Una mañana de 1923, en un suburbio de Londres, Virginia Woolf se despierta con la idea que se convertirá en La señora Dalloway. En los años noventa, en Nueva York, Clarissa Vaughan compra flores para una fiesta en honor de Richard, un antiguo amigo enfermo de sida que ha recibido un importante premio literario. En 1949, Laura Brown, un ama de casa de Los Ángeles, prepara una tarta de cumpleaños para su marido con la ayuda de su hijo pequeño. Estas son las tres mujeres y los momentos de partida de Las horas, una emotiva novela que se adentra en el mundo de Virginia Woolf con extremada sensibilidad e inteligencia. Al igual que la protagonista de su obra, los personajes se debaten entre la soledad, la desesperanza y el amor por la belleza y la vida hasta unirse en un trascendente final.

Love. Lies. Murder. A lot can happen... COME SUNDOWNBodine Longbow loves to rise with the dawn. As the manager of her family\'s resort in Western Montana, there just aren\'t enough hours in the day - for life, for work, for loved ones. She certainly doesn\'t have time for love, not even in the gorgeous shape of her childhood crush Callen Skinner, all grown up and returned to the ranch. Then again, maybe Callen can change her mind, given time...But when a young woman\'s body is discovered on resort land, everything changes. Callen falls under the suspicion of a deputy sheriff with a grudge. And for Bodine\'s family, the murder is a shocking reminder of an old loss. Twenty-five years ago, Bodine\'s Aunt Alice vanished, never to be heard of again. Could this new tragedy be connected to Alice\'s mysterious disappearance?As events take a dramatic and deadly turn, Bodine and Callen must race to uncover the truth - before the sun sets on their future together.

In a plush Virginia office, a rich, angry old man is furiously rewriting his will. With his death just hours away, Troy Phelan wants to send a message to his children, his ex-wives, and his minions, a message that will touch off a vicious legal battle and transform dozens of lives.Because Troy Phelan\'s new will names a sole surprise heir to his eleven-billion-dollar fortune: a mysterious woman named Rachel Lane, a missionary living deep in the jungles of Brazil.Enter the lawyers. Nate O\'Riley is fresh out of rehab, a disgraced corporate attorney handpicked for his last job: to find Rachel Lane at any cost. As Phelan\'s family circles like vultures in D.C., Nate is crashing through the Brazilian jungle, entering a world where money means nothing, where death is just one misstep away, and where a woman - pursued by enemies and friends alike - holds a stunning surprise of her own.

Twelve overgrown man-children, sixteen hours, and a whole lot of liquor. Just how much fun can be had in one night? Join Nate, Ashton and their friends on a wild night out on the town. NOTE: This is NOT a romance story, it\'s a short (approx 22 thousand word) humour sketch. It\'s an Enjoying the Chase novella featuring characters from my other published novels - Enjoying the Chase and Nothing Left to Lose. WARNING - Contains spoilers for both books. All of the author\'s profits and royalties from the sale of this ebook will be donated to Macmillan Nurses for the wonderful work that they do. [Registered charity number 261017]

Little else in life is as dangerous as fire jumping. Flying past towering pillars of smoke, parachuting down to the edge of an all-consuming blaze, shoveling and sawing for hours upon hours, days at a time, all to hold the line and push back against the raw power of Mother Nature. But there\'s also little else as thrilling - at least to Rowan Tripp. The Missoula smoke jumpers are one of the most exclusive fire-fighting squads in the nation, and the job is in Rowan\'s blood: her father is a legend in the field. She\'s been fighting fires since her eighteenth birthday. At this point, returning to the wilds of Montana for the season feels like coming home - even with reminders of the partner she lost last season still lingering in the air. Fortunately, this year\'s rookie crop is among the strongest ever - and Gulliver Curry\'s one of the best. He\'s also a walking contradiction, a hotshot firefighter with a big vocabulary and a winter job at a kid\'s arcade. He came to Missoula to follow in the footsteps of Lucas "Iron Man" Tripp, yet he\'s instantly more fascinated by his hero\'s daughter. Rowan, as a rule, doesn\'t hook up with other smoke jumpers, but Gull is convinced he can change her mind. And damn if he doesn\'t make a good case to be an exception to the rule.  Everything is thrown off balance, though, when a dark presence lashes out against Rowan, looking to blame someone for last year\'s tragedy. Rowan knows she can\'t complicate things with Gull - any distractions in the air or on the ground could be lethal. But if she doesn\'t find someone she can lean on when the heat gets intense, her life may go down in flames.

Three teenagers are going on the trip of a lifetime. Only one is coming back. It's been more than forty years since NASA sent the first men to the moon, and to grab some much-needed funding and attention, they decide to launch an historic international lottery in which three lucky teenagers can win a week-long trip to moon base DARLAH 2.

In his final hours in the Oval Office, the outgoing President grants a controversial last-minute pardon to Joel Backman, a notorious Washington power broker who has spent the last six years hidden away in a federal prison. What no one knows is that the President issues the pardon only after receiving enormous pressure from the CIA. It seems Backman, in his power broker heyday, may have obtained secrets that compromise the world's most sophisticated satellite surveillance system. Backman is quietly smuggled out of the country in a military cargo plane, given a new name, a new identity, and a new home in Italy. Eventually, after he has settled into his new life, the CIA will leak his whereabouts to the Israelis, the Russians, the Chinese, and the Saudis. Then the CIA will do what it does best: sit back and watch. The question is not whether Backman will survive—there is no chance of that. The question the CIA needs answered is, who will kill him?

A haunting murder and kidnapping on the outskirts of Salem, Massachusetts, sends two people with unique talents hunting for answers from both the past and present in internationally bestselling author Heather Graham's electrifying new Krewe of Hunters spin off for fans of Stephen King, Jayne Ann Krentz, Riley Sager, and Simone St. James.Skye McMahon sees things. Good and bad, the past unreels in her mind's eye like a movie. Such is Skye's uncanny life. That's why she's been summoned by Special Supervisory paranormal investigators Jackson and Angela Crowe, to help solve a mystifying murder and kidnapping on the outskirts of historic Salem.Alicia Bolton discovered her grandfather-in-law murdered, her nanny and her young son have both vanished without a trace, and her infant daughter was found terrified and crying in her playpen. Skye, partnered with the intriguing Zachary Erickson, a charmer with a psychic touch, is at first beset only by visions of Salem's...

The 24 Hours in Charlottesville author offers a minute-by-minute account of the January 6 riots through never-before-heard stories of those who were there Neus goes beyond mainstream reporting to reveal important truths about the US white nationalist movementThis bracing account reconstructs what it was actually like in and around the Capitol during those 24 hours.Lawmakers recount donning gas masks and being evacuated to safe rooms. Police officers recall insurrectionists screaming at them and calling them traitors. Staffers remember “walking over pools of blood” as they ran for their lives. A young Asian-American staffer recalls locking herself in a room just feet from the rioters, mentally preparing to be raped. A mostly Black janitorial staff began cleaning the blood of insurrectionists off the marble floor on the Capitol before the building was even officially secured. Neus’s...

