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The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes: Stories from the Golden Age of Gaslight Crime
by Nick RennisonSherlock Holmes is the most famous fictional detective ever created. The supremely rational sleuth and his dependable companion, Dr Watson, will forever be associated with the gaslit and smog-filled streets of late nineteenth and early twentieth century London. Yet Holmes and Watson were not the only ones solving mysterious crimes and foiling the plans of villainous masterminds in Victorian and Edwardian England. The years between 1890 and 1914 were a golden age for English magazines and most of them published crime and detective fiction. The startling success of the Holmes stories that appeared in The Strand magazine spawned countless imitators. This volume highlights some of those 'Rivals of Sherlock Holmes'
Ptolemy's Gate (A Bartimaeus Novel #3)
by Jonathan StroudIn the third book of the series, Bartimaeus, Nathaniel, and Kitty must test the limits of this world, question the deepest parts of themselves -- and trust one another if they hope to survive. Includes a preview chapter from The Ring of Solomon, a Bartimaeus novel.
Little Women: From the Original Publisher
by Louisa May AlcottThe beautiful 150th anniversary edition of Louisa May Alcott's classic tale of the four March sisters, featuring new illustrations and an introduction by New York Times bestselling author J. Courtney SullivanFor generations, children around the world have come of age with Louisa May Alcott's March girls: hardworking eldest sister Meg, headstrong, impulsive Jo, timid Beth, and precocious Amy. With their father away at war, and their loving mother Marmee working to support the family, the four sisters have to rely on one another for support as they endure the hardships of wartime and poverty. We witness the sisters growing up and figuring out what role each wants to play in the world, and, along the way, join them on countless unforgettable adventures.Readers young and old will fall in love with this beloved classic, at once a lively portrait of nineteenth-century family life and a feminist novel about young women defying society's expectations.
The Last Train to Scarborough (Jim Stringer #6)
by Andrew MartinA riveting new adventure for Jim Stringer, Andrew Martin's celebrated 'Steam Detective'.It is March 1914, and Jim Stringer is uneasy about his next assignment. It's not so much the prospect of a Scarborough lodging house in the gloomy off-season that bothers him, or even the fact that the last railwayman to stay in the house has disappeared without trace. It's more that his governor, Chief Inspector Saul Weatherhill, seems to be deliberately holding back details of the case - and that he's been sent to Scarborough with a trigger-happy assistant. The lodging house is called Paradise, but, as Jim discovers, it's hardly that in reality. It is, however, home to the seductive and beautiful Amanda Rickerby, a woman evidently capable of derailing Jim's marriage - and a good deal more besides.As a storm brews in Scarborough, it becomes increasingly unlikely that Jim will ever ride the train back to York.'Crime dispatched with a Dickensian relish . . . Delectable stuff.' Daily Express'[Andrew Martin] is an original voice and the historical novels are the best I have read this century.' Katherine A. Powers, Boston Globe
The Core of the Sun
by Johanna SinisaloThe Eusistocratic Republic of Finland has bred a new human sub-species of receptive, submissive women, called eloi, for sex and procreation, while intelligent, independent women are relegated to menial labour and sterilized. Vanna, raised as an eloi but secretly intelligent, needs money to help her doll-like sister, Manna.Vanna forms a friendship with a man named Jare, and they become involved in buying and selling a stimulant known to the Health Authority to be extremely dangerous: chilli peppers. Then Manna disappears, and Jare comes across a strange religious cult in possession of the Core of the Sun, a chilli so hot that it is rumoured to cause hallucinations. Does this chilli have effects that justify its prohibition? How did Finland turn into the North Korea of Europe? And will Vanna succeed in her quest to find her sister, or will her growing need to satisfy her chilli addiction destroy her? Johanna Sinisalo's tautly told story of fight and flight is also a feisty, between-the-lines social polemic - a witty, inventive, and fiendishly engaging read from the queen of 'Finnish Weird'.
