Both are poles apart in terms of spiritual awakening. Destiny maneuvers their lives to cross each other’s paths, until Salaar falls in love with Imama after facing a horrifying experience that totally changes the course of his life.It was published in Shuaa Digest from July 2003 to February 2004.

    It is about the power of reading, the price of betrayal, and the possibility of redemption; and an exploration of the power of fathers over sons—their love, their sacrifices, their lies.A sweeping story of family, love, and friendship told against the devastating backdrop of the history of Afghanistan over the last thirty years, The Kite Runner is an unusual and powerful novel that has become a beloved, one-of-a-kind classic.--khaledhosseini.com

    Each book also contains biographical details of the original author, and a glossary of unusual words and activity suggestions.

    His conclusion, that it is the work of the Illuminati, a secret brotherhood presumed long dead, leads him to Rome, where against the backdrop of a papal election the Illuminati look set to renew their bitter vendetta against their sworn enemy, the Catholic Church . . .The Da Vinci CodeRobert Langdon receives an urgent late-night phone call while on business in Paris: the elderly curator of the Louvre has been violently murdered inside the museum. Alongside the body, police have found a series of baffling codes. As Langdon begins to sort through the bizarre riddles, he is stunned to find a trail that leads to the works of Leonardo da Vinci - and suggests the answer to an age-old mystery which will take him into the vaults of history . . .

    Shantaram is narrated by Lin, an escaped convict with a false passport who flees maximum security prison in Australia for the teeming streets of a city where he can disappear.Accompanied by his guide and faithful friend, Prabaker, the two enter Bombay's hidden society of beggars and gangsters, prostitutes and holy men, soldiers and actors, and Indians and exiles from other countries, who seek in this remarkable place what they cannot find elsewhere.As a hunted man without a home, family, or identity, Lin searches for love and meaning while running a clinic in one of the city's poorest slums, and serving his apprenticeship in the dark arts of the Bombay mafia. The search leads him to war, prison torture, murder, and a series of enigmatic and bloody betrayals. The keys to unlock the mysteries and intrigues that bind Lin are held by two people. The first is Khader Khan: mafia godfather, criminal-philosopher-saint, and mentor to Lin in the underworld of the Golden City. The second is Karla: elusive, dangerous, and beautiful, whose passions are driven by secrets that torment her and yet give her a terrible power.Burning slums and five-star hotels, romantic love and prison agonies, criminal wars and Bollywood films, spiritual gurus and mujaheddin guerrillas—this huge novel has the world of human experience in its reach, and a passionate love for India at its heart. Based on the life of the author, it is by any measure the debut of an extraordinary voice in literature.

    The aim of the series is to give readers accessible and informative introductions to some of the most popular, most acclaimed and most influential novels of recent years from The Remains of the Day to White Teeth . A team of contemporary fiction scholars from both sides of the Atlantic has been assembled to provide a thorough and readable analysis of each of the novels in question. This is an excellent guide to 'Love in the Time of Cholera'. It features a biography of the author, a full-length analysis of the novel, and a great deal more. If you re studying this novel, reading it for your book club, or if you simply want to know more about it, you ll find this guide informative, intelligent, and helpful.

    . . . It was no ordinary murder. Though the torture and abuse that killed him were real, Andy Gage's death wasn't. Only his soul actually died, and when it died, it broke in pieces. Then the pieces became souls in their own right, coinheritors of Andy Gage's life. . . .While Andy deals with the outside world, more than a hundred other souls share an imaginary house inside Andy's head, struggling to maintain an orderly coexistence: Aaron, the father figure; Adam, the mischievous teenager; Jake, the frightened little boy; Aunt Sam, the artist; Seferis, the defender; and Gideon, who wants to get rid of Andy and the others and run things on his own.Andy's new coworker, Penny Driver, is also a multiple personality, a fact that Penny is only partially aware of. When several of Penny's other souls ask Andy for help, Andy reluctantly agrees, setting in motion a chain of events that threatens to destroy the stability of the house. Now Andy and Penny must work together to uncover a terrible secret that Andy has been keeping . . . from himself.

    They live in a beautiful house, with a caring family, and attend an exclusive missionary school. They're completely shielded from the troubles of the world. Yet, as Kambili reveals in her tender-voiced account, things are less perfect than they appear. Although her Papa is generous and well respected, he is fanatically religious and tyrannical at home—a home that is silent and suffocating. As the country begins to fall apart under a military coup, Kambili and Jaja are sent to their aunt, a university professor outside the city, where they discover a life beyond the confines of their father’s authority. Books cram the shelves, curry and nutmeg permeate the air, and their cousins’ laughter rings throughout the house. When they return home, tensions within the family escalate, and Kambili must find the strength to keep her loved ones together.Purple Hibiscus is an exquisite novel about the emotional turmoil of adolescence, the powerful bonds of family, and the bright promise of freedom.

    I have the whole night ahead of me, and I won't waste a single moment of it . . . I want tonight to be long, as long as my life . . ." For young Private Peaceful, looking back over his childhood while he is on night watch in the battlefields of the First World War, his memories are full of family life deep in the countryside: his mother, Charlie, Big Joe, and Molly, the love of his life. Too young to be enlisted, Thomas has followed his brother to war and now, every moment he spends thinking about his life, means another moment closer to danger.

    Thomas. Jess Williams is an ordinary young boy with a loving family growing up in Black Creek, Kansas. That all changes when he comes home and finds his family brutally murdered.Forced to become a man overnight, he vows to avenge his family's savage deaths. He begins to practice with his Pa's Colt .45 and then a stroke of destiny arrives when he discovers a new pistol and holster that mysteriously appears. Jess practices with it relentlessly until he becomes so quick that he is inbeatable on the draw.He leaves home transformed from a boy to a highly skilled shootist with no reason to live except to hunt down and kill each of the three men responsible for the murders. as he begins his journey, he does so with a pistol and holster that no one has ever seen before--and won't again for almost one-hundred years.

    Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura are classmates and ninja-in-training working together (sort of) toward a common goal: to become the greatest ninja in the land! But Naruto Uzumaki is no ordinary ninja student. For deep in his body is sealed the spirit of a terrible demon known as the Nine-Tailed Fox!It was supposed to be just an ordinary, C-rank assigment--but nothing about ninjutsu is as simple as it seems...Squad Seven's latest job is a real snore--escorting a young, cowardly leader named Shibuki back to the remote Hidden Waterfall Village. They arrive without a problem, but get stuck cleaning the village pond! While Naruto and his pals pick up the trash, Kakashi is called back to his home village on urgent business.Then, without warning, a brilliant rogue ninja shows up in tow with his evil henchmen. Suien desperately desires the Hidden Waterfall's most precious possession, a secret potion called the Hero's Water. And as Squad Seven quickly discovers, the guy will do absolutely anything to get it! With their fearless sensei gone, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura find themselves in the most deadly situation of their young lives.A special Naruto adventure previously available only on DVD--now an action-packed novel!

