Mildred L. Batchelder Award

Torn from their homeland, two Jewish sisters find refuge in Sweden.

It's the summer of 1939. Two Jewish sisters from Vienna -12-year-old Stephie Steiner and 8-year-old Nellie-are sent to Sweden to escape the Nazis. They expect to stay there six months, until their parents can flee to Amsterdam; then all four will go to America. But as the world war intensifies, the girls remain, each with her own host family, on a rugged island off the western coast of Sweden.

Nellie quickly settles in to her new surroundings. She’s happy with her foster family and soon favors the Swedish language over her native German. Not so for Stephie, who finds it hard to adapt; she feels stranded at the end of the world, with a foster mother who’s as cold and unforgiving as the island itself. Her main worry, though, is her parents-and whether she will ever see them again.

Zone guide Yuri Bonyev escorts three scientists to an uncharted sector in the Zone chasing rumors of an old military bunker. Not everyone is who they appear to be and Yuri learns perhaps some secrets are better left buried.

"A Prayer to Saint Strelok" is a STALKER-flavored, post apocalyptic short story from the author of the Eshu International novels, The Clar1ty Wars series, "The Barrow Lover", the Mil-S-F shorts "Sozo", "Hard Kill", and "The Stones Remember", as well as the upcoming dark fantasy novel, "Beneath the Broken Moon."

After deciding to take a semester off their studies to think about future plans, long-time friends Maya, Sirma, and Spartacus decide to hitchhike to the sea. Boril Krustev, former rock star and middle-aged widower who is driving aimlessly to outrun his grief, picks them up and accompanies them on their journey. It doesn’t take them long to figure out they’re connected to each other by more than their need to travel — specifically through Boril’s daughter, whose actions damaged each of the characters in this novel.

Co-winner of the Contemporary Bulgarian Writers Contest, A Short Tale of Shame marks the arrival of a new talent in Bulgarian literature with a novel about the need to come to terms with the shame and guilt we all harbor.

A Collection of Short Stories from the Twisted Mind of Matt Shaw, based upon the fears of some of his readers.

Stories included:

A Mother's Love

Plane Crazy

The Last Will & Testament of Norman Fielding

Lost Love

Road Rage

Нумерация в серии «Звездные войны» по Вукипедии http://ru.starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Список_литературы_в_хронологическом_порядке

"How can I tell him that he will never find her, after he has been searching for her all his life? If I could talk to him without breaking his heart, there is something I would tell him, in hopes it would stop his sleepless nights and wrongheaded search for a shadow. I would repeat this to him: 'Your Matilde Lina is in limbo, the dwelling place of those who are neither dead nor alive.' But that would be like severing the roots of the tree that supports him. Besides, why do it if he is not going to believe me."

In the midst of war, the protagonists of A Tale of the Dispossessed are continuously searching: for a promised land, a destiny, the face of a woman who has disappeared — searching for an impossible love and, conversely, for a love that is possible.

A way station for refugees from violence is the setting for an intense love triangle in which an uprooted and wandering people lead the reader to experience the collective drama of forced relocation. A Tale of the Dispossessed speaks to us about the inexorable law that has led man, expelled from paradise since the days of Adam through to modern times, in his search for a way back home.

Alessandra D’Angeli is in need of an adventure. Tired of her sixteenth-century life in Italy and homesick for her time-traveling cousin, Cat, who visited her for a magical week and dazzled her with tales of the future, Alessandra is lost. Until the stars hear her plea.

One mystical spell later, Alessandra appears on Cat’s Beverly Hills doorstep five hundred years in the future. Surrounded by confusing gadgets, scary transportation, and scandalous clothing, Less is hesitant to live the life of a twenty-first century teen…until she meets the infuriating—and infuriatingly handsome—surfer Austin Michaels. Austin challenges everything she believes in…and introduces her to a world filled with possibility.

With the clock ticking, Less knows she must live every moment of her modern life while she still can. But how will she return to the drab life of her past when the future is what holds everything she’s come to love?

Braith of the Darkness likes going through life unnoticed. Not an easy task for a She-dragon of royal descent. But the evil plots of her father are turning her quiet, boring life upside down, and she has now become the enemy of the most vicious queen her kind has ever known. But for once, Braith won't have to fight alone. Not when the warrior dragon of her dreams is willing to risk everything to save her neck.

Addolgar the Cheerful wishes he could say he’s helping the pretty royal strictly for honorable reasons - but he'd be lying. It’s not his fault, though! He didn't tell Braith of the Darkness to have the most delicious tail he’s ever seen! Yet before Addolgar can get his very strong claws on that tail, heads are going to roll. Just hopefully not theirs...

The kingdom used to be a place of paved roads and well-filled coffers, with joy and the good life all around. But the old king went the way of all flesh years ago, and now the kingdom is derelict, a land ofwickedness and ruin. But a young prince and his sister begin to see what must be done, and-if they can-to restore what has been lost. For a hundred years A Tale Without a Name has been one of Greece's best-loved stories. This playful, wise fable is enchanting for readers of any age, as meaningful and moving now as when it was first written.

Pushkin Collection editions feature a spare, elegant series style and superior, durable components. The Collection is typeset in Monotype Baskerville, litho-printed on Munken Premium White Paper and notch-bound by the independently owned printer TJ International in Padstow. The covers, with French flaps, are printed on Colorplan Pristine White Paper. Both paper and cover board are acid-free and Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified.

First published in 1938 in Story magazine as a wake-up call warning Americans of the true nature of the Nazi menace, this punchy epistolary tale enacts a stunning drama of friendship, betrayal and vengeance.

In 1932, San Francisco art-gallery owner Max Eisenstein, a Jew who grew up in pre-Nazi Germany, bids farewell to his longtime friend and business partner Martin Schulse, who returns with his family to Munich, where he becomes a Nazi. Through their letters to one another, which quickly move from warmth to a chilling disregard, we watch as the once-liberal Martin, seduced by grandiose visions of German destiny and by the rantings of "our Glorious Leader," vents an anti-Semitism that he tortuously rationalizes. Max, alarmed by reports of anti-Jewish persecution in Germany, asks Martin to look after his actress sister, Griselle, who is performing in Berlin. When she is murdered by Nazi storm troopers after being refused refuge at the Schulse house, Max takes revenge through a clever epistolary ploy that provides a satisfying surprise ending.

Nearly 60 years after its initial publication, Kressman's story serves not only as a reminder of Nazi horrors but as a cautionary tale in light of current racial, ethnic and nationalist intolerance.

Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

New adventures lie ahead as Anne Shirley packs  her bags, waves good-bye to childhood, and heads for  Redmond College. With old friend Prissy Grant  waiting in the bustling city of Kingsport and  frivolous new pal Philippa Gordon at her side, Anne tucks  her memories of rural Avonlea away and discovers  life on her own terms, filled with  surprises...including a marriage proposal from the worst fellow  imaginable, the sale of her very first story, and a  tragedy that teaches her a painful lesson. But  tears turn to laughter when Anne and her friends move  into an old cottage and an ornery black cat steals  her heart. Little does Anne know that handsome  Gilbert Blythe wants to win her heart, too. Suddenly  Anne must decide if she's ready for love...

 A converted fishing trawler, Morning Rose carries a movie-making crew across the Barents Sea to isolated Bear Island, well above the Arctic Circle, for some on-location filming, but the script is a secret known only to the producer and screenwriter. En route, members of the movie crew and ship's company begin to die under mysterious circumstances. The crew's doctor, Marlowe, finds himself enmeshed in a violent, multi-layered plot in which very few of the persons aboard are whom they claim to be. Marlowe's efforts to unravel the plot become even more complicated once the movie crew is deposited ashore on Bear Island, beyond the reach of the law or outside help. The murders continue ashore, and Marlowe, who is not what he seems to be either, discovers they may be related to some forgotten events of the Second World War.

On a small island in a glacier-fed lake on Alaska's Kenai Peninsula, a marriage is unraveling. Gary, driven by thirty years of diverted plans, and Irene, haunted by a tragedy in her past, are trying to rebuild their life together. Following the outline of Gary's old dream, they're hauling logs to Caribou Island in good weather and in terrible storms, in sickness and in health, to build the kind of cabin that drew them to Alaska in the first place.

But this island is not right for Irene. They are building without plans or advice, and when winter comes early, the overwhelming isolation of the prehistoric wilderness threatens their bond to the core. Caught in the emotional maelstrom is their adult daughter, Rhoda, who is wrestling with the hopes and disappointments of her own life. Devoted to her parents, she watches helplessly as they drift further apart.

Brilliantly drawn and fiercely honest, Caribou Island captures the drama and pathos of a husband and wife whose bitter love, failed dreams, and tragic past push them to the edge of destruction. A portrait of desolation, violence, and the darkness of the soul, it is an explosive and unforgettable novel from a writer of limitless possibility.

A 35-year-old architect is driving home from his London office when his car swerves and crashes onto a traffic island lying below three converging motorways. Uninjured, he climbs the embankment to seek help, but no one will stop for him and he is trapped on the island, where he remains.

"Visionary of both style and substance… the literary equivalent of Salvador Dalí or Max Ernst."-The Washington Post Book World

"Ballard's novels are complex, obsessive, frequently poetic, and always disquieting chronicles of nature rebelling against humans, of the survival of barbarism in a world of mechanical efficiency, of ethropy, anomie, breakdown, ruin… The blasted landscapes that his characters inhabit are both external settings and states of mind."-Luc Sante

A gentleman in love cannot survive without his best friend...

Fitzwilliam Darcy and Colonel Fitzwilliam couldn't be more different, and that goes for the way each one woos and pursues the woman of his dreams. Darcy is quiet and reserved, careful and dutiful, and his qualms and hesitations are going to torpedo his courtship of Elizabeth. His affable and vivacious cousin, Colonel Fitzwilliam is a military hero whose devil-may-care personality hides the torments within, until he finds himself in a passionate, whirlwind affair with a beautiful widow who won't hear of his honorable intentions.

