A classic of modern travel writing, An Area of Darkness is Nobel laureate V. S. Naipaul’s profound reckoning with his ancestral homeland and an extraordinarily perceptive chronicle of his first encounter with India. Traveling from the bureaucratic morass of Bombay to the ethereal beauty of Kashmir, from a sacred ice cave in the Himalayas to an abandoned temple near Madras, Naipaul encounters a dizzying cross-section of humanity: browbeaten government workers and imperious servants, a suavely self-serving holy man and a deluded American religious seeker. An Area of Darkness also abounds with Naipaul’s strikingly original responses to India’s paralyzing caste system, its apparently serene acceptance of poverty and squalor, and the conflict between its desire for self-determination and its nostalgia for the British raj. The result may be the most elegant and passionate book ever written about the subcontinent. From the Trade Paperback edition.

All of us, at one time or another, find ourselves inexplicably drawn to the sea. For some, it's a place for reflection or romance. For others, it's the thrill of watching surf crash against a sandy white beach or studying the kaleidoscope of life among a tropical coral reef. This ability of the ocean to change our lives, to inspire us and to fascinate us is what led us to create "Chicken Soup for the Ocean Lover's Soul," a collection of stories from around the world that celebrate the magic of our ocean planet. The sea, from the beginning of time, has inspired great art and amazing stories. Our relationship with the ocean lies deep within our consciousness and, in fact, is in each of us. "Chicken Soup for the Ocean Lover's Soul" has captured some of these great stories to warm your heart and touch your soul. This book has amazing stories of swimming eye to eye with great whales, sharks and manatees, as well as legends of dolphins saving man. So get ready to dive in with Jack, Mark and Wyland, the world's most acclaimed marine-life artist, as they guide you on a journey of discovery and stories that will lift your spirit and awaken your senses like the healing sea itself. At last, a "Chicken Soup for the Soul" book for ocean lovers like you!

Of all the great novelists writing today, none shows the same gift as Martin Amis for writing non-fiction – his essays, literary criticism and journalism are justly acclaimed. As Rachel Cusk wrote in the The Times, reviewing a previous collection, ‘Amis is as talented a journalist as he is a novelist, but these essays all manifest an unusual extra quality, one that is not unlike friendship. He makes an effort; he makes readers feel that they are the only person there.’ The essays in The Rub of Time range from superb critical pieces on Amis’s heroes Nabokov, Bellow and Larkin to brilliantly funny ruminations on sport, Las Vegas, John Travolta and the pornography industry. The collection includes his essay on Princess Diana and a tribute to his great friend Christopher Hitchens, but at the centre of the book, perhaps inevitably, are essays on politics, and in particular the American election campaigns of 2012 and 2016. One of the very few consolations of Donald Trump’s rise to power is that Martin Amis is there to write about him.

This brand-new edition of Maud Hart Lovelace’s beloved works brings together the final two books of the Betsy-Tacy series, Betsy and the Great World and Betsy’s Wedding, along with a foreword by New York Times bestselling author Anna Quindlen. Betsy and the Great World: Betsy Ray is twenty-one and on the adventure of a lifetime: a solo tour of Europe! There's even a handsome Italian, Marco, who's going overboard for her—if only she could stop thinking about her ex-sweetheart Joe Willard. Betsy’s Wedding: When Betsy's boat docks in New York, Joe is waiting there . . . with a ring! But she's going to learn that marriage isn't all candlelight, roses, and kisses. There's also cooking, ironing, cleaning, and budgeting— and will she be able to find time to forge a writing career?

"There is a strangeness about Christabel Alderton. Elias Newman can see it right away, as well he might. "When Christabel was 13 she was walking by the River Lea and some people in a cabin cruiser waved to her. The scene before her seemed to freeze like a photograph and she felt weird. A little later the boat blew up and killed everyone on board. Since then she's been troubled by a sort of second sight that works sometimes, but not always. Now, years later, she sings with a band called Mobile Mortuary who make their onstage entrance climbing out of body drawers. Death is much on her mind because the men in her life tend to die before their time and she's come to think she's bad luck. Elias Newman is a diabetologist who meets Christabel at a Royal Academy of Arts exhibition. Fascinated, he's keen to know her better. She's attracted to him but afraid of what might happen if she lets herself fall in love. Christabel and Elias are complicated people. Via Symbolist paintings and German ballads the narrative flows from the River Lea via a haunted woodland bog out to the crash of the Pacific surf on Kahakuloa Head in the Hawaiian Islands. And only in a Hoban novel could such an intensely involving love story embrace the redemptive power of ketchup bottles.

Kate was born, post Civil War, in Western Appalachia. Turning eighteen, tragedy forced her to face the world alone. A Bounty Hunter introduced her to a world populated by trains, hotels, steamships, fashionable clothes, society and tracking dangerous felons. Kate is a strong lady in all aspects of her life, willing to break cultural codes on how women were obliged to deport themselves.The recent Civil War had little effect on people living in the hills of Western Appalachia where Kate was born. Women struggled through a weary life in a corn-liquor culture dominated by hypocritical men holding to the tradition that women should be kept barefoot, silent, busy and pregnant. These male dominated customs were enforced by ego driven ignorant preachers.At eighteen Kate possessed a ripe body, an inquiring mind, an in tact virginity and a talent for hitting whatever came in the sights of her small-bore muzzleloader squirrel rifle.Within a fortnight two tragic events claimed the life’s of Kate’s father, two brothers and her mother. Kate was suddenly alone with two horses, a team of mules, some smaller livestock and a worn out farm in Painter Holler.While tracking two wanted men, a bounty hunter connected with Kate and learned the men he was seeking had met their end during a midnight shootout, when they attempted to rob Kate and her mother.With a storm in the offing, Brady accepted Kate’s invitation to stay at her house until the weather improved. During his visit Kate offered up her virginity and became Brady’s life partner. In return Brady introduced Kate to a world populated by trains, hotels, steamships fancy clothes and a life she lacked the knowledge to imagine.Traveling with Brady, Kate quickly transitioned into a mature young woman with a new vocabulary and demeanor able to feel at ease in formal afternoon teas wearing a holstered Derringer pistol under a fashionable dress or creeping around inside a dark, stinking, cheap saloon to arrest a wanted felon.Kate held up her half of the partnership by always being at Brady’s side and going gun to gun during showdowns with determined men and added more notches to her pistol than Brady.Following the Civil War, territories became states and municipal law enforcement replaced federal jurisdictions reducing the use of bounty hunters. Brady and Kate set aside their bounty hunting hats and formed Modern Investigation Agency to service civil cases and special contracts let by Federal Judge, Andrew Blake.

