But that didn’t stop him.Ben Mattlin lives a normal, independent life. Why is that interesting? Because Mattlin was born with spinal muscular atrophy, a congenital weakness from which he was expected to die in childhood. Not only did Mattlin live through childhood, he became one of the first students in a wheelchair to attend Harvard, from which he graduated and became a professional writer. His advantage? Mattlin’s life happened to parallel the growth of the disability rights movement, so that in many ways he did not feel that he was disadvantaged at all, merely different. Miracle Boy Grows Up is a witty, unsentimental memoir that you won’t forget, told with engrossing intelligence and a unique perspective on living with a disability in the United States.

    And that is to be fiercely, inarguably and masterfully talented.No one knows who fathered eleven-year-old Satomi, and the women of her 1950s Japanese mountain town find her mother's restless sensuality a threat. Satomi's success in piano competitions has always won respect, saving her and her mother from complete ostracism. But when her mother's growing ambition tests this delicate social balance, Satomi's gift is not enough to protect them. Eventually, Satomi is pushed to make a drastic decision in order to begin her life anew. Years later, Satomi's choices echo in the life of her American daughter, Rumi, a gifted authenticator of Asian antiques. Rumi has always believed her mother to be dead, but when Rumi begins to see a ghost, she wonders: Is this the spirit of her mother? If so, what happened to Satomi?Picking Bones from Ash explores the struggles women face in accepting their talents, and asks what happens when mothers and daughters dare to question the debt owed each other. Fusing imagination and suspense, Marie Mutsuki Mockett builds a lavish world in which characters journey from Buddhist temples to the black market of international antiques in California, as they struggle to understand each other across cultures and generations."Marie Mockett brings postwar Japan into the 21st Century with sensitivity and grace, drawing the lives of three women to illuminate the tension between two cultures. Picking Bones from Ash is a lovely book."—KIT REED"In Marie Mockett's first novel—which ranges in confident and lovely prose from a mountain town in mid-century Japan to an antiques business in contemporary San Francisco—temples, ghosts, and oni demons aren't inert markers of exoticism: they're embedded in a lived web of human relationships and everyday tasks. Beginning in a world as solid as Jane Smiley's A Thousand Acres, Picking Bones from Ash takes the reader down a rabbit-hole as matter-of-factly supernatural as that of Haruki Murakami's Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. This wiry and delicate novel, as grounded as it is surreal, goes down like a tall glass of water. Except it's spiked: like Rumi, the younger of Mockett's two heroines, you will be haunted until you finish this book." —ELLIS AVERY"Remarkable and arresting, this debut has the pleasures of a fairy tale and a novel at the same time. Mockett probes the family mythology of a very peculiar line of talented Japanese women who may or may not be descended from the Princess of the Moon, and spins the tale of how they survived post-war Japan, modernity and life in America. A spellbinding new talent." —ALEXANDER CHEE "Mockett has made an impressive debut with Picking Bones from Ash. Here, she creates a fully-absorbing world with vivid characters who search for what was painfully lost to them. Mockett is a beautiful writer." —MIN JIN LEE, author of Free Food for Millionaires

    short stories! Including the 3 previously published shorts: Dearly Departed, Hair of the Hellhound, and Season's Reapings, PLUS 3 all-new shorts: Pre-Mortem (set in the 1700s), Post-Mortem (set in the 2300s), and Death or Something Like It, a crossover short story with Jesse Sullivan, the heroine of Kory M. Shrum's Dying for a Living series.

    . . gracefully written" - The New York Times Award-winning historian Lionel Casson paints a vivid portrait of the people of ancient Egypt - from peasants and pharaohs to soldiers and scribes and artists and priests - and what life was like beyond the splendors and treasures that remain with us today.

    Pat of Silver Bush (1933) is a novel written by Lucy Maud Montgomery, noted for her Anne of Green Gables series. It portrays a girl named Patricia Gardiner, who hates changes of any kind and loves her home, Silver Bush, more than anything else in the world. She is very devoted to her family: her father and mother, her brothers Joe and Sid, and her sisters Winnie and Rachel. The book begins when Pat is 7 years old and ends when she is 18.This book has a sequel, Mistress Pat (1935), which describes Patricia Gardiner's life in her twenties and early thirties, during which she remained single and took care of her beloved home, Silver Bush. Pat hated changes as much as ever, and found in Silver Bush a refuge where she was shielded from them, but changes happened nevertheless. In the course of eleven years, new servants, new neighbors and new lovers came and went, her brothers and sisters all got married, and life at Silver Bush was no longer as pleasant as before, but Pat clung to her love of it desperately. It was only in the face of horrible disasters that Pat found where her heart belonged for the rest of her life. Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874 – 1942), was a Canadian author best known for a series of novels beginning with Anne of Green Gables. Montgomery went on to publish 20 novels as well as 530 short stories, 500 poems, and 30 essays.

