Service Alert
Delay in delivery of Direct to Player materials
You may experience a delay in delivery of Direct to Player materials. All requests for materials will be delivered as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience.
You may experience a delay in delivery of Direct to Player materials. All requests for materials will be delivered as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience.
Showing 1 - 20 of 2676 items
"An affectionate homage...a loving reconstruction of an era of storytelling now lost." —The New York Times"[A] triumph...If a writer is…
going to put on Stevenson’s voice, he’d better, as the poets say, 'bring it.' Reader, Doyle has brought it...Adventures is a tonic for our bitter times." —Washington PostThe young Robert Louis Stevenson, living in a boarding house in San Francisco in the 19th century while waiting for his beloved’s divorce from her feckless husband, dreamed of writing a soaring novel about his landlady’s adventurous and globe-trotting husband—but he never got around to it. And very soon thereafter he was married, headed home to Scotland, and on his way to becoming the most famous novelist in the world, after writing such classics as Treasure Island, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Kidnapped.But now Brian Doyle brings Stevenson’s untold tale to life, braiding the adventures of seaman John Carson with those of a young Stevenson, wandering the streets of San Francisco, gathering material for his fiction, and yearning for his beloved across the bay. An adventure tale, an elegy to one of the greatest writers of our language, a time-traveling plunge into The City by the Bay during its own energetic youth, The Adventures of John Carson in Several Quarters of the World is entertaining, poignant, and sensual.By Betsy Woodman. 2012
Meet Jana Bibi, a Scottish woman helping to save the small town in India she has grown to call home…
and the oddball characters she considers familyJanet Laird's life changed the day she inherited her grandfather's house in a faraway Indian hill station. Ignoring her son's arguments to come grow old in their family castle in Scotland, she moves with her chatty parrot, Mr. Ganguly and her loyal housekeeper, Mary, to Hamara Nagar, where local merchants are philosophers, the chief of police is a tyrant, and a bagpipe-playing Gurkha keeps the wild monkeys at bay. Settling in, Jana Bibi (as she comes to be known) meets her colorful local neighbors—Feroze Ali Khan of Royal Tailors, who struggles with his business and family, V.K. Ramachandran, whose Treasure Emporium is bursting at the seams with objects of unknown provenance, and Rambir, editor of the local newspaper, who burns the midnight oil at his printing press. When word gets out that the town is in danger of being drowned by a government dam, Jana is enlisted to help put it on the map. Hoping to attract tourists with promises of good things to come, she stacks her deck of cards, readies her fine-feathered assistant—and Jana Bibi's Excellent Fortunes is born.By Ella March Chase. 2014
A richly imagined, gorgeously written historical novel set in the Stuart court featuring a unique hero: Jeffrey Hudson, a dwarf…
tasked with spying on the beautiful but vulnerable queen It's 1629, and King Charles I and his French queen Henrietta Maria have reigned in England for less than three years. Young dwarf Jeffrey Hudson is swept away from a village shambles and plunged into the Stuart court when his father sells him to the most hated man in England—the Duke of Buckingham. Buckingham trains Jeffrey to be his spy in the household of Charles' seventeen-year-old bride, hoping to gain intelligence that will help him undermine the vivacious queen's influence with the king.Desperately homesick in a country that hates her for her nationality and Catholic faith, Henrietta Maria surrounds herself with her "Royal Menagerie of Freaks and Curiosities of Nature"—a "collection" consisting of a giant, two other dwarves, a rope dancer, an acrobat/animal trainer and now Jeffrey, who is dubbed "Lord Minimus."Dropped into this family of misfits, Jeffrey must negotiate a labyrinth of court intrigue and his own increasingly divided loyalties. For not even the plotting of the Duke nor the dangers of a tumultuous kingdom can order the heart of a man. Though he is only eighteen inches tall, Jeffrey Hudson's love will reach far beyond his grasp—to the queen he has been sent to destroy.Full of vibrant period detail, The Queen's Dwarf by Ella March Chase is a thrilling and evocative portrait of an intriguing era.By Angus Donald. 2012
"A rip-roaring tale . . . full of twists and turns...A fast-moving, thoroughly enjoyable yarn." —Kirkus Reviews on King's ManRobert,…
