At one magical instant in your early childhood, the page of a book—that string of confused, alien ciphers—shivered into meaning. Words spoke to you, gave up their secrets; at that moment, whole universes opened. You became, irrevocably, a reader.

Noted essayist Alberto Manguel moves from this essential moment to explore the 6000-year-old conversation between words and that magician without whom the book would be a lifeless object: the reader. Manguel lingers over reading as seduction, as rebellion, as obsession, and goes on to trace the never-before-told story of the reader's progress from clay tablet to scroll, codex to CD-ROM.

Shade is a young Silverwing bat, the runt of his colony. But he's determined to prove himself on the long, dangerous winter migration to Hibernaculum, millions of wingbeats to the south.

During a fierce storm, he loses the others and soon faces the most incredible journey of his young life. Desperately searching for a way to rejoin his flock, Shade meets a remarkable cast of characters: Marina, a Brightwing bat with a strange metal band on her leg; Zephyr, a mystical albino bat with a unique gift; and Goth, a gigantic carnivorous vampire bat. But which ones are friends and which ones are enemies?

In this epic story of adventure and suspense, Shade is going to need all the help he can find — if he hopes to ever see his family again.

When cartoonist Bill Watterson announced that his phenomenally popular cartoon strip would be discontinued, Calvin and Hobbes fans throughout the world went into mourning. Fans have learned to survive — despite the absence of the boy and his tiger in the daily newspaper.

It's a Magical World delivers all the satisfaction of visiting its characters once more. Calvin fans will be able to see their favorite mischief maker stir it up with his furry friend, long-suffering parents, classmate Susie Derkins, school teacher Miss Wormwood, and Rosalyn the baby-sitter.

It's a Magical World includes full-color Sundays and has it all: Calvin-turned-firefly waking Hobbes with his flashlight glow; courageous Spaceman Spiff rocketing through alien galaxies as he battles Dad-turned-Bug-Being; and Calvin's always inspired snowman art.

There's no better way for Watterson fans to savor again the special qualities of their favorite strip.

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down explores the clash between a small county hospital in California and a refugee family from Laos over the care of Lia Lee, a Hmong child diagnosed with severe epilepsy. Lia's parents and her doctors both wanted what was best for Lia, but the lack of understanding between them led to tragedy. Anne Fadiman's compassionate account of this cultural impasse is literary journalism at its finest.

Lia Lee was born in 1982 to a family of recent Hmong immigrants, and soon developed symptoms of epilepsy. By 1988 she was living at home but was brain dead after a tragic cycle of misunderstanding, over-medication, and culture clash: What the doctors viewed as clinical efficiency the Hmong viewed as frosty arrogance. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down is a tragedy of Shakespearean dimensions, written with the deepest of human feeling.

A Lesson Before Dying is set in a small Cajun community in the late 1940s. Jefferson, a young black man, is an unwitting party to a liquor store shoot out in which three men are killed; the only survivor, he is convicted of murder and sentenced to death. Grant Wiggins, who left his hometown for the university, has returned to the plantation school to teach. As he struggles with his decision whether to stay or escape to another state, his aunt and Jefferson's godmother persuade him to visit Jefferson in his cell and impart his learning and his pride to Jefferson before his death. In the end, the two men forge a bond as they both come to understand the simple heroism of resisting and defying the expected.

Ernest J. Gaines brings to this novel the same rich sense of place, the same deep understanding of the human psyche, and the same compassion for a people and their struggle that have informed his previous, highly praised works of fiction.

Memoirs of a Geisha transports readers to a world where appearances are paramount; where a girl's virginity is auctioned to the highest bidder; where women are trained to beguile the most powerful men; and where love is scorned as illusion. Through the eyes of one of Japan's most celebrated geishas, we experience the struggle for dignity and identity in a time of war and transformation. Arthur Golden crafts a tale that is at once romantic, erotic, suspenseful—and utterly unforgettable.

The first novel of Samuel Beckett's mordant and exhilarating midcentury trilogy introduces us to Molloy, who has been mysteriously incarcerated, and who subsequently escapes to discover the whereabouts of his mother.

In the latter part of this curious masterwork, a certain Jacques Moran is deputized by anonymous authorities to search for the aforementioned Molloy.

In the trilogy's second novel, Malone, who might or might not be Molloy himself, addresses us with his ruminations while in the act of dying.

