As in her acclaimed novels The Siege and A Spell of Winter, world-class storyteller Helen Dunmore shows us with subtlety and humor precisely who her characters are and why we should care for them. In each taut, agile tale, they grow to surprise, concern, and move us as they negotiate situations that are often both mundane and bizarre: a cafeteria cook confronts her Polish pen pal in a meeting that is unexpectedly intense; a divorced mother gains insight from a parking meter; a boastful writer is put in his place in spectacular fashion; and in a chilling future, conception is ruthlessly controlled by the government. In several stories a soulful, curious woman named Ulli takes up residence in the reader's imagination -- stumbling across a strangely magnetic collector of religious icons, contemplating a youthful pregnancy, and remembering a troubled lover. In Ice Cream, Dunmore reveals both her poet's ear for the concise and piercing potentialities of language and the novelist's ambition of scope, proving her status as "a master of the shorter form" (The Sunday Telegraph). "Spellbinding ... She captures a moment in time and leaves us reeling at the echoes." -- Michael McLoughlin, The Irish News "Cool, elegant, and beautifully controlled, the stories collected in Ice Cream display Dunmore's virtuosity of language." -- Pamela Norris, The Independent on Sunday "All the senses are vibrantly alive in these stories." -- Katie Owen, The Sunday Telegraph

    0 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more #x2013; everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of The Magician's Assistant. This detailed literature summary also contains Topics for Discussion and a Free Quiz on The Magician's Assistant by Ann Patchett.

    In these three linked stories, “Chance,” “Soon,” and “Silence”—which, together, inspired Pedro Almodóvar’s film Julieta—her virtuosic talents are once again on display. The stories follow a schoolteacher named Juliet as she is swept up by fate: meeting an older man on a train and starting an affair; later, visiting her parents as a young mother; and later still, searching for contact with her estranged daughter. As with all of Munro’s characters, Juliet radiates warmth, dignity, and hope, even as she is unflinching in the face of betrayal and loss. In Munro’s hands, her journey is as surprising, extraordinary, and precious as life itself.From the Trade Paperback edition.

    An examination of Le Guin's career, from her obscure beginnings in the science fiction magazines to her rapid rise to the top in the 1970's.

    Transferred to an experimental low-security "honor camp" in the redwood forest, he spent six months clearing brush and immersing himself in the life of the jail community, attempting to "bring light and color" to it. "This is crazier here than the nuthouse ever was," Kesey noted, and proceeded to record the scene in numerous notebooks, illustrated with intense and brilliantly colored artwork.Upon returning to Oregon, Kesey turned the raw notebook material into an illustrated collage that stretched across dozens of 18" x 23" boards. Upon realizing that publication of the elaborate, handwritten book was more than his publisher was willing to attempt, he put it aside. Almost thirty years later he returned to the project and brought it to completion during the final years of his life. Fans of Ken Kesey's singular American voice will rejoice to hear it again in this unique and long-overdue volume. Those unfamiliar with Kesey's artwork are in for a revelation.

    The texts have been compared with the manuscripts to give a number of new readings. In addition to prose fiction and prayers, this collection contains many of her poems written to amuse and console her friends, and are unavailable in any other single volume.

    Would they buy a silver fox coat, or mink?

     Libby is feeling taken for granted and unappreciated. As always, the festive decorating, food shopping and arrangements for the yearly family Christmas get-together have been left to her - probably because she’s the only one of her siblings who’s still single. Even though her boss has tasked her with a marketing presentation for an important client due the week before Christmas, her family expect her to be on call for their every domestic whim. But when their thoughtlessness results in Libby losing her big shot at promotion, it’s the last straw. Thoroughly fed up, she makes an impulsive decision to get away and spend the holidays on her own this year; somewhere a world away from small-town Christmas Central ...

    Sheridan Le Fanu's marvellous ghost stories are "Madam Crowl's Ghost"; "Squire Toby's Will"; "Dickon the Devil"; "The Child That Went with the Fairies"; "The White Cat of Drumgunniol"; "An Account of Some Strange Disturbances in Aungier Street"; Ghost Stories of Chapelizod, including "The Village Bully," "The Sexton's Adventure," "The Specter Lovers"; "Wicked Captain Walshawe, of Wauling"; "Sir Dominick's Bargain"; "Ultor de Lacy"; "The Vision of Tom Chuff"; and Stories of Lough Guir, including "The Magician Earl," "Moll Rial's Adventure," "The Banshee," "The Governess's Dream," and "The Earl's Hall."

    Neither the affection that surrounds him, nor the good living conditions can make him overcome his innermost desire to go back to his roots...

    "The Dashiell Hammett Megapack" collects 20 early and rare stories by the famous mystery writer, plus one poem.Included in this volume are: AFRAID OF A GUNARSON PLUSTHE NEW RACKETBODIES PILED UPDEATH ON PINE STREETTHE MAN WHO KILLED DAN ODAMSMIKE, ALEC, OR RUFUSNIGHT SHOTSNIGHTMARE TOWNONE HOURTHE ROAD HOMERUFFIAN'S WIFETHE SECOND-STORY ANGELTHE TENTH CLUEWHO KILLED BOB TEAL?ZIGZAGS OF TREACHERYTHE WAGES OF CRIMENIGHT SHADETHE PARTHIAN SHOTIMMORTALITYCURSE IN THE OLD MANNER

    Unfortunately, a stint at the airport lounge's tea vending machine does not seem to be getting her any closer to her dreams. To pass the time she daydreams, chats with air-hostesses and takes part in mock anti-terrorist drills. At home, she studies her English, fights with her twin and engages in a secret love affair with her cousin and neighbour, Eza. But when a scandal threatens her tenuous happiness, she must pull out all stops on her overactive imagination, and seek a terrible revenge.

    Some of them were entirely lost…a great chastening is upon them unlike any the ancient Christian world has ever seen.” - Alcuin of York, Letter to Arno King Horic is dead. The oaths that once bonded the Danes and Northmen in the islands of Aquitaine have broken. Hasting's new land is imperiled by fearsome challengers and old foes alike. A rumor from the continent will shatter the brittle veneer of his strength and expose his deepest wound from the past. His greatest trial will not be fought with a sword, ax, or shield, but with his heart. A supposed son of Ragnar Lodbrok, and referred to in the Gesta Normannorum as the Scourge of the Somme and Loire, his life exemplified the qualities of the ideal Viking. Join author and historian C.J. Adrien on an adventure that explores the early life and adventures of the Viking Hasting and his crew.

    Written during the same period as The Glass Bead Game, these poems reflect the book's mysticism and help to illuminate Hesse's physical and metaphysical search for a "sublime alchemy" that would go beyond all images

    It is the third of three plays written over twelve years (1957-1969) meant to symbolize the different stages of life, usually shown together. The first, representing birth, is "The Suitcase". The second, "The Cliff of Time," represents life itself, or "The Process," and the third, "The Man who Turned into a Stick," is death.This play has been considered as a main example of the current of Magic Realism in Japanese Literature. Other Japanese authors with considerable literary contributions to this genre are: Yasunari Kawabata, Oe Kenzaburo and Yasushi Inoue.