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To Hold Up the Sky
By Cixin Liu. 2020
From New York Times bestselling author Cixin Liu comes a short story collection of captivating visions of the future and…
incredible re-imaginings of the past. In To Hold Up the Sky, Cixin Liu takes us across time and space, from a rural mountain community where elementary students must use physicas to prevent an alien invasion; to coal mines in northern China where new technology will either save lives of unleash a fire that will burn for centuries; to a time very much like our own, when superstring computers predict our every move; to 10,000 years in the future, when humanity is finally able to begin anew; to the very collapse of the universe itself.Written between 1999 and 2017 and never before published in English, these stories came into being during decades of major change in China and will take you across time and space through the eyes of one of science fiction's most visionary writers. Experience the limitless and pure joy of Cixin Liu's writing and imagination in this stunning collection.Stories included are:ContractionFull Spectrum Barrage JammingThe Village TeacherFire in the EarthTime MigrationOde to joyCloud of PoemsMirrorSea of DreamsCloud of PoemsThe ThinkerAt the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.'I was blown away by this dark, enchanting story of witchcraft, power and injustice. ..nothing short of brilliant' Mary ChamberlainErzsébet…
Báthory, whose infamous place in history characterises her as the 'Blood Countess', was accused of the murder of over 600 peasant girls in Hungary, 1610. The Nightingale's Castle tells the story of a woman fighting for her survival and the complicated, often cruel, household over which she presides.Praise for The Nightingale's Castle'Moving, fascinating and haunting.. A mesmerising combination of gothic horror and elegant restraint' Francesca De Tores, author of Saltblood'Gripping... a fascinating exploration of women's struggle to have their truth heard' Louise O'NeillIn 1573, Countess Erzsébet Báthory gave birth to an illegitimate child. The infant, a girl, was swiftly bundled up and handed to a local peasant family to be brought up in one of the hamlets surrounding the Castle. Many years later, 15-year-old Boróka reluctantly leaves the safety of the only home she has ever known in the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains. Trusted members of the countess's household have been sent out to gather new serving girls, and the kindly old man who has taken care of Boróka for almost all her life knows that it is dangerous to turn them away.Boróka struggles to find her place at Cachtice Castle: she is frightened of the countess's reputation as an alleged murderer of young girls, and the women who run the castle are terrifyingly cruel. When plague comes into the heart of the castle, a tentative bond begins to form between Boróka and the Countess Báthory. But powerful forces are moving against a woman whose wealth poses such a threat to the king: can the countess really trust the women who are so close to her? And when the show trial begins against the infamous 'Blood Countess' where will Boróka's loyalties lie?The Italian Garden: The perfect historical fiction to fall in love with this spring!
By Charlotte Betts. 2024
Lake Como, 1919.The garden of Villa Marchese was once a sight to behold. Now, overgrown and unloved, the flowers that…
once bloomed are nothing but a reminder of the tragic events of Flora Marchese's death.When horticulturist Violet Honeywell is commissioned to restore the once exquisite garden, she immediately accepts and sets off on a life-changing adventure.Violet instantly becomes enchanted by the Italian way of life, and under the beguiling warmth of the Bellagio sun, she falls in love with a man who can never truly be hers - Flora's grandson.But when a discovery at the Lake uncovers buried truths that have haunted the family for decades, Violet starts to delve deeper into the dark secrets of their past, and she quickly begins to realise that not everything in the Marchese family is what it seems . . .----Why readers love Charlotte Betts:'Lush, romantic and full of intrigue' Tracy Rees, Richard & Judy bestselling author'A deeply romantic novel whose vivid characters will linger in your mind' Margaret Kaine'Romantic, poignant and gripping . . . a fabulous holiday read' Deborah Swift'A stunning and captivating read . . . full of drama, love, loss and life' Book Literati'Lingers in the heart long after the final page is turned . . . a must read for anyone who wants to be absorbed as well as utterly enchanted' Carol McGrath'A compelling story, beautifully written and brought alive with rich historical detail' Liz HarrisThe Italian Garden: The perfect historical fiction to fall in love with this spring!
