Flint soon finds himself facing a ruthless opponent, Oleg Malchik, a dynamic FSB agent who’s closing down Western intelligence networks one after another.With Malchik closing in, Flint has his own problems with the local Mafia. But things turn for the worse when Malchik wants Flint dead. With the FSB and the Mafia in hot pursuit, Flint believes there’s a mole helping Malchik.Who can Flint trust? Can he complete his mission? Who will get to him first, the Mafia or Malchik?   Defector is the first stand-alone novella in the ‘Beginning Series’, part of the series of international thrillers based around CIA agent, Andy Flint. If you like action, a page turning roller-coaster of a read and plot which keeps you on the edge of your seat, you’ll love Peter Kozmar’s gripping thriller. Download Defector and start your fast-paced adventure today.

    Having spent her first full year away at college, she has gained a new appreciation for her peaceful home and new friend, Walter. Walter jumps at the chance to work at Quail Crossings when the opportunity presents itself. Not only does Walter want to learn his chosen trade of agriculture, but he also wants to be closer to Alice who has resisted his romantic advances. The peaceful summer Alice has envisioned with her family and friend quickly dissolves as a stranger arrives proclaiming Quail Crossings as his own. Between the stranger and a natural disaster, the only home Alice has ever known could be destroyed forever. Alice and the whole clan must put their lives in danger to save the very thing that has brought them together … Quail Crossings ... or say goodbye to it forever.

    Josh, like many kids on the threshold of adulthood, eagerly dashes to the other side of the world unaware that his hunger for adventure is, on many levels, emotional escape in disguise. The mental illness that preys on his family and a childhood plagued by night terrors are stowaways that follow him to Norway alongside the promises of ‘free love’ and a year-long exploration of exotic landscapes. Norway proves to be a land of extremes: too much light, too much darkness, and perhaps even too much beauty — the kind that stabs laser-sharp into the soul. It’s a beauty that either kills you or teaches you how to survive by not looking away. Where the Light Enters is a subtle and graceful study of what it takes to stare terrifying truth in the eye and hold that gaze long enough to recognize a path to sanity, and love — even for those who have made you believe that neither is possible.” - Robynn Colwell, winner of Ireland’s 2013 Anam Cara Short Fiction Competition.

     Sun-drenched, touching and inspirational, this is your ultimate summer read for 2018, perfect for fans of Rosanna Ley and Victoria Hislop. Sicily, 1977. Ten-year-old Lily and family arrive for their annual summer holiday in Sicily. Adopted as toddler, Lily's childhood has been idyllic. But a chance encounter with a local woman on the beach changes everything... b>10 years later... Ever since that fateful summer Lily's picture-perfect life, and that of her family, has been in turmoil. The secrets of the baking hot shores of Sicily are calling her back, and Lily knows that the answers she has been so desperately seeking can only be found if she returns to her beloved island once more...

    After only one brief visit, Diana Armstrong, a cookbook author and food and travel writer, buys an ancient stone house right in the middle of the historic center of a village sandwiched between Tuscany and Umbria. Somewhere South of Tuscany is fun and witty! Of course, with Diana's culinary background, food is never very far from the surface. Diana, her husband and her family are as much concerned with their meals as they are with fixing their house. Restoring a 400 year old house in the backwoods of Italy makes for a fertile breeding ground for disasters, scrapes and a few discoveries too. (Everyone considering buying and renovating a home in Italy should ready her book!) Her culinary adventures in this Umbrian region are never very far from center stage. Diana, ever the passionate cook, provides deliciously simple recipes for all the food she mentions in the book. She gives every American cook the tools to transport themselves and their guests right into this green heart of rural Italy.

    Eight authors bring cheer, romance, and a whole lot of steam to the Big Apple this holiday season as they hang some "Mistletoe over Manhattan" in the very first Book Hoarder's anthology.All proceeds from eBook sales of this anthology will benefit Solar Responders, a non-profit dedicated to installing solar and battery-powered storage systems in first responder stations.

    Then and Now enters the world of Machiavelli, and covers three important months in the career of that crafty politician, worldly seducer and high priest of schemers.

    Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.

    Inventive and skilled, he virtually created the Baroque style. In his religious sculptures he excelled at capturing movement and extreme emotion, uniting figures with their setting to create a single conception of overwhelming intensity that expressed the fervour of Counter-Reformation Rome. Intensity and drama also characterize his portraits and world-famous Roman fountains.

    Shipped off to Tuscany by her mother, Bella is suddenly thrust into living with seven strangers during one life-altering summer. Meet Hope, the sturdy and practical girl, steadfast in her loyalty to her boyfriend; Meghan and Karen, identical twins with an eye for fashion and beauty to match; Stillman, haunted by his hard past, and Phillip, an athlete, both fueled by competition; Lee, by family mandate in pre-med; and Rune, the Hollywood-bound wild child. All add sizzling chemistry and rebellious humor to the mix. In one whirlwind summer, while uncovering the charms of Italy, they discover both friendship and love.After their summer together, life – and loss – happens. Returning to Tuscany 30 years later, their dreams, anger, secrets and disappointments create an emotional kaleidoscope. Their reunion sends them on a startling collision course that none of them could have predicted.Set against the allure of Tuscany, with an irresistible fusion of heartbreak and humor, this debut novel, “To Tuscany with Love,” explores the fear of letting the past determine the future and the power of friendship.

