When sports agent Carter Crawford and supermodel Vale Martin meet, they have an instant connection and a really fun night together. Their relationship goes like this. She calls and says she's in town. He tells her to stop by. They both know what that means. And it is amazing. Every time. She doesn't want a commitment. So, he does something crazy and buys a ring. But instead of surprising Vale with a proposal, Carter sees her kissing another man and leaves without telling her. After months of not speaking, Vale doesn't call Carter. She stops by. And begs him to pretend to be her fiancé at her little sister's wedding. And even though Carter knows he's about to do something crazy again, he agrees. Because there is nothing fake about the way he still feels about her. Views: 610
Based on true events, this beautifully rendered novel from the author of Schindler's List and The Daughters of Mars brilliantly explores a World War II prison camp, where Japanese prisoners resolve to take drastic action to wipe away their shame.
Alice is a young woman living on her father-in-law's farm on the edge of an Australian country town, while her husband is held prisoner in Europe. When Giancarlo, an Italian anarchist at the prisoner-of-war camp down the road, is assigned to work on the farm, she hopes that being kind to him will somehow influence her husband's treatment. What she doesn't anticipate is how dramatically Giancarlo will expand her outlook and self-knowledge.
But what most challenges Alice and her fellow townspeople is the utter foreignness of the thousand-plus Japanese inmates and their culture, which the camp commanders fatally misread. Mortified by being taken alive in battle and preferring a violent death to the shame of living, they plan an outbreak, to shattering and far-reaching effects on all the citizens around them.
In a career spanning half a century, Thomas Keneally has proved a master at exploring ordinary lives caught up in extraordinary events. With this profoundly gripping and thought-provoking novel, inspired by a notorious incident in New South Wales in 1944, he once again shows why he is celebrated as a writer who looks into the heart of the human condition with a piercing intelligence that few can match. - Sunday Telegraph Views: 610
Short excerpt: While golden-grey, o?er kirk and wall, Day wakes in the ancient capital.
--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.
--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition. Views: 610
Recently, a number of Western stories have been discovered among Max Brand's unpublished works and the first story in this book, "The White Streak," is one of them. Its protagonist is twenty-one-year-old Jimmy Babcock, a former football star, but now a worker at the local bank run by William Parker in the town of Dresser, which has changed from cattle country to one made up of oil and alfalfa fields. When Parker fires Jimmy, all Jimmy can think is how he will hurt Muriel Aiken, his fiancée, who wants to marry. When his father signs over the old family homestead that is in serious need of repair, Jimmy feels better. But an unexpected invitation from Parker to meet him at the Club convinces him that Parker wants him back. When he learns what Parker really has in mind, Jimmy finds himself recalling the stories he has heard about the notorious robbers the White Streak and Utah Billie, and he has to make a hard decision. In "The Masked Rider" the betrothed of Carlos Torreño, Lucia... Views: 610
The New York Times–bestselling author tells the story behind Inspector Rebus, the hard-edged Edinburgh cop and "superbly drawn character" (The Times, London). In this short work, Edgar and Diamond Dagger Award winner Ian Rankin delves into DI John Rebus's origins as a character, as well as his own origins as a writer. While author and character share a love of literature and a deep affection for Scotland's capital city, they differ in other ways, as Rankin entertainingly testifies, while revealing how this "compelling figure" has developed over the course of his long-running series of gritty crime novels (Kirkus Reviews). "[A] hard-drinking, chain-smoking, terminally melancholic hero . . . trapped in a world where mavericks are an endangered species." —Booklist "Rebus is without doubt one of the funniest among the classical fictional detectives." —The Guardian "With his... Views: 610
For most of her life, nineteen-year-old Juliet Emerline has subsisted – isolated by deafness – making hats in the solitude of her home. Now, she’s at risk to lose her sanctuary to Lord Nicolas Thornton, a twenty-seven-year-old mysterious and eccentric architect with designs on her humble estate. When she secretly witnesses him raging beside a grave, Juliet investigates, finding the name “Hawk” on the headstone and an unusual flower at the base. The moment Juliet touches the petals, a young English nobleman appears in ghostly form, singing a song only her deaf ears can hear. The ghost remembers nothing of his identity or death, other than the one name that haunts his afterlife: Thornton.