By Charlotte Betts. 2024
Lake Como, 1919.The garden of Villa Marchese was once a sight to behold. Now, overgrown and unloved, the flowers that…
once bloomed are nothing but a reminder of the tragic events of Flora Marchese's death.When horticulturist Violet Honeywell is commissioned to restore the once exquisite garden, she immediately accepts and sets off on a life-changing adventure.Violet instantly becomes enchanted by the Italian way of life, and under the beguiling warmth of the Bellagio sun, she falls in love with a man who can never truly be hers - Flora's grandson.But when a discovery at the Lake uncovers buried truths that have haunted the family for decades, Violet starts to delve deeper into the dark secrets of their past, and she quickly begins to realise that not everything in the Marchese family is what it seems . . .----Why readers love Charlotte Betts:'Lush, romantic and full of intrigue' Tracy Rees, Richard & Judy bestselling author'A deeply romantic novel whose vivid characters will linger in your mind' Margaret Kaine'Romantic, poignant and gripping . . . a fabulous holiday read' Deborah Swift'A stunning and captivating read . . . full of drama, love, loss and life' Book Literati'Lingers in the heart long after the final page is turned . . . a must read for anyone who wants to be absorbed as well as utterly enchanted' Carol McGrath'A compelling story, beautifully written and brought alive with rich historical detail' Liz HarrisThe Brass Age
By Slobodan Šnajder. 2024
'Like Olga Tokarczuk, Šnajder has written a novel about a Europe that has lost its diversity and has beendestroyed by…
fascism, communism and, in recent times, nationalism ... a modern epic' Le Monde'A masterpiece' La RepubblicaThe very next day processions of young men, some still children, began to move around the little town of Nuštar, with drums providing a steady rhythm ... These young men came from German families, Germans living outside the Reich, Volksdeutsche. Some stayed in their houses, some were shut up in the storeroom by their mothers, but as time went on more and more of them followed the drumming ...1769. A hungry year in Germany. Kempf the ancestor departs his homeland with his compatriots in search of a brighter future. Years pass and generations of Germans make Slavonia their home. But in 1940, when Europe is at war once more, this minority, the Volksdeutsch, are called to fight for the Reich, for a land now foreign to them.Among their ranks is Georg Kempf, the narrator's father. Forcibly conscripted into the Waffen SS, he deserts, aware of the danger that this involves. At the end of the war, he falls in love with a committed partisan called Vera despite the unimaginable: if they had met earlier, each one would have had to kill the other.The Brass Age, Slobodan Šnajder's masterpiece, is both a family saga and a powerful historical novel about the destiny of those shackled by history, and the generations doomed to inherit the contradictory fates of their forebears. Šnajder looks to his own biography to capture two hundred years of conflict and dividing ideology. In the process, he reconstructs a world that fell apart.The Brass Age
By Slobodan Šnajder. 2024
'Like Olga Tokarczuk, Šnajder has written a novel about a Europe that has lost its diversity and has beendestroyed by…
fascism, communism and, in recent times, nationalism ... a modern epic' Le Monde'A masterpiece' La RepubblicaThe very next day processions of young men, some still children, began to move around the little town of Nuštar, with drums providing a steady rhythm ... These young men came from German families, Germans living outside the Reich, Volksdeutsche. Some stayed in their houses, some were shut up in the storeroom by their mothers, but as time went on more and more of them followed the drumming ...1769. A hungry year in Germany. Kempf the ancestor departs his homeland with his compatriots in search of a brighter future. Years pass and generations of Germans make Slavonia their home. But in 1940, when Europe is at war once more, this minority, the Volksdeutsch, are called to fight for the Reich, for a land now foreign to them.Among their ranks is Georg Kempf, the narrator's father. Forcibly conscripted into the Waffen SS, he deserts, aware of the danger that this involves. At the end of the war, he falls in love with a committed partisan called Vera despite the unimaginable: if they had met earlier, each one would have had to kill the other.The Brass Age, Slobodan Šnajder's masterpiece, is both a family saga and a powerful historical novel about the destiny of those shackled by history, and the generations doomed to inherit the contradictory fates of their forebears. Šnajder looks to his own biography to capture two hundred years of conflict and dividing ideology. In the process, he reconstructs a world that fell apart.The Amazon and the Warrior: A Novel of Ancient Troy
By Judith Hand. 2004
The Legend of Penthesilea, Queen of the AmazonsFor eight years, the besieged city of Troy has withstood the relentless might…