    Note - This is not the novel by Franz Kafka! For the novel see The Castle

    U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels and his new partner, Chuck Aule, have come to Shutter Island, home of Ashecliffe Hospital for the Criminally Insane, to investigate the disappearance of a patient. Multiple murderess Rachel Solando is loose somewhere on this remote and barren island, despite having been kept in a locked cell under constant surveillance. As a killer hurricane relentlessly bears down on them, a strange case takes on even darker, more sinister shades—with hints of radical experimentation, horrifying surgeries, and lethal countermoves made in the cause of a covert shadow war. No one is going to escape Shutter Island unscathed, because nothing at Ashecliffe Hospital is what it seems. But then neither is Teddy Daniels.

    But his life is turned upside down when King Dom Carlos invites him to become governor of Portugal’s smallest colony, the island of São Tomé e Principe. Luis Bernardo is ill-prepared for the challenges of plantation life – used to a softer urban existence, he is shocked by the conditions under which the workers labour.But with the English closing in on São Tomé’s cocoa plantations, the island’s main means of survival, Luis Bernardo must endeavour to protect the island and its community.

    Brady Wayne Darby and Thomas Carey could hardly have been more disparate individuals. Yet when Darby, a no-account loser raised in a dingy suburban trailer park, encounters Carey, a weary man of God, an entire—state indeed, a nation—is affected. Embark on a wondrous journey where death, guilt, and despair are unfathomably trumped by rebirth, forgiveness, and hope. Author Jerry Jenkins says: “This is the novel I have always wanted to write. I determine whether a fiction idea has merit by how long it stays with me. Does it rattle in my brain, and do I find myself telling it to my wife and other confidants? Is it the type of a tale that will draw me back to the keyboard every day? Two-thirds of my published books have been novels, and only three have had that effect on me. I give my all to every one, but special joy and anticipation attend those that genuinely feel like the best ideas. "Riven" is my fourth such labor of love. The two main characters have remained in my memory since high school 40 years ago. The story idea is perhaps 20 years old. And those mystical, interweaving elements I hope make it all work have been tugging at me for more than a decade. If a novelist has a life's work, this is mine. I hope in the end you agree and that "Riven" stays with you long after the final page.”

    Now, two years later, it is time for her to come to terms with marriage, career, family, parenthood, and Kevin's horrific rampage in a series of startlingly direct correspondences with her estranged husband, Franklin. Uneasy with the sacrifices and social demotion of motherhood from the start, Eva fears that her alarming dislike for her own son may be responsible for driving him so nihilistically off the rails.

    In which Daniel Waterhouse, fearless thinker and courageous Puritan, pursues knowledge in the company of the greatest minds of Baroque-era Europe -- in a chaotic world where reason wars with the bloody ambitions of the mighty, and where catastrophe, natural or otherwise, can alter the political landscape overnight.(back cover)

    With a suitcase full of sausages and a master butcher's precious knife set, Fidelis sets out for America. In Argus, North Dakota, he builds a business, a home for his family—which includes Eva and four sons—and a singing club consisting of the best voices in town. When the Old World meets the New—in the person of Delphine Watzka—the great adventure of Fidelis's life begins. Delphine meets Eva and is enchanted. She meets Fidelis, and the ground trembles. These momentous encounters will determine the course of Delphine's life, and the trajectory of this brilliant novel.

    Dad Dr Craig Westerly, who left. Step-dad Bob, who wants control. Kids like too-good Devon. Except Jack. A mangy pup who only likes Logan.A new disease turns dogs vicious in days, spreads to humans. Logan runs with Jack when nobody believes she is immune. Meanwhile, Portland U. begs reclusive Craig back for old prion disease work.

    She is an astute young Housekeeper, with a ten-year-old son, who is hired to care for him. And every morning, as the Professor and the Housekeeper are introduced to each other anew, a strange and beautiful relationship blossoms between them. Though he cannot hold memories for long (his brain is like a tape that begins to erase itself every eighty minutes), the Professor’s mind is still alive with elegant equations from the past. And the numbers, in all of their articulate order, reveal a sheltering and poetic world to both the Housekeeper and her young son. The Professor is capable of discovering connections between the simplest of quantities--like the Housekeeper’s shoe size--and the universe at large, drawing their lives ever closer and more profoundly together, even as his memory slips away. The Housekeeper and the Professor is an enchanting story about what it means to live in the present, and about the curious equations that can create a family.

    Lief, Barda, and Jasmine must recover the lost gems of the Belt of Deltora at any cost. This will not be easy -- beasts, traps, and terrors stand in their way. From the underwater lair of the ferocious Glus to the deadly mists of the Valley of the Lost, Lief, Barda, and Jasmine must summon up their deepest courage -- and their greatest strength.Book 5: Dream Mountain / Book 6: The Maze of the Beast / Book 7: The Valley of the Lost / Book 8: Return to Del

    and maybe just a little magic. Depending on the time of day, Regina Burns is a woman on the edge of a nervous breakdown or an overdue breakthrough. One shattered heart and six months of rehab have left her wary and shell-shocked—especially with the prospect of taking a temporary consulting job in Atlanta, a move that would allow Regina to rescue the family home that she borrowed against when she was “a stomp down dope fiend.” Her stone-faced banker has grudgingly agreed to give her sixty days to settle her debts or lose the house.Returning to Atlanta is a big risk. Last time Regina was there, she lost track of who she was and what she wanted. There’s a lot of emotional baggage with her new employer, Beth Davis. Can she really forgive Beth for breaking up her wedding plans on New Year’s Eve because she just didn’t think Regina was good enough to marry her son?Meanwhile, Regina’s visionary Aunt Abbie has told her to be on the lookout for a handsome stranger with “the ocean in his eyes” who has a bone to pick and a promise to keep. Then a blue-eyed brother appears on the streets of Afro-Atlanta wearing a black cashmere overcoat, flashing a dazzling smile, and lending a helping hand when Regina needs it most. But between falling for Blue Hamilton and dealing with Beth, secrets will emerge that will threaten to send her life twisting in surprising new directions.Like a conversation with a good friend, Some Things I Never Thought I’d Do shares hope, love, and laugher. As always, it is Pearl Cleage’s unforgettable characters and her gift for dialogue that will earn this provocative new novel a place in the hearts of her growing family of readers.From the Trade Paperback edition.

    In the years between the two world wars, the future held more promise than peril, but there was evidence of things unseen that would transfigure our unquestioned trust in a safe future. Fos has returned to Tennessee from the trenches of France. Intrigued with electricity, bioluminescence, and especially x-rays, he believes in science and the future of technology. On a trip to the Outer Banks to study the Perseid meteor shower, he falls in love with Opal, whose father is a glassblower who can spin color out of light.Fos brings his new wife back to Knoxville where he runs a photography studio with his former Army buddy Flash. A witty rogue and a staunch disbeliever in Prohibition, Flash brings tragedy to the couple when his appetite for pleasure runs up against both the law and the Ku Klux Klan. Fos and Opal are forced to move to Opal's mother's farm on the Clinch River, and soon they have a son, Lightfoot. But when the New Deal claims their farm for the TVA, Fos seeks work at the Oak Ridge Laboratory -- Site X in the government's race to build the bomb. And it is there, when Opal falls ill with radiation poisoning, that Fos's great faith in science deserts him. Their lives have traveled with touching inevitability from their innocence and fascination with "things that glow" to the new world of manmade suns. Hypnotic and powerful, Evidence of Things Unseen constructs a heartbreaking arc through twentieth-century American life and belief.

