Jeanette Winterson's novels have established her as a major figure in world literature. She has written some of the most admired books of the past few decades, including her internationally bestselling first novel, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, the story of a young girl adopted by Pentecostal parents that is now often required reading in contemporary fiction.
Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? is a memoir about a life's work to find happiness. It's a book full of stories: about a girl locked out of her home, sitting on the doorstep all night; about a religious zealot disguised as a mother who has two sets of false teeth and a revolver in the dresser, waiting for Armageddon; about growing up in an north England industrial town now changed beyond recognition; about the Universe as Cosmic Dustbin.
It is the story of how a painful past that Jeanette thought she'd written over and repainted rose to haunt her, sending her on a journey into madness and out again, in search of her biological mother.
Witty, acute, fierce, and celebratory, Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? is a tough-minded search for belonging--for love, identity, home, and a mother. Views: 825
Mary Russell is used to dark secrets—her own, and those of her famous partner and husband, Sherlock Holmes. Trust is a thing slowly given, but over the course of a decade together, the two have forged an indissoluble bond.
And what of the other person to whom Mary Russell has opened her heart: the couple’s longtime housekeeper, Mrs. Hudson? Russell’s faith and affection are suddenly shattered when a man arrives on the doorstep claiming to be Mrs. Hudson’s son.
What Samuel Hudson tells Russell cannot possibly be true, yet she believes him—as surely as she believes the threat of the gun in his hand. In a devastating instant, everything changes. And when the scene is discovered—a pool of blood on the floor, the smell of gunpowder in the air—the most shocking revelation of all is that the grim clues point directly to Clara Hudson.
Or rather to Clarissa, the woman she was before Baker Street.
The key to Russell’s sacrifice lies in Mrs. Hudson’s past. To uncover the truth, a frantic Sherlock Holmes must put aside his anguish and push deep into his housekeeper’s secrets—to a time before her disguise was assumed, before her crimes were buried away.
There is death here, and murder, and trust betrayed.
And nothing will ever be the same. Views: 824
True love isn’t easy to find, even for handsome princes.Warnings: sillinessLooks can be deceiving, the same is true for reputations As the head of his family, Robert Beckford, the Earl of Masten, was accustomed to dealing with various problems his siblings had caused of one sort or another. However he wasn’t prepared when his cad of brother ruined and then abandoned a young lady. To right the wrong, Robert married the girl himself; but his chivalry only went so far. He didn’t want a wife, and most certainly not a scandalous one. So after repeating his vows, he sent her packing, off to a secluded estate and expected her to stay put. After years of mistreatment at the hands of her family, Lydia was prepared to be an accommodating wife; but her rigid and unforgiving husband asked too much of her. After languishing for years in her opulent prison, Lydia leaves her country estate for the glamour and excitement of London—and unfortunately her husband’s path. Views: 823
There's a thief at MontroseMiddle School. Teachers are reporting money mysteriously missing from their desks. Who's responsible? Could it be Ashley Krupps, the principal's spoiled daughter? She's been spotted recently at the mall splurging on trendy clothes. Or is it Max, who shows up at school one day sporting expensive basketball shoes? Maybe it's Kevin, Jenny's new boyfriend. He's unexpectedly begun to lavish her with extravagant gifts. The Snob Squad is on the case and their suspicions stop at no one - not even each other. Views: 822
A short story set in the DEATHLESS universe!Jolly must go under the sands of the Vegas desert to confront his past.When love is no longer enough, positivity seems unreachable. Brian is indeed flawed beyond his own understanding, but he longs for nothing more then to hold his wife once more. Though he constantly fights his impulsive indifference, he pushes himself, in one final moment, to prove to her that he can be the man that she deserves. Views: 821
Who knew accounting could be so dangerous... Quinn is being stalked by his ex-boyfriend and losing his eyesight because of a genetic disorder. He thought living on the moon would keep him safe and a new accounting job boring enough not to draw attention. It was a great plan until he meets his sexy, bear boss. Lyon is actually a bear shifter.Who knew accounting could be so dangerous... Quinn is being stalked by his ex-boyfriend and losing his eyesight because of a genetic disorder. He thought living on the moon would keep him safe and a new accounting job boring enough not to draw attention. It was a great plan until he meets his sexy, bear boss. Lyon is actually a bear shifter. He likes his new employee Quinn too much. Lyon breaks all his rules with Quinn but some crazy stalker shows up and almost kills them. Now, he must protect the human that has grabbed both his heart and his balls. Views: 812
Stunning and brutally powerful, Falconer tells the story of a man named Farragut, his crime and punishment, and his struggle to remain a man in a universe bent on beating him back into childhood. Only John Cheever could deliver these grand themes with the irony, unforced eloquence, and exhilarating humor that make Falconer such a triumphant work of the moral imagination.
