In Sarah's Valley, Patrick Smithson meets Frank Lawdry. Frank, who prefers his Abenaki name, Winnipesaukee, spends the night recalling his life story. He and his sister, Sarah, were left orphans when everyone on a wagon train died in a horrific tragedy. It was their story of survival. Return to Sarah's Valley continues where Sarah's Valley leaves off. Now an old man in his nineties, Patrick meets Michael Lawdry, one of Winnipesaukee's descendants, and tells him how two Lawdry men influenced his life. This is a story of life during the Great Depression, struggles and heartache, but also the deep love that a man has for one woman.

    She learned how to make a way out of no way—from boosting clothes to credit card scams to sex, doing whatever she had to do to survive. Now, as a single mother, she’s is determined to give her children—and herself—a better life than the one she was forced to live on the streets—no matter how she has to finance it. Seducing men out of their money (and their minds) came easy. And it didn’t take much for a young Cassandra to have guys of all ages eating out of the palm of her hand. A blessing and a curse, the alluring sway of her hips commands attention—wanted and unwanted. But escaping the ghetto has never been a desire for her, she’d be happy just living a more ghetto-fabulous life. And she has no qualms about sleeping with anyone who is willing to satisfy her libido and help her in her in that quest—no matter the costs.

    Wild and poignant, hilarious and touching, stories about die-hard fans, crusty veterans, would-be diamond heroes, and baseball as a boyhood bond fill this delightful collection.

    A thoroughly enjoyable read" - Amish Tripathi A tale set in the times of Mahabharata. An assertive and idealistic Princess Abhaya meets the enigmatic Krishna Vaasudeva. A bereaved Dhatri, hounded by her own family is saved by Lord Bhauma. When subverted religion becomes a tool in the hands of power thirsty and strikes Bharatavarsha, the land of Aryas, Abhaya finds herself face to face with the impending doom. “Can we combat the fear with faith? Can we keep our faith undeterred when the last traces of hope melt away? Can we receive blame and adulation, accept them and yet not give in to them?” An excitingly different take on one of the myriad legends celebrating the light vs. darkness matrix that defines Diwali. The sparkling narration adds new facets to the compelling tale of the killing of the demon, Narakasur - Sangeeta Bahadur, Author of Kaal Trilogy Saiswaroopa Iyer is an IITian and an investment professional turned author.

    Bibi, the first male in twelve generations of Browns not to have taken his own life, has a furious crush on a beautiful nine-fingered woman and an unbearable urge to understand the meaning of Time, the Universe, and America. So Bibi begins his quest--careening through a world of bizarre cults, gravity-defying crones, and lunatics of every stripe--all for a chance to meet his long-lost uncle Otto, a legendary junk-dealer who lives on the Hope Valley Hubcap Ranch. Because in a world that is spinning a little too fast, and a little too wildly, Bibi’s destiny is to find the essence of hope, the beauty of hubcaps, and the meaning of life in the Valley of the Hubcap King....With a touch of Candide, a dash of Don Quixote, and healthy dose of Zen, Sean Murphy’s wondrous, riotous novel is the story of an ordinary man searching through a hilariously off-kilter world--for the truths that might just save us all.From the Paperback edition.

    To earn a cash bequest that could change her life, she’ll have to leave California to live in tiny, run-down Fat Chance for six months—with seven strangers. Impossible! Or is it?Trading her sandals for cowboy boots, Dymphna dives into her new life with equal parts anxiety and excitement - after all, she’s never felt quite at home in Santa Monica anyway. Maybe Fat Chance will be her second chance. But making it habitable is going to take more than a lasso and Wild West spirit. With an opinionated buzzard overlooking the proceedings and mismatched strangers learning to become friends, Dymphna wonders if unlocking the secrets of her own heart is the way to strike real gold

    Bitter landowners plot against him, determined cattle thieves sneak right under his nose, and his own son refuses to trust or even know him. Can he catch the thieves, save the ranch, and win his son's love?