Cousins, best friends, and sparring partners, Darcy and Fitzwilliam have always been there for each other. So it's no surprise when the only one who can help Darcy fix his botched marriage proposals is Fitzwilliam, and the only one who can pull Fitzwilliam out of an increasingly dangerous entanglement is Darcy...

A Tale of Uncharted Love on the Open Seas

In this enchanting and highly original retelling of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth Bennet sets out for the new world aboard the grand ship Pemberley's Promise. She's prepared for an uneventful voyage until a chance encounter with the handsome, taciturn Mr. Darcy turns her world upside down.

When Elizabeth falls ill, Darcy throws convention overboard in a plan that will bind them to each other more deeply than he ever could have imagined. But the perils of their ocean voyage pale in comparison to the harsh reality of society's rules that threaten their chance at happiness. When they return to the lavish halls of England, will their love survive?

A kiss that just won't happen. A disco at the end of the world. A teenage goth on a terror mission. And OAP kiddie-snatchers, and scouse real-ale enthusiasts, and occult weirdness in the backwoods…

Dark Lies the Island is a collection of unpredictable stories about love and cruelty, crimes, desperation, and hope from the man Irvine Welsh has described as 'the most arresting and original writer to emerge from these islands in years'. Every page is shot through with the riotous humour, sympathy and blistering language that mark Kevin Barry as a pure entertainer and a unique teller of tales.

Welcome to Banoi

A tropical island paradise where you can leave the world behind.

Welcome to the Royal Palms Resort

Offering its guests from around the world the ultimate in luxury and relaxation.

Welcome to the place where your dream holiday is about to become your worst nightmare…

Suddenly, and without warning, a terrifying plague breaks out on Banoi. Resort guests, hotel staff, islanders are infected overnight…and transformed into the ravening, flesh-craving living dead.

For those few who, for some reason, are immune to this apocalypse it becomes a race against time. To survive, to get off the island and warn the world before it’s too late. But first they must escape the clutches of the zombie hordes…

Welcome to Dead Island

A paradise to die for…

When angry natives attack a secret U.S. satellite station on a remote Pacific island, Nick Carter goes undercover to find out why. The island's French governor can't be bled for information, but his gorgeous young wife is infinitely more helpful…

She leads Carter to a nearby island-and a tribe of cannibals thirsty for American blood. Someone is inciting them to murder-and to annihilation of the satellite station. It's up to N3 to put a stop to the bloody uprisings, but first he'll have to escape a perilous trap-and do battle with an unexpected and deadly foe.

When Detective Sime Mackenzie boards a light aircraft at Montreal's St. Hubert airfield, he does so without looking back. For Sime, the 850-mile journey ahead represents an opportunity to escape the bitter blend of loneliness and regret that has come to characterise his life in the city.

Travelling as part of an eight-officer investigation team, Sime's destination lies in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Only two kilometres wide and three long, Entry Island is home to a population of around 130 inhabitants — the wealthiest of which has just been discovered murdered in his home.

The investigation itself appears little more than a formality. The evidence points to a crime of passion: the victim's wife the vengeful culprit. But for Sime the investigation is turned on its head when he comes face to face with the prime suspect, and is convinced that he knows her — even though they have never met.

Haunted by this certainty his insomnia becomes punctuated by dreams of a distant past on a Scottish island 3,000 miles away. Dreams in which the widow plays a leading role. Sime's conviction becomes an obsession. And in spite of mounting evidence of her guilt he finds himself convinced of her innocence, leading to a conflict between the professonal duty he must fulfil, and the personal destiny that awaits him.

To Settle the Sea!

Engineer Garrett dreams of building a “seastead”, a city on the ocean’s surface. When a small fortune arrives in the worst possible way, he sets sail and finds that his gleaming, perfect vision crashes hard against the reality of life at sea.

But it endures. Garrett gathers spies and cultists, criminals and honest businessmen, all looking for the freedom that a floating town can provide. Can he keep his head above water as a simple engineer, or is there a larger price to pay to put his little city-state permanently on the map?

An optimistic story of liberty and technology in the near future.

The best-selling author describes his teenage son's valiant but unsuccessful battle against bone cancer and relates the mystical and miraculous events that led the author to an understanding of the undying quality of the human spirit.

The very first Famous Five adventure, featuring Julian, Dick, Anne, not forgetting tomboy George and her beloved dog, Timmy! There's a shipwreck off Kirrin Island! But where is the treasure? The Famous Five are on the trail – looking for clues – but they're not alone! Someone else has got the same idea. Time is running out for the Famous Five, who will follow the clues and get to the treasure first?

Captain Shane Schofield and his elite team of marines is about to discover…

There is no hell like a man-made one.

It is an island that doesn’t appear on any maps. A secret location where the government conducts classified experiments. Experiments that have gone terribly wrong….

When all contact with the mysterious island is suddenly and inexplicably lost, Captain Shane Schofield and four crack Special Forces units parachute in. Nothing prepares them for what they find—the island is a testing ground for a deadly breed of genetically enhanced supersoldiers. You could say they’ve just entered hell, but this place is much, much worse….

Once upon a time an Indian writer named Amitav Ghosh set out to find an Indian slave, name unknown, who some seven hundred years before had traveled to the Middle East. The journey took him to a small village in Egypt, where medieval customs coexist with twentieth-century desires and discontents. But even as Ghosh sought to re-create the life of his Indian predecessor, he found himself immersed in those of his modern Egyptian neighbors.

Combining shrewd observations with painstaking historical research, Ghosh serves up skeptics and holy men, merchants and sorcerers. Some of these figures are real, some only imagined, but all emerge as vividly as the characters in a great novel. In an Antique Land is an inspired work that transcends genres as deftly as it does eras, weaving an entrancing and intoxicating spell.

A holiday idyll that turns into a nightmare. Eight people take a yachting cruise in the Bahamas and find that they are not alone.

Of the many pitfalls lurking for the historical novel, the most dangerous is history itself. The best writers either warp it for selfish purposes (Gore Vidal), dig for the untold, interior history (Toni Morrison), or both (Jeannette Winterson). Allende, four years after Ines of My Soul, returns with another historical novel, one that soaks up so much past life that there is nowhere left to go but where countless have been. Opening in Saint Domingue a few years before the Haitian revolution would tear it apart, the story has at its center Zarité, a mulatto whose extraordinary life takes her from that blood-soaked island to dangerous and freewheeling New Orleans; from rural slave life to urban Creole life and a different kind of cruelty and adventure. Yet even in the new city, Zarité can't quite free herself from the island, and the people alive and dead that have followed her.Zarité's passages are striking. More than merely lyrical, they map around rhythms and spirits, making her as much conduit as storyteller. One wishes there was more of her because, unlike Allende, Zarité is under no mission to show us how much she knows. Every instance, a brush with a faith healer, for example, is an opportunity for Allende to showcase what she has learned about voodoo, medicine, European and Caribbean history, Napoleon, the Jamaican slave Boukman, and the legendary Mackandal, a runaway slave and master of black magic who has appeared in several novels including Alejo Carpentier's Kingdom of This World . The effect of such display of research is a novel that is as inert as a history textbook, much like, oddly enough John Updike's Terrorist, a novel that revealed an author who studied a voluminous amount of facts without learning a single truth.Slavery as a subject in fiction is still a high-wire act, but one expects more from Allende. Too often she forgoes the restraint and empathy essential for such a topic and plunges into a heavy breathing prose reminiscent of the Falconhurst novels of the 1970s, but without the guilty pleasure of sexual taboo. Sex, overwritten and undercooked, is where opulent hips slithered like a knowing snake until she impaled herself upon his rock-hard member with a deep sigh of joy. Even the references to African spirituality seem skin-deep and perfunctory, revealing yet another writer too entranced by the myth of black cultural primitivism to see the brainpower behind it. With Ines of My Soul one had the sense that the author was trying to structure a story around facts, dates, incidents, and real people. Here it is the reverse, resulting in a book one second-guesses at every turn. Of course there will be a forbidden love. Betrayal. Incest. Heartbreak. Insanity. Violence. And in the end the island in the novel's title remains legend. Fittingly so, because to reach the Island Beneath the Sea, one would have had to dive deep. Allende barely skims the surface.Marlon James's recent novel, The Book of Night Women was a finalist for the 2010 National Book Critics Circle Award.

A cosmic disturbance transports the island of Nantucket and its inhabitants over three thousand years back in time to the shores of a Stone Age America. In addition to coping with the day-to-day problems of survival and the trauma of losing all connection with the modern world, the residents of the time-stranded island find their lives complicated by the presence of native tribes across the water. Stirling's (The Ship Avenged, Baen, 1997) imaginative foray into time travel should also please fans of alternate history.

It’s the summer of 1974, and the beautiful island of Cyprus is under threat of an invasion.

But for some, this tragedy offers an opportunity to settle some very personal scores, and gain some very specific political advantages…

In London, former MI5 officer Alex Swan and his colleague, ex-policeman Arthur Gable, are investigating the murder of an RAF officer. When a connection is made between the London murder and a terrorist group that is active on the island, Swan and Gable find themselves inexorably drawn into the conflict in the Med.

Elsewhere, other interested parties are wading into the situation, all keen to make their mark and take their share of the spoils. Add to this, an Irish-American former submariner desperate to avenge the death of his brother at British hands, a nomadic mercenary unit led by an ex-SAS sergeant and a highly sensitive document hidden aboard an old warplane, then the scene is set for an edge-of-your-seat thriller that crosses continents, experiences and perspectives.

Will Swan and Gable be able to prevent the conflict on Cyprus erupting into all-out war, threatening NATO’s southern flank?

It’s hungry… and it wants out!

