Years have gone by since the events surrounding the death of Anne Boleyn. But her missing hand and all that it represents to the dark world of 16th-century Europe still draws the powerful to seek it out. Jean Rombaud - the French executioner of the first novel - has grown old, both in age and spirit. Wearied by the betrayal of a son and the scorn of a wife, he fights in the seemingly never-ending siege of Siena. Meanwhile, Gianni Rombaud has forsaken everything his ageing father stands for and now kills heathen for the Inquisition in Rome. Then he is summoned by Cardinal Carafa himself. His masters no longer merely want his dagger in the hearts of Jews, they want the hand of the dead queen... But only three people know where it is buried, and one of them is Gianni's father...

Frey is the captain of the Ketty Jay, leader of a small and highly dysfunctional band of layabouts. An inveterate womaniser and rogue, he and his gang make a living on the wrong side of the law, avoiding the heavily armed flying frigates of the Coalition Navy. With their trio of ragged fighter craft, they run contraband, rob airships and generally make a nuisance of themselves. So a hot tip on a cargo freighter loaded with valuables seems like a great prospect for an easy heist and a fast buck. Until the heist goes wrong, and the freighter explodes. Suddenly Frey isn't just a nuisance anymore - he's public enemy number one, with the Coalition Navy on his tail and contractors hired to take him down. But Frey knows something they don't. That freighter was rigged to blow, and Frey has been framed to take the fall. If he wants to prove it, he's going to have to catch the real culprit. He must face liars and lovers, dogfights and gunfights, Dukes and daemons. It's going to take all his criminal talents to prove he's not the criminal they think he is ...

Ros Ballaster (Introduction/Editor) 'The more I know of the world, the more am I convinced that I shall never see a man whom I can really love. I require so much!' Marianne Dashwood wears her heart on her sleeve, and when she falls in love with the dashing but unsuitable John Willoughby she ignores her sister Elinor's warning that her impulsive behaviour leaves her open to gossip and innuendo. Meanwhile Elinor, always sensitive to social convention, is struggling to conceal her own romantic disappointment, even from those closest to her. Through their parallel experience of love—and its threatened loss—the sisters learn that sense must mix with sensibility if they are to find personal happiness in a society where status and money govern the rules of love. This edition includes explanatory notes, textual variants between the first and second editions, and Tony Tanner's introduction to the original Penguin Classic edition.

Celebrate the 100th Anniversary of Raggedy Ann with this brand-new edition of her brother’s classic stories written and illustrated by Johnny Gruelle!When Raggedy Andy arrives in the mail at Marcella’s father’s office, he shows off his cheery smile and waits excitedly to reunite with his sister, Raggedy Ann. After a warm welcome from the other dolls, Raggedy Andy continues the fun with a dance, pillow fights, encounters with Santa Claus, and more! Just in time for Raggedy Ann’s 100th birthday, these beloved original stories about Raggedy Ann’s brother, Andy, are sure to delight fans young and old.

It’s hard to control your destiny while you’re waiting for the bus. The trouble for Argus Kirkham began when a stranger pushed his way through a crowd at a bus stop and pressed a package into his hands. Inside the package were various random items. As Argus and his friends unravel the clues, very strange things occur in this story of mystery and ghosts. Book Two of the Dragon City series.Naomi is a young woman who has had one bad relationship after another. She decides to find a temporary job and is accepted as a jillaroo on a cattle station in outback Australia. She falls in love with a cowboy. She wants to help save the station from bankrupcy. Her hero cowboy has to save her from her exboyfriend. To win her heart he needs to unravel what the perfect gift is. Some novels are available in print at amazon create space

You've asked for years when Ophelia and Jamie would get their own story and now it's here! How will Ophelia adjust to living in a dorm room now that she has been banished from the Council and forced to matriculate at college with Jamie? Communal showers! Horrible, pretentious roommates! Humans who try to be FRIENDS! The horror!

