Jitterbug Perfume is an epic, which is to say, it begins in the forests of ancient Bohemia and doesn't conclude until nine o'clock tonight [Paris time]. It is a saga, as well. A saga must have a hero, and the hero of this one is a janitor with a missing bottle. The bottle is blue, very, very old, and embossed with the image of a goat-horned god. If the liquid in the bottle is actually the secret essence of the universe, as some folks seem to think, it had better be discovered soon because it is leaking and there is only a drop or two left.
Beatles is a heartwarming and bittersweet novel about four Beatles-obsessed boys from Oslo, born in 1951. As seventh graders, they stand on the brink of adulthood, enthusiastically embracing the future, which seems incredibly bright. Their journey takes us to September 25, 1972, as they navigate the waves of youth rebellion sweeping across Europe, challenging their sheltered existence.
This story captures the essence of post-war Oslo like no other, vividly depicting the upbringing of these young men in the Frogner district. It's a tale of growing up, friendship, and the inevitable changes that come with time.
After he firewalked in Polynesia, the world wasn't the same for Alexander Hergensheimer, now called Alec Graham. As natural accidents occurred without cease, Alex knew Armageddon and the Day of Judgement were near. Somehow he had to bring his beloved heathen, Margrethe, to a state of grace, and, while he was at it, save the rest of the world...
Equus is a powerful exploration of the way modern society has destroyed our ability to feel passion. The story follows Alan Strang, a disturbed youth whose dangerous obsession with horses leads him to commit an unspeakable act of violence.
As psychiatrist Martin Dysart struggles to understand the motivation for Alan's brutality, he is increasingly drawn into Alan's web and eventually forced to question his own sanity.
Peter Shaffer creates a chilling portrait of how materialism and convenience have killed our capacity for worship and passion, and, consequently, our capacity for pain. Rarely has a playwright created an atmosphere and situation that so harshly pinpoint the spiritual and mental decay of modern man.
Equus is a timeless classic and a cornerstone of contemporary drama that delves into the darkest recesses of human existence.
Princess Amy of Phantasmorania, alongside her sisters, receives various gifts at her fairy christening. However, her unique gift is Ordinariness. Unlike her six beautiful sisters, Amy has brown hair and freckles and prefers adventures over traditional royal activities like playing the harp or embroidering tapestries.
When her royal parents attempt to marry her off, Amy decides to run away. Thanks to her ordinary appearance, she easily blends in as the fourteenth assistant kitchen maid at a neighboring palace. There, much to everyone's surprise, she meets a prince who is just as ordinary and special as she is!
Before George R. R. Martin, there was Dorothy Dunnett... THE PERFECT GIFT for fans of A Game of Thrones. 'She is a brilliant story teller, The Lymond Chronicles will keep you reading late into the night, desperate to know the fate of the characters you have come to care deeply about.' - The Times Literary Supplement
Checkmate is the sixth and final book in the series. It is 1557 and legendary Scottish warrior Francis Crawford of Lymond is once more in France. There he is leading an army to rout the hated English from Calais. Yet while Lymond seeks victory on the battlefield, he is haunted by his troubled past - chiefly the truth about his origins and his marriage (in name only) to young Englishwoman Philippa Somerville. As the French offer him a way out of his marriage and his wife appears in France on a mission of her own, the final moves are made in a great game that has been playing out over an extraordinary decade of war, love, and struggle - bringing The Lymond Chronicles to a spellbinding close.
'A masterpiece of historical fiction' - Washington Post
'Melodrama of the most magnificent kind' - The Guardian
Randamoozham is the masterpiece of the Jnanpith winning writer M. T. Vasudevan Nair. It was translated into English as Second Turn in 1997.
The novel is set as a retelling of the Indian epic Mahabharata, from the perspective of Bhima, the second Pandava.
New York City is subsumed in arctic winds, dark nights, and white lights, its life unfolds, for it is an extraordinary hive of the imagination, the greatest house ever built, and nothing exists that can check its vitality. One night in winter, Peter Lake, orphan and master-mechanic, attempts to rob a fortress-like mansion on the Upper West Side.