To avenge her ghostly companion and save her estate, Juliet pushes aside her fear of society and travels to Lord Thornton’s secluded holiday resort, posing as a hat maker in one of his boutiques. There, she finds herself questioning who to trust: the architect of flesh and bones who can relate to her through romantic gestures, heartfelt notes, and sensual touches … or the specter who serenades her with beautiful songs and ardent words, touching her mind and soul like no other man ever can. As sinister truths behind Lord Thornton’s interest in her estate and his tie to Hawk come to light, Juliet is lured into a web of secrets. But it’s too late for escape, and the tragic love taking seed in her heart will alter her silent world forever. Views: 610
Alexis's long-awaited second novel follows his award-winning Childhood.Set in Ottawa during the Mulroney years, Asylum is André Alexis's sweeping, edged-in-satire, yet deeply serious tale of intertwined lives and fortunes, of politics and vain ambition, of the building of a magnificent prison, of human fallibility, of the search for refuge, of the impossibility of love, and of finding home. Whether he is taking us into the machinations of a government office or into the mysterious workings of the human heart, Alexis is always alert to the humour and the profound truth of any situation. His cast of characters is eccentric and unforgettable, all recognizable in one way or another as aspects of ourselves or people we know well. At the centre of the story, which covers almost a decade, is a visionary project to build an ideal prison, a perfect metaphor for the purest aspects of artistic ambition and for all that is great and flawed in the world.André Alexis is... Views: 610
Nexus, the last book of Henry Miller's epic trilogy The Rosy Crucifixion, is widely considered to be one of the landmarks of American fiction. In it, Miller vividly recalls his many years as a down-and-out writer in New York City, his friends, mistresses, and the unusual circumstances of his eventful life. Views: 610
Not too far from now, in a world very like our own, the oppressors have changed places with the oppressed. After their defeat in the Yellow War, the white people of America are thrust into a brutally altered reality. They are hunted like wild beasts and drive like cattle, transported in reeking ships and sold to their conquerors as field hands and house slaves. Robbed of their old names and their old language, treated with a mixture of cruelty and condescension by their Chinese masters, whites take on new identities and new strategies of survival. Some, like Nose, plunge into dissipation. Others, like Top Man, become imitation Yellows. And some, like White Lotus, rebel. In this mesmerizing book John Hersey creates an alternate history that casts a harsh radiance on our own. It has some of the stateliness of Exodus, along with the power of oral narratives of slavery. It has heroes and victims—and villains who turn out to be victims of another color. At once a... Views: 609
The #1 New York Times–bestselling author reveals the story behind "one of this century's most original, tantalizing pop-fiction heroes" (The Washington Post).In this short piece, the creator of Jack Reacher shares the origins of the ex-military cop who now makes use of his skills in the civilian world—a place where he never feels quite at home. In addition, Lee Child reflects on writing and his own life story: the importance of character; making the transition from a television career to a literary career; how his famous character was almost named Franklin—and how he wound up being called Reacher instead. "Jack Reacher is today's James Bond, a thriller hero we can't get enough of. I read every one as soon as it appears." —Ken Follett, international-bestselling author of The Pillars of the Earth"Every Reacher novel delivers a jolt to the nervous system." —Kirkus Reviews Views: 609
Combining heart-wrenching emotion with edge-of-your-seat tension, New York Times bestselling author Charles Martin explores the true power of sacrificial love.Murphy Shepherd has made a career of finding those no one else could—survivors of human trafficking. His life's mission is helping others find freedom . . . but then the nightmare strikes too close to home.When his new wife, her daughter, and two other teenage girls are stolen, Murphy is left questioning all he has thought to be true. With more dead ends than leads, he has no idea how to find his loved ones. After everything is stripped away, love is what remains.Hope feels lost, but Murphy is willing to expend his last breath trying to bring them home.Praise for The Letter Keeper:"A man broken by events beyond his control accepts the challenge to walk dark ways in order to bring the lost and helpless home, but he comes close to... Views: 609
A woman steps over the line into the unthinkable in this brilliant, powerful, and unforgettable new novel by the author of The Lovely Bones and Lucky.
For years Helen Knightly has given her life to others: to her haunted mother, to her enigmatic father, to her husband and now grown children. When she finally crosses a terrible boundary, her life comes rushing in at her in a way she never could have imagined. Unfolding over the next twenty-four hours, this searing, fast-paced novel explores the complex ties between mothers and daughters, wives and lovers, the meaning of devotion, and the line between love and hate. It is a challenging, moving, gripping story, written with the fluidity and strength of voice that only Alice Sebold can bring to the page. Views: 609
Arin Aye is a collection of short stories from the world of Sacrifices and To Wrestle With Darkness. These stories take place between the first two books, Sacrifices and To Wrestle With Darkness and the last book in the trilogy, Heretics, due to be released in 2015.Deities mix with mortal men in the second season of The Chardon Chronicles.As the sun wanes and winter takes control of Northeast Ohio, the violent struggle between ancient beings and the Wells family unfolds. Tracy Wells takes her place in the family business of collecting esoteric knowledge and defending humanity against a hidden world that controls our nation. The family library tells a story about Western civilization that’s not in history books, and details a natural world that’s unknown to science.Tracy Wells is a senior at Chardon High School. She and her friends Morgan and Chloe begin to discover who they really are. It's a journey that brings them into conflict with parents and teachers, and an old corrupt organization that’s led by supernatural entities. Views: 609