From the Trade Paperback edition. Views: 809
Each year the two high mages of Wynter and Pyria come to the Neutral Lands to sign a treaty that has kept a fragile peace between the lands of ice and fire. However, climate change is destroying these two delicate societies and it's up to Asha and Shard not only to find a solution to the danger facing their people, but to come to terms with the fire and ice in their own hearts.Each year the two high mages of Wynter and Pyria come to the Neutral Lands to sign a treaty that has kept a fragile peace between the lands of ice and fire. However, climate change is destroying these two delicate societies and it's up to Asha and Shard not only to find a solution to the danger facing their people, but to come to terms with the fire and ice in their own hearts. Will these elements of love save their countries or drive a bigger wedge between them? Views: 808
From the multi-award-winning and bestselling author of The Night Watch and Fingersmith comes an astonishing novel about love, loss, and the sometimes unbearable weight of the past.
In a dusty post-war summer in rural Warwickshire, a doctor is called to see a patient at lonely Hundreds Hall. Home to the Ayres family for over two centuries, the once grand house is now in decline, its masonry crumbling, its garden choked with weeds. All around, the world is changing, and the family is struggling to adjust to a society with new values and rules.
Roddie Ayres, who returned from World War II physically and emotionally wounded, is desperate to keep the house and what remains of the estate together for the sake of his mother and his sister, Caroline. Mrs. Ayres is doing her best to hold on to the gracious habits of a gentler era and Caroline seems cheerfully prepared to continue doing the work a team of servants once handled, even if it means having little chance for a life of her own beyond Hundreds.
But as Dr. Faraday becomes increasingly entwined in the Ayreses’ lives, signs of a more disturbing nature start to emerge, both within the family and in Hundreds Hall itself. And Faraday begins to wonder if they are all threatened by something more sinister than a dying way of life, something that could subsume them completely.
Both a nuanced evocation of 1940s England and the most chill-inducing novel of psychological suspense in years, The Little Stranger confirms Sarah Waters as one of the finest and most exciting novelists writing today. Views: 807
It's been ten years since Colin Lambert last saw Thomas Sullivan, his former bodyguard. Now Colin's all grown up and Thomas is in Paris for one evening. A sweet short story about second chances.A short story serving as a brief introduction to the Earthborn universe. In the far future a dark fog emerges that threatens the end of humanity. Gil Tungsten, born and raised within a world were mankind has united under a single government faces a decision changing the rest of his life. He and his wife can either flee from planet Earth by joining the Exodus fleet, or become part of those who will go beneath the surface to wait out the dark storm. Views: 805
In the far future, after human civilization has spread through the galaxy, communications begin to arrive in an apparently alien language. They appear to threaten invasion, but in order to counter the threat, the messages must first be understood. Views: 803
Collected in one volume, the first four novels featuring the retired Sherlock Holmes and his disciple Mary Russell by New York Times-bestselling author Laurie R. King.