Something came to Earth two thousand years ago. The Roman Army trapped it under an island off the Welsh coast, but then as their empire decayed, they forgot about it. Now it tastes fresh air for the first time in centuries, and it wants out!

A celebrity historian finds clues to a two-thousand year old mystery and sets out to solve it. But he is not the only one seeking what the Romans left buried.

Strange things are happening in North Wales. When a United Nations official is fished from the sea, the UN decides to look into it.

Peri Carlton, seconded to a little-known agency of the UN Security Council, is sent to Wales. But though she does not yet realise it, her new boss at the UN suspects that Peri is not exactly human.

She finds that the island is strangely quiet… it seems the buried beast is not the only monster on the foggy island…

Please note that “Island of Fog and Death” was previously published under the title “Child of the Servator”

For use in schools and libraries only.

When the kindly old aunts decide they need help caring for creatures who live on their hidden island, they decide to kidnap a few children, since adults can’t be trusted.

This novel is based on the true story of Juana Maria, better known to history as "The Lone Woman of San Nicolas Island", a Nicoleño Indian left alone for 18 years on San Nicolas Island, one of the Channel Islands off the California coast, before being discovered in 1853.

Island of the Blue Dolphins won the Newbery Medal in 1961. It was adapted into a film of the same name in 1964. O'Dell later wrote a sequel, Zia, published in 1976.

In the summer of 1946, while secluded in August Strindberg’s small cabin in the Stockholm archipelago, Stig Dagerman wrote Island of the Doomed. This novel was unlike any other yet seen in Sweden and would establish him as the country’s brightest literary star. To this day it is a singular work of fiction — a haunting tale that oscillates around seven castaways as they await their inevitable death on a desert island populated by blind gulls and hordes of iguanas. At the center of the island is a poisonous lagoon, where a strange fish swims in circles and devours anything in its path. As we are taken into the lives of each castaway, it becomes clear that Dagerman’s true subject is the nature of horror itself.

Island of the Doomed is a chilling profile of terror and guilt and a stunning exploration — written under the shadow of the Nuremberg Trials — of the anxieties of a generation in the postwar nuclear age.

A pilot for the Mary Jean Cosmetics Corporation — a hopeless geek trapped in a cool guy's body — Tucker Case's troubles begin one very drunk morning at the Seattle airport Holiday Inn Lounge. Surrendering to the strident will of a call girl who wants desperately to join the Mile High Club, he proceeds to crash his shocking pink jet on the runway — totaling the plane and seriously damaging the organ that got him into this mess in the first place. Now, with his flying license revoked, his job and manhood demolished, facing a possible prison term or, worse, the murderous wrath of Mary Jean Dobbins and her corporate goons, Tuck has to run for his life toward the only employment opportunity left for him: piloting a Lear jet for a shady medical missionary and a sexy, naturally blond High Priestess on the remotest of Micronesian island hells.

But first he has to get there, encountering spies, cannibals, journalists, and would-be bitch goddesses every step of the way. Traveling with his Filipino transvestite navigator and a fruit bat companion, Roberto, Tuck braves shark-infested waters and a typhoon before reaching the dark heart of a tropical paradise — all before his first day of work.

A delightfully offbeat look at cargo cults, religious zeal, and pyramid schemes, Island of the Sequined Love Nun is Christopher Moore at his hilarious best.

In March 2017, the producers of Godzilla transport audiences to the birthplace of one of the most powerful monster myths of all in KONG: SKULL ISLAND, from Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures.

When a scientific expedition to an uncharted island awakens titanic forces of nature, a mission of discovery becomes an explosive war between monster and man. Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, Brie Larson, John Goodman and John C. Reilly star in a thrilling and original new adventure that reveals the untold story of how Kong became King.

Ellen Kellaway, orphaned at age five, was raised by wealthy cousins, but was never allowed to forget that her every advantage was owed to the charity of others. However, when the son of a powerful London family asks for her hand in marriage, her world is opened up to untold wealth and social position. She never imagined that such an unlikely dream would come true.

Despite these wonderful new developments in her life, Ellen continues to be wracked b the bad dreams that have haunted her since childhood. What is the meaning of the lifelong nightmare—the image of an unfamiliar room, a door opening and behind it a dreadful presence? Perhaps it is a message urging her to uncover the secrets of her long-lost family—the secrets of the ancient home of the Kellaways on the Far Island, off the wild coast of Cornwall.

Based on a decade of research and on interviews with many of Mao’s close circle in China who have never talked before — and with virtually everyone outside China who had significant dealings with him — this is the most authoritative life of Mao ever written. It is full of startling revelations, exploding the myth of the Long March, and showing a completely unknown Mao: he was not driven by idealism or ideology; his intimate and intricate relationship with Stalin went back to the 1920s, ultimately bringing him to power; he welcomed Japanese occupation of much of China; and he schemed, poisoned and blackmailed to get his way. After Mao conquered China in 1949, his secret goal was to dominate the world. In chasing this dream he caused the deaths of 38 million people in the greatest famine in history. In all, well over 70 million Chinese perished under Mao’s rule — in peacetime.

Combining meticulous research with the story-telling style of Wild Swans, this biography offers a harrowing portrait of Mao’s ruthless accumulation of power through the exercise of terror: his first victims were the peasants, then the intellectuals and, finally, the inner circle of his own advisors. The reader enters the shadowy chambers of Mao’s court and eavesdrops on the drama in its hidden recesses. Mao’s character and the enormity of his behavior toward his wives, mistresses and children are unveiled for the first time.

This is an entirely fresh look at Mao in both content and approach. It will astonish historians and the general reader alike.

This, the third in the series, introduces us to more characters, one of whom we will see a lot more of in future books. However, just in case you haven’t read the previous two books, this one takes place upon Ed’s return from his second mission into the past. (See - Marine 1: Agent of Time & Marine 2: A very Unusual Roman)

Ed, a senior US Marine Sergeant has been told by a US Navy doctor that his active days are over, as his knee replacement is just not up to the task of an active service Marine. Having been given special leave by his Commanding Officer, Ed is on way to meet up with an old Marine buddy who is running a charter boat out of Florida. The charter is of a British scientific expedition to a remote island upon which some natives have been discovered who have been out of contact with the rest of the world for at least two centuries. Believed to be the descendents of a wrecked slave ship, the scientists seek to identify from where they originated by studying their language.

Ed never got there, as he was targeted and recruited into a mysterious Time Corps, dedicated to patrolling the streams of time and preventing illegal interference with the time line.

He finds himself propelled into the past at the time of the Napoleonic wars, as a woman. No sooner does he return from that one when he sets off once more to the old days of the Roman Empire.

However, after returning from his last successful assignment in the beginning of the second century AD, Ed is now allowed to carry on with his life and to actually take a well-earned vacation.

It turns out that a vacation is not going to happen, as the natives have a single racial memory of the men with white skins – that of the slavers who stole their ancestors all those years ago. Combine that with the news that a hurricane is on its way to the island mean that Ed is about to have to deal with a lot more than he initially expected.

However, Ed, and his new friends discover a lot more to the islanders’ history and culture than they anticipated. Some of which have the ability to change lives –is it for the better?

You decide!

Twenty years ago Lucie Bowen left Marrow Island; along with her mother, she fled the aftermath of an earthquake that compromised the local refinery, killing her father and ravaging the island’s environment. Now, Lucie’s childhood friend Kate is living within a mysterious group called Marrow Colony — a community that claims to be “ministering to the Earth.” There have been remarkable changes to the land at the colony’s homestead. Lucie’s experience as a journalist tells her there’s more to the Colony — and their charismatic leader- than they want her to know, and that the astonishing success of their environmental remediation has come at great cost to the Colonists themselves. As she uncovers their secrets and methods, will Lucie endanger more than their mission? What price will she pay for the truth?

In the company of Station Eleven and California, Marrow Island uses two tense natural disasters to ask tough questions about our choices — large and small. A second novel from a bookseller whose sleeper-hit debut was praised by Karen Russell as “haunted, joyful, beautiful….” it promises to capture and captivate new readers even as it thrills her many existing fans.

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a yacht must be in want of a female crew...

The balmy seaside resort town of Salcombe boasts the best in bikinis, sandcastle contests, and a fiercely competitive squad of buff local lifeguards as Regatta Week approaches. And if that weren't enough excitement, Mrs Bennet hears that the splendid villa Netherpollock has been rented by a young man of great fortune. She is determined he'll go out with one of her daughters, until Mr Darcy glides in on his stunning yacht Pemberley and she decides he would be the better catch...

Jane Austen has never been so hilariously recreated as in this modern seaside retelling of Pride and Prejudice, complete with a Mr Darcy you won't soon forget!

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Momotarō, Click-Clack Mountain, The Sparrow Who Lost Her Tongue, The Stolen Wen, Urashima-san… The father reads these old tales to the children. Though he's shabbily dressed and looks to be a complete fool, this father is a singular man in his own right. He has an unusual knack for making up stories.

Once upon a time, long, long ago…

Even as he reads the picture book aloud in a strangely imbecilic voice, another, somewhat more elaborate tale is brewing inside him.

Dazai Osamu wrote The Fairy Tale Book (Otogizoshi) in the last months of the Pacific War. The traditional tales upon which Dazai's retellings are based are well known to every Japanese schoolchild, but this is no children's book. In Dazai's hands such stock characters as the kindhearted Oji-san to Oba-san ("Grandmother and Grandfather"), the mischievous tanuki badger, the fearsome Oni ogres, the greedy old man, the "tongue-cut" sparrow, and of course Urashima Taro (the Japanese Rip van Winkle) become complex individuals facing difficult and nuanced moral dilemmas. The resulting stories are thought-provoking, slyly subversive, and often hilarious.