Though he thinks the house is empty, the daughter of the house is home. Thus begins the love between Peter Lake, a middle-aged Irish burglar, and Beverly Penn, a young girl, who is dying.
Peter Lake, a simple, uneducated man, because of a love that, at first he does not fully understand, is driven to stop time and bring back the dead. His great struggle, in a city ever alight with its own energy and besieged by unprecedented winters, is one of the most beautiful and extraordinary stories of American literature.
A glorious novel of the controversial Richard III - a monarch betrayed in life by his allies and betrayed in death by history. In this beautifully rendered modern classic, Sharon Kay Penman redeems Richard III - vilified as the bitter, twisted, scheming hunchback who murdered his nephews, the princes in the Tower - from his maligned place in history with a dazzling combination of research and storytelling.
Born into the treacherous courts of fifteenth-century England, in the midst of what history has called The War of the Roses, Richard was raised in the shadow of his charismatic brother, King Edward IV. Loyal to his friends and passionately in love with the one woman who was denied him, Richard emerges as a gifted man far more sinned against than sinning. This magnificent retelling of his life is filled with all of the sights and sounds of battle, the customs and lore of the fifteenth century, the rigors of court politics, and the passions and prejudices of royalty.
At sixteen, Anne is grown up...almost. Her gray eyes shine like evening stars, but her red hair is still as peppery as her temper. In the years since she arrived at Green Gables as a freckle-faced orphan, she has earned the love of the people of Avonlea and a reputation for getting into scrapes. But when Anne begins her job as the new schoolteacher, the real test of her character begins. Along with teaching the three Rs, she is learning how complicated life can be when she meddles in someone else's romance, finds two new orphans at Green Gables, and wonders about the strange behaviour of the very handsome Gilbert Blythe. As Anne enters womanhood, her adventures touch the heart and the funny bone.
Neuromancer is the seminal work in the cyberpunk genre, offering a vision of the future that has become a cornerstone of science fiction literature. It is the first novel in William Gibson's Sprawl trilogy, and it stands as a classic that has influenced countless other works.
Henry Dorsett Case was once the sharpest data-thief in the business, until his employers crippled his nervous system as retribution for his thefts. Now, a mysterious new employer has offered him a chance at redemption and a return to the cyberspace he was banished from. The mission: to pull off a seemingly impossible heist against an artificial intelligence of staggering power. Joined by Molly, a street-samurai with mirror implants for eyes, Case is thrust into a world of danger and intrigue that will test his abilities to the fullest.
William Gibson's Neuromancer is not only a must-read for fans of the genre but also for anyone interested in the relationship between humanity and technology. The novel's impact on the language and landscape of our digital culture cannot be overstated, making it a true masterpiece of modern literature.
Clad in a doeskin, alone and unafraid, she stood straight and proud before the onrushing forces of America's destiny: Sacajawea, child of a Shoshoni chief, lone woman on Lewis and Clark's historic trek—beautiful spear of a dying nation.
She knew many men, walked many miles. From the whispering prairies, across the Great Divide to the crystal-capped Rockies and on to the emerald promise of the Pacific Northwest, her story overflows with emotion and action ripped from the bursting fabric of a raw new land.
Sacajawea unfolds an immense canvas of people and events, capturing the eternal longings of a woman who always yearned for one great passion—and always it lay beyond the next mountain.
The Haunting of Hill House is a seminal work in the horror genre, considered one of the finest ghost stories of the 20th century. The novel follows the story of four main characters: Dr. John Montague, an investigator of the supernatural; Eleanor Vance, a shy young woman with a history of encounters with the paranormal; Theodora, a flamboyant and possibly telepathic artist; and Luke Sanderson, the young heir to the eerie Hill House.
Dr. Montague, seeking to find scientific evidence of the supernatural, rents Hill House for a summer and invites guests with past experiences of paranormal events. Eleanor and Theodora are among those who accept his invitation. Once there, the group starts to experience a range of strange occurrences, including unseen noises, ghostly apparitions, and mysterious writings on the walls. Eleanor, in particular, seems more attuned to these phenomena, which may be causing her to lose her grip on reality.