Wanderlust - Hours of the Day Edition.A collection of 24 poems from Luann Jung, one per hour of the day. Warning: poems range from sad to happy to free-verse to rhyming to violent to just plain weird. Prepare for the Wanderlust poetry experience.The piece, as written and published November 7, 1953, is as follows: ________________________________________Dear Mr. Editor Your mystery farm this week was my home. My father, Harvey Hopper, built the house 50 years ago. I remember as a small child (am I telling my age?) I watched the entire structure being erected, climbing to the highest places, swinging my legs over, rolling in the bath tub before the legs were attached until my father caught me and gave me a lesson, where it was most effective, as to what little girls should, and should not do.

Everyone says Rex Gunderson isn't boyfriend material. Everyone says he isn't serious enough. Everyone says he's a joke. In fact, rumor has it—the disgraced ex-manager of the wrestling team left campus with his tail between his legs.But Rex is back, nowhere near the douchebag he used to be—and ready to prove everyone wrong.The leopard has changed his spots—and he's about to become my dating coach.Publishers Note: THE TEACHING HOURS is a short Novella, not a full length novel.

It's 1941 and San Francisco is pulsing with excitement—with hot jazz, ice-cold cocktails, and the ever-present threat of war. For Cameron Ferris, newly arrived from Tiny Town, Oregon, a seat on the sidelines is thrilling enough, so she's delighted with her boring job as a file clerk in a warehouse. For a while. But now the while's up, and Cameron is starting to feel like one of life's wallflowers. For good or for ill, life is about to provide a cure, in the form of a strange man living in her apartment, kidnappers hanging out on the fire-escape, and all traces of her life scrubbed clean. Who is Cameron Ferris? Has she become so unspeakably dull that she simply disappeared? And what can an invisible person do to foil a gang of kidnappers? A highly unusual, thoroughly unnerving tale that sings with the music of the period.

From the critically acclaimed author of Invisible City and Conviction, The Missing Hours is a novel about obsession, privilege, and the explosive consequences of one violent act.From a distance, Claudia Castro has it all: a famous family, a trust fund, thousands of Instagram followers, and a spot in NYU's freshman class. But look closer, and things are messier: her parents are separating, she's just been humiliated by a sleazy documentary, and her sister is about to have a baby with a man she barely knows.Claudia starts the school year resolved to find a path toward something positive, maybe even meaningful – and then one drunken night everything changes. Reeling, her memory hazy, Claudia cuts herself off from her family, seeking solace in a new friendship. But when the rest of school comes back from spring break, Claudia is missing.Suddenly, the whole city is trying to piece together the hours of that terrible night.

A long lost letter arrives in the post and Edie Burchill finds herself on a journey to Milderhurst Castle, a great but moldering old house, where the Blythe spinsters live and where her mother was billeted 50 years before as a 13 year old child during WWII. The elder Blythe sisters are twins and have spent most of their lives looking after the third and youngest sister, Juniper, who hasn’t been the same since her fiance jilted her in 1941. Inside the decaying castle, Edie begins to unravel her mother’s past. But there are other secrets hidden in the stones of Milderhurst, and Edie is about to learn more than she expected. The truth of what happened in ‘the distant hours’ of the past has been waiting a long time for someone to find it. Morton once again enthralls readers with an atmospheric story featuring unforgettable characters beset by love and circumstance and haunted by memory, that reminds us of the rich power of storytelling.

No matter what you do for a living, how much time your apps save you, or how much entertainment your phone brings, it is possible to unplug—and find an even better life on the other side.In the spring of 2021, Hannah Brencher found herself depleted and exhausted—and she knew the culprit was her constantly plugged-in lifestyle. Like so many of us, Hannah had been turning to her phone to cope with life in a time of isolation and uncertainty. Those coping mechanisms had calcified into habits she didn't know how to break. Sound familiar?That's when the nudge happened. Turn off your phone and keep turning off your phone. And a challenge was born: 1,000 unplugged hours in one year. Soon after she shared her tracker sheet on her website, thousands of people downloaded it and signed up for their own 1,000-hour challenge.Now in The Unplugged Hours, Hannah demonstrates how the act of powering down changed her entire life....

"Like All the Light We Cannot See, The Paris Hours explores the brutality of war and its lingering effects with cinematic intensity. The ending will leave you breathless." —Christina Baker Kline, author of Orphan Train and A Piece of the WorldOne day in the City of Light. One night in search of lost time. Paris between the wars teems with artists, writers, and musicians, a glittering crucible of genius. But amidst the dazzling creativity of the city's most famous citizens, four regular people are each searching for something they've lost.Camille was the maid of Marcel Proust, and she has a secret: when she was asked to burn her employer's notebooks, she saved one for herself. Now she is desperate to find it before her betrayal is revealed. Souren, an Armenian refugee, performs puppet shows for children that are nothing like the fairy tales they expect. Lovesick artist Guillaume is down on...

A young man who escaped from drug addiction and a cyber cult must go tempt fate by entering that world again as an undercover confidential informant. His quarry: a clone created by the cyber cult that is murdering people in his name.It's time to climb back down the hole again. George has found his way into and out of addictions. His first love was Spectrum, the memory theiving drug that killed is mother. To escape Spectrum he found himself some religion. He drilled a hole in his skull and threaded a wire into his brain that wove his sensations together with the collective illusion known as the Abderan Cipher. George had thought he'd escaped from under the heel of the world's most powerful narcotic, only to find himself wrapped in a cult so pervasive that he lost all sense of whether he was old or young, criminal or saint. He'd lost himself down the hole. Then at last, he pulled himself up. There was no more Spectrum and no more Abdera, only mud and rain the early morning hours in which he lived. George was poor and alone, surviving from one brutal day until the next, but happy because he was free. But the past never lets you go. Around town there's a man dismembering people and leaving George's DNA behind. The police know that George, the mentally crippled ex druggie, is no killer. Not that they aren't above pinning the crimes on him. They've got to catch someone, haven't they? The police offer George a deal. The man killing others in George's name is somehow connected to the Abdera Cipher and the drug Spectrum as well. George has got to climb back down the hole again. He's got to take up his old addictions again to find the one living in his name, yet another thing out to steal away his identity. And George will do it - because he's poor, because he's powerless. And yet he is the only one who can stop the specter of horrific death, if only he is strong enough to withstand the forces that have brought him within a hair of oblivion. It is up to him to unhaunt the hours.

THE PENDULUM IS SLOWING. THE GEARS ARE BREAKING DOWN. These were the words of warning given to the last Keyholder of Eriaris. But since they came from the sinister Mistress of the Spektors, the Colonists didn't want to believe them. And why should they? Fortune, after all, has finally turned in their favor. Against impossible odds, they survived the battle on Fenmire, took their worst enemy prisoner, and acquired a mysterious artifact that could silence the Mistress forever. Now, with a new mode of transportation and the aid of unexpected allies, the way is clear to find their missing friends and attempt to put everything to rights. But then the ticking begins. New horrors appear. And the Colonists are thrown into a desperate race against the Sundering—a cruel affliction which threatens not only their beloved Keyholder, but every living soul. The harrowing adventure will take them deep into treacherous...

For fans of The Ministry of Time and The Midnight Library, a sweeping, unforgettable novel following two remarkable women moving between postwar and Cold War-era America and the mysterious time space, a library filled with books containing the memories of those who bore witness to history. Enter the time space, a soaring library filled with books containing the memories of those have passed and accessed only by specially made watches once passed from father to son—but mostly now in government hands. This is where eleven-year-old Lisavet Levy finds herself trapped in 1938, waiting for her watchmaker father to return for her. When he doesn't, she grows up among the books and specters, able to see the world only by sifting through the memories of those who came before her. As she realizes that government agents are entering the time space to destroy books and maintain their preferred version of history, she sets about saving these scraps in her own...