    These texts are characterized by a startling and macabre novelty, with elements of the grotesque, fantastic and child-like touching the imagination of the everyday. They express the cultural landscape of Stalinism -- years of show trials, mass atrocities and stifled political life. Their painful, unsettling eloquence testify to the humane and the comic in this absurdist writer's work. The translator Neil Cornwall gives a biographical introduction to his subject, enlarged upon by the poet Hugh Maxton in a contextual assessment of the writing of Flann O'Brien, Le Fanu and Doyle, and of their shared concerns with detective fiction, terror and death. Daniil Kharms 91905-42) died under Stalin. Along with fellow poets and prose-writers of the era -- Khlebnikov, Biely, Mandelstam, Zabolotsky and Pasternak -- he is one of the emerging experimentalists of Russian modernism.

    TALKING WITH GODIn Don Camillo's Little World, where the Cold War is fought on the very doorstep of life, the hot-headed Catholic priest and the equally pugnacious Communist mayor, Peppone, confront one another in riotous and often hilarious manner.But when Don Camillo unburdens himself in the village church a voice from the cross above the high altar responds and his conversations with Il Cristo begin. We watch and listen, as with fascinating insights and gentle humour the prejudices of the stubborn priest are undermined, a resolution to conflict emerges, and the situation is transformed to the benefit of the community.It is then that we see that the ideas and values of Don Camillo's Little World are true for all times, the world over...Inimitable, delicious, full of pure fun THE OBSERVERIn this brand new, authorised edition of Giovanni Guareschi's enchanting classic, nineteen stories never before translated into English are published for the first time. Set in an isolated village amidst the sultry beauty of Italy s Lower Plain, The Little World of Don Camillo has been enjoyed by countless folk from 10 to 100, not only in book form, but also on film, TV and radio, and most recently as an audio-book.

    In the half-light, fragments of cello music crash around in her mind, but she casts them out - it's more than a year since she performed in public. There are memories she must banish in order to survive: a charismatic teacher with gold-flecked eyes, a mistake she cannot unmake. At home her mother Ada is waiting: a fragile, bitter woman who distils for herself a glamorous past as she smokes French cigarettes in her unkempt garden. In the village of Bosham the future is invading. A charming young documentary maker has arrived to shoot a film about King Cnut and his cherished but illegitimate daughter, whose body is buried under the flagstones of the local church. As Jonny disturbs the fabric of the village, digging up tales of ancient battles and burials, the threads lead back to home, and Ada and Nora find themselves face to face with the shameful secrets they had so carefully buried. One day, Nora finds a half-dead fledgeling in a ditch. She brings him home and, over the hot summer months, cradles Rook back to life. A mesmerising story of family, legacy and turning back the tides, Rook beautifully evokes the shifting Sussex sands, and the rich seam of history lying just beneath them.

    On board, he meets the spirited and mercurial Robert Clive, determined – at whatever cost – to make a fortune in a land of opportunity.Over the years that follow, their friendship sees many twists and turns as Clive’s restless hunger for wealth and power takes him from being a clerk to a commander in the Company’s forces, masterminding plans to snuff out rival French interests in Hindustan and eventually leading the company forces to victory at Plassey, the prelude to nearly two centuries of foreign rule in Hindustan.Brilliantly crafted, and bringing to life the momentous events that shook India in the mid-eighteenth century, Fortune’s Soldier is an epic tale of a fascinating era by a master storyteller.

    Set in the exotic background of the little mining village of Nibucal in the southern Philippines, A Blade of Fern sketches a panoramic vista of rural life and problems of survival among miners prospecting for gold.The novel is in the tradition of the Romantic hero who runs away from a society he rejects to seek regeneration in a deeply natural environment.A Blade of Fern should be of interest to students of Philippine literature in English and the general reader.