Shirley Jackson masterfully creates a sense of terror, not through overt horror, but by weaving the mysterious events of the house with the complex psyches of her characters. A finalist for the National Book Award and adapted into films, a TV series, and a play, The Haunting of Hill House remains an essential read for fans of the genre.
The Shadow of the Torturer is the first volume in the four-volume series, The Book of the New Sun. It is the tale of young Severian, an apprentice in the Guild of Torturers on the world called Urth, exiled for committing the ultimate sin of his profession - showing mercy toward his victim - and follows his subsequent journey out of his home city of Nessus.
The Martian Chronicles tells the story of humanity's repeated attempts to colonize the red planet. The first men were few. Most succumbed to a disease they called the Great Loneliness when they saw their home planet dwindle to the size of a fist. They felt they had never been born. Those few that survived found no welcome on Mars. The shape-changing Martians thought they were native lunatics and duly locked them up.
But more rockets arrived from Earth, and more, piercing the hallucinations projected by the Martians. People brought their old prejudices with them – and their desires and fantasies, tainted dreams. These were soon inhabited by the strange native beings, with their caged flowers and birds of flame.
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is a dark, savagely ironic, and riveting story of three down-and-out Americans hunting for gold in Sonora, Mexico. First published in 1935, this novel by the elusive author B. Traven has become a cult masterpiece, inspiring John Huston's classic film.
Little is known for certain about B. Traven. Evidence suggests that he was born Otto Feige in Schlewsig-Holstein and escaped a death sentence for his involvement with the anarchist underground in Bavaria. Traven spent most of his adult life in Mexico, where he wrote several bestsellers under various names and was an outspoken defender of the rights of Mexico's indigenous people.
This literary masterpiece explores the themes of greed and paranoia as the three Americans, who start off as friends, find themselves caught in a morality tale of betrayal. As they discover the gold lode, their camaraderie is tested, revealing the darker sides of human nature.
Xanth was the enchanted land where magic ruled—where every citizen had a special spell only he could cast. It was a land of centaurs and dragons and basilisks. For Bink of North Village, however, Xanth was no fairy tale. He alone had no magic. And unless he got some—and got some fast!—he would be exiled. Forever.
But the Good Magician Humfrey was convinced that Bink did indeed have magic. In fact, both Beauregard the genie and the magic wall chart insisted that Bink had magic. Magic as powerful as any possessed by the King or by Good Magician Humfrey—or even by the Evil Magician Trent. Be that as it may, no one could fathom the nature of Bink’s very special magic. Bink was in despair. This was even worse than having no magic at all... and he would still be exiled!
The Mists of Avalon transports us to a vividly reimagined world of Arthurian legend, seen through the eyes of the women who wielded power from behind the throne. This spellbinding novel delves into the lives of these influential women, revealing a tale of passion, politics, and power.
As the great Arthurian epic unfolds, we witness the rise and fall of King Arthur, the valiant deeds of the Knights of the Round Table, and the enchantments of Merlin and Viviane. The women of Camelot, including Morgaine and Gwenhwyfar, navigate the intricate web of fate and ambition, each playing a pivotal role in the shaping of Arthur's kingdom.
The narrative weaves a tapestry of old and new religions, the conflict between differing worlds, and the ultimate destiny of the Isle of Avalon, as it fades into the mists of memory. This extraordinary literary achievement invites readers to explore the tumultuous and adventurous court of Camelot, as it has never been seen before.
Published in 1975, Ragtime changed our very concept of what a novel could be. An extraordinary tapestry, Ragtime captures the spirit of America in the era between the turn of the century and the First World War. The story opens in 1906 in New Rochelle, New York, at the home of an affluent American family. One lazy Sunday afternoon, the famous escape artist Harry Houdini swerves his car into a telephone pole outside their house. And almost magically, the line between fantasy and historical fact, between real and imaginary characters, disappears. Henry Ford, Emma Goldman, J.P. Morgan, Evelyn Nesbit, Sigmund Freud, and Emiliano Zapata slip in and out of the tale, crossing paths with Doctorow's imagined family and other fictional characters, including an immigrant peddler and a ragtime musician from Harlem whose insistence on a point of justice drives him to revolutionary violence.