Lila Nash, Joe Talbert's beloved girlfriend from the USA Today-bestseller The Life We Bury and The Shadows We Hide, takes the lead for the first time in this thrilling new mystery, as she races to outsmart a serial killer and to escape the dark hold of her own past. Lila Nash is on the verge of landing her dream job—working as a prosecutor under the Hennepin County Attorney—and has finally settled into a happy life with her boyfriend, Joe Talbert. But when a new case crosses her desk, things take a personal turn. Sadie Vauk has been pulled from the Mississippi River, barely alive. The police believe her assailant to be local photographer Gavin Spenser, but their evidence is slim.Gavin has been preparing for this moment. He knows that Sadie's escape might cause a lesser mind to panic, but he's no lesser mind. After years of working from the shadows, he will finally match wits with the best, and he knows that he will...

Richard Booth suspects something amiss just beyond his hotel room door. Waking to the memory of a scream in the wind blown New Hampshire night, does he dare to explore the hallway? Was it just the remnants of a dream? How do you know when your imagination is getting the better of you, and when there really is something out there?Richard Booth suspects something amiss just beyond his hotel room door. Waking to the memory of a scream in the wind blown New Hampshire night, does he dare to explore the hallway? Was it just the remnants of a dream? How do you know when your imagination is getting the better of you, and when there really is something out there?"Patrick Greene's Into the Small Hours stood out to me in particular. It's not every writer than can take the mundane, something like spending the night in a hotel room, and turn it into a very spooky story that plays on the reader's fears of the unknown with so few words." From a reader review.

Harmony, North Carolina is a typical town—full of saints and sinners you can’t tell apart…   Its history echoes with lynchings and shootings; mob violence and vigilante justice. But those are just whispers of a past lost to time. The summer of 2000 was different. Iggy in the Baptist church. Gasoline and a match. Twenty-five people dead. This, Harmony couldn’t forget.   Told in a kaleidoscope of timelines and voices, Michael Bible examines every dimension of a tragic but all-too-American story in The Ancient Hours. The victims, witnesses, perpetrators, and condemned comingle and evolve as the passage of time works its way through their lives. What emerges is a fable of the American South in the highest tradition: soaring, tragic, and eternally striving for redemption.

From the critically acclaimed author of A Beautiful Blue Death and A Burial at Sea comes an intriguing new mystery in what The New York Times calls "a beguiling series" Charles Lenox is at the pinnacle of his political career and is a delighted new father. His days of regularly investigating the crimes of Victorian London now some years behind him, he plans a trip to his uncle's estate, Somerset, in the expectation of a few calm weeks to write an important speech. When he arrives in the quiet village of Plumley, however, what greets him is a series of strange vandalisms upon the local shops: broken windows, minor thefts, threatening scrawls. Only when a far more serious crime is committed does he begin to understand the great stakes of those events, and the complex and sinister mind that is wreaking fear and suspicion in Plumley.  Now, with his protege, John Dallington, at his side, the race is on for Lenox to find the culprit before he strikes again.  And this time his victim may be someone that Lenox loves.**

'Shot through with compassion . . . this dreamlike, winding tale is a joy.' A. L. KENNEDY 'Moving and unconventionally wise' Guardian This was how I heard the most important story of my life, the thing that decided me, the story that determined who I was in the end.At a hotel bar in a quiet English town, two strangers meet by chance and share their stories. Hers is of an inconspicuous life, shaken by heartbreak and scattered with unfulfilled dreams. His is a dizzying tale of an unending quest for someone he lost in his youth.From the blustery cliffs of Dover to the confines of a dark prison cell; from the courtroom witness box to the West End stage, we join him as he slips through time.Extraordinary though his story is, what she has to reveal is even more surprising, and will take them to a place neither of them – or you – expected.From the bestselling author of FIVE RIVERS MET...

A murder game. A real dead body. Can he help a friend through a torrent of danger? DCI Harry Grimm smells trouble brewing. As the Chief Inspector and his team prepare for a harsh winter storm, a call comes in from an old pal that a remote PI training session in the Dales he is attending has abruptly ended in a suspicious death. And while the gruff detective struggles through a blizzard to reach the crime scene, the residents of a nearby house come to a fatal end. Questioning the attendees in a bid to narrow down the list of suspects, Grimm worries about the treacherous weather isolating them from the rest of the Dales… and his overdue backup. But when a group of strangers arrives in search of an escape from the savage storm, he could be opening the door to another round of murders. Can he keep everyone safe when the rules turn lethal? The Dark Hours is the chilling thirteenth book in the DCI Harry Grimm Crime Thrillers series. If you like gritty protagonists, clever setups, and drama driven by the elements, then you’ll love David J. Gatward’s multi-layered mystery.

Liz used to have the luxury of time. Now she doesn't. In this bittersweet and emotional love story Liz Taite proves that it is never too late to begin to live the life of your dreams. One moment can change everything. When Liz Taite, the co-owner of a posh Manhattan art gallery, learns that she has only six months or less to live, she knows that she's running out of time. So, she does exactly what most people wouldn't do: she leaves her blessed life –– minus the cheating husband –– and sets out to change her life in a way that surprises even her. Ignoring her fears, she boards a train to Los Angeles to be closer to her kids and so begins her last adventure.To make sense of the unraveling of her life, Liz begins to write a journal in which she feels free to not only to express her thoughts and fears but also to tell the story of her life. Living in the now and with as little...

One kidnapping. One cold case. Two amateur investigators. Only 48 hours to solve the crime… Jazz’s best friend Anika has been kidnapped! She can’t call the cops, so Jazz forges a shaky truce with her brilliant nemesis, Phoenix, to help her investigate. Together, they uncover clues and crime scene evidence. Sneaking into a forensic lab, they test DNA, fingerprints and more, to piece the clues together. The results are shocking. Could it really lead to a twenty-year-old murder case? In a race against time, Jazz and Phoenix only have 48 HOURS to collect the evidence, profile the kidnapper and find their schoolmate’s location, or Anika will die. The clock is ticking…

Before the Flashback ended in The War-torn Hills of Earth, there were other trials, other crucibles, other adventures not previously recorded. 72 Hours to Animal is one of these, in which a helicopter bearing a hodge-podge crew touches down on a Saveco wholesale warehouse in the middle of a snowstorm only to find themselves stalked by shadowy predators ...From 72 Hours to Animal:She watched carefully as he worked the sticks."Reduce collective ... pitch up to neutral ... and remember, as soon as you cross over the asphalt, you're gonna get that rotor and ground effect which is going to cause a really funky cushion. And now we're going to hold ourselves just a few feet over the ground, we're going to further reduce the collective ... and settle onto the tarmac."And then they were down—in a whirlwind of snow—and Pappy was clambering out with the fuel can as Redhorn followed and Handsome Dan swiped off his aviators and just looked at her."Listen, Zo,...

