When the Nines Roll Over and Other Stories


David Benioff - 2004
    Over the course of eight stories, we are introduced to a host of young people on the cusp of discovery and loss. As he evokes the various states of agony and pleasure--humiliation, rebellion, camaraderie, and desire--Benioff displays a profound understanding of the transformative power of a single moment and how sadness can be illuminated by a humorous flip side. When the Nines Roll Over confirms the promise of a gifted writer emerging as a storytelling force.

Almost A Crime


Penny Vincenzi - 1995
    They are attractive, rich and successful. Then Octavia discovers Tom is having an affair, and both the discovery and the affair itself have consequences that are potentially fatal. For this is no ordinary affair, but one that leads to terror and danger, and threatens to damage people's lives for ever.

Requiem: A Hallucination


Antonio Tabucchi - 1991
    He spent many years there as director of the Italian Cultural Institute in Lisbon. He even wrote Requiem in Portuguese; it had to be translated into Italian for publication in his native Italy.Requiem's narrator has an appointment to meet someone on a quay by the Tagus at twelve. But, it turns out, not twelve noon, twelve midnight, so he has a long time to while away. As the day unfolds, he has many encounters—a young junky, a taxi driver who is not familiar with the streets, several waiters, a gypsy, a cemetery keeper, the mysterious Isabel, an accordionist, in all almost two dozen people both real and illusionary. Finally he meets The Guest, the ghost of the long dead great poet Fernando Pessoa. Part travelog, part autobiography, part fiction, and even a bit of a cookbook, Requiem becomes an homage to a country and its people, and a farewell to the past as the narrator lays claim to a literary forebear who, like himself, is an evasive and many-sided personality.

The Mammoth Book of the West: The Making of the American West


Jon E. Lewis - 1996
    The lore and the legends, the lawmen and the bad men, the rise of the cattle barons and the tragic demise of the Plains Indians, the pioneers and the forty-niners, Little Big Horn and the Alamo, Calamity Jane and Crazy Horse -- from the Alleghenies to the Rockies the events that shaped the West and the people who tamed it are featured in this vivid anecdotal history, which draws upon firsthand testimony and contemporary documents to provide a compelling and comprehensive account of a land as it became a nation.

The Falcons of Fire and Ice


Karen Maitland - 2012
    When the Royal Falconer is imprisoned on false charges to remove him from the inner circle of the boy King, the Inquisitors strike an impossible deal with his daughter, Isabela. Bring back two rare white falcons from Iceland within the year or her father dies. Meanwhile in Iceland, a menacing stranger appears to have possessed the soul of a woman chained up in a volcanic cave and is threatening to destroy the community. The woman's twin sister, Eydis, is desperate to intervene but vivid dreams suggest the twins' only salvation lies with a young girl from afar, travelling in search of white feathers. Isabela's quest might hold a more crucial purpose then she could ever imagine and there are those among her travel companions who have an interest in doing her harm. But in order to fulfil her destiny, first she must reach Iceland's shores. Alive.

The Crime of Father Amaro


Eça de Queirós - 1875
    Her budding, devout, dewy-lipped daughter Amélia is soon lusted after by the young priest. What ensues is a secret love affair amidst a host of compelling minor characters: Canon Dias, a priest, glutton, and Sao Joaneira's lover; Dona Maria da Assuncao, a wealthy widow with a roomful of religious relics, agog at any hint of sex; Joao Eduardo, repressed atheist, free-thinker, and suitor to Amelia. Eca's incisive critique flies like a shattering mirror, jabbing everything from the hypocrisy of a rich and powerful Church, to the provincialism of Portuguese society of the time.Haunting, The Crime of Father Amaro is the ghost of a forgotten religion of tolerance, wisdom, and equality. Margaret Jull Costa has rendered an exquisite translation and provides an informative introduction to a story that truly spans all ages." "The Crime of Father Amaro inspired a series of magnificent paintings by the Portuguese artist Paula Rego, one of which graces the cover of this edition. The novel was also made into a controversial film, El Crimen del Padre Amaro by Mexican director Carlos Carrera in 2002."--BOOK JACKET.

Air Babylon


Imogen Edwards-Jones - 2005
    It catalogues the births, the deaths, the drunken brawls, the sexual antics, and the debauchery behind the scenes of the ultimate service industry - where the world is divided into those who wear the uniform and those who don't...

