Book picks similar to
The Handmaiden's Tale by Brian Rushton


fiction
awards-best-1st-novel
dystopian
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Scalp Dance


Lutricia Clifton - 2015
    He’s a man of the Law—the letter of the Law—and he’sa man of his word. But he’s at a breaking point, ready to quit the force. Hisfather’s murder is ten-years cold, his young wife’s premature death haunts him,and tribal police in Oklahoma are being prevented from ensuring the Peoplereceive justice. A mix of tribal and non-tribal lands has created a checkerboardlaw enforcement community—federal, state, municipal and Indian—a land thatlawbreakers jokingly refer to as lawless. Indian women are the ones paying thehighest price. One in three can expect to be raped in her lifetime, and tribalpolice cannot arrest the assailant if he is not Indian. And then, Chitto isassigned to work undercover on a mystifying case. In pre-dawn light, a sacredChoctaw ceremonial ground is transformed into an execution site. The naked,beheaded corpse is the husband of a Chickasaw woman and stepfather to her youngdaughter. Except for the victim’s driver’s license, no evidence is left behind—with one exception: his freshly laundered clothes retain the odor of fabricsoftener. A series of seemingly unrelated incidents come together to help Chittosolve the case, but he is forced to make a decision that could not onlychallenge his personal code of ethics but also cost a man his life.

Last Light


Alex Scarrow - 2007
    But in the space of only a few days, the world's oil supplies have been severed and at a horrifying pace things begin to unravel everywhere. This is no natural disaster; someone is behind this. Oil engineer Andy Sutherland is stranded in Iraq with a company of British soldiers, desperate to find a way home, trapped as the very infrastructure of daily life begins to collapse around him. Back in Britain, his wife Jenny is stuck in Manchester, fighting desperately against the rising chaos to get back to their children; London as events begin to spiral out of control -- riots, raging fires, looting, rape, and murder. In the space of a week, London is transformed into an anarchic vision of hell. Meanwhile, a mysterious man is tracking Andy's family. He'll silence anyone who can reveal the identities of those behind this global disaster. The people with a stranglehold on the future of civilization have flexed their muscles at other significant tipping points in history, and they are prepared to do anything to keep their secret -- and their power -- safe.

Raw Faith: What Happens When God Picks a Fight


Kasey Van Norman - 2014
    Then, just as her ministry was poised to explode, Kasey was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer that shattered her spirit and rocked her faith to its core. Sick, frightened, and in pain, Kasey suddenly found herself facing the greatest challenge of her life—believing her own message.In Raw Faith, Kasey chronicles her courageous battle with cancer, taking readers on a candid and poignant journey of faith and discovery, from the depths of despair through triumphant victory.Drawing on a variety of Bible stories and characters, Kasey discovers and distills the singular truth that has existed since time began: while change and uncertainty are inevitable, God is always unchanging, and He is always faithful—even when our circumstances might tempt us to think otherwise.

Serpentine


Thomas Thompson - 1979
    Sweeping back and forth over half the globe -- from the boulevards of Paris to the slopes of Mount Everest to the underbellies of Bangkok and Hong Kong -- Sobhraj left in his wake a trail of baffling mystery and inexplicable horror. He also led the police of a dozen nations on a chase that ended at least twelve and possibly twenty-four corpses later with a mere seven-year prison sentence in Delhi. Besides offering a riveting narrative of serial murder and a years-long manhunt, this singular volume examines the lives not only of the intelligent, charismatic, conscienceless, and thoroughly dangerous Sobhraj but also of the unsuspecting victims that he drugged, robbed, sometimes tortured, and without a qualm often killed. A chilling tale of deadly coincidences set in exotic, glamorous locales, Serpentine offers a reading experience as frightening as it is unforgettable.

All the Assholes in the World and Mine


Charles Bukowski
    There may be numerous typos or missing text. There are no illustrations or indexes. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. You can also preview the book there.

