In this unforgettable work of fiction, Donald Ray Pollock peers into the soul of a tough Midwestern American town to reveal the sad, stunted but resilient lives of its residents. Knockemstiff is a genuine entry into the literature of place.Spanning a period from the mid-sixties to the late nineties, the linked stories that comprise Knockemstiff feature a cast of recurring characters who are irresistibly, undeniably real. A father pumps his son full of steroids so he can vicariously relive his days as a perpetual runner-up body builder. A psychotic rural recluse comes upon two siblings committing incest and feels compelled to take action. Donald Ray Pollock presents his characters and the sordid goings-on with a stern intelligence, a bracing absence of value judgments, and a refreshingly dark sense of bottom-dog humor.
From the Trade Paperback edition. Views: 177
George Barr McCutcheon, a native of Indiana, is best remembered for his Graustark series. This romance series is set in the fictional, Eastern European like nation of Graustark. Views: 177
THE FEEL-GOOD NOVEL OF THE SUMMERA heart-warming, heart-wrenching wartime story from The Sunday Times bestselling author of Dear Mrs Bird, AJ Pearce.Emmy Lake is the much-loved agony aunt at Woman's Friend magazine, relied upon by readers across the country as they face the challenges of life on the Home Front. With the problem page thriving and a team of fantastic women behind her, Emmy finally feels she is Doing Her Bit.But when a glamorous new owner arrives, everything changes. As the Honourable Mrs Porter tries to charm her way around the rest of the team, Emmy realizes that she plans to destroy everything readers love about the magazine.With happiness quickly turning to heartbreak and war still raging in Europe, will Emmy and her friends find the inner strength they need to keep keeping on - and save the magazine they love?'Heartbreaking yet feel-good, we loved it.' - Woman & Home'A winning... Views: 177
The final installment in Donachie's sweeping series set in the pre-WWII European powder keg1938: As Hitler sets his sights on the Sudetenland, not everyone in Britain is willing to appease him. Convinced that the Führer's land hunger is insatiable, the head of the SIS recruits Cal Jardine to help him prove that Czechoslovakia is threatened with invasion. But before heading undercover to Prague, Jardine must first extricate himself from France, where his attempts to smuggle guns to Spain have been held up by a group of fanatical fascists. In their struggle to overthrow the French government, they are prepared to kill for the sake of procuring weapons.When Cal finally arrives in Czechoslovakia, working undercover for the SIS proves no less dangerous as jealousy and mutual suspicions within Secret Service ranks make it impossible for him to tell friend from foe. Views: 176
Young love is all too fleeting, as Harold Jonquil painfully discovered years ago when Sarah Sarvol, the niece of a neighboring landowner, captured his heart. After an idyllic few weeks in the throes of blossoming love, reality intervened. They could have no future. Following their disastrous parting, Harold attempted to push aside thoughts of love and regret, but Sarah has never left his heart. Now, years later, he has achieved his lifelong aspiration of becoming the local vicar. However, the role proves more difficult than he imagined. He feels hollow and uninspired—until the most important person in his past returns, challenging him as no one ever has.
When Sarah’s ailing uncle summons her back to the family estate in England, there is only one person from her past she is reluctant to see again: Harold Jonquil, the only man who has ever claimed her heart. But when she comes face-to-face with her former beau, she hardly recognizes the aloof and dull man before her. She is determined to help Harold rediscover the passion he once felt toward his chosen profession. Soon, despite their exasperation with each other, they cannot deny the stirring of feelings long buried—but is it too late for second chances? Views: 176
He's sworn celibacy... Until he gets vengeance!Danr Sigurdsson is indebted to the captivating, mysterious healer living alone in the wilderness who carefully tends his wounds. Consumed with anguish over the massacre that killed his family, Danr has sworn not to touch another woman until he finds those responsible. So resisting Sissa should be easy, but as they search for the truth, fighting their mutual attraction becomes the hardest battle... Views: 176
From New York Times best-selling and Edgar Award-winning author Ben H. Winters, this supernatural page-turner about a real-estate nightmare will make you think twice about your dream homeSusan and Alex Wendt have found their dream apartment in a gorgeous Brooklyn brownstone.Sure, the landlady is a little eccentric. And the elderly handyman drops some cryptic remarks about the basement. But the rent is so low, it’s too good to pass up.Big mistake. Susan awakens every morning with fresh bug bites, but neither Alex nor their daughter, Emma, has a single welt. An exterminator searches the property and turns up nothing. The landlady insists her building is clean. Susan fears she’s going mad—until she makes a chilling discovery in the bonus room.Filled with Hitchcockian suspense, The Bonus Room is a horrifying tale of a dream home that becomes a nightmare.Previously published in 2011 as Bedbugs. Views: 176
Against the backdrop of the harsh and unforgiving American frontier, Abraham Kent seeks to build a life and identity of his own
Continuing the saga of the Kent family, John Jakes turns his masterful eye to the settlement of the untamed American West. Abraham Kent, the son of Philip Kent and Anne Ware, fought valiantly on the frontier, only to return home to Boston and a life he doesn’t want. Determined not to live in his father’s shadow, Abraham and his young bride join the wave of pioneers carving out farms in the turbulent, dangerous West. But life on the nation’s frontier soon becomes more than their fledgling family can endure. Furthering his reign as the living master of American historical fiction, Jakes unfurls the epic of The Seekers. This ebook features an illustrated biography of John Jakes including rare images from the author’s personal collection. Views: 176
The #1 New York Times bestselling author and "one of the great storytellers of our time" (San Francisco Book Review) turns from the glamour of the royal courts to tell the story of an ordinary woman, Alinor, who cannot bear to conform to the life that lies before her.Midsummer's Eve, 1648, and England is in the grip of a civil war between a renegade king and a rebellious parliament. The struggle reaches every corner of the kingdom, even to the remote Tidelands—the marshy landscape of the south coast. Alinor, a descendant of wise women, trapped in poverty and superstition, waits in the graveyard under the full moon for a ghost who will declare her free from her abusive husband. Instead, she meets James, a young man on the run, and shows him the secret ways across the treacherous marsh, not knowing she is leading disaster into the heart of her life. Suspected of possessing dark secrets in superstitious times, Alinor's ambition... Views: 175