In the cold spring of 1936, Arthor Crandle, down-on-his luck and desperate for work, accepts a position in Providence, Rhode Island, as a live-in secretary/assistant for an unnamed shut-in.He arrives at the gloomy colonial-style house to discover that his strange employer is an author of disturbing, bizarre fiction. Health issues have confined him to his bedroom, where he is never to be disturbed. But the writer, who Crandle knows only as “Ech-Pi," refuses to meet him, communicating only by letters left on a table outside his room. Soon the home reveals other unnerving peculiarities. There is an ominous presence Crandle feels on the main stairwell. Light shines out underneath the door of the writer's room, but is invisible from the street. It becomes increasingly clear there is something not right about the house or its occupant.Haunting visions of a young girl in a white nightgown wandering the walled-in garden behind the house motivate Crandle to investigate the...

Michaelia’s life is boringly normal and lonely, the only escape are her romance novels and movies. One stormy night she makes one wish, a wish from her heart that is heard and granted. When she wakes, she finds herself on a wild ride for the next twenty-four hours, her insecurities slowly fading away. But what will happen when the clock runs out?Listen to the Light and learn the power of revelations in your own soul. Take a magical journey through mythical places to discover inner truths

A stunningly packaged trade paperback reissue of Pocket Books’ original Spider-Man novel—from New York Times bestselling author Jim Butcher.Peter Parker’s life has hit a peaceful stretch. No evildoers have tried to flatten him in weeks, his marriage to Mary Jane is stronger than ever, and he’s enjoying his job as a high school science teacher. Life is good. But, naturally, that doesn’t last.When Peter learns that his old enemy the Rhino is on a rampage in Times Square, he suits up as Spider-Man to stop the destructive villain in his tracks. But he’s unexpectedly foiled by the Black Cat, a former ally and old flame. The Cat informs Peter that the Rhino is just a distraction—the real threat comes from a group of Ancients, members of the same race as the being called Morlun, who Spidey defeated in battle years earlier. The Ancients are now looking to exact revenge—and hope to steal Spider-Man’s life force in the process.About the AuthorJim Butcher is the author of the New York Times bestselling series The Dresden Files and the high fantasy series The Codex Alera. The Dresden Files is also a successful series of audiobooks; an online role-playing game; a series of comic books; and was a television series on the Sci-Fi Channel. A martial arts enthusiast and a skilled equestrian rider, Jim lives in Missouri with his wife and son. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Chapter One My name is Peter Parker and I'm the sort of person who occasionally gets in a little over his head. "The most important thing," said the man in the dark hood, walking down the hall next to me, "is not to show them any fear. If you hesitate, or look like you don't know what you're doing, even for a second, they'll sense the weakness. They'll eat you alive." "No fear," I said. "No getting eaten. Check." "I'm serious. You're outnumbered. They're faster, most of them are stronger, they can run you into the ground, and if you're going to keep it under control, you're going to have to win the battle here." He touched a finger to his forehead. "You get me?" "Mind war," I said. "Wax on. Wax off." The man in the dark hood stopped, frowned at me, and said, "You aren't taking this seriously." "People always think that about me," I said. "I'm not sure why." "See, that's what I mean," Coach Kyle said. He tucked his hands into the pockets of his workout jacket and shook his head. "You go joking around with them like that, and that's it. You've lost control." "It's a basketball practice," I said. "Not a prison riot." Coach Kyle was about six feet tall, with a slender build. Dark skin, and dark hair which apparently hadn't started to go gray, though he had to have been in his late forties. He wore thick glasses with black plastic Marine-issue, birth-control rims. He'd been a Hoosier, starting guard, back in the day. He hadn't made the cut to the pros. "I see," he said with a snort. "You're upset because you were the one who got stuck with running the team." "Well," I hedged, "I wasn't much for sports when I was in school." "This was settled at last week's faculty meeting," he told me cheerfully. "If you hadn't been the last one to arrive at this meeting, you'd be halfway home by now." "I know." I sighed. "Guess you had something more important come up?" I'd been crawling around about two hundred and fifty berjillion freight-train-sized shipping containers at the piers, looking for the one the mob was using to ship out illegal immigrants for sale on the slave market. Officially speaking, they weren't people, since they hadn't filled out the right paperwork and learned the secret American handshake from the INS. Unofficially speaking, scum who target people who can't defend themselves incite me to creative outrage. By the time I had the last of them webbed to the side of their slave container in the shape of the word "LOSERS" I'd been five minutes late to the faculty meeting already. But that's not the kind of thing you can use as an excuse. "The dog ate my homework," I said instead. Coach Kyle shook his head, grinning, and we stopped outside the door to the gym. "Look. Your big worry is the tallest kid there. Samuel. Best strong center I ever had, and he could go all the way. Problem is he knows it, and he doesn't play well with others." "The fiend," I said. "This is a job for Superman." Coach Kyle sighed. "Peter. Samuel's mom works three jobs to make enough to feed him and his three little brothers and sisters. Their block isn't such a good one. He had an older brother who was a gangbanger -- that is, until he got stabbed to death a few years back. That's when Samuel took over as man of the house. Looking out for the little ones." I sighed, and dialed down my snark projector. "Go on." "Boy's got a real chance of turning into a top-rate athlete, and if he can make it into a college, he can help out his whole family. Problem is that he's a good kid, at the core." "That's a problem?" "Yes. Because if he doesn't get himself under control and make it into a good school, he'll graduate and try to support his family." I nodded my head, getting it. "And wind up in the same place as his brother." Coach Kyle nodded. "He's big, tough, and can make good money in a gang. And it isn't as if he's going to have employers kicking down his door to get to him." "I see." I glanced through the narrow window in the door to the gym. A lot of young people were running and screaming. Shoes squeaked on the floor. Many, many basketballs thudded onto the court in a rhythm that could only have been duplicated by a drunken, clog-dancing centipede. "What do you need me to do?" "Right now, the kid is his own worst enemy. If he doesn't learn to work with his team, to lead on the court, no university will even look at him." "But he hasn't realized that yet," I guessed. Coach Kyle nodded. "I just want you to understand, Peter. Coaching the basketball team isn't just a chore that needs doing. It isn't only a game. The team might be this kid's only chance. Same goes for the others, to a lesser degree. The team keeps them off the streets, out of some of the trouble." I watched the kids playing and nodded. "I hear you. I'll take it seriously." I met his eyes and said, "Promise." "Thank you," Coach Kyle said, and offered me his hand. "To tell you the truth, I was hoping you'd be the one to keep an eye on them for me. I see you with some of the other kids. You do good work." I traded grips with him and grinned. "Well, I'm so childish myself." "Heh," he said. "Maybe I should come in with you for a minute. Just to help you get started." "It's okay," I said. "I can handle it myself. Have fun getting lasered in the eyes." He tapped his ugly glasses with one finger. "See you next week," he said. Then he headed out. I sighed and opened the door to the gymnasium. After all, it wasn't like I'd never been outnumbered before. I'd gone up against the Sinister Six versions one through fifty or sixty, and the Sinister Syndicate, and those bozos in the Wrecking Crew, and...the X-Men? No, that couldn't be right. I hadn't ever taken on the X-Men and thrashed them, I was sure. But those others, yes. And if I could handle them, surely I could handle a bunch of kids playing basketball. Which only goes to show that just because I happen to be a fairly sharp scientist, the Amazing Spider-Man, and a snappy dancer, I don't know everything. copyright © 2006 by Marvel Characters

Divided by loyalties, brought together by warSeptember, 1943. Tuscany, Italy. In the hilltop town of Barga, everyone holds their breath. Even the bells fall silent. Everything Vittoria Guidi knows and loves is at risk. German troops occupy the mountains around her home, as America's Buffalo Soldiers prepare to invade. As Vittoria's country is torn in two, so is her conscience. Should she side with her Scots-Italian father or her Fascist mother? Should she do what she is told – or what she believes in?Frank Chapel, a young, black American soldier fighting with the Buffalo soldiers for a country that refuses him the vote, is unlike anyone Vittoria has ever met. In the chaos, they find each other – but can their growing love overcome prejudice and war?

