When a stroke fells radical New York lawyer Joel Litvinoff, a secret is revealed that forces Audrey, his wife, to reexamine everything she believed about their forty-year marriage. In the meantime Joel's children are struggling with their own dilemmas and doubts. Disillusioned revolutionary Rosa has been drawn into the world of Orthodox Judaism. Karla, a devoted--and married--social worker hoping to adopt a child, is falling in love with the owner of a newspaper stand. Lenny, the ne'er-do-well, faces yet another relapse into heroin addiction. In the course of battling their own demons--and one another--the Litvinoffs must reexamine long-held articles of faith and decide what--if anything--they still believe in.

Once Chime had been the most promising mage in the land, feted and celebrated for her potential and future role in the kingdom. Then Iris, her young competitor, made a stunning leap in skill and turned Chime's world upside down. Now no longer the most powerful, no longer promised to a prince— and still unable to harness her magic properly— Chime was set adrift. As was the new king's cousin— and former heir— Lord Muller. Yet when the neighboring kingdom threatened war, Muller and Chime were tasked with uncovering the plot. Both were flawed, yet unwilling to accept a lesser destiny than they had once known. Could this quest be the opportunity for redemption— or would it lead them to their deaths? Award-winning author Catherine Asaro, creator of The Skolian Empire, creates her first full-length fantasy novel in a world rich with magic and power. Fans who caught a glimpse of the kingdom of Aronsdale in "Moonglow" from the Charmed...

Deep in the sun-drenched desert, priestess Ginger-Sun carries the power of shape mages. And whispers abound: Is she descended from the beloved Sunset Goddess, or are her nighttime rituals filled with wickedness? Ginger herself is uncertain, until a stranger is left for dead at her feet. Thence her magic begins to burn. Fate makes Ginger the stranger's wife and therefore a target for those who would murder this man to crown another--and force her magic into twisted ferocity. For unless Ginger masters her dark powers, violence will rein in Taka Mal--and in her soul.

A young girl's struggle to change her destiny set against the destruction of the Aztec empire.In the golden city of Tenochtitlan, Emperor Montezuma rules with an iron rod and people live in fear of the gods. Itacate, a girl born under an ill-fated sky, is destined for a life of submission and domestic drudgery. But when her father, a goldsmith, discovers her talent for his craft, she starts to work as his apprentice, a secret she must keep in order to protect the lives of herself and her family. But danger awaits as Spanish strangers invade the city. And when Itacate's work comes to the emperor's attention and she falls in love with a stranger, her life takes an even more perilous turn. Can Itacate change her destiny and survive in this harsh new world?

"Reader beware—you choose the scare! GIVE YOURSELF GOOSEBUMPS! You, and your little sister, and your best friend just found a new magic shop at the mall. The man inside calls himself the Magician. He's pretty creepy. Before you know it, your little sister runs out of the shop with his book of magic spells. If you read one of the spells, you find yourself in the magician's workshop. Suddenly you are part of a magic act. You are forced onstage, about to be sliced into a million pieces! If the three bullies from the school grab the book, you must find it before the magician makes your sister disappear...forever! The choice is yours in this scary GOOSEBUMPS adventure that's packed with over 20 super-spooky endings!"

Winner of the Guardian Prize for FictionIn the small town of Pennygaff, where Owen has been sent to live after his mother’s death, a legendary golden harp has been found. Knowing of the prophesy of the Harp of Teirtu, Owen must prevent the magic harp from falling into the evil clutches of its reputed owner, the sinister and diabolical Lord Mayln. But it won’t be easy. Owen and his friend Arabis are plunged into a hair-raising adventure of intrigue, kidnapping, exotic underground worlds, savage beasts...even murder.For only too late will Owen learn that Lord Mayln will stop at nothing to have the golden harp.At the publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.

1832 - a period of English History that never happened. Good King James III is on the throne and the country is ravaged by wolves which have migrated through the newly-opened Channel Tunnel. When Sylvia and Bonnie (both orphans) fall into the hands of evil Miss Slighcarp, they must use all their wits to escape unscathed - for the governess is more cruel and merciless than the wolves that surround the great house of Willoughby Chase.