of the Greek invaders. Now the dread Achilles, mightiest of the Greek warriors, seeks to conquer the fabled realm of the Amazons as well. But one woman stands between him and his ruthless ambition to conquer her homeland.Penthesilea, Warrior Queen of the Amazons, watched her mother die upon Achilles' sword. A fiery, red-haired tigress of tremendous passion and courage, Pentha vows to take revenge on the legendary Greek champion, even if it means leading an army in defense of imperiled Troy.Her lover, Damonides, does not share her eagerness for battle. Once a formidable warrior in his own right, he long ago put away the sword. Now he yearns only to live in peace with the beautiful and ardent Amazon Queen. But can he stand idly by while the woman he loves risks everything for the sake of her people?At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.Walking West: A Novel
By Noëlle Sickels. 1995
About the great migration west, Edna Ferber wrote, "I am not belittling the brave pioneer men, but the sunbonnet as…
well as the sombrero helped to settle this glorious land of ours." These westering foremothers take center stage in Walking West, Noelle Sickels's remarkable first novel of women and their families on a grueling wagon train journey across the United States.In the wet spring of 1852, a small band of Indiana farm families set off for California, lured west by the promise of a better life. The Muller party crosses treacherous rivers, slogs through mud and thunderstorms, and hauls wagons up and down mountains and over baking deserts in a seven-month journey across our raw continent.Among them is Alice Muller, a reluctant traveler forced to leave home by her husband Henry's dreams of prosperity. But the Mullers greatly underestimate the hardships they will face, and it is ultimately Alice who must draw on the deepest reserves of body and soul to lead the little group of bone-weary emigrants through their final miles. In doing so, Alice changes from a dutiful farm wife into a woman capable of deep commitment, strong actions, and profound self-knowledge.Noelle Sickels's novel takes readers across America--through Fort Laramie, Chimney Rock, the Black Hills, the Rockies, and the Sierras--and into the minds of her extraordinary characters. Offering a woman's perspective on a historical period more often portrayed through the male icons of cowboys, outlaws, and gold seekers, Walking West combines history and storytelling in a novel of astonishing authenticity and emotional power.The Spanish Queen: A Novel of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon
By Carolly Erickson. 2014
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Last Wife of Henry VIII comes a powerful and moving novel…
about Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII's first wife and mother of Mary IWhen young Catherine of Aragon, proud daughter of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, is sent to England to marry the weak Prince Arthur, she is unprepared for all that awaits her: early widowhood, the challenge of warfare with the invading Scots, and the ultimately futile attempt to provide the realm with a prince to secure the succession. She marries Arthur's energetic, athletic brother Henry, only to encounter fresh obstacles, chief among them Henry's infatuation with the alluring but wayward Anne Boleyn.In The Spanish Queen, bestselling novelist Carolly Erickson allows the strong-willed, redoubtable Queen Catherine to tell her own story—a tale that carries her from the scented gardens of Grenada to the craggy mountains of Wales to the conflict-ridden Tudor court. Surrounded by strong partisans among the English, and with the might of Spanish and imperial arms to defend her, Catherine soldiers on, until her union with King Henry is severed and she finds herself discarded—and tempted to take the most daring step of her life.Carolly Erickson's historical entertainments continue to succeed in creating a unique blend of historical authenticity and page-turning drama.In the Shadow of 10,000 Hills
By Jennifer Haupt. 2018
"...more than a page-turning narrative; it's an embrace of the Kinyarwanda greeting amahoro--'peace.'"—Oprah.comAn evocative page-turner and an eye-opening meditation on…
the ways we survive profoundly painful memories and negotiate the complexities of love.&”—Wally Lamb, author of I Know This Much is TrueFinalist – National Reading Group—Great Group Reads 2018Finalist – Foreword Indies Book of the YearIn 1968, a disillusioned and heartbroken Lillian Carlson left Atlanta after the assassination of Martin Luther King. She found meaning in the hearts of orphaned African children and cobbled together her own small orphanage in the Rift Valley alongside the lush forests of Rwanda.Three decades later, in New York City, Rachel Shepherd, lost and heartbroken herself, embarks on a journey to find the father who abandoned her as a young child, determined to solve the enigma of Henry Shepherd, a now-famous photographer.When an online search turns up a clue to his whereabouts, Rachel travels to Rwanda to connect with an unsuspecting and uncooperative Lillian. While Rachel tries to unravel the mystery of her father's disappearance, she finds unexpected allies in an ex-pat doctor running from his past and a young Tutsi woman who lived through a profound experience alongside her father. Set against the backdrop of a country grieving and trying to heal after a devastating civil war, follow the intertwining stories of three women who discover something unexpected: grace when there can be no forgiveness."An intensely beautiful debut.&”—Library Journal"Good choice for those seeking tales of hope . . . and it may prove popular with book clubs.&”—BooklistEtched in Clay: The Life of Dave, Enslaved Potter and Poet