Earl of Locksley, returns in Warlord, the latest in Angus Donald's compelling historical novels, reimagining one of the most indelible figures in folklore—Robin Hood. King Richard I, the Lionheart, is engaged in a bloody war to drive the French out of Normandy. Using the brutal tactics of medieval warfare—siege, savagery and scorched earth—the Lionheart gradually pushes back the forces of King Philip of France. By his side in this epic struggle are the erstwhile outlaw Robin Hood, and Sir Alan Dale, his loyal friend. But while the battles rage, Alan is preoccupied with discovering the identity the man who ordered his father's death ten years earlier—a mystery that leads him towards to Paris, deep into the heart of the enemy's territory.By Morgan Llywelyn. 1993
Morgan Llywelyn, internationally acclaimed author of 1916 and Lion of Ireland, returns with a powerful fantasy saga that sweeps from…
the dawn of history to our own near future. It is the story of Earth and her elements, and of the men and women whose fate lies in her hands. . . . Water. The ice caps melt, the seas rise, and Kesair, a woman of Atlantis, leads a handful of survivors on a desperate search for land – and a new beginning.Fire. All the world centers around the empire of Crete, where Meriones, a humble musician, performs before the mighty in their palaces. Until the land shakes, the volcano speaks with a voice of fire, and Meriones finds his life changed forever.Earth. Old beyond imagining, the Earth knows neither hate nor pity. And from Annie Murphy, a strong-willed New England housewife, it demands a sacrifice both unexpected and irrevocable.Air. The ozone dwindles, and the forests dies, a new plague walks the world. And on a day just after tomorrow, thousands of years after Kesair's struggle, another small party of survivors, led by George Burningfeather, comes together on a desolate Indian reservation. As the ice melts and the sea rises once more, they fight one last battle for the Earth – for mankind and hope.The Elementals is the epic, ongoing tale of humanity's turbulent relationship with the Earth – as only Morgan Llywelyn could tell it.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.By Gillian Bradshaw. 1998
Ariantes is a Sarmatian, a barbarian warrior-prince, uprooted from his home and customs and thrust into the honorless lands of…
the Romans. The victims of a wartime pact struck with the emperor Marcus Aurelius to ensure the future of Sarmatia, Ariantes and his troop of accomplished horsemen are sent to Hadrian's Wall. Unsurprisingly, the Sarmatians hate Britain--an Island of Ghosts, filled with pale faces, stone walls, and an uneasy past.Struggling to command his own people to defend a land they despise, Ariantes is accepted by all, but trusted by none. The Romans fear his barbarian background, and his own men fear his gradual Roman assimilation. When Ariantes uncovers a conspiracy sure to damage both his Roman benefactors and his beloved countrymen, as well as put him and the woman he loves in grave danger, he must make a difficult decision--one that will change his own life forever.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.By Sara Douglass. 2000
The Black Plague. The Pestilence. Disease and death haunt every town and village across 14th century Europe and none are…
immune from its evil. Some see the devastation of their world as a sign from God for Man's wickedness.But Brother Thomas Neville sees this swath of death as something much more. Neville is a man beset by demons. Or is it angels? He has had a visitation from none other than the Archangel Michael, who commands Thomas to a mission. This mission will take Neville across the length and breath of the continent in a desperate bid to find the means to stop the minions of Satan who have found a doorway out of Hell and are preparing to venture forth, to try and seize this world in preparation for an assault on Heaven itself.As Thomas Neville encounters angels and demons, saints and witches, he comes to realize that the armies of God and Satan are arraying themselves for the final battle...and that his soul is to be the battleground.The question is, has Neville picked the truly good side?At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.By Sara Douglass. 2006
The world that the former monk Thomas Neville knows is crumbling about him. The Holy Mother Church of Rome is…