    Sworn enemies for over nine hundred years, they have fought a secret war in the darkest shadows of the mortal world, pitting undead strength and cunning against feral rage and savagery. Now, in the hip Gothic streets of modern-day Budapest, the ancient conflict takes an unexpected new twist. Selene is a Death Dealer, a vampire warrior dedicated to the destruction of the hated lycans. Michael is a werewolf, an innocent American newly infected with the lupine curse. Against all reason and history, they find themselves drawn together even as the grisly inhuman war rushes toward its nightmarish climax. They have no idea of the power their unlikely union can unleash -- and of the terrifying secrets that will be revealed in the unearthly realm of...UNDERWORLD

    In this first novel, his slacker kids ponder life's mundane questions with the seriousness of ancient philosophers: how to get by on no money, where to scam free photocopies, and the finer points of food filching. Through a haze of beer and Top Ramen, they engage in endless debates about the nature of punk rock rage. the tribe of punks and dropouts has never before been so perfectly chronicled as in this oral history made into a written saga. In his autobiographical work, Cometbus offers an eclectic series of connected stories about living on the fringe in Berkeley.

    Snowman, known as Jimmy before mankind was overwhelmed by a plague, is struggling to survive in a world where he may be the last human, and mourning the loss of his best friend, Crake, and the beautiful and elusive Oryx whom they both loved. In search of answers, Snowman embarks on a journey–with the help of the green-eyed Children of Crake–through the lush wilderness that was so recently a great city, until powerful corporations took mankind on an uncontrolled genetic engineering ride. Margaret Atwood projects us into a near future that is both all too familiar and beyond our imagining.

    But what will their mother say? Mom's been having a hard time ever since Dad walked out on them four years ago. But caring for a pony might keep Nat and his older sister, Cid, from bickering, and it would mean so much to eight-year-old Queenie. It takes some serious persuasion — and a promise to use Nat's paper route money for the pony’s keep — but Mom finally relents.And so begins a year of self-discovery, as Nat struggles to deal with his father's absence; look out for his younger sister, who is "different"; and recover from having his heart broken by a rich, pretty girl from school. Life is not always easy, but Nat knows that Smokey, his very own pony, will be waiting for him at the end of each day. Or will he?

    On the eve of the Great War, Millicent King begins to keep her journal and vividly records the dramas of everyday life in a family touched by war, tragedy, and money troubles. From bohemian London to Rome in the 1920s her story moves on to social work and the build-up to another war, in which she drives ambulances through the bombed streets of London.Here is twentieth-century woman in close-up coping with the tragedies and upheavals of women's lives from WWI to Greenham Common and beyond. A triumph of resolution and evocation, this is a beautifully observed story of an ordinary woman's life - a narrative where every word rings true.

    1928, Latin-American novelist from Columbia.

    Her stories are one of the very few debut works -- and only a handful of collections -- to have won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Among the many other awards and honors it received were the New Yorker Debut of the Year award, the PEN/Hemingway Award, and the highest critical praise for its grace, acuity, and compassion in detailing lives transported from India to America.In The Namesake, Lahiri enriches the themes that made her collection an international bestseller: the immigrant experience, the clash of cultures, the conflicts of assimilation, and, most poignantly, the tangled ties between generations. Here again Lahiri displays her deft touch for the perfect detail — the fleeting moment, the turn of phrase — that opens whole worlds of emotion.The Namesake takes the Ganguli family from their tradition-bound life in Calcutta through their fraught transformation into Americans. On the heels of their arranged wedding, Ashoke and Ashima Ganguli settle together in Cambridge, Massachusetts. An engineer by training, Ashoke adapts far less warily than his wife, who resists all things American and pines for her family. When their son is born, the task of naming him betrays the vexed results of bringing old ways to the new world. Named for a Russian writer by his Indian parents in memory of a catastrophe years before, Gogol Ganguli knows only that he suffers the burden of his heritage as well as his odd, antic name. Lahiri brings great empathy to Gogol as he stumbles along the first-generation path, strewn with conflicting loyalties, comic detours, and wrenching love affairs. With penetrating insight, she reveals not only the defining power of the names and expectations bestowed upon us by our parents, but also the means by which we slowly, sometimes painfully, come to define ourselves.

    His outraged friends -- —mostly poor cotton farmers -- form a secret society, Hell-at-the-Breech, to punish the townspeople they believe responsible. The hooded members wage a bloody year-long campaign of terror that culminates in a massacre where the innocent suffer alongside the guilty. Caught in the maelstrom of the Mitcham war are four people: the aging sheriff sympathetic to both sides; the widowed midwife who delivered nearly every member of Hell-at-the-Breech; a ruthless detective who wages his own war against the gang; and a young store clerk who harbors a terrible secret. Based on incidents that occurred a few miles from the author's childhood home, Hell at the Breech chronicles the events of dark days that led the people involved to discover their capacity for good, evil, or for both.

    Four seemingly unaffected people--a young man, a young woman, a father, and his daughter--flee London through an apocalyptic landscape as they try to reach the coast, beset along the way by attacks of "Infected" at every turn. When they arrive at an isolated house in the country, inhabited by a small group of soldiers, they think they have found a haven from the violence outside. But they soon find they've jumped from the frying pan into the fire.

    What Night Brings is the unforgettable story of Marci's struggle to find and maintain her identity against all odds - a perilous home life, an incomprehensible Church, and a largely indifferent world. Winner of the Miguel Marmol prize focusing on human rights, the Paterson Fiction Prize, the Latino Literary Foundation Latino Book Award, the Bronze Medal from Foreword Magazine, and Honorable Mention for the Gustavus Meyers Books Award. Also shortlisted for a Lambda Literary Award.

    The youngest of three, she longs to be loved by her mother, but Ellen spends all her time with her eldest son, while Abbie and her brother, Sam, take refuge with their neighbours, Sandra Lewis and Peter Ryan. Although vibrant and attractive, Abbie pushes people away with her constant need for reassurance. Infatuated with Peter, she longs for the day when he tells her that he loves her. And Sam is courting Sandra. But Peter and Sandra have a secret - one that could destroy the friends' relationship should it become known. Will Abbie finally find the security and affection she has been searching for all her life, or will she always be looking for love...?

    Celebrated as a novelist in the tradition of Jonathan Franzen and Philip Roth, Elliot Perlman writes of impulse and paralysis, empty marriages, lovers, gambling, and the stock market; of adult children and their parents; of poetry and prostitution, psychiatry and the law. Comic, poetic, and full of satiric insight, Seven Types of Ambiguity is, above all, a deeply romantic novel that speaks with unforgettable force about the redemptive power of love.The story is told in seven parts, by six different narrators, whose lives are entangled in unexpected ways. Following years of unrequited love, an out-of-work schoolteacher decides to take matters into his own hands, triggering a chain of events that neither he nor his psychiatrist could have anticipated. Brimming with emotional, intellectual, and moral dilemmas, this novel-reminiscent of the richest fiction of the nineteenth century in its labyrinthine complexity-unfolds at a rapid-fire pace to reveal the full extent to which these people have been affected by one another and by the insecure and uncertain times in which they live. Our times, now.

