"Highly personalized adventure, ultra-romantic mood, and skillful storytelling." --*New York Times *Bored and restless in London's Restoration Court, Lady Dona escapes into the British countryside with her restlessness and thirst for adventure as her only guides. Eventually Dona lands in remote Navron, looking for peace of mind in its solitary woods and hidden creeks. She finds the passion her spirit craves in the love of a daring French pirate who is being hunted by all of Cornwall. Together, they embark upon a quest rife with danger and glory, one which bestows upon Dona the ultimate choice: sacrifice her lover to certain death or risk her own life to save him.

'I tell you your mine will be in ruins and your home destroyed and your children forgotten ...but this hill will be standing still to confound you.' So curses Morty Donovan when 'Copper John' Brodrick builds his mine at Hungry Hill. The Brodricks of Clonmere gain great wealth by harnessing the power of Hungry Hill and extracting the treasure it holds. The Donovans, the original owners of Clonmere Castle, resent the Brodricks' success, and consider the great house and its surrounding land theirs by rights. For generations the feud between the families has simmered, always threatening to break into violence ...

Misty Wilmot has had it. Once a promising young artist, she’s now stuck on an island ruined by tourism, drinking too much and working as a waitress in a hotel. Her husband, a contractor, is in a coma after a suicide attempt, but that doesn’t stop his clients from threatening Misty with lawsuits over a series of vile messages they’ve found on the walls of houses he remodeled. Suddenly, though, Misty finds her artistic talent returning as she begins a period of compulsive painting. Inspired but confused by this burst of creativity, she soon finds herself a pawn in a larger conspiracy that threatens to cost hundreds of lives. What unfolds is a dark, hilarious story from America’s most inventive nihilist, and Palahniuk’s most impressive work to date.

A powerful and gripping recreation of the Battle of Beecher Island—the notoriously bloody clash between US Army scouts and American Indian warriors Historian Dee Brown dramatically recounts the nine-day siege between Plains tribes and Major James William Forsyth’s scouts. Based on historical sources, the novel is told from a variety of viewpoints, including that of Lieutenant Frederick Beecher, still wounded from the Civil War and charged with clearing out American Indian settlements to make way for the Kansas Pacific Railroad. Beecher is joined by General Sheridan and Major Forsyth, as well as the scouts—from seasoned frontiersmen to young boys—employed to take part in the perilous mission. On the other side are the famous American Indian players in the battle: Turkey Leg and Roman Nose. With this complex assortment of characters, Brown vividly recreates the 1868 siege, as well as the competing worldviews of life on the prairies.  This ebook features an illustrated biography of Dee Brown including rare photos from the author’s personal collection.

Love—good and bad—forces three teens’ worlds to tilt in a riveting novel from New York Times bestselling author Ellen Hopkins. Three teens, three stories—all interconnected through their parents’ family relationships. As the adults pull away, caught up in their own dilemmas, the lives of the teens begin to tilt…. Mikayla, almost eighteen, is over-the-top in love with Dylan, who loves her back jealously. But what happens to that love when Mikayla gets pregnant the summer before their senior year—and decides to keep the baby? Shane turns sixteen that same summer and falls hard in love with his first boyfriend, Alex, who happens to be HIV positive. Shane has lived for four years with his little sister’s impending death. Can he accept Alex’s love, knowing that his life, too, will be shortened? Harley is fourteen—a good girl searching for new experiences, especially love from an older boy. She never expects to hurdle toward self-destructive extremes in order to define who she is and who she wants to be. Love, in all its forms, has crucial consequences in this standalone novel.

From the author of Birdsong and A Week in December comes a dazzling new Sunday Times bestseller. Terrified, a young prisoner in the Second World War closes his eyes and pictures himself going out to bat on a sunlit cricket ground in Hampshire. Across the courtyard in a Victorian workhouse, a father too ashamed to acknowledge his son. A skinny girl steps out of a Chevy with a guitar; her voice sends shivers through the skull. Soldiers and lovers, parents and children, scientists and musicians risk their bodies and hearts in search of connection - some key to understanding what makes us the people we become. Provocative and profound, Sebastian Faulks's dazzling novel journeys across continents and time to explore the chaos created by love, separation and missed opportunities. From the pain and drama of these highly particular lives emerges a mysterious consolation: the chance to feel your heart beat in someone else's life.

