From the bestselling author of Birdsong comes Charlotte Gray, the remarkable story of a young Scottish woman who becomes caught up in the effort to liberate Occupied France from the Nazis while pursuing a perilous mission of her own.
In blacked-out, wartime London, Charlotte Gray develops a dangerous passion for a battle-weary RAF pilot, and when he fails to return from a daring flight into France she is determined to find him. In the service of the Resistance, she travels to the village of Lavaurette, dyeing her hair and changing her name to conceal her identity. Here she will come face-to-face with the harrowing truth of what took place during Europe's darkest years, and will confront a terrifying secret that threatens to cast its shadow over the remainder of her days. Vividly rendered, tremendously moving, and with a narrative sweep and power reminiscent of his novel Birdsong, Charlotte Gray confirms Sebastian Faulks as one of the finest novelists working today. Views: 257
In this thrilling new novel from best-selling author of Peak, Roland Smith, Peak Marcello, mountain-climbing extraordinaire and prodigy, faces his toughest challenge yet as he descends into Tibet and goes head-to-head with an old enemy. Views: 256
On The Skids In The Transhuman FutureJules is a young man barely a century old. He\'s lived long enough to see the cure for death and the end of scarcity, to learn ten languages and compose three symphonies...and to realize his boyhood dream of taking up residence in Disney World.Disney World! The greatest artistic achievement of the long-ago twentieth century. Now in the keeping of a network of "ad-hocs" who keep the classic attractions running as they always have, enhanced with only the smallest high-tech touches.Now, though, the "ad hocs" are under attack. A new group has taken over the Hall of the Presidents, and is replacing its venerable audioanimatronics with new, immersive direct-to-brain interfaces that give guests the illusion of being Washington, Lincoln, and all the others. For Jules, this is an attack on the artistic purity of Disney World itself. Worse: it appears this new group has had Jules killed. This upsets him. (It\'s only his fourth death and revival, after all.) Now it\'s war.... Views: 256
European and Arab versions of the Crusades have little in common. For Arabs, the twelfth and thirteenth centuries were years of strenuous efforts to repel a brutal and destructive invasion by barbarian hordes. Under Saladin, an unstoppable Muslim army inspired by prophets and poets finally succeeded in destroying the most powerful Crusader kingdoms. The memory of this greatest and most enduring victory ever won by a non-European society against the West still lives in the minds of millions of Arabs today. Amin Maalouf has sifted through the works of a score of contemporary Arab chroniclers of the Crusades, eyewitnesses and often participants in the events. He retells their stories in their own vivacious style, giving us a vivid portrait of a society rent by internal conflicts and shaken by a traumatic encounter with an alien culture. He retraces two critical centuries of Middle Eastern history, and offers fascinating insights into some of the forces that shape Arab and Islamic consciousness today. 'Well-researched and highly readable.' Guardian 'A useful and important analysis adding much to existing western histories ... worth recommending to George Bush.' London Review of Books 'Maalouf tells an inspiring story ... very readable ... warmly recommended.' Times Literary Supplement 'A wide readership should enjoy this vivid narrative of stirring events.' The Bookseller 'Very well done indeed ... Should be put in the hands of anyone who asks what lies behind the Middle East's present conflicts.' Middle East International Views: 254
In the year 2092 Kaptu Z of the United Nation's Hurt World Agency is on the trail of Mas, the world's most wanted poacher. As carnage rages, Kaptu Z quickly realizes there are more perils to contend with than simply a deadly dangerous hunter.It is the year 2092. Mas, the world’s most wanted poacher, has resurfaced after many years on the run and her trail of carnage is soon stretching from the Central American jungle to the Swiss Alps, from mysterious abandoned silos in Mexico to the war-ravaged Arctic Circle. Kaptu Z of the United Nation’s Hurt World Agency is on her trail and he quickly realizes there are more perils to contend with than simply a deadly dangerous hunter. An army is being raised the likes of which the world has never seen, its one and only purpose to feed… Views: 254
New nurse Hope Wyatt helps a friend in the intensive care unit fight for his life while she learns how to cope with the emotional highs and lows of caregiving.There's a tradition at Mercy Regional Hospital that the nurses take very seriously. The window blinds are always kept closed for a patient with a good prognosis. But for a patient who’s not expected to make it, the blinds are left open so the soul can be set free when the time comes. Hope Wyatt, single mother, aspiring poet and new-to-practice nurse makes the mistake of closing the blinds on a terminally ill patient her first day on the job. Her colleagues quickly let her know what a tremendous foul-up she has made, and aren’t in any rush to let her forget about it. When Hope’s friend Will ends up in the ICU in a coma, she isn’t sure if she should leave the blinds open or closed for him. Already struggling with the hard hand that life has dealt her, Hope tries her best to hold it all together and find some peace in the turmoil around her. Inspired by Saul, the husband of a cancer patient, and Marjorie, a fellow nurse on her unit, Hope adopts a new philosophy about coping with the emotional highs and lows of caregiving. One that gives her the strength to boldly defy the tradition of the blinds, and do what she knows in her heart is right. Views: 253
Ezra Pound makes his Penguin Classics debut with this unique selection of his early poems and prose, edited with an introductory essay and notes by Pound expert Ira Nadel. The poetry includes such early masterpieces as “The Seafarer,” “Homage to Sextus Propertius,” “Hugh Selwyn Mauberley,” and the first eight of Pound’s incomparable “Cantos.” The prose includes a series of articles and critical pieces, with essays on Imagism, Vorticism, Joyce, and the well-known “Chinese Written Character as a Medium for Poetry.”