By James Cheng. 2012
The acclaimed biography-in-verse about the life and times of Dave, an enslaved potter who inscribed his works with short poems…
during the years leading up to the Civil War.Sometime before 1818, an enslaved young man named Dave was brought to Edgefield, in the heart of South Carolina's pottery-producing area. From the time he was first taught to turn a potter's wheel, Dave showed exceptional natural talent. Soon he was creating pieces of great beauty and often massive size. He also learned to read and write, even though South Carolina had laws prohibiting slave literacy. And then Dave did something even more daring: he began to sign his jars and carve many of them with sayings and short poems that reflected his daily life and experiences. With these courageous acts, Dave quietly protested the brutality of slavery and asserted his humanity. Here is an evocative portrait of Dave as memorable as one of his jars. Through simple yet powerful poetry, including some of Dave's inscriptions, we learn his extraordinary story of perseverance, creative inspiration, and hope. Today Dave's legacy lives on in the artistry of his pottery, in his intriguing words, and as a reminder of the dignity and resilience of the human spirit.Five Hundred Poor
By Noah Milligan. 2018
"An honest glimpse at how the other half lives and how the other half dies that should inspire us to…
try harder."—Jared Yates Sexton, author of The People Are Going To Rise Like The Waters Upon Your ShoreFrom acclaimed author, Noah Milligan, comes a short story collection, Five Hundred Poor. The title comes from Adam Smith&’s The Wealth of Nations, &“Wherever there is great property there is great inequality. For one very rich man there must be at least five hundred poor, and the affluence of the few supposes the indigence of the many. The affluence of the rich excites the indignation of the poor, who are often both driven by want, and prompted by envy, to invade his possessions.&”These are ten stories of those five hundred poor, the jaded, the disillusioned, and the disenfranchised."Noah Milligan writes about Oklahoma in such an uncanny, dark, compelling way."—Brandon Hobson, author of Where The Dead Sit TalkingNoah Milligan's other books:An Elegant TheoryInto Captivity They Will Go.No Call Too Small
By Oscar Martens. 2020
&“Martens&’ work would be impressive in any era, but it is particularly timely today. It is wonderful to come upon…
an author who faces into the horrific absurdities of modern life without flinching, a stylist who delivers his most powerful satiric points with laser sharp accuracy and lyrically beautiful language."—Vancouver Sun&“Haunting, darkly funny situations, captured in crisp, spare prose, will appeal to fans of George Saunders.&”—Publishers WeeklyBy the end of the day, a cop must choose between ethics and social death. A camp counsellor, stuck deep in the woods with a small group of boys, only has a few hours before the DTs kick in. Adult children scramble to get the best of what remains of their mother's estate, but funeral plans may be premature. Sandwiched between a depressed mother and a careless father, a young girl must help attract customers to the family business, no matter the cost.The stories in No Call Too Small represent micro-scale disaster tourism on a winding road that is long and dark. Driving too fast, weaving between flaming wrecks, and drifting through cliff-side curves, there's little choice but to hang on and meet whatever's over the rise head on.&“Marten&’s strong prose is a pleasure to read, with dark humour and lively storytelling that brings a quirky humanity to his characters.&”—Janie Chang, Globe and Mail bestselling author of Dragon Springs Road&“A beautifully crafted collection.&”—Marcia Butler, author of Pickle&’s ProgressWhat Start Bad a Mornin': A Novel
By Carol Mitchell. 2023
Using interwoven narratives — present-day United States, Trinidad, and the political tumult of Jamaica in the 1980s — Carol Mitchell's…