    And what an incredible journey it proves to be.Lidia's Italian Table is overflowing with glorious Italian food, highlighted by Lidia's personal collection of recipes accumulated since her childhood in Istria, located in northern Italy on the Adriatic Sea. Hearty and heartwarming Italian fare is what Lidia understands best, and each chapter of this gorgeous cookbook is infused with Lidia's warm memories of a lifetime of eating and cooking Italian style.Since good Italian food is based on good ingredients, Lidia includes an eloquent discourse on those products that are the cornerstones of Italian cuisine: olives (and their green-golden oil), Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, salt, porcini mushrooms, truffles, tomato paste, and hot peppers. She also explains the importance of regional wines and grappa (in flavors from honey to dried fig) in the Italian food experience. Her recipes are filled with these Italian delicacies--Fennel, Olive, and Citrus Salad; Tagliatelle with Porcini Mushroom Sauce; Seared Rabbit Loin over Arugula with Truffle Dressing; Asparagus Gratin with Parmigiano-Reggiano Cheese-, and Zabaglione with Barolo Wine.Lidia explores every corner of Italian cuisine: from fresh and dry pasta to gnocchi and risotto to game and shellfish, all of which Lidia transforms into exceptional Italian dishes. But that is only the beginning. There are Italian soups to savor, like hearty minestre, bread-enriched zuppe, and the light and flavorful brodi. Polenta's delicious versatility is revealed through Polenta, Gorgonzola, and Savoy Cabbage Torte and White Creamy Polenta with Fresh Plums.And Lidia's luscious dolci, or desserts, invite your indulgence with Sweet Crepes with Chocolate Walnut Filling, Blueberry-Apricot Frangipane Tart, and Soft Ice Cream with Hazelnuts.Lidia attributes her passion and appreciation for Italian food to her family. Lidia's Italian Table is filled with stories of learning to make Easter bread with her Grandma Rosa in the town's communal oven; touching and smelling her way through the food markets of Trieste with her great-aunt Zia Nina; fishing for calamari with her uncle Zio Milio; and collecting briny mussels and sea urchins along the Istrian coastline with her cousins.This gastronomic adventure is more than just a cookbook: It is an exploration into the heart of Italian cuisine.

    Vogler is to collect a famous Classical Roman marble statue, The Discus Thrower, and get it to the German border, where it will be turned over to Gestapo custody. It is a simple, three-day job.Things start to go wrong almost immediately. The Italian twin brothers who have been hired to escort Vogler to the border seem to have priorities besides the task at hand—wild romances, perhaps even criminal jobs on the side—and Vogler quickly loses control of the assignment. The twins set off on a dangerous detour and Vogler realizes he will be lucky to escape this venture with his life, let alone his job. With nothing left to lose, the young German gives himself up to the Italian adventure, to the surprising love and inevitable losses along the way. The Detour is a bittersweet novel about artistic obsession, misplaced idealism, detours, and second chances, set along the beautiful back-roads of northern Italy on the eve of war.

     Makoto Saigo could have been a rock star. Instead he became a yakuza. Born in Japan, but the son of an American-born Japanese woman—who moved back to Japan to avoid internment camps—Saigo  was never a typical Japanese boy. As a child, other children referred to him as “a damn American,” or simply a “non-person.” He was always an outsider, but as a teenager in 1970s Tokyo he found his tribe in Japan’s notorious motorcycle gangs—the Bōsōzuko. His life was full of speed, whether synthetically through crystal meth, mechanically from the engine of his bike, or rhythmically as he played guitar for Japan pioneering punk-rock group Gedo. But a chance encounter—and perhaps a bit too much lust for life that kept leading him to Toyko’s notorious red light district—placed him on a different path of becoming a boss in the Inagawa-kai, the country’s third largest organized-crime group.   Full of swordfights, gun battles, finger amputation, rock ‘n’ roll, financial crimes, gang wars, tattoos, and personal vendettas, Saigo’s story is one of a kind. But it is not the only story told here. The Last Yakuza also tells the history of the yakuza since World War II, and explains how the yakuza became so entrenched in Japan. Saigo’s life is the axis around which tales of yakuza life and their role in Japanese society are told. It is the story of one yakuza boss—not a good man, but a man with a code of honor—and the history of the rise and fall of Japan’s underworld as it is almost literally tattooed on his body and charted by his missing finger.(With 8 pages of black-and-white illustrations.)From the Hardcover edition.

    Catherine sets up an art studio, while Mark explores the exciting potential of Italy’s languishing agricultural regions. For a moment, there’s hope for healing on the banks of the sparkling lagoon.But the appearance of a mysterious young boy shakes their relationship to its core. As Catherine begins to devote her attention to the child, Mark follows a troubling path of destruction, betraying Catherine’s trust in devastating ways. Catherine discovers their idyllic surroundings also belie a sinister history, driving the couple even further apart. As they delve deeper into the secrets of their town and in their marriage, will the truths they uncover separate them for good?