In 1972, two seconds were added to time. It was in order to balance clock time with the movement of the earth. Byron Hemming knew this because James Lowe had told him and James was the cleverest boy at school. But how could time change? The steady movement of hands around a clock was as certain as their golden futures. Then Byron's mother, late for the school run, makes a devastating mistake. Byron's perfect world is shattered. Were those two extra seconds to blame? Can what follows ever be set right?

When Eliah Al-Saud and Matilde Martinez meet on a flight to Paris, they have little in common. Eliah is the rich and powerful son of a Saudi prince, and the owner of a French security company—actually a front for mercenary and espionage services—while Matilde is a pediatric surgeon from Argentina, whose only dream is to work in Africa helping children in need. Despite their differences—and current relationships—an undeniable attraction swallows them whole, driving them into a whirlwind romance and irreversibly intertwining their devastating secrets, powerful friends, and nefarious enemies. Soon Eliah and Matilde find themselves at the center of a geopolitical nightmare, and not only is their love at risk, but their very lives.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a student visa must be in want of an Australian wife. Twenty-eight-year old Esma has a masters in human resource management, never orders just a salad, is well-travelled, has excellent taste in music, watches the ABC news, has the Guardian saved as an app on her iPhone, knows all the two-letter words in Scrabble and can tell the difference between a Ford and a Holden. Armed with a check-list, she's on the hunt for Mr Right, who must be a Muslim. Tired of failed matchmaking, online dating sites and people calling her 'old fashioned', Esma forms a 'No Sex in the City' club with her friends Lisa, Ruby and Nirvana. Esma's quest for The One was never going to be easy but when family, friends and meddling employers are thrown into the equation, her path to true love suddenly takes a great big detour. This is the first adult novel from the award-winning YA author of Does My Head Look Big in This?, Ten Things I Hate About Me, and Where The Streets Had a Name.

What he needed was a miracle… Matthew Reed has seen his share of problems. But he’s a Reed and Reeds can overcome anything. Matt is content working in his family’s tattoo parlor with his brothers surrounding him. The only thing he’s lacking is the ability to have a family of his own. Then his battle with cancer leads him to meet a woman who just might need him as much as he needs her. She didn’t need anything... Skylar Morgan is happy. She has a boyfriend. Sure, he doesn’t make her heart pound faster and he really doesn’t support her when she needs it. But she doesn’t need much. Does she? She’s happy to be self-sufficient and she’s happy that she doesn’t have a tremendous amount of responsibility. She’s educated, has a great job, and she has enough money for a lifetime. But what she lacks, she doesn’t even realize until she meets him. And them. The ones who change her life forever.

With T. S. Eliot's words as his guide, Joey Tallon embarks on a journey toward enlightenment in the troubling psychedelic-gone-wrong atmosphere of the late 1970s. A man deranged by desire, and longing for belonging, Tallon searches for his"place of peace" -- a spiritual landscape located somewhere between his small town in Northern Ireland and Iowa ... and maybe between heaven and hell.

René Gervais the "angry little Frenchman" is content with his title in his bakery just outside of Montreal. His world is turned upside down, however, when he meets "La Belle Mademoiselle" and commits a crime he'd never believe he was possible of.René Gervais the "angry little Frenchman" is content with his title in his bakery just outside of Montreal. His world is turned upside down, however, when he meets "La Belle Mademoiselle" and commits a crime he'd never believe he was possible of. This short story is approximately 5,000 words.

Let your hair down, Caroline, they said. It'll be fun, they said. I know I've closed myself off in a major way over the past year, ever since “the incident” where I messed up my life completely. It's past time I try to live again or just give up altogether. But this is quite possibly the craziest thing I've ever done. In a last ditch effort to invigorate myself, I'm standing outside Oren Tenning's bedroom, I just peeled off the sexiest pair of underwear I own, and my hand is already raised to knock. My brother would disown me for doing anything with his best friend, and he'd probably kill Oren. But if I play my cards right, no one will ever know about this. Not even Ten. Maybe after tonight, I’ll finally get over this stupid, irrational crush I hate having on the biggest jerk I’ve ever met. Or maybe I’ll just end up falling for him even harder. Maybe I’ll discover there’s so much more to my crude, carefree hunk than meets the eye.