All four Sassy books, now available in an ebook collection!

Charismatic ruler Andres Sereno was ruthless when it came to his island of Kadeira--and to the safety of Sara Marsh. Sara could no more resist Andres than she could resist the next beat of her heart. But could she surrender to the primitive force of his desire?

A girl. A coma. A life she can't remember. When Emma Walker wakes up in the hospital with no knowledge of how she got there, she learns that she's been in a coma for six months. Strangers show up and claim to be her parents, but she can't remember them. She can't remember anyone. Not her friends, not even her boyfriend. Even though she can't remember, everyone wants her to just pick up where she left off, but what she learns about the 'old her' makes her start to wish she'd never woken up. Her boyfriend breaks up with the new girl he's dating to be with her, her parents want her to start planning for college, her friends want their leader back, and her physical therapist with the hazel eyes keeps his distance to save his position at the hospital. Will she ever feel like she recognizes the girl in the mirror?

Where do you run to when your life has fallen apart? Lucy Jorik is a champ at never embarrassing the family she adores—not surprising since her mother is one of the most famous women in the world. But now Lucy has done just that. And on her wedding day, no less, to the most perfect man she's ever known. Instead of saying "I do" to Mr. Irresistible, Lucy flees the church in an ill-fitting blue choir robe and hitches a ride on the back of a beat-up motorcycle plastered with offensive bumper stickers. She's flying into the unknown with a rough-looking, bad-tempered stranger who couldn't be more foreign to her privileged existence. While the world searches for her, Lucy must search for herself, and she quickly realizes that her customary good manners are no defense against a man who's raised rudeness to an art form. Lucy needs to toughen up—and fast. Her great escape takes her to his rambling beach house on a Great Lakes island. Here, she hopes to find a new direction . . . and unlock the secrets of this man who knows so much about her but reveals nothing about himself. As the hot summer days unfold amid scented breezes and sudden storms, she'll also encounter a beautiful, troubled beekeeper; a frightened young boy; a modern-day evil queen; and a passion that could change her life forever. In this dazzling follow-up to her New York Times bestseller Call Me Irresistible, Susan Elizabeth Phillips tells the funny, touching, enchanting story of a young woman searching for her destiny . . . and of a damaged man who doesn't believe in second chances.

Donja Bellanger, suffering after the death of her father, finds herself in dire straits when her mom takes a new husband. Forced not only to move to a strange city, but to share a room with her glamorous, new stepsister, Makayla Hampton, her life spirals out of control. Makayla lures her from goth to glam, straight into an exclusive club, not only for wealthy elites but Immortal Descendants. Donja crosses paths with Torin Mancini and he’s too damn handsome to be real. Torin, who has concealed his identity as a powerful ancient sprit for eight hundred years, sets his eyes on Donja; there’s something about her blood, something he can’t walk away from. He’s not alone. A deadly predator has picked up her scent. Stalked, she reaches out to Torin, but the lure of her blood has him on edge. As Torin battles his heart desires and feelings he thought buried and gone, one thing is clear: they have as much, if not more to fear of each other than the predator who would have her life. Is love enough? Can she accept him for what he is and better yet, can he control his hungry, hungry eyes? A beautiful love story with relentless action, elite battles and steamy moments… unforgettable!

He is a good man, a brilliant corporate executive, an honest, handsome family man admired by men and desired by women. But sixteen years ago Ben Tyson was a lieutenant in Vietnam.There, in 1968, the men under his command committed a murderous atrocity-and together swore never to tell the world what they had done. Not the press, army justice, and the events he tried to forget have caught up with Ben Tyson. His family, his career, and his personal sense of honor hang in the balance. And only one woman can reveal the truth of his past-and set him free.

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.

**#1 *New York Times* bestselling author J. R. Ward delivers the second novel in her Bourbon Kings series—a sweeping saga of a Southern dynasty struggling to maintain a façade of privilege and prosperity, while secrets and indiscretions threaten its very foundation…** In Charlemont, Kentucky, the Bradford family is the crème de la crème of high society—just like their exclusive brand of bourbon. And their complicated lives and vast estate are run by a discrete staff who inevitably become embroiled in their affairs. This is especially true now, when the apparent suicide of the family patriarch is starting to look more and more like murder… No one is above suspicion—especially the eldest Bradford son, Edward. The bad blood between him and his father is known far and wide, and he is aware that he could be named a suspect. As the investigation into the death intensifies, he keeps himself busy at the bottom of a bottle—as well as with his former horse trainer’s daughter. Meanwhile, the family’s financial future lies in the perfectly manicured hands of a business rival, a woman who wants Edward all to herself. Everything has consequences; everybody has secrets. And few can be trusted. Then, at the very brink of the family’s demise, someone thought lost to them forever returns to the fold. Maxwell Bradford has come home. But is he a savior...or the worst of all the sinners?