On sick leave from Scotland Yard, Inspector Alan Grant is planning a quiet holiday with an old school chum to recover from overwork and mental fatigue. Traveling on the night train to Scotland, however, Grant stumbles upon a dead man and a cryptic poem about 'the stones that walk' and 'the singing sand, ' which send him off on a fascinating search into the verse's meaning and the identity of the deceased. Grant needs just this sort of casual inquiry to quiet his jangling nerves, despite his doctor's orders. But what begins as a leisurely pastime eventually turns into a full-blown investigation that leads Grant to discover not only the key to the poem but the truth about a most diabolical murder Views: 891
This collection includes all of the works from Harrison's eight previous volumes of poetry, including the renowned Letters to Yesenin, The Theory and Practice of Rivers, and After Ikkyu, together with new poems. 6 line drawings. Views: 891
This “dazzling” National Book Award finalist set aboard an ocean liner in 1931 reflects the passions and prejudices that sparked World War II (San Francisco Chronicle).
August 1931. An ocean liner bound for Germany sets out from the Mexican port city of Veracruz. The ship’s first-class passengers include an idealistic young American painter and her lover; a Spanish dance troupe with a sideline in larceny; an elderly German couple and their fat, seasick bulldog; and a boisterous band of Cuban medical students.
As the Vera journeys across the Atlantic, the incidents and intrigues of several dozen passengers and crew members come into razor-sharp focus. The result is a richly drawn portrait of the human condition in all its complexity and a mesmerizing snapshot of a world drifting toward disaster.
Written over a span of twenty years and based on the diary Katherine Anne Porter kept during a similar ocean voyage, Ship of Fools was the bestselling novel of 1962 and the inspiration for an Academy Award–winning film starring Vivien Leigh. It is a masterpiece of American literature as captivating today as when it was first published more than a half century ago.
This ebook features an illustrated biography of Katherine Anne Porter, including rare photos from the University of Maryland Libraries. Views: 891
Dazai Osamu wrote The Fairy Tale Book (Otogizōshi) in the last months of the Pacific War. The traditional tales upon which Dazai's retellings are based are well known to every Japanese schoolchild, but this is no children's book. In Dazai's hands such stock characters as the kindhearted Oji-san to Oba-san ("Grandmother and Grandfather"), the mischievous tanuki badger, the fearsome Oni ogres, the greedy old man, the "tongue-cut" sparrow, and of course Urashima Taro (the Japanese Rip van Winkle) become complex individuals facing difficult and nuanced moral dilemmas. The resulting stories are thought-provoking, slyly subversive, and often hilarious.
In spite of the "gloom and doom" atmosphere always cited in reviews of The Setting Sun and the later No Longer Human, though, Dazai's cutting wit and rich humor are evident in the entire body of his work. His literature depicts the human condition in painfully blunt and realistic terms, but, like life itself, is often accompanied by a smile. Views: 891
The reader is left to uncover the truth in this labryinth of a tale, a riveting story told within the framework of one reporter's notes and a woman's letters from prison. Everyone believes that Maureen and Harrold English, two successful New York City journalists, have a happy, stable marriage. It's the early '70s and no one discusses or even suspects domestic abuse. But after Maureen suffers another brutal beating, she flees New York with her infant daughter and seeks refuge in a small coastal town in Maine. The weeks pass slowly, and just as Maureen begins to heal physically and emotionally, Harrold finds her, bringing the story to a violent, unforgettable end. Views: 891
A boy disappears waiting for a lift to school. A child miles away in the North of England, is abducted while walking to swimming baths near home. A girl and her harassed single mother become close to their next door neighbor Ed. Simon Serailler has very distressing cases, while still raw after a close shocking bereavement. Views: 891
When Steadman agreed to investigate the disappearance of a young Mossad agent, he had no idea he would be drawn into a malevolent conspiracy of neo-Nazi cultists bent on unleashing an age-old unholy power on an unsuspecting world - power rising out of a demonic relic from man's dark primal past to threaten humanity with horror from beyond any nightmare... Remember with fear... Views: 891
CHAPTER I "Lieutenant Sutch was the first of General Feversham's guests to reach Broad Place. He arrived about five o'clock on an afternoon of sunshine in mid June, and the old red-brick house, lodged on a southern slope of the Surrey hills, was glowing from a dark forest depth of pines with the warmth of a rare jewel. Lieutenant Sutch limped across the hall, where the portraits of the Fevershams rose one above the other to the ceiling, and went out on to the stone-flagged terrace at the back. There he found his host sitting erect like a boy, and gazing southward toward the Sussex Downs..." Against the background of the Mahdist War, a young man disgraces himself by quitting the army, which friends perceive as cowardice, symbolized by the four white feathers they give him. He redeems himself, feather by feather, with acts of physical courage to save his friends. He also wins back the heart of the woman he loves. A. E. W. Mason's classic has been the basis for numerous successful film adaptations, including the acclaimed 2002 version starring Heath Ledger. Views: 890
It was 1953. A time of innocence. A time when the world seemed full of possibilities. And all the rules were about to change.
