Passionate and perceptive, the three short novels that make upBalzac's "History of the Thirteen" are concerned in part with theactivities of a rich, powerful, sinister and unscrupulous secretsociety in nineteenth-century France. While the deeds of "TheThirteen" remain frequently in the background, however, theindividual novels are concerned with exploring various forms ofdesire. A tragic love story, Ferragus depicts a marriage destroyedby suspicion, revelation and misunderstanding. The Duchess deLangeais explores the anguish that results when a society coquettetries to seduce a heroic ex-soldier, while "The Girl with theGolden Eyes" offers a frank consideration of desire and sexuality.Together, these works provide a firm and fascinating foundation forBalzac's many later portrayals of Parisian life in his greatnovel-cycle "The Human Comedy".
Beautiful Chiara is smitten by the brilliant but pennilessdoctor Salvatore. Desiring the unwilling Salvatore as a futurehusband, she engages in a series of comic attempts to land herobject of affection, only to create a greater chasm between thestar-crossed would-be lovers.
Christopher Snow is the best-known resident of 12,000-strongMoonlight Bay, California. This is because 28-year-old Chris hasxeroderma pigmentosum (XP)--a light-sensitivity so severe that hecannot leave his house in daylight, cannot enter a normally-litroom, cannot sit at a computer. Chris's natural element is thenight, and his parents, both academics, chose to live in MoonlightBay because in a small town Chris can make the nightscape hisown--roaming freely through the town on his bike, surfing in themoonlight, exploring while most people sleep. But Chris's brilliantmother, a scientist, was killed in a car accident 2 years ago, andas the book opens his father, Steven Snow, is dying of cancer;Chris's protected life is about to change forever. We meet Chris ashe is carefully preparing himself to go out in the late-afternoonsun to visit the hospital. In his last moments of life his fathertells Chris he is "sorry" and that Chris should "fearnothing"--cryptic words that Chris cannot really relate to. StevenS
Book De*ion About Dean Koontz's Frankenstein Dean Koontz's Frankenstein is the collective title of a series ofnovels co-written by Dean Koontz. Though technically of the mysteryor thriller genres, the novels also feature the trappings ofhorror, fantasy, and science fiction. From the celebrated imagination of Dean Koontz comes a powerfulreworking of one of the classic stories of all time. If you thinkyou know the legend, you know only half the truth. Here is themystery, the myth, the terror, and the magic of… Dean Koontz's City of the Night They are stronger, heal better, and think faster than any humansever created—and they must be destroyed. But not even VictorHelios—once Frankenstein—can stop the engineered killers he’s setloose on a reign of terror through modern-day New Orleans. Now theonly hope rests in a one-time “monster” and his all-too-humanpartners, Detectives Carson O’Connor and Michael Maddison.Deucalion’s centuries-old hi
A man went to knock at the king's door and said, Give me aboat. The king's house had many other doors, but this was the doorfor petitions. Since the king spent all his time sitting at thedoor for favors (favors being offered to the king, you understand),whenever he heard someone knocking at the door for petitions, hewould pretend not to hear . . ." Why the petitioner required aboat, where he was bound for, and who volunteered to crew for him,the reader will discover in this delightful fable, a philosophiclove story worthy of Swift or Voltaire.
The stories that launched Clive Barker's phenomenal career-now in one special collector's edition and featuring a new Introduction by the "New York Times" bestselling author.
On the eve of the Russian Revolution, Frank Reid, a strugglingBritish-born printer in Moscow, is abandoned by his wife and isleft to care for his three children while keeping his businessafloat.
This specially commissioned selection of Conrads matchless short stories includes such favourites as Youth. a modern epic of the sea; The Secret Sharer. a thrilling psychological drama: An Outpost of Progress.a blackly comic prelude to Heart of Darkness; Amy Foster. a moving story of a shipwrecked, alienated Pole: and The Lagoon and Karain. two exotic, exciting Malay tales. II Conde and The Tale are subtle portrayals of bewildered outrage: An Anarchist and The Infomer are sardonic depictions of revolutionaries:and Prince Roman is a tale of magnificent, doomed heroisrn set in Conrads native Poland during the Uprising of 1831. Both those new to Conrads work and those familiar with his novels will delight in this wide-ranging collection.
This is knock-out classic horror about the loneliest town offNevada's Interstate 50-and the scariest.
In Paris for a weekend visit, Elizabeth Bard sat down to lunchwith a handsome Frenchman--and never went home again. Was it love at first sight? Or was it the way her knife slideffortlessly through her pavé au poivre, the steak's pinkjuices puddling into the buttery pepper sauce? LUNCH IN PARIS is amemoir about a young American woman caught up in two passionatelove affairs--one with her new beau, Gwendal, the other with Frenchcuisine. Packing her bags for a new life in the world's mostromantic city, Elizabeth is plunged into a world of bustlingopen-air markets, hipster bistros, and size 2 femmesfatales . She learns to gut her first fish (with a little helpfrom Jane Austen), soothe pangs of homesickness (with the rise of achocolate soufflé) and develops a crush on her local butcher (whobears a striking resemblance to Matt Dillon). Elizabeth finds thatthe deeper she immerses herself in the world of French cuisine, themore Paris itself begins to translate. French culture, shediscovers, is not unlik
andquot; Michener is America's best writer, and he proves itonce again in CENTENNIAL.andquot; THE PITTSBURGH PRESSA stunningpanorama of the West, CENTENNIAL is an enthralling celebration ofour country, brimming with the glory and the greatness of theAmerican past that only bestselling author James Michener couldbring to stunning life. From the Native Americans, the migratingwhite men and women, the cowboys, and the foreigners, it is a storyof trappers, traders, homesteaders, gold seekers, ranchers, andhunters--all caught up in the dramatic events and violent conflictsthat shaped the destiny of our legendary West.
