"A superb anthology that never disappoints." —Publishers Weekly Elizabeth George, "superstar of the crime fiction world" (Seattle Times) and author of the beloved Inspector Lynley series, collects the best mystery writing of the year that "will have you on the edge of your seat" (USA Today). Views: 117
When nine-year-old orphan Georgia James is unexpectedly fostered by the kindly Celia and her bank manager husband she can hardly believe her luck. But then - on her fifteenth birthday - she suffers the cruellest betrayal of all at the hands of her foster father and is forced to run away, leaving everything she loves behind her. Penniless, sleeping rough, Georgia is soon introduced to the sleazy Soho world of brassy strippers, sweat shops, camaraderie and hardship. Fired by a fierce ambition, blessed with an extraordinary voice, her long struggle for fame and fortune begins. But even when she reaches the top she finds that the scars of the past can open up to ruin her... Steeped in atmosphere and raw emotion, Georgia is the story of a determination to succeed against all the odds and of a burning first love. Views: 116
Praise for Haunted:"Spooky, sassy, sinister, and sexy!" —Cynthia Leitich Smith, New York Times bestselling authorIs it possible to change the past?AnastasiaNo one ever knew what happened to her except her half-brother, Viktor—and he'll do anything to keep it that way.AnneShe just wants a normal boyfriend, a normal family-no visions of the past, no evil mermaids, no Brotherhood trying to kill her. But Anne is not normal...and she's capable of a lot more than she thinks.EthanHe's been eighteen for nearly a century, and finding Anne is the best thing that's ever happened to him. But the magic in his blood is turning darker, forcing him to wonder whether he's the most dangerous threat of all... Views: 116
Embrace possibility in this luminous novel about a girl in search of her past who discovers a secret rooftop world in Paris.Everyone thinks that Sophie is an orphan. True, there were no other recorded female survivors from the shipwreck that left baby Sophie floating in the English Channel in a cello case, but Sophie remembers seeing her mother wave for help. Her guardian tells her it is almost impossible that her mother is still alive?but ?almost impossible? means ?still possible.? And you should never ignore a possible. So when the Welfare Agency writes to her guardian, threatening to send Sophie to an orphanage, she takes matters into her own hands and flees to Paris to look for her mother, starting with the only clue she has? the address of the cello maker. Evading the French authorities, she meets Matteo and his network of rooftoppers?urchins who live in the hidden spaces above the city. Together they scour the city in a search for... Views: 116
"What ardent, dazzling souls emerge from these American missionaries in China . . . A beautiful, searing book that leaves an indelible presence in the mind." —Patricia Hampl, author of The Florist's Daughter Will Kiehn is seemingly destined for life as a humble farmer in the Midwest when, having felt a call from God, he travels to the vast North China Plain in the early twentieth-century. There he is surprised by love and weds a strong and determined fellow missionary, Katherine. They soon find themselves witnesses to the crumbling of a more than two-thousand-year-old dynasty that plunges the country into decades of civil war. As the couple works to improve the lives of the people of Kuang P'ing Ch'eng— City of Tranquil Light, a place they come to love—and face incredible hardship, will their faith and relationship be enough to sustain them? Told through Will and Katherine's alternating... Views: 116
A Newbery Honor Book author has written a powerful and gripping novel about a youth in Nazi Germany who tells the truth about Hitler Bartoletti has taken one episode from her Newbery Honor Book, HITLER YOUTH, and fleshed it out into thought-provoking novel. When 16-year-old Helmut Hubner listens to the BBC news on an illegal short-wave radio, he quickly discovers Germany is lying to the people. But when he tries to expose the truth with leaflets, he's tried for treason. Sentenced to death and waiting in a jail cell, Helmut's story emerges in a series of flashbacks that show his growth from a naive child caught up in the patriotism of the times , to a sensitive and mature young man who thinks for himself. Views: 115