The Sea-Wolf is a 1904 psychological adventure novel by Jack London about a literary critic Humphrey van Weyden. The story starts with him aboard a San Francisco ferry, called Martinez, which collides with another ship in the fog and sinks. He is set adrift in the Bay, eventually being picked up by Wolf Larsen.
Larsen is the captain of a seal-hunting schooner, the Ghost. Brutal and cynical, yet also highly intelligent and intellectual, he rules over his ship and terrorizes the crew with the aid of his exceptionally great physical strength.
The Betrothed unfolds in the picturesque landscape of Lombardy during the tumultuous Spanish occupation of the late 1620s. This compelling historical novel portrays the enduring passion of two young lovers, Renzo and Lucia, whose dreams of marriage are thwarted by the petty tyrant, Don Rodrigo, who covets Lucia for himself.
Forced to flee, the lovers are cruelly separated and face numerous perils including plague, famine, and imprisonment. They encounter a variety of intriguing characters: the mysterious Nun of Monza, the fiery Father Cristoforo, and the sinister "Unnamed". Their journey is a vivid exploration of love, power, and faith against the backdrop of seventeenth-century Italian life.
The Betrothed is celebrated as one of the greatest European historical novels, offering a whirling panorama of society and a profound reflection on human resilience and hope amidst adversity.
This was no ordinary war. This was a war to make the world safe for democracy. And if democracy was made safe, then nothing else mattered - not the millions of dead bodies, nor the thousands of ruined lives...
This is no ordinary novel. This is a novel that never takes the easy way out: it is shocking, violent, terrifying, horrible, uncompromising, brutal, remorseless and gruesome... but so is war.
Narcissus and Goldmund is the story of a passionate yet uneasy friendship between two men of opposite character. Narcissus, an ascetic instructor at a cloister school, has devoted himself solely to scholarly and spiritual pursuits. One of his students is the sensual, restless Goldmund, who is immediately drawn to his teacher's fierce intellect and sense of discipline. When Narcissus persuades the young student that he is not meant for a life of self-denial, Goldmund sets off in pursuit of aesthetic and physical pleasures, a path that leads him to a final, unexpected reunion with Narcissus.
David Brin's Uplift novels are among the most thrilling and extraordinary science fiction ever written. Sundiver, Startide Rising, and The Uplift War together make up one of the most beloved sagas of all time. Brin's tales are set in a future universe in which no species can reach sentience without being "uplifted" by a patron race. But the greatest mystery of all remains unsolved: who uplifted humankind?
The Terran exploration vessel Streaker has crashed in the uncharted water world of Kithrup, bearing one of the most important discoveries in galactic history. Below, a handful of her human and dolphin crew battles armed rebellion and a hostile planet to safeguard her secret—the fate of the Progenitors, the fabled First Race who seeded wisdom throughout the stars.
The story centers on individual human and dolphin characters, highlighting themes of courage, determination, friendship, love, and betrayal, both for the humans and the dolphins.
In the Oresteia—the only trilogy in Greek drama which survives from antiquity—Aeschylus took as his subject the bloody chain of murder and revenge within the royal family of Argos.
Moving from darkness to light, from rage to self-governance, from primitive ritual to civilized institution, their spirit of struggle and regeneration becomes an everlasting song of celebration.
Newly-orphaned Anne Beddingfeld is a nice English girl looking for a bit of adventure in London. But she stumbles upon more than she bargained for! Anne is on the platform at Hyde Park Corner tube station when a man falls onto the live track, dying instantly. A doctor examines the man, pronounces him dead, and leaves, dropping a note on his way. Anne picks up the note, which reads "17.1 22 Kilmorden Castle". The next day the newspapers report that a beautiful ballet dancer has been found dead there-- brutally strangled. A fabulous fortune in diamonds has vanished. And now, aboard the luxury liner Kilmorden Castle, mysterious strangers pillage her cabin and try to strangle her. What are they looking for? Why should they want her dead? Lovely Anne is the last person on earth suited to solve this mystery... and the only one who can! Anne's journey to unravel the mystery takes her as far afield as Africa and the tension mounts with every step... and Anne finds herself struggling to unmask a faceless killer known only as 'The Colonel'.