“A relevant, compelling, and compassionate look at the torture of conflicted loyalties and the slipperiness of truth.” —Jenna Blum, New York Times bestselling author of Those Who Save Us and *The Lost Family* In this evocative debut novel, Katrin Schumann weaves a riveting story of past and present—and how love can lead us astray. At twenty-four, Katie Gregory feels like life is looking up: she’s snagged a great job in New York City and is falling for a captivating artist—and memories of her traumatic past are finally fading. Katie’s life fell apart almost a decade earlier, during an idyllic summer at her family’s cabin on Eagle Lake when her best friend accused her father of sexual assault. Throughout his trial and imprisonment, Katie insisted on his innocence, dodging reporters and clinging to memories of the man she adores. Now he’s getting out. Yet when Katie returns to the shuttered lakeside cabin, details of that fateful night resurface: the chill of the lake, the heat of first love, the terrible sting of jealousy. And as old memories collide with new realities, they call into question everything she thinks she knows about family, friends, and, ultimately, herself. Now, Katie’s choices will be put to the test with life-altering consequences. **

John Kendrick Bangs (May 27, 1862 – January 21, 1922) was an American author, editor and satirist. This volume contains the Half-Hours with the Idiot, of the famous humorous series "The Idiot", written by American author, editor and satirist John Kendrick Bangs, in which an odd character of simple thinking out-foxes those who think they are his better. While reading it, you won\'t be able to control yourself at times, and you will just laught outloud...

‘The sweetest, most romantic, most heartwarming book!’ MARIAN KEYES

These are the stories of people who live at night: under neon and starlight, and never the light of the sun.These are the stories of poets and police, tourists and traders; the hidden and the forbidden; the lonely and the lovers.This is their time.The Outcast Hours gathers over two dozen brand-new stories from award-winning writers across genres and continents, including bold new fiction from Marina Warner, Frances Hardinge, China Miéville, Sami Shah, Omar Robert Hamilton, Kuzhali Manickavel, Will Hill, Indrapramit Das, Silvia Moreno Garcia, Jeffrey Alan Love, Maha Khan Phillips, and many, many more.

For as long as anyone can remember, those cursed with ebb-magic have been marked for death by the gods. Sayer has always known his fate: he was given seventy-two years of life before he must become a sacrifice.His sister was only promised ten.Now the Blood Hours are set to begin-twenty-eight nights of slaughter, where priests on the hunt compete with the brutal elements to claim the life of each ebber mage slated to die. Sayer is determined to save his sister by entering with her and making sure they survive to see dawn on the final day. But Sayer has done dark things to carve out a place in the Hours early, and a priestess with her own grief lurks in the winter-dark forest. Hungry for revenge and willing to do anything to hurt the man who murdered her brother, she kills his sister that very first night. With every future he dared hope for spattered in his sister's blood, there is nothing...

In The Empty Hours, Claudia Davis was young and rich. And dead. Detective Steve Carella had nothing to go on except a book of cancelled cheques. In 'J', when a Rabbi is stabbed in a dark alley, a calling card is left splattered in blood. And in Storm, a dead girl is found in the snow, skewered with a ski pole.

Long Hours Alone With Her Ex. What Could Go Wrong?Wanting Him Was A Mistake. And Still She Said Yes...When Katie Duncan agrees to work with her boss's brother, she knows she's stepping into the lion's den. The man she'll be living with is her former lover, billionaire Quinten Stone. Their passion sizzled until Katie couldn't accept Quinten's wealthy world. She'd walked away to save herself. Now the alpha CEO is back in her life, tempting as ever…and hell-bent on seducing Katie back into his bed…

Petal Morgan finds herself, at twenty-eight, not only without any sort of compass leading her to her lifelong dream (she has as yet to identify), not to mention the student loans stacking up against her (how much education is too much?), now perched on the edge of bankruptcy while accepting, with the shame that comes from failure, taking over the unfinished apartment over her parent's garage. But when an unexpected encounter with an old friend leads her to the kind of job she never expected, she not only uncovers her talents, but a dead body to boot. Deception has never been so lucrative... Welcome to Masquerade Inc. Cozy Mysteries!

The Cage of Dark Hours is the second novel in the epic fantasy trilogy from acclaimed author Marina Lostetter, where the defeat of a serial killer back from the dead has pulled the mask off the myths and magics of a fantastical city.Krona and her Regulators survived their encounter with Charbon, the long-dead serial killer who returned to their city, but the illusions of their world were shattered forever.Allied with an old friend they will battle the elite who have ruled their world with deception, cold steel, and tight control of the magic that could threaten their power, while also confronting beasts from beyond the foggy barrier that binds their world. Now they must follow every thread to uncover the truth behind the Thalo, once thought of as only a children's tale, who are the quiet, creeping puppet masters of their world.The Five Penalties Series:The Helm of MidnightThe Cage of Dark HoursAt the Publisher's request, this...

The award-winning author of The Memory of Water delivers a gripping tale of family, fate, and forgiveness.When Piper Mills was twelve, she helped her grandfather bury a box that belonged to her grandmother in the backyard. For twelve years, it remained untouched.Now a near fatal riding accident has shattered Pipers dreams of Olympic glory. After her grandfathers death, she inherits the house and all its secrets, including a key to a room that doesnt existor does it? And after her grandmother is sent away to a nursing home, she remembers the box buried in the backyard. In it are torn pages from a scrapbook, a charm necklaceand a newspaper article from 1929 about the body of an infant found floating in the Savannah River. The necklaces charms tell the story of three friends during the 1920s each charm added during the three months each friend had the necklace and recorded her life in the scrapbook. Piper always dismissed her grandmother as not having had a story to tell....

From the international bestselling author of The Lost Wife and The Garden of Letters, comes a story—inspired by true events—of two women pursuing freedom and independence in Paris during WWII.As Paris teeters on the edge of the German occupation, a young French woman closes the door to her late grandmother's treasure-filled apartment, unsure if she'll ever return. An elusive courtesan, Marthe de Florian cultivated a life of art and beauty, casting out all recollections of her impoverished childhood in the dark alleys of Montmartre. With Europe on the brink of war, she shares her story with her granddaughter Solange Beaugiron, using her prized possessions to reveal her innermost secrets. Most striking of all are a beautiful string of pearls and a magnificent portrait of Marthe painted by the Italian artist Giovanni Boldini. As Marthe's tale unfolds, like velvet itself, stitched with its own shadow and light, it helps to guide Solange...

AWARD-WINNING VANITY FAIR WRITER Marie Brenner shares a remarkable depiction of New York—a city in crisis—based on new, behind-the-scenes reporting that captures the resilience, peril, and compassion of the early days of the Covid pandemic.In the spring of 2020, COVID-19 arrived in New York City.Before long, America's largest metropolis was at war against a virus that mercilessly swept through its five boroughs. It became apparent that if Covid wasn't somehow halted, the death count in New York alone would be in the hundreds of thousands. And if New York's hospitals failed, what chance did the rest of the country have?Brenner, having been granted unprecedented 18-month access to the entire New York-Presbyterian hospital system, tells the story of the doctors, nurses, residents, researchers, and suppliers who tried to save lives across Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn and the northern periphery of the city. Drawing on more than 200...