Frances Itani returns to her roots with a collection of over 20 remarkable short stories. Showcasing the range and depth of her work, these include selections from her previous three collections, as well as seven new stories. In the award-winning title story, " Poached Egg on Toast," a small domestic drama balloons into a defining moment in a long-time marriage. " Accident" holds its dream-like spell over the reader as a woman struggles to make sense of what happened to her and her husband in a terrible car wreck. " In the Name of Love" explores a woman's search for normalcy and connection in the midst of devastation during the 1990s Balkan War. A number of these stories showcase Itani's ability to shine a clear light on what it feels like to be an outsider, displaced and disconnected from the world at hand. Others are about family life, the crises we must all face, and how a single, small moment can cause a seismic shift in our emotional landscape. Wickedly funny and... Views: 115
This greathearted novel is the finale of Ivan Doig's passionate and authentic trilogy about the McCaskill family and their alluring Two Medicine country along the hem of the northern Rockies.Jick McCaskill, the illustrious narrator of English Creek, returns as the witty and moving voice in this classic encounter with the American road and all the rewards and travails it can bring. Jick faces his family's -- and his state's -- legacy of loss and perseverance from the vantage point of Montana's centennial in 1989 when his daughter Mariah enlists him as Winnebago chauffeur to her and her ex-husband, the magnificently ornery and eloquent columnist Riley Wright, when their news-paper dispatches them to dig up stories of the "real Montana." Just as the centennial is a cause for reflection as well as jubilation, the exuberant travels of this trio bring on encounters with the past in "memory storms" that become occasions for reassessment and necessary accommodations of the heart. Views: 115
It was an evening in early autumn in the last year of the nineteenth century. We were nearing the close of a voyage as calm and peaceful as our previous lives. Views: 114
At the age of seventeen, Abbie must decide whether to marry Ed, and live a life of comfort, or Will, who offers a sod shanty on the Nebraska frontier. Views: 113
Previously published as A Change of Fortune A moving and uplifting tale set in 1920s London, for fans of Dilly Court, Daisy Styles and Lesley Pearce November, 1929Sixteen-year-old Eugenie Winford is looking forward to Christmas in her family's elegant Russell Square mansion. But shortly before the holidays her world is shattered when her father suddenly dies. Destitute and desperate to escape the marriage her mother has arranged to save them, Eugenie runs away, changing her name and disguising herself as a servant. Hiding in the rundown streets of Lambeth and struggling, like so many others, with poverty and hardship, she finds true kindness and even love. Yet little does Eugenie know she is hunted by her greedy blood relations - and a young man who hopes to save her . . . Who will find her first? And can she ever return to the life she had before, even if she wanted to? ... Views: 113
Viet Thanh Nguyen's The Sympathizer was one of the most widely and highly praised novels of 2015, the winner not only of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, but also the Center for Fiction Debut Novel Prize, the Edgar Award for Best First Novel, the ALA Carnegie Medal for Fiction, the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature, and the California Book Award for First Fiction. Nguyen's next fiction book, The Refugees, is a collection of perfectly formed stories written over a period of twenty years, exploring questions of immigration, identity, love, and family.With the coruscating gaze that informed The Sympathizer, in The Refugees Viet Thanh Nguyen gives voice to lives led between two worlds, the adopted homeland and the country of birth. From a young Vietnamese refugee who suffers profound culture shock when he comes to live with two gay men in San Francisco, to a woman whose husband is suffering from dementia and starts to confuse her for a... Views: 112
During a trip to a nearby village, the proudly unmarried Sir Ashleigh Carruthers attends an evening service in the small local church. There, he finds himself seated next to the alluring and hypnotically beautiful Woman in Black and is instantly enraptured. But when the vicar collapses mid-sermon after looking upon the Woman's face, Carruthers is left to wonder: Who is this mysterious woman? And should he be worried about her pointed ears, her pointed teeth, and her ability to vanish into thin air? Featuring a bewitching and depraved antiheroine who leaves a pile of bloody bodies in her wake, The Woman in Black is the not-quite-living embodiment of every Victorian man's worst nightmare. Views: 111