Belgian detective Hercule Poirot is summoned to France after receiving a distressing letter with an urgent cry for help. Upon his arrival in Merlinville-sur-Mer, the investigator finds the man who penned the letter, the South American millionaire Monsieur Renauld, stabbed to death and his body flung into a freshly dug open grave on the golf course adjoining the property.
Meanwhile, the millionaire's wife is found bound and gagged in her room. Apparently, it seems that Renauld and his wife were victims of a failed break-in, resulting in Renauld's kidnapping and death.
There's no lack of suspects: his wife, whose dagger served as the weapon; his embittered son, who would have killed for independence; and his mistress, who refused to be ignored - and each felt deserving of the dead man's fortune.
The police think they've found the culprit. But Poirot has his doubts. Why is the dead man wearing an overcoat that is too big for him? And who was the impassioned love-letter in the pocket for? Before Poirot can answer these questions, the case is turned upside down by the discovery of a second, identically murdered corpse...
Brendan Doyle, a specialist in the work of the early-nineteenth century poet William Ashbless, reluctantly accepts an invitation from a millionaire to act as a guide to time-travelling tourists. But while attending a lecture given by Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1810, he becomes marooned in Regency London, where dark and dangerous forces know about the gates in time.
Caught up in the intrigue between rival bands of beggars, pursued by Egyptian sorcerers, and befriended by Coleridge, Doyle somehow survives and learns more about the mysterious Ashbless than he could ever have imagined possible...
Discover the compelling and addictive adventure from one of the nation's favourite historical writers, perfect for fans of Game of Thrones. 'A brilliant storyteller, The Lymond Chronicles will keep you reading late into the night' - The Times Literary Supplement.
'I despised men who accepted their fate. I shaped mine twenty times and had it broken twenty times in my hands' - 1547. After five years imprisonment and exile far from his homeland, Francis Crawford of Lymond - scholar, soldier, rebel, nobleman, outlaw - returns to Edinburgh. But for many in an already divided Scotland, where conspiracies swarm around the infant Queen Mary, he is not welcome. Lymond is wanted for treason and murder, and he is accompanied by a band of killers and ruffians who will only bring further violence and strife. Is he back to foment rebellion? Does he seek revenge on those who banished him? Or has he returned to clear his name? No one but the enigmatic Lymond himself knows the truth - and no one will discover it until he is ready.
The Butter Battle Book, Dr. Seuss's classic cautionary tale, introduces readers to the important lesson of respecting differences. The Yooks and Zooks share a love of buttered bread, but animosity brews between the two groups because they prefer to enjoy the tasty treat differently.
Engaged in a long-running battle, the Yooks and the Zooks develop more and more sophisticated weaponry as they attempt to outdo each other.
The timeless and topical rhyming text is an ideal way to teach young children about the issues of tolerance and respect. Whether in the home or in the classroom, The Butter Battle Book is a must-have for readers of all ages.
A Separate Peace is a poignant exploration of adolescence set against the backdrop of World War II. This American classic, which has captivated readers for over thirty years, unfolds within the confines of an all-boys boarding school in New England. We witness the story of Gene, an introverted intellectual, and his friendship with Phineas, a charismatic and daring athlete.
Their summer together is marked by a series of events that irrevocably change both their lives, mirroring the loss of innocence experienced by the country as a whole during the war. John Knowles' novel is not only a bestseller but also a profound parable about the darker aspects of adolescence and the complexities of friendship.
Inspired by D.H. Lawrence, Chekhov and Hemingway, Bukowski's writing is passionate, extreme and has attracted a cult following. His life was as weird and wild as the tales he wrote.
This collection of short stories gives an insight into the dark, dangerous lowlife of Los Angeles that Bukowski inhabited. From prostitutes to classical music, Bukowski ingeniously mixes high and low culture in his 'tales of ordinary madness'.
These are angry yet tender, humorous and haunting portrayals of life in the underbelly of Los Angeles.
The Unbearable Lightness of Being is a profound narrative that explores the story of a young woman deeply in love with a man who is caught in a battle between his love for her and his incorrigible womanizing habits. Another strand of the story involves one of his mistresses and her modestly faithful lover. This compelling novel skillfully weaves together geographically distant locales, ingenious and playful musings, and a diverse array of styles, asserting its place as a significant accomplishment by one of the world's truly exceptional writers.
