Propelled by the discovery of an ancient book and a cache of yellowing letters, a young woman plunges into a labyrinth where the secrets of her family's past connect to an inconceivable evil: the dark reign of Vlad the Impaler and a time-defying pact that may have kept his awful work alive through the ages. The search for the the truth becomes an adventure of monumental propportions, taking us from monasteries and dusty libraries to the captitals of Eastern Europe - in a feat of storytelling so rich, so exciting, so suspenseful that it has enthralled readers around he world. 作者简介： Elizabeth Kostova graduated from Yale and holds an MFA from the University of Michigan, where she won the Hopwood Award for the Novel-in-Progress.
In his debut novel， The Kite Runner， Khaled Hosseini accomplishes what very few contemporary novelists are able to do。 He manages to provide an educational and eye-opening account of a country’s political turmoil--in this case， Afghanistan--while also developing characters whose heartbreaking struggles and emotional triumphs resonate with readers long after the last page has been turned over。 And he does this on his first try。 The Kite Runner follows the story of Amir， the privileged son of a wealthy businessman in Kabul， and Hassan， the son of Amir’s father’s servant。 As children in the relatively stable Afghanistan of the early 1970s， the boys are inseparable。 They spend idyllic days running kites and telling stories of mystical places and powerful warriors until an unspeakable event changes the nature of their relationship forever， and eventually cements their bond in ways neither boy could have ever predicted。 Even after Amir and his father flee to America， Amir r
In her exciting debut, Laila Lalami evokes the grit and enduringgrace that is modern Morocco and offers an authentic look at theMuslim immigrant experience today. The book begins as fourMoroccans illegally cross the Strait of Gibraltar in an inflatableboat headed for Spain. There's Murad, a gentle, educated man who'sbeen reduced to hustling tourists around Tangier; Halima, who'sfleeing her drunken husband and the slums of Casablanca; Aziz, whomust leave behind his devoted wife to find work in Spain; andFaten, a student and religious fanatic whose faith is at odds withan influential man determined to destroy her future. What hasdriven these men and women to risk their lives? And will therewards prove to be worth the danger? Sensitively written withbeauty and boldness, this is a grip-ping book about people insearch of a better future.
Starred Review. Hill, who has created and artfully guided the destinies of Yorkshire policemen Det. Supt. Andy Dalziel (aka "the Fat Man") and his DCI Peter Pascoe through 22 remarkable adventures, doesn't give anything away until the very last page of this excellent mystery (after 2004's Good Morning, Midnight). Only then do we learn whether or not the bomb blast that starts the story marks the end of Dalziel's life. As the Fat Man lies comatose in his hospital bed, the shrewd and usually diplomatic Pascoe—who was also injured in the blast, but saved by his colleague's bulk—takes on some of Dalziel's troublesome tenacity (as well as a touch of his saltier language) as he forces his way onto the team of antiterrorism specialists looking into the incident. The terrorists appear to be linked to an obscure branch of the historic Knights Templar, and Hill's perfect pitch (especially for the short, pithy details of dialogue and character de*ion) carries the story through all sorts of villains—some of whom ar
Mortal affections and faery rivalries continue to collide in the town of Huntsdale, as New York Times bestselling author Melissa Marr takes urban fantasy to new heights. After the terrible events of Ink Exchange, the Dark Court has a new ruler. But will Niall's kindness survive his new responsibility to the most violent of Faerie courts? Meanwhile, Seth and Aislinn attempt to mend their relationship. But Aislinn is the Summer Queen and Keenan is her king -- and as summer approaches, their chemistry sparks. Will Seth's mortality lose him the one thing he loves above all others? As Niall seeks to control his new Court, Aislinn attempts to resist the seduction of summer, and Seth searches desperately for the gift of immortality, a delicate balance is threatened, and a terrible plot is revealed!
Jhumpa Lahiri's debut story collection, Interpreter ofMaladies, took the literary world by storm when it won the PulitzerPrize in 2000. Fans who flocked to her stories will be captivatedby her best-selling first novel, now in paperback for the firsttime. The Namesake is a finely wrought, deeply moving family dramathat illuminates this acclaimed author's signature themes: theimmigrant experience, the clash of cultures, the tangled tiesbetween generations. The Namesake takes the Ganguli family from their tradition-boundlife in Calcutta through their fraught transformation intoAmericans. On the heels of an arranged wedding, Ashoke and AshimaGanguli settle in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where Ashoke does hisbest to adapt while his wife pines for home. When their son, Gogol,is born, the task of naming him betrays their hope of respectingold ways in a new world. And we watch as Gogol stumbles along thefirst-generation path, strewn with conflicting loyalties, comicdetours, and wrenching love affairs. With empathy and
In Baghdad's Green Zone, an Iraqi scientist is murderedjust before he is to reveal the monstrous secret weapon that SaddamHussein took to his grave. The assassination is the work of amysterious sniper called Juba, originally trained by the Britishbut who now works with a twisted mastermind determined to wrestleadership of the Islamic terrorist world from Al Qaeda. KyleSwanson, once the top sniper in the US Marine Corps, has become thekey member in a secret operations team known as Task Force Trident.When Juba tests
