Magnolia Blossom - an Agatha Christie Standalone Short Story


Agatha Christie - 1926
    His name? Vincent Easton. But, while fleeing London with Vincent for Paris and beyond to a new life, she learns of the financial collapse of Richard's business - and soon discovers that more than just his job is at stake.The short story was previously published in the print anthologies 'The Golden Ball and Other Stories', and 'Problem at Pollensa Bay and Other Stories'. It first appeared in 'Royal Magazine' in 1926.

Home Truths


David Lodge - 1999
    Their old friend from college days, Sam Sharp, who has since become a successful screenplay writer, drops by unexpectedly on the way to Los Angeles. Sam is fuming over a scathing profile of himself by Fanny Tarrant, one of the new breed of pugnacious interviewers, in that day's newspaper. Together, Sam and Adrian plan to take revenge on the journalist, though Adrian is risking what he values most: his privacy. What follows is unexpected and upsetting for all of them, including Fanny.David Lodge's delicious novella examines with characteristic wit and insight the tensions between private life and public interest in contemporary culture.

The Things I Do For You


Mary Carter - 2012
    Things are wonderful, and she's ready to start a family. Everything changes when Brad is involved in a car crash and dies for thirteen minutes. Previously an agnostic, Brad comes back to life on a mission. Unbeknownst to his wife, he buys a lighthouse on the Hudson River and plans to turn it into a bed and breakfast. Bailey reluctantly joins him, but she's overwhelmed by business stresses, eclectic guests, and strange rumours. And as Brad's behaviour grows increasingly erratic, she must find a way to get him to come back down to earth if their marriage is to survive...

Love Lessons


Cheryl Holt - 2001
    But Abigail's lack of experience with the opposite sex means that she cannot allay her sister's fears about the marriage bed--unless she takes bold steps to learn what the intimacy between a man and woman entails. Yet the one man in London qualified to teach her awakens temptation Abigail never anticipated--to experience each whispered pleasure for herself...James Stevens--wealthy, dissolute, and wholeheartedly bored by London society--believe nothing can shock him. While Abigail's request for a verbal explanation of the pleasures of the flesh is mildly surprising, what amazes James is his powerful reaction to her innocence and lush beauty. A sexual dalliance between them may bring untold carnal bliss, but anything more would ruin Abigail forever. And for the first time in his life, James suspects that mere physical intimacy pales in the face of true love...

The Other Side of Summer: A Chance Lover... A Secret Life


Elyse Douglas - 2015
    After a violent storm, she roams the beach, glances seaward and spots a man clinging to a piece of wreckage, being tossed helplessly. She dives in and pulls him to safety. Robert Zachary Harrison is from a wealthy, political family. As he slowly recovers from a private plane crash, he and Joanna fall in love and spend passionate and secluded weeks together. But because of family duty, Robert departs, not knowing Joanna is pregnant. Twenty five years later, Senator Robert Harrison is running for President of the United States. In the midst of a contentious presidential campaign, Joanna’s beautiful daughter, who has a passion to expose secrets, seeks revenge on the father she has never met. She also begins a passionate relationship with her father’s adopted son. Joanna and Robert must confront the past and present. While the world watches, they struggle with old passions and new secrets that could destroy them both.

Music, in a Foreign Language


Andrew Crumey - 1994
    A waiter rushes out to find a girl he fancied who hasn't paid her bill, only to find a diary in which their fictitious flirtation is anatomised. But the story actually begins with a man taking a leak after making love to his wife. He has the inklings of a novel, but thoughts will keep intruding, with all their seductive possibilities. The man on the train is living in an England that has decided, with characteristic diffidence and lack of fuss, that it no longer wants to live under a totalitarian regime which has lasted for 40 years. I say totalitarian, but think more of Brazil, a world of terribly genial tyranny, where officialdom tries so hard to be accommodating. And Duncan has another story, one prompted by the memory of his father's car crashing down a slope. As with all good postmodernist novels, the endless digressions are more soothing than jarring."Murrough O'Brien in The Independent on Sunday The strikingly inventive structure of this novel allows the author to explore the similarities between fictions and history. At any point, there are infinite possibilities for the way the story, a life, or the history of the world might progress. The whole work is enjoyably unpredictable, and poses profound questions about the issues of motivation, choice and morality." The Sunday Times"A writer more interested in inheriting the mantle of Perec and Kundera than Amis and Drabble. Like much of the most interesting British fiction around at the moment, Music, in a Foreign Language is being published in paperback by a small independent publishing house, giving hope that a tentative but long overdue counter-attack is being mounted on the indelible conservatism of the modern English novel.With this novel he has begun his own small stand against cultural mediocrity, and to set himself up, like his hero, as ' a refugee from drabness. From tinned peas, and rain.'"Jonathan Coe in The Guardian

