The Last Battle: The Classic History of the Battle for Berlin

      Cornelius Ryan
     The Last Battle: The Classic History of the Battle for Berlin

The classic account of the final offensive against Hitler's Third Reich. The Battle for Berlin was the culminating struggle of World War II in the European theater, the last offensive against Hitler's Third Reich, which devastated one of Europe's historic capitals and marked the final defeat of Nazi Germany. It was also one of the war's bloodiest and most pivotal battles, whose outcome would shape international politics for decades to come. Cornelius Ryan's compelling account of this final battle is a story of brutal extremes, of stunning military triumph alongside the stark conditions that the civilians of Berlin experienced in the face of the Allied assault. As always, Ryan delves beneath the military and political forces that were dictating events to explore the more immediate imperatives of survival, where, as the author describes it, “to eat had become more important than to love, to burrow more dignified than to fight, to exist more militarily correct than to win.” It is the story of ordinary people, both soldiers and civilians, caught up in the despair, frustration, and terror of defeat. It is history at its best, a masterful illumination of the effects of war on the lives of individuals, and one of the enduring works on World War II.

Read online

  • 685

    Butterfly Beach

      Jacqueline Wilson
     Butterfly Beach

A brand-new story starring the unlikely best friends of The Butterfly Club, published specially for World Book Day 2017, from much-loved and bestselling author Jacqueline Wilson.Selma can't wait to go on holiday with her best friend forever, Tina. But a holiday with Tina means a holiday with her triplet sisters, too - and it's not long before Selma feels like the odd one out. Can their shared love of butterflies bring Selma and Tina together again?

Read online

  • 685

    Jacob Faithful

      Frederick Marryat
     Jacob Faithful

Gentle reader, I was born upon the water—not upon the salt and angry ocean, but upon the fresh and rapid-flowing river. It was in a floating sort of box, called a lighter, and upon the river Thames, at low water, when I first smelt the mud. This lighter was manned (an expression amounting to bullism, if not construed kind-ly) by my father, my mother, and your humble servant. My father had the sole charge—he was monarch of the deck: my mother, of course, was queen, and I was the heir-apparent.

Read online

  • 684

    The Ninth Lost Tale of Mercia: Runa the Wife

      Jayden Woods
     The Ninth Lost Tale of Mercia: Runa the Wife

Runa expects to live her entire life isolated in the woods until she meets Thorkell the Tall. She tries to conform to society through a traditional marriage, but at a very high cost to them both. The Lost Tales are ten short stories set in Viking Age England (and related areas). They introduce the characters of the novel, "Eadric the Grasper," but each story stands alone.**A short story**Brooke writes "LEAVE THIS PAGE BLANK" on the inside of her yearbook so her best friend has a place to sign. But after the book is passed around at school, she finds that someone else has written there first. The handwriting is bizarre and unrecognizable, and instead of well-wishes for the upcoming summer, the message contains a creepy warning. Brooke wants to believe it's all a joke... but her growing sense of dread is making her think otherwise.

Read online

  • 684

    Carriage Returns: Poetry 1988-2008

      Robert Ropars
     Carriage Returns:  Poetry 1988-2008

A collection of poetry written 1988-2008, many began as English class exercises in college. Exploring love in all its forms and passion, life and death.A kid who discovers he's the Emperor of the Supernatural World!12 year-old Max has never felt like he belonged at school or in his family. But one day, he is whisked away to a supernatural world where he discovers the very features that make him unique help him survive and even to claim his birthright as the Emperor of Occultoria, the government of the Supernatural World. With his wits, some magical abilities and some friends to assist him, Max must reunite all the rebellious parts of the strife-ridden Occultorian Empire to restore the balance of and keep the peace between the Natural and Supernatural Worlds.His first task is to force the Queen of Purgatorio into submission. As Max steps into the eerie land of wailing ghosts, he discovers that part of growing up means being courageous and confident - even when he doesn’t feel it. An inspirational story of growing up, belonging and believing in yourself, the Crown Prince of Occultoria is the first in a children’s coming-of-age series that combines elements of mystery, adventure, fantasy, thrillers, romance, magic, enchantment and the supernatural.

Read online

  • 684

    Depressing Ages

      Mel Hindberg
     Depressing Ages

Luke Miller just wanted to go to college, but can he? No money, no job, and many hopes for life. So many opportunities, hopes and dreams, so little cash. After all the banks closed by Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s rule, money has come even harder to come by. If growing up in the thirties wasn't hard enough, a freak accident rattles through the tough times.Victorian Melodrama currently being written as a serialisation in weekly parts. Think Sherlock Holmes meet Charles Dickens. This is the second serialisation in our serieshttps://www.5minutefiction.co.uk/penny-dreadful---weekly-serialisations.html

Read online

  • 684

    Wanderlust - Hours of the Day

      Luann Jung
     Wanderlust - Hours of the Day

Wanderlust - Hours of the Day Edition.A collection of 24 poems from Luann Jung, one per hour of the day. Warning: poems range from sad to happy to free-verse to rhyming to violent to just plain weird. Prepare for the Wanderlust poetry experience.The piece, as written and published November 7, 1953, is as follows: ________________________________________Dear Mr. Editor Your mystery farm this week was my home. My father, Harvey Hopper, built the house 50 years ago. I remember as a small child (am I telling my age?) I watched the entire structure being erected, climbing to the highest places, swinging my legs over, rolling in the bath tub before the legs were attached until my father caught me and gave me a lesson, where it was most effective, as to what little girls should, and should not do.

