For Willi Kufult, prison life means staying out of trouble, keeping his cell clean, snagging a precious piece of tobacco, and dreaming of the day of his release.Then he gets out.As Willi tries to make a new life for himself in Hamburg, finding a job and even love, he still cannot escape his past. Gradually he becomes sucked into a world of drink, desperation, deceit, and, with one terrible act, he is ensnared in a noose of his own making . . .Hans Fallada, whose famous works include Alone in Berlin and The Drinker, brilliantly crafts this dark and moving novel, originally written in 1934, as he describes a seedy criminal underworld of shabby lives and violent deeds, showing how our actions always catch up with us. His work is unparalleled, and Once a Jailbird is a fantastic title to add to Fallada's recently translated works.

Who else, but a writer, is really able to interrogate the work of other writers?From Christina Stead, Les Murray and Patrick White to Proust, Shakespeare and Charlotte Bronte, David Malouf reads and examines the work of writers who have challenged, inspired and entertained us for generations. He also explores his own work and the life of the writer, where the ever-present danger is spending too much time talking about writing and not enough doing it.These alternative views of some of our best-loved writers and readers will send us scurrying back to read Jane Eyre, Such is Life, Kipling and of course, David Malouf.

If 'all the world's a stage', then a star should never be bored!Once Stephen Spear's destiny as an actor seemed so assured – but after he was throttled to death on prime time television, his prospects seemed to shrivel up and die. Yet, true talent can't be crushed. For if all the world is truly a stage, then why shouldn't Stephen create and become a new character whenever he felt like it? Given the ghastly turn his personal circumstances had taken, it was a sheer relief to pretend to be someone else. Of course some sticklers might call this lying, but Stephen considered it the flourishing of his creative gift.This imprudent artistic experiment takes Stephen to some surprising places. Though he does find himself back on stage, in the spotlight, and winning prizes – just not quite as he had imagined. While along for the ride, is the most unlikely new partner in crime.This highly original conclusion to 'The Indignities' e-book trilogy is a wicked, witty depiction of the gay Sydney...

Quests of the Kings's beloved company of heroes returns in an epic fantasy adventure perfect for fans of Becky Wallace and Rae Carson. Natalie, her mentor Sir Edris, and squire Reg are hidden in Eryn Mas with only two quests standing between them and a place in history. With the diabolical Brago scheming to become the greatest adventurer in history by any means necessary, they will have to conduct their moves covertly to avoid interference. Posing as a shopkeeper far from home, Natalie enlists Magnus, a rapscallion with the potential to be a perfect informant, to help keep the heat off our heroes as they search for the next artifact. Magnus, however, is a wild card. The newly minted spy is constantly distracted by new possibilities—and even worse, his inelegance draws unnecessary attention. Brago's shadow seems to peek around every corner . . . When the plan for virtually orchestrating a quest becomes...

