Bereft of the three people she has held most dear - her mother, her husband and her daughter - Celia is on the verge of suicide. Then one night on an exotic island she meets Larraby, a successful portrait painter, and through a long night of talk reveals how she is afraid to commit herself to a second chance of happiness with another person, yet is not brave enough to face life alone. Can Larraby help Celia come to terms with the past or will they part, her outcome still uncertain?
Everyone's favorite globe-trotting, wisecracking archaeologist is hurtling headfirst into high adventure and relying on his wits, his fists, and his trusty bullwhip to get him out of deep trouble. It's 1957, and the Cold War is heating up. A ruthless squad of Russian soldiers crashes Indiana Jones's latest expedition and forces the unwilling Indy along as they brazenly invade American soil, massacre U.S. soldiers, and plunder a top-secret government warehouse. Commanded by a sword-wielding colonel who's as sinister as she is stunning, the menacing Reds have one objective: a relic even more precious–and powerful–than the mythic Ark of the Covenant, capable of unlocking secrets beyond human comprehension. Quick thinking and some high-speed maneuvers help Indy narrowly escape certain death. But the Russians are unrelenting, and their next move leads Indy into the depths of the Amazon on a desperate rescue mission. With a hotheaded teenage biker as his unlikely wing man and his vengeful new Russian nemesis
In the 8th century AD Ibn al′Arabi, the Moorish governor of Barcelona, bestowed a magnificent gift upon Charlemagne, Holy Emperor of half of the known world: a chess set with the power to transform the course of history. New York City, 1970. Catherine ′Cat′ Velis, a computer expert working for one of the world′s largest accountancy firms, is sent on a dangerous assignment to retrieve an object of immeasurable value from somewhere in the remote reaches of Algeria. Montglane Abbey, France 1790, Mireille de Remy and her cousin Valentine are young novices at the fortress-like Montglane Abbey. With France aflame in revolution, the two girls burn to rebel against constricted convent life - and their means of escape is at hand. Buried deep within the abbey are pieces of the Montglane Chess Service, once owned by Charlemagne. Whoever reassembles the pieces can play a game of unlimited power. But to keep the game a secret from those who would abuse it, the two young women must scatter the pieces throughout t
World-renowned Harvard symboligist Robert Langdon is summoned to a Swiss research facility to analyze a cryptic symbol seared into the chest of a murdered physicist. What he discovers is unimaginable: a deadly vendetta against the Catholic Church by a centuries-old underground organization - the Illuminati. Desperate to save the Vatican from a powerful time bomb, Langdon joins forces in Rome with the beautiful and mysterious scientist Vittoria Vetra. Together they embark on a frantic hunt through sealed crypts, dangerous catacombs, deserted cathedrals, and the most secretive vault on earth . . . the long-forgotten Illuminati lair. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Charley Benettois a broken man, his life destroyed by alcohol and regret. He loses his job. He leaves his family. He hits rock bottom after discovering he won't be invited to his only daughter's wedding. And he decides to take his own life. Charley takes a midnight ride to his small hometown:his final journey. But as he staggers into his old house,he makes an astonishing discovery. His mother-who died eight years earlier - is there, and welcomes Charley home as if nothing had ever happened. What follows is the one seemingly ordinary day so many of us yearn for: a chance to make good with a lost parent,to explain the family secrets and to seek forgiveness.
Maybe it was a grandparent, or a teacher, or a colleague.Someone older, patient and wise, who understood you when you wereyoung and searching, helped you see the world as a more profoundplace, gave you sound advice to help you make your way throughit. For Mitch Albom, that person was Morrie Schwartz, his collegeprofessor from nearly twenty years ago. Maybe, like Mitch, you lost track of this mentor as you made yourway, and the insights faded, and the world seemed colder. Wouldn'tyou like to see that person again, ask the bigger questions thatstill haunt you, receive wisdom for your busy life today the wayyou once did when you were younger? Mitch Albom had that second chance. He rediscovered Morrie in thelast months of the older man's life. Knowing he was dying, Morrievisited with Mitch in his study every Tuesday, just as they used toback in college. Their rekindled relationship turned into one final"class": lessons in how to live. Tuesdays with Morrie is a magical chronicle of their t
Hard to believe, but there was a time when the word "lawyer" wasn't synonymous with "criminal," and the idea of a law firm controlled by the Mafia was an outlandish proposition. This intelligent, ensnaring story came out of nowhere--Oxford, Mississippi, where Grisham was a small-town lawyer--and quickly catapulted to the top of the bestseller list, with good reason. Mitch McDeere, the appealing hero, is a poor kid whose only assets are a first-class mind, a Harvard law degree, and a beautiful, loving wife. When a Memphis law firm makes him an offer he really can't refuse, he trades his old Nissan for a new BMW, his cramped apartment for a house in the best part of town, and puts in long hours finding tax shelters for Texans who'd rather pay a lawyer than the IRS. Nothing criminal about that. He'd be set for life, if only associates at the firm didn't have a funny habit of dying, and the FBI wasn't trying to get Mitch to turn his colleagues in. The tempo and pacing are brilliant, the thrills keep coming, and t
The brutal world of the Klondike miners and their dogs is brilliantly evoked and Jack London's rendering of the sentient life of Buck and White Fang as they confront their destiny is en-thralling and convincing.The deeper resonance of these stories derives from the author's use of the myth of the hero who survives by strength and courage,a powerful myth that still appeals to our collective unconsceious.
So begins the ageless epic of Aeneas and his men, who areseemingly destined to wander the ancient world endlessly, theplaythings of wrathful gods. Fleeing the ruins of Troy, Aeneas mustfight his battles with little notion that Jupiter has ordained thatthe Trojan champion shall promulgate a race that will be theforebears of Rome.