L'Assommoir est un roman d'Émile Zola publié en feuilleton dès 1876 dans Le Bien public, puis dans La République des Lettres1 avant sa sortie en livre en 1877 chez Georges Charpentier. C'est le septième volume de la série Les Rougon-Macquart. C'est un ouvrage totalement consacré au monde ouvrier et, selon Zola, « le premier roman sur le peuple, qui ne mente pas et qui ait l'odeur du peuple »2. L'écrivain y restitue la langue et les mœurs des ouvriers, tout en décrivant les ravages causés par la misère et l'alcoolisme. À sa parution, l'ouvrage suscite de vives polémiques car il est jugé trop cru. Mais c'est ce réalisme qui, cependant, provoque son succès, assurant à l'auteur fortune et célébrité.

Revisiting the terrain of her acclaimed novel NW, The Embassy of Cambodia is another remarkable work of fiction from Zadie Smith. 'The fact is, if we followed the history of every little country in the world -- in its dramatic as well as its quiet times -- we would have no space left in which to live our own lives or apply ourselves to our necessary tasks, never mind indulge in occasional pleasures, like swimming . . . ' First published in the New Yorker, The Embassy of Cambodia is a rare and brilliant story that takes us deep into the life of a young woman, Fatou, domestic servant to the Derawals and escapee from one set of hardships to another. Beginning and ending outside the Embassy of Cambodia, which happens to be located in Willesden, north-west London, Zadie Smith's absorbing, moving and wryly observed story suggests how the apparently small things in an ordinary life always raise larger, more extraordinary questions. 'Its range is lightly immense... a fiction of consequences both global and heart-rendingly intimate' Guardian 'Smith serves up a smasher' Independent Playful... unexpected and absolutely right... Skips to a beat all of its own' Times Praise for NW: 'A triumph . . .modern London is explored in a dazzling portrait . . . every sentence sings' Guardian 'Intensely funny, richly varied, always unexpected. A joyous, optimistic, angry masterpiece. No better English novel will be published this year' Philip Hensher, Daily Telegraph 'Absolutely brilliant . . . So electrically authentic, it reads like surveillance transcripts' Lev Grossman, TIME

Whether describing the most beautiful poem ever composed or an invention gone horribly wrong, this title features eight stories that open up a rich, fantastical world of wonder, adventure and cruel twists of fate, where nothing is as it seems. It includes: 'The Magic Paint', 'The Death of Marinese', 'Censorship in Bitinia', and 'Knall'.

And the scream keeps coming…... Don't miss Volume Two of New York Times bestselling author Rachel Vincent's unique and fascinating Soul Screamers series. MY SOUL TO KEEP Aside from the whole "I scream when someone is about to die" thing, Kaylee Cavanaugh's life has gotten better. She's getting to know her dad, doing okay in school and has a hot new boyfriend who understands her in every way. Until the hellion Avari starts tempting everyone with an exotic new drug—demon's breath…. MY SOUL TO STEAL Now on shaky ground with Nash Hudson, Kaylee is taking their relationship easy. But then Sabine—Nash's ex—storms into their lives. She's determined to get Nash back and there's nothing she won't do to remind him of what they had. And since Sabine has special abilities of her own, Kaylee is headed into a battle she's not sure she can win…. REAPER —First time in print!— Though Tod Hudson died two years ago, thanks to his job as a Reaper he's never had to move on or let go of his family—no matter how much Nash would like him to! But few people know about how he came to accept the job of claiming souls….

A cry echoed through the Forest. He froze. It was not the yowl of a vixen, or a lynx seeking a mate. It was a man. Or something that had once been a man. With a creeping sense of dread, Torak watched the light between the trees begin to fail. . . . Torak is a boy apart. A boy who can talk to wolves. A boy who must vanquish the Soul-Eaters . . . or die trying. As the Moon of No Dark waxes large, the clans fall prey to a horrifying sickness. Fear stalks the Forest. The very breath of spring seems poisoned. No one knows the cause and only Torak can find the cure. His quest takes him across the sea to the mysterious islands of the Seal Clan. Here Torak battles an unseen menace and uncovers a betrayal that will change his life forever. Spirit Walker is a spellbinding story of fellowship, treachery, and self-sacrifice that takes the reader further on the journey that began in Wolf Brother.

