All along the Mediterranean coast, the Roman empire's richestcitizens are relaxing in their luxurious villas, enjoying the lastdays of summer. The world's largest navy lies peacefully at anchorin Misenum. The tourists are spending their money in the seasideresorts of Baiae, Herculaneum, and Pompeii. But the carefreelifestyle and gorgeous weather belie an impending cataclysm, andonly one man is worried. The young engineer Marcus Attilius Primushas just taken charge of the Aqua Augusta, the enormous aqueductthat brings fresh water to a quarter of a million people in ninetowns around the Bay of Naples. His predecessor has disappeared.Springs are failing for the and#64257;rst time in generations. Andnow there is a crisis on the Augusta's sixty-mile mainline--somewhere to the north of Pompeii, on the slopes of MountVesuvius. Attilius--decent, practical, and incorruptible--promisesPliny, the famous scholar who commands the navy, that he can repairthe aqueduct before the reservoir runs dry. His plan is to travelto
A magician's daughter has inherited her father's talents-andhis penchant for jewel thievery. Then she meets an escape artistwho captures her heart and has secrets that could shatter herillusions...
This stunning and steamy debut chronicles the adventures ofNan King, a small town girl at the turn of the century whose lifetakes a wild turn of its own when she follows a local music hallstar to London...
★Mandy Pajeck had a tough childhood. Now 28,she feelsresponsible for the accident that took her younger brother's sight.But his complete reliance on her care is making them bothmiserable.When she meets handsome Zach Harrigan and his mini guidehorse,she thinks she's found the ticket to her brother'shappiness-and maybe her own
Saviez-vous qu'un pays communiste, c'est un pays où il y a desventilateurs ? Que de 1972 à 1975, une guerre mondiale a fait ragedans la cité-ghetto de San Li Tun, à Pékin ? Qu'un vélo est enréalité un cheval ? Que passé la puberté, tout le reste n'est qu'unépilogue ? Vous l'apprendrez et bien d'autres choses encore dans ceroman inclassable, épique et dr?le, fantastique et tragique, quinous conte aussi une histoire d'amour authentique, absolu, celuiqui peut na?tre dans un coeur de sept ans. Un sabotage amoureux :sabotage, comme sous les sabots d'un cheval qui est un vélo... Avecce roman, son deuxième livre, Amélie Nothomb s'est imposée comme undes noms les plus prometteurs de la jeune générationlittéraire.
Inside the world of television talk shows, an ambitious youngwoman is fighting to find her place in the spotlight. But darksecrets hide behind its brightest stars...
Un ouvrier pris dans la tourmente de la Commune, déporté aubagne de Nouméa, s'évade et retrouve sa femme mariée à un autre...Mis à la retraite prématurément, un fonctionnaire se montreincapable de vivre en dehors du cadre étroit de l'administration...Sur son lit de mort, un riche paysan révèle sa double vie à sonfils et lui demande de prendre soin de sa ma?tresse... Voici deshistoires insolites contées par trois ma?tres du naturalisme.
When a vampire asks Sookie Stackhouse to use her telepathic skills to find another missing vampire, she agrees under one condition: the bloodsuckers must promise to let the humans go unharmed.
This collection brings together perhaps the finest of Dickens' shorter novels, filled with event, character, and the unsurpassed brilliance of his story-telling. Oliver Twist enhanced and strengthened Dickens' reputation and contains classic Dickensian themes - grinding poverty, desperation, fear, temptation and the eventual triumph of good in the face of great adversity. Hard Times was attacked by Macaulay for its 'sullen socialism', but 20th-century critics - George Bernard Shaw and F.R. Leavis praised it in the highest terms. A Tale of Two Cities, Dickens' greatest historical novel, traces the lives of a group of people caught up in the cataclysm of the French Revolution and the Terror. A fascinating range of characters and Dickens' usual superb command of language combine to make this an exciting and tantalising story. Great Expectations traces the life of Philip Pirrip (Pip), from a boy of shallow dreams to a man of character. From its dramatic opening on the bleak Kentish marshes, the story abou
The epic tale of Odysseus' extraordinary ten-year voyage home after the Trojan War. This Enriched Classic Edition includes: A concise introduction that gives readers important background information A timeline of significant events that provides the book's historical context An outline of key themes and plot points to help readers form their own interpretations Detailed explanatory notes Critical analysis and modern perspectives on the work Discussion questions to promote lively classroom and book group interaction A list of recommended related books and films to broaden the reader's experience Enriched Classics offer readers affordable editions of great works of literature enhanced by helpful notes and insightful commentary. The scholarship provided in Enriched Classics enables readers to appreciate, understand, and enjoy the world's finest books to their full potential. Series edited by Cynthia Brantley Johnson
Thackeray's upper-class Regency world is a noisy and jostling commercial fairground, predominantly driven by acquisitive greed and soulless materialism, in which the narrator himself plays a brilliantly versatile role as a serio-comic observer. Although subtitled 'A Novel without a Hero', Vanity Fair follows the fortunes of two contrasting but inter-linked lives: through the retiring Amelia Sedley and the brilliant Becky Sharp, Thackeray examines the position of women in an intensely exploitative male world.
When the body of high-profile black lawyer HowardEkias is found inside one of the cars on Angels Flight,a funicul.ar railway in downtown LA, there's not adetective in the city wholl touch the case.
An upper-class woman, recovering from a suicide attempt, visitsthe women's ward of Millbank prison as part of her rehabilitation.There she meets Selina, an enigmatic spiritualist-and becomes drawninto a twilight world of ghosts and shadows, unruly spirits andunseemly passions, until she is at last driven to concoct adesperate plot to secure Selina's freedom, and her own. "Unfoldssinuously and ominously...a powerful plot-twister. The book ismultidimensional: a naturalistic look at Victorian society; a trulysuspenseful tale of terror; and a piece of elegant, thinly veilederotica." ("USA Today") "Gothic tale, psychological study, puzzlenarrative-Sarah Waters' second novel is all of these wrapped intoone, served up to superbly suspenseful and hypnotic effect." ("TheSeattle Times")
When Samantha Harrigan attends the local rodeo, she doesn'texpect to wind up in jail. But that's what happens when she triesto stop a drunkard from abusing his horse. Tucker Coulter, ahandsome local veterinarian, comes to her defense, and both of themare arrested. The charges are dropped, but Sam's troubles have onlystarted...