Journey to the Stone Country
by Alex MillerBetrayed by her husband, Annabelle Beck retreats from Melbourne to her old family home in tropical North Queensland where she meets Bo Rennie, one of the Jangga tribe. Intrigued by Bo's claim that he holds the key to her future, Annabelle sets out with him on a path of recovery that leads back to her childhood and into the Jangga's ancient heartland, where their grandparents' lives begin to yield secrets that will challenge the possibility of their happiness together.With the consummate artistry of a novelist working at the height of his powers, Miller convinces us that the stone country is not only a remote and exotic location in North Queensland, but is also an unvisited place within each of us. Journey to the Stone Country confirms Miller's reputation as one of Australia's most intelligent and uncompromising writers.
Tom Fool
by David Stacton'Yes, it was a crusade. But just what was it the people out there feared and hated so much? Not surely the candidate. He was a decent man. Or was that it?' With Tom Fool (1962) David Stacton concluded a triptych of novels drawn from the history of America. For this final panel he turned his eye on politics. The titular protagonist is a fictional rendering of Wendell Wilkie, unlikely Republican challenger to Franklin D. Roosevelt in the presidential election of 1940. As 'Tom Fool' endures an epic campaigning tour of thirty-one states - assisted (or dogged) by his political advisor 'Sideboard' and husband-and-wife PR consultants the Pattersons - he finds himself uncomfortably reminded that America, in its vastness and contradictions, is more than one country, and a unique conundrum to one who would be President.
Radio Girls
by Sarah-Jane Stratford1926, the BBC. The nation listens. A woman finds her voice.London, 1926. Maisie Musgrave is thrilled to land a job at the fledgling British Broadcasting Corporation whose new and electrifying radio network is captivating the nation. Famous writers, scientists, politicians – the BBC is broadcasting them all, but behind the scenes Maisie is drawn into a battle of wills being fought by her two bosses. John Reith, the formidable Director-General and Hilda Matheson, the extraordinary Director of Talks Programming, envisage very different futures for radio. And when Maisie unearths a shocking conspiracy, she and Hilda join forces to make their voices heard both on and off the air . . .
Red Herrings: A Simon Bognor Mystery (Simon Bognor Mysteries)
by Tim HealdAn ancient country custom goes awry, killing a man and spoiling Bognor's holiday. At the annual Clout, the men of Herring do as they have done for centuries, firing arrows blindly into the woods and allowing their women to retrieve what they have shot. Nobody ever kills anything, but it's a jolly time nonetheless - until the day when a few of the arrows find their mark, pinning a wayward customs inspector to a tree in a bloody parody of Saint Sebastian. It's rotten luck for the dead man, and not much better for Simon Bognor. Bognor huffs when he hears of the killing, knowing that he is going to be sucked into investigating the death. A special inspector for the Board of Trade, Bognor is always getting invited to crime scenes, despite knowing almost nothing about crime. His bad lungs, sour attitude, and fleshy physique are out of place in the countryside, but Bognor is in for the duration. He will find the person who caused the accident - or the next arrow's target could be his heart. 'Dazzling and star-spangled [prose].' - Dorothy B. Hughes, author of In a Lonely Place'Crime with a P.G. Wodehouse flair.' - Chicago Tribune 'A constant pleasure.' - The Daily Telegraph
River, Cross My Heart: A Novel (Basic Ser.)
by Breena ClarkeThe acclaimed bestseller -- a selection of Oprah's Book Club -- that brings vividly to life the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, DC, circa 1925, and a community reeling from a young girl's tragic death.When five-year-old Clara Bynum drowns in the Potomac River under a seemingly haunted rock outcropping known locally as the Three Sisters, the community must reconcile themselves to the bitter tragedy.Clarke powerful charts the fallout from Clara's death on the people she has left behind: her parents, Alice and Willie Bynum, torn between the old world of their rural North Carolina home and the new world of the city; the friends and relatives of the Bynum family in the Georgetown neighborhood they now call home; and, most especially, Clara's sister, ten-year-old Johnnie Mae, who is thrust into adolescence and must come to terms with the terrible and confused emotions stirred by her sister's death. This highly accomplished debut novel reverberates with ideas, impassioned lyricism, and poignant historical detail as it captures an essential and moving portrait of the Washington, DC community.