The original cast of the famed Swallows and Amazons series is sailing under the stars and the command of Captain Flint in the South China Sea when Gibbet, their pet monkey, grabs the captain’s cigar and drops it in the fuel tank. In minutes, the ship is ablaze (and doomed), and our seven luckless protagonists are adrift in two small boats. They make their way to land, only to find themselves the captives of one of the last remaining pirates operating off the China Coast. But Missee Lee, as it turns out, is no ordinary pirate; her father had sent her off to Cambridge University to prepare her for a life as a teacher. But when her father takes ill and dies, she finds herself struggling to hold together the Three Island Confederation (Tiger, Turtle, and Dragon) he had created, and to be recognized as his legitimate heir and ruler of the Island Kingdom. Ransome is, as always, the consummate storyteller. Here he takes the reader not only on the usual sailing adventures and cliff-hanging escapades, but also into Chinese culture. (It’s no accident that, like so many of Ransome’s protagonists, Missee Lee is a woman, or that her Latin is almost as refined as her sailing skills.) It is also no wonder that The Observer called this, the tenth book in the series, “his best yet . . . a book to buy, to read, and to read again, not once but many times.” The Guardian put it “in a class by itself.” For Ransome, unlike so many writers of his and our generation, was particular in writing about things he knew and had studied first-hand, whether it was a foreign culture, a classical language, a cryptographic code, or the finer points of seamanship.

#1 New York Times bestselling author Iris Johansen gives readers plenty of heat in a sultry tale of love and betrayal in the hot desert sun. Four years ago, after Cory Brandel’s passionate affair with Sheikh Damon El Karim ended, she gave birth to his son—and kept it secret from him. When Damon finds out the truth, he kidnaps the boy and takes him across the world to his desert kingdom, knowing Cory will follow. Damon vows to punish Cory for depriving him of his son and heir, but does he really mean to imprison her in his palace until she surrenders to him? It is savage, unthinkable—but because she is fighting for her son, Cory has no choice. Time seems to have deepened the alarming heat of her attraction to this desert pirate, and Cory knows he has only to stoke her body and she will go up in flames. In rage, Damon had intended to bind Cory to him by force, but instead he is bewildered by his need for her touch. Until now, Cory never understood Damon’s loneliness, but is she strong enough to give him the enduring love that he needs?

Book One of the Lord Jester's Legacy.When Mark Seaton's father disappears and his mother is murdered, he becomes a pawn in a deadly world of nobles, masked courtiers, and mysterious beings that whisper in his mind.The only way a pawn can survive is to gain position and power.The only way Mark Seaton can be free is to become a player.When Mark Seaton's father disappears and his mother is murdered, he becomes a pawn in a deadly world of nobles, masked courtiers, and mysterious beings that whisper in his mind.The only way a pawn can survive is to gain position and power.The only way Mark Seaton can be free is to become a player.Book One of the Lord Jester's Legacy"Prazeman has crafted a magnificent, credible fantasy where noble lords symbiotically bond with masked jesters whose machinations and assassinations further their ambitions without imperiling their souls. She does a uniquely wonderful job of honoring her readers' intelligence, parsing out little hints and nibbles, barely enough information to figure out what is going on as her hero navigates the intrigue. The result is a swift and satisfying read that leaves us begging for a sequel. Whole-heartedly recommended!" – Lawrence Kane, ForeWord Magazine"Prazeman's jesters dance fine lines through a world of byzantine politics. Real, fallible people lie behind complex masks. The subtle weave of influences, and the dangers they produce, will keep readers hooked." – Sara Mueller, Endeavor Award Committee Member"The world of MASKS is a fantasy world unlike any other I've encountered, rich with mystery, intrigue, and danger, and its hero Mark is complex and unusual – a young man trying to solve the riddle of his parents' deaths while concealing dangerous secrets of his own. No one in this book is exactly what they seem, Mark least of all. We all have our masks, and MASKS lifts the façades of its characters and its world to expose the ambiguous truths behind them." – David Levine, Hugo Award Winning Author

A short story collection covering the loss of identity and the divorce between different identities, from the dark emptiness of Kansas night to a magical winter solstice to mysterious river islets. Meet the friend of the man who bends spoons with his mind, the man who loses his language, the woman trapped in an Armageddon of her own making, all locked in a stagnant pattern with change in doubt.Deep under the arctic ice, danger waits. A weapon too powerful for the men who built it, a weapon hidden for generations. Soon that weapon will be unleashed on an unsuspecting earth.Cole Samson, marine salvage operator, has been hired to explore an underwater oil bed. He becomes part of the experimental flight of the hybrid airship, Leviathan, designed to reach the remotest regions of the planet. When he discovers a mysterious artifact under the arctic ice, he becomes trapped in dangerous conspiracy directed by the highest echelons of political power.Dr Alistair Minton, professor of Geology, leads the discovery team. His university sabbatical turns into a deadly cat and mouse game when he encounters an old rival trying to steal his claim to the massive oil deposit, a rival who will commit mass murder to get what he wants.Gregor Steltstin, ex Red Army, is a man driven by his past. Indebted to a shadowy organization, the former soldier must follow their orders and help commit horrific acts of terrorism, or face a deadly punishment for failure. Samson’s discovery might be Strelstin’s escape from the global reach of his ‘masters.’About this book. White Out is a fast paced thriller about international conspiracy, futuristic technology, and the weaponing of science for geopolitical interests instead of mankind’s benefit. Its engaging, complex characters, set against the historical backdrop of the Cold War, and thought provoking themes will remain with you long after the book is finished.