losing its power and men are coming to question the nature of religion and the role of those who rule them by sword and cross. Thomas knows that it is not merely the dawning of a new time for men to try to think and judge for themselves but it is a direct result of the rift in the fabric of the world, where demons have escaped their prison and are trying to breach the very gates of heaven. The great archangel Michael gave Thomas the task to find the demons who now dwell in human form and expose their evil natures. To accomplish this he had to turn his back on one set of vows and return to his once lofty noble connections. In doing so, his life is caught up with his childhood friend Harold Bollinbroke, the fair young "Prince Hal"—who might be more (or less) than he seems. And he meets the fair young Margaret, an enigmatic beauty who he takes to wife--not out of love, but as a means to discover if she is one of those who would destroy mankind.Old friends, a new love, and temptations that will try his conscience. And his very soul.For Thomas is beginning to think that all that he knows may not be true. Faced with mortal love and friendships that he desperately wants and fears, he knows that time is growing short. And the choice that he makes will reshape the world.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.By Kyra Geddes. 2024
Fact and fiction meld into one in this stirring family saga set against shifting landscapes and pivotal moments in Australian…
history.Lillian was born in 1892, the same year Henry Lawson wrote 'The Drover's Wife' and cemented his place in Australia's literary canon. When Lillian reads the short story as a teenager, she is convinced that it is based upon her own family and becomes determined to prove it. But as the years pass, the truth becomes more problematic, and Lillian must decide what is more important: holding onto the past or embracing the future.The Story Thief is about mothers and daughters, love, loss and the power of words. Ultimately it is about how each of us must find our own way to live.By Niklas Natt och Dag. 2021
The spellbinding and eerie finale to the #1 internationally bestselling &“cerebral, immersive&” (The Washington Post) historical trilogy follows two unlikely…
allies as they struggle to end the reign of a powerful cabal of depraved hedonists in 18th-century Stockholm.For more than a year, Emil Winge has dedicated himself to capturing the diabolical Tycho Ceton, with the invaluable assistance of one-armed army veteran and watchman Jean Michael Cardell. Their mission is made more difficult by the ever-increasing paranoia gripping Sweden&’s royal family, who fear that a bloody revolution is brewing. A letter with the names of the revolutionary conspirators is said to be in the possession of Anna Stina Knapp, a good friend to Cardell. Now, Anna is missing and Cardell is determined to find her before the secret police take her into custody. While Winge and Cardell fight for justice and for life, they find themselves caught between powerful enemies—those who will do anything to maintain the status quo, and those who will only be satisfied with its total destruction. Writing with &“thrilling, unnerving, clever, and beautiful&” (Fredrik Backman) vigor and style, Niklas Natt och Dag brilliantly concludes his immersion into the dark and turbulent waters of 18th-century Stockholm.By Gilbert Morris. 2011
A young man finds his calling as a doctor in Queen Elizabeth&’s court in this Christian historical trilogy finale—a prequel…
to the House of Winslow series. Neither bold and rough like his brother, Adam, nor headstrong and spoiled like his sister, Adara, young Colin Winslow is a gentle soul with a special love for natural things. His interest in animals and healing brings him in contact with Meg Caradoc, a strange woman who lives in the woods, and teaches him the fine art of herbal medicine. At Oxford, an eccentric but brilliant professor, Dr. Phineas Teague, guides Colin toward a medical career. This formal training, combined with Meg&’s herbal remedies, makes Colin an insightful and successful doctor—one with the approving eye of Queen Elizabeth. Colin&’s skill quickly earns him many patients, some highly placed in the courts of both his queen and her sister, Mary Queen of Scots. Soon, this once shy young man finds himself amid court intrigue, acting covertly on the queen&’s behalf. When Colin faces his most difficult case—curing the wounds his brave brother suffered in battle—he must confront his attraction to Adam&’s wife, his unsteady faith in God, and the limits of his ability to heal.By Gilbert Morris. 2010
A wayward young man finds himself—and his faith—in the fight against Bloody Mary&’s Protestant persecution in the sequel to Honor…
in the Dust. Mary I of England is determined to eliminate the Protestant faith by edict, sword, or both. In this turbulent time, young Brandon Winslow—the son of the royal falconer Stuart Winslow—finds himself in dire straits. Drummed out of the military for seducing the wife of his commanding officer, he sinks into a life of gambling and petty fraud along with Lupa, the fair gypsy woman who nursed him back to health. When Brandon sees several Protestants burned at the stake in London, the experience changes him. Though he has only been a nominal member of the Church of England, he finds himself compelled to stop those responsible for these outrages—and to do so before his uncle Quentin, a pastor, is executed for his faith. The only way to end the scourge is to make Princess Elizabeth queen. Joining such an effort would be punishable by death. It&’s a risky proposition to say the least. But then, Brandon has always been a gambler . . .By Gilbert Morris. 2009