Michael was a streetwise Brooklyn boy heading south to join the Navy and become a man. But he was about to learn more about life than he's ever imagined.
Eden was beautiful, mysterious--the perfect instructor in the art of making love, in sexual pleasure...and in courage. But her past was full of dangerous secrets that would haunt her forever.
LOVING WOMEN is an unforgettable novel of honor and passion, heartbreak and desire, and one man's coming of age. Views: 890
Dark forces are taking hold in the kingdom of Camelot: King Arthur struggles to keep his knights in line as they steadily divide themselves into factions; the great Merlin has vanished at the hands of his lover and pupil, Nimue; wizards all over the countryside battle for whatever measures of power they can find. At the center of the maelstrom stands Keira, an innocent girl who possesses the ability to foretell the fate of her world. When Keira is kidnapped from her village home, her mother, Alayna, flees to Camelot and finds Mordred, an enigmatic knight who will ultimately become Keira’s greatest champion, Alayna’s greatest love, and King Arthur’s greatest enemy.
In the long tradition of Arthurian legend, Mordred has been characterized as a buffoon, a false knight, and a bloodthirsty traitor. The Book of Mordred reveals a mysterious man through the eyes of three women who love him. Views: 890
In The Good Life, Jay McInerney unveils a story of love, family, conflicting desires, and catastrophic loss in his most powerfully searing work thus far.Clinging to a semiprecarious existence in TriBeCa, Corrine and Russell Calloway have survived a separation and are wonderstruck by young twins whose provenance is nothing less than miraculous. Several miles uptown and perched near the top of the Upper East Side’s social register, Luke McGavock has postponed his accumulation of wealth in an attempt to recover the sense of purpose now lacking in a life that often gives him pause. But on a September morning, brightness falls horribly from the sky, and people worlds apart suddenly find themselves working side by side at the devastated site.Wise, surprising, and, ultimately, heart-stoppingly redemptive, The Good Life captures lives that allow us to see–through personal, social, and moral complexity–more clearly into the heart of things.
From the Trade Paperback edition. Views: 890
Paula es el libro más conmovedor, más personal y más íntimo de Isabel Allende. Junto al lecho en que agonizaba su hija Paula, la gran narradora chilena escribió la historia de su familia y de sí misma con el propósito de regalársela a Paula cuando ésta superara el dramático trance. El resultado se convirtió en un autorretrato de insólita emotividad y en una exquisita recreación de la sensibilidad de las mujeres de nuestra época. Views: 889
Margaret Atwood puts the human heart to the ultimate test in an utterly brilliant new novel that is as visionary as The Handmaid's Tale and as richly imagined as The Blind Assassin.
Stan and Charmaine are a married couple trying to stay afloat in the midst of an economic and social collapse. Job loss has forced them to live in their car, leaving them vulnerable to roving gangs. They desperately need to turn their situation around - and fast. The Positron Project in the town of Consilience seems to be the answer to their prayers. No one is unemployed and everyone gets a comfortable, clean house to live in... for six months out of the year. On alternating months, residents of Consilience must leave their homes and function as inmates in the Positron prison system. Once their month of service in the prison is completed, they can return to their "civilian" homes.
At first, this doesn't seem like too much of a sacrifice to make in order to have a roof over one's head and food to eat. But when Charmaine becomes romantically involved with the man who lives in their house during the months when she and Stan are in the prison, a series of troubling events unfolds, putting Stan's life in danger. With each passing day, Positron looks less like a prayer answered and more like a chilling prophecy fulfilled. Views: 889
The Tessilari are fallen.It's what the people of Masidon believe. But Jey knows the secret of the hidden school where young ladies in white dresses walk among brillbane bushes teeming with tiny, winged, tessili. Jey knows much. Too much. Tessili Academy has decided it's time for her to die.The Tessilari are fallen.It's what the people of Masidon believe. But Jey knows the secret of the hidden school where young ladies in white dresses walk among brillbane bushes teeming with tiny, winged, tessili. Jey knows these students live quiet lives of learning, excepting those nights they slip out to infiltrate the sleeping city on the other side of the river. Jey knows what they do when they go, and she knows why they come back.Jey knows much. Too much. Tessili Academy has decided it's time for her to die.From Reviewers:“This is clearly a "bigger than you see" setting and a dark mystery is lurking somewhere under the surface in this story.”“If you like mysterious stories, fantasy, and really interesting characters, this is the series for you.”“I couldn't put the book down because I wanted to find out what was going on just as much as Jey did.” Views: 889