    Impossible but true, because Henry is one of the first people diagnosed with Chrono-Displacement Disorder: periodically his genetic clock resets and he finds himself misplaced in time, pulled to moments of emotional gravity in his life, past and future. His disappearances are spontaneous, his experiences unpredictable, alternately harrowing and amusing. The Time Traveler’s Wife depicts the effects of time travel on Henry and Clare’s marriage and their passionate love for each other as the story unfolds from both points of view. Clare and Henry attempt to live normal lives, pursuing familiar goals—steady jobs, good friends, children of their own. All of this is threatened by something they can neither prevent nor control, making their story intensely moving and entirely unforgettable.

    United, they comprise the story of Perry Katzek and his widening, endearing clan. Through these streets walk butchers, hitmen, mothers and factory workers, boys turned men and men turned to urban myth. I Sailed With Magellan solidifies Dybek's standing as one of our finest chroniclers of urban America.

     Atlanta police detective Aggie Jade is still recovering from the raid that took the life of her partner and former boyfriend -- and nearly killed her and her beloved K-9. She's not ready to hit the streets again, but she's desperate to hunt down the cop killers who shattered her world. That's when she asks her identical twin sister to trade places with her.... Lizzie Jade is as flashy and fiery as Aggie is quiet and conservative -- and the high-rolling Vegas gambler loves a challenge: turning in her stiletto heels for a badge is the perfect role for Aggie's "wild card" sister. But the gutsy charade gets complicated when sexy investigative reporter Nathan Hawke senses something bold and new about "Aggie," who no longer shies away from his flirtations. As Lizzie and Nathan join forces to uncover a web of lies and corruption, Lizzie finds herself giving in to his charms. But how can she confess that she's not who he thinks she is? And how can she let herself fall in love when she and her twin might have to run for their lives?

    Princess Diaries Four-Book Set (Princess Diaries; Princess in the spotlight; Princess In Love; Princess in Waiting) For a limited time get four of Meg Cabot's books in the Princess Diaries series, including Cabott's latest installment, Princess in Waiting.

    For eons, sandstorms have swept the barren, desolate landscape of the red planet. For centuries, Mars has beckoned to mankind to come and conquer its hostile climate. Now, in the year 2026, a group of one hundred colonists is about to fulfill that destiny. John Boone, Maya Toitovna, Frank Chalmers, and Arkady Bogdanov lead a mission whose ultimate goal is the terraforming of Mars. For some, Mars will become a passion driving them to daring acts of courage and madness; for others it offers an opportunity to strip the planet of its riches. And for the genetic "alchemists," Mars presents a chance to create a biomedical miracle, a breakthrough that could change all we know about life ... and death. The colonists place giant satellite mirrors in Martian orbit to reflect light to the planet's surface. Black dust sprinkled on the polar caps will capture warmth and melt the ice. And massive tunnels, kilometers in depth, will be drilled into the Martian mantle to create stupendous vents of hot gases. Against this backdrop of epic upheaval, rivalries, loves, and friendships will form and fall to pieces--for there are those who will fight to the death to prevent Mars from ever being changed. Brilliantly imagined, breathtaking in scope and ingenuity, Red Mars is an epic scientific saga, chronicling the next step in human evolution and creating a world in its entirety. Red Mars shows us a future, with both glory and tarnish, that awes with complexity and inspires with vision. Green Mars: Nearly a generation has passed since the first pioneers landed, but the transformation of Mars to an Earth-like planet has just begun. In Green Mars the colonists will attempt to turn the red planet into a lush garden for humanity. They will bombard the atmosphere with ice meteorites to add moisture. They will seed the red deserts with genetically engineered plants. Then they will tap the boiling planetary core to warm the planet's frozen surface. But their heroic efforts don't go unchallenged. For their plan to transform Mars is opposed by those determined to preserve the hostile and barren beauty of Mars. Led by rebels like Peter Clayborne, these young people are the first generation of children born on Mars, and they will be joined in their violent struggle by original settlers Maya Toitovna, Simon Frasier, and Sax Russell. Against this cosmic backdrop, passions, rivalries, and friendships will explode in a story as big as the planet itself. A novel of breathtaking scope and imagination, of lyric intensity and social resonance, Kim Stanley Robinson employs years of research and state-of-the-art science to create a prophetic vision of where humanity is headed--and of what life will be like on another world. Nebula Award- Winner, Hugo Award Winner

    Then he wrote a novel savaging everything in town, a novel that became a national bestseller and a huge hit movie. Fifteen years later, Joe is struggling to avoid the sophomore slump with his next novel when he gets a call: his father's had a stroke, so it's back to Bush Falls for the town's most famous pariah. His brother avoids him, his former classmates beat him up, and the members of the book club just hurl their copies of Bush Falls at his house. But with the help of some old friends, Joe discovers that coming home isn't all bad--and that maybe the best things in life are second chances.Fans of Nick Hornby and Jennifer Weiner will love this book, by turns howling funny, fiercely intelligent, and achingly poignant. As evidenced by The Book of Joe's success in both the foreign and movie markets, Jonathan Tropper has created a compelling, incredibly resonant story.

    . . The courage to change doesn’t come easy. When Opal Sullivan walks out on an abusive husband after fifteen years, she has only her dreams in her pocket. Her new beginning starts in Appalachian River country, where she sees a bit of herself in a graceful but dilapidated house. Like Opal, the house is worn-out and somewhat beaten up, but it still stands proudly and deserves a second chance.So Opal opens her doors—and her heart—to a parade of unforgettable characters. There’s sassy Bette Smith with her cantaloupe-colored hair and four-inch heels; short-tempered Gloria and her devilish son, Troy; the mysterious Dana, who dresses in black and keeps exclusively nocturnal hours; a dog named “Bear” who is afraid of his own shadow; and Jack, who doesn’t mind hanging out with an OBBWA (old black broad with an attitude). It is Jack who helps Opal understand a funny thing about life: You can’t move forward if you keep looking back. . . .

    Was the Lord Provost's daughter kidnapped or just another runaway? And why on earth is Rebus invited to a clay pigeon shoot at the home of the Scottish Office's Permanent Secretary? Drawn into the machine that is modern Scotland, Rebus confronts the fact that some of his enemies may be beyond justice. BLACK & BLUE: Rebus is juggling four cases trying to nail one killer - and doing it under the scrutiny of an internal inquiry led by a man he's just accused of taking backhanders from Glasgow's Mr Big. Added to that there are TV cameras at his back investigating a miscarriage of justice, making Rebus a criminal in the eyes of millions of viewers. Just one mistake is likely to mean a slow and unpleasant death or, worse still, losing his job. THE HANGING GARDEN: DI John Rebus is on the trail of a WWII war criminal - until the running battle between two rival gangs on the city streets arrives at his door. When his daughter is the victim of a hit-and-run Rebus is forced to acknowledge that there is nothing he wouldn't do to bring down the prime suspect - even if it means cutting a deal with the devil.

    Eddie is a wounded war veteran, an old man who has lived, in his mind, an uninspired life. His job is fixing rides at a seaside amusement park. On his 83rd birthday, a tragic accident kills him as he tries to save a little girl from a falling cart. He awakes in the afterlife, where he learns that heaven is not a destination. It's a place where your life is explained to you by five people, some of whom you knew, others who may have been strangers. One by one, from childhood to soldier to old age, Eddie's five people revisit their connections to him on earth, illuminating the mysteries of his "meaningless" life, and revealing the haunting secret behind the eternal question: "Why was I here?"