The author of the House of Winslow series offers a thrilling prequel following the ascent of Stuart Winslow in the…
salacious court of King Henry VIII. Determined to lift himself out of poverty, Stuart Winslow finds his prayers answered when he&’s offered a position in the court of King Henry VIII. A skilled falconer and weapon designer, Stuart quickly proves his merits. But beneath the pomp and luxury of court, he discovers a cauldron of vices, power plays, and temptation. When William Tyndale announces his intention to translate the Bible into the language of the common man, the king sentences him to death—and charges Stuart with retrieving him. Though Stuart knows Tyndale, and believes his work to be righteous, defying the king would risk his own death. At the crossroads of faith and ambition, he must make an impossible choice.By Shin'Ichi Sakamoto. 2024
Unflinching poise in the face of mortal justice—a world free of execution will be sought at the cost of further…
death.In this omnibus edition collecting volumes 4-6 of the original manga series, Shin&’ichi Sakamoto masterfully fictionalizes the true life of Charles-Henri Sanson, the "Gentleman of Paris," who performed nearly three thousand executions in 18th century France.What has begun, must be seen to an end. Despite the sorrows of a broken heart, Charles must carry out the execution of the condemned Damiens. Swearing to fulfill his duty mercifully, fate plays a cruel hand, and within the ranks of the Sanson family, one intervenes in a shocking display. With dreams of a future of mercy and flourishing equality, Charles faces the execution of the century.Available in English for the first time and presented in a special omnibus edition collecting volumes 4-6 of the original Japanese manga series!By Hanna Pylväinen. 2023
FINALIST FOR THE 2023 NATIONAL BOOK AWARDAn epic love story in the vein of Cold Mountain and The Great Circle,…
about a young reindeer herder and a minister’s daughter in the nineteenth century Arctic Circle In 1851, at a remote village in the Scandinavian tundra, a Lutheran minister known as Mad Lasse tries in vain to convert the native Sámi reindeer herders to his faith. But when one of the most respected herders has a dramatic awakening and dedicates his life to the church, his impetuous son, Ivvár, is left to guard their diminishing herd alone. By chance, he meets Mad Lasse’s daughter Willa, and their blossoming infatuation grows into something that ultimately crosses borders—of cultures, of beliefs, and of political divides—as Willa follows the herders on their arduous annual migration north to the sea.Gorgeously written and sweeping in scope, Hanna Pylväinen's The End of Drum-Time immerses readers in a world lit by the northern lights, steeped in age-old rituals, and guided by passions that transcend place and time.By Beverly Swerling. 2007
Set against the dramatic backdrop of America’s during the War of 1812, Beverly Swerling’s gripping and intricately plotted sequel to…
the much-loved City of Dreams plunges deep into the crowded streets of old New York.Poised between the Manhattan woods and the sea that is her gateway to the world, the city of 1812 is vibrant but raw, a cauldron where the French accents of Creole pirates mingle with the brogues of Irish seamen, and shipments of rare teas and silks from Canton are sold at raucous Pearl Street auctions. Allegiances are more changeable than the tides, love and lust often indistinguishable, the bonds of country weak compared to the temptation of fabulous riches from the East, and only a few farseeing patriots recognize the need not only to protect the city from the redcoats, but to preserve the fragile Constitutional union forged in 1787. Joyful Patrick Turner, dashing war hero and brilliant surgeon, loses his hand to a British shell, retreats to private life, and hopes to make his fortune in the China trade. To succeed he must run the British blockade; if he fails, he will lose not only a livelihood, but the beautiful Manon, daughter of a Huguenot jeweler who will not accept a pauper as a son-in-law. When stories of a lost treasure and a mysterious diamond draw him into a treacherous maze of deceit and double-cross, and the British set Washington ablaze, Joyful realizes that more than his personal future is at stake. His adversary, Gornt Blakeman, has a lust for power that will not be sated until he claims Joyful’s fiancée as his wife and half a nation as his personal fiefdom. Like the Turners before him, Joyful must choose: his dreams or his country. Swerling’s vividly drawn characters illuminate every aspect of the teeming