It was a deadly mistake. Joseph Malik, editor of a radical magazine, had snooped into rumors about an ancient secret society that was still alive and kicking. Now his offices have been bombed, he's missing, and the case has landed in the lap of a tough, cynical, streetwise New York detective. Saul Goodman knows he's stumbled onto something big—but even he can't guess how far into the pinnacles of power this conspiracy of evil has penetrated.
Filled with sex and violence—in and out of time and space—the three books of The Illuminatus! Trilogy are only partly works of the imagination. They tackle all the cover-ups of our time—from who really shot the Kennedys to why there's a pyramid on a one-dollar bill—and suggest a mind-blowing truth.
Anne Shirley has left Redmond College behind to begin a new job and a new chapter of her life away from Green Gables. Now she faces a new challenge: the Pringles. They're known as the royal family of Summerside—and they quickly let Anne know she is not the person they had wanted as principal of Summerside High School.
But as she settles into the cozy tower room at Windy Poplars, Anne finds she has great allies in the widows Aunt Kate and Aunt Chatty—and in their irrepressible housekeeper, Rebecca Dew. As Anne learns Summerside's strangest secrets, winning the support of the prickly Pringles becomes only the first of her delicious triumphs.
New adventures lie ahead as Anne Shirley packs her bags, waves good-bye to childhood, and heads for Redmond College. With her old friend Prissy Grant waiting in the bustling city of Kingsport and her frivolous new friend Philippa Gordon at her side, Anne tucks her memories of rural Avonlea away and discovers life on her own terms, filled with surprises . . . including a marriage proposal from the worst fellow imaginable, the sale of her very first story, and a tragedy that teaches her a painful lesson.
But tears turn to laughter when Anne and her friends move into an old cottage and an ornary black cat steals her heart. Little does Anne know that handsome Gilbert Blythe wants to win her heart, too. Suddenly Anne must decide whether she's ready for love.
It was a time of crisis, a time of tragedy and a time of transcendent courage and determination. Leon Uris's novel is set in the midst of the ghetto uprising that defied Nazi tyranny, as the Jews of Warsaw boldly met Wehrmacht tanks with homemade weapons and bare fists. Here, painted on a canvas as broad as its subject matter, is the compelling story of one of the most heroic struggles of modern times.
Pet Sematary is a gripping tale of horror where the boundary between life and death is blurred. When the Creeds move into a beautiful old house in rural Maine, everything seems perfect: a physician father, a beautiful wife, a charming little daughter, and an adorable infant son, all complemented by an idyllic home. The friendly cat adds to the family's happiness, but the nearby woods harbor a chilling secret.
Behind the children's pet cemetery lies another graveyard, one from which the dead return. The Creeds are about to discover that sometimes, dead is indeed better, as they are drawn into a sinister world where the line between the living and the dead is frighteningly thin.
Master storyteller Stephen King presents the classic #1 national bestseller of the ultimate vehicle of terror!
This is the story of a lover’s triangle…It was bad from the start. And it got worse in a hurry. It’s love at first sight for high school student Arnie Cunningham when he and his best friend Dennis Guilder spot the dilapidated 1958 red-and-white Plymouth Fury for sale—dubbed “Christine” by its original cantankerous owner—rusting away on a front lawn of their suburban Pennsylvania neighborhood. Dennis knows that Arnie’s never had much luck in the looks or popularity department, or really taken an interest in owning a car... but Christine quickly changes all that. Arnie suddenly has the newfound confidence to stick up for himself, going as far as dating the most beautiful girl at Libertyville High—transfer student Leigh Cabot—even as a mysteriously restored Christine systematically and terrifyingly consumes every aspect of Arnie’s life. Dennis and Leigh soon realize that they must uncover the awful truth behind a car with a horrifying and murderous history. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, and heaven help anyone who gets in Christine’s way…
Anne's own true love, Gilbert Blythe, is finally a doctor, and in the sunshine of the old orchard, among their dearest friends, they are about to speak their vows. Soon the happy couple will be bound for a new life together and their own dream house, on the misty purple shores of Four Winds Harbor.