    Problem was the more successful he was, the more he traded what really mattered. His integrity. His relationship with his wife. His time with his son.He was chasing things that had no eternal significance. It wasn t until God slowly unraveled everything that he saw how empty his life had become.Now it will take a courageous heart and a saving grace for Jay to finally turn his drive into a desire for a more authentic life with God as well as with his wife and son.In a world filled with cheap imitations that distract us from God s higher plans, "Flywheel" is a powerful parable for all who hunger to live an authentic life."

    Her only friend is her "roommate," Becca, the precocious spirit of a former student still residing in Kieli's dorm. Everything in Kieli's life changes suddenly when the girls meet the handsome but distant Harvey who, like Kieli, can see ghosts. He also turns out to be one of the legendary Undying, an immortal soldier bred for war now being hunted by the Church. When Kieli joins Harvey on a pilgrimage to lay to rest the spirit of a corporal possessing an old radio, as unlikely as it seems, she feels she may have finally found a place where she belongs in the world. And in Kieli, Harvey may have found a reason to live again.

    A sweeping story following the life of Audrey Garnet who grows up in the small Anglo-Argentine community where the gossiping ladies of the Hurlingham Club divulge and discuss the latest scandals over scones and Earl Grey tea. Ripples pass through the community when Cecil and Louis Forrester arrive to make their fortunes. Cecil is a decorated war hero while Louis, who didn't fight, thrashes out his tormented soul on the grand piano and hides a dark secret that only his brother knows. Audrey loses her heart to one, but marries the other and yet her love only intensifies over the years and the music of the forget-me-not sonata reminds her time and again of the dreadful sacrifice she has made.

    One day Adam enters the Quest Golden Opportunity Competition, with the ultimate prize of working with the reclusive software genius Quentin Quested, test-driving his latest top-secret breakthrough in computer game technology. Adam is unbelievably chosen to undergo the final selection process. At Quested Court, Adam enters a world he never dreamed existed. A world of kindly adults and potential friends, in which the boundaries between fantasy and reality start to become blurred. Only when Adam and his companions begin the gaming workshop does Quentin Quested reveal their real-life quest into the parallel world of Karazan, where the Serpents of Arakesh stand guard over the most precious prize of all.

    The house and the cottage overlooking the sea, on the corner of the big estate, was home to three generations of the Tremain family. Fred Tremain, the country doctor who - with his wife, Martha, for whose sake he had become estranged from his family - came first to this beloved corner of England: Anna, the difficult, determined older child, now a highly successful solicitor; and Barnaby, the easy-going second child, now a vicar to the parish: and the beloved granddaughter, Lucy. It is she whose discoveries of family papers, hidden in the old cottage, brings to light the first of the wartime secrets and begins the process of questioning so many old fears and hatreds, and unlocking the way to new relationships and new loves. Sara Macdonald has created a wonderful range of characters, depicted with great tenderness and understanding, against a background of the human price paid for the upheavals caused by prejudice, violence and wars today and yesterday. A wonderful novel for all the fans of Anita Shreve, Niall Williams and Rosamund Pilcher.

    They have grown up together and become top climbers, but have since become estranged. Rob is nevertheless grief-stricken when he hears of Jamie's death after a fall on a relatively easy Welsh rockface. The past, though, hides the secret clues behind the tragedy.

    Her cat, Angus (the size of a smalllabrador), is terrorizing the neighborhood. She went to a party dressed as astuffed olive. And she's madly in love with Robbie the Sex God, who(sometimes) thinks she's too young for him. In these first two volumes inthe hilarious #1 New York Times best-selling series, Georgia needs to changeher life from Ergghhhlack to Fabbity-fab-fab!The hysterically funny first two Georgia Nicolson diaries: angus, thongs and full -- frontal snogging and on the bright side, i’m now the girlfriend of a sex god.

    Carl Hiaasen's South Florida Three-Book Set #2 (Lucky You, Basket Case, Double Whammy) For a limited time get three books in Carl Hiaasen's popular South Florida series together in one easy-to-order package, including the bestseller, Lucky You.

    Now two of her top-selling works have been brought together for the first time in an outstanding volume that shines with moving storytelling that celebrates Ireland, its people, and the journey of life itself. Circle of Friends is the heartwarming tale of two girls: Benny Hogan and Eve Malone, friends from the time they're in school together. Off to the university in Dublin to begin a new life and face new challenges, they help and support each other in a world that can bring them great new riches, expanded friendships, and also betrayal of the worst kind. In the Copper Beech, the children of the village of Shancarrig grow up without much obvious excitement, but there's far more there than meets the eye. The mysteries and adventures behind closed doors in a small town shape the children's futures and the life of the town in this moving novel of a country town in Ireland.

    Jointly written by Lawrence Miles (Faction Paradox), Lars Pearson (Wizard magazine) and Christa Dickson (Metaphorce Designs), this beefy guide also contains information on the Buffy comic and novel series, plus heaps of behind-the-scenes details on this phenomenal TV show.

    Who would have imagined that God would make a prayer group as mismatched as ours the closest of friends? I almost didn't even go to the Chicago Women's Conference--after all, being thrown together with five hundred strangers wasn't exactly my "comfort zone." But something happened that weekend to make us realize we had to hang together, and the "Yada Yada Prayer Group" was born! When I faced the biggest crisis of my life, God used my newfound Sisters to show me what it means to be just a sinner saved by grace.

    As he starts digging deeper and deeper into the mystery of her sudden reappearance, he discovers a secret that is somehow linked to the past...and the future. Is it possible to experience first love for a second time? Without question, the answer is yes!

    Revoyr’s novel is honest in detailing southern California’s brutal history, and honorable in showing how families survived with love and tenacity and dignity."—Susan Straight, author of Highwire MoonSouthland brings us a fascinating story of race, love, murder and history, against the backdrop of an ever-changing Los Angeles. A young Japanese-American woman, Jackie Ishida, is in her last semester of law school when her grandfather, Frank Sakai, dies unexpectedly. While trying to fulfill a request from his will, Jackie discovers that four African-American boys were killed in the store Frank owned during the Watts Riots of 1965. Along with James Lanier, a cousin of one of the victims, Jackie tries to piece together the story of the boys’ deaths. In the process, she unearths the long-held secrets of her family’s history.Southland depicts a young woman in the process of learning that her own history has bestowed upon her a deep obligation to be engaged in the larger world. And in Frank Sakai and his African-American friends, it presents characters who find significant common ground in their struggles, but who also engage each other across grounds—historical and cultural—that are still very much in dispute.Moving in and out of the past—from the internment camps of World War II, to the barley fields of the Crenshaw District in the 1930s, to the streets of Watts in the 1960s, to the night spots and garment factories of the 1990s—Southland weaves a tale of Los Angeles in all of its faces and forms.Nina Revoyr is the author of The Necessary Hunger ("Irresistible."—Time Magazine). She was born in Japan, raised in Tokyo and Los Angeles, and is of Japanese and Polish-American descent. She lives and works in Los -Angeles.

    a page turner from start to finish' - Maeve BinchyAlexander Kinross is remembered in his native Scotland only as a shiftless boilermaker's apprentice. But when he writes from Australia to summon his bride, his relatives realize he is now a man to be reckoned with. Arriving in Sydney after a difficult voyage, sixteen-year-old Elizabeth Drummond meets her husband-to-be and discovers that he frightens and repels her. And, isolated in Alexander's great house, Elizabeth finds that marriage does not prompt her husband to enlighten her about his past life - nor his present one, in which his mistress, the sensuous, tough, outspoken Ruby Costevan, still plays a part...