No. Scratch that. Too cheesy. ...two people, torn apart by the tumultuous tides of life, only to discover refuge in... WTF? What does that even mean? DELETE. ...two people, confused as shit as to where they should be and who they should love and none of this means a damn thing because it's all lies! Lies. I'm not Hope Hughes. I'm not some fierce woman romance machine. Hell, I'm not even a woman. I'm a liar. And while I refuse to believe my own BS, deceit masked in heartfelt phrases of love and devotion, I want to make her believe them. Because maybe--just maybe--if she can find the soul within my words, she'll also be able to find the truth scribbled on my heart. You see, I once lived for the perfect plot twist. I just never expected to actually live it. This is my story. Well, maybe her story. I just wish I could make it our story. The one I'm still writing.

With three straight #1 bestsellers and more than 4 million copies of his books in print, the most powerful traditional force in the American media now takes off his gloves in the ongoing struggle for America's heart and soul.Bill O'Reilly is the very embodiment of the idea of a Culture Warrior--and in this book he lives up to the title brilliantly, with all the brashness and forthrightness at his command. He sees that America is in the midst of a fierce culture war between those who embrace traditional values and those who want to change America into a "secular-progressive" country. This is a conflict that differs in many ways from the usual liberal/conservative divide, but it is no less heated, and the stakes are even higher.In Culture Warrior, Bill O'Reilly defines this war and analyzes the competing philosophies of the traditionalist and secular-progressive camps. He examines why the nation's motto "E Pluribus Unum" ("From Many, One") might change...

No more exciting time could have been chosen by the skilled storyteller Andre Norton as a setting for a thrilling novel than the beginning of Egypt's fight for freedom against hated Hyksos invaders about 1590 B.C. Two young princes were the mighty heroes of the day, aided by the SHADOW HAWK of this story, a leader from the south who spurred them and fought magnificently himself at the head of his tiny group of skilled Nubian archers. The tale will be enjoyed not only for the vivid back-ground but for the organization of the army, the raids and forays, the taming of the war lion, and the dramatic siege of Neferusi... "This is an intensely masculine Egyptian historical novel . ."  New York Herald-Tribune

When Andas Kastor awakens in an alien land, he must figure out if he's the true emperor of his home world or an evil double In a stark, arid wasteland, a man awakens from a frozen state. As he stares out his narrow slit of a window, he has no memory of how he got there—or why. All he knows is his name: Andas Kastor, Imperial Prince of Inyanga. But instead of the luxurious trappings of his royal palace, he's in a hellish, storm-lashed place punctuated by howling winds and shattering streaks of lightning. And he's not alone. In this uninhabited world, he meets five other survivors, also of noble birth. They include the scaled, emerald-haired Elys of Posedonia and clawed, fanged Lord Yolyos of Sargol. They all speak the same Basic language, as befits those from neighboring spheres. Were they abducted, spirited to this alien planet, and held in mind-lock while evil doppelgangers ruled in their places? After a daring escape, Andas returns to...

The film adaptation of Margaret Laurence's The Stone Angel, starring acclaimed actresses Ellen Burstyn and Ellen Page, and introducing Christine Horne, opens in theatres May 9, 2008.This special fortieth-anniversary edition of Margaret Laurence's most celebrated novel will introduce readers again to one of the most memorable characters in Canadian fiction. Hagar Shipley is stubborn, querulous, self-reliant, and, at ninety, with her life nearly behind her, she makes a bold last step towards freedom and independence.As her story unfolds, we are drawn into her past. We meet Hagar as a young girl growing up in a black prairie town; as the wife of a virile but unsuccessful farmer with whom her marriage was stormy; as a mother who dominates her younger son; and, finally, as an old woman isolated by an uncompromising pride and by the stern virtues she has inherited from her pioneer ancestors.Vivid, evocative, moving, The Stone Angel...