"A masterful tale of treachery and duplicity… Spellbinding."-New York Times

The year is 1908, the place, a small Greek island in the declining days of the crumbling Ottoman Empire. For twenty years Basil Pascali has spied on the people of his small community and secretly reported on their activities to the authorities in Constantinople. Although his reports are never acknowledged, never acted upon, he has received regular payment for his work. Now he fears that the villagers have found him out and he becomes engulfed in paranoia. In the midst of his panic, a charming Englishman arrives on the island claiming to be an archaeologist, and charms his way into the heart of the woman for whom Pascali pines. A complex game is played out between the two where cunning and betrayal may come to haunt them both. Pascali's Island was made into a feature film starring Ben Kingsley and Helen Mirren.

"Darkly ironic… Offers an almost Conradian richness."-The New Yorker

"A compelling portrait of a schemer whose shabby amorality scarcely ensures his survival in a world where treachery is the rule."- Boston Sunday Globe

Journalist Joe Oakes makes a living exposing supernatural hoaxes. A born sceptic, he believes everything has a rational explanation. But when he visits a secretive religious community on a remote Scottish island, everything he thought he knew is overturned. Questions mount: why has the community been accused of Satanism? What has happened to their leader, Pastor Malachi Dove? And perhaps most important, why will no one discuss the strange apparition seen wandering the lonely beaches of Pig Island? Their confrontation, and its violent and bloody aftermath, is so catastrophic that it forces Oaksey to question the nature of evil, and whether he might not be responsible for the terrible crime about to unfold. In her compulsive and haunting new novel, Mo Hayder dares her readers to face their fears head on and to look at what lurks beneath the surface of everyday normality. "Pig Island" is about the unspeakable things people can do to each other. Brace yourself for a terrifying read.

NYPD homicide detective John Corey has moved to Long Island, restlessly recuperating from wounds received in the line of duty when he's hired to consult on the murder of Tom and Judy Gordon, biologists who worked on Plum Island, the site of animal disease research for the Department of Agriculture. Were the Gordons murdered because they'd stolen some valuable new vaccine, or even a dreaded virus? They'd obviously outspent their income. Had they been running drugs? Corey doesn't think so, although an ice-chest missing from their home points to something forbidden. He teams up with Beth Penrose, detective, working her first homicide and their visit to Plum Island reveals only that the FBI & CIA have sanitised the place. Then Corey falls in with Emma Whitehouse, an expert on Captain Kidd's lost treasure which is thought to be buried nearby… PLUM ISLAND is a thrilling novel from an author of consummate page-turning skill. This is the title that knocked John Grisham off the top of the US bestseller lists and held the No.1 spot for five weeks.

This never-before-printed science fiction novel by the original "rocket man," Wernher von Braun, combines technical fact with a human story line in the way that only a true dreamer can realize. Encompassing the entire story of the journey, this novel moves from the original decision for a Mars mission, through the mission planning, the building of the mighty space ships, the journey, the amazing discoveries made on Mars, and the return home. The author's attention to the actions and feelings of the characters — both those who went and those who stayed behind — makes this an adventure of human proportions, rather than merely another fanciful tale. This exclusive von Braun treasure comes complete with an appendix of his original technical drawings, made in the late 1940s, on which the story's plot is based.

Annalice Mallory, the sheltered daughter of a family of map makers, discovers the cryptic diary of her long-dead ancestor that includes a map of a mysterious far-of island. Philip, Annalice's brother, sets sail for the island, lured by the promise of incomparable riches to be found. But when he doesn't return, Annalice sets out to find him - and the secrets of the diary - in a desperate journey that leads her through the worlds' most exciting outposts... and finally to the tropical islands of the South Seas, where she encounters heart-stopping peril, but also the promise of love.

From the author of Remainder (the major feature-film adaption of which will be released in 2015) and C (short-listed for the Booker Prize), and winner of the Windham Campbell Prize, a novel that promises to give us the first and last word on the world-modern, postmodern, whatever world you think you are living in.

When we first meet U., our narrator, he is waiting out a delay in the Turin airport. Clicking through corridors of trivia on his laptop he stumbles on information about the Shroud of Turin-and is struck by the degree to which our access to the truth is always mediated by a set of veils or screens, with any world built on those truths inherently unstable. A "corporate ethnographer," U. is tasked with writing the "Great Report," an ell-encompassing document that would sum up our era. Yet at every turn, he feels himself overwhelmed by the ubiquity of data, lost in buffer zones, wandering through crowds of apparitions. Madison, the woman he is seeing, is increasingly elusive, much like the particulars in the case of the recent parachutist's death with which U. is obsessed. Add to that his longstanding obsession with South Pacific cargo cults and his developing, inexplicable interest in oil spills. As he begins to wonder if the Great Report might remain a shapeless, oozing plasma, his senses are startled awake by a dream of an apocalyptic cityscape. In Satin Island, Tom McCarthy captures-as only he can- the way we experience our world, our efforts to find meaning (or just to stay awake) and discern the narratives we think of as our lives.

Summer, 1954.

U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels has come to Shutter Island, home of Ashecliffe Hospital for the Criminally Insane. Along with his partner, Chuck Aule, he sets out to find an escaped patient, a murderess named Rachel Solando, as a hurricane bears down upon them.

But nothing at Ashecliffe Hospital is what it seems.

And neither is Teddy Daniels.

Is he there to find a missing patient? Or has he been sent to look into rumors of Ashecliffe’s radical approach to psychiatry? An approach that may include drug experimentation, hideous surgical trials, and lethal countermoves in the shadow war against Soviet brainwashing…

Or is there another, more personal reason why he has come there?

As the investigation deepens, the questions only mount:

How has a barefoot woman escaped the island from a locked room?

Who is leaving clues in the form of cryptic codes?

Why is there no record of a patient committed there just one year before?

What really goes on in Ward C?

Why is an empty lighthouse surrounded by an electrified fence and armed guards?

The closer Teddy and Chuck get to the truth, the more elusive it becomes, and the more they begin to believe that they may never leave Shutter Island.Because someone is trying to drive them insane…

Although Durrell spent much of his life beside the Mediterranean, he wrote relatively little about Italy; it was always somewhere that he was passing through on the way to somewhere else. Sicilian Carousel is his only piece of extended writing on the country and, naturally enough for the islomaniac Durrell, it focuses on one of Italy's islands. Sicilian Carousel came relatively late in Durrell's career, and is based around a slightly fictionalized bus tour of the island.

Ever since the catastrophic Werenight isolated the Northlands from the Elabonian Empire, Gerin the Fox has hoped to settle down as the peaceful ruler of Fox Keep… but destiny seems to have other ideas. The Voice of the god Biton prophesies danger to the Northlands.

Gerin has already beaten off invaders, both human and inhuman. But this time he faces an invasion by the Gradi, led by their cold, fierce gods. Gerin has to fight fire with fire by invoking all the supernatural help he can get from the capricious god Mavrix, the aloof but powerful Biton, and the more elemental gods of those who live beneath the ground.

And just when things can't get worse-they get worse. Gerin's neighbor, Aragis the Archer, has made one provocative move after another, and Gerin reluctantly decides that war is inevitable. But suddenly, the Elabonian Empire again turns its unwelcome attention to the Northlands, which it regards as a subject territory. Gerin and Aragis are now allies against a common enemy… and a very formidable one, with forces that outnumber both their armies put together!

Diamonds are forever… or are they? The Cartel runs Miami, and loyalty to their organization runs deep, but when someone breaks the rules, things may be beyond repair. A snitch in the crew has dismantled the notorious Cartel, and now disloyalty threatens to tear the family apart. Young Carter is in the fight for his life, as he faces drug kingpin charges due to the treachery of his best friend, Ace.Kidnapping, murder, deception, and seduction fill this highly anticipated sequel. Will Zyir find out that Breeze is still alive? Will Mecca be exposed as his brother's killer? Is Miamor dead or alive? Ashley and JaQuavis are back with The Cartel 2. Their twisted tale of deceit will have you on the edge of your seat, trying to figure out what happens next.

A satirical science fiction novel that criticises both Soviet bureaucracy and somewhat the Soviet scientific environment. Although the novel itself is not directed against state per se and a number of points underlined are true of modern day bureaucracy and science, it met with a cold reaction during Soviet times and was quite difficult to obtain, therefore achieving a “forbidden fruit” status.

A man went to knock at the king's door and said to him, Give me a boat. The king's house had many other doors, but this was the door for petitions. Since the king spent all his time sitting by the door for favors (favors being done to the king, you understand), whenever he heard someone knocking on the door for petitions, he would pretend not to hear . . ." Why the petitioner required a boat, where he was bound for, and who volunteered to crew for him the reader will discover as this short narrative unfolds. And at the end it will be clear that if we thought we were reading a children's fable we were wrong-we have been reading a love story and a philosophical tale worthy of Voltaire or Swift.

Autobiograficzne dzieło ukazujące życie autora od dzieciństwa spędzonego na Coney Island, poprzez służbę w lotnictwie, studia, pracę i małżeństwo aż do wielkiej kariery literackiej zapoczątkowanej spektakularnym sukcesem ''Paragrafu 22''.

As the nuns of St. Frideswide's priory prepare for the welcome end of Lent, their peaceful expectations are overset by the sudden return of long-vanished Sister Cecely. Nine years ago she fled from the nunnery with a man. Now her lover is dead and she has come back, bringing her illegitimate son with her.

She claims she is penitent, that she wants only to redeem her sin and find safe haven for the child. Neither she nor her son can be turned away, but their presence begins to stir doubts and questions in the hearts of some of the nuns about their own faithfulness to this enclosed life they've chosen to live.

Sister Cecely may be penitent-however much Frevisse may doubt it-but fully truthful she is not, and as the apostate nun's lies begin to overtake her, dangers of more than one kind-and maybe murder-become an unwanted part of life in the priory.

Prime crime from the Edgar-nominated author of The Servant's Tale. In London to mourn the passing of her uncle, Sister Frevisse is taken aback when a scoundrel at the funeral dares God to strike him down-and he summarily collapses and dies. Bishop Beaufort prevails upon the Sister for help in solving the baffling case.