The third novel consists of the fragmented monologue - delivered, like the monologues of the previous novels, in a mournful rhetoric that possesses the utmost splendor and beauty - of what might or might not be an armless and legless creature living in an urn outside an eating house.

Taken together, these three novels represent the high-water mark of the literary movement we call Modernism. Within their linguistic terrain, where stories are taken up, broken off, and taken up again, where voices rise and crumble and are resurrected, we can discern the essential lineaments of our modern condition, and encounter an awesome vision, tragic yet always compelling and always mysteriously invigorating, of consciousness trapped and struggling inside the boundaries of nature.

The Angel of Darkness, by Caleb Carr, immerses readers in the vivid world of The Alienist with an intriguing twist: the story is narrated by former street urchin Stevie Taggert, whose rough life has endowed him with wisdom beyond his years. Thus, New York City, and the groundbreaking alienist Dr. Kreizler himself, are seen anew.

Set in June 1897, a year has passed since Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, a pioneer in forensic psychiatry, tracked down the brutal serial killer John Beecham with his trusted companions. Kreizler and his friends—high-living crime reporter John Schuyler Moore; indomitable, derringer-toting Sara Howard; the brilliant detective brothers Marcus and Lucius Isaacson; powerful and compassionate Cyrus Montrose; and Stevie Taggert, the boy Kreizler saved from a life of street crime—have returned to their former pursuits, trying to forget the horror of the Beecham case.

But when the distraught wife of a Spanish diplomat begs Sara's aid, the team reunites to help find her kidnapped infant daughter. This case is fraught with danger, as Spain and the United States are on the verge of war. Caleb Carr once again demonstrates his brilliant ability to re-create the past, both high life and low.

As the horror unfolds, Delmonico's still serves up wondrous meals, and a summer trip to the elegant gambling parlors of Saratoga provides precious keys to the murderer's past. At the same time, readers embark on revealing journeys into Stevie's New York, a place where poor and neglected children—then as now—turn to crime and drugs at shockingly early ages.

Peppered throughout are characters taken from real life and rendered with historical vigor, including suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton; painter Albert Pinkham Ryder; and Clarence Darrow, who thunders for the defense in a tense courtroom drama during which the sanctity of American motherhood itself is put on trial.

Fast-paced and chilling, The Angel of Darkness is a tour de force, a novel of modern evil in old New York.

The Mulvaneys of High Point Farm in Mt. Ephraim, New York, are a large and fortunate clan, blessed with good looks, abundant charisma, and boundless promise. But over the twenty-five year span of this ambitious novel, the Mulvaneys will slide, almost imperceptibly at first, from the pinnacle of happiness, transformed by the vagaries of fate into a scattered collection of lost and lonely souls.

It is the youngest son, Judd, now an adult, who attempts to piece together the fragments of the Mulvaneys' former glory, seeking to uncover and understand the secret violation that occasioned the family's tragic downfall. Each of the Mulvaneys endures some form of exile- physical or spiritual - but in the end they find a way to bridge the chasms that have opened up among them, reuniting in the spirit of love and healing.

In 1878, two young stage magicians clash in the dark during the course of a fraudulent séance. From this moment on, their lives become webs of deceit and revelation as they vie to outwit and expose one another. Their rivalry will take them to the peaks of their careers, but with terrible consequences.

In the course of pursuing each other's ruin, they will deploy all the deception their magicians' craft can command—the highest misdirection and the darkest science. Blood will be spilled, but it will not be enough. In the end, their legacy will pass on for generations...to descendants who must, for their sanity's sake, untangle the puzzle left to them.

The Opera House in Ankh-Morpork is home to music, theatrics and a harmless masked Ghost who lurks behind the scenes. But now a set of mysterious backstage murders may just stop the show. Agnes Nitt has left her rural home of Lancre in the hopes of launching a successful singing career in the big city. The only problem is, she doesn't quite look the part. And there are two witches who would much rather she return home to join their coven.

Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg have travelled to Ankh-Morpork to convince Agnes that life as a witch is much better than one on the stage. Only now they're caught up in a murder mystery featuring masks and maniacal laughter. And the show must go on.

When the first humans came to settle the planet Pern, they did not come alone: intelligence-enhanced dolphins also crossed the stars to colonize the oceans of the new planet while their human partners settled the vast continents. But then disaster struck. The deadly silver spores called Thread fell like rain from the sky, and as the human colonists' dreams of a new, idyllic life shattered into a desperate struggle for survival, the dolphins were forgotten.