The INVISIBLE COLLECTION: Tales of Obsession and Desire
by Stefan ZweigA collection of brilliant short stories from a master of the form'This is the story of about the strangest thing that I've ever encountered, old art dealer that I am.'It is perhaps the finest art collection of its kind, acquired through a lifetime of sacrifice - but when a dealer comes to see it, he finds something quite unexpected, and is drawn into a peculiar deception of the collector himself...Stefan Zweig was a wildly popular writer of compelling short fiction: in this collection there are peaks of extraordinary emotion, stories of all that is human crushed by the movements of history, of letters that fill a young heart or drive a person towards death, of obsession and desire. They will stay with the reader for ever.Stefan Zweig was born in 1881 in Vienna, into a wealthy Austrian-Jewish family. He studied in Berlin and Vienna and was first known as a poet and translator, then as a biographer. Between the wars, Zweig was an international bestseller with a string of hugely popular novellas including Letter from an Unknown Woman, Amok and Fear. In 1934, with the rise of Nazism, he left Austria, and lived in London, Bath and New York - a period during which he produced his most celebrated works: his only novel, Beware of Pity, and his memoir, The World of Yesterday. He eventually settled in Brazil, where in 1942 he and his wife were found dead in an apparent double suicide. Much of his work is available from Pushkin Press.
How to Play Dead: The new pulse-raising thriller for fans of Ruth Ware and Gillian McAllister
by Jacqueline WardHe knows your every move...__________________________She's watching over them. And he's watching her...Ria Taylor is everything to everyone. Wife and mother, the centre of her family. And the manager of a refuge for women whose partners have driven them out of their own homes. But one night, with her husband away, Ria receives a terrifyingly sinister message. Someone is watching her. Someone who seems to know everything about her. She knows what she should do - seek help, just like she tells her clients to. But Ria is the help. As events escalate, and terror takes hold, Ria must decide whether to run or hide...
The Orange Grove (Biblioasis International Translation Ser.)
by Larry TremblayWar takes no prisoners. It involves everyone - even children.Twin brothers, Ahmed and Aziz, live in the peaceful shade of their family's orange grove. But when a bomb kills the boys' grandparents, they become pawns in their country's civil war. Blood demands more blood and, at the command of a local militant group, either Ahmed or Aziz must strap on a belt of explosives and make the ultimate sacrifice. Will the surviving twin ever manage to release himself from the past?Why Peirene chose to publish this book:'This story made me cry. Since the dawn of civilisation we have justified war by claiming that we are creating a better future for our children. And yet don't we run the risk of laying a curse on future generations? This story reminds us of our obligation to forgive - ourselves as well as others.' Meike Ziervogel, publisher at Peirene Press'Nuanced but contrasting. Rough but also sensual. Shot through with poweful dialogue but never rambling. This kind of writing takes guts.'Le Devoir'A little jewel, finely chiseled.' Elle'Larry Tremblay's ability [is] not so much to weave a storyline as to unravel it with finesse and beauty.' Toronto Sun
Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy (Gallagher Girls #2)
by Ally CarterAfter the excitement of the fall, all Cammie Morgan wants is peaceful semester at school. But that's easier said than done when you're a CIA legacy and go to the premier school in the world...for spies.Despite Cammie's best intentions, trouble crops up quickly. Cammie, Bex, and Liz learn that the Gallagher Academy is hosting guests from another spy school -- a school that is known to the world as the Ethan Frome Academy--a secret spy school for boys. After her fiasco with Josh last fall, Cammie isn't sure she's ready for daily encounters with boy spies especially after she meets Zach -- an incorrigibe cutie who everyone thinks is just perfect. Cammie is right to be worried about their new guests. Soon after the boys' arrival, she's blamed for a series of security breaches that leave the school's top-secret status at risk. And the perfectly crushable Zach is her prime suspect.
A Childhood
by Jona OberskiA small boy grows up in Amsterdam, making sand pies, playing with his favourite jumping jack toy, visiting his father's office as a treat. He is loved. Then men with guns come in the night to take them away, and the familiar world of his childhood is destroyed. In this searing, spare novel Jona Oberski, who was transported to Bergen-Belsen as a young boy, recreates the state of childhood with unblinking, almost unbearable clarity. Conveying the joy of family life and the terror of separation, these vivid, haunting snapshots of memory have the darkness and strangeness of the most terrible fairy tale, as a child tries to understand the horror unfolding around him.Jona Oberski was born in 1938 in Amsterdam. He studied and worked there as a nuclear and particle research physicist, and still lives there with his wife Froukje Slijper. He is the father of three sons, two from an earlier marriage.