Jack Noble. Assassin for hire. Thief. Spy. Described by his associates as a man who has no feelings, passes no judgement, and feels no remorse. So why the hell did he stop to help a lost child moments before he was to meet with one of the top crime bosses on the East coast? A simple decision that now places Jack in unfamiliar territory where he has become the hunted.Jack Noble. Assassin for hire. Thief. Spy. Described by his associates as a man who has no feelings, passes no judgement, and feels no remorse. So why the hell did he stop to help a lost child moments before he was to meet with one of the top crime bosses on the East coast? A simple decision that now places Jack in unfamiliar territory where he has become the hunted. Noble Intentions is a thrilling and suspenseful story of underworld crime, government secrets, and heart-pounding action. This is the first episode of Noble Intentions. It is a short novella of 15,000 worrds. New novella length episodes (20,000 to 30,000 words each) will be released every two to three weeks. Season One (Episodes 1 through 5) now complete. Warning: These stories depict realistic violence with real consequences. Some scenes might be too intense for the faint of heart.

From a farmer's romance to his skin condition to one man's culinary relationship with Bruce Lee, it all happens in Barntrosna. This is a collection of humourous stories from Patrick McCabe as macarbe as ever.

Marvin King, a happy man, he has a good job, a lovely family and has just won a new car after returning froma holiday. Day's later, he's in custody. He's lost everything. Whilst serving his sentence, his partner meets a new man and is suddenly killed with her daughter leaving Marvins son with a mysterious stranger, he soon finds himself in a dangerous world he knows nothing about.The first Novella of the Marvin trilogy, Rise To Fall introduces Marvin King. A happy man, he has a good job, a lovely family and has just won a new car after returning froma holiday. Day's later, he's in custody. He's lost his family, his job and new car. Whilst serving his sentence, his partner meets a new man and is suddenly killed with her daughter leaving Marvins son with a mysterious stranger who know no-one is willing to tell Marvin about. He soon finds himself in a dangerous world he knows nothing about, desperate to be re-united with son, Marvin must forget everything he was and become everything he despised.

A short play in one act, in which a couple considers their present and past."There was nothing unusual about the night everything changed. No flashing lights in the sky, no searing fire in my belly; no sign whatsoever to suggest the shift which was to come…Nora Brice did strange things to me. Strange and awful things…" Paul Colt has a problem, and it is not one most teenage boys face. Yes, he likes a girl; one he’s pretty certain he’ll do foolish things for, given the chance. But he can’t go after her, or any other girl for that matter. That’s what he gets for being an Averter; forced to toe the line for the propagation of the collective. He knows some rules are okay to trifle with, and there are some which should never be broken. The gravest of them all? Don’t fall in love. Ever. This is the story of how Paul breaks that rule.This prequel novella to the Mentalist Series can be read before or after Aversion, Book One of The Mentalist Series.

A man's path to redemption is one that sorts out true friends from fake ones. As Brian ponders his life and the one constant companion he has had through thick and thin, his friend's life hangs in the balance. Absolution and catharsis comes at a cost as Brian discovers.Cheryl Rainesford takes a ghostly train ride in the middle of the night. Amy discovers extra storage space where there was none before. If you could get away with murder, would you actually commit the crime? How well do you really know the people you work with?Creepy tales and poems that will have you leaving on the light at night. Caution: don't read it alone!