The bestselling author of The Straw Men makes his American hardcover debut with a searing, atmospheric tale that ratchets up the suspense, page by page, until its shocking end For Jack Whalen, it all starts with a visit from a childhood friend, now a lawyer, who asks for his help on an odd case. The family members of a scientist have been brutally murdered, and the scientist—who may have had something to hide—is nowhere to be found. But Jack has more pressing matters on his mind. His wife has told him that she's on a routine business trip to Seattle, yet she hasn't checked into her hotel. Calls to her cell phone go unanswered, and when Jack travels to Seattle to investigate, she's vanished. And in Oregon a little girl goes missing. She's found miles away, but it soon becomes clear that she's not an innocent victim, and is far from defenseless.Unusual events, all leading to the same place. As a former patrol cop who left the force under difficult circumstances, Jack is determined to find some answers. Yet the more he digs, the more the intrigue grows. Searching into the dark secrets of a past that still haunts him, Jack discovers that the truth has roots deeper and more evil than he ever feared.

A collection of three wonderfully festive stories from Eva Ibbotson, the bestselling author of Journey to the River Sea. With a beautiful cover by Joe Wilson and inside illustrations, The Christmas Star is a wonderful gift to treasure at Christmas and all year round. In the first story - Vicky and the Christmas Angel - a young Viennese girl discovers, to her horror, who really brings the children's presents at Christmas. In The Christmas Star a family encounters a fortune teller at the local Christmas market who changes their lives. The Great Carp Ferdinand is a story about a hero with a difference as it follows the impact that Ferdinand - the carp intended for the Mannhaus family's Christmas dinner - has on the household in the lead-up to Christmas.

As the captain of a schooner catering to the elite on the Caribbean Seas, Sebastian Stark does his best to avoid any human encounters. Interacting with people isn’t his thing, and he prefers the company of a bottle of vodka, a shot glass, and maybe a whore. There’s no doubt he’s hiding from a checkered past, but he does well keeping everything to himself… …until the night his schooner capsizes, and he’s stuck on a life raft with one of the passengers. Raine’s young, she’s cute, and Bastian would probably be into her if he wasn’t suffering from alcohol withdrawal. As the days pass, DTs, starvation, and dehydration become the norm. Even the most closed person starts to open up when he thinks he’s going to die, but when she realizes their traumatic pasts are connected, it’s no longer the elements that have Bastian concerned. He has no idea how he’s going to Survive Raine.

Librarian's Note: Alternate-cover edition for ISBN10: 1508491836 / ISBN13: 9781508491835 Annie Edwards was born deaf, but she’s never let that define her. She’s settling in as a freshman at Whitney Briggs University, loves her dorm, her roommate, her classes, but something feels as though it’s missing—enter Blake Daniels. He’s everything Annie is not—a rocker, a player, a college dropout. Her friends want to sleep with him, her brothers want to kill him, and all Annie wants is a chance to see where her heart takes her. As the lead singer of 12 Deadly Sins, Blake has had his fair share of rock candy. But Annie has taken over his body, his mind, his heart—three things he’s never lost control of before. Often first love and first heartbreak go hand in hand. Sometimes the thrill of one is worth risking the other.

Following her stunning and critically acclaimed novels Such a Pretty Girl and Leftovers, Laura Wiess crafts a riveting and emotionally powerful tale of beauty, destruction...and love. Seventeen-year-old Hanna has been in love with Seth for as long as she can remember, but now that she and Seth are in an actual relationship, love isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Seth is controlling and all they seem to do anymore is fight. If that’s what love is, Hanna doesn’t want any part of it. Besides, she has something else on her mind: graduation. But she’s been ignoring the school’s community service requirement, and now she needs to rack up some hours in a hurry. Hanna volunteers as a caretaker for her neighbor Mrs. Schoenmaker—an elderly woman with advanced Parkinson’s whose husband can’t always be there to watch over her. While caring for Mrs. S., Hanna becomes mesmerized by an audiobook that the older woman is listening to, a love story of passion, sacrifice, and complete devotion. She’s fascinated by the idea that love like that really exists, and slowly, the story begins to change her. But what Hanna doesn’t know is that the story she’s listening to is not fiction—and that Mrs. Schoenmaker and her husband’s devotion to each other is about to reach its shattering, irrevocable conclusion... Spellbinding, timeless, and achingly poignant, How It Ends is a story of how love ends, how it begins, and how people and events have the ability to change who we are without our even realizing it.