The gripping international bestseller that fuses an ingenious detective tale with stunning, cinematic storytelling—and a provocative riff on quantum physics—from Germany’s foremost young literary talent. A child is kidnapped but does not know it. One man dies, two physicists fight, and a senior constable falls in love. In the end, everything is different . . . yet exactly the same.” —Prologue A rising star who has garnered some of Europe’s most important literary prizes, Juli Zeh has established herself as the new master of the philosophical thriller. With In Free Fall, she now takes us on a fast-paced ride through deadly rivalry and love’s infinite configurations. Against the backdrop of Germany and Switzerland, two physicists begin a dangerous dance of distrust. Friends since their university days, when they were aspiring Nobel Prize candidates, they now interact in an atmosphere of tension, stoked by Oskar’s belief that Sebastian fell into mediocrity by having a family. When Sebastian’s son, Liam, is apparently kidnapped, their fragile friendship is further tested. Entrusted with uncovering the truth, Detective Superintendent Schilf discerns a web of blackmail, while at the same time the reality of his personal life falls into doubt. Unfolding in a series of razor-sharp scenes, In Free Fall is a riveting novel of ideas from a major new literary voice. With the recent success of works in translation, such as Stieg Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played with Fire, Zeh is poised to take off. Publishers WeeklyThe theoretical physics concept known as the Many-Worlds Interpretation, in which everything that is at all possible exists somewhere, forms the backdrop for Zeh's second novel (after Eagles and Angels), an engrossing if enigmatic story of a murder and its aftermath. German physicists Oskar and Sebastian are both friends and rivals, who have drifted apart after the latter's marriage. While Sebastian is driving his 10-year-old son to camp, the boy disappears during a stop at a gas station. When a woman phones Sebastian and tells him, Dabbelink must go, he interprets this to mean that to obtain his kidnapped son's freedom, he must get rid of Dabbelink, a bicycling companion of his wife linked to a medical scandal. Erudite digressions and vivid characters—such as a detective with a trusting nature who learns always to assume the opposite of what she was thinking—combine with a devastating 11th-hour reveal to make a memorable intellectual thriller. (Apr.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Review"[A] masterfully constructed story of an intense friendship between two physicists, a marriage, a kidnapping, and a murder, In Free Fall plunges the reader into a hyperreality that is as seductive as it is disturbing."—Boston Globe "An elegant quasi-thriller about physics, murder, and the solving of murders . . . This is one of the best books of the year. Zeh has enough control to keep the murder from being lurid and the physics from being dull. Her prose is sharp and often witty, and the excellent translation means every moment shines brightly."—*New York Observer "Engrossing . . . vivid characters combine with a devastating 11th-hour reveal to make a memorable intellectual thirller."—Publishers Weekly"A highly cinematic thriller . . . Zeh's smart novel will appeal to a wide range of readers."—Library Journal* "Add a hospital scandal and two of the quirkiest detectives in fiction, mix with Juli Zeh's thrumming, moody prose, and you have one of the finest crime novels you'll read."—Herald SunPraise from Germany:“It is such a delight to watch Juli Zeh play her entire repertoire of literary skill . . . challenging the conventions of the classical detective story with subtle irony.”—Die Zeit** “Juli Zeh uses the structure of the detective novel like a composer uses his music book. And into this book she writes, with remarkable consistency, her musical score . . . Here’s a piece of literature that takes the liberty to develop its very own rules, and to impose them upon an obsolete form, coming indeed very close to a musical work in its tenor and thematic variation . . . One might think that such perfection, such erudition must leave the reader untouched, bored even . . . but it does not. For that, Zeh’s labyrinth is built too clever...

The Trouble with Christmas: An Indigo Island NovellaAt 35-years-old, Cole Stanton is burned out. His high-paced, uber-successful career has left him yearning to start over. He finds Indigo Island, buys a restaurant and settles into an uncomplicated life. But Christmas is a mess. He has over-committed the small restaurant’s resources again, and is over his head. He finds himself longing for everything he has left behind, until a chance encounter with gorgeous Lily offers a spark of salvation to his business and, perhaps his life.Beautiful pastry chef Lily Edmonds is thirty years old and heartbroken. It’s early December and she’s just been dumped via phone by her fiancé. Her best friend Avery Putnam spirits her away to Indigo Island, hoping to add joy back into Lily’s life. A chance encounter with the sexy owner of a local restaurant makes Lily feel an attraction she thought she’d never feel again, and offers her a business challenge to keep her mind focused on something other than her broken heart.Cole and Lily are both starting over on Indigo Island. Will the joy of the holiday season bring them together or will the troubles with Christmas push them apart?

For Tom Brennan, life is about rugby, mates and family - until a night of celebration changes his life forever. Tom's world explodes as his brother Daniel is sent to jail and the Brennans are forced to leave the small town Tom's lived in his whole life. Tom is a survivor, but he needs a ticket out of the past just as much as Daniel. He will find it in many forms . . . A Teaching Support Kit is available at www.randomhouse.com.au/teachers

Since the 1950s, our country's greatest libraries have, as a matter of common practice, dismantled their collections of original bound newspapers and so-called brittle books, replacing them with microfilmed copies. The marketing of the brittle-paper crisis and the real motives behind it are the subject of this passionately argued book, in which Nicholson Barker pleads the case for saving our recorded heritage in its original form while telling the story of how and why our greatest research libraries betrayed the public trust by auctioning off or pulping irreplaceable collections. The players include the Library of Congress, the CIA, NASA, microfilm lobbyists, newspaper dealers, and a colorful array of librarians and digital futurists, as well as Baker himself -- who eventually discovers that the only way to save one important newspaper is to buy it. Double Fold is an intense, brilliantly worded narrative that is sure to provoke discussion and...

