Solicitor Nash Banfield moved to a small town to hide from society, so the last person he expects to encounter is Lady Margaretta Fortescue, who has come to Southam chasing rumors of refuge. Nash’s curiosity pulls him from his solitude and tempts him to leave his past behind and live again—but Lady Margaretta’s own past may prove too much to overcome. Views: 67
Susan Mallery welcomes you to Happily Inc, where true love isn't just for fairy tales...Natalie Kaleta will do anything for the artists at her gallery, including risk life, limb and the effect of humidity on her naturally curly hair. Braving a downpour to check on reclusive Ronan Mitchell, Natalie gets stranded by a mudslide at his mountain home, where the brooding glass artist reveals his playful side, sending her inconvenient crush from under-the-radar to over-the-top.After a secret tore apart his family and made him question his sense of self, Ronan fled his hometown for Happily Inc, but the sunny small town can't fix his damaged heart. He won't give in to his attraction for beautiful, perpetually cheerful Natalie. She's untouched by darkness—or so he thinks.Natalie knows that when a heart goes through the flame, it comes out stronger. Life may not be a fairy tale, but sometimes dreams do come true. Why not this one? Why not tonight? Views: 67
England under Elizabeth I.A time of war and plague, politics and rebellion, personal heroism and religious fanaticism. When if you were born poor you stayed poor, and the thumbscrews and the rack could be the grim prelude to the executioner's block.But it was also an age that encouraged literary genius, global exploration, and timeless beauty. When the lowly privateer Francis Drake circumnavigated the globe with no reliable navigational instruments and only a drunken, mutinous crew for company. When the Queen's favourite, the wealthy and handsome Robert Dudley, was widely suspected of having killed his wife. And when only the machinations of ruthless intriguers like William Cecil and Francis Walsingham prevented Elizabeth's kingdom from descending into anarchy and political chaos.The Elizabethans is a panoramic, exhilarating depiction of an intensely colourful period by master-historian, A N Wilson. This is what life... Views: 67
"Stealthy, furtive, unhurried yet urgent... In a few seconds of efficient butchery, the chickens are dead and dismembered." Someone is on a killing spree – slaughtering the school pets with a cold-blooded savagery. The number-one suspect: Johnny Middleton. Johnny's had problems in the past, but they're behind him now. So what if he still sees the world a little differently? He's not crazy and he's not a killer. And he's going to prove it. Views: 67
ONCE TAKEN is book #2 in the bestselling Riley Paige mystery series, which begins with ONCE GONE (Book #1)—a free download with over 100 five star reviews! Women are being murdered in upstate New York, their bodies found mysteriously hanging in chains. With the FBI called in, given the bizarre nature of the murders—and the lack of any clues—there is only one agent they can turn to: Special Agent Riley Paige.Riley, reeling from her last case, is reluctant to take on a new one, since she is still convinced a former serial killer is out there, stalking her. She knows, though, that her ability to enter a serial killer's mind and her obsessive nature is what will be needed to crack this case, and she just can't refuse—even if it will push her over the edge.Riley's search takes her deep into a killer's deluded mind as it leads her to orphanages, mental hospitals, prisons, all in an effort to understand the depth of his psychosis. Realizing she is up against a... Views: 67
The Pre-War House and Other Stories is the debut collection from Alison Moore, whose first novel, The Lighthouse, was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and Specsavers National Book Awards 2012.The stories collected here range from her first published short story (which appeared in a small journal in 2000) to new and recently published work. In between, Moore's stories have been shortlisted for more than a dozen different awards including the Bridport Prize, the Fish Prize, the Lightship Flash Fiction Prize, the Manchester Fiction Prize and the Nottingham Short Story Competition. The title story won first prize in the novella category of The New Writer Prose and Poetry Prizes. Views: 67
Freddy's friends can't wait to try the haunted hayride at the Halloween festival — especially Freddy's new friend, Josh. The hayride is supposed to be really scary! But when Max bets Josh that Freddy will be too much of a fraidy-cat to join them, Freddy is determined to be brave . . . no matter what! Views: 67
This isn’t your typical story about boy meets girl then they fall in love and live happily ever after. No. This is a story about deception and betrayal at its finest. This is a story about hatred and attraction which does everything in its power to destroy two people. Essie Horton is a woman who has lived through unspeakable things during her short life and when a prime opportunity presents itself, she dives right in, only concerned about herself and her objectives. Drayden Warner is a man used to living the good life, bedding every beauty in sight, masking an empty existence, and hiding from a tragedy which happened years ago. Little does he know, his life will change forever when he meets the one woman who will possibly destroy him for good.** Views: 67
The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge The Adventure of the Cardboard Box The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans The Adventure of the Devil's Foot The Adventure of the Red Circle The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax The Adventure of the Dying Detective His Last Bow – An Epilogue of Sherlock Holmes