In the ninth century b.c., the Phoenician princess Jezebel orders the execution of all the prophets who refuse to worship the pagan god Baal. Commanded by an angel of God to flee Israel, Elijah seeks safety in the land of Zarephath, where he unexpectedly finds true love with a young widow. But this newfound rapture is to be cut short, and Elijah sees all of his hopes and dreams irrevocably erased as he is swept into a whirlwind of events that threatens his very existence. Written with the same masterful prose and clarity of vision that made *The Alchemist *an international phenomenon, *The Fifth Mountain* is a quietly moving account of a man touched by the hand of God who must triumph over his frustrations in a soul-shattering trial of faith.

Perhaps no twentieth century writer was so observant and elegant a chronicler of his times as Truman Capote. Whether he was profiling the rich and famous or creating indelible word-pictures of events and places near and far, Capote’s eye for detail and dazzling style made his reportage and commentary undeniable triumphs of the form. Portraits and Observations is the first volume devoted solely to all the essays ever published by this most beloved of writers. From his travel sketches of Brooklyn, New Orleans, and Hollywood, written when he was twenty-two, to meditations about fame, fortune, and the writer’s art at the peak of his career, to the brief works penned during the isolated denouement of his life, these essays provide an essential window into mid-twentieth-century America as offered by one of its canniest observers. Included are such celebrated masterpieces of narrative nonfiction as “The Muses Are Heard” and the short nonfiction novel “Handcarved Coffins,” as well as many long-out-of-print essays, including portraits of Isak Dinesen, Mae West, Marcel Duchamp, Humphrey Bogart, and Marilyn Monroe. Among the highlights are “Ghosts in Sunlight: The Filming of In Cold Blood, “Preface to Music for Chameleons, in which Capote candidly recounts the highs and lows of his long career, and a playful self-portrait in the form of an imaginary self-interview. The book concludes with the author’s last written words, composed the day before his death in 1984, the recently discovered “Remembering Willa Cather,” Capote’s touching recollection of his encounter with the author when he was a young man at the dawn of his career. Portraits and Observations puts on display the full spectrum of Truman Capote’s brilliance. Certainly, Capote was, as Somerset Maugham famously called him, “a stylist of the first quality.” But as the pieces gathered here remind us, he was also an artist of remarkable substance.

From the celebrated author of The Chosen and My Name Is Asher Lev, a trilogy of related novellas about a woman whose life touches three very different men—stories that encompass some of the profoundest themes of the twentieth century. Ilana Davita Dinn is the listener to whom three men relate their lives. As a young girl, she offers English lessons to a teenage survivor of the camps. In “The Ark Builder,” he shares with her the story of his friendship with a proud old builder of synagogue arks, and what happened when the German army invaded their Polish town. As a graduate student, she finds herself escorting a guest lecturer from the Soviet Union, and in “The War Doctor,” her sympathy moves him to put his painful past to paper recounting his experiences as a Soviet NKVD agent who was saved by an idealistic doctor during the Russian civil war, only to encounter him again during the terrifying period of the Kremlin doctors’ plot. And, finally, we meet her in “The Trope Teacher,” in which a distinguished professor of military history, trying to write his memoirs, is distracted by his wife’s illness and by the arrival next door of a new neighbor, the famous writer I. D. (Ilana Davita) Chandal. Poignant and profound, Chaim Potok’s newest fiction is a major addition to his remarkable—and remarkably loved—body of work. From the Hardcover edition.

When Cash Mayson was forced to choose between the love of his life and his unborn child, he knew exactly what he had to do. No matter how broken it left him. When Lilly Donovan was forced to accept that the guy she loved wasn't who she thought he was and became a single mother, she knew exactly what she had to do. Proving just how strong she was. What happens when years later you find out that everything you thought you knew was a lie? Can two people who once loved each other overcome the obstacles that are thrown at them and fall in love all over again? Cash Mayson had forgotten how it felt to be loved until Lilly came back into his life. And now that he remembers, he will do everything within his power to keep not only the woman that he loves but also his children. The power of love is a beautiful thing.