First time in Penguin Classics
Includes generous selections of Pound's poetry, as well as an assortment of prose Views: 252
These 13 stories by the author of The Invisible Man "approach the elegance of Chekhov" (Washington Post) and provide "early explorations of (Ellison's) lifelong fascination with the 'complex fate' and 'beautiful absurdity' of American identity" (John Callahan). First serial to The New Yorker. NPR sponsorship.
From the Hardcover edition. Views: 252
Horace Walpole\'s classic novel, regarded as the first gothic novel ever published and starting the influential genre. Views: 252
Take the Cannoli is a moving and wickedly funny collection of personal stories stretching across the immense landscape of the American scene. Vowell tackles subjects such as identity, politics, religion, art, and history with a biting humor. She searches the streets of Hoboken for traces of the town's favorite son, Frank Sinatra. She goes under cover of heavy makeup in an investigation of goth culture, blasts cannonballs into a hillside on a father-daughter outing, and maps her family's haunted history on a road trip down the Trail of Tears. Vowell has an irresistible voice—caustic and sympathetic, insightful and double-edged—that has attracted a loyal following for her magazine writing and radio monologues on This American Life. Views: 251
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
"[A]n extraordinary book, a work of staggering virtuosity. With its publication, a giant world of literature has just grown twice as tall."--Newsday
From Ralph Ellison--author of the classic novel of African-American experience, Invisible Man--the long-awaited second novel. Here is the master of American vernacular--the rhythms of jazz and gospel and ordinary speech--at the height of his powers, telling a powerful, evocative tale of a prodigal of the twentieth century.
"Tell me what happened while there's still time," demands the dying Senator Adam Sunraider to the itinerate Negro preacher whom he calls Daddy Hickman. As a young man, Sunraider was Bliss, an orphan taken in by Hickman and raised to be a preacher like himself. Bliss's history encompasses the joys of young southern boyhood; bucolic days as a filmmaker, lovemaking in a field in the Oklahoma sun. And behind it all lies a mystery: how did this chosen child become the man who would deny everything to achieve his goals? Brilliantly crafted, moving, wise, Juneteenth is the work of an American master.
From the Trade Paperback edition. Views: 251
A Bridge Too Far is Cornelius Ryan's masterly chronicle of the Battle of Arnhem, which marshalled the greatest armada of troop-carrying aircraft ever assembled and cost the Allies nearly twice as many casualties as D-Day.
In this compelling work of history, Ryan narrates the Allied effort to end the war in Europe in 1944 by dropping the combined airborne forces of the American and British armies behind German lines to capture the crucial bridge across the Rhine at Arnhem. Focusing on a vast cast of characters -- from Dutch civilians to British and American strategists to common soldiers and commanders -- Ryan brings to life one of the most daring and ill-fated operations of the war. A Bridge Too Far superbly recreates the terror and suspense, the heroism and tragedy of this epic operation, which ended in bitter defeat for the Allies. Views: 251
Even as
Detective Dhruva was enamored of Kavya, whom he rescues from her kidnapper,
Radha, an alleged murderess on the run, gatecrashes into his life. But when
Kavya too joins him after her man was poisoned there ensues the tussle of a
love triangle, which gets unraveled in a poignant end, but not before a series
of murders. So,
then who could have poisoned Ranjit the realtor, Shakeel the Inspector, Pravar
the criminal and Natya his accomplice?Well
the needle of suspicion tilted towards Pravar that was till he perished with
his mate, but then who was the one? Could
it be Radha under the scanner for her role in the death of her husband Madhu
and his mistress Mala, Pravar's sister? Or was it Ranjit's spouse Kavya, who
owing to Stockholm Syndrome, takes to Pravar her kidnapper.As
these deaths by poisoning puzzle Dhruva, Radha avers that Kavya had the motive
and the means to kill her spouse, her paramour and his wife besides the cop.However,
reckoning that when the ill-motives of the natural suspects to commit a murder
are an open secret, someone with a hidden agenda might be tempted to use that
as a camouflage for his subterfuge, Dhruva begins to look around for the
culprit.
The Book's Agenda for Revenge.1. Prey on
the Prowl2.
Shakeel’s Fixation3. Ranjit’s
Predicament 4. Rags to
Riches5. Dhruva’s
Dilemma 6. The
Gatecrasher7.