    As one of the disaster's survivors, she took it upon herself to write an account of what happened in the event's aftermath. Women of the Titanic Disaster details Sylvia Caldwell's journey immediately following the sinking of the Titanic, and it gives us a fresh perspective on this historic event. With a foreword by Julie Hedgepeth Williams, author of A Rare Titanic Family: The Caldwells' Story of Survival, a biography of Sylvia Caldwell and her family.

    By marriage she became Gräfin (Countess) von Arnim-Schlagenthin, and by a second marriage, Countess Russell. Although known in her early life as Mary, after the publication of her first book, she was known to her readers, eventually to her friends, and finally even to her family as Elizabeth and she is now invariably referred to as Elizabeth von Arnim. She also wrote under the pen name Alice Cholmondeley. Arnim would later refer to her domineering husband as the "Man of Wrath". Writing was her refuge from what turned out to be an incompatible marriage. This was when she created her pen name "Elizabeth" and launched her career as a writer by publishing her semi-autobiographical, brooding, yet satirical Elizabeth and her German Garden (1898). It was such a success that it was reprinted twenty times in its first year. A bitter-sweet memoir and companion to it was The Solitary Summer (1899). Other works, such as the The Benefactress (1902), Vera (1921), and Love (1925), were also semi-autobiographical. Other titles dealing with feminist protest and witty observations of life in provincial Germany were to follow, including The Princess Priscilla's Fortnight (1905) and Fraulein Schmidt and Mr Anstruther (1907). This Edition Contains 11 Works; ● Elizabeth and Her German Garden ● The Solitary Summer ● The Benefactress ● The Adventures of Elizabeth in Rügen ● The Princess Priscilla's Fortnight ● Fräulein Schmidt and Mr. Anstruther ● The Pastor's Wife ● Christopher and Columbus ● In the Mountains ● Vera ● The Enchanted April This Edition Features: ● Biography of Elizabeth von Arnim ● Active Table of Contents ● Well Kindle Formatting

    Married life and the social scene in the most fashionable city on earth is everything Anna hoped it would be, but when Emile vanishes without trace and she is evicted, Anna is forced to discover the city’s poverty-stricken dark side of harsh streets and squalid tenements, where the temptation for a penniless young lady to become a kept woman is overwhelming. To make matters worse, war with Prussia looms and Anna and the city she loves will both struggle to survive.

    The title story, "Hart & Boot," was chosen by Michael Chabon for inclusion in The Best American Short Stories: 2005.Contents:Hart & Boot (2004)Life in Stone (2004)Cup and Table (2006)In a Glass Casket (2004)Terrible Ones (2004)Romanticore (2003)Living with the Harpy (2003)Komodo (2007)Bottom Feeding (2005)The Tyrant in Love (2007)Impossible Dreams (2006)Lachrymose and the Golden Egg (2005)Dream Engine (2006)

    A large man with big appetites - his nickname Kubu means hippo in the Setswana language. He is happily married and lives in the capital, Gaborone.Twenty-first century Botswana is a country with real issues and real murders. In this collection of stories - one never previously published - Kubu investigates three mysterious deaths. A man is stabbed outside a bar. Is it just a jealous fight or is there something much more sinister behind it? A man suffers a gruesome death in a country town. Is it the result of witchcraft, or could there be another cause? A policeman is shot dead at close range in his own home. Is it the colleagues of a man he killed who was resisting arrest? And what of his wife's alibi?In the last story of the collection, The Haunting, a very unusual detective in South Africa solves a strange disappearance and fraud in a most unconventional way.Finally, author Michael Stanley interviews Detective Kubu himself in Gaborone until Kubu amusingly turns the tables!This entertaining collection of Kubu's shorter adventures is not to be missed by his many fans. And if you haven't met Kubu yet, then a treat is in store for you.Michael Stanley is the pen name of two South Africans - Michael Sears and Stanley Trollip - who write fiction together. Their novels - all featuring Detective Kubu - are A CARRION DEATH, THE SECOND DEATH OF GOODLUCK TINUBU (A DEADY TRADE in the UK), DEATH OF THE MANTIS, and DEADLY HARVEST. The books have been shortlisted for a variety of awards, and DEATH OF THE MANTIS won the BARRY AWARD for best paperback original in 2012.

    The representatives of the thirteen colonies who approved the Declaration of Independence in 1776 charted a collision course, aware of the obstacles in their path and the risks they were taking. The events that led to their decision took place over a period of nearly 300 years. Looking back, the wonder is that it culminated so quickly. For a century after its discovery, the New World was little more than a lode to be mined by adventurers seeking profits. It wasn't until the end of the sixteenth century that serious efforts were made to establish permanent colonies. Even then, the perils of the journey and threats of starvation inhibited settlement. But settlers gradually came, spurred, in part, by the fear of religious persecution, but above all, drawn by the hope of owning land. They were a mixed lot: English Separatists from Leiden, French Huguenots, Dutch burghers, Mennonite peasants from the Rhine Valley, and a few gentleman Anglicans. But they shared a quality of toughness. Here is their story from award-winning historian Louis B. Wright.