Open Skies, Closed Minds: Official Reactions to the UFO Phenomenon


Nick Pope - 1996
    This is a true insider's account of the phenomenon, and lifts the lid not just on classic cases like Roswell and the Rendlesham Forest incident, but on less well known cases too. This groundbreaking and highly controversial book highlights cases from the US, the UK, and the rest of the world, with Nick drawing on his firsthand government experience to reveal what the authorities really know and think about UFOs, alien abductions, crop circles and animal mutilations. Open Skies Closed Minds was featured on Newsnight, serialized in the Daily Mail and reached number three in the hardback non-fiction list, staying in the top ten for ten weeks.

The Singular Mr. Sinclair


Mia Marlowe - 2018
    But when it comes to Caroline, one is more than enough...Caroline is about to embark on her third Season, and her parents fear she'll be permanently on the shelf if she fails to make a match this time. Unfortunately for them, that is precisely what Caroline wants! Curious and adventuresome, Caroline longs for a life of travel, excitement, and perhaps even a touch of danger.If only she can remain unmarried until she turns twenty-one, Caroline will inherit her grandmother's bequest and gain her freedom. It's not a staggering amount, but it's enough to fund her dreams without a husband's permission. She has her future all planned out—until Lawrence Sinclair appears on the scene.Intense, intriguing, and handsome, the man reminds Caroline of a caged lion. In fact, the more she knows of him, the more questions she has. And when she learns how dangerous he really is, he may just become her new fascination—the one she can't resist.

The Master Stroke


Elizabeth Gage - 1991
    Gage proves herself a shrewd chronicler of the rich and rotten.--New York Daily News.

Temptation's Kiss


Sandra Brown - 1983
    Megan, young widow and workaholic at a television station, desperately tries to avoid her late husband's former boss - with whom she once shared a kiss - but Josh wants her again and will stop at nothing to have her.

The Last Thing I Remember


Deborah Bee - 2016
    And she doesn't know how she might get out.But then she discovers that her injury wasn't an accident. And that the assailant hasn't been caught.Unable to speak, see or move, Sarah must use every clue that she overhears to piece together her own past.And work out who it is that keeps coming into her room.

Rhyming Life and Death


Amos Oz - 2007
    Among them are Yakir Bar-Orian Zhitomirski, a self-styled literary guru; Tsefania Beit-Halachmi, a poet (whose work provides the novel’s title); and Rochele Reznik, a professional reader, with whom the Author has a brief but steamy sexual skirmish; to say nothing of Ricky the waitress, the real object of his desire. One life story builds on another—and the author finds himself unexpectedly involved with his creations.

The Whispering of Ghosts


Boris Cyrulnik - 2002
    Cyrulnik's broad experience with victims of childhood distress, offers a message of hope for everyone concerned about the impact of deprivation and such traumatic events as separation, emotional or sexual abuse, and violence in the environment.The ghosts of the past keep on whispering to the child within the adult. Through dozens of moving, vivid examples, Dr. Cyrulnik describes the ingredients of resilience, the ability to heal the wounded self and move on, to make sense of what happened back then and form new emotional and social ties. Affection is such a vital need, he writes, that those who were deprived of it will attach themselves intensely to anything that rekindles a spark of life, whatever the cost. From the earliest parent-child bonding to the sexual turbulence of the teenage years, this book shows what makes for success or failure in the struggle to gain freedom from early pain.

Forbidden Territory


Paula Graves - 2006
    And now a little girl's desperate cry for help had brought enigmatic, disturbingly masculine Lieutenant McBride to her door....McBride didn't have time for psychics. He had a kidnapper to catch. But the honey-haired woman with the golden eyes seemed to see things no one else could -- including his own tragic secret. With a child's life at stake, he had to trust Lily...even as each step plunged them deeper into danger and into the uncharted territory of irresistible desire....

The Sánchez Tradition


Anne Mather - 1971
    But the marriage had broken up in the first place because of the suffocating influence of the Sanchez family. Now there was a danger that Rachel would be swallowed up in it yet again. Andre's eyes darkened, "You're still a member of this family. You're a Sanchez." Rachel shook her head. "I'm not. I'm Rachel Jardin!" "You're Rachel Sanchez!" announced Andre harshly. "I have plans for you, and you will do as your father wanted and follow them!" "And if I disagree?" "You'll be destitute. You've no money, on your own admission, you've no money, and I won't pay another cent into your London bank!" Rachel felt defeated. "You're a brute!" she said unevenly. "I hate you, Andre Sanchez!" "You'll say that once too often, Rachel." Without another word he brushed past her and went out the door, slamming it behind him.