Amazon.com ReviewWhen World War II began, Irene Gutowna was a 17-year-old Polish nursing student. Six years later, she writes in this inspiring memoir, "I felt a million years old." In the intervening time she was separated from her family, raped by Russian soldiers, and forced to work in a hotel serving German officers. Sickened by the suffering inflicted on the local Jews, Irene began leaving food under the walls of the ghetto. Soon she was scheming to protect the Jewish workers she supervised at the hotel, and then hiding them in the lavish villa where she served as housekeeper to a German major. When he discovered them in the house, Gutowna became his mistress to protect her friends--later escaping him to join the Polish partisans during the Germans' retreat. The author presents her extraordinary heroism as the inevitable result of small steps taken over time, but her readers will not agree as they consume this thrilling adventure story, which also happens to be a drama of moral choice and courage. Although adults will find Irene's tale moving, it is appropriately published as a young adult book. Her experiences while still in her teens remind adolescents everywhere that their actions count, that the power to make a difference is in their hands. --Wendy SmithFrom Publishers WeeklyEven among WWII memoirsAa genre studded with extraordinary storiesAthis autobiography looms large, a work of exceptional substance and style. Opdyke, born in 1922 to a Polish Catholic family, was a 17-year-old nursing student when Germany invaded her country in 1939. She spent a year tending to the ragtag remnants of a Polish military unit, hiding out in the forest with them; was captured and raped by Russians; was forced to work in a Russian military hospital; escaped and lived under a false identity in a village near Kiev; and was recaptured by the Russians. But her most remarkable adventures were still to come. Back in her homeland, she, like so many Poles, was made to serve the German army, and she eventually became a waitress in an officers' dining hall. She made good use of her positionArisking her life, she helped Jews in the ghetto by passing along vital information, smuggling in food and helping them escape to the forest. When she was made the housekeeper of a German major, she used his villa to hide 12 JewsAand, at enormous personal cost, kept them safe throughout the war. In translating Opdyke's experiences to memoir (see Children's Books, June 14), Armstrong and Opdyke demonstrate an almost uncanny power to place readers in the young Irene's shoes. Even as the authors handily distill the complexities of the military and political conditions of wartime Poland, they present Irene as simultaneously strong and vulnerableAa likable flesh-and-blood woman rather than a saint. Telling details, eloquent in their understatement, render Irene's shock at German atrocities and the gradually built foundation of her heroic resistance. Metaphors weave in and out, simultaneously providing a narrative structure and offering insight into Irene's experiences. Readers will be rivetedAand no one can fail to be inspired by Opdyke's courage. Ages 10-up. (Aug.) Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In the fourth volume of the acclaimed Hinges of History series, Thomas Cahill brings his characteristic wit and style to a fascinating tour of ancient Greece. The Greeks invented everything from Western warfare to mystical prayer, from logic to statecraft. Many of their achievements, particularly in art and philosophy, are widely celebrated; other important innovations and accomplishments, however, are unknown or underappreciated. In Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea, Thomas Cahill explores the legacy, good and bad, of the ancient Greeks. From the origins of Greek culture in the migrations of armed Indo-European tribes into Attica and the Peloponnesian peninsula, to the formation of the city-states, to the birth of Western literature, poetry, drama, philosophy, art, and architecture, Cahill makes the distant past relevant to the present. Greek society is one of the two primeval influences on the Western world: While Jews gave us our value system, the Greeks set...

A novella that contains toe-curling sex, spanking, and the f-bomb. Proceed at your own risk. After finding her husband of twenty-one years with her best friend, Cherry Black found herself in an abyss that she was not ready to climb out of. That was until her long lost spark was renew upon meeting and interviewing the elusive owner of the hottest BDSM club in the state.

A poignant and uplifting novel about transforming unbearable loss into a second chance for happinessLondon publisher Sylvester Wykes is traveling home from work when he hears the sudden squeal of brakes. As the train screeches to a halt, a figure leaps out to save a sheep lying near the tracks. Wykes is fascinated by this mysterious young woman dressed all in black.Their paths are fated to cross again when Wykes hires a housekeeper, unaware that she is the stranger from the train. Her name is Julia Piper, and she's in mourning for the husband and son she lost in a tragic accident. Julia is also being plagued by anonymous calls . . . and the feeling that someone is stalking her.