Those who are familiar with the audio adaptations of Connelly's books will be delighted to see that Cariou lends his talents to Connelly's latest mystery, which is a sequel to The Poet (1996). At the center of this engrossing thriller is world-weary, retired L.A. homicide detective Harry Bosch. While investigating the death of ex-FBI profiler Terry McCalab, Bosch begins to suspect that the notorious serial killer The Poet, presumed dead, may be the culprit. As he digs deeper, Bosch meets and eventually joins forces with FBI agent Rachel Walling, who went up against The Poet the first time around. The novel's point of view cuts from Bosch's first-person commentary to the third-person perspectives of Walling and The Poet. Cariou handles these changes with professional ease. He gives Bosch a rough voice, raspy with experience, and provides Walling with a younger, but no less tough, intonation. Cariou's vocal dexterity becomes truly apparent, however, when he reads Connelly's de*ive passages. Whether he is illumi
Alex Cross is drawn into a bitter personal battle against corruption, conspiracy and savage violence in a chase that takes him through a vast and uncompromising landscape. When Cross is called to investigate a massacre-style murder scene, he is shocked to find that the victim is an old friend. Angry, hurt and more determined than ever, Cross begins the hunt for the perpetrators of this cruel crime. He is drawn into a dangerous underworld right in the heart of Washington DC that leads him on a life threatening journey to the Niger Delta where heroin dealing, slave trade and oil and gas theft are rife. At the centre of this terrifying world, Cross finds the Tiger, the psychopathic leader of a fearsome gang of killers who are not what they seem. When the Tiger is on the prowl, he shows no mercy to others. But Alex Cross is hot on his heels in a heart-stopping chase that takes him across Africa and finds him not only hunting for a horrific killer but also fighting for his own survival. 作者简介： James Pat
Experience the Yummy Mummy backlash - `Momzillas' is the godsend for all those who are sick of the cut-throat world of competitive mothering. Hilarious, sharply observed and heartwarming `Momzillas' is perfect commercial fiction for women this summer and ideal reading group material. 作者简介： JILL KABGMAN is a writer based in New York City who is deathly afraid of clowns．And mimes．After graduating college，she worked at the bottom of the magazine totem pole，then wrote the 2000 Sundance film Intern with her writing part—ner Carrie Karasyov．Their two subsequent novels,The Right Address and Wolves In Chic Glothin9，were national bestsellers and published in eight languages． Jill’S freelance work includes over ten shows for Mivand more than l00 articles for magazines including Vogtte，Harper's Bazaar，Interview，Town&Country，GQ and Elle． Visit www.AuthorTracker．C0．uk for exclusire information on your favourite HarperCollins authors．
Kate Blackwell is the symbol of success, the beautiful woman who parlayed her inheritance into an international conglomerate. Winner of a unique position among the wealthy and world-renowned, she's also a survivor as indomitable as her father, who returned from the edge of death to wrench a fortune in diamonds from the hard South African soil. Now, celebrating her ninetieth birthday, Kate surveys the family she has manipulated, dominated, and loved: the fair and the grotesque, the mad and the mild, the good and the evil-her winnings in life. Is she the master of the game? "A master storyteller at the top of his game.'-USA Today
After a violent storm in the South Pacific in the year 1643,Roberto della Griva finds himself shipwrecked-on a ship. Swept fromthe Amaryllis, he has managed to pull himself aboard the Daphne,anchored in the bay of a beautiful island. The ship is fullyprovisioned, he discovers, but the crew is missing. As Robertoexplores the different cabinets in the hold, he remembers chaptersfrom his youth: Ferrante, his imaginary evil brother; the siege ofCasale, that meaningless chess move in the Thirty Years' War inwhich he lost his father and his illusions; and the lessons givenhim on Reasons of State, fencing, the writing of love letters, andblasphemy. In this fascinating, lyrical tale, Umberto Eco tells ofa young dreamer searching for love and meaning; and of a mostamazing old Jesuit who, with his clocks and maps, has plumbed thesecrets of longitudes, the four moons of Jupiter, and theFlood.
Ils avaient nom Ronsard, Du Bellay, Marot... Leurs voix se sontélevées pendant la Renaissance pour chanter la douceur d'exister etd'aimer, le miracle de la vie, le règne joyeux de la nature. Pources auteurs, aux vers gracieux et raffinés, bien vivre et bienécrire ne faisaient qu'un, et c'est à retrouver cet idéal que nousconvie leur poésie. Le dossier de l'édition propose des exerciceset un glossaire pour se familiariser avec les thèmes chers auxpoètes de la Renaissance et étudier la versification.
This is not your father's list of classics. In thesedelightful essays, Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Dirda introducesnearly ninety of the world's most entertaining books. Writing withaffection as well as authority, Dirda covers masterpieces offantasy and science fiction, horror and adventure, as well asepics, history, essay, and children's literature. Organizedthematically, these are works that have shaped our imaginations."Love's Mysteries" moves from Sappho and Arthurian romance to SorenKierkegaard and Georgette Heyer. In other categories Dirdadiscusses not only "Dracula" and Sherlock Holmes but also the "TaoTe Ching" and Icelandic sagas, Frederick Douglass and "Fowler'sModern English Usage." Whether writing about Petronius or Perelman,Dirda makes literature come alive. "Classics for Pleasure" is aperfect companion for any reading group or lover of books.
Harry Bosch is at the top of his form which is great news for Connelly fans who might have been wondering how much life the dour, haunted LAPD veteran had left in him. His latest adventure is as dark and angst-ridden as any of Bosch's past outings, but it also crackles with energy especially in the details of police procedure and internal politics that animate virtually every page. What other crime writer could make such dramatic use of the fact that the front door of a house trailer swings out rather than in, creating problems for a two-man team of detectives? Who else would create to such credible narrative effect an egotistic celebrity coroner who jeopardizes an investigation because she lets a TV camera crew from Court TV follow her around, or an overage female rookie cop so in love with danger that she commits an unthinkable act? When the bones of an abused 12-year-old boy who disappeared in 1980 turn up in the woods above Hollywood (near a street named Wonderland, where former governor Jerry Brown used