Polly loves words. And she loves writing stories. So when a magic book appears on her doorstep that can make everything she writes happen in real life, Polly is certain all of her dreams are about to come true. But she soon learns that what you write and what you mean are not always the same thing! Funny and touching, this new chapter book series will entertain readers and inspire budding writers.

From the author of the "bighearted . . . inspiring" (Vogue) memoir Kabul Beauty School comes a fiction debut as compelling as real life: the story of a remarkable coffee shop in the heart of Afghanistan, and the men and women who meet there--thrown together by circumstance, bonded by secrets, and united in an extraordinary friendship. After hard luck and some bad choices, Sunny has finally found a place to call home--it just happens to be in the middle of a war zone. The thirty-eight-year-old American's pride and joy is the Kabul Coffee House, where she brings hospitality to the expatriates, misfits, missionaries, and mercenaries who stroll through its doors. She's especially grateful that the busy days allow her to forget Tommy, the love of her life, who left her in pursuit of money and adventure.Working alongside Sunny is the maternal Halajan, who vividly recalls the days before the Taliban and now must hide a modern romance from her...

Leopold Classic Library is delighted to publish this classic book as part of our extensive collection. As part of our on-going commitment to delivering value to the reader, we have also provided you with a link to a website, where you may download a digital version of this work for free. Many of the books in our collection have been out of print for decades, and therefore have not been accessible to the general public. Whilst the books in this collection have not been hand curated, an aim of our publishing program is to facilitate rapid access to this vast reservoir of literature. As a result of this book being first published many decades ago, it may have occasional imperfections. These imperfections may include poor picture quality, blurred or missing text. While some of these imperfections may have appeared in the original work, others may have resulted from the scanning process that has been applied. However, our view is that this is a significant literary work, which deserves to be brought back into print after many decades. While some publishers have applied optical character recognition (OCR), this approach has its own drawbacks, which include formatting errors, misspelt words, or the presence of inappropriate characters. Our philosophy has been guided by a desire to provide the reader with an experience that is as close as possible to ownership of the original work. We hope that you will enjoy this wonderful classic book, and that the occasional imperfection that it might contain will not detract from the experience.

This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.

Set in Dallas, Texas, this is a Contemporary Romance series with light BDSM elements and mature themes. Each book will be a complete story, no cliffhangers. In book 2, Ian’s OCD draws him to Charlie at the same time it’s pushing him away from her, but Charlie isn’t about to let him control the way their relationship unfolds.

If Diego Hidalgo closes his eyes and thinks he can remember his life before it all changed. Diego is 18 years old and about to leave the old neighborhood. But before he does, he needs to find a way out. The Road to Goodbye is the story of Diego's plan and the obstacles that conspire to keep him in the barrio forever.If Diego Hidalgo closes his eyes and thinks he can remember his life before it all changed. Breakfast with the familia, arguing with Rafa and nights hanging out with Cisco and the boys. But he's 18 and the neo-diasporic pull is too great and Diego must choose between the life he knows and the unknown just beyond the red line...college."The Road to Goodbye" is the story of Diego finding a way out of the world he knows and into a world he hopes will fulfill his parents' hopes and dreams for him. The first part of a quarterly series detailing Diego's adventure through college, "The Road to Goodbye" gets Diego on his way to the greatest adventure of his life...life itself.

