Sally Montgomery anticipated a romantic weekend getaway. What she got instead was a nightmare of unrelenting terror. The murder of her companion and the torching of their cabin sends Sally into hiding—from the police, who believe she's a suspect . . . and from the killer, who wants her dead. Desperate and alone in the woods, Sally has nowhere to run and nowhere to turn—except to her ex-husband, former NYPD detective-turned-private investigator Pete Montgomery, and their daughter Devon, who inherited her father's investigative instincts. Devon's search for the truth takes her dangerously close to the powerful Pierson clan and its enigmatic heir apparent, Blake Pierson. But with Olympic show-jumping gold at stake and his family's empire threatened, whose side is Blake on? Time is rapidly running out for Devon. Racing the clock, she must prove her mother's innocence and outmaneuver the killer before her tactics put her in the wrong place, and one more step will mean certain death.

The breathtaking second novel in New York Times bestselling author Jeaniene Frost's Broken Destiny series finds Ivy and Adrian rekindling their alliance—and passion—as the struggle for the fate of the world begins…  Conquering a supernatural realm turned out to be easier than getting over a broken heart. But her initial victory has made Ivy a target for revenge, forcing her to reunite with the dangerous—and dangerously sexy—Adrian. Ivy isn't sure which will be harder: finding the hallowed weapon that will repair the crumbling walls between the demon and human realms, or resisting Adrian, who's decided that come hell or high water, he will make Ivy his.  At first, Adrian tried to resist his feelings for Ivy. Now, determined to break the curse that dooms their love, he's vowed to save her and to have her. If only he can persuade her to forgive his past sins. But defying destiny—and surrendering to the smoldering desire between them—will bring consequences and sacrifices they never imagined…

The Ladies Paradise (Au Bonheur des Dames) recounts the rise of the modern department store in late nineteenth-century Paris. The store is a symbol of capitalism, of the modern city, and of the bourgeois family: it is emblematic of changes in consumer culture and the changes in sexual attitudes and class relations taking place at the end of the century. This new translation of the eleventh novel in the Rougon-Macquart cycle captures the spirit of one of Zola's greatest works.

This is an alternate cover edition for ISBN 9781594482304. Moving back through the 1940s, through air raids, blacked out streets, illicit liaisons, sexual adventure, to end with its beginning in 1941, The Night Watch is the work of a truly brilliant and compelling storyteller. This is the story of four Londoners – three women and a young man with a past, drawn with absolute truth and intimacy. Kay, who drove an ambulance during the war and lived life at full throttle, now dresses in mannish clothes and wanders the streets with a restless hunger, searching. Helen, clever, sweet, much-loved, harbours a painful secret. Viv, glamour girl, is stubbornly, even foolishly loyal, to her soldier lover. Duncan, an apparent innocent, has had his own demons to fight during the war. Their lives, and their secrets connect in sometimes startling ways. War leads to strange alliances… Tender, tragic and beautifully poignant, set against the backdrop of feats of heroism both epic and ordinary, here is a novel of relationships that offers up subtle surprises and twists. The Night Watch is thrilling. A towering achievement.

In the tradition of Alan Bennett's Talking Heads come Lynne Truss's twelve bittersweet tales about love, romance, friendship and family. Her six men and six women each have very different stories to tell, ranging from the wife who feels better when her husband disappears to the pedant who undergoes a TV makeover and the swimmer who can't escape the shadow of her sister...but all are funny, touching and as beautifully observed as would be expected from the bestselling author. Whether describing fathers and daughters, married men, cat-lovers or "other women", she is always brilliantly perceptive. These monologues were first aired on BBC Radio 4. You can download an excerpt from one of them below. Listen to excerpt (4mb mp3 file) (Credit: A Certain Age: The Men's Monologues published by BBC Audiobooks and available on CD (�15.99, contains 3 CDs) from 5th February)

Sixteen-year-old Tess Kendrick has spent her entire life on her grandfather's ranch. But when her estranged sister Ivy uproots her to D.C., Tess is thrown into a world that revolves around politics and power. She also starts at Hardwicke Academy, the D.C. school for the children of the rich and powerful, where she unwittingly becomes a fixer for the high school set, fixing teens’ problems the way her sister fixes their parents’ problems. And when a conspiracy surfaces that involves the family member of one of Tess's classmates, love triangles and unbelievable family secrets come to light and life gets even more interesting—and complicated—for Tess.