Now, centuries later, as the dragonriders of Pern were preparing to complete the momentous task of ridding their world of Thread forever, T'lion, a young bronze rider, and his friend Readis, son of the Lord Holder of Paradise River Hold, made contact with the legendary "shipfish." And as the dragonriders grappled with the ending of an era, T'lion, Readis, and the dolphins faced the start of a new one: reviving the bond between land and ocean dwellers and resurrecting the dreams of the first colonists of Pern!

In 2019, humanity finally finds proof of extraterrestrial life when a listening post in Puerto Rico picks up exquisite singing from a planet that will come to be known as Rakhat. While United Nations diplomats endlessly debate a possible first contact mission, the Society of Jesus quietly organizes an eight-person scientific expedition of its own. What the Jesuits find is a world so beyond comprehension that it will lead them to question what it means to be "human".

Her life is devoted to justice; for those she never even knew. In the year since Temperance Brennan left behind a shaky marriage in North Carolina, work has often preempted her weekend plans to explore Quebec.

When a female corpse is discovered meticulously dismembered and stashed in trash bags, Temperance detects an alarming pattern and she plunges into a harrowing search for a killer. But her investigation is about to place those closest to her—her best friend and her own daughter—in mortal danger...

In this classic novel of two willful lovers caught in a breathless adventure of deception and betrayal, #1 New York Times bestselling author Judith McNaught has created a powerful and unforgettable masterpiece.

ELIZABETH CAMERON
The Countess of Havenhurst possessed a rare gentleness and fierce courage to match her exquisite beauty. But her reputation is shattered when she is discovered in the arms of Ian Thornton, a notorious gambler and social outcast.

IAN THORNTON
A dangerously handsome man of secret wealth and mysterious lineage, his voyage to Elizabeth's heart is fraught with intrigue, scandal, and a venomous revenge.

Destined for each other, yet wary of each other's motives, Elizabeth and Ian engage in a dance of suspicion and passion that tests the very soul of their star-crossed love. As a twisting path of secrets takes them from London's drawing rooms to the mysterious Scottish Highlands, Elizabeth must learn the truth: is Ian merely a ruthless fortune hunter at heart?

The bestselling novels from the foremost philosopher of the modern age, this set includes Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead.

This revolutionary play by lauded playwright and poet Ntozake Shange is a fearless portrayal of the experiences of women of color. Since its inception in California in 1974, and its highly acclaimed success at Joseph Papp's Public Theater and on Broadway, it has excited, inspired, and transformed audiences nationwide.

Passionate and fearless, Shange's words reveal what it is to be of color and female in the twentieth century. This groundbreaking dramatic prose poem is written in vivid and powerful language that resonates with unusual beauty and delivers a fierce message to the world.

Iphigenia in Aulis is a play by the ancient Greek playwright Euripides. It tells the story of Agamemnon's sacrifice of his daughter, Iphigenia, in order to ensure the good fortune of his forces in the Trojan War. Despite its heroic background, it is, in many respects, a domestic tragedy.

This new translation by Mr. Rudall retains the poetic beauty of Euripides while fashioning a playable dialogue. It beautifully captures the emotional depth and complexity of the characters involved.

Roanna Davenport was raised a wealthy orphan on her grandmother's magnificent Alabama estate, Davencourt. Here, she developed a passion for horses, a genius for trouble, and a deep love for her cousin, Webb. But everyone expected Webb to marry their ravishing cousin, Jessie. When he did, Roanna's desire became no more than the stuff of dreams—until the night Jessie was found bludgeoned to death.

After the shocking murder of his wife, Webb left for Arizona, abandoning the legacy that he had once believed was all he wanted. But then an all-grown-up Roanna walked into a dingy bar in Nogales to bring him home; the mischievous sprite he had known ten years earlier was no more. Gone, too, was her fire. In its place was ice that melted at his touch. Webb is drawn back to Davencourt, to Roanna, and to the killer that once destroyed his life and waits only for the chance to finish the job....

Turtle Moon tells the captivating story of a divorced woman and her disillusioned teenage son. When Keith Rosen unexpectedly runs away from his Florida home, taking along a motherless baby, his mother finds herself perplexed and terrified.

Embarking on her own journey to find him, this suspenseful tale explores the events that change their lives in both simple and extraordinary ways. Alice Hoffman beautifully crafts a narrative filled with emotional depth and rich character development, confirming her exquisite talent once again.