EDITORIAL REVIEW: An award-winning and beloved novelist of the American West spins the further adventures of a favorite character, in one of his richest historical settings yet. "If America was a melting pot, Butte would be its boiling point," observes Morrie Morgan, the itinerant teacher, walking encyclopedia, and inveterate charmer last seen leaving a one-room schoolhouse in Marias Coulee, the stage he stole in Ivan Doig's 2006 The Whistling Season. A decade later, Morrie is back in Montana, as the beguiling narrator of Work Song. Lured like so many others by "the richest hill on earth," Morrie steps off the train in Butte, copper-mining capital of the world, in its jittery heyday of 1919. But while riches elude Morrie, once again a colorful cast of local characters-and their dramas-seek him out: a look-alike, sound-alike pair of retired Welsh miners; a streak-of-lightning waif so skinny that he is dubbed Russian Famine; a pair of mining company goons; a comely landlady propitiously named Grace; and an eccentric boss at the public library, his whispered nickname a source of inexplicable terror. When Morrie crosses paths with a lively former student, now engaged to a fiery young union leader, he is caught up in the mounting clash between the iron-fisted mining company, radical "outside agitators," and the beleaguered miners. And as tensions above ground and below reach the explosion point, Morrie finds a unique way to give a voice to those who truly need one. "The most tumultous, quirky, and fascinating city in the American West of the last century has finally found a storyteller equal to its stories. ... Ivan Doig brings to life the core of humanity, and a hell of cast, amidst the shadows and sorrows of Butte, Montana -- a city that could say it never slept well before New York made a similar claim."-Tim Egan, author of *The Last Hard Time and The Big Burn*

Wealthy business tycoon Blake Putnam isn’t looking for love, he just needs a date for a family wedding he’s dreading. Alpha male to the core, Blake’s idea of being a man leaves little room for emotional connection. He comes up with the perfect solution to the dreaded wedding: he’ll find a controllable date. He has everything planned to perfection. Samantha Jones agrees to spend the weekend with the hot boss. She’s attracted to him, but she’s sworn off men after her embarrassing recent break up. She’s determined to ignore the attraction and focus on business when he hands her an opportunity to be part of the biggest business pitch in Blake Genetics’ history. It could change everything. She’s not looking for love, she won’t jump off that cliff again. But she will take the chance to further her career. What neither of them expected was the weekend to take flight. Is this a risk they’re willing to see through to the end? 

Orphan Jay doesn't want to hurt anyone, and nurse Laura Parris is determined to protect him. When she meets Victor Brodman, a widower, she wonders if she can finally reveal Jay's disturbing past.From BooklistStarred Review The first reaction of some readers upon finishing the first several pages of this novel might be: “Hey, didn’t The Twilight Zone already do this story?” It’s true, there are similarities between Clark’s story of a little boy with a terrifying mental power and “It’s a Good Life,” the famous Twilight Zone episode based on a Jerome Bixby short story about a little boy with a terrifying mental power. But the similarities between the two are only thematic. In execution, the two tales are very different. Clark, author of such stellar horror thrillers as London under Midnight (2006) and Lucifer’s Ark (2008), proves again that he has a real knack for working unique variations on time-tested themes. His little boy is the sole survivor of a shipwreck, now living in an orphan asylum, and he’s the sweetest boy you could ever want to meet—until his eyes glaze over, and he begins to repeat your name. Then it’s time to take cover. But is the boy evil himself, or is he merely the innocent vessel of a much greater, darker evil? Clark will tell you, but in his own good time, and only after the knot in the pit of your stomach is the size of a boulder. Another clever, original, and beguiling thriller from this very talented storyteller. --David Pitt Review"Another clever, original, and beguiling thriller from this very talented storyteller" Booklist starred review of Vengeance Child "Clark, familiar to some fans of horror fiction but largely unknown by everybody else, deserves a much wider audience. This thrilling, terrifying, and deeply affecting story might just be the one that captures it for him" Booklist on London Under Midnight"

A woman sits beside her father's bedside as the night ticks away the final hours of his life. As she watches over her father, she relives the past week and the events that brought the family together . . . and she recalls all the weeks before that served to pull it apart. There has never been anything normal about the lives raised in this house. It seems to her that sometimes her family is so colourful that the brightness hurts, and as they all join together in this time of impending loss she examines how they came to be the way they are and how it came to just be her, the drifter, that her father came home to die with. But, the middle of five children, the woman has her own secrets . . . particularly the draw that pulled her back to the house when her own life looked set to crumble. And sitting through her lonely vigil, she remembers the thing she saw out in the fields all those years ago . . . the thing that they found her screaming for outside in the mud. As she peers through the familiar glass, she can't help but hope and wonder if it will come again. Because it's one of those night, isn't it dad? A special terrible night. A full night. And that's always when it comes. If it comes at all.

