addy to run away from Rusholme (she thinks of it as a command: "Rush home"), not to return for many years. Addy's life her marriage, her children, her journey to Detroit and back to Canada is the rich core of a novel also laden with history: Lansens manages to work in not only the Railroad, but also Prohibition and the Pullman porter movement. This is artfully done, but Lansens doesn't handle the novel's smaller scenes quite as well: she tends to drop narrative threads and confuse chronology. Some readers will resent the repeated plucking of their heartstrings, too, given how much Addy and Sharla suffer. Nonetheless, Lansens has created in Addy a truly noble character, not for what she suffered in the past but for what she does in the novel's present. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. From Library JournalAs this first novel opens, 70-year-old Addy Shadd is living a peaceful trailer-park existence in the company of down-and-outers like Collette, who leaves her daughter with Addy and then disappears. Five-year-old Sharla is neither lovely nor lovable, and Addy's habit of solitude is hard to break, but as the two outcasts learn to care for each other, they begin healing from the abuse that they have suffered. Memories of Addy's childhood days in Rusholme, a Canadian border town settled by runaway slaves in the 1800s, come rushing back and carry the reader away. Addy recalls intimate details a small brother who died, past lovers, children now gone, and the many people who betrayed her while historical events like the Underground Railroad, the Pullman porter movement, and Prohibition frame her account and reflect some of the hardships suffered by African Americans, even in Canada. Though Addy has led a hard life, her beautiful, gentle spirit, her wise and loving way with Sharla, and an ultimate message of hope redeem the book from melancholy. A beautiful debut; recommended for all public libraries. Jennifer Baker, Seattle P.L. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. Views: 68