The Key to Survival Rests in the Hands of Shade's Children.

If you’re lucky, you live to fight another day.

In a futuristic urban wasteland, evil Overlords have decreed that no child shall live a day past his fourteenth birthday. On that Sad Birthday, the child becomes the object of an obscene harvest, resulting in the construction of a machine-like creature whose sole purpose is to kill.

The mysterious Shade — once a man, but now more like the machines he fights — recruits the few children fortunate enough to escape. With luck, cunning, and skill, four of Shade's children come closer than any to discovering the source of the Overlords' power — and the key to their downfall. But the closer the children get, the more ruthless Shade seems to become...

To serial slayer Andrew Compton, murder is an art, the most intimate art. After feigning his own death to escape from prison, Compton makes his way to the United States with the sole ambition of bringing his "art" to new heights.

Tortured by his own perverse desires, and drawn to possess and destroy young boys, Compton inadvertently joins forces with Jay Byrne, a dissolute playboy who has pushed his "art" to limits even Compton hadn't previously imagined. Together, Compton and Byrne set their sights on an exquisite young Vietnamese-American runaway, Tran, whom they deem to be the perfect victim.

Swiftly moving from the grimy streets of London's Piccadilly Circus to the decadence of the New Orleans French Quarter, and punctuated by rants from radio talk show host Lush Rimbaud, a.k.a. Luke Ransom, Tran's ex-lover, who is dying of AIDS and who intends to wreak ultimate havoc before leaving this world, Exquisite Corpse unfolds into a labyrinth of murder and love.

Ultimately all four characters converge on a singular bloody night after which their lives will be irrevocably changed — or terminated. Poppy Z. Brite dissects the landscape of torture and invites us into the mind of a killer. Exquisite Corpse confirms Brite as a writer who defies categorization. It is a novel for those who dare trespass where the sacred and profane become one.

My Dark Places is an intense journey into the life of James Ellroy, one of America's most uncompromising crime writers. This riveting memoir delves into the unresolved mystery of his mother's murder in 1958, when her body was found in a seedy suburb of L.A.

Ellroy was only ten years old when his mother died, and he spent the next thirty-six years haunted by her ghost and attempting to exorcize it through crime fiction. In 1994, he decided to confront his past and uncover the truth about his mother—and himself.

Teaming up with a brilliant homicide detective, Ellroy embarks on an epic quest for redemption, exploring themes of loss, fixation, and the dark underbelly of American society. This book is not only a personal journey but also a vivid exploration of the American way of violence.

Running with the Demon is a novel that weaves together family drama, fading innocence, cataclysm, and enlightenment. It will forever change the way you think about the fantasy novel.

On the hottest Fourth of July weekend in decades, two men have come to Hopewell, Illinois, the site of a lengthy, bitter steel strike. One is a demon, dark servant of the Void, who will use the anger and frustration of the community to attain a terrible secret goal. The other is John Ross, a Knight of the Word, a man who, while he sleeps, lives in the hell the world will become if he fails to change its course on waking.

Ross has been given the ability to see the future. But does he have the power to change it? At stake is the soul of a fourteen-year-old girl mysteriously linked to both men, the lives of the people of Hopewell, and the future of the country.

While friends and families picnic in Sinnissippi Park and fireworks explode in celebration of freedom and independence, the fate of Humanity will be decided. As believable as it is imaginative, as wondrous as it is frightening, it is a rich, exquisitely-written tale to be savored long after the last page is turned.

'Tuesdays with Morrie' is a poignant memoir by Mitch Albom that recounts the time spent with his former sociology professor, Morrie Schwartz, during the final stages of Schwartz's battle with ALS. This book captures the essence of their weekly meetings, every Tuesday, where Morrie imparted wisdom on various aspects of life.

Albom presents Morrie's insights on the importance of love, the value of forgiveness, and the significance of forging one's own culture against the societal currents. These lessons are presented as a final 'class' from Morrie, offering guidance on how to live a meaningful life.

The author delves into the profound impact of these conversations on his life, as Morrie's teachings helped him understand the virtues of aging and the necessity to embrace vulnerability. Mitch Albom shares these invaluable lessons with readers, allowing them to benefit from Morrie's wisdom and the transformative power of their Tuesdays together.

