A dazzling collection of short stories from the internationally acclaimed, award-winning author of The Handmaid's Tale and The Testaments, stories that look deeply into the heart of family relationships, marriage, loss and memory, and what it means to spend a life togetherMargaret Atwood has established herself as one of the most visionary and canonical authors in the world. This collection of fifteen extraordinary stories—some of which have appeared in The New Yorker and The New York Times Magazine—explore the full warp and weft of experience, speaking to our unique times with Atwood’s characteristic insight, wit and intellect. The two intrepid sisters of the title story grapple with loss and memory on a perfect summer evening; “Impatient Griselda” explores alienation and miscommunication with a fresh twist on a folkloric classic; and “My Evil Mother” touches on the fantastical, examining a... Views: 679
Stewart returns home to face his past and make up for his mistakes, but he soon discovers that everyone wants something from him. In particular, he doesn't trust the motives of his ex-girlfriend's flirty attention.Stewart returns home to face his past and make up for his mistakes, but he soon discovers that everyone wants something from him. In particular, he doesn't trust the motives of his ex-girlfriend's flirty attention. *** "Leah was already there. She was leaning over the bar, wearing a mini skirt that didn’t quite cover her butt and a sport’s bra. Her warm honey skin glistened, still wet from swimming. The few patrons inside were all riveted to her. As Stewart’s wheels rumbled onto the wooden floor, she turned and fixed him with her well-honed siren smile." *** This is a short story. Though it stands alone, its characters also appear in the novel (W)hole by the same author. Views: 679
Anne Shirley has left Redmond College behind to begin a new job and a new chapter of her life away from Green Gables. Now she faces a new challenge: the Pringles. They're known as the royal family of Summerside—and they quickly let Anne know she is not the person *they* wanted as principal of Summerside High School. But as she settles into the cozy tower room at Windy Poplars, Anne finds she has great allies in the widows Aunt Kate and Aunt Chatty—and in their irrepressible housekeeper, Rebecca Dew. As Anne learns Summerside's strangest secrets, winning the support of the prickly Pringles is only the first of her delicious triumphs. Views: 679
Firewind is a harrowing tale of bravery and honor
in the face of deadly treachery. When three outlaws try to steal a cache of
illegal guns and ammunition from lumber baron Austin Trace, they bungle the job,
setting fire to the town instead. Most of the weapons and explosives, assembled
by the fanatical Trace for his "army of vengeance", have been loaded into two
sealed freight cars - cars that are part of the train that represents the only
way out of the blazing valley. Led by rancher Matt Kincaid, the townspeople
embark on a desperate race against time and the flames, pulled by a failing
locomotive, and unaware of their deadly cargo.
***
From Publishers Weekly
Three outlaws arrive in the country town of Big Tree,
Calif., on a blazing hot day of a long dry summer, in this well-crafted western
by veteran Pronzini (The Last Days of Horse-Shy Halloran). A huge
shipment of munitions is a-sittin' in Big Tree just a-waitin' to be stole-and
they're a-goin' to do it. But the burglary gets bungled, an explosion sets the
town on fire and there is only one way out of the parched valley for the
townsfolk-by train. That way lies peril, however, for not only is the only
locomotive in some disrepair, but the munitions are on board, and the fire is
spreading fast-as fast as the train is racing. Pronzini, a pulp aficionado, adds
to the race-against-time tension of his homespun stage with sideline subplots: a
guilt-ridden love-triangle, an outlaw's hysterical memories of his father's
death in a fire, a one-legged man's bitterness and misguided heroism-building to
an acceptable, if rather bland, ending. While not attempting to transcend the
genre, the author has added to it with his usual professionalism. Views: 679
Do you ever really know your mother, your daughter, the people in your family? In this rich and rewarding new novel by the beloved bestselling author of Talk Before Sleep and The Pull of the Moon, a reunion between two sisters and their mother reveals how the secrets and complexities of the past have shaped the lives of the women in a family.
Ginny Young is on a plane, en route to see her mother, whom she hasn't seen or spoken to for thirty-five years. She thinks back to the summer of 1958, when she and her sister, Sharla, were young girls. At that time, a series of dramatic events--beginning with the arrival of a mysterious and sensual next-door neighbor--divided the family, separating the sisters from their mother. Moving back and forth in time between the girl she once was and the woman she's become, Ginny at last confronts painful choices that occur in almost any woman's life, and learns surprising truths about the people she thought she knew best.