    In the 1770s, he returned to Scotland to marry and re-establish the family name. He brought with him Joseph Knight, a black slave and a token of his years in the Caribbean.Now, in 1802, Sir John Wedderburn is settling his estate, and has hired a solicitor's agent, Archibald Jamieson, to search for his former slave. The past has haunted Wedderburn ever since Culloden, and ever since he last saw Knight, in court twenty-four years ago, in a case that went to the heart of Scottish society, pitting master against slave, white against black, and rich against poor.As long as Knight is missing, Wedderburn will never be able to escape the past. Yet what will he do if Jamieson's search is successful? And what effect will this re-opening of old wounds have on those around him? Meanwhile, as Jamieson tries to unravel the true story of Joseph Knight he begins to question his own motivation. How can he possibly find a man who does not want to be found?James Robertson's second novel is a tour de force, the gripping story of a search for a life that stretches over sixty years and moves from battlefields to the plantations of Jamaica, from Enlightenment Edinburgh to the back streets of Dundee. It is a moving narrative of history, identity and ideas, that dramatically retells a fascinating but forgotten episode of Scottish history.

    Huston has never before written about that time—an era of racism and repression, a time when this country was still relatively young, an age of quirky individualism and almost frontier-style freedom that largely has ceased to exist. Fearful he would not be believed, on one hand, but desirous of the freedom to embellish, on the other, Curtiss chronicles that time in Sins of the Seventh Sister, a book he characterizes as “a novel based on a true story of the gothic South.” It is his story and the story of the people of Elkins, West Virginia, a small town whose inhabitants included his mother, Billy-Pearl Curtiss, and her many sisters—all stunning blondes. Billy-Pearl would prove to be an irresistibly romantic figure in her son’s life. She was the seventh of eleven children, all girls to her father’s consternation. By the time of her arrival, her father felt he had been patient enough and insisted on calling her Billy; he taught her everything he had intended to impart to his firstborn son. She would grow up to be one of the most beautiful women in the county, but also one of the most opinionated and liberal. Her aim was so precise that she was barred from the local turkey shoot because none of the men had a chance against her. When a Klansman accused her of attempted homicide after she shot him through the shoulder to stop him from setting fire to the home of her black neighbors, she told the sheriff, “If I had meant to kill him, he’d be dead.” And with that defense, she was exonerated.Curtiss Farm was large and the house had many rooms, which Billy-Pearl got in the habit of gathering people to fill, especially the downtrodden who had nowhere to go. In May 1929, Billy-Pearl brought home a boy from the local orphanage. Stanley was sixteen, the age at which the orphanage kicked children out, and Billy-Pearl, knowing his sad history, could not allow him to end up on the streets. Stanley had witnessed his father beat his mother to death in a drunken rage and had taken a straight razor and slit his father’s throat while he slept. A country judge had the boy castrated to control his aggressive ways. Not a boy, but not yet a man, Stanley was tall, willowy, and frightened as a colt upon his arrival at Curtiss Farm—not at all the playmate for whom Huston had hoped. But quickly a friendship developed between the two that would last a lifetime—a friendship that would survive murder, suicide, madness, and Stanley’s eventual transformation into Stella, a singer who would live her adult life as a glamorous woman.Sins of the Seventh Sister is brilliantly conceived and masterfully written, as alive with flamboyant characters and wildly uncontained emotions as any book to come out of the South.

    In this stirring fantasy, a murderous leader has taken over the land where Bird lives and destroyed the tree that gives life. He will do anything to find the Opener-one who is prophesied to save the people. A few other orphans and a sad, mysterious caretaker lead Bird to a special locket that, amazingly, opens easily in her hands. It reveals just a seed. When planted, it will grow into a new sacred tree that will produce a lifesaving elixir. Bird holds the power, but she lacks the knowledge to use it. Featuring a memorable character with grit, an indomitable will, and the cagey instincts of a survivor, Bird's saga will thrill readers as they welcome a new voice rich in imagination and storytelling skill.

    Spanning four decades and many worlds, from the horrors of the Second World War to the wild abandon of New York in the eighties, Dancer is peopled by a large cast of characters, obscure and famous: doormen and shoemakers, nurses and translators, Margot Fonteyn, Eric Bruhn and John Lennon. And at the heart of the spectacle stands the artist himself, willful, lustful, and driven by a never-to-be-met need for perfection.

    But Grandma insists she go on just one date with a particular architect – after all, he doesn’t like “hard-headed” businesswomen! Will love unexpectedly enter their plans? A sweet novella you’ll love.

    But with his foul mouth comes a heart of gold, and he's going to need it to get through the last weekend of summer 1984. Everyone up and down St. Patrick Street, Henry's claustrophobic Irish-Catholic block in Philadelphia -- with its seventy-eight row homes, seventy-eight skinny mile-high lawns, seventy-eight statues of saints, and seventy-eight Mondale-Ferraro signs -- knows that the Toohey family is falling apart. Henry's mailman father is having an affair with a neighbor lady right under his mother's nose. His big brother has been a drunken mess since his girlfriend died. And his little sister is counting on him to keep her laughing through it all. But Henry has a plan to pull the family back together: He'll propose to his chain-smoking fourteen-year-old girlfriend, Grace McClain, at a neighborhood wedding. To prepare, he and his ragtag group of friends pinball around the streets, making elaborate plans for his proposal, riding bikes, rating breasts, bothering the local merchants, talking trash about Mike Schmidt and Bob Seger, and kissing behind the seafood-store dumpster. Gritty, giddy, and bursting with Henry's boundless energy, Green Grass Grace is a heart-thumping rocket ride back to adolescence that is riotously funny and tragic at the same time.

    Suddenly Louis's life is no longer his own - until he meets Maddy, who claims to have trained her parents to ignore her- But does Louis really want to be ignored? A truly contemporary tale with characters kids will recognize instantly!

    When Enoch drowns, Saran swears that she will not rest until she has secured her family's release, but--penniless and friendless--she barely knows where to start. However, when fate casts young Luke Hipton into her path, Saran finds a loyal companion. Together they make their way to Wednesbury, where Saran's courage and virtue bring their own rewards.

    I was only four then. I never thought I'd hear from him again, but now we're writing a book together'To Georg Røed, his father is no more than a shadow, a distant memory. But then one day his grandmother discovers some pages stuffed into the lining of an old red pushchair. The pages are a letter to Georg, written just before his father died, and a story, 'The Orange Girl'. But 'The Orange Girl' is no ordinary story - it is a riddle from the past and centres around an incident in his father's youth. One day he boarded a tram and was captivated by a beautiful girl standing in the aisle, clutching a huge paper bag of luscious-looking oranges. Suddenly the tram gave a jolt and he stumbled forward, sending the oranges flying in all directions. The girl simply hopped off the tram leaving Georg's father with arms full of oranges. Now, from beyond the grave, he is asking his son to help him finally solve the puzzle of her identity.

