With the same eloquence, dramatic energy, and grasp of history that marked his previous works, Madison Smartt Bell gives us a wholly new vantage point from which to view this complicated American figure. Considered a rogue by the upper ranks of the Confederate Army, who did not properly use his talents, Forrest was often relegated to small-scale operations.In Devil's Dream, Bell brings to life an energetic, plainspoken man who does not tolerate weakness in himself or in those around him. We see Forrest on and off the battlefield, in less familiar but no less revealing moments of his life: courting the woman who would become his wife; battling a compulsion to gamble; overcoming his abhorrence of the army bureaucracy to rise to its highest ranks. We see him treating his slaves humanely even as he fights to ensure their continued enslavement, and in battle we see his knack for keeping his enemy unsettled, his instinct for the unexpected, and his relentless stamina.As Devil's Dream moves back and forth in time, providing prismatic glimpses of Forrest, a vivid portrait comes into focus: a rough, fierce man with a life fill of contradictions.

    By the time it ends in January 1945, over half a million Jews will have been murdered. "Gratitude "tells the story of that period, through the eyes of the wealthy Beck family, whose lives and loves are saved and lost. At the center of it all is Paul Beck, a young lawyer whose chance meeting with a visiting Swede, Raoul Wallenberg, may alter the inevitability of the Jews' fate. Like "The Garden of the Finzi-Continis," "Gratitude "captures forever the pain and passion of one's family precious moment in time.

    But if this is a computer-generated world, then how can he reconcile the complexity of its inhabitants, people capable of frustration, joy, and pain? Are they simulations, or something more? And what about the abilities which allow him to create or control whatever he wishes? Is he a god, as the people of Vrin believe? Grappling with his new-found powers, haunted by a conversation with scientists on the outside, and stalked by a mad god, Tardin must unravel an impossible mystery—to save a world that is not his own.

    Without Prejudice is a compulsive story of race and the dangers that can lie in the past.

    A Rifle section is halfway through their six-month tour of duty in Helmand Province. Sixteen men from their Battalion have already been killed. Forty-seven others have been wounded and flown back home.The last three months have been tough and it shows. Their kit is in a bad way. They are in a bad way. Young men with tans, scruffy beards, peeling noses and lips burnt raw by the Afghan sun. Despite the hardships they are enjoying their time out here learning how to fight the Taleban. The lads are on their way to becoming the best soldiers in the Army.Last Night Another Soldier... is the story of four of the young men in this Rifle section, partly told from the point of view of eighteen-year-old squaddie, David 'Briggsy' Briggs.

    He leaves work one Friday afternoon, shortly before Christmas, and vanishes into thin air. Married, successful, rich, there seems no reason why he would abandon his life. Has he been killed? Has he been kidnapped? Or has he just had enough?Set between London and Miami, this is the story of a family with ghosts to bury. It opens on the day of the Challenger shuttle explosion at Cape Canaveral: a tragic moment that rips this family apart and sets Daniel's disappearance in motion some 18 years later. In the midst of it all sits Claire—divorced, irresponsible, fluent in six foreign languages yet hopeless at interpreting life. It is Claire who knows Daniel best. It is Claire who becomes convinced that she knows where her older brother is and sets off on a journey to find him.

    In a unique, compelling approach, author Johnny D. Boggs shifts perspectives from one first-person account to another to describe the bloody robbery, as well as the events leading to it and its aftermath.

    In 1967, the Gemsbok, a Viscount airliner of South African Airways disappears in exactly the same place. To some it is merely an uncanny mystery. To others a tragedy. People like Ian Fairlie, captain of the weather ship Walvis Bay--whose father was the pilot of the Gemsbok and whose grandfather was the first officer of the Waratah.Ian Fairlie has sworn that he will resolve the mystery. But to do so, he must face cyclonic winds and mountainous seas, risking his ship, his life and the woman he loves..."Geoffrey Jenkins can write with a rare compelling fervour." Times Literary Supplement

    When Dana Rose's ex gets married, and then starts the business Dana had dreamed of opening, Dana has her friends and her faith to rely on.

