For only in Tokyo could an impressionable young man fresh out of college find, in one stroke, a new job, a new family, and a society that lavishes attention on Japanese-speaking gaijin. Yet, even as Alec claims a place in this new world, he is haunted by memories of the one he left behind—a world once infinitely secure but which disintegrated with the breakup of his parents' marriage.In this incandescently observed novel, John Burnham Schwartz introduces readers to one of the most appealing protagonists in contemporary fiction while enchanting them with the keenness of his eye and the aptness of his voice. Through its exquisitely rendered scenes—a fishing trip of Zen-like serenity; a night at a sex club where giggling businessmen dive into the action—and vividly imagined characters—the laughing mother who taught Alec to ride a bicycle; the beautiful sad Japanese woman who teaches him how to love—Bicycle Days surprises, moves, and enlightens us as very few books do.

    Since her mother's accidental death, Jennie has been withdrawn; she plays only with her dolls, "communicating" with them in a macabre game that resembles reality in the secretive Foster household all too accurately.

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    Follow along with Kristin as she meets and overcomes obstacles along the path to French integration: sit on the edge of your seat at her wedding, when her future husband's ex shows up in a slinky dress; buckle your seat-belt when she takes the French Drivers exam; share a slice of humble pie with her as her children enlighten her, in their native tongue, about the mystery and meaning of la vie en rose. "Espinasse recounts her adventures with honesty and humor, never afraid to have a good laugh at her own expense." -Publishers Weekly

    

    Years later, with her training complete, she believes she's doomed to the life of a sociopathic lone gun until a botched hit brings two unlikely allies, her cousins Addison and Katharine. Using Katharine’s etiquette school, Elegance, Inc., as a front, the trio weave through Frankie’s dark underworld, carrying out contracts, drinking too much wine, and trying not to get each other killed. Trouble follows the team home when the death of the cruel Fairholm matriarch reveals more than they ever wanted to know about their family. As the funeral preparations play out, the trio begin to realize there is much more to their employer than meets the eye and their family connections run deeper than they ever imagined.

    The author attempts to capture the personalities of rural America, shaped by poverty, cruelty and an odd compassion.

    It's really an avoidable mistake." Mentius is a character in The Methuselah Enzyme (1970), one of a score of novels by Fred Mustard Stewart (9/17/32-2/7/07) who, dead at 75, did not avail himself of the DNA modifications plausibly set out in that brisk shocker. Stewart came to be best known for his intercontinental sagas. Year in, year out, the 600-page mark didn't daunt him, a far cry as this was from early hopes as life as a concert pianist, something which had inspired his 1st novel The Mephisto Waltz (1968) which also began his lucrative connection with the film industry. Born in Anderson, IN, he was the son of a banker &, after the Lawrenceville school, near Princeton, NJ, he studied history at Princeton University & later piano at the Juilliard School in Manhattan. By the 1960s, he realised he wasn't going to succeed as a pianist & with marriage to a literary agent, Joan Richardson, in 1967, he began to write, & found immediate success with The Mephisto Waltz. With The Methuselah Enzyme, Stewart showed wit, but it was clear that it wasn't Henry James. There was, however, a certain charm to Six Weeks (1976), told by a married aspirant for a Democratic senatorial nomination who becomes infatuated with a cold-cream heiress, largely at the behest of her 11-year-old, would-be nymphet daughter who, beset by cancer, has less than two months to live. Nabokov it isn't, but certainly better than the 1982 film with Dudley Moore & Mary Tyler Moore.--Christopher Hawtree, The Guardian (edited)

    

    With Grace as his bride, Dylan finds new artistic inspiration, until he is called to war and Grace vanishes.

    A collection of fifteen blue-collar stories, period and contemporary—1866 through the present.

    . . I couldn't tell him about the light in November. When it's easy not to notice the first signs of dusk. When shapes suddenly lose their edges and a girl moving quickly from behind a stationary bus, moving in the fading light, in the rain, in the November gloom, may be a ghost, a spirit, something from the Underworld, a phantom from out of my own mind."On a quiet road just outside London, in the blue half-light of dusk, a fatal car accident takes the life of thirteen-year-old Laura Jenkins, and her death changes the lives of two families forever. For Jack Philips, a married police officer with two small daughters, the consequences of that evening behind the wheel will force him to reassess everything he loves and to confront long-buried secrets from his past. For Lisa Jenkins, the loss of her daughter seems unbearable. As she struggles to find the courage to rebuild her life, her husband grows ever more reclusive, and Laura's presence continues to haunt her. Eventually, Lisa's and Jack's paths cross in surprising and shocking ways.In this heartbreaking and redemptive novel, Elizabeth Diamond explores the ripple effects of a single moment of tragedy--the journey from guilt to peace, from vengeance to forgiveness, from sorrow to hope--and even, ultimately, to joy. An Accidental Light is a tender and deeply affecting story that is not easily forgotten.

    She becomes intrigued by a 1908 safari and the British nobleman who died mysteriously. The further she probes, the more deeply she is drawn into past lives and ancient, mysterious forces of violence.

    Even the arrest of a suspect and Ingrid's newly established relationship with Zoë's father isn't enough to stop the nightmare from which there is no wakingEnslaved in her underground tomb, deprived of food and light and water, the girl Zoe once was steadily begins to disappear. Allowed to see and hear only what Thurman permits, she lives in a world that is all about his needs and wants being met...But over time Thurman will grow tired of the rapidly maturing Zoë. And when he decides it is time to get rid of her, Zoë must finally make her bid for freedom.Forgetting Zoë is a moving, epic tale of courage, survival, horror and loss, that explores how a bond of affection and intimacy can develop between captive and captor.

    I should have swooned. Instead, I walked toward him quite calmly, or I thought I was calm. Yet I do remember wondering if I had combed my hair that morning. I do remember being glad I had worn a bra and wishing it were not so plain and businesslike. And I remember thinking of one more thing to add to my 'before I die' list - not the list I'd written out of things a person can actually arrange on purpose, but the mental list of things I would most likely die without: passion. It is a measure of how dazzled I was that I completely failed to see any significance in such a thought at that particular moment." And so begins The Falconer, a stunning love story set in the Sierra Nevada mountains, about two ordinary people whose lives are transformed by love. India Blake realizes that she has let her life pass in dutiful commitments, without living fully, without achieving her dream of adventure and love. And then she meets Rhodri, a master falconer who teaches her how to fly falcons - and with whom she discovers the passion and deep connection she has been missing.