Eugene wants to get on in the world. So he has come to Paris,where the streets teem with chancers, criminals and social climbers- and everyone is out for what they can get. When he finds a placeto stay at a shabby boarding house, he sees a potential plan tomake a fortune: the two beautiful, aristocratic women whomysteriously come at night to visit the lonely old lodger Goriot.Could they bring him the status and acceptance he craves? In thecity nothing is as it seems though. Soon Eugene gets out of hisdepth in a world of greed and obsession that he could never haveimagined. One that can only end in terrible tragedy.
Senhor Jose is a low-grade clerk in the city's Central Registry,where the living and the dead share the same shelf space. Amiddle-aged bachelor, he has no interest in anything beyond thecertificates of birth, marriage, divorce, and death that are hisdaily routine. But one day, when he comes across the records of ananonymous young woman, something happens to him. Obsessed, SenhorJose sets off to follow the thread that may lead him to thewoman-but as he gets closer, he discovers more about her, and abouthimself, than he would ever have wished. The loneliness of people'slives, the effects of chance, the discovery of love-all coalesce inthis extraordinary novel that displays the power and art of JoseSaramago in brilliant form.
The Chinese vice-premier has been brutally slain by alegendary assassin. World leaders ask the same fearful questions: Why has Jason Bourne come back? Who is paying him? Who is thenext to die? But U.S. officials know the shocking truth: There is no Jason Bourne. The name was created as cover for DavidWebb on his search for the notorious killer Carlos. Someone elsehas taken the Bourne identity--and unless he is stopped, the worldwill pay a devastating price. So Jason Bourne must live again. Onceagain, Webb must utilize his lethal skills--because once again,like a nightmare relived, the woman he loves is suddenly torn fromhis life. To find her, trap his own impostor, and uncover anexplosive secret plan, Webb must lauch a desperate oddyssey intothe espionage killing fields. But this time, survival will not beenough. This time Bourne must reign supreme.
"The Lonesome Gods" is Louis L'Amour's biggest and mostimportant historical novel to date, a sweeping adventure of theCalifornia frontier. Here is the fascinating story of JohannesVerne, a young man left to die by his vengeful grandfather, rescuedby outlaws and raised in part by the Indians of the desert.Strengthened by the love of two women--Miss Nesselrode, whosemysterious past fires her ambitions for the future and Meghan, awillful young beauty--Verne grows to become a rugged adventurer, aman strong enough to embrace the awesome power of the Palm Springsdesert, and bold enough to stake a claim in the bustling world ofopportunity that was early-day Los Angeles.
For years, readers wrote asking if Richard Bachman was really world-bestselling Stephen King writing under another name. Now the secret is out - and so, brought together in one volume, are these three spellbinding stories of future shock and suspense. The Long Walk: A chilling look at the ultra-conservative America of the future where a gruelling 450-mile marathon is the ultimate sports competition. Roadwork: An immovable man refuses to surrender to the irresistible force of progress. The Running Man: TV's future-favourite game show, where contestants are hunted to death in the attempt to win a $1 billion jackpot.
Malik Solanka, historian of ideas and dollmaker extraordinaire, steps out of his life one day, abandons his family without a word of explanation, and flees London for New York. There's a fury within him, and he fears he has become dangerous to those he loves. He arrives in New York at a time of unprecedented plenty, in the highest hour of America's wealth and power, seeking to "erase" himself. Eat me, America, he prays, and give me peace.But fury is all around him. Fury is a work of explosive energy, at once a pitiless and pitch-black comedy, a profoundly disturbing inquiry into the darkest side of human nature, and a love story of mesmerizing force. It is also an astonishing portrait of New York. Not since the Bombay of Midnight's Children have a time and place been so intensely and accurately captured in a novel.
Miles Ryan's life seemed to end the day his wife was killed in a hit-and-run accident two years ago. As deputy sheriff of New Bern, North Carolina, he not only grieves for her and worries about their young son Jonah but longs to bring the unknown driver to justice. Then Miles meets Sarah Andrews, Jonah's second-grade teacher. A young woman recovering from a difficult divorce, Sarah moved to New Bern hoping to start over. Tentatively, Miles and Sarah reach out to each other...soon they are falling in love. But what neither realizes is that they are also bound together by a shocking secret, one that will force them to reexamine everything they believe in-including their love.
The President's son and daughter are abducted, and DetectiveAlex Cross is one of the first on the scene. But someone veryhigh-up is using the FBI, Secret Service, and CIA to keep him offthe case and in the dark. A deadly contagion in the water supply cripples half of thecapital, and Alex discovers that someone may be about to unleashthe most devastating attack the United States has everexperienced. As his window for solving both crimes narrows, Alex makes adesperate decision that goes against everything he believes--onethat may alter the fate of the entire country. KILL ALEX CROSS isfaster, more exciting, and more tightly wound than any Alex Crossthriller James Patterson has ever written!
Only a few know the terrifying truth--an outcast Earthscientist, a rebellious alien inhabitant of a dying planet, alunar-born human intuitionist who senses the imminent annihilationof the Sun. They know the truth--but who will listen? They haveforeseen the cost of abundant energy--but who will believe? Thesefew beings, human and alien, hold the key to the Earth'ssurvival.
The epic tale of a young man's quest to capture a hidden treasure on the open seas -- one of the best-loved adventure stories of all time. EACH ENRICHED CLASSIC EDITION INCLUDES: A concise introduction that gives readers important background information; A chronology of the author's life and work; 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, including contemporary and modern perspectives on the work; Discussion questions to promote lively classroom and book group interactio;n 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 en
