Without hope, a horse, or even a pistol, Edgar gambles on a chance meeting with someone that will turn things around. Fortunately, luck smiles on him when he is assigned with the simple task of accompanying a cattle baron's livestock to another town. Little does he know that amongst the cattle there is a cargo much more valuable, that will get him into trouble and will put his life in grave peril. What will Edgar be willing to risk in order to accomplish a mission that isn't as innocent as it first seemed? Will he manage to protect the valuable shipment and defeat a murderous gang that disperses fear in its wake?While Edgar is running for his life, he crosses paths with his boss's daughter, who, determined to prove her worth, disguises herself and jumps on the same train with him. When Edgar discovers her true identity, he will do whatever it takes to protect her from the vicious outlaws who have invaded the train. The more time they spend together, the more he realizes that her braveness and wit have made him lose his mind. But as long as criminals are after them and his life is at stake, he has no time for love. Will Edgar help Rose survive the treacherous journey? Will he manage to get out of this train safe and sound, despite the endless challenges he encounters?Fierce crossfires and an unprecedented hide and seek, take Edgar and Rose on an adventure that will remain indelible in their minds. Will they endure the wild ride across the frontier west? Or will overpowering forces ruin their chance at happiness once and for all?A pulse-pounding drama, which will make you turn the pages with bated breath until the very last word. A must-read for fans of Western action and romance."Menace in the Mysterious Train" is a historical adventure novel of approximately 60,000 words. No cliffhangers, only pure unadulterated action.

    It's nothing like the suburb you might live in . . . Unless, that is, an insane, Listerine-guzzling Realtor sold you your house? Or perhaps your postman happens to have a disturbing relationship with his claw hammer? A grieving Dan LaBarbara knows something is different in Helltown as soon as he comes back home. Yeah, sure, the town always been a little off. You can feel that about the place, like if you stepped into a house whose only occupants were freshly murdered corpses in an upstairs bedroom. But this is something else entirely. Standing in his little brother Barbie's basement workshop, holding one of those dioramas Barbie's been building since the accident, the ones that seem to move when you hold them, Dan can feel Barbie's terror. Barbie must know something is coming, something big, something evil. He's trying to warn Dan in the only way he knows. Why else would Barbie build a diorama depicting a man-sized version of a cartoon rabbit with bloody teeth about to devour a trembling teenager? Why else would he spend so much time crafting an intricate model of Death standing over a pimply teenager in the school library? And let's not even talk about that little model of the mob of undead surrounding the massive tower of vicious black spines behind the high school. Hilltown has a story to tell, and the lonely brain-damaged man who builds magical dioramas in his basement workshop has been telling it all along. As the evil closes in around them, Dan and his new love interest Jessica must do the impossible: save everyone one in Hilltown before it's too late.

    Multibillionaire Goddard Moss has a vision: a city rising tall on the South Dakota prairie dedicated to Art. Not art of the staid, traditional, edifying, entertaining variety, but the Modern—modern painting, modern theater, modern sculpture, modern dance, all as obscure, pretentious, and offensive as its creators can make it (and with luck, government-funded). As Culture City rises from the grassy fields, playwrights, performers, and artists prepare for the gala opening week. Gregory Lubin's expansive stage re-creation of the Tower of Babel story is awaited with particular anticipation. But revolution is brewing just yards beyond the city walls and as far away as rural Maine. Despite the money being lavished on it, it becomes doubtful that "the Artland in the Heartland" will survive past its premiere.

    

    Her father has gone to bring home a son missing because of the war. Loyal servants give her support and comfort and are at her side when she learns of her father’s death. She promises to fulfill her father’s dream but someone doesn’t want her to, the one person she should be able to trust. He sets out to defeat her until another man, a Northern stranger, comes to her aid.

    Now, share their adventures, pleasures, and frustrations: the joys and occasional hazards of wining and dining in France, taking part in goat races, attending a Pavorotti concert under the stars -- and much more. Meet Provence's unique characters: a wary truffle hunter, a gourmet in a track suit, the wise and crafty Massot -- and many more. Funny, touching, endearing -- Peter Mayle's Provence proves the adage that while you may not be able to escape from it all, you sure can have fun trying.

    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.

    That it's not going to end."The snow won't stop falling in this dangerous-new-world.The long, bitter winters are getting worse, and a state of emergency has been declared across Europe. In Poland, the villagers are subject to frequent power cuts and fuel shortages. After the death of her grandmother and the evacuation of her village, fifteen-year-old Magda joins forces with the arrogant, handsome Ivan and smuggles her way onto a truck bound for London - where she hopes to find her mother. But London, when they reach it, is a nightmarish world, far from welcoming. Riots are commonplace and the growing chaos is exploited by criminals and terrorists alike. Magda's mother is not to be found, and as the lost girl struggles to come to terms with her changing situation, she eventually becomes friends with a rag-tag group of travellers planning a new home and future. They will need all the cunning and know-how they possess as they realise that the frozen wilderness of Britain has become just as lawless as the as the city.