    The novel’s frank portrayal of a woman’s emotional, intellectual, and sexual awakening shocked the sensibilities of the time and destroyed the author’s reputation and career. Many years passed before this short, pioneering work was recognized as a major achievement in American literature.Set in and around New Orleans, The Awakening tells the story of Edna Pontellier, a young wife and mother who, determined to control her own life, flouts convention by moving out of her husband’s house, having an adulterous affair, and becoming an artist.Beautifully written, with sensuous imagery and vivid local descriptions, The Awakening has lost none of its power to provoke and inspire. Additionally, this edition includes thirteen of Kate Chopin’s magnificent short stories.--back coverStories Included in the Volume:The AwakeningEmancipation: A Life FableA Shameful AffairAt the ‘Cadian BallDésirée’s BabyA Gentleman of Bayou TêcheA Respectable WomanThe Story of an HourAthénaïseA Pair of Silk StockingsElizabeth Stock’s One StoryThe StormThe GodmotherA Little Country Girl

    Bumper collection of three books in a top-selling series about an awesomely naughty child.

    At its heart is Vidamia Farrell, half Puerto Rican, half Irish, who sets out in search of the father she has never known. Her journey takes her from her affluent suburban home to the Lower East Side of Manhattan, where her father Billy Farrell now lives with his second family. Once a gifted jazz pianist, Billy lost two fingers in the Vietnam War and has since shut himself off from jazz. As Billy's colorful new family draws her into their fold, so Vidamia determines to draw her father back into the world he left behind.

    Beaten and starved by his parents, ignored by the social services and bullied at school, he was offered a chance to escape this nightmare world and was put into care. Despite his best efforts to make things work out, his life spiralled out of control. At the age of 17 he became caught up in the criminal underworld of London, where he was known as 'The Kid'. From the violent anger he suffered at the hands of his mother and father, to the continuous torments at school; from the way in which he coped with rejection from people he trusted, to suffering from bulimia and a wish to take his own life, Kevin succeeded in making a better life for himself. This is his story ..

    The story of a murderous battle for control, and a wise, compassionate investigation into the bonds of love and family and of what sustains people through loss.

    When forest wildfires threaten two American national parks and countless homes, retired fire bomber Clark Maxwell joins his former teammates despite the unreliability of their air tankers, which are breaking apart with fatal consequences, a situation that Maxwell suspects may be linked to a sinister cover up.

    Meredith is a new girl at school. An orphan, living with her elderly granny. She must be lonely—or so Carly thinks, trying to be nice. But sometimes nice doesn't work. Sometimes people are worse than you could ever imagine. And Meredith has a secret—a story Carly can hardly begin to believe, about a girl with no future and someone else's past, a vicious old lady who refuses to die, and a young life stolen. For Meredith is not Meredith at all.

    Now, with breathtaking imagination and brilliant storytelling, Ashok K. Banker has recreated this epic tale for modern readers everywhereIn this first book of the Ramayana, it is predicted Ayodhya, legendary capital of warriors and seers, will soon be a wasteland of ashes and blood. Only Rama, Prince of Ayodhya, can hope to prevent the onslaught of darkness. Is Rama’s courage enough in the final battle to halt the demons’ invasion and save Ayodhya?

    This book contains the complete novels of Joseph Conrad in the chronological order of their original publication.- Almayer's Folly- An Outcast of the Islands- The Nigger of the Narcissus- Heart of Darkness- Lord Jim- The Inheritors (with Ford Madox Ford)- Typhoon- Romance (with Ford Madox Ford)- Nostromo- The Secret Agent- The Nature of a Crime (with Ford Madox Ford)- Under Western Eyes- Chance- Victory: An Island Tale- The Shadow Line- The Arrow of Gold- The Rescue

    In addition, the seasoned reporter tells his own story, thus bringing to readers the grieving, compassionate voice of a fellow New Yorker who was close to Ground Zero. Amplifying the narrative are fifty-four black-and-white photographs, indelible images of horror and heroism unfolding. The panorama of views Wilborn Hampton presents, following several individuals through September 11 and its aftermath, creates an intimate portrait of life and loss, and a deeper understanding of the events of that tragic day.

    Also includes a bonus fairy bracelet!

    As he struggles to come to terms with his grief, Mal vows to hunt down the crew and avenge his wife's death. But will he ever be able to break free from the past?

    Johnson's critically acclaimed novels - "Alberto Angelo", "Trawl" and "House Mother Normal - A Geriatric Comedy".

    A sure treat for Scottoline's legions of fans, Lisa Scottoline: The First Two Novels is the ultimate collectible.Everywhere That Mary Went introduces one of Lisa Scottoline's most beloved characters, fledglinglawyer Mary DiNunzio, who uses her wit -- and her heart -- to catch a killer. Mary's been trying to make partner in her cutthroat Philadelphia law firm, so she's too busy to worry about crank phone calls she's been getting, until they fall into a sinister pattern. Soon she can't shake the sensation that someone is watching her, following her every move. The shadow-boxing turns deadly when her worst fears are realized, and Mary has to fight for something a lot more important than partnership -- her life.Final Appeal, winner of the Edgar Award, features law clerk and single mother Grace Rossi. Starting over after a divorce, Grace takes on a part-time job with a federal appeals court judge, but she doesn't count on being assigned to an explosive death-penalty appeal. Nor does she expect ardor in the court, in the form of an affair with her boss, Chief Judge Armen Gregorian. Then the truly unimaginable happens, and Grace finds herself investigating a murder. She searches for the truth, unearthing a six-figure bank account kept by a judge with an alias and following a trail of bribery and corruption. In no time at all, Grace under fire takes on a whole new meaning.

    So Fiona practices by herself and attracts the attention of the dance teacher. But when her sister, Wallace, disappears, Fiona risks the dance audition and the acceptance she has worked so hard to get and finally finds her place in her family in her life.

    To Camp Rapture’s general consternation, Sunset’s mother-in-law arranges for her to take over from Pete as town constable. As if that weren’t hard enough to swallow in depression era east Texas, Sunset actually takes the job seriously, and her investigation into a brutal double murder pulls her into a maelstrom of greed, corruption, and unspeakable malice. It is a case that will require a well of inner strength she never knew she had. Spirited and electrifying, Sunset and Sawdust is a mystery and a tale like nothing you’ve read before.

    Many problems in girls' lives stem from a lack of self-esteem and self-love: eating disorders, depression, drug use, and more. Through powerful stories and poems from real teens, as well as personal tales and advice from the author, this book strives to help girls learn to accept, love, and appreciate their bodies--and, in turn, to love themselves.

    Not through terrible imprisonment, and not under the threat of mortal peril. In this magnificent story, Rav Yitzchak Zilber's devotion and sacrifice for Torah Judaism under oppression shines through in the bleakness of what was. The "father" to countless unfortunate Jews in the Soviety Union and Eretz Yisrael, and an extraordinary figure in the kiruv movement in Eretz Yisrael and in the Diaspora, Rav Yitzchok was renowned for standing up for his beliefs and encouraging hundreds of others to do the same. With photographs, anecdotes, and a compelling tone, this autobiography, comprised of accounts Rav Zilber told during his lifetime, is truly an uplifting read. Translated from the original Russian and Hebrew editions.