Will their fated love prove strong enough to end an ancient war? Agricultural analyst Cora Brighton has worked hard to help reconstruct Earth after the Mulgor invasion decades ago. But now, facing another lonely Christmas, she realizes life has passed her by and signs up for the Draconian Mating Lottery. Magmus Murcul, Earth Prince of Galaton, is weary of fighting his own men who are frustrated at being shut out of the mating lottery. Now, he finally has a mate after long years of waiting -- but the Mulgor infestation makes the journey unsafe for Cora, so he must journey into space to find her, leaving his Earth Lands unprotected. With the powerful Galatonian armada at his side, Magmus travels to the stars to find his bride and fight back the Mulgor threat. When he finally meets her, their bond is unmistakable, and their shared passion could heat the bitter cold of space. But claiming his mate is not enough -- the Mulgor must be stopped. Can Magmus and Cora finally take down the Draconian's ancient enemy and put an end to the war? And if they do, will they have a home to return to when it's done?

Acclaimed entertainer Hans Schneir collapses when his beloved Marie leaves him because he won’t marry her within the Catholic Church. The desertion triggers a searing re-examination of his life—the loss of his sister during the war, the demands of his millionaire father and the hypocrisies of his mother, who first fought to “save” Germany from the Jews, then worked for “reconciliation” afterwards. Heinrich Böll’s gripping consideration of how to overcome guilt and live up to idealism—how to find something to believe in—gives stirring evidence of why he was such an unwelcome presence in post-War German consciousness . . . and why he was such a necessary one.

Latina novelist Alma Huebner is suffering from writer's block and is years past the completion date for yet another of her bestselling family sagas. Her husband, Richard, works for a humanitarian organization dedicated to the health and prosperity of developing countries and wants her help on an extended AIDS assignment in the Dominican Republic. But Alma begs off joining him: the publisher is breathing down her neck. She promises to work hard and follow him a bit later. The truth is that Alma is seriously sidetracked by a story she has stumbled across. It's the story of a much earlier medical do-gooder, Spaniard Francisco Xavier Balmis, who in 1803 undertook to vaccinate the populations of Spain's American colonies against smallpox. To do this, he required live "carriers" of the vaccine. Of greater interest to Alma is Isabel Sendales y Gómez, director of La Casa de Expósitos, who was asked to select twenty-two orphan boys to be the vaccine carriers. She agreed— with the stipulation that she would accompany the boys on the proposed two-year voyage. Her strength and courage inspire Alma, who finds herself becoming obsessed with the details of Isabel's adventures. This resplendent novel-within-a-novel spins the disparate tales of two remarkable women, both of whom are swept along by machismo. In depicting their confrontation of the great scourges of their respective eras, Alvarez exposes the conflict between altruism and ambition.

Colene does not know what to think of the stranger she has rescued. Darius tells her he has traveled from "his reality" to find her. In proving to Colene that other worlds do exist, he uses up the power of the artifact that would allow them to travel back to his universe. They must try a slower, more dangerous method: the creation of a four-dimensional universe. Darius picks five anchor points in five different universes to set up a skew path, a "Virtual Mode," on which the anchors can walk. Thus begins a tale of romance, danger, adventure, and intrigue as the two travel through a myriad of alternate realities where anything is possible.

**An epic story, set against the backdrop of World War I, from bestselling author Anita Shreve. **When an American woman, Stella Bain, is found suffering from severe shell shock in an exclusive garden in London, surgeon August Bridge and his wife selflessly agree to take her in. A gesture of goodwill turns into something more as Bridge quickly develops a clinical interest in his houseguest. Stella had been working as a nurse's aide near the front, but she can't remember anything prior to four months earlier when she was found wounded on a French battlefield. In a narrative that takes us from London to America and back again, Shreve has created an engrossing and wrenching tale about love and the meaning of memory, set against the haunting backdrop of a war that destroyed an entire generation.

