Set in the exotic, seductive world of pre-revolutionary Iran, IN THE WALLED GARDENS tells the nostalgic and moving story of Mahastee and Reza, who loved each other as children but have not seen each other for 20 years.Mahastee, who has become trapped by the privileged society she has grown up in, is struggling to keep her identity in the face of the increasingly empty role she inhabits. Reza has grown up to become a Marxist revolutionary, leading underground meetings and living on the edge. When chance brings the two together again, their encounters are a portrait not only of an ill-fated love, but of two worlds at odds, moving ever closer to a doomed collision. Views: 32
The League of Seven is the first book in an action-packed, steampunk series by the acclaimed author of Samurai Shortstop, Alan Gratz. In an alternate 1875 America electricity is forbidden, Native Americans and Yankees are united, and eldritch evil lurks in the shadows. Young Archie Dent knows there really are monsters in the world. His parents are members of the Septemberist Society, whose job it is to protect humanity from hideous giants called the Mangleborn. Trapped in underground prisons for a thousand years, the giant monsters have been all but forgotten—but now they are rising again as the steam-driven America of 1875 rediscovers electricity, the lifeblood of the Mangleborn. When his parents and the rest of the Septemberists are brainwashed by one of the evil creatures, Archie must assemble a team of seven young heroes to save the world.At the publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management... Views: 32
Two Destinies...One Journey of LoveIn a humble fishing village on the shores of the Nile lives Asenath, a fisherman's daughter who has everything she could want. Until her perfect world is shattered.When a warring jungle tribe ransacks the village and kidnaps her, separating her from her parents, she is forced to live as a slave. And she begins a journey that will culminate in the meeting of a handsome and kind steward named Joseph. Like her, Joseph was taken away from his home, and it is in him that Asenath comes to find solace...and love. But just as they are beginning to form a bond, Joseph is betrayed by his master's wife and thrown into prison. Is Asenath doomed to a lifetime of losing everything and everyone she loves?About the AuthorAnna Patricio is a lover of ancient history, with a particular interest in Egypt, Israel, Greece, and Rome. She is also intrigued by the Ancient Near East, though she has not delved too much into it but hopes to one day.She undertook formal studies in Ancient History at Macquarie University. She focused mostly on Egyptology and Jewish-Christian Studies, alongside a couple of Greco-Roman units, and one on Archaeology. Though she knew there were very limited job openings for ancient history graduates, she pursued her degree anyway as it was something she had always been passionate about.Then, about a year after her graduation, the idea to tackle historical fiction appeared in her head, and she began happily pounding away on her laptop. Asenath is her first novel.Recently, she traveled to Lower Egypt (specifically Cairo and the Sinai), Israel, and Jordan. She plans to return to Egypt soon, and see more of it. In the past, she has also been to Athens and Rome.Anna is currently working on a second novel, which still takes place in Ancient Egypt, but hundreds of years after Asenath. Views: 32
It is 1936 and the headmistress at Roehampton Secondary School, pioneer and suffragette Octavia Smith, is steering her pupils towards success as her exemplary girls' school moves from strength to strength. But as Europe rumbles towards war, Octavia's drive to change the world burns as bright as ever and she finds herself caught up in covert plans to rescue Jewish families from the Nazi advance in mainland Europe.Meanwhile, talk of an evacuation of schoolchildren is increasing and Octavia will have to uproot if she wants to continue her students' education. Furthermore, Octavia's prize student Lizzie has quite an interesting father – Octavia's old flame Tommy Meriton is back on the scene, and once again Octavia finds herself torn between love and duty...As a new World War strikes closer and closer to home, bringing challenges and tragedies along the way, Octavia's war is only just beginning Views: 32
A beautiful ghost appears to a troubled teen and shows her the heartbreaking secrets of her family's past Fifteen-year-old Teresa has fallen in love—with a ghost. The handsome man that she's passed on the street a few times captures her attention, and she thinks he notices her too. But when the man suddenly appears inside her home, hovering in the air and passing through solid furniture, Teresa realizes this isn't going to be a typical crush. The ghost is Brother Rush, a man tied to Teresa's past, who has come to show her the ways her life has special meaning, and that her problems at school and at home are not what they seem. Views: 31
