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The Journals of Clarence R. Smyth (Physical Medium) is the sequel to The Diaries of a Gifted Edwardian Boy and continues the story of the extraordinary Clarence R. Smyth as told in his own words and in his own interesting and amusing way. Clarence was born on the 1st of January 1900 in London, England, and showed unique psychic abilities from an early age, which caused him to be on a ‘watch list'because of the accurate predictions. Kidnapped whilst in Berlin with his British diplomat father just at the outbreak of the First World War, Clarence is initially forced to use his abilities for a branch of German intelligence but is then incarcerated. After the war, thinking his family have disowned him, Clarence, who now only has German papers, decides to study art in Vienna to be with his German sweetheart, Maria, whom he eventually marries. Clarence qualifies and then works successfully as a stage designer but he is more renown as a medium, eventually travelling, doing shows of physical medium-ship. In Germany, this enables him to gather information for the allies. After a close brush with death, Clarence decides to relocate his family to Switzerland just before the outbreak of the Second World War, where he establishes ‘light centres'to counteract all the evil happening around. After the war, Clarence helps to expose some perpetrators of evil working for the US Army, with his abilities. Clarence spends the 1950s in New York but becomes disillusioned with the politics of the era, so he relocates back to Zurich with his extended family but ill health eventually forces him to return to the US in his senior years, with his gifted granddaughter Sophia in tow, as she is now at risk, as he was, by this evil cabal that has always monitored and tried to control his life.

Eva Trout, Elizabeth Bowen's last novel, epitomizes her bold exploration of the territory between the comedy of manners and cutting social commentary.Orphaned at a young age, Eva has found a home of sorts in Worcestershire with her former schoolteacher, Iseult Arbles, and Iseult's husband, Eric. From a safe distance in London, her legal guardian, Constantine, assumes that all's well. But Eva's flighty, romantic nature hasn't entirely clicked with the Arbles household, and Eva is plotting to escape. When she sets out to hock her Jaguar and disappear without a trace, she unwittingly leaves a paper trail for her various custodians–and all kinds of trouble–to follow.

The American Revolution comes to vivid life in two dramatic tales of espionage, intrigue, and romance from the author of The Last of Mohicans.With his second novel, The Spy:A Tale of the Neutral Ground, in 1821, James Cooper (the Fenimore would come later) found his true voice and what became his most enduring subject matter: the history of his young nation, born of the clash between Old World and New. Set largely in Westchester County--site of the real-life intrigues of Benedict Arnold and Major John Andre--The Spy traces the conflicting allegiances of rebels and loyalists, with the supposed loyalist spy Harvey Birch (actually in the service of George Washington) finding himself caught up in conflicts between friendship and duty as he moves between the two sides. Washington himself makes an incognito appearance as the mysterious'Mr. Harper.'Cooper continued in the same vein with Lionel Lincoln; Or, The Leaguer of Boston (1825), a carefully researched panorama of the coming of the Revolution, complete with detailed depictions of the battles of Lexington and Concord and Bunker Hill. With the hero a native-born American serving in the British Army, issues of loyalty are again complex, and some American reviewers, not for the last time, found Cooper's politics a bit too ambiguous for comfort.LIBRARY OF AMERICA is an independent nonprofit cultural organization founded in 1979 to preserve our nation's literary heritage by publishing, and keeping permanently in print, America's best and most significant writing. The Library of America series includes more than 300 volumes to date, authoritative editions that average 1,000 pages in length, feature cloth covers, sewn bindings, and ribbon markers, and are printed on premium acid-free paper that will last for centuries.

A shipwrecked sailor disturbs the life of a journalist in a late nineteenth-century English seaside town in this reimagining of Ibsen's The Lady from the Sea. After a ferocious storm shipwrecks young Norwegian sailor Hans Lyngstrand in the English Channel near Dengate, aspiring journalist Martin Bridges takes a job at the local newspaper. When Hans moves into Martin's boardinghouse to convalesce and Martin interviews the young sailor for the paper, it upends Martin's otherwise uneventful world. Hans tells him of the shipwreck—and of his encounter with a vicious sailor vowing to seek revenge, who Hans believes may still be alive. So begins a complex friendship between the two young men that will cause Martin to reexamine his relationships with everyone around him. In The Stranger from the Sea, the backstories Paul Binding creates for the characters of Ibsen's classic The Lady from the Sea unfold in tandem with the secret romances, rivalries, and heartaches of a seemingly unremarkable town. The result is a lyrical and quietly captivating novel that will mesmerize readers from its opening pages.“A sensitive depiction of youthful sexuality, the anguish of failed relationships, and the rights of women in a male-dominated world,” —TLS

When an old friend asks Superintendent Tom Harper for help, he finds himself drawn into a deadly web of intimidation, corruption and misery on the streets of Leeds. Leeds, England. July, 1899. The hot summer has been fairly quiet for Detective Superintendent Tom Harper and his squad, until a daring burglary occurs at an expensive Leeds address. Then his friend and former colleague, Inspector Billy Reed, asks for his help. Billy's brother, Charlie, a shopkeeper, has committed suicide. Going through Charlie's papers, Billy discovers crippling rent rises demanded by his new landlord. Could these have driven him to his death? As Harper investigates, he uncovers a web of intimidation and corruption that leads back to the mysterious North Leeds Company. Who is pulling the strings behind the scenes and bringing a new kind of misery and violence to the people of Leeds? Harper is determined to unmask the culprits, but how much blood will be shed as he tries?