Richard comes to terms with his true identity as a War Wizard. The New World, and all the freedom of humankind, is under threat from the Imperial Order after he had brought down the barrier between the Old and New World. The Imperial Order has already sent delegations and armies into the New World. Richard's only option to stop the invasion is to claim his heritage and unite all free kingdoms and provinces under one rule and one command.

Medical resident Dr. Abby Matteo is elated when the elite cardiac transplant team at Boston's Bayside Hospital taps her as a potential recruit. But faced with a tormenting life-and-death decision, Abby helps direct a crash victim's harvested heart to a dying teenager instead of the wealthy older woman who was supposed to receive it. The repercussions leave Abby shaken and plagued with self-doubt.

Suddenly, a new heart appears, and the woman's transplant is completed. Then Abby makes a terrible discovery. The donor records have been falsified — the new heart has not come through the proper channels. Defying the hospital's demands for silence, she begins her own investigation that reveals a murderous, unthinkable conspiracy. Every move Abby makes spawns a vicious backlash...and on a ship anchored in the waters of Boston harbor, the grisly truth lies waiting.

First, they were Left Behind. Then they formed the Tribulation Force. Now they must face Nicolae.

In Nicolae, the most explosive of the three books thus far, the seven-year tribulation is nearing the end of its first quarter. Prophecy reveals that the "wrath of the Lamb" will soon be poured out upon the earth.

Rayford Steele becomes the ears of the tribulation saints at the highest levels of the Carpathia regime. Meanwhile, Buck Williams attempts a dramatic all-night rescue run from Israel through the Sinai, a journey that will keep you breathless to the end.

One of the major figures of modern theater, Luigi Pirandello (1867–1936) wrote dramas and satires that sparked controversy with their radical departures from conventional theatrical techniques. His most celebrated work, Six Characters in Search of an Author, embodies the Nobel Prize-winning playwright's innovations by presenting an open-ended drama on a stage without sets.

First performed in 1923, this intellectual comedy introduces six individuals to a stage where a company of actors has assembled for a rehearsal. Claiming to be the incomplete, unused creations of an author's imagination, they demand lines for a story that will explain the details of their lives. In ensuing scenes, these "real-life characters," all professing to be part of an extended family, produce a drama of sorts—punctuated by disagreements, interruptions, and arguments.

In the end, they are dismissed by the irate manager, their dilemma unsolved, and the "truth" a matter of individual viewpoints. A tour de force exploring the many faces of reality, this classic is now available in an inexpensive edition that will be welcomed by amateur theatrical groups as well as students of drama.

Best known for the 1892 title story of this collection, a harrowing tale of a woman's descent into madness, Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote more than 200 other short stories. Seven of her finest are reprinted here.

Written from a feminist perspective, often focusing on the inferior status accorded to women by society, the tales include "turned," an ironic story with a startling twist, in which a husband seduces and impregnates a naïve servant; "Cottagette," concerning the romance of a young artist and a man who's apparently too good to be true; "Mr. Peebles' Heart," a liberating tale of a fiftyish shopkeeper whose sister-in-law, a doctor, persuades him to take a solo trip to Europe, with revivifying results; "The Yellow Wallpaper"; and three other outstanding stories.

These charming tales are not only highly readable and full of humor and invention, but also offer ample food for thought about the social, economic, and personal relationship of men and women — and how they might be improved.

Although born to rule, Aidan lives as a scribe in a remote Irish Monastery on the far, wild edge of Christendom. Secure in work, contemplation, and dreams of the wider world, a miracle bursts into Aidan's quiet life. He is chosen to accompany a small band of monks on a quest to the farthest eastern reaches of the known world, to the fabled city of Byzantium, where they are to present a beautiful and costly hand-illuminated manuscript, the Book of Kells, to the Emperor of all Christendom.

Thus begins an expedition by sea and over land, as Aidan becomes, by turns, a warrior and a sailor, a slave and a spy, a Viking and a Saracen, and finally, a man. He sees more of the world than most men of his time, becoming an ambassador to kings and an intimate of Byzantium's fabled Golden Court. And finally, this valiant Irish monk faces the greatest trial that can confront any man in any age: commanding his own Destiny.

Twenty years ago, Claire Maloney was the willful, pampered, tomboyish daughter of the town's most respected family. Despite her privileged background, she formed an unlikely friendship with Roan Sullivan, a fierce, motherless boy who lived in a rusted-out trailer amid junked cars.