Northern Borders


Howard Frank Mosher - 1994
    In 1948 six-year-old Austen Kittredge III leaves his widowed father to live with his paternal grandparents on their farm in the township of Lost Nation. Escapades at the county fair, doings at the annual family reunion and Shakespeare performance, and conflicts at the one-room schoolhouse are all recounted lovingly in this enchanting coming-of-age story filled with luminous memories and the deepest of childhood secrets, as a boy is molded into a man.

The Decemites


Ramona Finn - 2021
    Inside, life is split between the rich Sky and the poor Dirt. The Decemites—carefully selected children injected with nanobots and trained to survive the search for resources—have a chance for a better life. But that life comes at a steep price, and few survive long enough to enjoy it.Myla wasn’t chosen to be a Decemite, but she’s carried a secret in her blood since birth: her parents, a forbidden Decemite match, passed along to her the same nanobots that make the chosen strong. When Myla’s foster sister, Ona, is chosen as a Decemite and goes missing on her first mission, Myla will have to brave the toxic world to find her. She’s determined to go it alone, but when Lock, the Decemite golden boy, finds her he becomes an unlikely companion in her quest. No matter how close they grow, however, she can’t tell him her secret. She’s hidden the truth about her nanobots all her life, and if Lock finds out about her, he’s sure to turn her in.But Myla is unprepared for the truth of the Outside. No human is supposed to be able to survive, but rebel Outsiders prove everything she’s been taught is a lie. And a rebel boy, Ben, shows her a life she could have never imagined as he draws her deep into the rebel world.To find Ona she’ll need to infiltrate the rebel Outsiders, where she learns the ugly truth about her home. Can she ever go back to her old life underground or is her only chance at freedom Outside?

We Have No Idea: A Guide to the Unknown Universe


Jorge Cham - 2017
    While they're at it, they helpfully demystify many complicated things we do know about, from quarks and neutrinos to gravitational waves and exploding black holes. With equal doses of humor and delight, they invite us to see the universe as a vast expanse of mostly uncharted territory that's still ours to explore.This entertaining illustrated science primer is the perfect book for anyone who's curious about all the big questions physicists are still trying to answer.

Billy


Albert French - 1993
    "A work of art . . . Billy never lets up, not for one minute. . . . magnificent".--New York Daily News.

Begin to Exit Here


John Welter - 1992
    In this "terminally irreverent" ( "Richmond News-Leader" ) novel, he finds himself taking on everyone from his editor and his girlfriend to the fundamentalists and vegetarians covered on his beat - and along the way, learns some surprising (and hilarious) lessons about life, love, and the press. • Welter's "I Want to Buy a Vowel," also a Berkley Signature Edition, was named one of "Booklist's" Best Books of 1996. • Great reviews in the Berkley Signature Edition tradition. • The author has been compared to everyone from John Irving to Jonathan Swift, Frank Capra to Carl Hiaasen, John Kennedy Toole to Dave Barry.

Water with Lemon


Zonya Foco - 2007
    You don't have to do any math. And there's nothing to give up so there's no guilt. The best thing about Water with Lemon is that it delivers a compelling story with characters we can all relate to. Unlike preachy diet books filled with structured plans, this book models the emotional challenge of turning knowing into doing. It's good common sense, not new fad nonsense. It's the story of diet-free, guilt-free weight loss.

The Bobbsey Twins Series


Laura Lee Hope - 2009
    

A Brief History of Time


Stephen Hawking - 1988
    That edition was on the cutting edge of what was then known about the origins and nature of the universe. But the intervening years have seen extraordinary advances in the technology of observing both the micro- and the macrocosmic worlds. These observations have confirmed many of Professor Hawking's theoretical predictions in the first edition of his book, including the recent discoveries of the Cosmic Background Explorer satellite (COBE), which probed back in time to within 300,000 years of the universe's beginning and revealed wrinkles in the fabric of space-time that he had projected. Eager to bring to his original text the new knowledge revealed by these observations, as well as his own recent research, Professor Hawking has prepared a new introduction to the book, written an entirely new chapter on wormholes and time travel, and updated the chapters throughout.