[MFM, erotic menage, HEA, post-apocalyptic, military/special ops] Book 5 of the Drunk Monkeys series. One can of whup-ass delivered courtesy of…the Drunk Monkeys. Gia Quick is an LA Sheriff’s deputy in Santa Clarita. She gets an emergency promotion to station chief after Kite, riots, and earthquakes bring the region to its knees. She knows the only solution to keep rioters and Kiters out is to blow the freeway and give citizens time to escape. Omega and Echo are on a recon mission when a mob ambushes them and they get separated from the rest of the Drunk Monkeys. They find Gia arresting—even after the short, feisty deputy arrests them. She needs a road blown and they can help, if they can locate the rest of their unit. Unfortunately, Kite hits close to home for Gia, and there’s nothing keeping her in Santa Clarita. But the military has one hell of a cover-up underway. When Gia opens this barrel of monkeys, she might find more than she bargained for…and she just might find love.

IDENTICAL, based loosely on the myth of Castor and Pollux, is the story of identical twins Paul and Cass Giannis and the complex relationships between their family and their former neighbors, the Kronons. The novel focuses principally on events in 2008, when Paul is a candidate for Mayor of Kindle County, and Cass is released from the penitentiary, 25 years after pleading guilty to the murder of his girlfriend, Aphrodite Kronon. The plot centers on the re-investigation of Aphrodite's murder, carried out together by Evon Miller, an ex-FBI agent who is the head of security for the Kronon family business ZP, and private investigator Tim Brodie, 81, a former homicide detective. The complex web of murder, sex, and betrayal-as only Scott Turow could weave-dramatically unfolds, and the chilling truth is revealed: people will believe what they want to believe.

In a small town on the edge of the Caspian Sea, Edmond Lazarian and his best friend Tahereh pass their days playing together, drifting between the delights of beachcombing and the joys of the sherbet shop. Although Edmond is Armenian and Tahereh is the Muslim daughter of the school’s janitor, they remain blissfully unaware of the disquiet that ripples the surface calm of their close-knit community. Yet years later, when Edmond’s daughter chooses a Muslim to marry, tensions inevitably build. Unable to keep sidestepping the prejudices around him, Edmond is finally forced to make a choice, and one that will haunt him for years to come. From the critically acclaimed author of Things We Left Unsaid, 'The Space Between Us' is a poignant, wistful story about belonging and otherness, pride and prejudice, and the pressures and family expectations that inform our decisions. Brilliantly painting the landscape of intricate social conventions and private emotional conflict, Pirzad has produced an intimate portrait of ordinary Iranians living everyday lives.

Ralph Moody turns again to Colorado, the scene of those two delightful earlier books about his boyhood, Little Britches and Man of the Family. This is an extension of Mr. Moody's recollections of his twelfth year, and fits withing the framework of Man of the Family between chapters 25 and 26. The Home Ranch has all the warm and wonderful ingredients which made his first two books such universal favorites with readers of all ages. The book teems with exciting and poignant incidents and with memorable characters, most of them good, kindly, generous people--though there is a villain. Mr. Moody is at his best in picturing a young boy's struggles with economic and other adversities, and having lived through them himself, he writes with such convincing honesty that the reader knows that this is the way things were. Highly recommended for all readers from nine to ninety.

Twelve of Shakespeare's greatest tales come to life in this entertaining collection of short, lively stories specially adapted for young readers. Capturing the vital events and using some of the original wording, the stories serve as a perfect introduction to Shakespeare for preteens and as literate refreshers for older folks. Fulfilling a request from her own children, author Edith Nesbit turned twelve of the Bard's most famous plays into delightful tales of kings, queens, ghosts, and witches. Filled with tragedy, humor, and moral lessons, the stories--told with wit and grace--include "Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, King Lear, As You Like It, Twelfth Night, The Merchant of Venice, The Tempest, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Cymbeline, The Taming of the Shrew, Pericles, "and "The Winter's Tale." Wonderfully transformed by the noted author of children's books, these classics are a great way to start a lifelong interest in the works of Shakespeare.