No one in Dunderry, Georgia—least of all Claire’s family—could understand the bond between these two mavericks. But Roan and Claire belonged together . . . until that dark afternoon when violence and terror overtook them, and Roan disappeared from Claire's life.

Now, two decades later, Claire is adrift, and the Maloneys are still hoping the past can be buried under the rich Southern soil. But Roan Sullivan is about to walk back into their lives...

By turns tender, sexy, heartbreaking, and exuberant, A Place to Call Home is an enthralling journey between two hearts. It's a deliciously original novel from one of the most imaginative and appealing new voices in Southern fiction.

Originally published in 1997, Drown instantly garnered terrific acclaim.

Moving from the barrios of the Dominican Republic to the struggling urban communities of New Jersey, these heartbreaking, completely original stories established Díaz as one of contemporary fiction's most exhilarating new voices.

With ten stories that crackle with an electric sense of discovery, Díaz evokes a world in which fathers are gone, mothers fight with grim determination for their families and themselves, and the next generation inherits the casual cruelty, devastating ambivalence, and knowing humor of lives circumscribed by poverty and uncertainty.

In Drown, Díaz has harnessed the rhythms of anger and release, frustration and joy, to indelible effect.

The eagerly awaited finale of a modern SF classic—May's Galactic Milieu Trilogy, which began with Jack the Bodiless and continued with Diamond Mask. The mystery involving Jack the Bodiless, the metaphysically talented Dorothea, and Fury, the insane metaphysic creature determined to become sole ruler over all humankind, explodes anew.

By the mid-twenty-first century, humanity is beginning to enjoy membership in the Galactic Milieu. Human colonies are thriving on numerous planets, life on Earth is peaceful and prosperous, and as more humans are being born with metapsychic abilities, it will not be long before these gifted minds at last achieve total Unity.

But xenophobia is deeply rooted in the human soul. A growing corps of rebels plots to keep the people of Earth forever separate, led by a man obsessed with human superiority: Marc Remillard. Marc's goal is nothing less than the elevation of human metapsychics above all others, by way of artificial enhancement of mental faculties. His methods are unpalatable, his goal horrific.

And so Marc and his coconspirators continue their work in secret. Only the very Unity he fears and abhors can foil Marc's plans. And only his brother, Jack the Bodiless, and the young woman called Diamond Mask can hope to lead the metaconcert to destroy Marc, Unify humanity, and pave the way for the Golden Age of the Galactic Milieu to begin.

Harry Potter has never even heard of Hogwarts when the letters start dropping on the doormat at number four, Privet Drive. Addressed in green ink on yellowish parchment with a purple seal, they are swiftly confiscated by his grisly aunt and uncle. Then, on Harry's eleventh birthday, a great beetle-eyed giant of a man called Rubeus Hagrid bursts in with some astonishing news: Harry Potter is a wizard, and he has a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. An incredible adventure is about to begin!

With their message of hope, belonging and the enduring power of truth and love, the story of the Boy Who Lived continues to delight generations of new readers.

Pawn in Frankincense is the fourth in the legendary Lymond Chronicles.

Somewhere within the bejeweled labyrinth of the Ottoman empire, a child is hidden. Now his father, Francis Crawford of Lymond, soldier of fortune and the exiled heir of Scottish nobility, is searching for him while ostensibly engaged on a mission to the Turkish Sultan.

At stake is a pawn in a cutthroat game whose gambits include treason, enslavement, and murder.

The Disorderly Knights is the third volume in The Lymond Chronicles, a highly renowned series of historical novels by Dorothy Dunnett. Set in 1551, it follows the adventures of Francis Crawford of Lymond as he is dispatched to embattled Malta. His mission: to assist the Knights of Hospitallers in defending the island against the Turks. However, the greatest threat to the Knights lies within their own ranks, where various factions secretly vie for power.

Back in Scotland, Crawford establishes a trained force of mercenaries and encounters Joleta Malett, a beautiful and wilful teenager. Through her brother, Graham Reid Malett, a knight of St John of Jerusalem, Crawford is enticed to Malta to aid in the Order's defense against the Turkish forces of Suleiman. This section of the book closely follows historical events, capturing the essence of the era with beautifully constructed prose.

This historical romance is an exhilarating adventure, set in the mid-1500s and focused around the flawed hero, Francis Crawford of Lymond. The series begins and ends in Crawford's homeland of Scotland, following his journey through centers of power in Scotland, France, Malta, Stamboul (Constantinople), and Russia. He develops as a leader in war and politics, with the potential to rule a country, but at the expense of his humanity, family, and companions.