When he published his first novel, Lucky Jim, in which his misbehaving hero wreaks havoc with the starchy protocols of academic life, Kingsley Amis emerged as a bad boy of British letters. Later he became famous as another kind of bad boy, an inveterate boozer, a red-faced scourge of political correctness. He was consistent throughout in being a committed enemy of any presumed “right thinking,” and it is this, no doubt, that made him one of the most consistently unconventional and exploratory writers of his day, a master of classical English prose who was at the same time altogether unafraid to apply himself to literary genres all too often dismissed by sophisticates as “low.” Science fiction, the spy story, the ghost story were all grist for Amis’s mill, and nowhere is the experimental spirit in which he worked, his will to test both reality and the reader’s imagination, more apparent than in his short stories. These “woodchips from [his] workshop”—here presented in a new selection—are anything but throwaway work. They are instead the essence of Amis, a brew that is as tonic as it is intoxicating.

The Best American Series® First, Best, and Best-Selling The Best American series is the premier annual showcase for the country’s finest short fiction and nonfiction. Each volume’s series editor selects notable works from hundreds of magazines, journals, and websites. A special guest editor, a leading writer in the field, then chooses the best twenty or so pieces to publish. This unique system has made the Best American series the most respected—and most popular—of its kind. The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2011 includes Atul Gawande, Jonathan Franzen, Deborah Blum, Malcolm Gladwell, Oliver Sacks, Jon Mooallem, Jon Cohen, Luke Dittrich, and others

Although Branford is broken and desperate, he finds himself with no choice: He must declare war against Hadebrand, or Edgar’s evil darkness will envelop the commonwealth. Silverhelm’s army is grossly outnumbered, but Branford underestimates the people’s love for their commoner queen. The people rise up in support of their beloved regent, and Branford sees a glimmer of hope for his wife. He becomes more determined than ever to make up for his previous failures and secure the future of his kingdom. With their murderous intentions, the treacherous King Edgar and Princess Whitney must pay for what they have done. They must not be allowed to destroy everything the people hold dear. With but faint hope in his heart, Branford gathers his people and marches toward the castle in Hadebrand, gathering allies along the way. With the support of other noble families, Branford will have to find the strength to fight for the very survival of his own. He sees only one path: the annihilation of his enemy.

Megan survived the plane crash—but can she survive the aftermath? An intense, emotional novel from the author of The Unwritten Rule and Between Here and Forever. Megan is a miracle. At least, that’s what everyone says. Having survived a plane crash that killed everyone else on board, Megan knows she should be grateful just to be alive. But the truth is, she doesn’t feel like a miracle. In fact, she doesn’t feel anything at all. Then memories from the crash start coming back. Scared and alone, Megan doesn’t know whom to turn to. Her entire community seems unable—or maybe unwilling—to see her as anything but Miracle Megan. Everyone except for Joe, the beautiful boy next door with a tragic past and secrets of his own. All Megan wants is for her life to get back to normal, but the harder she tries to live up to everyone’s expectations, the worse she feels. And this time, she may be falling too fast to be saved....

Piper thinks Owen Vincent is a tool. Once they finish up with their internship she never wants to see him again. Piper James’ first year at Whitney Briggs is starting off great, new friends, a potential sorority, and plenty of guys to choose from. Once she secures a spot in Alpha Chi, she’ll have the greatest freshman year on record. But it just takes one look at the Alpha Chi “hit list” of things she needs to do to get in and she know there’s trouble—and trouble’s name is Owen Vincent. Taming a player sounds impossible. Owen is the only player she knows and he certainly fits the bill, cocky, too many notches to count on his bedpost, and an aversion to relationships. Making Owen believe she wants him is pretty low, even if this entire fling is just a means to an end. But now she can’t stop thinking about him. Yeah, he thinks he’s God’s gift to women, but now a part of her is kind of starting to agree. Girls are still dripping all over him like honey. Piper thinks there’s no way he’d be interested in a commitment with her. Maybe Alpha Chi isn’t what she wants. Maybe it’s Owen? It’s a brand new year at Whitney Briggs and things are about to get wild.

