An Island


Karen Jennings
    He tends to his garden, his lighthouse, and his chickens, content with a solitary life. Routinely, the nameless bodies of refugees wash ashore, but Samuel--who understands that the government only values certain lives, certain deaths--always buries them himself.One day, though, he finds that one of these bodies is still breathing. As he nurses the stranger back to life, Samuel--feeling strangely threatened--is soon swept up in memories of his former life as a political prisoner on the mainland. This was a life that saw his country exploited under colonial rule, followed by a period of revolution and a brief, hard-won independence--only for the cycle of suffering to continue under a cruel dictator. And he can't help but recall his own shameful role in that history. In this stranger's presence, he begins to consider, as he did in his youth: What does it mean to own land, or to belong to it? And what does it cost to have, and lose, a home?A timeless and gripping portrait of regret, terror, and the extraordinary stakes of companionship, An Island is a story as page-turning as it is profound.

The Mezzanine


Nicholson Baker - 1988
    It lends to milk cartons the associative richness of Marcel Proust's madeleines. It names the eight most significant advances in a human life -- beginning with shoe-tying. It asks whether the hot air blowers in bathrooms really are more sanitary than towels. And it casts a dazzling light on our relations with the objects and people we usually take for granted.

Winslow in Love


Kevin Canty - 2005
    His marriage is over and he is alone, teaching poetry as a visiting professor in Montana and continuing to avoid actually writing himself. He drinks to oblivion every night.At this freezing college, in the dead of winter, Winslow meets Erika, one of his poetry students. What begins with office hours and Jim Beam in paper cups becomes a road trip as they travel through Utah and Arizona. Long haunted by thoughts of death, both Erika and Winslow begin to glimpse the power life can hold if they will only open up to the shame, beauty, and heartbreak of it all.

Halloween Land


Kevin J. Kennedy - 2021
    A travelling carnival, making its debut on Halloween.Anticipation builds, and the mysterious 'Halloween Land' carnival is the talk of the town; the calliope music, bright lights, and sweet and savoury smells from the pop-up carnival lure in the crowds flocking to the pier. The two teenage friends Zak and Wendy are eager to be among the first.Revelations unfold, mysteries peek from the outer limits. The kids have to think and act fast to defeat the evil that's come to town and it’s nothing like in the movies!This tale is full of mystery, fun, magic, tension and dread.Step up for the ride, give your ticket to the clown, she'll show you a good time; no one can say where you will end up, but it'll be a wicked ride!

The Last Days of Christ the Vampire


J.G. Eccarius - 1990
    A new edition of the underground classic.

The Hunters


Claire Messud - 2001
    'A Simple Tale' tells the story of Maria Poniatowski and her life. 'The Hunters' is the tale of an American doing research one summer in London and the relationship that she develops with her neighbour.

The December Deal


Dana Volney - 2015
    The insurance company won't cover the costs for an experimental trial that offers his best chance at surviving, and she needs a way to raise funds fast. Vincent Morgenstern has had a year to fulfill the clause in his dad's will that says if he doesn't marry, he'll lose out on inheriting the family business he loves so much. The deadline is New Year's Eve, and he's determined to get down the aisle, even if he has to pay the bride to be on his arm. When Lilia overhears his predicament at a coffee shop, the crazy solution to both their problems seems obvious. What's one year of faking it? But as the holiday season works its magic, their platonic partnership threatens to get very personal. Will Lilia and Vincent's December deal stay professional, or will real feelings ruin everything? Sensuality Level: Behind Closed Doors

561


Katherine Heiny - 2018
     *Includes a free extract from Katherine Heiny’s debut novel, Standard Deviation* 'Just as Jane Austen believed that four people cannot comfortably walk abreast, Charlene believes that three people cannot amicably move one person's belongings. At least not when two of the people used to be married to each other, and the marriage resulted in a bitter divorce in order for one of them to marry the third person' When Forrest's ex-wife Barbara calls on him to help her move out of the home they once shared, his second wife Charlie finds herself carrying not only dozens of boxes, but also the weight of their shared past. Barbara and Charlie first met twenty years ago when they volunteered at a suicide crisis hotline, and one night in particular is seared into Charlie's memory…From the author of Standard Deviation comes a wryly tender story of crises and cardboard boxes; of marriage and moving on.

Mr. September: a firefighter, curvy woman short instalove romance (The Firefighters Calendar Book 9)


Kate Tilney - 2021
    

Kaveri


Vaishnav Shravan - 2018
    She's homeschooled by her guru, Sahasra, who induces the idea of empathy and charity to Kaveri. Kaveri discovers her destiny. Hindered by her mother's emotions, she has no other choice but to wait for her time to come. Will she cross her hindrance and make her dreams come true?

American Linden


Matthew Zapruder - 2002
    It is rare to come across a first book that embraces the world--the way we see it, and the way it can be imagined--with such a wise and graceful mixture of humor, loss, intelligence, wit, self-deprecation and hope. AMERICAN LINDEN is such a first collection. The poems in this book are valuable, even necessary. They are, in the most important sense, love poems: to people, to ideas, to feelings, and to the mind itself, which--by means of language--move with honesty, wit, and distinction among the fleeting things of this world. Matthew Zapruder is a dangerous poet; his poems implicate us in demonstrations of lift-off and escape velocity while also proving the calamity of gravity--Dean Young.

Claire's Christmas Dance: A Victorian Christmas Novelette


Rachelle J. Christensen - 2018
     The Fielding House Christmas Ball is for everyone, including servants. This Christmas Eve a lady’s maid, Claire Walden, plans to attend for the first time, but when Mrs. Fielding’s grandson shows up unexpectedly the dance may take a different turn. Edmund is a gentleman of the upper class, but with a questionable background. When he shows an interest in Claire, she doesn’t want to risk her heart, but over time, Claire comes to know Edmund. As the Christmas Eve ball approaches, Claire wonders if love might be able to cross the lines of servants and high society. If she saves a dance for Edmund, will he steal her heart forever?

A Lilac Creek Christmas ( a Lilac Creek Dog Story)


Dana Landers - 2013
    

New Year's: Nathaniel P. as Seen Through the Eyes of His Friend Aurit


Adelle Waldman - 2014
    was about a young man’s. She felt some part of herself relax when she was with him. She could shut off the part of her brain that was always monitoring whether she was talking too much, being "selfish." A few years before the start of The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P., twentysomething writer Nathaniel Piven admires a piece of published work by a young woman named Aurit Arazi, and writes her an email expressing his appreciation. After this introduction, they meet for a drink. At the time, Nate is dating gorgeous, moody Elisa, and Aurit has an older, successful novelist boyfriend named Carter, but Nate and Aurit become friends. In the months, even years, that pass, Nate’s and Aurit’s romantic partners change, but their friendship carries on. And then, one New Year’s eve, it seems that the nature of their relationship may change. Like many readers who got to know Nate P. in The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P., Aurit is pretty sure that, when it comes to relationships with women, Nate can be an asshole, but is there more to him than that? In New Year’s, author Adelle Waldman exposes the mating psyche of one brilliant young female writer, with the same shockingly accurate eye that brought the world Nathaniel P.

Accidentally on Purpose


S.E. Hall - 2017
    enjoying the prolonged company of his personal assistant, Brenna Dillinger. When a freak, weather-related accident traps the pair together overnight, in very close quarters, long-hidden feelings and desires emerge. Professional lines are crossed, relationships blurred... and windows fogged. A perfect pair forced together… accidentally on purpose.