The enchanting new novel from Sunday Times bestselling author, Santa Montefiore. The perfect summer read for 2019!'Let the wind take me and the soft rain settle me into the Irish soil from where I came. And may my sins be forgiven.' Arethusa Clayton has always been formidable, used to getting her own way. On her death, she leaves unexpected instructions. Instead of being buried in America, on the wealthy East Coast where she and her late husband raised their two children, Arethusa has decreed that her ashes be scattered in a remote corner of Ireland, on the hills overlooking the sea. All Arethusa ever told Faye was that she grew up in a poor farming family and left Ireland, alone, to start a new life in America as did so many in those times of hardship and famine. But who were her family in Ireland and where are they now? What was the real reason that she turned away from them? And who is the mysterious benefactor of a significant share...

Charles Lenox is at the pinnacle of his political career and is a delighted new father. His days of regularly investigating the crimes of Victorian London now some years behind him, he plans a trip to his uncle's estate in Somerset, with the expectation of a few calm weeks to write an important speech. When he arrives in the quiet village of Plumley, however, what greets him is a series of strange vandalisms upon the local shops: broken windows, minor thefts, threatening scrawls. Only when a far more serious crime is committed does he begin to understand the great stakes of those events, and the complex and sinister mind that is wreaking fear and suspicion in Plumley. Now, with his protege, John Dallington, at his side, the race is on for Lenox to find the culprit before he strikes again. And this time his victim may be someone that Lenox loves…

The Hours Before Dawn (1958) was Celia Fremlin's debut fiction, and won the Edgar Award for novel of the year from the Mystery Writers of America. Over time Fremlin would earn the soubriquet of 'the mistress of psychological suspense.'Louise Henderson is a young housewife and mother, trying her best to tend to a husband, two small daughters and a constantly crying baby. Her fatigue is such that she fears she is nearing psychosis; and she can't help but feel that a new lodger in the house, a seemingly respectable schoolmistress, poses a threat to her and her family.'Tightly plotted and admirably concise... Fremlin expertly ratchets up the tension, notch by notch.' Laura Wilson'Highly intelligent entertainment, beautifully written with wit and humour.' Frances Fyfield'It grips like grim death.' Spectator

RetailMay 1945. Hitler is dead, and the Third Reich little more than smoking rubble. No GI wants to be the last man killed in action against the Nazis. But for cigar-chewing, rough-talking, hard-drinking, hard-charging Captain Jack Lee and his men, there is one more mission: rescue fourteen prominent French prisoners held in an SS-guarded castle high in the Austrian Alps. It’s a dangerous mission, but Lee has help from a decorated German Wehrmacht officer and his men, who voluntarily join the fight.Based on personal memoirs, author interviews, and official American, German, and French histories, The Last Battle is the nearly unbelievable story of the most improbable battle of World War II—a tale of unlikely allies, bravery, cowardice, and desperate combat between implacable enemies.ReviewAdvance praise for *The Last Battle*Rick Atkinson, author of *The Day of Battle“A tale as compelling as it is unlikely. The Last Battle* demonstrates that truth can indeed be stranger than fiction, particularly in war. Well-researched and well-told.”Alan Furst, bestselling author of Dark Star and*Night Soldiers“Stephen Harding has a laser-beam instinct for the detail that tells the story, he’s a fine writer, and, most important, knows a good story when he sees one. All the above is true of The Last Battle*, one of the more remarkable battles in a truly vast war, now very nicely illuminated.”Alex Kershaw, bestselling author of *The Liberator*“A little-known but fascinating story brought brilliantly to life.”Patrick K. O’Donnell, bestselling author of *Dog Company“I love untold stories from World War II, and this is a great one. Brilliantly told, meticulously researched, and filled with larger-than-life heroes and villains. The Last Battle* is such a compelling read, I couldn’t put it down.”John C. McManus, author of *September Hope“The Last Battle* combines good history and good storytelling. Harding writes with the skill and grace of a novelist but also the authority of an historian who has done some rather remarkable research into a previously lost chapter from World War II’s final days. I had trouble putting this book down, and I think you will, too.”Peter Carlson, author of *K Blows Top“The Nazis capture two former Prime Ministers of France (who detest each other) and lock them in a medieval castle in Austria. A handful of intrepid American soldiers sets out to rescue them. And then...well, you’ll have to read The Last Battle* to find out what happened. It’s going to make a fantastic action movie. Arnold Schwarzenegger, call your agent!”San Diego Union Tribune, 4/28/13“At the heart of The Last Battle is a largely unknown story that (a) seems implausible, (b) would make a great movie, and (c) reminds us that almost 70 years after the end of World War II there are countless tales still to be told…Harding’s skills as a researcher and dedicated historian are apparent…[A] moment-by-moment real-time report of the events from the viewpoints of the Americans and prisoners…Page-turning…Harding has brought the implausible story to life.”New York Journal of Books, 4/29/13“Well done and eminently readable.”Daily Beast, 5/12/13“The most extraordinary things about Stephen Harding's The Last Battle, a truly incredible tale of World War II, are that it hasn’t been told before in English, and that it hasn’t already been made into a blockbuster Hollywood movie…Steven Spielberg, how did you miss this story?...Harding is a respected military affairs expert…and his writing style carries immediacy as well as authority…Everything that Harding reports in this exciting but also historically accurate narrative is backed up with meticulous scholarship. This book proves that history can be new and nail-bitingly exciting all at once…While the book concentrates on the fight for Castle Itter, it also sets that battle in the wider strategic contexts…This book is thus a fascinating microcosm of a nation and society in collapse…Part Where Eagles Dare, part Guns of Navarone, this story is as exciting as it is far-fetched, but unlike in those iconic war movies, every word of The Last Battle is true.”Roanoke Times, 6/9/13“If, in these halcyon days, a Hollywood screenwriter had approached a major producer with a movie script so packed with improbabilities, so extraordinary in its premises and fanciful in its conclusions, he — the screenwriter — would very likely have been shown the door….sheer tension and melodrama…Stephen Harding, a career journalist and military historian, has put together a fine tale of heroism and cowardice, petty bickering and unselfish sacrifice, and if Hollywood does not snap it up for an epic film, that’s its loss….A page-turner.”About the AuthorAs a journalist specializing in military affairs, Stephen Harding has reported from Northern Ireland, Bosnia, and Iraq. Currently senior editor at Military History magazine, he lives in Virginia.

Nell is desperate to escape from her drunken, violent father and the Birmingham slum where they live. This is made possible with the help of Gwyneth, who has fled from her father, a bigoted Welsh preacher. Both want to dance, and at the studio they meet Kitty, wealthy, but neglected by her mother and not knowing who her father is.Together the three friends soon join a chorus line and begin to dance at 1920s Music Halls. They have to overcome threats from their families, and the attractions of the men who admire them. There is Paul, a wealthy doctor, the dilettante Hon Timothy, and Kitty's cousin Andrew, saxophonist. Helping them are Marigold and Richard Endersby, who feature in The Cobweb Cage.A dream is about to come true when they are selected to dance at the Folies-Bergère in Paris, but can they overcome the many obstacles and disasters that assail them?Reviews of The Glowing Hours'A lovely regional saga set in the 1920s Midlands which tells the story...