This collection bundles all three of Lyn Cote's Quaker Brides novels into one e-book for a great value!#1 HonorWhen unexpected circumstances leave Honor Penworthy destitute after the death of her grandfather, she is forced to leave her Maryland plantation—and the slaves she hoped to free—and seek refuge with a distant relative. With no marketable skills, her survival hinges on a marriage arranged through the Quaker community to local glass artisan Samuel Cathwell. Samuel is drawn to Honor, but he has been unwilling to open his heart to anyone since scarlet fever took his hearing as a child. A move west brings the promise of a fresh start, but nothing in Honor's genteel upbringing has prepared her for the rigors of frontier life with Samuel. Nevertheless, her tenacity and passion sweep her into important winds of change, and she becomes increasingly—though secretly—involved in the Underground Railroad. Samuel suspects Honor is hiding something, but will uncovering the truth confirm his worst fears or truly bring them together as man and wife? Set against the backdrop of dramatic and pivotal moments in American history, the Quaker Brides series chronicles the lives of three brave heroines, fighting to uphold their principles of freedom while navigating the terrain of faith, family, and the heart.#2 BlessingAn impetuous love swept Blessing Brightman away from the Quaker community, into the highest ranks of Cincinnati society. But behind the glitter of ballroom and parlor, her spirit slowly eroded in an increasingly dangerous marriage. Widowed young, determined never to lose her independence again, Blessing reclaimed her faith and vowed to use her influence to fight for women's rights and abolition. Gerard Ramsay, scion of a wealthy Boston family, arrives in Cincinnati hoping to escape his father's clutches with a strategy that will gain him independence. His plan is soon complicated, however, by the enchanting widow. Never before has a woman spoken as if she's his equal—or challenged him to consider the lives of others. In a city nearly ablaze with racial tensions quickly dividing the country, can two people worlds apart possibly find common ground?#3 FaithThe Civil War battlefield is the last place Quakeress Faith Cathwell thought she'd find herself. But with a gift for nursing, Faith seizes this opportunity to join the fight for abolition—and to search for Shiloh, a freeborn childhood friend who was kidnapped and sold south by unscrupulous slave catchers. Knowing it's much too dangerous for her to search enemy territory alone, Faith enlists the help of Colonel Devlin Knight, who is indebted to her for saving his cousin's life. A career soldier, Dev is committed to the preservation of the Union but conflicted about freeing his own slave and confidant, who plans to enlist as soon as Dev gives him manumission papers. Blazing a trail east with the rest of Grant's army, Dev and Faith fight their personal battles—and a growing attraction to each other. When beliefs clash and passions flare, they quickly find that the only thing more dangerous than the war surrounding them is the battle within their hearts.

Welcome to the 3 Books To Know series, our idea is to help readers learn about fascinating topics through three essential and relevant books. These carefully selected works can be fiction, non-fiction, historical documents or even biographies. We will always select for you three great works to instigate your mind, this time the topic is: Paris - Notre-Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo - The Ladies'Paradise by Émile Zola - The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston LerouxVictor Hugo began writing Notre-Dame de Paris in 1829, largely to make his contemporaries more aware of the value of the Gothic architecture, which was neglected and often destroyed to be replaced by new buildings or defaced by replacement of parts of buildings in a newer style. For instance, the medieval stained glass panels of Notre-Dame de Paris had been replaced by white glass to let more light into the church. This explains the large descriptive sections of the book, which far exceed the requirements of the story. A few years earlier, Hugo had already published a paper entitled Guerre aux Démolisseurs (War to the Demolishers) specifically aimed at saving Paris'medieval architecture. The Ladies'Paradise is the eleventh novel in the Rougon-Macquart series by Émile Zola. It was first serialized in the periodical Gil Blas and published in novel form by Charpentier in 1883. The novel is set in the world of the department store, an innovative development in mid-nineteenth century retail sales. Zola models his store after Le Bon Marché, which consolidated under one roof many of the goods hitherto sold in separate shops. The narrative details many of Le Bon Marché's innovations, including its mail-order business, its system of commissions, its in-house staff commissary, and its methods of receiving and retailing goods. The Phantom of the Opera is a novel by French writer Gaston Leroux. It was first published as a serialization in Le Gaulois from 23 September 1909, to 8 January 1910. It was published in volume form in late March 1910 by Pierre Lafitte and directed by Aluel Malinao. The novel is partly inspired by historical events at the Paris Opera during the nineteenth century and an apocryphal tale concerning the use of a former ballet pupil's skeleton in Carl Maria von Weber's 1841 production of Der Freischütz. It has been successfully adapted into various stage and film adaptations, most notable of which are the 1925 film depiction featuring Lon Chaney, and Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1986 musical. This is one of many books in the series 3 Books To Know. If you liked this book, look for the other titles in the series, we are sure you will like some of the topics