When she accompanies her prioress on a mercy visit to a nunnery, Dame Frevisse becomes entangled in an inheritance dispute, a family feud, and the aftermath of a brutal murder in this new addition to Margaret Frazer's medieval mystery series.

Separated in time. United by forbidden passion…

When an ancient papyrus scroll comes up for auction, gallery curator Cait Lang draws the distasteful task of notifying her boss’s favorite client, Grant Pierson. The rare art and antiquities collector’s arrogance grates on her nerves, but most of all she resents her own weakness for his athletic body and deep brown eyes.

It’s the hieroglyphic scroll that draws Grant to a private, after-hours showing at the gallery. But the lovely Cait’s narration of the erotically charged story captures his interest. Determined to hear the rest of the tale-and spend more time in Cait’s company-he convinces her to join him for dinner.

The intricate, sensual tale transports Cait’s and Grant’s imaginations into the past. And the depictions of sexually charged temple rituals inspire them to explore their own hidden passions-in Cait’s apartment.

Even as Grant succumbs to Cait’s charms, the drive to own the scroll hums in the back of his mind. If he isn’t careful, though, he’ll not only lose the chance to hear the end of the story, he’ll lose something more precious. The missing piece of his own life-Cait.

Reviewed by Kathleen A. Cameron, Justice Studies, Social Sciences Department, Pittsburg State University. Email: kcameron [at] pittstate.edu.

Imagine a society where a sign in red paint reads, “We warn against not wearing a headscarf and wearing makeup. Those who do not abide by this will be punished. God is our witness, we have notified you.” Imagine a society where women are tortured and killed for disobeying this law – a society where religious beliefs, the political structure, and female sexual identity are so intertwined as to justify and require the control of women’s freedom, the sexual victimization of women, and the torture and murder of women who do not comply. Imagine a society where a woman is accused by religious police of being a witch and is sentenced to death by beheading.

Margaret Atwood imagines this society in her futuristic, dystopian novel, THE HANDMAID’S TALE. While the excerpt above is a non-fictional description of present-day Iraq and Saudi Arabia, Atwood’s vision of a fictional theocratic regime that reduces the value of women to reproductive commodities is a disturbingly accurate account of the status of women in the Middle East and other parts of the world, and is in many ways reflected in political, legal, and cultural doctrines, ideologies, and practices in the U.S.

Numerous reviews of this most profound and telling work by Atwood have been written since its publication in 1986. Written in a similar vein to Huxley’s BRAVE NEW WORLD (1932), Orwell’s 1984 (1949), and Burgess’ A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (1962), but with the mysogynistic focus of Piercy’s WOMAN ON THE EDGE OF TIME (1976), it is one of the two most popular Atwood works for use in university classrooms (along with Atwood’s SURFACING (1972)). Rich with symbolism and textured with irony, it relies on a feminist methodology of the narrative, the primary way individuals make sense of experience. As such, it provides an ideal source for generating dialogue, teaching, and learning in courses that have typically included courses in the humanities and social sciences. This review illustrates the use of this work in a course on Women, Crime and Justice, and includes a student paper excerpt in the brief summary of THE HANDMAID’S TALE that follows. The student contributor to the summary below writes, “I am finding The Handmaid’s Tale to be a heart-breaking, yet inspiring novel… I could not stop reading.” Adaptations include a film, an opera, and an unabridged audio book.

The story is set in the futuristic United States of America in the fictional town of Gilead, a puritanical society in which dress codes are used as a way to subjugate women. The tale opens with the narrator, Offred (Of-Fred) remembering a time when she was held against her will in an old gymnasium, [*299] known as the Red Center. Women here are trained to become Handmaids, surrogate mothers for powerful military families, who are ordered to wear red dresses with white veils to signify their importance to the cause (having the Commanders’ children). Gilead is a theocracy run by Christian extremists in which women are not allowed to hold jobs, read, or use money. The chief function of women is to bear children since the decline in the birth rate. Women of lower status, the “econowives” wear striped dresses to signify that their husbands are not yet Commanders.

Throughout the novel, Offred narrates from remembering past times to the present. She is a Handmaid who lives in a Commander’s house but she remembers a time when she was married to a man named Luke and they had a child together. Offred has no idea what happened to either her child or Luke, but she recalls that her child was taken from her because she was deemed “unfit.” In the new world of Gilead (once the United States), the Constitution has been suspended and a Christian theocracy has replaced a democratic government. To address the declining birth rate caused by pollution and chemical poisoning, the government has created Handmaids who are placed in the households of Commanders whose wives can no longer bear children. Handmaids are under constant surveillance, subject to strict rules and regulations, and suffer extreme punishment or death if they defy the Gileadean regime.

While words such as “engaging,” “well-structured,” and “suspenseful” have been used to describe the work, THE HANDMAID’S TALE offers a myriad of themes for pedagogy much more profound than its value as a compelling read and its use in discussions of literature and creative writing. More specifically, the work lends itself to an examination of the politics of female sexuality as inextricably linked to female criminality. As the tale unravels, the boundaries between Atwood’s fictional characters of Gilead and the historical oppression and subjugation of women in the U.S. and the world become increasingly blurred. Students are given the opportunity to uncover ways in which political ideologies have given rise to structures of power that connect the personal to the political. The practices and beliefs in the fictional Republic of Gilead can be used to expose the roots of a non-fictional political campaign to control women that can be seen as early as the 15th century in Europe, when control of women’s reproductive issues and control over women’s bodies fueled a theocratic movement against women as the Roman Catholic church defined their healing practices as the crime of “witchcraft” and led to beliefs that female sexuality was the downfall of man.

This theme of woman as the “sexual temptress” is brought to light once again in the current political regime in Saudi Arabia. In today’s news, where a Saudi woman has been sentenced to death for the crime of witchcraft, the color red has been banned as testament that, in the words of one Atwood reviewer, “dehumanization of women is not just a custom but actually the law.” In THE HANDMAID’S TALE, we see the symbolism of the color red. As one student explains, “Red is a scandalous, racy color, defining the Handmaids as such. Everything associated with the [*300] Handmaids is red.” The novel’s protagonist, Offred, states, “Everything except the wings around my face is red: the color of blood, which defines us.” (Atwood, p. 8) Atwood uses the symbology of color to represent social status (Commanders dress in black and drive black cars) for characters as well as the political structure of the society (“ Red Center ”).

The seamless blend of political power, ideological structures, and criminal justice practices is artistically woven into the tapestry of Atwood’s social commentary on the oppression of women. Throughout the novel’s fabric, we find threads of the objectification of women in the control of female sexuality; the value of women defined by reproduction; the victim/criminal continuum and the politics of female victimization and female criminality; the female criminality link to structural dislocation; and the feminist methodology of personal voice, experience, and the power of the narrative.

Any crime can result in an execution and a public hanging on “The Wall,” but just being female is suspect enough. Atwood resists painting a picture of Offred as a victim; on the contrary, Offred is intelligent, courageous, and defiant in the face of her life under siege. Ironically, when it is more common for survivors of sexual crimes and political torture to remain silent, it is Offred’s narrative that empowers the reader to champion her eventual uprising against the family and government that hold her captive. While rape survivors and other women who are victims of crimes of power often find it difficult to talk about their experiences and resist naming them, it is precisely her narrative and the naming of her world that carries Offred to rise above the Giladean regime. The political identity that has been inflicted upon her is ultimately unable to destroy her personal identity and she emerges as a heroine rather than a Handmaid.

As a pedagogical palette, THE HANDMAID’S TALE is rich in possibilities for analyzing the intersection between crimes against women, crimes by women, and the politics of female sexuality. In this tenth anniversary year of “The Vagina Monologues” and the V-Day movement to end violence against women, we read news accounts daily such as those described in the opening statements of this review -- Iraqi women being tortured and killed for contradicting the requirements of Islam demanding that women cover their heads and Saudi women being executed by political regimes in the name of religion. As a feminist pedagogy and methodology, the power of giving voice to women and naming personal experience is the power of THE HANDMAID’S TALE.

Seventy-two filthy, vicious motorcycle hoodlums have taken over the fantasy isle of Catalina off the coast of Los Angeles. Their hostages are the island s seventeen hundred inhabitants, cowering from the butchery.

Also kidnapped are six top government thinkers attending a secret conference. The survival of everyone is paramount to the national security experts who call in Able Team.

Lyons, Blancanales and Schwarz begin a counter-insurgency of ruthless force. The terror cyclists have done far more than trash a tourist playground. So the strategy is: smash the whole scene into shards of blazing action!

In Margaret Frazer's eagerly-awaited new medieval mystery, the "devout yet human" nun Dame Frevisse finds herself embroiled in a family's turmoil. When she accompanies a nunnery pupil and her mother as they return home, a family member is suddenly killed under questionable circumstances. As secrets are dragged out into the light, Dame Frevisse realizes that there is a murderer among them who will not rest until the family legacy has been settled once and for all.

The New York Times bestselling authors present a new series set on an island a stone's skip away from Cape Light…

Welcome to Angel Island, not far from the shores of Cape Light. It's said to harbor angels that help guide the lost, that sometimes lead them right back to where they began…

Liza Martin arrives on Angel Island to sell the inn she and her brother inherited from their aunt, so she can bolt back to her busy life in Boston. But back home awaits a broken marriage and an unstable career. The more time she spends on Angel Island, and with every local she meets, the more she finds herself enjoying the tranquility of the place. Her new friends don't want to see her sell the inn to developers who will ruin the island's charm. There is much for her to resolve before her departure- and it is going to take a band of angels to mend her broken wings and redirect her soul.

So, "The Island" got a Hugo nom. Which means I'm supposed to pimp it, which is fine because it's been far too long since I swapped out the fiction on this page anyway. So here you go, with a couple of embedded illustrations by Dan Ghiordanescu and Chris Butler.