debut gives voice to the immigrant woman whose veneer of middle-class stability masks the violent trauma of a prior life."An engaging and life-affirming read.&” — Booklist "What start bad a mornin', cyan end good a evenin'." — Jamaican proverb Amaya Lin has few memories of the years before she turned eighteen. Now in her forties, she has compensated by carefully cultivating a satisfying life as a wife, mother, and business professional. Her husband&’s law practice is on the brink of major success; her neurodiverse son has grown into an independent adult; and she has come to terms with her aunt&’s dementia. This sense of order is disrupted, however, when she encounters a stranger who claims to have an impossible connection, launching Amaya on a tumultuous journey into the past. Using three interwoven narratives spanning the United States, Trinidad, and Jamaica, Carol Mitchell's debut gives voice to an immigrant woman forced to confront her repressed memories of violent trauma. Only then can she discover what she is capable of when it comes to self-preservation and the protection of her family."This is a stellar debut.&” — Cleyvis Natera, author of Neruda on the Park"Luminous prose." —Elizabeth Nunez, author of Prospero&’s DaughterThe Edge of Nowhere: A Tale Of Tragedy, Love, Murder And Survival
By C. H. Armstrong. 2019
"Refreshing and devastating"—The OklahomanDespised and feared by her sprawling family, Victoria Hastings Harrison Greene refuses to go quietly from her…
long life without revealing the secrets she's held locked away for more than fifty years—the same secrets consistent with the rumors her grandchildren whisper behind her back during family gatherings.Widowed with nine children during the one-two punch of The Great Depression and the Oklahoma Dust Bowl, Victoria made harsh choices—desperate choices that reduced a once soft and loving young woman into the reviled matriarch she is today. Hers is the story of one woman&’s courage in the midst of overwhelming adversity, and her absolute conviction to never stop fighting...no matter what it takes.Fair Rosaline: A Novel
By Natasha Solomons. 2023
The most exciting historical retelling of 2023: a subversive, powerful untelling of Romeo and Juliet by New York Times bestselling…
author Natasha SolomonsWas the greatest ever love story a lie?The first time Romeo Montague sees young Rosaline Capulet he falls instantly in love. Rosaline, headstrong and independent, is unsure of Romeo's attentions but with her father determined that she join a convent, this handsome and charming stranger offers her the chance of a different life.Soon though, Rosaline begins to doubt all that Romeo has told her. She breaks off the match, only for Romeo's gaze to turn towards her cousin, thirteen-year-old Juliet. Gradually Rosaline realizes that it is not only Juliet's reputation at stake, but her life .With only hours remaining before she will be banished behind the nunnery walls, will Rosaline save Juliet from her Romeo? Or can this story only ever end one way?Shattering everything we thought we knew about Romeo and Juliet, Fair Rosaline is the spellbinding prequel to Shakespeare's best known tale, which exposes Romeo as a predator with a long history of pursuing much younger girls. Bold, lyrical, and chillingly relevant, Fair Rosaline reveals the dark subtext of the timeless story of star-crossed lovers: it's a feminist revision that will enthrall readers of bestselling literary retellings such as Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell and Hester by Laurie Lico Albanese."Irresistible. An excellent spin on a timeless classic." —Jennifer Saint, Sunday Times bestselling author of Ariadne"I have not been able to stop thinking about this book . . . Fair Rosaline is a gripping, spellbinding and wonderfully immersive book - and one that truly makes you think. I would be very surprised if everyone is not talking about it.." —Elodie Harper, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Wolf Den "A brilliant, feminist re-imagining of Romeo and Juliet, Fair Rosaline is a gorgeously written version of Verona from Juliet's cousin, Rosaline's, point of view. What does Romeo truly look like through the eyes of a woman on the periphery of the original story? Natasha Solomons skillfully shows us another version of the star-crossed lovers - and the Romeo --we all think we know. I absolutely devoured this thought-provoking, female-centric take on Shakespeare." — Jillian Cantor, USA Today bestselling author of Beautiful Little FoolsPaper Wishes
By Lois Sepahban. 2016
Ten-year-old Manami did not realize how peaceful her family's life on Bainbridge Island was until the day it all changed.…
It's 1942, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, and Manami and her family are Japanese American, which means that the government says they must leave their home by the sea and join other Japanese Americans at a prison camp in the desert. Manami is sad to go, but even worse is that they are going to have to give her and her grandfather's dog, Yujiin, to a neighbor to take care of. Manami decides to sneak Yujiin under her coat and gets as far as the mainland before she is caught and forced to abandon Yujiin. She and her grandfather are devastated, but Manami clings to the hope that somehow Yujiin will find his way to the camp and make her family whole again. It isn't until she finds a way to let go of her guilt that Manami can reclaim the piece of herself that she left behind and accept all that has happened to her family.Break It Down: Stories (Fsg Classics Ser.)