When Pugg, dog to eighteenth-century printmaker William Hogarth, finds a leather portmanteau abandoned beneath his master's deathbed, the bereaved canine embarks on an inquiry to make sense of the disordered contents. Notes from a criminal investigation, letters between sisters, a pair of novels, and the personal reflection of one Sarah Scott lead Pugg on a journey through London's streets, high and low. In fashionable bookstores and printmakers workshops he uncovers an inky world ruled by paper and on the way he meets a cast of printer's devils, pirates, hacks, bluestockings, and intrepid laundresses. Re-telling tales pulled from Hogarth's own prints, Pugg's Portmanteau ransacks eighteenth-century literary culture for its rumbustious pleasures, baroque complications, gothic horrors, and even the odd quiet contentment. Inspired by Defoe, Haywood, Richardson, Sterne, and Scott-authors who pioneered the English novel-the book explores the relationship between genre and gender, asking what the Enlightenment might have looked like if it had been just a little more enlightened.

La novela perfecta para quien haya tenido el corazón roto, para quien haya conseguido recomponerlo y para quien se lo haya dejado alguna vez en una librería. Tom Hope no piensa que se le dé especialmente bien ser granjero. Solo hace lo que puede: ordeña las vacas, recoge las manzanas, cuida de las ovejas... Tampoco se considera un buen marido porque su esposa lo abandonó y se llevó consigo al pequeño Peter. Pero cuando en su vida aparece Hannah Babel, la alegre y excéntrica mujer que quiere montar una librería en el pueblo, él se atreve a soñar que podrían ser felices juntos. Sin embargo, en 1968 solo han transcurrido veinticuatro años desde que Hannah llegara a Auschwitz con su hijo pequeño y saliera sola. Y Tom se enfrenta a una batalla contra el dolor y el recuerdo que todavía apenas puede imaginar. La crítica ha dicho... «Una novela tierna y emotiva. Contiene dolor y corazones rotos, pero van acompañados de amor y verdad y, en última instancia, esperanza. Esta historia delicada y fascinante está destinada a convertirse en una favorita de los lectores.» Books+Publishing «Una impresionante y cautivadora historia sobre cómo dos personas muy diferentes se recuperan de una tristeza desgarradora y se dan permiso para volver a amar.» Publishers Weekly «La capacidad de Hillman para evocar los ritmos y los matices de la vida rural australiana es una fuente de alegría. En esta novela nos habla de la importancia de la libertad así como de la capacidad redentora del amor, y de cómo aceptar el pasado puede ser la clave para sentirse libre y amado.» Saturday Paper «Esta novela es un canto al amor tras el dolor y en particular al amor entre padre e hijo. Muy recomendable.» New Zealand Herald «El estilo de Hillman desprende grandeza y encanto.» Age «Con una prosa conmovedora, reflexiva y emocionante, Hillman cuenta una historia de amor y sacrificio desgarradora y a la vez reconfortante.» Booklist «Este libro es una lección magistral de cómo provocar un gran impacto emocional sin artificios.» Otago Daily Times «Las vivas y poéticas imágenes de Hillman se funden con las realistas descripciones del horror de la guerra y su futilidad... A pesar de sus momentos de tristeza, fue un placer leer esta novela, con su inspiradora filosofía e irresistibles personajes.» Good Reading