A bit of background. "The Island" is a standalone novelette. It is also one episode in a projected series of connected tales (a lá Stross's Accellerandoor Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles) that start about a hundred years from now and extends unto the very end of time. And in some parallel universe where I not only get a foothold into the gaming industry but actually keep one, it is a mission level for what would be, in my opinion, an extremely kick-ass computer game.

A missing scientist who holds dark secrets. A Caribbean island so frightening even the locals won't visit its shores.

From Amazon #1 bestselling author John Sneeden, the Delphi Group is back in their most shocking challenge to date.

Biophysicist Noah Lind has gone into hiding, protecting secrets that are his and his alone.

When Lind is kidnapped off the streets of Tel Aviv, it's clear a shadowy group needs those secrets in order to carry out their sinister plans.

Already overseas investigating a related matter, Zane Watson and the Delphi Group follow a trail of clues across Europe, from a night train in Paris to a mountain chateau in Switzerland. The team eventually learns that Lind has been taken to a private island in the Caribbean. The island has a chilling reputation, from missing persons to strange creatures that defy explanation. Are the stories real, or are they just myths cooked up by superstitious locals?

As the Delphi team arrives on the island's haunted shores, they soon learn a shocking truth: there is an evil lurking in the jungle there, and it's an evil like they've never encountered before.

If you like page-turning thrillers with a touch of science fiction and horror, then you'll love The Island.

Birdie Cousins has thrown herself into the details of her daughter Chess's lavish wedding, from the floating dance floor in her Connecticut back yard to the color of the cocktail napkins. Like any mother of a bride-to-be, she is weathering the storms of excitement and chaos, tears and joy. But Birdie, a woman who prides herself on preparing for every possibility, could never have predicted the late-night phone call from Chess, abruptly announcing that she's cancelled her engagement.

It's only the first hint of what will be a summer of upheavals and revelations. Before the dust has even begun to settle, far worse news arrives, sending Chess into a tailspin of despair. Reluctantly taking a break from the first new romance she's embarked on since the recent end of her 30-year marriage, Birdie circles the wagons and enlists the help of her younger daughter Tate and her own sister India. Soon all four are headed for beautiful, rustic Tuckernuck Island, off the coast of Nantucket, where their family has summered for generations. No phones, no television, no grocery store – a place without distractions where they can escape their troubles.

But throw sisters, daughters, ex-lovers, and long-kept secrets onto a remote island, and what might sound like a peaceful getaway becomes much more. Before summer has ended, dramatic truths are uncovered, old loves are rekindled, and new loves make themselves known. It's a summertime story only Elin Hilderbrand can tell, filled with the heartache, laughter, and surprises that have made her page-turning, bestselling novels as much a part of summer as a long afternoon on a sunny beach.

A new novel from Lisa See, the New York Times bestselling author of The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane, about female friendship and family secrets on a small Korean island.

Mi-ja and Young-sook, two girls living on the Korean island of Jeju, are best friends that come from very different backgrounds. When they are old enough, they begin working in the sea with their village’s all-female diving collective, led by Young-sook’s mother. As the girls take up their positions as baby divers, they know they are beginning a life of excitement and responsibility but also danger.

Despite their love for each other, Mi-ja and Young-sook’s differences are impossible to ignore. The Island of Sea Women is an epoch set over many decades, beginning during a period of Japanese colonialism in the 1930s and 1940s, followed by World War II, the Korean War and its aftermath, through the era of cell phones and wet suits for the women divers. Throughout this time, the residents of Jeju find themselves caught between warring empires. Mi-ja is the daughter of a Japanese collaborator, and she will forever be marked by this association. Young-sook was born into a long line of haenyeo and will inherit her mother’s position leading the divers in their village. Little do the two friends know that after surviving hundreds of dives and developing the closest of bonds, forces outside their control will push their friendship to the breaking point.

This beautiful, thoughtful novel illuminates a world turned upside down, one where the women are in charge, engaging in dangerous physical work, and the men take care of the children. A classic Lisa See story—one of women’s friendships and the larger forces that shape them—The Island of Sea Women introduces readers to the fierce and unforgettable female divers of Jeju Island and the dramatic history that shaped their lives.

Available for the first time in English, The Island of Second Sight is a masterpiece of world literature, first published in Germany in 1953 and hailed by Thomas Mann as “one of the greatest books of the twentieth century.” Set on Mallorca in the 1930s in the years leading up to World War II, it is the fictionalized account of the time spent there by author-writing as Vigoleis, his alter-ego — and his wife, Beatrice, lured to the island by Beatrice’s dying brother, who, as it turns out not dying at all but broke and ensnared by the local prostitute.

Pursued by both the Nazis and Spanish Francoists, Vigoleis and Beatrice embark on a series of the most unpredictable and surreal adventures in order to survive. Low on money, the couple seeks shelter in a brothel for the military, serves as tour guides to groups of German tourists, and befriends such literary figures Robert Graves and Harry Kessler, as well as the local community of smugglers, aristocrats, and exiled German Jews. Vigoleis with his inventor hat on even creates a self-inflating brassiere. Then the Spanish Civil War erupts, presenting new challenges to their escape plan. Throughout, Vigoleis is an irresistibly engaging narrator; by turns amusing, erudite, naughty, and always utterly entertaining.

Drawing comparisons to Don Quixote and The Man Without Qualities, The Island of Second Sight is a novel of astonishing and singular richness of language and purpose; the story is picaresque, the voice ironic, the detail often hilarious, yet it is a work of profound seriousness, with an anti-war, anti-fascist, humanistic attitude at its core. With a style ranging from the philosophical to the grotesque, the colloquial to the arcane, The Island of Second Sight is a literary tour de force.

From Booklist

Starred Review On this balcony, Cervantes wrote Don Quixote. With a bit of mischievously mendacious literary history, Vigo — the narrator-protagonist of this brilliant novel — gulls credulous German tourists. Based on the five difficult years that author Thelen and his wife, Beatrice, spent on Mallorca in the 1930s, this novel delivers the gritty texture of lived experience. But as Vigo recounts his (mis)adventures, readers realize that, like Cervantes’ visionary knight, Vigo sees things others do not. While living in a dirty Mallorcan bordello, Vigo transforms himself into a chivalric champion defending his beloved against threatening dragon-rats. Like Quixote assaulting windmill-giants, Vigo declares war against his Nazified German homeland — by buying an American typewriter rather than a German one. But Vigo’s quixotic crusade takes on a dangerously real edge when he uses his typewriter to denounce the führer. Yet, like Quixote escaping from a perilously enchanted castle, Vigo and his wife escape from an island descending into the maelstrom of civil war. To be sure, this modern Quixote wields a sardonic sense of humor quite lacking in his literary predecessor. But that humor finally becomes Vigo’s own imaginative weapon against an all-too-ugly reality. Readers will thank a gifted translator for finally making this masterpiece — acclaimed by Thomas Mann — available to English speakers.

Bryce Christensen

Review

“A genuine work of art.”

— Paul Celan

“A masterpiece.”

— Times Literary Supplement

“Worthy of a place alongside On the Marble Cliffs, Berlin Alexanderplatz, The Death of Virgil and other modernist German masterworks; a superb, sometimes troubling work of postwar fiction, deserving the widest possible audience.”

— Kirkus Reviews

“A charming if exhausting blend of cultural self-examination and picaresque adventure… Even when the author-narrator’s observations prove overwhelming, his cultural insights, historical laments, literary references, and abundant wit make this first English translation (by Amherst professor White) and the book itself a literary achievement.”

— Publishers Weekly

“[A] brilliant novel…Readers will thank a gifted translator for finally making this masterpiece-acclaimed by Thomas Mann-available to English-speakers.”

— Booklist, starred review

Oliver Sacks has always been fascinated by islands—their remoteness, their mystery, above all the unique forms of life they harbor. For him, islands conjure up equally the romance of Melville and Stevenson, the adventure of Magellan and Cook, and the scientific wonder of Darwin and Wallace.

Drawn to the tiny Pacific atoll of Pingelap by intriguing reports of an isolated community of islanders born totally color-blind, Sacks finds himself setting up a clinic in a one-room island dispensary, where he listens to these achromatopic islanders describe their colorless world in rich terms of pattern and tone, luminance and shadow. And on Guam, where he goes to investigate the puzzling neurodegenerative paralysis endemic there for a century, he becomes, for a brief time, an island neurologist, making house calls with his colleague John Steele, amid crowing cockerels, cycad jungles, and the remains of a colonial culture.

The islands reawaken Sacks’ lifelong passion for botany—in particular, for the primitive cycad trees, whose existence dates back to the Paleozoic—and the cycads are the starting point for an intensely personal reflection on the meaning of islands, the dissemination of species, the genesis of disease, and the nature of deep geologic time. Out of an unexpected journey, Sacks has woven an unforgettable narrative which immerses us in the romance of island life, and shares his own compelling vision of the complexities of being human.

Oliver Sacks has always been fascinated by islands—their remoteness, their mystery, above all the unique forms of life they harbor. For him, islands conjure up equally the romance of Melville and Stevenson, the adventure of Magellan and Cook, and the scientific wonder of Darwin and Wallace.

Drawn to the tiny Pacific atoll of Pingelap by intriguing reports of an isolated community of islanders born totally color-blind, Sacks finds himself setting up a clinic in a one-room island dispensary, where he listens to these achromatopic islanders describe their colorless world in rich terms of pattern and tone, luminance and shadow. And on Guam, where he goes to investigate the puzzling neurodegenerative paralysis endemic there for a century, he becomes, for a brief time, an island neurologist, making house calls with his colleague John Steele, amid crowing cockerels, cycad jungles, and the remains of a colonial culture.