All Involved


Ryan Gattis - 2015
    in the wake of one of the most notorious and incendiary trials of the 1990s.At 3:15 p.m. on April 29, 1992, a jury acquitted three white Los Angeles Police Department officers charged with using excessive force to subdue a black man named Rodney King, and failed to reach a verdict on the same charges involving a fourth officer. Less than two hours later, the city exploded in violence that lasted six days. In nearly 121 hours, fifty-three lives were lost. But there were even more deaths unaccounted for: violence that occurred outside of active rioting sites by those who used the chaos to viciously settle old scores.A gritty and cinematic work of fiction, All Involved vividly re-creates this turbulent and terrifying time, set in a sliver of Los Angeles largely ignored by the media during the riots. Ryan Gattis tells seventeen interconnected first-person narratives that paint a portrait of modern America itself—laying bare our history, our prejudices, and our complexities. With characters that capture the voices of gang members, firefighters, graffiti kids, and nurses caught up in these extraordinary circumstances, All Involved is a literary tour de force that catapults this edgy writer into the ranks of such legendary talents as Dennis Lehane and George V. Higgins.

When Butterflies Cry


Ninie Hammon - 2014
    And that's not even the worst thing he's come home to. And just so you know going in—that dam holding back a 300-million-gallon lake on the mountainside above the little coal camp town of Saddler Hollow—that dam’s going to blow. Grayson Addington comes home to Saddler Hollow, West Virginia, from Vietnam a broken man, ravaged by post traumatic stress syndrome, a chaplain who left his faith in the jungle mud with his massacred unit. His wife, Piper, doesn’t know her husband anymore. In his absence, she turned to his brother Carter for support. Now, she must choose between them—and Carter will stop at nothing to have her. And into this family torn apart by jealousy, deceit and clan loyalties comes a mysterious little girl. Maggie, a battered child with amnesia, shows up on the Addington's front porch and instantly bonds to Sadie, Piper and Grayson’s cripplingly shy toddler. When Maggie runs away and takes Sadie with her, the warring brothers must team up to search for them. But something more than chance has brought the child called Maggie to this wounded family. And nothing less than destiny will be fulfilled by her incredible act of love--on the foggy morning when the coal slag dam at the top of the hollow explodes. Interview with the author: Q. What’s so special about When Butterflies Cry? A. It’s real life on paper. It’s been a Kindle bestseller because the characters in the novel come to life on the page—like the family next door in a small town. The story is gripping, the action nail-biting. Q. Is this a Christian book? A. There’s no religion in it. But there is spirituality--themes of love and sacrifice that touch the soul of readers of any faith—or no faith at all. Q. Why should readers give this book a try? A. Because it’s a book that will break your heart, and then put it back together again. Goodreads and Amazon Reader Reviews Wow. I have found a new favourite author. She is so good and I’ve been burned a lot lately by really bad free books, written poorly and full of mistakes. This is the kind of contemporary women’s fiction I want but usually don’t find in a free book. A (no spoilers) sacrifice makes the book inspirational, but its filled with suspense too. Even though its during the 60's or 70s war in Vietnam, the story itself felt timeless and contemporary and so real I forgot it was fiction and it kept me in suspense way past my bedtime to find out what happened. Sarah Bridges I’m a city girl and I never thought my heart would break over a story about a small town in West Virginia. Not what I expected from a typical paranormal thriller--its a mystery with lots of suspense, like other reviewers said, it was unique. But it is during the Viet Nam war times, and not contemporary fiction like it said. You should read it, but have lots of tissues handy. It was inspirational to me how the chaplain kept hanging on and "doin’ the necessary" and then got home and found his brother with his wife—but I won’t spoil the suspense. I think the mystery about the butterflies landing on her was she was paranormal.