A beautiful and haunting novel; longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2012. Malaya, 1949. After a career spent helping to prosecute Japanese war criminals, Yun Ling Teoh, herself the scarred lone survivor of a brutal Japanese wartime camp, seeks solace among the jungle fringed plantations of Northern Malaya. There she meets the enigmatic Aritomo, exiled former gardener of the Emperor of Japan. Yun Ling asks Aritomo to create a garden in memory of her sister. But the Garden of Evening Mists is also a place of mystery, and the jungle holds secrets of its own - The Garden of Evening Mists deals with Malaysia's turbulent road to independence, a time of insurrection, uncertainty and terror. This recording is unabridged. Typically abridged audiobooks are not more than 60% of the author's work and as low as 30% with characters and plotlines removed.Review'Just as elegantly planted as his Man Booker longlisted debut The Gift of Rain, and even more tantalisingly evocative' THE INDEPENDENT Views: 54
Christmas—a time for families? Love and family have never been in Dr. Catherine Lewis's career plan. But by working with Dr. Matt Fielding in his practice by day and playing with him and his two beautiful daughters by night, Catherine experiences everything she'd thought she never wanted. Until, as Christmas approaches, she is torn between choosing the independent life she'd planned—or taking the risk of a lifetime in Matt's loving arms.... Views: 54
Twenty-four-year-old Leslie Heyward eagerly looks to the future. But her dreams are shattered when a drunk driver crashed into her parents' car killing them instantly. Now she is responsible for her five-year-old brother, Travis, and the family's coffee shop. Her dreams-and any thoughts of love-are the farthest things from her mind. She only trusts that God will see her through one day at a time. But when Darrin Malone enters her life, Leslie is drawn to him in spite of her resolve to settle the past before looking to the future. Is there room in Leslie's life for love, or will the truth about Darrin's family turn her against him forever? Views: 54
An uplifting and romantic Christmas story full of old-fashioned charm. A tale of transformation involving a struggling single mother who is trying to make a fresh start in life and a man who has lost his connection to humanity. Views: 54
An old woman is awoken in the dead of night by knocks at her front door. She opens it to find her daughter, Doruntine, standing there alone in the darkness. She has been brought home from a distant land by a mysterious rider she claims is her brother Konstandin. But unbeknownst to her, Konstandin has been dead for years. What follows is chain of events which plunges an Albanian village into fear and mistrust. Who is the ghost rider? Based on the story of “The Ballad of Constantine and Doruntine”, an ancient tale that is known wherever Albanian is spoken and whose versions exist in every Balkan language and in several other European folk traditions. The legend tells of a brother, Kostandin, who rises from his grave to fulfil his promise of bringing his married sister Doruntine back from a far-off land to see their dying mother. Revised edition with many additions and title change of Doruntine, published many years ago. Views: 54
Johnny Montana was tall and dark, and sport a thin, neatly trimmed mustache and he had midnight black eyes. He was particular about his person; he shaved regular and put rosewater in his hair and preferred clean shirts when he could get them...Johnny Montana was the kind of man who made things happen."You planning on sticking around these parts for the rest of your days?" That question completely changed Katie Swensen's life....She knew in an instant that her answer would be 'no' if Johnny Montana was asking her to go away with him. They left in the late hours of a warm evening, her daddy snoring in the other room. Johnny Montana was the handsomest man she'd ever met. It wasn't until a few days later that she learned he was also a gambler, a road agent and a killer.Henry Dollar was a man that knew horses and knew how to ride them, and he knew guns and how to use them. He'd been tested by gunfire in the sixteen years he'd spent with the D Company of the Texas Rangers.... Views: 54
While the rest of the Canary Islands celebrates Carnaval, British secret agents Ashley Blade and Jemma Jacobs try to unravel a Libyan terrorist plot against the United States. If they don't succeed, it's goodbye to Boston and the U.S. eastern seaboard. Then the Libyan terrorists launch a new nefarious plot in Brazil, and Ash and Jemma scramble to save the world from a deadly sarin attack.
Ash and Jemma finally return home to London for some much needed rest and relaxation. Unfortunately, where Ash and Jemma go, trouble is not far behind. Views: 54
A disturbing mix of tragedy, comedy, politics and sexuality, Chronicle in Stone is a fascinating early masterpiece from the winner of the inaugural Man Booker International Prize.WWII is about to start, but life for a young boy in small town Albania is still a game. Yet, as the country falls to the Italians, then the Greeks, then eventually to the Nazis, and is mercilessly bombed by the British, the boy grows up.In a seamless mosaic of dreams and games, Kadare's young narrator both reflects and distorts events as his ancient, magical home town and his own innocence and sense of wonder are lost forever in the madness and brutality of the war.'A thoroughly enchanting novel-sophisticated and accomplished in its poetic prose and narrative deftness, yet drawing resonance from its roots in one of Europe's most primitive societies.' John Updike, The New Yorker Views: 54
In book two of the King of Ys series, Gratillonius adjusts to his new role as sovereign of Ys as threats from all sides begin closing in As the Roman Empire loses its grip on its far-flung territories, the mystical kingdom of Ys in western Gaul is in great danger of slipping into oblivion. Suffocated for years by the rule of a tyrant king, Ys's last hope arrived in the form of a Roman emissary, Gratillonius, who defeated the sitting king to take the throne himself. Now Gratillonius must grapple with the kingdom's political strife and religious tensions while balancing his responsibilities to the Gallicenae, nine wide-ranging witches who have become his wives. Though Rome seeks to spread Christianity, and Gratillonius stands firm in his worship of Mithras, the Ysans hold to an entirely different religion in service of pagan deities who must be obeyed lest grave consequences descend on the fragile kingdom. Gallicenae is the second book in Poul and... Views: 54
A journalist receives a proposal to investigate the eventful life of his great-grandmother, about whom all that is known is that she fled Spain, abandoning her husband and child, shortly before the Civil War broke out. The memoir of an entire century, this novel adds a new, original chapter to Julia Navarro's best-selling career. Tell Me Who I Am surprises and enchants with a captivating and heartrending story. This is a novel about memory and identity with an exceptionally well-drawn and unforgettable literary character: a woman who throughout her extraordinary life was able to achieve the highly difficult feat of knowing herself. A victim of her mistakes, aware of her guilt, frightened by her traumas, she is above all an anti-heroine, a flesh-and-blood woman who always acts according to her principles, facing up to every challenge and making errors for which she will never fully pay. A woman who decided that she couldn't be neutral in this life.... Views: 54
A fantastic tale of intrigue, love, war, magic, and swashbuckling adventure set in an alternate universe where fairies mingle freely with Englishmen and all of Shakespeare's fictional characters are real Welcome to an alternate civil-war-torn seventeenth-century England—a world where Hamlet once brooded and Othello jealously raged. Here faeries and sprites gambol in English woods, railroads race across the landscape while manned balloons float above the countryside, and the most respected historian of all is one William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon. The year is 1644, and the war between the Roundheads and the Cavaliers rages. When Rupert, nephew of King Charles I, is taken captive by Cromwell's troops and imprisoned in a Puritan home, he is immediately smitten with the beautiful Jennifer Alayne, his captor's niece. Escaping with the help of his newfound beloved and the loyal trooper Will Fairweather, Rupert leads Jennifer deep into the... Views: 54