The islands reawaken Sacks’ lifelong passion for botany—in particular, for the primitive cycad trees, whose existence dates back to the Paleozoic—and the cycads are the starting point for an intensely personal reflection on the meaning of islands, the dissemination of species, the genesis of disease, and the nature of deep geologic time. Out of an unexpected journey, Sacks has woven an unforgettable narrative which immerses us in the romance of island life, and shares his own compelling vision of the complexities of being human.

The Big Island of Hawaii is a place of exotic beauty, serene landscapes and timeless culture. It is also a place filled with secrets — both ancient and modern.

Photographer, Tom Bennett, while scouting the island of Hawaii for an upcoming big-budget film, stumbles across a bizarre, panther-like creature in the forest. As Bennett and his adventurous wildlife biologist friend, Kelly Adler, dig deeper into the origins of the creature, they find themselves uncovering a clandestine military experiment fronted by a brilliant inventor and a psychopathic engineer spiraling out of control. The photographer and his lovely colleague are thrust into the middle of a daring investigation which finds them swimming through the Pacific, evading deadly automatons in an elaborate government facility and navigating through the dense, tropical jungle of Hawaii in order to escape the secret they uncovered.

A grand mystery reaching back centuries. A sensational disappearance that made headlines around the world. A quest for truth that leads to death, madness or disappearance for those who seek to solve it. The Lost City of Z is a blockbuster adventure narrative about what lies beneath the impenetrable jungle canopy of the Amazon.

After stumbling upon a hidden trove of diaries, acclaimed New Yorker writer David Grann set out to solve "the greatest exploration mystery of the twentieth century:" What happened to the British explorer Percy Fawcett and his quest for the Lost City of Z?

In 1925 Fawcett ventured into the Amazon to find an ancient civilization, hoping to make one of the most important discoveries in history. For centuries Europeans believed the world’s largest jungle concealed the glittering kingdom of El Dorado. Thousands had died looking for it, leaving many scientists convinced that the Amazon was truly inimical to humankind. But Fawcett, whose daring expeditions helped inspire Conan Doyle’s The Lost World, had spent years building his scientific case. Captivating the imagination of millions around the globe, Fawcett embarked with his twenty-one-year-old son, determined to prove that this ancient civilization-which he dubbed “Z”-existed. Then he and his expedition vanished.

Fawcett’s fate-and the tantalizing clues he left behind about “Z”-became an obsession for hundreds who followed him into the uncharted wilderness. For decades scientists and adventurers have searched for evidence of Fawcett’s party and the lost City of Z. Countless have perished, been captured by tribes, or gone mad. As David Grann delved ever deeper into the mystery surrounding Fawcett’s quest, and the greater mystery of what lies within the Amazon, he found himself, like the generations who preceded him, being irresistibly drawn into the jungle’s “green hell.” His quest for the truth and his stunning discoveries about Fawcett’s fate and “Z” form the heart of this complex, enthralling narrative.

Expanding on his Sports Illustrated cover story, Gorant (Fanatic) offers a chilling investigation into Michael Vick' s dog-fighting operation and the men and women who brought him to justice and rehabilitated the rescued dogs. Gorant outlines the rise of Bad Newz Kennels, describing in sometimes painful detail the abuse, torture, and execution of the animals-particularly disturbing is an episode in which Vick and a friend swing a failed fighting dog over their heads like a jump rope and kill it by repeatedly slamming it into the ground-and tracing the rescue of dozens of pit bulls seized from Vick' s property. Gorant outlines the efforts to save these animals from euthanasia, challenging the negative public perceptions of pit bulls and reporting back on the status of dogs like Sox (now a certified therapy dog), Zippy (adopted by a family of five), and Iggy (still shy but growing comfortable with his adopted circle of friends). At a time when Vick has returned to professional football and much of the public outcry about Bad Newz Kennels has been forgotten, this book provides a stark reminder about the horror and prevalence of dog fighting.

Twelve-year-old Crispin has lived on the streets since he was nine — with only his wits and his daring to sustain him, and only his silent dog, Harley, to call his friend. He is always on the move, never lingering in any one place long enough to risk being discovered. Still, there are certain places he returns to. In the midst of the tumultuous city, they are havens of solitude: like the hushed environs of St. Mary Salome Cemetery, a place where Crispin can feel at peace — safe, at least for a while, from the fearsome memories that plague him… and seep into his darkest nightmares. But not only his dreams are haunted. The city he roams with Harley has secrets and mysteries, things unexplainable and maybe unimaginable. Crispin has seen ghosts in the dead of night, and sensed dimensions beyond reason in broad daylight. Hints of things disturbing and strange nibble at the edges of his existence, even as dangers wholly natural and earthbound cast their shadows across his path. Alone, drifting, and scavenging to survive is no life for a boy. But the life Crispin has left behind, and is still running scared from, is an unspeakable alternative… that may yet catch up with him.

After Domina Alys was made prioress, St. Frideswide's became little more than a guest-house for her relatives, the Godfreys. There was no peace to be had anywhere, especially for Sister Frevisse. Constantly tormented by Domina Alys, Frevisse was further dismayed to discover that St. Fridwswide's modest stores were being depleted by the Godfrey clan. When a long-standing family rivalry begins with a kidnapping and ends with a murder, it is up to Frevisse to rid the nunnery of its unwelcome- and deadly- guests.

As reeve of the small village of Prior Byfield, Simon Perryn must rule on many local disputes, a task he often shares with the steward of St. Brideswide's nunnery. But when the steward is accused of dishonesty and forced to relinquish his post, the worldly Sister Frevisse is sent in to replace him." "Her new duties thrust the reluctant Frevisse into the conflicts, rivalries, and domestic dramas of the locals – and when a measles epidemic sweeps through the town, the overworked nun must stay to tend to the illness. But Frevisse must divide her time between nursing and sleuthing after two villagers are brutally killed. As death casts a cloud over Prior Byfield, fear and suspicion reign." "Simon stands accused of murder. Rumors of adulterous affairs and vicious squabbles proliferate. And Frevisse's pointed questions and keen deductions lead her closer to the disturbing truth…

Hegel and Manfried Grossbart may not consider themselves bad men – but death still stalks them through the dark woods of medieval Europe.

The year is 1364, and the brothers Grossbart have embarked on a naïve quest for fortune. Descended from a long line of graverobbers, they are determined to follow their family's footsteps to the fabled crypts of Gyptland. To get there, they will have to brave dangerous and unknown lands and keep company with all manner of desperate travelers-merchants, priests, and scoundrels alike. For theirs is a world both familiar and distant; a world of living saints and livelier demons, of monsters and madmen.

The Brothers Grossbart are about to discover that all legends have their truths, and worse fates than death await those who would take the red road of villainy.

"An outstanding historical mystery. Well-researched, well-plotted, well-paced and above all well written." – Mike Ripley

Ariana Franklin combines the best of modern forensic thrillers with the drama of historical fiction in the enthralling second novel in the Mistress of the Art of Death series, featuring medieval heroine Adelia Aguilar.

Rosamund Clifford, the mistress of King Henry II, has died an agonizing death by poison-and the king's estranged queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine, is the prime suspect. Henry suspects that Rosamund's murder is probably the first move in Eleanor's long-simmering plot to overthrow him. If Eleanor is guilty, the result could be civil war. The king must once again summon Adelia Aguilar, mistress of the art of death, to uncover the truth.

Adelia is not happy to be called out of retirement. She has been living contentedly in the countryside, caring for her infant daughter, Allie. But Henry's summons cannot be ignored, and Adelia must again join forces with the king's trusted fixer, Rowley Picot, the Bishop of St. Albans, who is also her baby's father.

Adelia and Rowley travel to the murdered courtesan's home, in a tower within a walled labyrinth-a strange and sinister place from the outside, but far more so on the inside, where a bizarre and gruesome discovery awaits them. But Adelia's investigation is cut short by the appearance of Rosamund's rival: Queen Eleanor. Adelia, Rowley, and the other members of her small party are taken captive by Eleanor's henchmen and held in the nunnery of Godstow, where Eleanor is holed up for the winter with her band of mercenaries, awaiting the right moment to launch their rebellion.

Isolated and trapped inside the nunnery by the snow and cold, Adelia and Rowley watch as dead bodies begin piling up. Adelia knows that there may be more than one killer at work, and she must unveil their true identities before England is once again plunged into civil war…

"A good mystery… excellently drawn." – Anne Perry

From the author of The Novice's Tale, a new Sister Frevisse medieval mystery. It's not a very merry Christmas for the sisters of St. Frideswide when they welcome a troupe of actors in from the cold… and open the nunnery door to murder.

Christmas crept into Pine Cove like a creeping Christmas thing: dragging garland, ribbon, and sleigh bells, oozing eggnog, reeking of pine, and threatening festive doom like a cold sore under the mistletoe.

'Twas the night (okay, more like the week) before Christmas, and all through the tiny community of Pine Cove, California, people are busy buying, wrapping, packing, and generally getting into the holiday spirit. It is the hap-hap-happiest time of the year, after all.

But not everybody is feeling the joy. Little Joshua Barker is in desperate need of a holiday miracle. No, he's not on his deathbed; no, his dog hasn't run away from home. But Josh is sure that he saw Santa take a shovel to the head, and now the seven-year-old has only one prayer: Please, Santa, come back from the dead.

But hold on! There's an angel waiting in the wings. (Wings, get it?) It's none other than the Archangel Raziel come to Earth seeking a small child with a wish that needs granting. Unfortunately, our angel's not sporting the brightest halo in the bunch, and before you can say "Kris Kringle," he's botched his sacred mission and sent the residents of Pine Cove headlong into Christmas chaos, culminating in the most hilarious and horrifying holiday party the town has ever seen.

Only Christopher Moore, the man who brought you the outrageous lost gospel Lamb and the hysterical fish tale Fluke could have devised a new holiday classic that tugs at the heartstrings and serves up a healthy slice of fruitcake to boot.