A new life means fresh problems to solve, fresh surprises. Anne and Gilbert will make new friends and meet their neighbors: Captain Jim, the lighthouse attendant, with his sad stories of the sea; Miss Cornelia Bryant, the lady who speaks from the heart—and speaks her mind; and the tragically beautiful Leslie Moore, into whose dark life Anne shines a brilliant light.
From palace coups in the lost city of Hattusas to treachery in the Egyptian court of Tutankhamun, I, the Sun, the saga of the Hittite king Suppiluliumas, rings with authenticity and the passion of a world that existed fourteen hundred years before the birth of Christ. They called him Great King, Favorite of the Storm God, the Valiant. He conquered more than forty nations and brought fear and war to the very doorstep of Eighteenth Dynasty Egypt, but he could not conquer the one woman he truly loved.
The Book of the New Sun is an extraordinary epic, set a million years in the future, on an Earth transformed in mysterious and wondrous ways. In this time, our present culture is no longer even a memory.
Severian, the central character, is a torturer, exiled from his guild after falling in love with one of his victims. He journeys to the distant city of Thrax, armed with his ancient executioner's sword, Terminus Est.
This edition contains the first four volumes of the series.
Set in the bleak Fen Country of East Anglia, and spanning some 240 years in the lives of its haunted narrator and his ancestors, Waterland is a book that takes in eels and incest, ale-making and madness, the heartless sweep of history, and a family romance as tormented as any in Greek tragedy.
Waterland, like the Hardy novels, carries with all else a profound knowledge of a people, a place, and their interweaving. Swift tells his tale with wonderful contemporary verve and verbal felicity. A fine and original work.
An unabridged Miss Marple mystery from the Queen of Crime.
For an instant, the two trains ran together, side by side. In that frozen moment, Elspeth witnessed a murder. Helplessly, she stared out of her carriage window as a man remorselessly tightened his grip around a woman's throat. The body crumpled.
Then the other train drew away. But who, apart from Miss Marple, would take her story seriously? After all, there were no suspects, no other witnesses...and no corpse.
Rabbit, Run is the book that established John Updike as one of the major American novelists of his—or any other—generation. Its hero is Harry “Rabbit” Angstrom, a onetime high-school basketball star who on an impulse deserts his wife and son. He is twenty-six years old, a man-child caught in a struggle between instinct and thought, self and society, sexual gratification and family duty—even, in a sense, human hard-heartedness and divine Grace. Though his flight from home traces a zigzag of evasion, he holds to the faith that he is on the right path, an invisible line toward his own salvation as straight as a ruler’s edge.
"Captains and the Kings" is a sweeping and captivating novel about the amassing of a colossal fortune, the political power that comes with it, and the operation of a curse laid on an Irish-American dynasty and the ruthless driving man who founded it.
Joseph Francis Xavier Armagh was thirteen years old when he first saw America through a dirty porthole on the steerage deck of The Irish Queen. It was the early 1850s, and he was a penniless immigrant, an orphan cast on a hostile shore to make a home for himself and his younger brother and infant sister. Some seventy years later, from his deathbed, Joseph Armagh last glimpsed his adopted land from the gleaming windows of a palatial estate. A multi-millionaire, one of the most powerful and feared men, Joseph Armagh had indeed found a home.
Captains and the Kings is the story of the price that was paid for it in the consuming, single-minded determination of a man clawing his way to the top; in the bitter-sweet bliss of the love of a beautiful woman; in the almost too-late enjoyment of extraordinary children; and in the curse which used the hand of fate to strike in the very face of success itself.
Once again, Taylor Caldwell has looked into America's roistering past as a setting for a drama of the consequences of savage ambition - and its meaning then and now.
Exodus is an international publishing phenomenon—the towering novel of the twentieth century's most dramatic geopolitical event. Leon Uris magnificently portrays the birth of a new nation in the midst of enemies—the beginning of an earthshaking struggle for power. Here is the tale that swept the world with its fury: the story of an American nurse, an Israeli freedom fighter caught up in a glorious, heartbreaking, triumphant era. Here is Exodus—one of the great bestselling novels of all time.