But this is the longest he’s ever been gone and the pressure of the unknown weighs heavily upon Marnie’s mind. Her younger sister Jess’s response is to spend her days sitting on the sofa obsessively plucking out her eyelashes one by one; on top of that something ominous appears to have scared away all the neighbourhood cats, including Marnie’s loyal tom, Mr Knuckles, and Marnie herself, a copywriter, is plagued by insomnia and literally at a loss for words.In the midst of the disorder, and of all the aid that could arrive, it is Jericho who returns to Marnie’s doorstep. Is he the playful imaginary companion of her childhood or the misanthropic, possibly homicidal, but undeniably real manifestation of her despair? Whatever he is, Jericho is angry. He doesn’t want to be here but in order to be free of the ties that bind him to Marnie, he has to find out what is wrong with her and fix it before irreparable damage is done.An utterly original and hugely imaginative debut, ADVICE FOR STRAYS is a novel about love, loss and a very unusual friendship.

    But soon after arriving in this hereafter reserved for dead thirteen-year-olds, Boo discovers he’s a 'gommer', a kid who was murdered. What’s more, his killer may also be in heaven. With help from the volatile Johnny, a classmate killed at the same school, Boo sets out to track down the mysterious Gunboy who cut short both their lives.In a heartrending story written to his beloved parents, the odd but endearing Boo relates his astonishing heavenly adventures as he tests the limits of friendship, learns about forgiveness and, finally, makes peace with the boy he once was and the boy he can now be.

    As the daughter of missionaries, Josie feels torn between their beliefs and the need to choose for herself. She soon begins to hide things from her parents, like her new boyfriend, her trips into the city, and her explorations into different religions.Josie eventually discovers her parents’ secrets are far more insidious. When she attempts to unravel the web of lies surrounding her family, each thread stretches to its breaking point. Josie tries to save her family, but what happens if they don’t want to be saved?The Existence of Pity is a story of flawed characters told with heart and depth against the beautiful backdrop of Colombia.

    As the book opens, he is driving along a dark road when he is distracted by what seems to be a flight of arrows. He crashes into a ravine and suffers horrible burns over much of his body. As he recovers in a burn ward, undergoing the tortures of the damned, he awaits the day when he can leave the hospital and commit carefully planned suicide—for he is now a monster in appearance as well as in soul. A beautiful and compelling, but clearly unhinged, sculptress of gargoyles by the name of Marianne Engel appears at the foot of his bed and insists that they were once lovers in medieval Germany. In her telling, he was a badly injured mercenary and she was a nun and scribe in the famed monastery of Engelthal who nursed him back to health. As she spins their tale in Scheherazade fashion and relates equally mesmerizing stories of deathless love in Japan, Iceland, Italy, and England, he finds himself drawn back to life—and, finally, in love.He is released into Marianne's care and takes up residence in her huge stone house. But all is not well. For one thing, the pull of his past sins becomes ever more powerful as the morphine he is prescribed becomes ever more addictive. For another, Marianne receives word from God that she has only twenty-seven sculptures left to complete—and her time on earth will be finished.

    It’s 1936 and Britain is in the grip of the Depression.Nell Flanagan is a decent, hardworking woman, married to Stephen, a tough, heavy-drinking brute of a man, who works as a casual in the docks — when there’s work available. Nell has hidden the abuse she has suffered at his hands from her young children, although most of the neighbours realise what’s going on.The Tanners think she must be asking for it, but nineteen-year-old Martin Lovell, has always admired Nell. When he sees Stephen actually attacking Nell, he can stand back no longer, but his actions have repercussions for all the families…

    Leon was black & he knew he had to prove that courage knew no color.

    Badge of Evil is the first novel in a bold new thriller series from the writing team of private investigator Bill Stanton and award-winning journalist Craig Horowitz.All eyes are on New York City’s police commissioner Lawrence Brock after his hands-on role in a raid on a potential terrorist cell that turns into a blazing shootout. There’s even talk that he may be headed to Washington to take over Homeland Security.Investigative journalist A. J. Ross wants to expose the ruthless opportunist behind Brock’s heroic image. Freewheeling private investigator Frank Bishop is hired by the family of the lone surviving suspect, desperate to prove the young man’s innocence. A. J. and Bishop hate each other at first sight, but they’ll need to learn to work together quickly if they want to take down the commissioner—because Lawrence Brock will do anything to ensure the dark secrets of his past remain hidden.Badge of Evil introduces a dynamic new voice in thriller fiction, in the spirit of such bestselling authors as Harlan Coben and David Baldacci. It is a novel of our times and for our times—an all too familiar story of corruption and abuse at the highest levels, and how the lust for power can drive men to commit the most shocking acts.