    He’s tired of being overlooked. It’s going to be a long two years.Eleanor Barrington has one rule: don’t draw attention to yourself. Her father does that far too often. She has one goal: marry a Peer with enough social status to protect her family from embarrassment. When her father decides on a last-minute Grand Tour, Eleanor finds herself spending time with the one man who cannot help her: a younger son who draws attention to himself everywhere they go. Her brother’s best friend.As the younger son of an earl, Percy Hauxton has to fight for everything. A Grand Tour is the perfect opportunity to pursue his ambition to work for the Foreign Office. But traveling with Eleanor and her parents wasn’t part of the plan.When circumstances draw them apart and a secret from the past threatens to unravel everything, Eleanor has to rethink her goals and decide one thing. Can she marry for love, or does she need a marriage of convenience?

    How did she get here?Truthfully, it could be for any one of the below reasons, if not all combined:• Stepmum dying/Stepdad leaving – family falling apart, subsequent psychotic break; both parents now on third marriage• Breaking up with J after 12 years – breaking up a whole life, a whole fucking universe – for reasons that may have been… misguided?• New boyfriend moving in immediately, me insisting ‘it’s not a rebound!’ even after everyone has stopped listening, being cited in his messy divorce, him being sectioned, then breaking up with me• Going into therapy after dating a potentially violent, certainly threatening, narcissist (the most pertinent point of which should be noted: I did not break up with him – he ghosted me)How to address this situation? Take a trip to India with your octogenarian nan and two great aunts of course. The perfect, if somewhat unusual, distraction from Eleanor’s ongoing crisis.But the trip offers so much more than Eleanor could ever have hoped for.Through the vivid and worldly older women in her life, she learns what it means to be staunch in the face of true adversity.

    And I never told you.”There’s always one moment in life that passes without you saying what you really wanted – needed – to. For Ruth that day came after the death of her beloved husband Trip. She and Trip had fitted together perfectly, right from the very start, and their marriage was filled with love, happiness and travel. Determined to leave nothing unspoken, Trip has left ten letters, taking Ruth on one last adventure - scattering his ashes in ten locations that have meaning for them both. The letters take her on a journey across the world, but also back through her marriage, and the life she thought they had shared.They had been so happy. Hadn’t they? At once heart-breaking and uplifting …prepare to smile through your tears. Farewell Trip is a must read.

    But as their search uncovers unforeseen dangers and exposes an unexpected ardour, is Alice ready for the truths they’ll uncover? An emotional historical drama perfect for fans of Linda Finlay and Rosie Goodwin

    It had cracked 100 the day before, and the old weatherman on channel four, the guy who Joyce had said was the most accurate but heard was a pervert, had said today would be hotter by a few degrees."The summer heat in Tucson makes some people dry up and some people boil over. In the dusty, gated desert community of Rancho Sin Vacas (Ranch Without Cattle), a handful of residents are finding that neighborhood life is becoming increasingly bizarre among the crumbling swimming pools, overwatered lawns, and disaffected children.Sixteen-year-old Kendra obsessively hones her body into a perfectly muscled machine, even as she struggles to master a mounting violent streak. Thomas, her increasingly misanthropic brother, rarely leaves the house, all the while cultivating a disturbing little obsession of his own under the front porch. Down the street, Merv is stuck in a rut, thirty years old and still living at home. Lonely and looking for a way out, he's reaching his breaking point over his insomniac mother, whose oddly compulsive behavior with household appliances threatens to wreak havoc on his life.When a strung-out, magic marker sniffing teenager disappears from the neighborhood and rumors of murder surface, these malcontents find themselves in an unlikely alliance that will alter the course of one long, sun-baked summerand perhaps their lives.Funny and disturbing, Modern Ranch Living probes the emptiness of modern American culture, the strange things people do to satisfy their twin hungers for pleasure and oblivion, and the unexpected small acts of kindness they can sometimes perform to ease one another's pain. This delicately deadpan comedy makes brilliantly clear why Mark Jude Poirier was named "the young American writer to watch" by the Times Literary Supplement.

    What are the ethics of writing about a place you may visit only briefly and view with the eyes of an outsider? With Granta's long tradition of travel writing in mind, we ask some of the world's best writers: is travel writing dead in 2016?Plus: Will Atkins investigates a killing across the US-Mexico borderXan Rice goes back to school in South AfricaEdna O'Brien: 'Chekhov's Ladies'David Flusfeder visits record factories in Detroit and CaliforniaAll the way up London's Holloway Road with Tim AdamsLaura Vapynar: 'Vladimir in Love'

    With them is Mary McCarthy and her volatile son, Liam. All is well until the arrival of Siobhan’s husband George. A man of strong views and even stronger temper, he browbeats his gentle wife, belittles his daughter Christine and treats Liam like a servant…A year later, on a visit to Ireland, Liam unexpectedly comes face to face with the father he has never known. Liam wants nothing to do with him, but when George Clough throws him out, he has little choice but to enter his father’s dangerous world of Irish politics…As the Clough children grow up they each react to their domineering father in different ways, and his daughter Christine finds herself attracted to the man her father would disapprove of above all others, the wild card Liam McCarthy… Perfect for fans of Emily Gunnis, Fiona Valpy and Santa Montefiore, The Wild Card is an intensely gripping and unforgettable read.