    Exasperated by her tyrannical family, Vicky escapes from rationing and austerity Britain and flees to the south of France.But she’s not there just for the glorious food, wine and sunshine: she has an inheritance to claim, and a mystery to solve. Can she find her wartime husband, Philippe d’Icère? Is he alive or dead? A hero or a traitor?  An imposter, or a true Frenchman? Do the answers lie in the Languedoc village of St Aphrodise, where danger lurks in the ancient streets?How can she be sure who’s a loyal friend and who a bitter enemy? Vicky seems destined to fail—or will she, in the end, find out the truth about Philippe?

    

    In World’s End, the gathering storm clouds of World War I burst over Europe, forcing Lanning “Lanny” Budd, the young son of an American arms dealer, to put the innocence of youth behind him; his language skills and talent for decoding messages are in high demand. At his father’s side, Lanny meets many important political and military figures, learns about the myriad causes of the conflict, and closely follows the war’s progress. When the bloody hostilities conclude, Lanny joins the Paris Peace Conference as the assistant to a geographer asked by President Woodrow Wilson to redraw the map of Europe.   From the rise of Fascism in Europe to the stock market crash on Wall Street, Between Two Worlds captures the drama, intrigue, and excitement of the Roaring Twenties. At the start of his career as an international art dealer, Lanny travels to Italy and witnesses the brutal charisma of Benito Mussolini. Meanwhile, in Germany, the failed Beer Hall Putsch led by Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Party strikes an ominous note, foreshadowing the devastation to come. After two star-crossed love affairs, Lanny marries a wealthy heiress and chooses the United States with its booming economy as their home. But neither he nor those he loves can predict the financial disaster that will bring a decade of prosperity to an abrupt close.   Winner of the 1943 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, Dragon’s Teeth brilliantly captures the nightmarish march toward the Second World War. In Germany to visit relatives, Lanny encounters a disturbing atmosphere of hatred and jingoism stoked by the Nazi Party and meets the group’s fanatical leader, Adolf Hitler. But Lanny’s gravest fear is the threat to his Jewish friends and family—a threat that impels him to risk his wealth, his future, and even his life in a courageous attempt to rescue his loved ones from a terrible fate.   An astonishing mix of history, adventure, and romance, the Lanny Budd Novels are a testament to the breathtaking scope of Upton Sinclair’s vision and his singular talents as a storyteller.

    Check. Haunting castle ruins. Check.Proper English lord for a boyfriend.Well, almost check. Be careful what you wish for…Lucy Merriweather’s supposedly perfect boyfriend attempted to murder her during a visit to Blackford Castle. Falling through time to 1300s medieval England, she lands in a tangled heap at the feet of a tarnished grumpy knight with secrets of his own and no time to spare for a crazy damsel in distress.Book 2: Knight MovesLose yourself in time…A missing sister and totally fishy story.Check.A haunting castle in England.Check.Finding out news that rocks your world.Check. And double check.Be careful when you go searching for answers…Melinda Merriweather’s sister vanished on a trip to England. When someone tries to kill Melinda Merriweather, she knows there’s more to the story of her missing sister. Determined to find out what happened, Melinda lands in England, only to get more than she bargained for.A picture she can’t explain. A wrong turn leading to Falconburgh Castle and a whopper of a storm. Falling through time to 1300s medieval England, she finds herself staring at the pointy end of a wicked-looking sword. A weary knight swoops in and rescues Melinda, only to find out she’s no swooning damsel in distress. Now Melinda’s greatest fear is falling in love and never finding out what happened to her sister.Book 3: Lonely Is the KnightTravel through time... Both sisters lost to the mists of time.Check.Attempted murder.Check.Actually traveling through time to medieval England?Triple check.Beware ghosts trying to help…Charlotte Merriweather didn’t plan to steal the gorgeous low-slung sports car. But in her defense it was just sitting there running, with the door open, beckoning her. A terrible accident sends her traveling through time to 1330 England. Surely the handsome knight of the castle will aid her in the search to find her missing sisters?Henry Thornton has sworn never to marry. Even if he is enchanted by the odd woman he finds washed up on the shore. He'll aid her and send the lady on her way.Or not. As the castle falls under siege trapping Charlotte and Henry within the stone walls, will they risk everything for a chance at a love meant to last forever? The series picks up with the Thornton Brothers in Darkest Knight with four books in that series and more to come!Book 1: A Knight to RememberBook 2: Knight MovesBook 3: Lonely Is the KnightBook 4: Darkest KnightBook 5: Forever KnightBook 6: First Knight Book 7: Last KnightBook 8: coming soon