Fallen Angel


Chris Brookmyre - 2019
    But like any family, beneath the smiles and hugs there lurks far darker emotions.Sixteen years earlier, little Niamh Temple died while they were on holiday in Portugal. Now, as Amanda joins the family for a reunion at their seaside villa, she begins to suspect one of them might be hiding something terrible...And suspicion is a dangerous thing.

Tropic of Capricorn


Simon Reeve - 2008
    He encounters sumptuous landscapes, spectacular wildlife, strange rituals and desperate poverty.

The Country Ahead of Us, the Country Behind


David Guterson - 1989
    In these vast landscapes, hunting, fishing, and sports are the givens of men's lives. With prose that stings like the scent of gunpowder, this is a collection of power.ContentsAngels in the snowOpening dayDay of the moonwalkAliensWood grouse on a high promontory overlooking CanadaPiranhasThree huntersAmerican elmArcturusThe flower garden

O Vale da Paixão


Lídia Jorge - 1998
    Left behind by a free-spirited, feckless father, a seducer with a rare gift for drawing, she is raised by her uncle who has married her mother. The only memories of her father's two brief visits are the echoes of his footsteps on the stairs leading to her room. The only signs of him are letters from the widest reaches of the world-letters accompanied by brilliantly colored drawings of exotic birds. The daughter longs for her father and, as she grows up, she is determined to find him and uncover the truth.Brimming with astute and exquisite characterizations, this strikingly lyrical novel evokes the atmosphere of rural Portugal in a changing world and explores the timeless themes of family, independence, and the often painful experience of emigration.

The Devil on Her Tongue


Linda Holeman - 2014
    Unbaptized, tainted by her mother's witchcraft and her foreign blood, the girl is an outcast who seems doomed in her struggle to survive. Diamantina refuses to accept her destiny and vows to escape her circumstances and forge a life of her own, no matter the cost. But as the price of her desires rises, can she live with the choices she has made? Diamantina's odyssey to change her life is a narrative of starvation and plenty, cruelty and love, disaster and triumph.

The Man's Book: The Essential Guide for the Modern Man


Thomas Fink - 2006
     Do you know how to tie a bow-tie, mix a martini, or make a potato gun? Do you know when to get married and how to break up, or the difference between a bock beer and a bitter? Do you know which urinal to choose or how to start a fire with a Coke can? The answers to every man's burning questions are within these pages, from the morning wet shave to the whiskey night-cap, from hunting deer with a .30-06 to wooing women like 007. At a time when the sexes are muddled and masculinity is marginalized, The Man's Book unabashedly celebrates maleness. Organized by subject in a man-logical way, it's the go-to guide for anyone with a Y chromosome.

The Villa of Dreams


Lucy Coleman - 2020
    The vibrancy, the beautiful scenery and the sunshine, made her fall in love and she knew, instantly, that it would be her forever home.International artist Reid Henderson has homes in Lisbon and London. Following his painful divorce, his dream is to turn his luxurious home into an art school and gallery.When Seren and Reid first meet there is an instant attraction, but they are both people who have been hurt, and each have dreams that are so far apart, they aren’t even on the same page. Can they enjoy one summer of happiness together, as life bestows a gift of memories to cherish for the rest of their lives? Or is their destiny to chart a path into the future, in a home where dreams can come true?Seren and Reid may be about to discover that love is as much about what you are prepared to give up, as what you are prepared to keep hold of.Let Lucy Coleman transport you away to sun-drenched Portugal where true love really can conquer all, and home is where the heart is. Perfect for all fans of Trisha Ashley, Holly Martin and Sue Moorcroft.

The Saboteur of Auschwitz: The Inspiring True Story of a British Soldier Held Prisoner in Auschwitz


Colin Rushton - 1998
    The Germans gave it another name, now synonymous with mankind’s darkest hours. They called it Auschwitz. Forced to do hard labour, starved and savagely beaten, Arthur thought his life would end in Auschwitz. Determined to go down fighting, he sabotaged Nazi industrial work, risked his life to alleviate the suffering of the Jewish prisoners and aided a partisan group planning a mass break-out. This shocking true story sheds new light on the operations at the camp, exposes a hierarchy of prisoner treatment by the SS and presents the largely unknown story of the military POWs held there.