The language, culture, customs, political intrigue, warcraft, and ethos of the time are captured vividly, making this book a must-read for lovers of historical fiction and adventure.

'One of the greatest achievements in comedy. A work of staggering genius' - David Walliams An international phenomenon and pop-culture classic, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy has been a radio show, TV series, novel, stage play, comic book and film. Following the galactic (mis)adventures of Arthur Dent, Hitchhiker’s in its various incarnations has captured the imaginations of curious minds around the world . . . It's an ordinary Thursday lunchtime for Arthur Dent until his house gets demolished. The Earth follows shortly afterwards to make way for a new hyperspace express route, and his best friend has just announced that he's an alien. At this moment, they're hurtling through space with nothing but their towels and an innocuous-looking book inscribed, in large friendly letters, with the words: DON'T PANIC. The weekend has only just begun . . . This 42nd Anniversary Edition includes exclusive bonus material from the Douglas Adams archives, and an introduction by former Doctor Who showrunner, Russell T Davies. Continue Arthur Dent's intergalactic adventures in the rest of the trilogy with five parts: The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, Life, the Universe and Everything, So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish, and Mostly Harmless.

These three internationally acclaimed novels have confirmed Agota Kristof's reputation as one of the most provocative exponents of new-wave European fiction. With all the stark simplicity of a fractured fairy tale, the trilogy tells the story of twin brothers, Claus and Lucas, locked in an agonizing bond that becomes a gripping allegory of the forces that have divided "brothers" in much of Europe since World War II.

Kristof's postmodern saga begins with The Notebook, in which the brothers are children, lost in a country torn apart by conflict, who must learn every trick of evil and cruelty merely to survive.

In The Proof, Lucas is challenged to prove his own identity and the existence of his missing brother, a defector to the "other side."

The Third Lie, which closes the trilogy, is a biting parable of Eastern and Western Europe today and a deep exploration into the nature of identity, storytelling, and the truths and untruths that lie at the heart of them all.

Electronics engineer Dan Davis has finally made the invention of a lifetime: a household robot with extraordinary abilities, destined to dramatically change the landscape of everyday routine.

Then, with wild success just within reach, Dan's greedy partner and even greedier fiancée trick him into taking the long sleep—suspended animation for thirty years. They never imagine that the future time in which Dan will awaken has mastered time travel, giving him a way to get back to them—and at them.

She was just a little girl, with a tiny horn in the center of her forehead, funny-looking feet, beautiful silver hair, and several curious powers: the ability to purify air and water, make plants grow, and heal scars and broken bones.

A trio of grizzled prospectors found her drifting in an escape pod amid the asteroids, adopted her, and took her to the bandit planet Kezdet, a place where no questions are asked and the girl might grow up free.

But Kezdet has its own dark secret. The prosperity of the planet is based on a hideous trade in child slave labor, administered by "The Piper"—a mystery man with special plans for Acorna and her powers.

But free little girls have a way of growing into freedom-loving young women, and Acorna has special plans all her own...

William Henry Devereaux, Jr. is the reluctant chairman of the English department at a badly underfunded college in the Pennsylvania rust belt. Over the course of a single convoluted week, he threatens to execute a duck, has his nose slashed by a feminist poet, discovers that his secretary writes better fiction than he does, and suspects his wife of having an affair with his dean.

Devereaux's reluctance is partly rooted in his character—he is a born anarchist—and partly in the fact that his department is more savagely divided than the Balkans. In the course of this week, he imagines his wife is having an affair, wonders if a curvaceous adjunct is trying to seduce him with peach pits, and threatens to execute a goose on local television.

All this while coming to terms with his philandering father, the dereliction of his youthful promise, and the ominous failure of certain vital body functions. In short, Straight Man is classic Russo—side-splitting, poignant, compassionate, and unforgettable.

Published to international critical and popular acclaim, this intensely romantic yet stunningly realistic novel spans three generations and the unimaginable gulf between the First World War and the present. As the young Englishman Stephen Wraysford passes through a tempestuous love affair with Isabelle Azaire in France and enters the dark, surreal world beneath the trenches of No Man's Land, Sebastian Faulks creates a world of fiction that is as tragic as A Farewell to Arms and as sensuous as The English Patient. Crafted from the ruins of war and the indestructibility of love, Birdsong is a novel that will be read and marveled at for years to come.