The final volume in Deighton's hook, line and sinker espionage trilogy will likely disappoint even his staunchest fans with its passionless, unsuspenseful scenario for explaining the political liberation of Eastern Europe at the end of the '80s. Bernard Sampson, protagonist of the earlier books, here steps backstage as his wife, Fiona, defects to East Germany after being groomed as a double agent. In place, Fiona is set to implement a plan facilitating the westward defection of East German professionals, leaving a gap in the economic structure which is expected to defeat the Communist regime. Fiona's abandonment of her husband and two young children occurs with little drama or conflict, and is a move no more convincing than the doubts Deighton later visits upon her. The plan conceived by Bret Rensselaer, deputy controller of European economics for Britain's SIS, to dismantle the Wall is intriguing and plausible, but its fictional execution is without force. At his best with action scenes, Deighton gives us too few; only those that begin and end his tale ring with excitement and suspense. Biography From Wikipedia - Len DeightonLeonard Cyril Deighton (born 18 February 1929, Marylebone, London) is a British military historian, cookery writer, and novelist. He is perhaps most famous for his spy novel The IPCRESS File, which was made into a film starring Michael Caine.Deighton was born in Marylebone, London, in 1929. His father was a chauffeur and mechanic, and his mother was a part-time cook. At the time they lived in Gloucester Place Mews near Baker Street.Deighton's interest in spy stories may have been partially inspired by the arrest of Anna Wolkoff, which he witnessed as an 11-year-old boy. Wolkoff was a British subject of Russian descent who was a Nazi spy. She was detained on 20 May 1940, and convicted of violating the Official Secrets Act for attempting to pass secret documents to the Nazis.After leaving school, Deighton worked as a railway clerk before performing his National Service, which he spent as a photographer for the Royal Air Force's Special Investigation Branch. After discharge from the RAF, he studied at St Martin's School of Art in London in 1949, and in 1952 won a scholarship to the Royal College of Art, graduating in 1955. While he was at the RCA he became a "lifelong friend" of fellow designer Raymond Hawkey, who later designed covers for his early books. Deighton then worked as an airline steward with BOAC. Before he began his writing career he worked as an illustrator in New York and, in 1960, as an art director in a London advertising agency. He is credited with creating the first British cover for Kerouac's On the Road. He has since used his drawing skills to illustrate a number of his own military history books.Following the success of his first novels, Deighton became The Observer's cookery writer and produced illustrated cookbooks. He also wrote travel guides and became travel editor of Playboy, before becoming a film producer. After producing a film adaption of his 1968 novel Only When I Larf, Deighton and photographer Brian Duffy bought the film rights to Joan Littlewood and Theatre Workshop's stage musical Oh, What a Lovely War!. He had his name removed from the credits of the film, however, which was a move that he later described as "stupid and infantile". That was his last involvement with the cinema.Deighton left England in 1969. He briefly resided in Blackrock, County Louth in Ireland. He has not returned to England apart from some personal visits and very few media appearances, his last one since 1985 being a 2006 interview which formed part of a "Len Deighton Night" on BBC Four. He and his wife Ysabele divide their time between homes in Portugal and Guernsey.Several of his novels have been adapted as films. His first four novels featured an anonymous anti-hero, named "Harry Palmer" in the films, and portrayed by Michael Caine. The first trilogy of his Bernard Samson novel series was made into a 12-part television series by Granada Television in 1988, shown only once, and withdrawn on instructions from Deighton.[citation needed] Quentin Tarantino has expressed interest in filming the trilogy. Deighton wrote the screenplay and was an uncredited producer  of the 1969 film of the stage musical Oh, What a Lovely War!. His 1970 World War II historical novel Bomber about an RAF Bomber Command raid over Germany often is considered his masterpiece.He reportedly began an unfinished Vietnam War novel, a portion of which appeared as the story First Base in his short story collection Declarations of War.