More than a decade after leaving home Dawn finds herself stuck in a dead-end job, in a rundown flat, while her sister has it all - the husband, children and prestigious job in sunny Australia. Their mum’s favouritism is palpable, and even as she has a terrible fall leaving Dawn to pick up the pieces, nothing Dawn does can live up to her perfect, absent sister. But still Dawn persists with taking care of her aging and fragile mum, until one day it begins to feel like the only thing standing between Dawn and her happiness is her mother's continued, pitiful existence...

    A collector of classic art and fine wine, Michael's business has provided him with a very good life.But Michael also has a secret. One that could cost him everything if discovered. With the aid of Marlin, a former CIA case officer and his longtime mentor, Michael operates a clandestine organization that protects his company from a global network of intellectual-property pirates who want what he has, even if they have to kill to get it. Together, the two men use whatever means necessary to defend what Michael has spent his life building.Because of his very dangerous life, Michael has forbidden himself from ever getting too close to anyone. That is, until he meets Caitlin Doyle, a beautiful, intelligent, and politically connected campaign strategist working on the upcoming presidential election. While on a weekend vacation to the mountains, Michael and Caitlin come under attack by a group of hired assassins. Barely escaping the sudden, brutal, and well-orchestrated assault, Michael must respond against a powerful and unknown enemy in ways that test his courage and beliefs like never before. With merely a blurred photo of a man's hand to go on, Michael wages a battle that circles the globe – all to hunt down the men who invaded his perfect life.Set against the contrasting worlds of high technology, politics, and espionage, The Archangel Response moves quickly from a defiled Russian monastery to an exploding supertanker in Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbor, through the corrupt halls of government in Washington DC to Spain's Running of the Bulls.Ending in a violent confrontation that could cost Michael everything he's worked for, and even the woman he loves, The Archangel Response is a pulse-pounding thriller from first-time author Kevin Harmon that will leave readers shocked and emotionally moved.

    But first they must cross the heavily-defended Rhine into Germany's industrial heartland. In the savage fighting for this crucial gateway, Robbie Stokes and his airborne division must drop into enemy territory and hold off German reinforcements.Exhausted after fighting through France and the Netherlands it falls to Robbie to lift his company for one final operation and the push into Germany. But despite his experience, nothing he's seen yet can prepare him for what they find as the Germans retreat and their cruelty is revealed. The end is insight, but Robbie and his men will have to fight every inch of the way.

    Kpop Why? contains various unknown stories about k-pop stars. The author, who has been working as a k-pop journalist since 2010 gives you answers to various questions about k-pop idols such as “Why did they disband their team?”, “Why did they deny their romantic relationship?” and “Why are they so popular?”.

    Both longtime fans and newcomers to Corcoran are sure to enjoy Crime Almost Pays, starring an offbeat pair of private eyes. Dubbie Tanner, a man of substance who used to live in his car, and Wiley Fecko, who once drank and slept in the weeds, are now Southernmost Aristocratic Investigations. While they call themselves The Aristocrats, certain members of law enforcement have been heard calling them the Bumsnoops. Introduced in The Quick Adiòs (Times Six), Tom Corcoran’s most recent Alex Rutledge novel, the rookie investigators have a case in their tropical in-box—and they are over their heads from the start. Rutledge plays no part here—but his friend Key West Detective Beth Watkins must deal with murders, street fights, an attempted kidnapping and a flaky federal agent. The Aristocrats—who now live in and work out of a home bought by Tanner—are hired for a simple task, but the pay is far too generous and the job goes haywire. By helping a stranger, Tanner draws Fecko and their lovely friend Kim Salazar, a Key West cab driver, into a crossfire of intrigue, dirty tricks, scams and potential double-cross. It gets worse. It gets ugly. Cuban tourism, island crazies, typical greed, wealthy fathers, good cops, fearful cops and—okay—there’s a car chase… As in previous Tom Corcoran novels, Key West, with its characters, history, natural beauty and isolation, plays a fundamental role in the story.

    54 pages of summaries and analysis on A Personal Matter by Kenzaburo Oe.This study guide includes the following sections: Plot Summary, Chapter Summaries & Analysis, Characters, Objects/Places, Themes, Style, Quotes, and Topics for Discussion.

    She finds solace in her anonymous blog, and in the daily chats she has with her mum's ashes (often the best conversations she has all day.)Despite the menopause, the invisibility of middle age and the daily self-esteem bashings, courtesy of her kids, Ciara manages to navigate the stormy waters of grief and family life - until her mask slips and she is cast out from the family bosom. She embarks on a mission to fulfil her mum's dying wishes to have her remains sprinkled from the top of the Empire State Building, finding company, distraction and - ultimately - herself in the process.If motherhood is a job - who says you can't resign?

    This second book tells of the first two years that she owned her own barge, the Vereeniging, and how she converts it from an empty hull into a home. Told with with Valerie's usual tongue-in-cheek humour, Harbour Ways can be read as a stand alone memoir or as the follow on to Watery Ways.

