Vangelis's new tractor drives like a dream, and is so fuel efficient, as he loves to brag to his neighbour, Grigoris.But soon the machine seems to need topping up every day, and Vangelis can't work out what's going on. When Grigoris suggests a swap, he jumps at the chance.But all is not as it seems, and Vangelis soon begins to wonder if he's been had...Set against the backdrop of the Greek Village, this book of short stories reveals the intrigue and machinations that bubble under teh sleep surface! Views: 32
Surgeon Luke Anderson let her go once...But this time around he'll get down on one knee!Seeing pediatrician Kate Saunders again, Luke can feel the chemistry that still sizzles between them. But bruised from his failed marriage, he doesn't believe in happy-ever-afters anymore. Until he's reminded of the marriage pact they made in college...and realizes Kate may be the one woman who was worth waiting for! Views: 31
Bound by their little girlLeaving Anahera Kopu was the hardest thing Dr Luke Wilson ever did. He was torn by duty and desire, and his decision devastated them both...Now Luke's reappearance on Wildfire Island threatens to turn nurse Anahera's life upside down. She lost her heart to him before, but now she has something even more precious to guard. Their young daughter!Luke doesn't know he's a dad, but their child holds the key to unite them. This time...forever? Views: 30
The Merino Rose. Ted Spencer has a hard enough time believing the celebrated violin really exists. To find it sitting on his coffee table is nothing short of incredible. The stuff of legend, the exquisite Guarnerius has been missing for centuries. But even though the renowned instrument is a violin lover's dream come true, it holds only heartache for Ted. The value of the Merino Rose may be beyond measure, but he has acquired it at too high a cost. Ted found his soul mate when he met Olivia de la Vega his senior year in high school. In the school's production of Camelot, Ted was cast as Lancelot, Olivia as Guenevere. They should have spent their lives together but strings got in the way—family ties, career objectives, and the tangled web of fate. Will the Merino Rose bring the two star-crossed lovers together at last, or will their love always remain the melancholy sound of distant violins? Views: 30
Holidays in Heck takes the reader on a globe-trotting journey to far-reaching places including China, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan and the Galapagos Islands. The collection begins after the Iraq War, when P.J. retired from being a war correspondent because he was "too old to keep being scared stiff and too stiff to keep sleeping on the ground." Instead he embarked on supposedly more comfortable and allegedly less dangerous travels - often with family in tow - which mostly left him wishing he were under artillery fire again. The result is a hilarious and oftentimes moving portrait of life in the fast lane - only this time as a husband and father of three. Views: 30
When Bill Barich moved to Dublin, he began searching for a traditional pub to serve as his local. Although he had no shortage of choices, he had trouble finding one that measured up to the archetypal ideal. As he roams from hectic urban pubs to their dwindling rural counterparts, he chronicles the state of the 'Irish' pub today, both in Ireland itself and all over the world. Entertaining, charming and full of insight, A Pint of Plain chronicles Barich's quest for the perfect pint, at the same time examining Irish culture at a time of great change. Views: 30
Travelling the circumference of the truly gigantic Pacific, Simon Winchester tells the story of the world's largest body of water, and – in matters economic, political and military – the ocean of the future. The Pacific is a world of tsunamis and Magellan, of the Bounty mutiny and the Boeing Company. It is the stuff of the towering Captain Cook and his wide-ranging network of exploring voyages, Robert Louis Stevenson and Admiral Halsey. It is the place of Paul Gauguin and the explosion of the largest-ever American atomic bomb, on Bikini atoll, in 1951. It has an astonishing recent past, an uncertain present and a hugely important future. The ocean and its peoples are the new lifeblood, fizz and thrill of America – which draws so many of its minds and so much of its manners from the sea – while the inexorable rise of the ancient center of the world, China, is a fixating fascination. The presence of rogue states – North Korea most notoriously today – suggest that the focus of the... Views: 29
From Publishers WeeklyExpatriate Englishman Morris Duckworth, the conman, serial murderer and psychopath last seen in Juggling the Stars, is back, in the egregious effulgence of his evil and charmed life. What is a literary fellow like British author Parks (Europa) doing with a slime like Morris? Having fun, writing a wild and wacky thriller that's like sharing a roller-coaster ride with a suave maniac. Morris is an inspired mixture of loony self-regard and stupidity fueled by obtuseness. Having fatally dispatched Massamina (Mimi) Trevesan, the heiress he kidnapped in the first book, evaded the law and even ingratiated himself with Mimi's family, Morris is now married to her sister, the voraciously libidinous Paola. He's living in a luxury condominium in Verona, swanning around in his Mercedes and battling with his brother-in-law for control of the family wine company. What makes Morris so fascinating is his utterly amoral mindset. Far from suffering true guilt, Morris engages in consummate self-justification. He believes Mimi has forgiven him for her murder, which was merely a reaction "to extreme circumstances." Exhibiting unmistakable signs of schizophrenia, he "sees" Mimi and talks to her, often by car phone. It's Mimi, he thinks, who advises him to dispatch three new victims. Parks applies a wicked imagination to his ingenious plot, getting Morris into one farcically dangerous situation after another. One need not have read the first book to enjoy the frissons of suspense in this one, and readers will hope they haven't seen the last of Morris and his bizarrely lethal adventures. (Feb.) Forecast: It may be his very proflicacy (10 novels and three nonfiction books) that has kept Parks from establishing an identity on this side of the Atlantic. With the right breaks, this very funny novel could find a niche in the mode established by Elmore Leonard. Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. From BooklistA study of psychosis or a riveting ghost story? Just as scholars have debated this question in discussions of James' The Turn * of the Screw, so too may readers dissect Parks' latest mystery. The fortune-hunting Englishman, Morris Duckworth, misses his Italian Mimi, the great love of his life, an unfortunate development because he murdered her in a previous book and married her older sister, Paola. He can, strangely enough, clearly hear and see Mimi, taking solace in their telephone (cordless, of course) conversations as he awaits the death of her and Paolo's mother, a demise that will give him the 50 percent control of the family winery he has long desired. Hoping to finally earn genuine membership into the family that had spurned his courtship of Mimi, he views his brother-in-law Bobo's management of Trevisan Wineries as a mere detail to deal with once he's fully on board. Enter a flesh-and-blood "ghost" from the past that can implicate Morris in Mimi's death, and Parks' deeply dark humor unfurls as Morris takes Mimi's advice and commits yet another murder. Whitney ScottCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved* Views: 29