View of the World: Selected Journalism
by Norman LewisCollected between these covers are twenty of Norman Lewis's finest pieces of travel writing, spanning a period of 30 years. He brings us face to face with Castro's executioner, with a tragic Ernest Hemingway and with the unchanged lifestyle of fishermen in an unspoilt Ibiza. He describes the gentle pleasures of Belize, the ferocious blood feuds of Sardinian bandits and the unpleasant duty of repatriating Cossacks to the Soviet Union in 1944. At the heart of the collection is Lewis's famous report on the genocide of the Brazilians Indians, which led to the creation of Survival International - which campaigns for the rights of tribal peoples. This, Lewis felt, was the most important achievement of his professional life.
Best-loved Joyce
by James JoyceA beautiful and accessible collection of quotes and short extracts taken from the major works of James Joyce: Dubliners, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Ulysses and Finnegans Wake, with additional quotes from Joyce’s poetry & letters. Best-Loved Joyce is a collection of the writer’s wit and wisdom on truth, love, family, art, literature, music, living, religion, mortality, history, politics, and Ireland. Grand-nephew Bob Joyce's introduction focuses on the life, works and the man.
Too Weird for Ziggy (Books That Changed The World Ser.)
by Sylvie SimmonsSylvie Simmons' fiction debut, Too Weird for Ziggy is a darkly comic collection of linked stories all set in the world of crass A & R men, fans mired in hero worship, and music stars perpetually on the verge of ego tantrum or outright crackup. From a pop goddess named Pussy who has a nervous breakdown, and is found hoarding her own hair and fingernail clippings to cults utterly devoted to Karen Carpenter that spring up after the singer's image appears on various buildings (including a kebab shop): from a band of crock-rockers whose star-making tour goes horribly wrong when their lead singer starts to grow breasts, to an MTV sponsored seance to raise a dead rock god, Simmons' tales embrace the bizarre world of rock. Too Weird for Ziggy has the devastating humour, punch and hook of a great a pop tune.
A Girl Walks into a bar: A choose your own erotic destiny novel (Your Fantasy, Your Rules Ser. #1)
by Helena S PaigeA Girl Walks into a Bar is the first in a series of exciting choose-your-own-erotic-destiny novels. This is your fantasy, your rules. When your friend cancels on your girls' night out at the last moment, you suddenly find yourself all dressed up and alone at an exclusive bar. What do you do now? Will you spend the evening drinking tequila with a rock star? Or perhaps the suave and charming millionaire businessman is more your style? But the angelic young barman with a body made for sin has also caught your eye … then there's the bodyguard who has the keys to his boss's sports car and is offering you a ride … or maybe you'd rather just head home instead - to your sexy new neighbour. Whichever way you decide to go, each twist and turn you make will lead to an unforgettable encounter. Can you choose the ultimate sensual experience? The power is entirely yours!