Roy Grace tracks a stalker obsessed with a Hollywood starlet in Not Dead Yet, the latest from #1 international bestselling author Peter JamesDays before one of Hollywood’s hottest stars, Gaia Lafayette, leaves her Bel Air home for a movie role on location in Brighton, England, there is a bungled attempt on her life. The whole city of Brighton awaits Gaia’s arrival, including her dangerously obsessive Number One fan looking for revenge and an anxious Detective Superintendent Roy Grace, charged with protecting Gaia.When a mutilated torso is found on a chicken farm miles away in the countryside, Roy Grace has no reason at all to connect this to the star’s visit to the county. But as events rapidly begin to unfold, Roy Grace and his team find themselves in a desperate race against time to save Gaia’s life from a clever maniac who will stop at nothing to kill her.About the AuthorPETER JAMES is the #1 international bestselling author of the Roy Grace series with more than 13 million copies sold all over the world. His novels have been translated into thirty-five languages; three have been filmed and two are currently in development. All of his novels reflect his deep interest in the world of the police, with whom he does in-depth research. He has produced numerous films, including The Merchant of Venice, starring Al Pacino, Jeremy Irons, and Joseph Fiennes. He lives in England.Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.NOT DEAD YET (Chapter 1)I am warning you, and I won't repeat this warning. Don't take the part. You'd better believe me. Take the part and you are dead. Bitch.Gaia Lafayette was unaware of the man out in the dark, in the station wagon, who had come to kill her. And she was unaware of the email he had sent. She got hate mail all the time, mostly from religious nutters or folk upset by her swearing or her provocative costumes in some of her stage acts and music videos. Those emails were screened and kept from bothering her by her trusted head of security, Detroit-born Andrew Gulli, a tough ex-cop who'd spent most of his career on close protection work for vulnerable political figures.He knew when to be worried enough to tell his boss, and this piece of trash that had come in, on an anonymous Hotmail account, was not something he figured had any substance. His employer got a dozen like this every week.It was 10 p.m. and Gaia was trying to focus on the script she was reading, but she couldn't concentrate. She was focused even more on the fact that she had run out of cigarettes. The sweet, but oh so dim-witted Pratap, who did all her shopping, and who she hadn't the heart to fire because his wife had a brain tumour, had bought the wrong brand. She had her limit of four cigarettes a day, and didn't actually need any more, but old habits die hard. She used to mainline the damned things, claiming they were essential for her famed gravelly voice. Not so many years back she'd have one before she got out of bed, followed by one burning in the ashtray while she showered. Every action accompanied by a cigarette. Now she was kicking free, but she had to know they were in the house. Just in case she needed them.Like so much else she needed in life. Starting with her adoring public. Checking the count of Twitter followers and Facebook likes. Both were substantially up again today, each nearly a million up in the past month alone, still keeping her well ahead of both the performers she viewed as her rivals, Madonna and Lady Gaga. And she now had nearly ten million subscribers to her monthly e-newsletter. And then there were her seven homes, of which this copy of a Tuscan palazzo, built five years ago to her specification on a three-acre lot, was the largest.The walls, mirrored full length floor-to-ceiling to create the illusion of infinite space, were decorated with Aztec art interspersed with larger-than-life posters of herself. The house, like all her others, was a catalogue of her different incarnations. Gaia had reinvented herself constantly throughout her career as a rock star, and more recently, two years ago at thirty-five, had started reinventing herself again, this time as a movie actor.Above her head was a huge, framed monochrome signed photo of herself in a black negligee, titled WORLD TOUR GAIA SAVING THE PLANET. Another, with her wearing a tank top and leather jeans, was captioned, GAIA REVELATIONS TOUR. Above the fireplace, in dramatic green was a close-up of her lips, nose and eyes - GAIA UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL.Her agent and her manager phoned her daily, both men reassuring her just how much the world needed her. Just the way that her growing social networking base - all outsourced by her management company - reassured her, too. And at this moment, the one person in the world she cared about most - Roan, her six-year-old son - needed her just as much. He padded barefoot across the marble floor, in his Armani Junior pyjamas, his brown hair all mussed up, his face scrunched in a frown, and tapped her on the arm as she lay on the white sofa, propped against the purple velvet cushions. 