Emma McAvoy is beautiful, intelligent, and radiantly talented. She lives in a star-studded world of wealth and privilege, but she is about to discover that fame is no protection at all when someone wants you dead.

All she has to do is close her eyes and she remembers the magical day her father came into her life. She was a frightened, lonely toddler, hiding from her mother's wrath, when Brian McAvoy swept in and took her away. She didn't know then that she was his illegitimate daughter or that she had just been rescued by pop music's rising new star. All she knew was that suddenly she felt safe.

Brian's new wife became Emma's loving stepmother, his band members her surrogate uncles, and soon Emma even had a new baby brother to care for. Then, just when everything seemed perfect, a horrifying event shattered all their lives: a botched kidnapping attempt, shocking the world, traumatizing Emma, leaving her bereft of her newfound happiness.

Yet now, after so many years of pain and guilt, of being overprotected and hounded by the press, Emma finally feels as if she's put the tragedy behind her. A determined, self-sufficient young woman, she has carved out a thrilling career and even dared to fall rapturously in love. But the man who will become her husband isn't all that he seems. And Emma is about to awaken to the chilling knowledge that the darkest secret of all is the one buried in her mind—a secret that someone may kill to keep.

Dating both a vampire and a werewolf isn't easy. But just to complicate Anita's already messy life, someone has put a price on her head. Love cannot save her this time, so she turns to Edward, hitman extraordinaire, for help. But finding the person behind the threat won't be easy, because as both a vampire hunter and zombie reanimator, Anita has made a lot of enemies-both human and otherwise.

Though she’s dating a vampire and a werewolf, Anita is keeping them at arm’s length. Which isn’t easy considering that Jean-Claude is the master vampire of St. Louis and Richard Zeeman is the sexiest junior high school teacher she’s ever seen. Just to complicate Anita’s already messy life, someone has put a price on her head. Love cannot save her this time, so she turns to Edward, hitman extraordinaire for help. But finding the person behind it won’t be easy, because she’s made a lot of enemies—human and otherwise.

Returning from a visit to her daughter in Iraq, Joan Scudamore finds herself unexpectedly alone and stranded in an isolated rest house due to flooding of the railway tracks. This sudden solitude compels Joan to assess her life for the first time ever and face up to many of the truths about herself.

Looking back over the years, Joan painfully re-examines her attitudes, relationships, and actions, becoming increasingly uneasy about the person who is revealed to her. This journey of self-discovery and emotional reflection unveils the complexities of her inner world, offering readers a profound psychological drama.

Cold Mountain is a novel about a soldier’s perilous journey back to his beloved near the Civil War's end. At once a love story and a harrowing account of one man’s long walk home, Cold Mountain introduces a new talent in American literature.

Based on local history and family stories passed down by Frazier’s great-great-grandfather, Cold Mountain is the tale of a wounded Confederate soldier, Inman, who walks away from the ravages of the war and back home to his prewar sweetheart, Ada. His odyssey through the devastated landscape of the soon-to-be-defeated South interweaves with Ada’s struggle to revive her father’s farm, with the help of an intrepid young drifter named Ruby. As their long-separated lives begin to converge at the close of the war, Inman and Ada confront the vastly transformed world they’ve been delivered.

Frazier reveals insight into human relations with the land and the dangers of solitude. He also shares with the great 19th-century novelists a keen observation of a society undergoing change. Cold Mountain recreates a world gone by that speaks to our time.

California’s gold country, 1850. A time when men sold their souls for a bag of gold and women sold their bodies for a place to sleep. Angel expects nothing from men but betrayal. Sold into prostitution as a child, she survives by keeping her hatred alive. And what she hates most are the men who use her, leaving her empty and dead inside.

Then she meets Michael Hosea, a man who seeks his Father’s heart in everything. Michael obeys God’s call to marry Angel and to love her unconditionally. Slowly, day by day, he defies Angel’s every bitter expectation, until despite her resistance, her frozen heart begins to thaw. But with her unexpected softening comes overwhelming feelings of unworthiness and fear. And so Angel runs. Back to the darkness, away from her husband’s pursuing love, terrified of the truth she no longer can deny: her final healing must come from the One who loves her even more than Michael does . . . the One who will never let her go.

A powerful retelling of the story of Gomer and Hosea, Redeeming Love is a life-changing story of God’s unconditional, redemptive, all-consuming love.