A indomitable governess...a brooding Highlander...a forbidden affair... An ill-fated elopement cost English-born governess Bernadette Kent her reputation, her fickle lover and any chance of a future match. She has nothing left to fear—not even the bitter, dangerously handsome Scot due to marry her young charge. Naive wallflower Avaline is terrified to wed Rabbie Mackenzie, but if he sends her home, she will be ruined. Bernadette's solution: convince Rabbie to get Avaline to cry off...while ignoring her own traitorous attraction to him. A forced engagement to an Englishwoman is a hard pill for any Scot to swallow. It's even worse when the fiancée in question is a delicate, foolish young miss—unlike her spirited, quick-witted governess. Sparring with Bernadette brings passion and light back to Rabbie's life after the failed Jacobite uprising. His clan's future depends upon his match to another, but how can any Highlander forsake a love that...

Serge A. Storms returns! The world's most lovable serial killer is back, bringing together an Oscar-worthy cast of Sunshine State nut jobs with his insatiable passion for All Things Florida. During this latest cavalcade of nonstop felonies—from Tampa to Fort Lauderdale to Orlando—Serge finds time to resurrect his obsession with movies, particularly those showcasing his beloved home state. And he wants answers! Why aren't more films shot here? How come the ones that are stink so bad? And what's up with filming "Florida" scenes in California? Then there's the cryptic message from his grandfather, Sergio, telling him to go to Los Angeles to uncover a mysterious secret from the distant past. It's too much of a coincidence. It's fate. Naturally, Serge, accompanied by his substance-sustained sidekick, Coleman, must immediately hop a transcontinental flight to straighten out Hollywood once and for all. But, of course, being Serge, his mission is sidetracked by perpetual detours to irresistible celluloid landmarks . . . and intrigue. Meanwhile, in Burbank, production of what may become the most expensive flop in Tinseltown history is interrupted by the brazen abduction of the female lead. Meanwhile, a couple of midwestern dreamers head west for their shot at fame—and find it at the center of a celebrity murder investigation. And even more meanwhile, infamous studio heads Ian and Mel Glick continue to produce juggernaut high-grossing dreck, casting-couch perversion, and cocaine hijinks. But there's more. Much more. How is the Japanese mafia involved? The Alabama mafia? Is the castrating cult throwing a membership party? Will Coleman survive his binge at the Belushi hotel? Who can defuse the nuclear bomb? It all comes crashing together in a breathtaking climactic sequence that prompts an enthusiastic Serge to proclaim: "Two thumbs way, way up!" So come on in and grab a seat. The show's about to start. . . .

Sometimes what you can't see means everything. A young woman is missing. In desperation, her parents turn to Autumn Rain for help. Autumn reads imprints—emotions mysteriously left behind on certain treasured objects. But will this ability enrich her life or destroy it? Autumn isn't sure—her life has become far from normal—but for people whose loved ones are missing, her talent might mean the difference between life and death. Even the infuriating Detective Martin has asked for Autumn's help, though at times she feels more like a suspect than a consultant. Too often Autumn find herself retreating to her antiques shop and the company of her best friend, Jake Ryan, to avoid notice. But soon more than one woman is missing, and Autumn teams up with private eye Ethan McConnell to investigate their disappearance. Ethan's attraction to her is a pleasant change from Jake's frustrating offers of friendship, but once Autumn takes that first step, she sets in motion a...

When Caterina Gomez returns to her beloved home of Oporto, Portugal, her troubles have only just begun. For the country is at war with France, and, even though Oporto is no longer in French hands, it is a shadow of its former self. The scandalous cloud she left under is still not forgotten, and her cruel and distant father insists on a hasty marriage or the convent. Half English and half Portuguese, she must walk a fine line between both societies, which is all made near impossible considering her troubled past.Thankfully, her dear friend Miss Harriet Brown and cousin Jeremy Craddock have accompanied her from England. But Harriet can only offer comfort whilst sharing in her fate, and Jeremy – who is seeking treatment for his ill health – becomes distracted by his fair and pretty healer. Then Caterina's past resurfaces in a most confusing manner in the shape of Luiz, her childhood sweetheart, drawing her further into the tangles of political intrigue...

J. M. Coetzee is, without question, one of the world's greatest novelists. This volume gathers together for the first time in book form twenty-nine pieces on books, writing, photography and the 1995 Rugby World Cup in South Africa. Stranger Shores opens with 'What is a Classic?' in which Coetzee explores the answer to his own question - 'What does it mean in living terms to say that the classic is what survives?' - by way of TS Eliot, JS Bach and Zbigniew Herbert. His subjects range from eighteenth and nineteenth century writers Daniel Defoe, Samuel Richardson and Ivan Turgenev, to the great German modernists Rilke, Kafka, and Musil, to the giants of late twentieth century literature, among them Harry Mulisch, Joseph Brodsky, Jorge Luis Borges, Salman Rushdie, Amos Oz, Naguib Mahfouz, Nadine Gordimer and Doris Lessing.