The Beekeeper's Apprentice
In 1915, Sherlock Holmes and his fifteen-year-old protege Mary Russell are called to Wales to help Scotland Yard find the kidnapped daughter of an American senator, a case of international significance with clues that dip deep into Holmes's past.
A Monstrous Regiment of Women
*It is 1921 and Mary Russell is on the verge of acquiring a sizable inheritance. Her attentions turn to the New Temple of God and its leader, a charismatic suffragette and a mystic. When four bluestockings from the Temple turn up dead shortly after changing their wills, could sins of a capital nature be afoot?
A Letter of Mary*
*It is 1923. Mary Russell Holmes and Sherlock Holmes are visited by an old friend, an archaeologist just returned from Palestine. She leaves in their protection an ancient, controversial manuscript. When their friend is suddenly killed in a tragic accident, Russell and Holmes find themselves on the trail of a fiendishly clever murderer.
The Moor*
**In the eerie wasteland of Dartmoor, Sherlock Holmes summons Mary Russell to aid the investigation of a death and some disturbing phenomena of a decidedly supernatural origin. There have been sightings of a spectral coach made of bones carrying a woman long-ago accused of murdering her husband--and of a hound with a single glowing eye. Returning to the scene of The Hound of the Baskervilles, Holmes and Russell investigate a mystery darker and more unforgiving than the moors themselves. Views: 793
A short story (3100 words)Amelia is an author who writes about love but has lost her belief in it. She is participating in a book signing week in yet another stop on what seems like an endless tour. When she escapes to a quiet corner of the bookstore Amelia meets the woman who she knows can restore her faith in love, but will she have a chance to find out?A short story (3100 words)Amelia is an author who writes about love but has lost her belief in it. She is participating in a book signing week in yet another stop on what seems like an endless tour. When she escapes to a quiet corner of the bookstore Amelia meets the woman who she knows can restore her faith in love, but will she have a chance to find out?Also included with this short story are extracts from R J Samuel’s novels FALLING COLOURS (the first in the Vision Painter series) and HEART STOPPER (a medical thriller). Views: 792
On Earth, everyone is a soldier. Like all humans Jadeth was trained from birth to kill. Humans are the best soldiers in the galaxy and they fight for whoever pays the most. With no family, no country, no tribe, their lives and their loyalty belong to High Command. But when Jadeth meets Ilyan, a man they call The Prophet, he learns he’s been lied to all his life.Brilliant intelligence analyst, Ilyan, is certain humanity and Earth itself is in imminent danger. High Command refuses to believe it, forcing Ilyan to go on the run, desperate to spread the truth. If he can’t make High Command believe in the threat, then he will take his message to the soldiers on the ground.Infantryman Jadeth is one of those soldiers. He doesn’t know if it’s accident or fate that has brought him to Ilyan, but he knows he has only one mission now. He must protect Ilyan and his small band of followers as they travel through hostile territory, spreading the truth. High Command has betrayed humanity, and Jadeth has nothing left to believe in—except The Prophet. Ilyan is determined to reach Earth’s mercenary army, scattered across the galaxy fighting other people’s wars. His new guardian Jadeth must keep him safe from agents of High Command determined to silence him. If Jadeth fails he will have nothing left. If that happens Earth will learn how far a man can go when everything he believed in is lost. Views: 789
The body of a teenage boy is discovered in a Kansas field. The murder haunts Donna—a recent widow battling cancer—calling forth troubling details from long-suppressed memories of her past. Hoping to discover more about "disappeared" people, she turns to her son, Scott, who is fighting demons of his own. Addicted to methamphetamines and sleeping pills, Scott is barely holding on—though the chance to help his mother in her strange and desperate search holds out a slim promise of some small salvation.
But what he finds is a boy named Otis handcuffed in a secret basement room, and the questions that arise seem too disturbing even to contemplate. With his mother's health rapidly deteriorating, he must surrender to his own obsession, and unravel Otis's unsettling connections to other missing teens . . . and, ultimately, to Scott himself. Views: 784