'Mama, you didn't come and read me a story.'She stretched out a hand and mussed up his hair some more. Then she put down the script and took him in her arms, hugging him. 'I'm sorry, sweetie. It's late, way past your bedtime, and Mama's really busy tonight, learning her lines. She has a really big part - see? Mama's playing Maria Fitzherbert, the mistress of an English king! King George the Fourth.'Maria Fitzherbert was the diva of her day, in Regency England. Just like she herself was the diva of her day now, and they had something profound in common. Maria Fitzherbert spent most of her life in Brighton, in England. And she, Gaia, had been born in Brighton! She felt a connection to this woman, across time. She was born to play this role!Her agent said this was the new King's Speech. An Oscar role, no question. And she wanted an Oscar oh so badly. The first two movies she had made were okay, but had not set the world on fire. In hindsight, she realized, it was because she hadn't chosen well and the scripts were - frankly - weak. This movie now could give her the critical acclaim she craved. She'd fought hard for this role. And she'd succeeded.Hell, you had to fight in life. Fortune favoured the brave. Some people were born with silver spoons so far up their assholes they stuck in their gullets, and some, like herself, were born on the wrong side of the tracks. It had been a long journey to here, through her early days of waiting tables, and two husbands, to the place she was now at, and where she felt comfortable. Just herself, Roan and Todd, the fitness instructor who gave her great sex when she needed it and kept out of her face when she didn't, and her trusted entourage, Team Gaia.She picked up the script and showed him the white and the blue pages. 'Mama has to learn all this before she flies to England.''You promised.''Didn't Steffie read to you tonight?' Steffie was the nanny.He looked forlorn. 'You read better. I like it when you read.'She looked at her watch. 'It's after ten o'clock. Way past your bedtime!''I can't sleep. I can't sleep unless you read to me, Mama.'She tossed the script on to the glass coffee table, lifted him down and stood up. 'Okay, one quick story. Okay?'His face brightened. He nodded vigorously.'Marla!' she shouted. 'Marla!'Her assistant came into the room, cellphone pressed to her ear, arguing furiously with someone about what sounded like the seating arrangements on a plane. The one extravagance Gaia refused to have was a private jet, because of her concerns over her carbon footprint.Marla was shouting. Didn't the fuckwit airline know who Gaia was? That she could fucking make or break them? She was wearing glittery Versace jeans tucked into black alligator boots, a thin black roll-neck and a gold neck chain carrying the flat gold globe engraved Planet Gaia. It was exactly the same way her boss was dressed tonight. Her hair mirrored her boss's, too: blonde, shoulder length, layered in a sharp razor cut with a carefully spaced and waxed fringe.Gaia Lafayette insisted that all her staff had to dress the same way - following the daily emailed instructions of what she would be wearing, how her hair would be. They had, at all times, to be an inferior copy of herself.Marla ended the call. 'Sorted!' she said. 'They've agreed to bump some people off the flight.' She gave Gaia an angelic smile. 'Because it's you!''I need cigarettes,' Gaia said. 'Wanna be an angel and go get me some?'Marla shot a surreptitious glance at her watch. She had a date tonight and was already two hours late for him, thanks to Gaia's demands - nothing unusual. No previous personal assistant had lasted more than eighteen months before being fired, yet, amazingly, she was entering her third year. It was hard work and long hours, and the pay wasn't great, but the work experience was to die for, and although her boss was tough, she was kind. One day she'd be free of the chains, but not yet. 'Sure, no problem,' she said.'Take the Merc.'It was a balmy hot night. Gaia was smart enough to understand the small perks that went a long way.'Cool! I'll be right back. Anything else?'Gaia shook her head. 'You can keep the car for the night.''I can?''Sure, I'm not going anywhere.'Marla coveted the silver SL55 AMG. She looked forward to driving the fast bends along Sunset to the convenience store. Then to picking up Jay in it afterwards. Who knew how the night might turn out? Every day working for Gaia was an adventure. Just as every night recently, since she had met Jay, was too! He was a budding actor, and she was determined to find a way, through her connection with Gaia, to help him get a break.She did not know it, but as she walked out to the Mercedes, she was making a grave mistake.NOT DEAD YET Copyright © 2012 by Really Scary Books / Peter James.