SUMMARY:In the late summer of 1831, in a remote section of southeastern Virginia, there took place the only effective, sustained revolt in the annals of American Negro slavery...The revolt was led by a remarkable Negro preacher named Nat Turner, an educated slave who felt himself divinely ordained to annihilate all the white people in the region.The Confessions of Nat Turner is narrated by Nat himself as he lingers in jail through the cold autumnal days before his execution. The compelling story ranges over the whole of Nat's Life, reaching its inevitable and shattering climax that bloody day in August. The Confessions of Nat Turner is not only a masterpiece of storytelling; is also reveals in unforgettable human terms the agonizing essence of Negro slavery. Through the mind of a slave, Willie Styron has re-created a catastrophic event, and dramatized the intermingled miseries, frustrations--and hopes--which caused this extraordinary black man to rise up out of the early mists of our history and strike down those who held his people in bondage.

A long-forgotten letter sets off a charged encounter with the past in this poignant and gorgeously told tale masterfully told by Sandra Cisneros, the celebrated author of The House on Mango Street, in a beautiful dual-language edition. A VINTAGE ORIGINAL.As a young woman, Corina leaves her Mexican family in Chicago to pursue her dream of becoming a writer in the cafes of Paris. Instead, she spends her brief time in the City of Light running out of money and lining up with other immigrants to call home from a broken pay phone. But her months of befriending panhandling artists in the subway, sleeping on crowded attic floors, and dancing the tango at underground parties are given a lasting glow by her intense friendships with Martita and Paola. Over the years the three women disperse to three continents, falling out of touch and out of mind—until a letter unearthed in a closet brings Corina’s days in Paris back with breathtaking...

National Book Award for Fiction Seven Stories Press is proud to release the first critical edition of Nelson Algren's masterpiece on the 50th anniversary of its publication in November 1949. Considered Algren's finest work, The Man with the Golden Arm recounts one man's self-destruction in Chicago's Polish ghetto. The novel's protagonist, Frankie Machine, remains a tragic American hero half a century after Algren created this gritty and relentlessly dark tale of modern urban society. *** ‘Powerful, grisly, antic, horrifying, poetic, compassionate… [there is] virtually nothing more that one could ask.’ – New York Times Book Review ‘A thriller that packs more of a punch than Pulp Fiction and more grittiness than either Raymond Chandler or Dashiell Hammett, The Man with the Golden Arm is incredibly lyrical, as poetic as it is dramatic, combining the brutal dialogue of guys and broads with dreamlike images, and puncturing the harrowing narrative with revelations that flesh out every tragic figure into a fully-realised, complex character.’ – The Scotsman ‘Algren is an artist whose sympathy is as large as Victor Hugo’s, an artist who ranks, with this novel, among our best American authors.’ – Chicago Sun Times ‘A stirring hard-boiled read.’ – Maxim ‘An extraordinary piece of fiction… If the Bridget Jones brigade somehow drifted Nelson Algren’s way the world would undoubtedly be a better place and Rebel Inc’s bottom line invisible without a telescope. Keep my dream alive and buy this book.’ – The Crack ‘A true novelists triumph.’ – Time ‘This is a man writing and you should not read it if you cannot take a punch… Mr Algren can hit with both hands and move around and he will kill you if you are not awfully careful… Mr Algren, boy, you are good.’ – Ernest Hemingway ‘The finest American novel published since the war.’ – Washington Post Book World ‘I was going to write a war novel. But it turned out to be this Golden Arm thing. I mean, the war kind of slipped away, and those people with the hypos came crawling along and that was it.’ – Nelson Algren ‘Profound and richly atmospheric.’- The Guardian

Robyn Crandall thought she had the life she'd always dreamed of, with her childhood sweetheart, until he asked for a divorce. Gone with him are her hopes of a perfect home and family. Moving back in with her mother, broke and broken, Robyn has no plans to do anything besides lick her wounds and hold on to her faltering career. But then she finds herself unexpectedly drawn to a man who has everything and yet seems to have nothing at all. Every single milestone Chris Scaife set, he's reached and surpassed. The one place he feels out of his depth is being a father to his three kids--all them practical strangers--and dealing with their mothers who view him as a never-ending source of income. Between that, and managing his music empire he doesn't have time for distractions, but one shows up anyway. Robyn is a woman who deserves the kind of life he doesn't feel equipped to give her, but walking away might not be that easy; especially since she's also shown him glimpses of a life *he* didn't think he could have.

Book 3 of bestselling Shenandoah Sisters. Katie, the daughter of a plantation owner, and Mayme, the daughter of a slave, find themselves with only each other after the Civil War. They devise a scheme to keep Katie’s plantation going, disguising the fact they are all alone. Now in book three, the girls face new threats to their security. A long-lost uncle appears and then disappears as suddenly, taking their secret with them. Then a flood threatens to destroy the remaining cotton crop they need to save the plantation from foreclosure. Filled with fascinating period details, challenging questions of faith, and heartwarming friendship, this series has all the elements historical fiction fans love.Review"...another powerful installment in the SHENANDOAH SISTERS series...Mayme's voice is unique and insightful." -- romantictimes.comAbout the AuthorMichael Phillips has written three dozen books, including the Secrets of Heathersleigh Hall, with sales totaling over four million copies. He and his wife have been CBA retailers for over 30 years and make their home in Eureka, California.