    Across the street are the bodies of fourteen innocent men and women, each quickly and cleanly murdered. The sniper Galileo is on the loose. He can end a human life from hundreds of yards away. And he is just getting started. Where others see puzzles, Esme Stuart sees patterns, and these outside-the-box inductive skills made her one of the FBI's top field operatives. But she turned her back on all that eight years ago to start a family and live a normal life. She now has a husband and a daughter and a Long Island home to call her own, far removed from the bloody streets of Atlanta. But Galileo's murders escalate and her beleaguered old boss needs the help of his former protégée. But how can she turn her back on her well-earned quiet life? How would she ever be able to justify such a choice to her husband? To her daughter?And what will happen when Galileo turns his scope on them?

    Maya and Rosie meet one day at the local dry cleaner's and their instant friendship blossoms into an inseparable bond. Both are children of holocaust survivors, but where Maya refuses to become entangled in the past, Rosie is inexorably drawn into her parents' haunted world. Your Sad Eyes and Unforgettable Mouth is a deeply resonant novel about the strength and nature of friendship, the weight of the secrets we keep, and whether or not we are ever able to truly live beyond the past.

    But the endless journey across the frontier was proving a heartbreaking test of courage and endurance for Faith Beal. All she had to sustain her was her steadfast belief in a loving God--and the guiding hand of a stranger who truly seemed heaven-sent. Connell McClain was her selfless guardian as their wagon train slowly made its way west. And as they shared the dangers of the trail--and the closeness of a covered wagon--Faith felt the first tender stirrings of love for this roughhewn yet caring man. But would the secrets that seemed to haunt him threaten their growing feelings for one another?

    Mattie Evans grew up in the Flint Hills of Kansas. Although her family has lost their ranch, she still calls this land home. A skilled young veterinarian, she struggles to gain the confidence of the local ranchers. Fortunately, her best friend and staunchest supporter is John McCray, owner of the Lightning M Ranch. They both love the ranch, and can’t imagine living anywhere but in the Flint Hills. He’s haunted by it. Gil McCray, John’s estranged son, is a pro football player living in California. The ranch is where his mother died and where every aspect of the tallgrass prairie stirs unwanted memories of his older brother’s fatal accident. Gil decides leaving the ranch is the best solution for his ailing father and his own ailing heart. But he doesn’t count on falling in love. Falling in love isn’t an option. Or is it? When Mattie is called in to save a horse injured in a terrible accident, she finds herself unwillingly tossed into the middle of a family conflict. Secret pain, secret passions, and secret agendas play out against the beautiful landscapes as love leads to some unexpected conclusions about forgiveness and renewal.

    Even the mayor’s Street Saviors taskforce of ex-cons, devoted to steering kids out of the thug life, are working overtime to stop the bloodshed. But who will stop the even greater threat that’s about to descend when a murderous psychopath steps out of the past?Memories of the infamous Blood Bath Killer still loom large, especially for homicide detective Angel Alves, who helped bring down the multiple-murderer whose rampage shocked the city. So when a pair of students turn up bizarrely slain, Alves fears that another serial killer is stalking Boston. A fear that becomes fact when his ex-partner, Wayne Mooney, recognizes the murders as the work of the Prom Night Killer—whose unsolved crimes have haunted Mooney for a decade. Now, with hands-on assistant DA Conrad Darget backing them, Alves and Mooney set out to stop grim history from repeating itself. But matching wits with a twisted mind is a dangerous game. Especially when there are no rules—and your allies really may be your enemies. Mixing edgy psychological suspense, hard-boiled realism, and staccato bursts of pulse-quickening action, 2 in the Hat makes another slam-dunk winning case for Raffi Yessayan, hailed by Robin Moore, author of The French Connection, as “the best prosecutor-turned-crime-writer to hit the streets since George V. Higgins and Scott Turow.”

    A man with a tree growing out of his head? A woman with children made of wax? A bird that can be milked? Let Alexander McCall Smith once again take you to a land where the bizarre is everyday and magic is real, with more illustrated stories from his celebration of African folktales.