Read online

  • 684

    Life in Unexpected Places

      Justin Van Winkle
     Life in Unexpected Places

Life is a grand adventure if you but take the time to step out and explore it.All the mirrors in the palace where the Princess lived had been instructed to never let her catch a glimpse of her own reflection. The Princess never went outside the Palace, and thus had no idea that she was ugly. In fact, she thought that she was quite beautiful. She had been told so by the Big Mirror in the dining room. The Big Mirror had a pretty red cherry wood frame, in which it could rotate. Every time the Princess approached, the Big Mirror would do a swift about-face, creaking a bit on its hinges, for it was rather old.

Read online

  • 684

    The Fairies Tales: Kharon

      R.N. Decker
     The Fairies Tales: Kharon

The Fairies Tales: Kharon.Upon landing, the ferryman slowly held out a skeletal hand.Payment to cross was due.The Fairies Tales: Kharon, is largely dependant on a Fairy Tale of 'The Devil and the Three Golden Hairs'. With a twist of course. Anyone who is interested in Myths and Legends will appreciate this story. Kharon (Charon) is the ferryman of souls across the river Styx. Kharon carries these souls to their final resting place. But have you ever heard the tale of how he became the carrier of those souls?

Read online

  • 684

    Out of the Shallows

      Samantha Young
     Out of the Shallows

From the New York Times bestselling author of Into the Deep LIVE YOUNG. LIVE HARD. LOVE DEEP. Jake and Charley's story concludes in Out of the Shallows... Somehow, after everything they've been through, Jake Caplin and Charley Redford made their way back to one another. But finding each other and staying together are two completely different things. When Charley's world is flipped upside down, she begins to question the choices and decisions she's made since her arrival in Edinburgh, and in an effort to grip onto what she holds most dear she believes she must sacrifice her love for Jake. Returning to the States for her senior year, Charley struggles to find peace and happiness. While everyone else seems to be finding themselves in college, Charley is terrified that, along with almost everything else that's important to her, she's lost herself. While friends and family deal with their own tumultuous lives, there is one person resolved to uncover the reason behind Charley's sudden defection and unhappiness. Refusing to give up without a fight, Jake believes he is the only one who can truly understand what Charley is going through, and this time he's determined to prove he's there for her no matter what obstacles are thrown in their way. However, as Charley strives to make it through the biggest personal journey of her life thus far, there is no guarantee that the woman she is becoming will still need Jake as much as the girl she once was did...

Read online

  • 684

    The Risk Pool

      Richard Russo
     The Risk Pool

A wonderfully funn and perceptive novel in the traditions of Thornton Wilder and Anne Tyler, The Risk Pool is set in Mohawk, New York, where Ned Hall is doing his best to grow up, even though neither of his estranged parents can properly be called adult. His father, Sam, cultivates bad habits so assiduously that he is stuck at the bottom of his auto insurance risk pool. His mother, Jenny, is slowly going crazy from resentment at a husband who refuses either to stay or to stay away. As Ned veers between allegiances to these grossly inadequate role models, Richard Russo gives us a book that overflows with outsized characters and outlandish predicaments and whose vision of family is at once irreverent and unexpectedly moving. From the Trade Paperback edition.

Read online

  • 684

    Killing Time

      Linda Howard
     Killing Time

Returning to the entrancing supernatural territory of her popular novels Dream Man and Son of the Morning, New York Times bestselling author Linda Howard has written a sizzling new novel that is her most daring, exciting, and original yet. In 1985, with much fanfare, a time capsule was buried under the front lawn of a small-town county courthouse, to be reopened in 2085. But just twenty years later, in the dead of night, the capsule is dug up, its contents stolen. That same night, one of the contributors to the capsule is brutally slain in his home–with no sign of forced entry or indication of a struggle. One by one, others who had placed items in the time capsule are murdered. Besides his suspicions about the sudden, mysterious appearance of Nikita Stover,the chief investigator, Knox Davis, has absolutely no leads. And while Nikita’s no murderer, she seems to be hiding plenty of secrets. With more at stake than anyone else realizes, the smart-talking Nikita is determined to catch this cunning killer–while at the same time battling her own deepening feelings for a man and for a world in which she doesn’t belong. When readers crave a seductive novel of unrelenting suspense with a paranormal twist, Linda Howard delivers time and again... make that Killing Time–a captivating, character-rich story that races along on a breathless plot full of action and intimacy, romance and danger, thrills and intrigue.

Read online

  • 684

    My Gal Sunday

      Mary Higgins Clark
     My Gal Sunday

A dashing ex-president and his young congresswoman bride become an irresistible sleuthing duo in four acclaimed stories from the #1 New York Times bestselling Queen of Suspense. Henry Parker Britland IV—wealthy, worldly, and popular—is enjoying an early retirement. His new wife, Sunday—as clever as she is lovely—has just been elected to Congress in a stunning upset victory that has made her a media darling. Henry and Sunday make a formidable team...and never more so than when they set out to solve baffling high-society crimes. From a long-unsolved case they reconstruct aboard the presidential yacht to a kidnapping that brings Henry frantically back to the White House, the former president and his bride engage in some of the most audacious and original sleuthing ever imagined. Only Mary Higgins Clark can so seamlessly meld spellbinding suspense, wit, and romance. My Gal Sunday is entertainment of the highest order.

Read online

  • 684