    Included in this two-volume set are the following stories: Volume 1The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The Marvelous Land of Oz, Ozma of Oz, Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz, The Road to Oz, The Emerald City of Oz, The Patchwork Girl of Oz, Little Wizard Stories of Oz, Volume 2Tik-Tok of Oz, The Scarecrow of Oz, Rinkitink in Oz, The Lost Princess of Oz, The Tin Woodman of Oz, The Magic of Oz,Glinda of Oz.

    The wife of a top-ranking Parisian official, she suffers from amnesia and terrifying hallucinations -- a living nightmare made more horrifying when psychiatric testing reveals that Anna has undergone drastic cosmetic surgery . . . though she cannot recall when or why.In the tenth arrondissement of Paris, a rookie police inspector and a seasoned veteran called out of retirement investigate the horrific murders of three anonymous young women -- illegal Turkish aliens who could not have deserved such a brutal, inhuman death.From the murky night streets of clandestine Paris to the teeming fleshpot of Istanbul, two bizarre and terrible stories will become one -- as prey and predator, manipulated and manipulator come together in a storm of blood and fury . . . in the hideous shadow of the wolf.

    By turns a tragedy and a farce, an acidic black comedy and an indictment of modern politics, The Eagle’s Throne is a seriously entertaining and perceptive story of international intrigue, sexual deception, naked ambition, and treacherous betrayal.In the near future, at a meeting of the United Nations Security Council, Mexico’s idealistic president has dared to vote against the U.S. occupation of Colombia and Washington’s refusal to pay OPEC prices for oil. Retaliation is swift. Concocting a “glitch” in a Florida satellite, America’s president cuts Mexico’s communications systems–no phones, faxes, or e-mails–and plunges the country into an administrative nightmare of colossal proportions.Now, despite the motto that “a Mexican politician never puts anything in writing,” people have no choice but to communicate through letters, which Fuentes crafts with a keen understanding of man’s motives and desires. As the blizzard of activity grows more and more complex, political adversaries come out to prey. The ineffectual president, his scheming cabinet secretary, a thuggish and ruthless police chief, and an unscrupulous, sensual kingmaker are just a few of the fascinating characters maneuvering and jockeying for position to achieve the power they all so desperately crave.From the Hardcover edition.

    His childhood had the usual benefits, but after watching a miracle performed by Father Malone, Dominic realises a part of him is skewed, and that mere fantasy will never be enough.

    A world where murder, torture and fights to the death are the norm. Where the guards turn a blind eye to the lethal weapons prisoners carry . . . and use almost daily.Hell's Prisoner is the powerful story of one man's battle to survive in some of the world's cruellest and most inhumane prisons. Christopher Parnell, wrongly accused of drug trafficking, found himself catapulted into the maelstrom of madness and degradation that exists within Indonesian jails. Surrounded by murderers and sadistic violent criminals, he soon learned that life can be as cheap as a bowl of rice or a cigarette.During his imprisonment, Parnell was subjected to unthinkable sessions of torture, both physical and psychological. Left to starve and fight every day for his survival, he was forced to eat everything from cockroaches to human flesh.This is an incredible tale of fatalism and bureaucracy, of corruption and the horrors of prison, but most of all it is a no-holds-barred account of what the human spirit can endure.

    At once fable and history, it takes the reader on a journey which ranges from Kobe to Paris, from Vilna and back to Melbourne.

    In Scoop, it is journalism’s turn to be drawn and quartered. The Loved One (which became a famously hilarious film) sends up the California mortuary business. And The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold is a burst of fictionalized autobiography in which Pinfold goes mad, more or less, on board an ocean liner.Here in four short–very different–novels are the mordant wit, inspired farce, snapping dialogue, and amazing characters that are the essence of everything Waugh ever wrote.

    In the great tradition of scientific romances, what they encounter inside our planet quickly turns human knowledge on its head. They discover savage tribes, strange animals and nascent civilizations and become involved in wars, retribution and empire-building-all while rescuing and falling in love with beautiful, scantily clad maidens. Pellucidar: the Inner World - classic science fiction from a more innocent time that will delight readers both old and new.

    Set in modern-day Islambad, Pakistan, the book depicts an extraordinary child who enables her mother, Sajida, and her grandfather, Ali, to confront the pasts they have chosen to suppress. Through Noor's artwork, her family members are transported through their haunted memories of the 1970 cyclone that claimed the lives of a million people and the violent atrocities of the 1971 conflict between East and West Pakistan that eventually created the independent country of Bangladesh. As Noor's drawings bring to life sights, sounds, smells, and sensations from the past, her family is forced to admit of the betrayals and disillusionments that they thought had been buried with time. Moving, heartbreaking, and unsettling by turns, Noor is a novel about the horrors of war, the power of forgiveness, and, most important, the strength of the human spirit.

    He relates well to animals but has no understanding of human emotions. He cannot stand to be touched. And he detests the color yellow.This improbable story of Christopher’s quest to investigate the suspicious death of a neighborhood dog makes for one of the most captivating, unusual, and widely heralded novels in recent years.

    On this dark and lovely winter night, he will sift through the shards of his memories, trying to make sense of a lifetime of psychic visions and his family’s tumultuous history on an Indiana farmstead.As a young man, Noah, a true innocent, fell deeply in love with Opal, a young woman with a penchant for flames. Once married, the couple move into their own house on his family’s farm. After forty-two idyllic days, Opal is overcome by her fascination with fire and institutionalized. Though Noah embarks on a journey to save her, he cannot, and must instead rely on her letters, his memories, and the strength of his family to sustain him.Written in a masterful elegiac style that echoes Faulkner and Steinbeck, Indiana, Indiana is a compellingly beautiful and surreal Midwestern saga firmly grounded in an Indiana landscape populated by farmers, drifters, sheriffs, and ministers, and overflowing with musical saws, family bibles stuffed with flowers, and appliances rusting in the fields.

    Both have saved his hide more than once, but the trick is knowing which to use when trouble comes calling. Abridged.

    But by some miracle he did recover, only to wake up to a whole new world.

    It is 1954, rationing is over, and Roger Bannister’s four-minute mile is the pride of England. But the Widow Ginger couldn’t care less. An ex-GI with an ice-cold stare and fresh out of military prison, the Widow has come to settle some unfinished business with Bert. The Widow’s looking for his share of the profits from a wartime scam—and a little vengeance for his years in the clink. Rosie soon learns that where there’s smoke, there’s fire, and it will take more than divine intervention to save the neighborhood—and Rosie’s family—from the Widow’s vengence. Charting the further misadventures of the characters from the acclaimed Not All Tarts Are Apple, Pip Granger’s newest story of London’s underworld shows her storytelling at its best.

    The Road From Elephant Pass won the 2003 Gratiaen Prize for creative writing in English “for its moving story, for its constant feel of real life, for its consistency of narrative momentum, for its descriptive power, for its dramatic use of dialogue to define social context, capture character psychology, and trace the development of a relationship, for its convincing demonstration that resolution of conflict and reconciliation of differences are feasible through mutual experience and regard, and last though not least, for its eminently civilized handling of the last degree of intimacy between a man and a woman.”