PREFACE The friends of Mr. Sherlock Holmes will be glad to learn that he is still alive and well, though somewhat crippled by occasional attacks of rheumatism. He has, for many years, lived in a small farm upon the downs five miles from Eastbourne, where his time is divided between philosophy and agriculture. During this pe riod of rest he has refused the most princely offers to take up various cases, having determined that his retirement was a permanent one. The approach of the German war caused him however, to lay his remarkable combination of intellectual and practical activity at the disposal of the government, with historical results which are recounted in His Last Bow. Several previous experiences which have lain long in my portfolio have been added to His Last Bow so as to complete the volume. JOHN H. WATSON, M. D. Views: 67
September 2007 Booksense NotableAcclaimed for her excquisite prose and crystalline insights, Amity Gaige returns with The Folded World, the story of an idealistic young social worker drawn into the lives of his mentally ill clients. Charlie Shade was born into a quiet, prosperous life, but a sense of injustice dogs him. He feels destined to leave his life of "bread and laundry," to work instead with people in crisis. On his way, he meets his kindred spirit in Alice, a soulful young woman, living helplessly by laws of childhood superstition. Charlie's empathy with his clients — troubled souls like Hal, the high-school wrestling champion who undergoes a psychotic break, and Opal, the isolated young woman who claims "various philosophies have confused my life" — is both admirable and nearly fatal. An adoring husband and new father, Charlie risks his own cherished, private domestic world to help Hal, Opal, and others move beyond their haunted inner worlds into the larger world of love and connection.A collision of extraordinary characters, The Folded World addresses the universal dilemma of love, wherein giving to another can seem like "the death of the world of oneself." With an unerring eye for both the joys and devastations of life, Amity Gaige once again reminds us of the pleasures and depths to be found in her fiction.From Publishers WeeklyGaige follows up on the 2006 National Book Foundation "5 Under 35" selection O My Darling with a measured account of a mildly troubled marriage and the hurdles faced by well-meaning social caseworkers. Gorgeous and dark-haired Alice Bussard, the 22-year-old daughter of a librarian, leaves "shabby" hometown Gloucester, Mass., to find bigger and better in a nearby (and unnamed) city. What she finds, however, is a job as a dentist's receptionist and the attention of 25-year-old, big-eared Midwestern transplant Charlie Shade, who is finishing his master's in social work. Before long, they're married and Charlie's found an underpaid and overworked job. They have twins, and Charlie's dedication to his work—and two patients, Hal Kramer and Opal Ludlow, specifically—sparks domestic tension (Alice is predictably tempted by another man), professional trouble and physical danger. Alice's mother comes to help with the kids, but ends up sharing with Alice the truth Alice would rather not hear about the father she never knew. Gaige's sophomore effort is polished and competent, with measured doses of dry humor leavening overwrought prose . Details about the mechanisms of the social work system are convincing, as is Gaige's portrayal of a young marriage on the rocks, but the narrative may be too tidy for some. (May) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. ReviewReviews...Nancy Pearl Book Reviews - NPR Nancy Pearl Puget Sound Public Radio "In reading [The Folded World] I was struck by three things: Gaige's crystalline prose, the three-dimensionality of all of her characters, even the minor ones, and her ability to convey the darkness in the mind's of Charlie's clients, who are suffering from schizophrenia or other mental illnesses. Gaige takes what is really just an ordinary plot (boy meets girl; boy marries girl; problems ensue) and offers us something very special indeed"Kirkus Reviews STARRED Review [T]his darker story connects the romance of coupledom to the territory of madness... Gaige’s off-beat orientation, wit and piercing insights... [offer] greater breadth in exchange for sweetness.Library Journal Indeed, it is exhilarating to see Alice... transform herself into a competent woman. This alchemy, in concert with a beautiful story wonderfully told, makes this highly recommended for all fiction collections.Entertainment Weekly In her exquisitely written second novel, Gaige explores the ups and downs of a fragile, mostly joyful young relationship: Charlie's overcommitment to his mentally ill clients; Alice's fleeting attraction to a bookstore clerk; their infant daughter's first, tentative steps. The bitterness and disillusion of marriage have been thoroughly plumbed in contemporary fiction; Gaige is one of the rare novelists who is more interested in its potential for happiness and grace. Christian Science Monitor Yvonne Zipp Gaige (one of the National Book Foundation's "5 under 35") writes elegantly, and she makes the survival of this young marriage a question of grace. Grade: A-The New York Times Book Review Jeff Turrentine "[A] tightly written and emotionally satisfying novel….Gaige, the author of the well-received no... Views: 67
Inspired by the midcentury memoirs of Frances Conway, Enchanted Islands is the dazzling story of an independent American woman whose path takes her far from her native Minnesota when she and her husband, an undercover intelligence officer, are sent to the Galápagos Islands at the brink of World War II. Born in Duluth, Minnesota, in 1882 to immigrant parents, Frances Frankowski covets the life of her best friend, Rosalie Mendel, who has everything Fanny could wish for—money, parents who value education, and an effervescent and winning personality. When, at age fifteen, Rosalie decides they should run away to Chicago, Fanny jumps at the chance to escape her unexceptional life. But, within a year, Rosalie commits an unforgivable betrayal, inciting Frances to strike out on her own.Decades later, the women reconnect in San Francisco and realize how widely their lives have diverged. While Rosalie is a housewife and mother, Frances works as a secretary... Views: 67