His life unfolds with adventure, humor, and roller-coaster suspense. He’s the “most likable creation” (The New York Times) of “one of the master storytellers of this or any age” (The Tampa Tribune). And he’s got one hell of a hidden talent. If you don’t know his name by now, you’re the odd one out. Now get all caught up with the first four novels of Dean Koontz’s beloved series—Odd Thomas, Forever Odd, Brother Odd, and Odd Hours—in an eBook bundle that will keep you up all night.ODD THOMAS The dead don’t talk. I don’t know why. But they do try to communicate, with a short-order cook in a small desert town serving as their reluctant confidant. Meet Odd Thomas, the unassuming young hero of Dean Koontz’s dazzling New York Times bestsellers, a gallant sentinel at the crossroads of life and death. Sometimes the silent souls who seek out Odd want justice. Occasionally their otherworldly tips help him prevent a crime. But this time it’s different. A stranger comes to Pico Mundo, accompanied by a horde of hyena-like shades who herald an imminent catastrophe. Aided by his soul mate, Stormy Llewellyn, and an unlikely community of allies that includes the King of Rock ’n’ Roll, Odd will race against time to thwart the gathering evil, as past and present, fate and destiny, converge.FOREVER ODD I see dead people. But then, by God, I do something about it. Odd Thomas never asked for his special ability. Yet he feels an obligation to do right by his otherworldly confidants, and that’s why he’s won hearts on both sides of the divide between life and death. But when a childhood friend disappears, Odd discovers something worse than a dead body and embarks on a heart-stopping battle of will and wits with an enemy of exceptional cunning. In the hours to come there can be no innocent bystanders, and every sacrifice can tip the balance between despair and hope.BROTHER ODD Loop me in, odd one. The words, spoken in the deep of night by a sleeping child, chill the young man watching over her. For this was a favorite phrase of Stormy Llewellyn, his lost love. In the haunted halls of the isolated monastery where he had sought peace, Odd Thomas is stalking spirits of an infinitely darker nature. Now, wielding all the power and magic of a master storyteller at the pinnacle of his craft, Dean Koontz follows Odd into a singular new world where he hopes to make a fresh beginning—but where he will meet an adversary as old and inexorable as time itself.ODD HOURS Only a handful of fictional characters are recognized by first name alone. Dean Koontz’s Odd Thomas is one such literary hero, who has come alive in readers’ imaginations as he explores the greatest mysteries of this world and the next with his inimitable wit, heart, and quiet gallantry. Now Koontz follows Odd as he is drawn onward, to a destiny he cannot imagine. Haunted by dreams of an all-encompassing red tide, Odd is pulled inexorably to the sea, to a small California coastal town where nothing is as it seems.Contains a preview of the next thrilling addition to the Odd Thomas series, Odd Apocalypse!

The love letters of Gerda and Kurt Klein, revealing one of the greatest love stories ever told.Over fifty years ago, Gerda Weissmann was barely alive at the end of a 350-mile death march that took her from a slave labor camp in Germany to the Czech border. On May 7, 1945, the American military stormed the area, and the first soldier to approach Gerda was Kurt Klein. She guided him to her fellow prisoners who lay sick and dying on the ground, and quoted Goethe: "Noble be man, merciful and good." Perhaps it was her irony, her composure, her evident compassion in the face of tragedy, that struck Kurt Klein. A great love had begun. Forced to separate just weeks after liberation and hours after their engagement, Gerda and Kurt began a correspondence that lasted until their reunion and wedding in Paris a year later. Their poignant letters reflect upon the horrors of war and genocide, but above all, upon the rapture and salvation of true love.

From journalist and author Sue Halpern comes a wry, observant look at contemporary life and its refugees. Halpern's novel is an unforgettable tale of family...the kind you come from and the kind you create.People are drawn to libraries for all kinds of reasons. Most come for the books themselves, of course; some come to borrow companionship. For head librarian Kit, the public library in Riverton, New Hampshire, offers what she craves most: peace. Here, no one expects Kit to talk about the calamitous events that catapulted her out of what she thought was a settled, suburban life. She can simply submerge herself in her beloved books and try to forget her problems. But that changes when fifteen-year-old, home-schooled Sunny gets arrested for shoplifting a dictionary. The judge throws the book at Sunny—literally—assigning her to do community service at the library for the summer. Bright, curious, and eager to connect with someone other than her...

On the night of February 18, 1952, during one of the worst winter storms that New England has ever seen, two oil tankers just off the shore of Cape Cod were torn in half by the force of the storm. This middle-grade adaptation of an adult nonfiction book tells the story of the shipwreck and a harrowing Coast Guard rescue when four men in a tiny lifeboat overcame insurmountable odds and saved more than 30 stranded sailors. This is a fast-paced, uplifting story that puts young readers in the middle of the action. It's a gripping story of heroism and survival with the same intensity as the bestselling book and movie The Perfect Storm. A Christy Ottaviano Book

Since Randi Howell fled her own wedding — and sinister gunmen — and made a new home at Brady Jones's Texas ranch, she knows this is where she belongs, with the work, the horses and especially Brady.Randi doesn't know who the gunmen were planning to kill, but she heard enough that they're still after her. She's safe for now far away in Texas. But she hasn't told Brady about her past. The strong, handsome rancher is everything she has ever wanted in a man. He's a man of honor — how could he accept her if he knew she'd left her fiancé at the altar?

Time is running out for runaway bride Randi Howell. The hitmen are hot on her trail, and soon no one will be safe at Brady's ranch. Texas feels a lifetime away from Grand Springs, but going home and facing up to her old life may be the only way to hang on to the new one. Randi's days of running are over—she just hopes that Brady can face his fears about love and stop running, too….

A spellbinding historical novel about a woman who befriends Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, and is drawn into their world of intrigue, from the author of Margot. On June 19, 1953, Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were executed for conspiring to commit espionage. The day Ethel was first arrested in 1950, she left her two young sons with a neighbor, and she never came home to them again. Brilliantly melding fact and fiction, Jillian Cantor reimagines the life of that neighbor, and the life of Ethel and Julius, an ordinary-seeming Jewish couple who became the only Americans put to death for spying during the Cold War. A few years earlier, in 1947, Millie Stein moves with her husband, Ed, and their toddler son, David, into an apartment on the eleventh floor in Knickerbocker Village on New York's Lower East Side. Her new neighbors are the Rosenbergs. Struggling to care for David, who doesn't speak, and isolated from other "normal" families, Millie meets Jake, a psychologist...

It Begins in the Most boring place in the world: Chickentown, U.S.A. There lives Candy Quackenbush, her heart bursting for some clue as to what her future might hold. When the answer comes, it’s not one she expects. Out of nowhere comes a wave, and Candy, led by a man called John Mischief (whose brothers live on the horns on his head), leaps into the surging waters and is carried away. Where? To the Abarat: a vast archipelago where every island is a different hour of the day, from The Great Head that sits in the mysterious twilight waters of Eight in the Evening, to the sunlit wonders of Three in the Afternoon, where dragons roam, to the dark terrors of Gorgossium, the island of Midnight, ruled over by the Prince of Midnight himself, Christopher Carrion. As Candy journeys from one amazing place to another, making fast friends and encountering treacherous foes—mechanical bugs and giant moths, miraculous cats and men made of mud, a murderous wizard and his terrified slave—she begins to realize something. She has been here before. Candy has a place in this extraordinary world: she is here to help save the Abarat from the dark forces that are stirring at its heart. Forces older than Time itself, and more evil than anything Candy has ever encountered. She’s a strange heroine, she knows. But this is a strange world. And in the Abarat, all things are possible.