"You are a fire. You must burn. Be a candle, and light the way for someone. Or be a firework and dedicate your entire life for a moment, for a smile. You are a fire, Sam. So burn your life away for someone." A flash fiction about sacrifice.In The Stars follows ‘The Circle’ of friends through a full year, with each episode covering the period of time indicated by the zodiac sign from which it takes its title.‘Capricorn’ is the first episode of In The Stars, released in January 2014. For those readers unfamiliar with the series, it re-introduces the main characters, so you could pick it up from here and perhaps catch up with the previous books later (I hope you will!).The full novel of In The Stars Part I (Capricorn–Gemini) is also available for purchase as a paperback and ebook from January 2014.* * * * *Some things are just meant to be, or sometimes it seems that way. Like old uni pals inexplicably moving to your hometown, or realising that your childhood best friend is the love of your life, or landing a star role in a hit TV series that could well be your autobiography.Fate, karma, written in the stars, or just bizarre quirks of coincidence?For better or worse, the events of the next six months will push the friends to the limits. For The Circle can expand and contract, but it is always whole; eternal.Set over the first six months of a year of The Circle, In The Stars Part I explores the day-to-day lives of nine friends from high school who are now it their late thirties, following them through celebration, loss, illness and life-changing decisions.What readers say about the Hiding Behind The Couch Series:"The remarkable characterisation in these novels is what makes them for me.""This story reminds me of my favorite movies about friendship and relationships.""Few authors have explored the depths of longtime friends within a group, or 'circle' the way Debbie McGowan has!""I have a love-hate relationship with Debbie McGowan's Hiding Behind the Couch Series. I love to read them, I HATE it when they're over."

Christopher Snow is different from all the other residents of Moonlight Bay, different from anyone you've ever met. For Christopher Snow has made his peace with a very rare genetic disorder shared by only one thousand other Americans, a disorder that leaves him dangerously vulnerable to light. His life is filled with the fascinating rituals of one who must embrace the dark. He knows the night as no one else ever will, ever can - the mystery, the beauty, the many terrors, and the eerie, silken rhythms of the night - for it is only at night that he is free. Until the night he witnesses a series of disturbing incidents that sweep him into a violent mystery only he can solve, a mystery that will force him to rise above all fears and confront the many-layered strangeness of Moonlight Bay and its residents.

The extraordinary and eventful personal account of the life of Pearl S. Buck, the first American woman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature Often regarded as one of Pearl S. Buck’s most significant works, My Several Worlds is the memoir of a major novelist and one of the key American chroniclers of China. Buck, who was born to missionary parents in 1892, spent much of the first portion of her life in China, experiencing the Boxer Rebellion first hand and becoming involved with the society with an intimacy available to few outside observers. The book is not only an important reflection on that nation’s modern history, but also an account of her re-engagement with America and the intense activity that characterized her life there, from her prolific novel-writing to her loves and friendships to her work for abandoned children and other humanitarian causes. As alive with incident as it is illuminating in its philosophy, My Several Worlds is essential reading for travelers and readers alike. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Pearl S. Buck including rare images from the author’s estate.

In an engrossing historical novel, the Newbery Medal-winning author of Bridge to Terabithia follows a young Cuban teenager as she volunteers for Fidel Castro's national literacy campaign and travels into the impoverished countryside to teach others how to read. When thirteen-year-old Lora tells her parents that she wants to join Premier Castro's army of young literacy teachers, her mother screeches to high heaven, and her father roars like a lion. Lora has barely been outside of Havana -- why would she throw away her life in a remote shack with no electricity, sleeping on a hammock in somebody's kitchen? But Lora is stubborn: didn't her parents teach her to share what she has with someone in need? Surprisingly, Lora's abuela takes her side, even as she makes Lora promise to come home if things get too hard. But how will Lora know for sure when that time has come? Shining light on a little-known moment in history, Katherine Paterson traces a young teen's coming-of-age journey from a sheltered life to a singular mission: teaching fellow Cubans of all ages to read and write, while helping with the work of their daily lives and sharing the dangers posed by counterrevolutionaries hiding in the hills nearby. Inspired by true accounts, the novel includes an author's note and a timeline of Cuban history.

New York Times bestselling author Wendy Higgins brings you the second book in this thrilling war-torn world... Being on the run in the desert means food and sanctuary are hard to come by, but Amber Tate and her crew are not about to give up. Not after having the things they love brutally ripped from them by an unknown enemy who sent their world into the apocalypse. Survival takes precedence, but once safe shelter is found, their guards fall and the emotions they've been holding in are finally released. Anger, insecurities...lust. In their tight quarters, Amber, Rylen, Tater, and Remy can't escape it. The past must be faced, and passions run even stronger in the darkest of times. In the midst of unrest, their worlds are rocked again when they discover the truth about the war that's ruined their lives. They thought finding out the enemy's identity would give them the edge; instead it's revealed terrifying dangers they never thought possible.