Move over, Charles Dickens — it's Christopher Moore time.

There’s more than one. way to skin a cat—or recruit a spacefarer.

The story is about three sisters. The youngest is chosen by Tsar Saltan (Saltán) to be his wife. He orders the other two sisters to be his royal cook and weaver. They become jealous of their younger sister. When the tsar goes off to war, the tsaritsa gives birth to a son, Prince Gvidon (Gvidón.) The older sisters arrange to have the tsaritsa and the child sealed in a barrel and thrown into the sea. The sea takes pity on them and casts them on the shore of a remote island, Buyan. The son, having quickly grown while in the barrel, goes hunting. He ends up saving an enchanted swan from a kite bird. The swan creates a city for Prince Gvidon to rule, but he is homesick, so the swan turns him into a mosquito to help him. In this guise, he visits Tsar Saltan's court, where he stings his aunt in the eye and escapes. Back in his realm, the swan gives Gvidon a magical squirrel. But he continues to pine for home, so the swan transforms him again, this time into a fly. In this guise Prince Gvidon visits Saltan's court again and he stings his older aunt in the eye. The third time, the Prince is transformed into a bumblebee and stings the nose of his grandmother. In the end, The Prince expresses a desire for a bride instead of his old home, at which point the swan is revealed to be a beautiful princess, whom he marries. He is visited by the Tsar, who is overjoyed to find his newly married son and daughter-in-law.

Beartrix  Potter(1866-1943) - is one of the most notable authors of children's literature. Fairy tales, those created by her about animals, which were self-illustrated with graceful and tender water colors, are notable for delicate lyricism and soft  humour.  For the whole world's children she has completed 23 books with her fairy-tales. This is one of them.

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield is a rich story about secrets, ghosts, winter, books and family. The Thirteenth Tale is a book lover's book, with much of the action taking place in libraries and book stores, and the line between fact and fiction constantly blurred. It is hard to believe this is Setterfield's debut novel, for she makes the words come to life with such skill that some passages even gave me chills. With a mug of cocoa and The Thirteenth Tale, contentment isn't far away.

When Lord Darracott's eldest son dies in a sailing expedition, the old despot realises that he will have to send for the much despised grandson, Hugo. Hugo's father (the second son) had thumbed his nose on convention and had married the daughter of a weaver against his father's wishes. For this piece of impertinence, Lord Darracott, had barred son and family from Darracott Place and had forbade anyone to make any mention of either son or grandson in his hearing. But now, with the death of the heir, Hugo Darracott, much despised grandson of a weaver and son of an ungrateful child will become the next lord of all the Darracott lands, and the very thought of someone with so much unworthy blood in his veins stepping into his shoes is making Lord Darracott feel bilious.

In “The Virtual Swallows of Hog Island,” a programmer finds himself working for the self-proclaimed “Bad-Boy of Virtual-Reality Therapy.” While his boss is breaking new ground and breaking the rules and his coworkers are engaging in questionable uses of the latest technology, the lonely programmer is in a state of mourning over his deep personal losses and must figure out his own form of therapy.

_{At the Publisher’s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.}

The Captors have imprisoned millions of the Alfont in their home system in a far away galaxy. Tommy Gardner and Atlas have sworn to free them. Some of the Captor ships are more than two thousand miles wide with energy weapons millions of years more advanced than anything the Stars Realm possesses. One wrong decision could lead to the total destruction of the Realm but to wait is disaster.

From the Number One Best Selling Author Saxon Andrew comes the fourth Book in the Best Selling Annihilation Series, “Tommy’s Tale”.

The Stars Realm is finally at peace and the Algeans are now allies of the Realm. The Gardner’s youngest child, Tommy, has made a quest to free the captured Alfont from the Captors that have held them imprisoned for more than sixty million years. The Captors are hundreds of millions of years more advanced technologically than the Stars Realm Military and nothing in the Realm’s arsenal can match their ships, some of which are more than three thousand miles in diameter. The Captors have annihilated more than a million planets whose starships had the misfortune to stumble into their domain and Tommy is putting the Realm on a collision course with these beings that show no mercy. What the Realm doesn’t know is that the Captors are coming no matter what course Tommy decides to follow. The difference maker in the coming conflict could be two Algean Adolescents that have started their education. These two will find redemption for all the destroyed worlds their race harvested and perhaps even more than redemption, each other.

The Annihilation Series continues and the action is non-stop as the Stars Realm fights to survive its most dangerous opponent.

"Веру в Бога на поток!" - вот призыв нового реалити-шоу, участником которого становится старец Лазарь. Что он получит в конце этого проекта?

Проводя отпуск в Америке, вместе со своей лучше подругой, Карэн и не мечтала, что встретит ни одного, а сразу двух, выглядящих как байкеры, парней, которые утверждают, что они полярные медведи и она их пара.

Брэд и Дункан двое столетних белых медведя. Они - миротворцы, созданными Богами, чтобы поддерживать мир между сверхъестественными существами. Они сильные, быстро исцеляются и все их чувства лучше, чем у любого другого сверхъестественного существа - ведь это всё помогает им сохранять мир. Но защита мира - это опасное занятие, поэтому, чтобы уменьшить опасность, они работают в парах и создают триаду.

Дункан и Брэд только что нашли свою пару - Карэн. Теперь все, что им нужно сделать - убедить её остаться с ними и защитить.

Уговорят ли Дункан и Брэд Карэн остаться с ними или двое мужчин слишком много, и это заставит её убежать обратно, в родной город?

Будьте осторожны: МЖМ

Блэк увозит Мири с собой в Нью-Йорк, где он бросается в мир Уолл-Стрит, ток-шоу, изысканных ужинов и травли папарацци. Хоть он и играет роль усмехающегося пирата Уолл-Стрит, все это лишь часть его нового бизнес-предприятия, которое, насколько известно Мири, состоит в том, чтобы выследить и убить каждого вампира на Земле. 

Однако главным образом Блэк хочет Брика. Он в буквальном смысле не остановится, пока не отрубит голову или не вырежет сердце вампирского короля, который упрятал его в федеральную тюрьму в Луизиане. 

Тревожась из-за перемен, которые она видит в Блэке, Мири все сильнее беспокоится из-за того, на что он готов пойти, чтобы уничтожить вампирское королевство. Учитывая его кошмары, перемены настроения, продолжительные ночные исчезновения, новое увлечение сражением на мечах и откровенную ложь, она невольно беспокоится об его ментальном здравии и том, не руководит ли его действиями травма, а не злость. 

Когда на юге Соединённых Штатов происходит серия террористических атак, к которым, кажется, причастен Блэк, страхи Мири усиливаются. Все сильнее и сильнее она начинает задаваться вопросом, кто кого выслеживает - то ли Блэк заманивает вампиров для открытого противостояния, то ли Брик просто снова манипулирует им в собственных интересах.

Меня часто потом спрашивали, как такое могло случиться, зачем, почему я сама, по доброй воле отдала красавчика-мужа. Что ответить, честно не знаю. Психанула. Бомбануло. И… продала. За три рубля десять копеек! Почему такая цена? Я знаю ответ, но не хочу его говорить. Стыдно…… И жаль, что Олег сам не понял, с чего я назвала эту цифру… Романтичная и немного смешная история о героине, которой пришлось стать сильной и решительной. А так же о… подлеце-муже, настоящем мужчине, коварной подруге, добром олигархе и неожиданных сюрпризах судьбы.

Рожденная в одной из главных семей мафии в Чикаго, Ария Скудери изо всех сил пытается найти свой собственный путь в мире, где нет выбора. Арии было всего пятнадцать, когда родители обручили ее с Лукой - Тиски - Витиелло, старшим сыном главы нью-йоркской Коза Ностра, чтобы обеспечить мир между двумя семьями.

Теперь восемнадцатилетие, тот день, которого Ария страшилась годами, не за горами: ее свадьба с Лукой.

Ария боится выходить замуж за мужчину, которого едва знает, особенно за кого-то, вроде Луки, получившего прозвище «Тиски» за раздавливание горла человека голыми руками. Благодаря хорошей внешности, богатству и хищной харизме, излучающей власть, Лука может быть одним из самых желанных мужчин Нью-Йорка, но светские девушки, вешающиеся ему на шею, не знают того, что знает Ария: образ плохого парня - это не просто игра. Кровь и смерть скрываются под поразительными серыми глазами Луки и высокомерной улыбкой.

В ее мире красивый внешний вид часто скрывает монстра внутри; монстра, который может так же легко убить, как и поцеловать.

Единственный способ избежать брака с Лукой состоял в том, чтобы убежать и оставить все, что она когда-либо знала, но Ария не может смириться с мыслью, что больше никогда не увидит свою семью.

Несмотря на страх, она решает вступить в брак. Ария выросла среди хищников, таких как Лука, и знает, что даже у большинства бессердечных ублюдков есть сердце, и она намерена проложить себе путь к сердцу Луки.

Кольт Ханниган возвращается в стаю Блэк Хиллс не тем волком, что был прежде, более решительным. Изгнанный после того, как противостоял бывшему вожаку, он не питает теплых чувств к Дрю Тао – новому альфе. Кольт намерен оспорить лидерство Дрю, но лишь до тех пор, пока не видит Ташу – женщину, которую считал погибшей, но которую так и не смог забыть.

Изуродованная шрамами после того, как встала между Кольтом и бывшим Альфой стаи, Таша выживала в течение многих лет, склонив голову. Возвращение Кольта – все, о чем она могла мечтать, но ей хочется жить в покое и любви, а не оказаться посреди еще одной борьбы за лидерство, которая может уничтожить только оправившуюся стаю.

Сможет ли Таша уговорить Кольта найти покой в ее объятиях? Переживет ли волчья стая Блэк Хиллс нападение со стороны, если до сих пор не залечила старые раны?