Operation Checkmate8. Foul on
Pravar 9.
Stockholm Syndrome10. An
Aborted Affair11. Psyche
of Revenge12. Victim
of Trust13.
Backyard of Life14.
Cuckoo’s Nest15.
‘Untried’ Crime16. Kavya’s
Quagmire17. Murders
to Mislead18. The
Other Woman 19.
Shakeel’s Demise20. A
Perfect Murder21. Deaths
in Spandan22.
Arraigned in Remand23. Depressing Discovery24. The Red
Herring25. Wages
of Abuse26.
Decoding the Crime27. A
Poignant End:Book excerpt for the feel of its literary style:Prey on the ProwlThat June
evening, the crimson sun gave in to the dark monsoon clouds to let them end its
long summer reign over the Deccan skies. What with the thickening clouds
thundering in triumph, Dhruva woke up from his siesta, and by the time he moved
into the portico of his palatial bungalow at 9, Castle Hills, the skies had
opened up to shower its sprawling lawns. It was as if the eagerness of the rainfall
matched the longing of the parched soil to receive its fertile mate in an aroma
of embrace, and in the ensuing echoes of that seasonal union, the roots of the
garden plants devoured every raindrop, that is, even as their leaves shed the
overburden to accommodate the new arrivals.Dhruva,
impelled by all that, stood engrossed, and Raju, the housekeeper, fetched him a
plateful of hot pakodas, which, facing the spatter, he began to savour,
and before he had finished with the snack, Raju returned with a mug of steaming
Darjeeling tea for him. Soon, the
refreshed sun resurged to warm up the leaves, even as the satiated roots
let the bounty go down the drain. Done with the beverage, Dhruva picked up the
sachet of lanka pogaku,
to roll a cigar, and finishing that as he reached for the cigar lighter,
the rainbow, in its resplendent colors, unfolded in the misty skies. However,
when he began puffing away at the cigar, as if dispelled by its strong scent,
the dissipated clouds began disappearing from the horizon.Watched by
Dicey, the Alsatian, Dhruva savored the cigar to the last puff, but as he
stubbed the butt, and stepped out onto the lush green lawn, the pet followed
him to leave its footprints on the damp canvas in its master’s tracks. Even as
the clouds began regrouping in the skies, he covered the garden to caress every
croton and coleus as he would Dicey. But when it portended downpour, Raju led
Dicey into the portico and Dhruva headed towards the study to pick up the
half-read Crimes Digest of the month.
However, as it rained again, he reached the first-floor French window, standing
by which he thought that it was akin to the urge of the assassin to revisit the
scene of the crime, for a review of the same. Amused by his analogy, he thought
as if the rain was obliterating its earlier footprints, but when it ceased
raining and the skies turned murky, seemingly mourning the loss of their
resplendence, he too immersed himself in the dark world of crime the Digest pictured.Meanwhile,
Raju let Dicey do the patrolling, and soon it began barking at the gate
inducing Dhruva to reach to the window, through which he saw a sensuous woman,
tentative at the half-open Iron Gate of his mansion. Enamoured of her
attractive face and desirous of her middle-aged frame, as he stood rooted, the
pet sprang up to the gate, forcing the tantalizing trespasser to beat a hasty
retreat. No less affected by her sensual gait in her retreat, Dhruva lost his
eyes to her, until she went out of his sight, but readily alive to her loss, he
cursed himself for not sticking to the portico. Inexplicably obsessed with her,
he rushed to the gate only to see her turning the bend even as Inspector
Shakeel came into view on his Bajaj Pulsar.When
Shakeel greeted Dhruva, feeling lost, he forced himself to hug him, just as
Dicey leapt up to the visitor in welcome, and as Raju took away the pet, Dhruva
led the cop into the portico, wondering aloud what made him scarce, for nearly
three months then. When Shakeel began to detail how he had reached the dead-end
of the investigation of a double murder he was handling, the detective closed
his eyes, as if to avoid reading the script from the cop’s body language. Views: 250
This is a complex compendium, by the author of The Outsider, which all too often resembles a brilliant term paper. Wilson has read very widely and calls on more authors than the average reader can hope to have read in order to support his thesis. This is that the inner-directed Hero is dying out of society and literature, being replaced by the other-directed man, who is haunted by a sense of insignificance, "hell is other people", Billy Graham religions, the Organization Man--and occasional crimes of violence as a desperate compensation. This interesting problem has already been treated widely by sociologists, psychologists, philosophers and writers. Wilson's attempt to include them all makes this book rather crowded. His proposed cure, that man must try turning inward "and then turning outward again" bears a strong unacknowledged resemblance to Toynbee and there are other echoes in this book. The question of redirection is certainly a pressing and absorbing one, and is pointed up in an odd way by this book, in which a man who speaks in favor of inner-direction does so largely in terms of other people's ideas. Views: 250