Sherman Alexie is one of our most gifted and accomplished storytellers and a treasured writer of huge national stature. His first novel in ten years is the hilarious and tragic portrait of an orphaned Indian boy who travels back and forth through time in a charged search for his true identity. With powerful and swift, prose, Flight follows this troubled foster teenager--a boy who is not a "legal" Indian because he was never claimed by his father--as he learns that violence is not the answer. The journey for Flight's young hero begins as he's about to commit a massive act o violence. At the moment of decision, he finds himself shot back through time to resurface in the body of an FBI agent during the civil rights era, where he sees why "Hell is Re driver, Idaho, in the 1970s." Red River is only the first stop in an eye-opening trip through moments in American history. He will continue traveling back to inhabit the body of an Indian child during the battle at Little Bighorn and then ride with an Indian tracker in the nineteenth century before materializing as an airline pilot jetting through the skies today. During these furious travels through time, his refrain grows: "Who's to judge?" and "I don't understand humans." When finally, blessedly, our young warrior comes to rest again in his own life, he is mightily transformed by all he has seen. This is Sherman Alexie at his most brilliant--making us laugh while he's breaking our hearts. Time Out has said that "Alexie, like his characters, is on a modern-day vision quest," and in Flight he seeks nothing less than an understanding of why human beings hate. Flight is irrepressible, fearless, and groundbreaking Alexie.

Lovely Vanessa March, two years married and very much in love, did not think it was a strange for her husband to take a business trip to Stockholm. What was strange was the silence that followed. She never thought to look for her missing husband in Vienna -- until she saw him in a newsreel shot there at the scene of a deadly fire. Then she caught a glimpse of him in a newsreel shot of a crowd near a mysterious circus fire and knew it was more than strange. It was downright sinister. Vanessa is propelled to Vienna by the shocking discovery. In her charge is young Timothy Lacy, who also has urgent problems to solve. But her hunt for answers only leads to more sinister questions in a mysterious world of white stallions of Vienna. But what promises to be no more than a delicate personal mission turns out to involve the security forces of three countries, two dead men, a circus and its colourful personnel. And what waits for Vanessa in the shadows is more terrifying than anything she has ever encountered.

Lincoln is the cornerstone of Gore Vidal's fictional American chronicle, which includes Burr, 1876, Washington, D.C., Empire, and Hollywood. It opens early on a frozen winter morning in 1861, when President-elect Abraham Lincoln slips into Washington, flanked by two bodyguards. The future president is in disguise, for there is talk of a plot to murder him. During the next four years there will be numerous plots to murder this man who has sworn to unite a disintegrating nation. Isolated in a ramshackle White House in the center of a proslavery city, Lincoln presides over a fragmenting government as Lee's armies beat at the gates. In this profoundly moving novel, a work of epic proportions and intense human sympathy, Lincoln is observed by his loved ones and his rivals. The cast of characters is almost Dickensian: politicians, generals, White House aides, newspapermen, Northern and Southern conspirators, amiably evil bankers, and a wife slowly going mad. Vidal's portrait of the president is at once intimate and monumental, stark and complex, drawn with the wit, grace, and authority of one of the great historical novelists.    With a new Introduction by the author. From the Hardcover edition.

Does Jessica know what the truth is? A stunning psychological debut with a shocking twist When she arrives at work to discover every trace of the company she was working for has disappeared, Jessica’s life spirals into freefall. Her romance with Michael, a celebrated criminologist is already in trouble. He is sick of the unpredictable behaviour caused by her ADHD and is convinced she is a fantasist. When his flat is burgled and precious belongings that remind him of his dead wife are stolen, he blames her. Forced to prove her innocence, Jessica sets out to unravel the events of the last few months. But when she stumbles on a dead body, the lies, deceptions and betrayals that have dogged her whole life come back to haunt her. Can anybody trust her?