"In the vein of Jodi Picoult's Nineteen Minutes, As Wide as the Sky explores the human component of tragedy." —Mandy Mikulencak, author of The Last Suppers "Characters as rich and indelible as the life they endure . . . A phenomenal read."—Internationally Bestselling Author Davis Bunn Five a.m.: Amanda Mallorie wakes to the knowledge that her son Robbie is gone. And a new chapter of her own life must begin. She has spent four years as her son's only support, desperately trying to understand the actions that landed him on death row and to change his fate. Now Amanda faces an even more difficult task—finding a way, and a reason, to move forward with her own life. Before the tragedy that unfolded in a South Dakota mall, Robbie was just like other people's sons or daughters. Sometimes troubled, but sweet and full of goodness too. That's the little boy Amanda remembers as she... Views: 41
In the sleepy, North Indian town of Amarpur, a young boy named Baba Singh Toor secretly murders a moneylender in a moment of blind sorrow and rage, setting events in motion that will shape the coming generations of Toors.Hardened by a life of serial misfortune and loss, many years after the murder for which he was never caught, Baba Singh infects his son, Manmohan, with the misery and guilt he was unable to overcome. Two generations later, his grandson, Darshan, the most loyal and unassuming of the Toors, finds himself dragged to the center of conflict as the family demands that he correct past wrongs. How will a chest containing a collection of Baba Singh’s numerous life tragedies allow Darshan to free himself from the dysfunction that has amassed over three lifetimes? And will he live up to his name—meaning one who is blessed with clarity of sight—to finally bury the shame of a long-ago concealed crime?Spanning continents and cultures, chronicling three generations of Indian men—traveling from the Punjab to Fiji to San Francisco—Darshan is the story of one family’s great capacity for forgiveness, learned after nearly a century of heartache. Views: 38
SUMMARY:From the author ofThe Necropolis RailwayandThe Blackpool Highflyercomes another ingenious thriller featuring Jim Stringer. It is winter 1906 and Jim has been promoted from sleuth to official railway detective for York station. His first day on the job, the mysterious Lost Luggage Porter, "a human directory to everything in York" tips him off to a group of railway thieves. Jim is instructed by his Inspector to infiltrate their gang and is drawn along into their plot to carry out a robbery and make their getaway across the Channel. Soon Jim finds himself swept off to Paris with the thieves, his plight made even worse when threats are made against his wife. Can Jim get to get to her before the villains do? UK Praise for THE LOST LUGGAGE PORTER: "Page-turning, confidently written..." Guardian "The atmosphere of neglected streets...dingy saloon bars, supper of boiled bacon and pickles, and dismal, unceasing rain are splendidly evoked." Telegraph Views: 37
The Joy-Ride and After was A.L. Barker's third collection of shorter pieces, first published in 1963. It offers three novellas, linked by certain recurrent characters and by their variations on the themes of loneliness and insecurity.The first tells of what has led to a young garage-hand 'borrowing' his employer's car, and of the disastrous consequences that ensue. In the second, a betrayed wife loses her memory after an accident, and finds herself on a barge with an old reprobate. The third concerns the tribulations of a canteen manager who has an inscrutable boss and an extravagant wife. Whether they live in slum tenement or suburban semi-detached, these 'ordinary' people become alive and phenomenal to us through the force and sympathy of Barker's imagination. Views: 37
'A sequel to his acclaimed début Morvern Callar, These Demented Lands, confirms that Alan Warner boasts an extravagant talent... This novel is set on a Scottish island that contains a variety of weird landmarks and an hallucinogenic cast of characters - including a DJ who wants to set up the rave to end all raves, a visitor whose job is to assess candidates for sainthood and the wonderfully unfazed heroine, Morvern Callar' - Harry Ritchie, Mail on Sunday A powerful, hilarious and original novel about the intersection of lives in the rough and ready communities and wild landscapes of the Scottish Highlands. Views: 37
Facing the threat of King Philip’s Enterprise of England – Spanish invasion and annexation of the country – Sir Francis Walsingham’s espionage service spreads a spy network across Europe. After caring for hundreds of maimed and wounded soldiers returning from the fall of Sluys, young physician and code-breaker Christoval Alvarez is sent on two dangerous missions to Amsterdam, where, amongst the friendly Hollanders, treason and treachery lurks. Christoval’s ship, sailing home, plays its part in the great sea battle in which the small and inexperienced English navy must confront the most powerful sea force in the world.About the Authorhttp://www.annswinfen.com Ann Swinfen spent her childhood partly in England and partly on the east coast of America. She was educated at Somerville College, Oxford, where she read Classics and Mathematics and married a fellow undergraduate, the historian David Swinfen. While bringing up their five children and studying for a postgraduate MSc in Mathematics and a BA and PhD in English Literature, she had a variety of jobs, including university lecturer, translator, freelance journalist and software designer. She served for nine years on the governing council of the Open University and for five years worked as a manager and editor in the technical author division of an international computer company, but gave up her full-time job to concentrate on her writing, while continuing part-time university teaching. In 1995 she founded Dundee Book Events, a voluntary organisation promoting books and authors to the general public. Her first three novels, The Anniversary, The Travellers, and A Running Tide, all with a contemporary setting but also an historical resonance, were published by Random House, with translations into Dutch and German. The Testament of Mariam marks something of a departure. Set in the first century, it recounts, from an unusual perspective, one of the most famous and yet ambiguous stories in human history. At the same time it explores life under a foreign occupying force, in lands still torn by conflict to this day. Her second historical novel, Flood, is set in the fenlands of East Anglia during the seventeenth century, where the local people fought desperately to save their land from greedy and unscrupulous speculators. Currently she is working on a late sixteenth century series, featuring a young Marrano physician who is recruited as a code-breaker and spy in Walsingham’s secret service. The first book in the series is The Secret World of Christoval Alvarez and the second is The Enterprise of England. She now lives in Broughty Ferry, on the northeast coast of Scotland, with her husband, formerly vice-principal of the University of Dundee, a cocker spaniel, and two Maine coon cats. Views: 32