By Lydia Davis. 1986
The thirty-four stories in this seminal collection powerfully display what have become Lydia Davis's trademarks—dexterity, brevity, understatement, and surprise. Although…
the certainty of her prose suggests a world of almost clinical reason and clarity, her characters show us that life, thought, and language are full of disorder. Break It Down is Davis at her best. In the words of Jonathan Franzen, she is "a magician of self-consciousness."Cool for America: Stories
By Andrew Martin. 2020
Expanding the world of his classic-in-the-making debut novel Early Work, Andrew Martin’s Cool for America is a hilarious collection of…
overlapping stories that explores the dark zone between artistic ambition and its achievementThe collection is bookended by the misadventures of Leslie, a young woman (first introduced in Early Work) who moves from New York to Missoula, Montana to try to draw herself out of a lingering depression, and, over the course of the book, gains painful insight into herself through a series of intense friendships and relationships.Other stories follow young men and women, alone and in couples, pushing hard against, and often crashing into, the limits of their abilities as writers and partners. In one story, two New Jersey siblings with substance-abuse problems relapse together on Christmas Eve; in another, a young couple tries to make sense of an increasingly unhinged veterinarian who seems to be tapping, deliberately or otherwise, into the unspoken troubles between them. In tales about characters as they age from punk shows and benders to book clubs and art museums, the promise of community acts—at least temporarily—as a stay against despair.Running throughout Cool for America is the characters’ yearning for transcendence through art: the hope that, maybe, the perfect, or even just the good-enough sentence, can finally make things right.Bad Characters: Stories
By Jean Stafford. 1964
This book displays at their height the wit, sensibility and psychological penetration that distinguish Miss Stafford's work. There are nine…
stories and a novella. They range in mood from the title story, a comic portrait of a resourceful child-criminal named Lottie Jump, to "The End of a Career," an elegiac and ironic tale of the declining years of a great beauty. In "A Reasonable Facsimile" Dr. Bohrmann, a retired professor philosophy, is unexpectedly rescued from an aggressively boring young house guest. "Cops and Robbers" is a chilling story of childhood horror and lovelessness that revolves around a father's trip to the barber with his five-year-old daughter.Several of the stories have as their common setting Miss Stafford's fiction town of Adams, Colorado—including an amusing saga of a girl's frustrated attempts to find a quiet spot to read ("A Reading Problem"), and two stories of failure ("In the Zoo") and success ("The Liberation") in the effort to escape from one's family. "Caveat Emptor" is a satire on the academic life and sub-life at the Alma Hettrick College for Girls; and in "The Captain's Gift" the sheltered and lavender-scented existence of old Mrs. Ramsey is violated by the reality of war.The major piece in Bad Characters is "A Winter's Tale," a haunting and evocative novella set in Heidelberg just before the outbreak of the war. It is dominated by the diabolic character of Frau Professor Persis Galt. This portrait of a former Bostonian who poses as an excessively devout convert is one of Miss Stafford's most brilliant fictional creations.This collection by Jean Stafford will be warmly welcomed by the many and devoted admirers of her novels and stories. To new readers the work of one of the best writers of our time will come as a joyful discovery.