A cluster of suicides among the elderly. Such things are not unknown to the police and the deaths are quickly dismissed by the police as routine. Only one man is convinced that something more sinister is taking place. However, no one listens to Tom Thorne anymore. Having stepped out of line once too often, he's back in uniform and he hates it. Patronised and abused by his new colleagues, Thorne's suspicions about the suicides are dismissed by the Murder Squad he was once part of and he is forced to investigate alone. Unable to trust anyone, Thorne must risk losing those closest to him.He must gamble with the lives of those targeted by a killer unlike any he has hunted before. A man with nothing to lose and a growing list of victims. A man with the power to make people take their own lives. Tom Thorne returns in Billingham's most compelling thriller to date. The Dying Hours is a haunting portrait of London's dark heart, and the darker heart of a twisted killer bringing terror to its streets.Review“Morse, Rebus, and now Thorne. The next superstar detective is already with us—don’t miss him.”—Lee Child“Billingham is one of the most consistently entertaining, insightful crime writers working today.”—Gillian Flynn“Billingham is a world-class crime writer and Tom Thorne is a wonderful creation. Rush to read these books.”—Karin Slaughter“With each of his books, Mark Billingham gets better and better. These are stories and characters you don’t want to leave.”—Michael Connelly“Mark Billingham is one of my favorite new writers.”—Harlan Coben"Billingham is one of the best crime novelists working today."—Laura Lippman“Mark Billingham has brought a rare and welcome blend of humanity, dimension, and excitement to the genre.”—George Pelecanos“Billingham leaps to the upper echelons of crime fiction in one bound.”—John HarveyAbout the AuthorMark Billingham is one of England's best known and top-selling crime writers. His most recent book was a #1 bestseller in the UK. He has twice won the Theakston's Old Peculier Award for Best Crime Novel, and has also won a Sherlock Award for the Best Detective created by a British writer. His novels Sleepyhead and Scaredy Cat were made into a hit TV series on Sky 1 starring David Morrissey as Thorne. Mark lives in North London with his wife and two children.

The master of military historical fiction turns his discerning eye to the Korean War in this riveting new novel, which tells the dramatic story of the Americans and the Chinese who squared off in one of the deadliest campaigns in the annals of combat: the Battle of Chosin Reservoir, also known as Frozen Chosin. June 1950. The North Korean army invades South Korea, intent on uniting the country under Communist rule. In response, the United States mobilizes a force to defend the overmatched South Korean troops, and together they drive the North Koreans back to their border with China. But several hundred thousand Chinese troops have entered Korea, laying massive traps for the Allies. In November 1950, the Chinese spring those traps. Allied forces, already battling stunningly cold weather, find themselves caught completely off guard as the Chinese advance around the Chosin Reservoir in North Korea. A force that once stood on the precipice of victory now finds itself on...

Real life is no place for fairy tales... Kristin Hart has romantic notions of Scotland. Yet she never expects to find a real-life Scotsman in her Vermont hometown! Despite her instant connection with him, Malcolm MacDowell isn't the Prince Charming she thought. Because no prince would shut down her factory - the one that means everything to her town. Really, she has no choice. Kristin hops on the next flight to Edinburgh, determined to convince Malcolm her workplace should remain open. But the distraction of the man is almost too much. Still, the magic of the Highlands makes anything seem possible...even a happily ever after of her own.

From the critically acclaimed author of A Beautiful Blue Death and A Burial at Sea comes an intriguing new mystery in what The New York Times calls "a beguiling series" Charles Lenox is at the pinnacle of his political career and is a delighted new father. His days of regularly investigating the crimes of Victorian London now some years behind him, he plans a trip to his uncle's estate, Somerset, in the expectation of a few calm weeks to write an important speech. When he arrives in the quiet village of Plumley, however, what greets him is a series of strange vandalisms upon the local shops: broken windows, minor thefts, threatening scrawls.Only when a far more serious crime is committed does he begin to understand the great stakes of those events, and the complex and sinister mind that is wreaking fear and suspicion in Plumley.  Now, with his protege, John Dallington, at his side, the race is on for Lenox to find the culprit before he strikes again.  And this time his victim may be someone that Lenox loves.About the AuthorCharles Finch is a graduate of Yale and Oxford. He is the author of the Charles Lenox mysteries, including The Fleet Street Murders, The September Society, A Stranger in Mayfair, and A Burial at Sea. His first novel, A Beautiful Blue Death, was nominated for an Agatha Award and was named one of Library Journal’s Best Books of 2007, one of only five mystery novels on the list. He lives in Oxford, England.Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.From Chapter One: Lady Jane reached the bottom of the stairs. She was a pretty woman, in rather a plain way, dark-haired and at the moment pale, wearing a gray dress with a pink ribbon at the waist. Above all the impression she left on people was of goodness—or perhaps that was the impression she left primarily on Lenox, because he knew her so well, and therefore knew that quality in her. For many long years they had been dear friends, living side by side on Hampden Lane; now, still to his great surprise, they were man and wife. They had married four years before.Better still, to add to his great happiness and evergreen surprise, at long last they had received a blessing that made him stop and smile to himself at random moments throughout every day, as he just had in his study, a blessing that never failed to lift his spirits above the intransigent tedium of politics: a daughter, Sophie.She had been theirs for three months, and every day her personality developed in new, startling, wonderful directions. Almost every hour he snuck away from his work to glimpse her, sleeping or better yet awake. Granted, she didn’t do much—she was no great hand at arithmetic, as Lady Jane would joke, seldom said anything witty, would prove useless aboard a horse—but he found even her minutest motions enchanting. Babies had always seemed much of a muchness to him, but how wrong he had been! When she wriggled an inch to the left he found himself holding his breath with excitement.After Jane had gone downstairs to arrange his lunch with the butler and the cook, Lenox remained in the hall, where he opened his letter. It was from his uncle Frederick, a relation of Lenox’s late mother.Dear Charles,Please consider this a formal invitation to come down for a week or two, with Jane of course and the new Lenox; I very much want to meet her. The garden is in fine shape, and then, Fripp is very anxious to have you for the cricket, which takes place Saturday week. I haven’t seen you in more than a year, you know.*Yours with affection,Frederick PonsonbyPostscript: To sweeten the pot, shall I mention that in town, recently, there have been a series of strange vandalisms? The police cannot make head or tail of them and so everyone is in great stir. Perhaps you might lend a hand.*Lenox smiled. He was fond of his uncle, an eccentric man, retiring and very devoted to his small, ancient country house, which lay just by a village. Since the age of four or five Lenox had gone there once a year, usually for a fortnight, though it was true that the stretches between visits had gotten longer more recently, as life had grown busier. Still, there was no way he could leave London just at this moment, with so many political matters hanging in the balance. He tucked the note into his jacket pocket and turned back to his study.Copyright © 2012 by Charles Finch