    But it seems that their problems are now becoming a whole lot more complicated! Not only does Jack risk losing his best friend, his girlfriend and his spot as captain of the football team, he is now forced to be in charge of the detention class which includes the worst behaved kids in the school. Then when his band is scheduled to perform at the school fair, things become even worse. You are sure to get more laughs out of Body Swap - Book 2. It is full of humor from start to finish, a great book for kids of all ages.

    Sato who has become a regular at Sayonara Bar, as he tries to escape his wife's ghost.  When Yuji crosses the Yakuza, it has dire consequences for them all, and their lives become irrevocably intertwined in this wonderfully imagined debut novel.

    The secret informant is Reiko Watanabe, geisha mistress to the plot’s mastermind.Headstrong and outspoken, Reiko prefers a “modern” life to being a geisha and is horrified that her lover, the American-educated descendant of samurai, Masaru Ryusaki, has become a fascist firebrand. Together with his allies in the Imperial Army, Ryusaki plans to overthrow the civilian government and establish a military dictatorship.Torn between honor and duty, Reiko and Inspector Aizawa must forge an unlikely alliance in order to stay one step ahead of Ryusaki and a fanatical Army officer. All the while, they uncover a shadowy conspiracy that reaches into the upper echelons of government, international finance, and even around the Imperial Throne itself.Set during the intersection of the Japanese invasion of Manchuria and the Great Depression, Shadows of Tokyo brings the turbulent and dangerous world of prewar Japan to vivid life.Shadows of Tokyo is the first book in a noir historical thriller series set in pre-World War II Japan.

    Tom Dunn returns in his fourth book! Dunn and his British counterpart, Sgt. Malcolm Saunders, and their squads of lethal U.S. Army Rangers and British Commandos must secure the only armor-bearing bridge in Chartres, just fifty miles from Paris. George S. Patton’s Third Army is rushing across France and it must have the bridge to keep pressure on the retreating German army. Adolf Hitler, still reeling from the defeats and turmoil in France, sends General Dietrich von Choltitz, the Butcher of Sevastopol, already known for his brutality, to Paris as the new governor. It’s obvious even to Hitler that the liberation of Paris is imminent so the Nazi Führer orders the general to execute an unthinkable act. Back in England, a Bletchley Park analyst reads decrypted German Enigma messages and uncovers a terrifying Nazi threat against Paris. He works desperately to unravel the details and contacts an old friend working at 10 Downing Street for help. As information becomes clear piece by piece, there is only one choice: call on Dunn and Saunders, and their squads. Dunn and Saunders must fight the odds as the fate of Paris and perhaps all of Western Europe rests in their courageous hands. In Saving Paris, we see the return of some old friends as, once again, Munsterman weaves WWII history and fiction for another compelling, fast-paced WWII action thriller.

    For only in Tokyo could an impressionable young man fresh out of college find, in one stroke, a new job, a new family, and a society that lavishes attention on Japanese-speaking gaijin. Yet, even as Alec claims a place in this new world, he is haunted by memories of the one he left behind—a world once infinitely secure but which disintegrated with the breakup of his parents' marriage.In this incandescently observed novel, John Burnham Schwartz introduces readers to one of the most appealing protagonists in contemporary fiction while enchanting them with the keenness of his eye and the aptness of his voice. Through its exquisitely rendered scenes—a fishing trip of Zen-like serenity; a night at a sex club where giggling businessmen dive into the action—and vividly imagined characters—the laughing mother who taught Alec to ride a bicycle; the beautiful sad Japanese woman who teaches him how to love—Bicycle Days surprises, moves, and enlightens us as very few books do.

    After Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, their lives would change forever. Kimiko Miramoto must find a way to survive alone in Japan, the enemy’s country, without being a traitor to her own. In America, Maggie, Akio, and Akio's Caucasian wife, Rose Marie, are labeled enemies of the United States. Taken from their homes, imprisoned, and separated in different internment camps, their hopes, dreams, and loyalty to their beloved country are put to the ultimate test. Japanese Roses tells the story of one Japanese-American family’s incredible struggle to survive, caught in the tides of World War II and conflicted by national loyalty, forced to endure unspeakable betrayal and injustice. Spanning the years of the war for the Pacific, Japanese Roses tells the story not only of one family, but of the struggles of all Japanese Americans during a time when they were labeled the enemy both in their own country and the country of their parents. Alternating between the eyes of Maggie, Rose Marie, and Kimiko, the story moves from the streets of Seattle as the bombs are dropped in Pearl Harbor, to the prison camps that lined America's West Coast, to the devastation of Hiroshima as the war drew to a close. While all three women are separated by the war, they share one goal: They want to go home. But will their homes even exist in the aftermath of the of the war? And will they all reach that place once the last bombs are dropped?

    At the foot of Mount Fuji, behind screen walls and amidst curls of incense smoke Iwajiro chants the Tenjin Sutra, an act of devotion learned from his beloved mother. On the side of the same mountain, twenty years on, he will sit in perfect stillness as the summit erupts, spitting fire and molten rock onto the land around him. This is not the first time he has seen hell. This man will become Hakuin, one of the greatest teachers in the history of Zen. His quest for truth will call on him to defy his father, to face death, to find love and to lose it. He will ask, what is the sound of one hand clapping? And he will master his greatest fear. Night Boat is the story of his tremendous life.