    Ryan has captivated audiences and left them sleepless and breathless since the series debuted in 2012. "Jason Bourne. Jack Ryan. Jack Bauer. Now Jack Noble. For fans of political intrigue, military mystery and conspiracy Jack Noble is a perfect fit." Now for a limited time, you can purchase the first three books in the Jack Noble series for over 50% off!NOBLE BEGINNINGS (JACK NOBLE #1) *** OVER 1000 5-STAR REVIEWS ***In March of 2002, while the eyes of the world focused on Afghanistan, Jack Noble finds himself on the outskirts of Baghdad, Iraq. A Marine in name only, Jack is on-loan to the CIA. Normally an integral part of the team, he finds that he is nothing more than a security detail in Iraq.Jack and his partner Bear have a run-in with four CIA special agents over the treatment of an Iraqi family. Within hours Jack and Bear are detained.All Jack wanted was to finish his enlistment and move on with his life. All he did was intervene and save a family from unwarranted violence at the hands of four CIA agents. But he soon discovers that he did far more than intervene. He has placed himself dead square in the middle of a conspiracy that reaches the highest levels of the U.S. government.This Jack Noble political thriller is not for the faint of heart!A DEADLY DISTANCE (JACK NOBLE #2) *** OVER 550 5-STAR REVIEWS ***Washington, D.C. Midday. A man waits at a bus stop, his intentions unknown. Two government operatives have been stalking him for days, waiting for him to make his move. Unexpectedly, the man takes off running and heads for a deserted warehouse.Jack Noble and his partner, Frank Skinner, believe the man to be part of a terrorist organization that is involved in smuggling drugs and guns and men into the country. But it turns out their plan involves far more export than import, and hits a lot closer to home.As the case in this explosive action thriller unfolds, the man behind it all reaches out to Jack with a simple message... 37 hours.THIN LINE (JACK NOBLE #3) *** OVER 275 5-STAR REVIEWS ***Thin Line is Ryan's latest thriller featuring former government assassin Jack Noble as he races from New York to Paris to Washington DC on the trail of a rogue agent marked for termination. When friends can no longer be trusted, and enemies must be, Jack is forced to make a decision that will compromise his integrity, conscience, and his life.These fast-paced thrillers by USA Today bestselling author L.T. Ryan will leave you burning through the pages as Jack Noble races to stop the conspiracy before it claims his life. Fans of Tom Clancy, Lee Child's Jack Reacher, Vince Flynn's Mitch Rapp, and Robert Ludlum's Jason Bourne will enjoy Jack Noble. The Jack Noble Series has been downloaded over 2,000,000 times! "Move over Jason Bourne there's a new hero in town, Jack Noble is here, period!" "Having just finished Noble Beginnings and being duly impressed, I feel I can now add L.T.Ryan to my list of favorite authors. Amongst them both Lee Child and Vince Flynn, as Jack Reacher and Mitch Rapp are similar and could certainly hold their own with a newcomer like Jack Noble.

    In the first, we follow Christopher Chaffee, a disgraced Washington power broker whose father, a French diplomat, died in a Vichy prison in 1944—or so he had always believed until a letter, received decades after it was posted, upends his life. Soon he is reluctantly inspecting the corkscrew of his own life as he searches the narrow lanes and twisted souls of Tangier’s ancient medina in search of the father he never knew.The second is a tale of espionage and betrayal, set in Morocco during WWII. Rene Laurent, Christopher’s father, struggles to maintain his integrity—and his life—in the snake pit of wartime Tangier. The stories slowly intertwine as Christopher unravels the mystery of his father’s fate, and Laurent becomes trapped in a web of lies and corruption, and caught up, too, in the arms of a woman he knows he shouldn’t trust.Ultimately, TANGIER is the story of fathers and sons, the alienation of being a stranger in a strange land, the seductive face of betrayal and, finally, the lengths we’ll go to for redemption.

    Hearts change. Africa awaits. Life as a slave in the fight pits of Kenya is vicious and brutally short, and no one knows this better than lion shifter Lazarus Kiprop. As a prized champion, he lives with blood on his hands and guilt in his heart. He's survived longer than most, at a cost. With no end in sight, Lazarus has given up on ever seeing another sunrise. The last thing he needs is a vampire youngling taunting him with impossible promises of freedom. A newly made vampire, Willow has gaping holes in her memory and a burning desire for revenge. With less than a week before her new master arrives to claim her, she’s determined to find a way out of captivity. And if the leather-clad guy in the cell next door doesn’t believe it’s possible? That’s too bad, because she’s going, with or without him. But while Willow may be able to escape her cage, will she be able to escape her heart? “A Lion’s Cage” is the prequel to “The Lion Shifters” series. Escape to a land where everything is possible. Start your adventure today!