Harry Potter,along with his best friends,Ron and Hermione,is about to start his third year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.Harry Can't wait to get back to school after the summer holidays.(Who wouldn't if they lived with the horrible Durssleys?)But when Harry gets to Hogwarts,the atmosphere is tense.There's an escaped mass murderer on the loose,and the sinister prison guards of Azkaban have been called in to guard the school……
Elena: the golden girl, the leader, the one who can have anyboy she wants. Stefan: brooding and mysterious, he seems to be the only one whocan resist Elena, even as he struggles to protect her from thehorrors that haunt his past. Damon: sexy, dangerous, and driven by an urge for revenge againstStefan, the brother who betrayed him. Determined to have Elena,he'd kill to possess her. Collected here in one volume for the first time, volumes one andtwo of The Vampire Diaries, the tale of two vampire brothers andthe beautiful girl torn between them.
Dickens had already achieved renown with The Pickwick Papers. With Oliver Twist his reputation was enhanced and strengthened. The novel contains many classic Dickensian themes - grinding poverty, desperation, fear, temptation and the eventual triumph of good in the face of great adversity. Oliver Twist features some of the author's most enduring characters, such as Oliver himself (who dares to ask for more), the tyrannical Bumble, the diabolical Fagin, the menacing Bill Sykes, Nancy and 'the Artful Dodger'. For any reader wishing to delve into the works of the great Victorian literary colossus, Oliver Twist is, without doubt, an essential title.
From the moment of its publication, The Apprentice establisheditself as an "instant classic" (Anthony Bourdain). With sparklingwit and occasional pathos, the man whom Julia Child has called "thebest chef in America" tells the captivating story of his rise froma terrified thirteen-year-old toiling in an Old World Frenchkitchen to an American superstar who ad-libbed and demonstratedculinary wizardry as the cameras rolled and changed Americantastes. The Apprentice is an engrossing tale of the modern cookingscene and how it came to be, told from an engaging personalperspective. The story begins in prewar France, with young Jacquescutting his teeth in his mother's small restaurants. Moving toParis, it offers tantalizing glimpses of Sartre and Genet. In hisrole as Charles de Gaulle's personal chef, Jacques witnesseshistory being made from behind the swinging door of the kitchen. InAmerica, he rejects an offer to be chef in the Kennedy White House,choosing instead to work at Howard Johnson's. He then proceeds
In the latest offering from the Magic Tree House series, Mary Pope Osborne treats readers to an inside look at one of her favorite subjects—the theater. Jack and Annie are whisked back to Elizabethan England where they meet the Bard of Avon himself, William Shakespeare, and luckily for them he is desperate for two small actors for his latest play! A wonderful adventure as well as the perfect introduction to Shakespeare for young readers.
In the second novel of King's bestselling fantasy masterpiece, Roland of Gilead, the Last Gunslinger, encounters three doors which open to 1980s America. Here he joins forces with the defiant Eddie Dean and courageous, volatile Odetta Holmes. And confronts deadly serial killer Jack Mort. As the titanic forces gather, a savage struggle between underworld evil and otherworldly enemies conspire to bring an end to Roland's quest for the Dark Tower...Masterfully weaving dark fantasy and icy realism, THE DRAWING OF THE THREE compulsively propels readers toward the next chapter. And the Tower is closer...
San Francisco socialite Bibi Chen has planned the ultimate vacation along the notorious Burma Road for a group of her dearest friends. But after her mysterious death, Bibi is forced to watch from the spirit world as the eleven travelers bumble through their adventures. Determined to make the best of it, the pleasure seekers embark on a trail paved with uncertainty, questionable food, and tribal curses. And then, on Christmas morning, they cruise across a misty lake--and vanish.Colored with picaresque characters and haunting imagery, this mesmerizing tale is about the actions we choose, the moral questions we might ask ourselves,and, above all, the deeply personal answers we seek when happy endings seem far out of reach.
Deep in the Hausruck Mountains of Austria, there is a remotehideaway--the fortress-like nerve center of an ominous movement,the Brotherhood of the Watch. American agent Harry Latham haspenetrated the movement, a neo-Nazi organization that was born inthe days after the Third Reich's defeat and whose deadly tentacleshave spread to the United States and beyond. Now, after three yearsin deep cover, and on the eve of his most spectacular success,Harry Latham has disappeared. Drew Latham, Special Officer forConsular Operations in Paris, is frantic to discover his olderbrother's fate. But when he receives the sudden good news thatHarry has surfaced, gut-twisting doubts arise. Has Harry's coverbeen blown? And if so, why has the Brotherhood of the Watch let himlive? For Harry Latham has emerged with an explosive list: thesecret supporters of the movement, among them some of thehighest-ranking officials in the United States and its allies,names synonymous with honorable service to their nations. It is adocument that c
THE OCEAN AT THE END OF THE LANE is a fable that reshapesmodern fantasy: moving, terrifying and elegiac - as pure as adream, as delicate as a butterfly's wing, as dangerous as a knifein the dark - from storytelling genius Neil Gaiman. It began forour narrator forty years ago when the family lodger stole their carand committed suicide in it, stirring up ancient powers best leftundisturbed. Dark creatures from beyond this world are on theloose, and it will take everything our narrator has just to stayalive: there is primal horror here, and menace unleashed - withinhis family and from the forces that have gathered to destroy it.His only defence is three women, on a farm at the end of the lane.The youngest of them claims that her duckpond is an ocean. Theoldest can remember the Big Bang.