The sixth installment in the Swindle series, in which The Man With The Plan gets a new rival . . . and the search for a missing lottery ticket becomes a hunt of epic proportions. JACKPOT: the top prize in a game or lottery; a sensational and unexpected success, stroke of luck, windfall, bounty, pay day . . . What would you do with $30,000,000? That's the question everyone in Cedarville and every town near it is asking, because right now there's an unclaimed lottery ticket worth that much -- and the money will go to whomever finds it first. Griffin Bing, The Man With The Plan, wants to be the lucky winner. But he's got competition. Darren Vader, Griffin's number-one enemy, will stop at nothing to find it. And a new kid in town, Victor Phoenix, is also in on the big hunt. He's got an advantage that Griffin would have never guessed: Griffin's own friends are helping Victor out. But why? Griffin's going to need a lot of help -- from a rowdy Doberman, a completely strange invention, and a very random set of wheels -- to hit this jackpot and win his friends back.

From F. Paul Wilson, the best-selling and acclaimed author of the Repairman Jack series, comes a lightning-paced, whip-smart thriller sure to please both die-hard fans and newcomers to Wilson's spellbinding world. Will Burleigh is a hard-nosed, no-nonsense M.D. totally dedicated to the health and welfare of the patients in his practice. But when he himself is diagnosed with throat cancer, he can't bear the idea of undergoing massive radiation and radical surgery that will leave him permanently disfigured--all with no guarantee he will live at all. Having made peace with his decision to die, Will is nonetheless convinced by a former patient to visit a healer, a mysterious and beautiful woman named Maya who claims she can help him, but only if he opens himself up completely to her and the harmony of the world around him. To find that harmony, she insists, Will must follow her to Mesoamerica, to the home of her people, to search for what she calls the Fifth Harmonic. Will agrees, but he secretly brings along what he calls a "Kevorkian Kit" to give him a quick end in case his rapidly spreading tumor gets the best of him. Maya too, has her secrets, and as Will unravels them, he begins to fear he might have made a terrible mistake.

Full of spleen, this is a hilarious, invigorating and informative journey through the world of Bad Science. When Dr Ben Goldacre saw someone on daytime TV dipping her feet in an 'Aqua Detox' footbath, releasing her toxins into the water, turning it brown, he thought he'd try the same at home. 'Like some kind of Johnny Ball cum Witchfinder General', using his girlfriend's Barbie doll, he gently passed an electrical current through the warm salt water. It turned brown. In his words: 'before my very eyes, the world's first Detox Barbie was sat, with her feet in a pool of brown sludge, purged of a weekend's immorality.' Dr Ben Goldacre is the author of the Bad Science column in the Guardian. His book is about all the 'bad science' we are constantly bombarded with in the media and in advertising. At a time when science is used to prove everything and nothing, everyone has their own 'bad science' moments from the useless pie-chart on the back of cereal packets to the use of the word 'visibly' in cosmetics ads.

Brian Lumley, author of the bestselling Necroscope and Vampire World series of novels, has for many years been a devotee' of H. P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos, by such nightmare fables as Dagon, The Call of Cthulhu The Shadow Over Innsmouth, Lovecraft’s legendary Deep Ones have taken their place in terror fiction alongside the vampire and the werewolf. Now they are given the Lumley treatment in—RETURN OF THE DEEP ONES! But the Mythos was not restricted to tales of oceanic horror; nightmares out of space and time—and inner earth—abound in Lovecraft’s fiction. Thus, with the addition of Beneath the Moors, Inception, and the novella, Lord of the Worms, Brian Lumley offers his latest homage to Lovecraft the Master. Now, from forbidden depths of dream and ocean, the RETURN OF THE DEEP ONES! In the field of no-holds-barred terror fiction, there’s Brian Lumley—and then there’s the rest …

Once David Hero was an ordinary man living in the real world. Now he is trapped in the Dreamlands, cut off from the waking world. David Hero's dreams and nightmares have become his only reality. Led by wickedly beautiful Queen Zura, the zombie armies of the dead are on the march. They will destroy the beautiful Dreamlands, making them a permanent, deadly nightmare. Unaware of the marauding zombies, David Hero and his friend Eldin voyage through the clouds in a wondrous skyship. Their journey is interrupted by a pack of faceless nightgaunts, terrifying creatures, half-man and half-bat--and all evil! David Hero is one of Zura's first targets. As a man of the waking world, he can withstand her terrible seductive power and shatter her shambling armies. David Hero must be the first Dreamlands hero to die.