SynopsisThe Promise will take you on a breathtaking journey into the battlefields of the First World War. War threatens to take all she has loved and lived for . . . On the outbreak of war, Belle Reilly's husband Jimmy enlists and heads for the deadly trenches of northern France. But Belle knows she cannot stand idly by when so many are sacrificing their lives. Volunteering to help battlefield wounded, Belle is posted to France as a Red Cross ambulance driver. There, a tragic accident brings her face to face with Etienne - a man from her past she's never quite forgotten. Torn between forbidden passion, loyalty and love, Belle is caught in an impossible situation. Will she succumb to the dark forces of this most brutal of wars? Or will fate intervene and finally lead her to lasting happiness? The Promise vividly describes life behind the front line and the tragic choices that war forces people to make. Views: 31
The second instalment in the thrilling Flora Maguire Mystery Series. Flora Maguire is now happily married to Bunny Harrington and living in Richmond when she receives an alarming telegram informing her of her father's tragic death in a riding accident at Cleeve Abbey. Heartbroken, she and Bunny return to her former home, where she was Governess to Eddy, Viscount Trent, and her father was Butler to Earl Trent. Flora's intention was to bury him next to Lily, her mother, who sadly passed away when Flora was a small child. Mystery surrounds the final resting place of Lily. No-one is willing to talk and, with her father now dead in a suspicious accident, Flora must once again strive alone to uncover hidden family secrets. Views: 31
More information to be announced soon on this forthcoming title from Penguin USAFrom Publishers WeeklyAt 72, Ducovny (author of 10 nonfiction books, including David Ben Gurion; playwright; journalist; and father of X-Files star David) debuts as a novelist with a coming-of-age memoir set in the seedy underworld of Coney Island in the late 1930s. Fifteen-year-old Harry Catzker learns to think about life through Brooklyn-accented, imaginative Platonic dialogues with his family's Polish boarder, Yiddish poet Aba Stolz. The teenager also becomes familiar with life's seamier pursuits riding his bike along Coney Island's tawdry midway, befriending the local sideshow freaks and observing the dog pack that patrols the boardwalk. A midget named Woody, owner of a bike rental and repair shop, introduces Harry to Luna Park's illegal trades. Woody starts Harry off as a small-time bagman, but soon involves him in the biggest arson scam in Coney Island history. The pervasive atmosphere of sleaze and fraud also draws in Harry's father, Moishe, a Yiddish journalist whose serialized novels engage a loyal audience of Orthodox Jews, and Harry's mother, Velia, a Polish refugee with secrets of her own. Even the intellectual Aba falls victim to blackmail and worse. Ducovny captures the range of New York immigrant experiences: Aba's trips to Harlem jazz clubs contrasts with the stubborn ethnicity of Harry's grandmother, Bama, who came to America in 1919, never learned English, and returns to the old country a widow on the eve of WWII. Characters like the wheelchair-bound crime boss Vic Menter, cruising in his 1939 black chauffeur-driven Packard, counterpoint nostalgic scenes of Aba, recalling the crime he committed in Poland or giving a poetry reading. Most of all, however, there's the specter of the European genocide taking place at the same time as these Coney Island adventures, shedding a somber shadow on this colorful, compassionate story. Agent, Andrew Blauner. 30,000 first printing. Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library JournalIn this first novel, Ducovny (educator, father of actor David Duchovny, and author of ten books of nonfiction) portrays three groups living in 1930s Coney Island: immigrant Polish Jews fleeing persecution, gangsters, and carnival sideshow attractions. Teenager Harry Catzker runs errands for the thugs and finds a surrogate mother in Fifi, the carnival's fat woman. The horror of events unfolding in Europe informs the lives of Harry's parents, Moses and Velia, and their friend, Yiddish poet Aba Stolz. A secret from Aba's Polish past leads to the tragic deaths of the three adults. While the fears and dreams of the Jews are movingly portrayed, Ducovny keeps too many story lines moving simultaneously (Aba's love for an African American singer, the gangsters' arson scheme, Velia's adultery, and the histories of the various "freaks"). A scene of the carnival workers having group sex while Harry watches may be intended to show the humanity of the characters but comes off as merely gratuitous. Recommended for large fiction collections and where there is interest in Jewish or New York City history.DJudith Kicinski, Sarah Lawrence Coll. Lib., Bronxville, NY Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. Views: 31