metropolis: John Jacob Astor, the wealthiest man in America, brings the city’s first Chinese to staff his palatial Broadway mansion; Lucretia Carter, wife of a respectable craftsman, makes ends meet as an abortionist serving New York’s brothels; Thumbless Wu, a mysterious Cantonese stowaway, slinks about on a secret mission; and the bewitching Delight Higgins, proprietress of the town’s finest gambling club, lives in terror of the blackbirding gangs who prey on runaway slaves. They are all here, the butchers and shipwrights, the doctors and scriv-eners, the slum dwellers of Five Points and the money men of the infant stock exchange...conspiring by day and carousing by night, while the women must hide their loyalties and ambitions, their very wills, behind pretty sighs and silken skirts.By Anuradha Roy. 2010
“This is why we read fiction at all” raves the Washington Post: Family life meets historical romance in this critically…
acclaimed, “gorgeous, sweeping novel” (Ms Magazine) about two people who find each other when abandoned by everyone else, marking the signal American debut of an award-winning writer who richly deserves her international acclaim.On the outskirts of a small town in Bengal, a family lives in solitude in their vast new house. Here, lives intertwine and unravel. A widower struggles with his love for an unmarried cousin. Bakul, a motherless daughter, runs wild with Mukunda, an orphan of unknown caste adopted by the family. Confined in a room at the top of the house, a matriarch goes slowly mad; her husband searches for its cause as he shapes and reshapes his garden. As Mukunda and Bakul grow, their intense closeness matures into something else, and Mukunda is banished to Calcutta. He prospers in the turbulent years after Partition, but his thoughts stay with his home, with Bakul, with all that he has lost—and he knows that he must return.By James Lee Burke. 2015
Bestselling author James Lee Burke&’s &“stunning&” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) masterpiece is the story of a father and son separated…
by war, circumstance, and a race for the Holy Grail—a thrilling entry in the Holland family saga.After a violent encounter that leaves four Mexican soldiers dead, Texas Ranger Hackberry Holland escapes the country in possession of a stolen artifact believed to be the mythic cup of Christ, earning the ire of a bloodthirsty Austrian arms dealer who places Hack&’s son, Ishmael, squarely in the cross hairs of a plot to recapture his prize. On the journey from revolutionary Mexico in 1918 to the saloons of San Antonio during the Hole in the Wall Gang&’s reign, we meet three extraordinary women: the Danish immigrant who is Ishmael&’s mother and Hackberry&’s one true love; a brothel madam descended from the Crusader knight who brought the Shroud of Turin back from the Holy Land; and a onetime lover of the Sundance Kid, whose wiles rival those of Lady Macbeth. In her own way, each woman will aid Hack in his quest to reconcile with Ishmael, to vanquish their enemies, and to return the Grail to its rightful place. An epic tale of love, loss, betrayal, vengeance, and retribution, The House of the Rising Sun further cements Burke&’s reputation as &“one of America&’s all-time masters&” (New York Journal of Books).By Nathan Burrage. 2024
The Holy Land, 1099: Jerusalem has fallen. As the Christian factions vie for power, Godefroi de Bouillon and his companions…
unearth markers to the Keystone, a mystical artefact with the power to shape history. Yet progress has its price: Godefroi' s bodyguard lies gravely wounded; the Arabic cabal guiding Hugues is broken; and the forces of Severity are gathering to claim the Keystone.France, 1307: Bertrand de Châ tillon-sur-Seine was a knight for a single day before fleeing with the mysterious Salome. After a pitched battle that claims most of his brethren, Bertrand agrees to become Salome' s new Shroud, binding his fate to hers. A refuge lies across the English Channel, but will they reach it in time? And when will Salome finally reveal her secrets?The Keystone awaits, but is it meant for mortal hands?By Sarah Webb. 2024
It’s 1944. Twelve-year-old Grace Devine lives at Blacksod Lighthouse and weather station in County Mayo with her parents and little…
brother. When a German plane crashes nearby, she and her best friend Sibby risk their lives to save the young pilot. Grace’s family take him in, but their neighbours are horrified at having an ‘enemy’ in their midst. Meanwhile, the Met Office in England suddenly asks Blacksod to send them weather reports every hour. But why? As the wind and rain howl outside, Grace begins to understand that something important is happening, something to do with the war – and she is right in the eye of the storm. A tale of bravery, adventure and a remarkable friendship, inspired by true events from World War 2.