Emotional honesty and a true understanding of people and relationships are combined in this moving and deeply satisfying new book by the novelist who "writes with humor and a big heart about resilience, love and hope. And the transcendence that redeems" (Andre Dubus). Views: 679
In a dystopian post globalist world, grad student Zak Miller, girlfriend Kim, and their friends find themselves in an international manhunt. Facing dangers wherever they turn, they have to come together if they are going to have any chance to survive. Sweeping, stylish, fiercely intelligent, sophisticated, and expertly crafted. Powerful and explosive. A speeding train, magic and iconiAn exciting thrill ride on the leading edge of modern historical events, American students abroad become embroiled in a deadly international race to find a shadowy force for freedom able to disclose worldwide explosive revelations from deep inside China's corrupt, predatory power structure before it's too late. A fever pitched, exhilarating journey of suspense like no other, up against the gathering of darkening clouds in a world on the precipice of losing its freedom. Stanford grad Zak Miller is attending Beijing's prestigious Tsinghua University when one morning, as he studies for an exam at the University's beautiful imperial garden, an unknown man nearby is suddenly and inexplicably attacked. Zak comes to his aid. Mysteriously, as the dying man loses consciousness he calls Zak by the name Christopher Gray and slips him a thumb drive while speaking the letters U, N, K. Filled with a sense of dread, and knowing that in a country of ubiquitous CCTV, authorities will soon be seeking him out, Zak takes off across campus, depositing the thumb in a random book at the vast university library before heading to his housing complex. At his apartment Zak encounters a man who says he is Hui Lee, an officer of State Security, and his men. They attempt to detain Zak, but as they leave the building's elevator, Zak is able to elude them. Later Zak retrieves the thumb drive and finds Kim at the Library. They contact Lee and agree to meet at Muxidi bridge to hand it over. Just as they are about do so, Kim discovers that the man standing on the bridge to greet them is not actually Hui Lee, but rather an imposter. She shouts to Zak and they barely get away while being shot at. Stuck with a thumb drive that appears to motivate unknown assailants to shoot at them, Zak and Kim are left wondering who their assailant is. Figuring anyone who would shoot at them must be a criminal element, they suspect he could be a member of one of the organized criminal gangs of China, a Triad. They seek out a professor, well recognized for his expertise in the criminal underworld of China, and go to see him. Zak and Kim find Professor Wu-pen at the Public Security University nearby in Biejing. They share the thumb drive with him and he warns them that they and anyone they are in contact with are indeed in danger and probably not just from the Triads, that they must surreptitiously get out of China before being detained with the incriminating thumb, where they can fulfill the dying man's last wish by getting it to UNK. Soon, Zak and Kim are being pursued in a deadly game not only by an unfriendly Chinese Triad, but also by arms of the Chinese and American governments. Both are equally intent on supressing the information, although for different reasons. The Professor knows a friendly Triad contact in Hong Kong who can help them get out of China. In the meantime, their friends Rashida, Arjun, Ethan, Bogdan, Guillermo, Sofia, Kina, and Asobi scatter to the four winds for their own safety. Kim and Zak head to Dubai to find the mercurial billionaire Kadin Sa'd but are waylaid in Paris just as a series of lethal attacks begins one at a time on their now distant friends. Invasive surveillance and governmental control carried out in the name of national security, an over concentration of wealth and power in the hands of a few, rising national militarism, government sanctioned extra-judicial assassination carried out in far distant countries, interdependence of transnational corporations and leading governments, government censorship, diminishing freedom of the press and of individual expression, collide. Zak, Kim and their friends try to turn the worldwide tide toward a vast and foolish bigotry back to one of optimism and hope in a triumphant tale very much of our time. Views: 679
Sojan the Swordsman is Michael Moorcock’s very first published character, the precursor to the Eternal Champion. Heavily influenced by the pulp tales of Robert E. Howard and Edgar Rice Burroughs, this is the tale of the hero Sojan Shieldbearer as he travels across the planet Zylor encountering strange races and even stranger monsters in a fast-paced adventure in the tradition of John Carter of Mars and Esau Cairns of Almuric. Views: 678
National Book Award FinalistFrom the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Overstory and the forthcoming Bewilderment, an exquisitely rendered novel set in the pediatrics ward of a public hospital that examines the power, joy, and anguish of storytelling. "If you have children or will have children, if you know children or can remember being a child, dare to read Operation Wandering Soul. . . [it] is bedtime reading for the future." —USA Today In the pediatrics ward of a public hospital in the heart of Los Angeles, a group of sick children is gathering. Surrogate parents to this band of stray kids, resident Richard Kraft and therapist Linda Espera are charged with keeping the group alive on make-believe alone. Determined to give hope where there is none, the adults spin a desperate anthology of stories that promise restoration and escape. But the inevitable is foreshadowed in the faces they've... Views: 678
In the small African republic of Kinjanja, British diplomat Morgan Leafy bumbles heavily through his job. His love of women, his fondness for drink, and his loathing for the country prove formidable obstacles on his road to any kind of success. But when he becomes an operative in Operation Kingpin and is charged with monitoring the front runner in Kinjanja’s national elections, Morgan senses an opportunity to achieve real professional recognition and, more importantly, reassignment.
After he finds himself being blackmailed, diagnosed with a venereal disease, attempting bribery, and confounded with a dead body, Morgan realizes that very little is going according to plan. Views: 678
The life of Spokane Indian Thomas Builds-the-Fire irrevocably changes when blues legend Robert Johnson miraculously appears on his reservation and passes the misfit storyteller his enchanted guitar. Inspired by this gift, Thomas forms Coyote Springs, an all-Indian Catholic band who find themselves on a magical tour that leads from reservation bars to Seattle and New York--and deep within their own souls. Views: 678
Teen Sonya Neslund and her friends solve the mystery behind a series of sniper shootings in their hometown during a fierce winter. Who is the Marine Sniper?Teen Sonya Neslund and her friends solve the mystery behind a series of sniper shootings in their hometown during a fierce winter. Sonya's friend Bobby finds a kindred spirit in a boy with his own secrets. Meanwhile, the outlaw Blue Diamonds MC seek vengeance for a murdered brother. Does a new church, and its charismatic leader, have the answers? Who is the Marine Sniper? Views: 678
Reginald Willard, the central character of A. A. Milne's novel Two People seems to lead the perfect life. He has plenty of money, a stunning country house and garden and his beautiful young wife, Sylvia. Despite their age difference, they are very much in love. Reginald has a go at writing a novel which is published to great acclaim and it is now that Reginald begins to realise he has has little he has in common with his wife other than their shared years together. The rift between them is exacerbated when they move to London where Reginald is drawn to the intellectual and artistic set which holds no appeal to his wife. Reminiscent in style and subject to Evelyn Waugh, A. A. Milne's novel carries echoes of his own marriage to his wife Daphne. Views: 678