    

    

    He can hardly remember his days of wanderlust, and he’s grateful to have left behind the violence of a raw frontier. In a celebratory mood, Steve invites his mother to a meet her new grandchild in a chic resort in Monterey, California. With the delivery of a handwritten note, his world suddenly reverts to the savagery of his bygone days. There will be no peace.

    Seeking riches, vengeance and violence, they struck out from Texas for the gold fields of Montana. And then they met Nathan Stark—a man just as bold, and even more cunning. Together, they set out to gain their fortune with an epic cattle drive through the heart of the Sioux Nation. It was a journey never before made by white men...a journey that might never be attempted again.

    A serial killer is on the loose in Detroit, murdering men and leaving her mark, and each of these women has a motive to kill. Simone, a sexual abuse survivor and advocate for young girls, has begun to heal her wounds over the past ten years, but she is still trying to reclaim her life. Her mother, Jessica, thinks it’s unhealthy for Simone to immerse herself into a world of pain and jaded love when she has yet to fully heal herself. A new, unexpected love interest only complicates things further. Ryan is willing to do whatever it takes to become a mother, even if it means betrayal. With her biological clock screaming and a shameful ten-year secret bubbling to the surface, Ryan is determined to get what she wants, but she may lose her husband—and her mind—in the process. Lauren, one of Detroit’s most prominent defense attorneys, redefines justice and seeks a way out of the career that has left her feeling trapped and torn. She can’t set her moral standards aside for a $400,000 salary, winning acquittal after acquittal for the demonstratively guilty. But how far will she go to rid Detroit of its criminal filth? As Lauren, Ryan, and Simone’s lives collide yet again, forcing them to deal with the tragedies of their pasts, the three women regretfully learn that no one is safe behind the thin shield of a Smoke Screen.

    Unfortunately, her father disagrees and comes up with an ingenious plan. To curb the love life of his youngest, Robert Morgan proclaims that neither of his younger daughters can marry until Maddie does. This causes a stir and a generous pot is set up for whoever can take Maddie off the market.Aghast at being hounded by sweaty bachelors anxious to win the pot and her hand, Maddie turns to her brother for help. Her brother's solution is to spread the story that Maddie was pining away for the love of her life, Evan Montgomery, who left for the war and has never returned. Things go from bad to worse when the ladies in town, struck by the romance of long lost love, demand that Maddie's father rescind his proclamation and that the mayor give Maddie the deed to the dilapidated Montgomery ranch.When Maddie protests that her brother has gone too far, he replies with a shrug and the carefree statement that she needn't worry because after eight years, it's unlikely that any Montgomery would show up.As luck would have it, two years later Trevor Montgomery returns home to find a beautiful stranger living there, claiming to be his brother's fiancé. A fiancé Trevor wishes were his own. Torn between his loyalty to his brother and the love in his own heart, Trevor works to uncover the truth behind the woman who has stolen more than his family home.

    But Holly is no typical teenage runaway: a sensitive child once contacted by voices she knew only as “the radio people,” Holly is a lightning rod for psychic phenomena. Now, as she wanders deeper into the English countryside, visions and coincidences reorder her reality until they assume the aura of a nightmare brought to life.For Holly has caught the attention of a cabal of dangerous mystics—and their enemies. But her lost weekend is merely the prelude to a shocking disappearance that leaves her family irrevocably scarred. This unsolved mystery will echo through every decade of Holly’s life, affecting all the people Holly loves—even the ones who are not yet born.A Cambridge scholarship boy grooming himself for wealth and influence, a conflicted father who feels alive only while reporting from occupied Iraq, a middle-aged writer mourning his exile from the bestseller list—all have a part to play in this surreal, invisible war on the margins of our world. From the medieval Swiss Alps to the nineteenth-century Australian bush, from a hotel in Shanghai to a Manhattan townhouse in the near future, their stories come together in moments of everyday grace and extraordinary wonder.

    Books tell you what to believe.Books explain the world around you.What if a book had been written to explain a world constructed for you?What if that world suddenly fell apart?Calamity Leek needs a new book, but she's going to have to write it herself.