Forever, Again
by Victoria LaurieLily Bennett is less than thrilled to be the new kid as she starts her junior year in high school. But soon after classes begin, she meets a classmate, Cole Drepeau, with whom she forms an immediate and intimate bond. As Cole and Lily grow closer, Lily learns about the murder that divided the town more than thirty years before. In 1987, graduating senior Amber Greeley snapped, killing her boyfriend Ben-Cole's uncle-and taking her own life. Lily feels inexplicably linked to Amber, and she can't help but think that there's more to the girl's story. Determined to investigate the truth about Cole's uncle's death, Lily and Cole are pulled into a dark mystery-one that shakes the constraints of the world they've always believed in. Masterfully told by best-selling author Victoria Laurie, this novel alternates voices between Lily and Amber, a generation apart, as decades of dark family secrets and treacherous betrayals are woven into the most epic of love stories. Praise for When"Laurie's debut for teens is quite an accomplishment...The character development is just as riveting as the plot in this well-constructed thriller." -Kirkus Reviews"This excellent book is a must-have for all libraries, especially where suspense and teen-life fiction is hot. This novel will provide crossover appeal to both older teens and adults." -VOYA"[T]he novel packs in plenty of fast-paced, nail-biting fun, perfect for fans of Barnes' The Naturals series." -Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books"The plot is filled with false turns, which will keep readers engaged until the surprising ending." -School Library Journal
A Closed Book
by Gilbert AdairAn isolated house deep in the Cotswolds. A writer's den, as dusty and gloomy as the cell of a medieval monk. Two people sit opposite each other, one of them talking, the other typing. But why, in such already sombre surroundings, does one of them wear thick dark glasses? And what, above all, has caused an unearthy shadow to fall across these two interwoven destinies?Apart from the several startling twists of its own brilliant plot, A Closed Book springs a few extra surprises on those readers who have already seen the film version. 'A page-turner par excellence.' Evening Standard'Gilbert Adair's spookily gripping novel blends an Agatha Christie-like twist with a Hitchcockian plot.' Marie Claire'This short, intellectually resourceful thriller...sparklingly clever, adroit and entertaining.' The Spectator'Gilbert Adair's novel has an almost cinematic, even radio-play, sense of suspense, but plays tricks only possible on the page...The finale is deliciously apt and unsettling.' Independent'Very readable indeed...a darkly entertaining soufflé...A Closed Book positively invites an informed second reading.' Independent on Sunday
Sweet Thames
by Matthew KnealeIn the summer of 1849, cholera threatens the city and the people of London. The authorities send millions of gallons of sewage cascading into the Thames - for many Londoners the only source of drinking water. Joshua Jeavons, a young and idealistic engineer, embarks on an obsessive quest to find the cause of the epidemic. As he labours in a fog of incomprehension, his domestic life is troubled by the baffling coldness of his beautiful bride, Isobella. But when she suddenly disappears, his desperate search for her takes him to a netherworld of slum-dwellers, pickpockets and scavengers of subterranean London.
The Language of Bees: A puzzling mystery for Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes (Mary Russell & Sherlock Holmes #Vol. 9)
by Laurie R. KingThe New York Times Bestseller.For Mary Russell and her husband, Sherlock Holmes, returning to the Sussex coast after seven months abroad was a delicious anticipation. There was even a mystery to solve – the unexplained disappearance of an entire colony of bees from one of Holmes’s beloved hives. But the anticipated sweetness of their homecoming is quickly tempered by a bitter memory from her husband’s past. Mary had met Damian Adler only once before, when the promising surrealist painter had been charged with – and exonerated from – murder. Now the talented and troubled young man is enlisting their help again, this time in a desperate search for his missing wife and child. From suicides among the Standing Stones to a bizarre religious cult, from the demi-monde of the Café Royal at the heart of Bohemian London to the dark secrets of a young woman’s past on the streets of Shanghai, Russell will find herself on the trail of a killer more dangerous than any she’s ever faced – a killer Sherlock Holmes himself may be protecting for reasons near and dear to his heart.
Binocular Vision: New And Selected Stories
by Edith PearlmanTenderly, observantly, incisively, Edith Pearlman captures life on the page like few other writers. She is a master of the short story, and this is a spectacular collection.
Time Shall Reap
by Doris DavidsonIt is 1915, and Elspeth Gray is young, unmarried, heavily pregnant and destitute in a strange city. Having no one else to turn to, she throws herself on the mercy of a compassionate woman she once met briefly on a train. Helen Watson and her husband, themselves expecting a baby, gladly give the desperate girl a home. After Elspeth's son is born, however, Helen tragically loses her own child, and in her traumatised state transposes the two births in her mind. With the neighbours also believing that little John is Helen's baby, rather than the single girl's, Elspeth gradually finds herself deprived of her own child. A second chance for happiness comes along for Elspeth through marriage to David, a soldier badly scarred by the war. But her children must survive the calamities of another war, and the tangle of secrets overshadowing her youth causes misunderstandings that eventually lead to disaster. Only when the full truth becomes clear can she and her family find happiness and freedom from guilt...