Running from her father's brutal legacy, Joseph Stalin's daughter defects to the United States during the turbulence of the 1960s. For fans of We Were the Lucky Ones and A Gentleman in Moscow, this sweeping historical novel and unexpected love story is inspired by the remarkable life of Svetlana Alliluyeva. “The Red Daughter does exactly what good historical fiction should do: It sends you down the rabbit hole to read and learn more.”—The New York Times Book Review In one of the most momentous events of the Cold War, Svetlana Alliluyeva, the only daughter of the Soviet despot Joseph Stalin, abruptly abandoned her life in Moscow in 1967, arriving in New York to throngs of reporters and a nation hungry to hear her story. By her side is Peter Horvath, a young lawyer sent by the CIA to smuggle Svetlana into America. She is a contradictory celebrity: charismatic and headstrong, lonely and haunted, excited and alienated by her adopted country's radically different society. Persuading herself that all she yearns for is a simple American life, she attempts to settle into a suburban existence in Princeton, New Jersey. But one day an invitation from the widow of the architect Frank Lloyd Wright arrives, and Svetlana impulsively joins her cultlike community at Taliesin West. When this dream ends in disillusionment, Svetlana reaches out to Peter, the one person who understands how the chains of her past still hold her prisoner. Their relationship changes and deepens, moving from America to England to the Soviet Union and back again, unfolding under the eyes of her CIA minders, and Svetlana's and Peter's private lives are no longer their own. Novelist John Burnham Schwartz's father was in fact the young lawyer who escorted Svetlana Alliluyeva to the United States. Drawing upon private papers and years of extensive research, Schwartz imaginatively re-creates the story of an extraordinary, troubled woman's search for a new life and a place to belong, in the powerful, evocative prose that has made him an acclaimed author of literary and historical fiction.Praise for The Red Daughter “Svetlana Alliluyeva's life was endlessly fascinating, often heartbreaking, and ultimately heroic. I don't think any writer alive could have told her story more beautifully than John Burnham Schwartz.”—David Benioff, co-creator of HBO's Game of Thrones and author of City of Thieves “The Red Daughter is an intimate, intricate look at the collision of geopolitics with a private life: surprising and engaging from beginning to end.”—Jennifer Egan

Betsy Elliott is a match for the cold northeast winds that rattle windows and carry Newfoundland sailors away to their deaths. Forced into service after her father's death, married at eighteen to a much older man, she's become as hard as the rocks that line the shores of her island home. Talented, brilliant, and hard-working, she will do anything to make things go her way in the life she's been forced to live. One November day in 1933, Edmund Taylor stumbles into their lives when he is invited by John Elliott to board with them to write a book on the Commission of Government and finish his final papers for his graduation from Harvard Law School. During the harshest winter in decades, disaster and despair rock the Elliott home and their entire community, and events lead Edmund, overcome with guilt, to want to flee. In love with the formidable Betsy, he invites her to run away with him to Boston. Should Betsy stay in a place where children die of curable diseases and life has a deadening sameness, or go to Boston, the city of her dreams, where adventure and opportunity await? Betsy must choose between duty and the dreams she thought were impossible. But time is running out. Edmund will leave as soon as navigation opens up. Will Betsy be on the boat with him, or will she stay, chained forever to the life she thought she was destined to live?

The story „Father Sergius” is one of Tolstoy's most deeply personal works. This is a story about leaving. This is her main topic, and all the more curious, that its meaning did not develop immediately, with the accumulation of some own spiritual experience, which he was in no hurry to put on paper, and even more so – to publish.

The year is 1839, and Mary Shelley - the woman who wrote Frankenstein - is living alone in a tiny cottage on the banks of the river Thames in Putney. As she sorts through the snowstorm of her husband's scattered papers she is reminded of their past: the half-ruined villas in Italy, the stormy relationship with Shelley and her stepsister Claire, the loss of her children, the attempted kidnapping of Claire's daughter Allegra from a prison-like convent in Florence. And finally, her husband's drowning on the Gulf of Spezia as they stayed in a grim-looking fortress overlooking the sea. What she has never confided in anyone is that she has always been haunted by Shelley's drowned first wife, Harriet, who would come to visit her in the night as she slept with her two tiny children in a vast abandoned villa while Shelley was away litigating with lawyers. Did Mary pay the ultimate price for loving Shelley? Who will Harriet come for next?

AN OBSERVER BOOK OF THE YEAR ‘That night Stasia took an oath, swearing to learn the recipe by heart and destroy the paper. And when she was lying in her bed again, recalling the taste with all her senses, she was sure that this secret recipe could heal wounds, avert catastrophes, and bring people happiness. But she was wrong.'At the start of the twentieth century, on the edge of the Russian Empire, a family prospers. It owes its success to a delicious chocolate recipe, passed down the generations with great solemnity and caution. A caution which is justified: this is a recipe for ecstasy that carries a very bitter aftertaste … Stasia learns it from her Georgian father and takes it north, following her new husband, Simon, to his posting at the centre of the Russian Revolution in St Petersburg. Stasia's is only the first in a symphony of grand but all too often doomed romances that swirl from sweet to sour in this epic tale of the red century. Tumbling down the years, and across vast expanses of longing and loss, generation after generation of this compelling family hears echoes and sees reflections. Great characters and greater relationships come and go and come again; the world shakes, and shakes some more, and the reader rejoices to have found at last one of those glorious old books in which you can live and learn, be lost and found, and make indelible new friends.

“Engrossing, beautiful, and deeply imaginative” (Yaa Gyasi, author of Homegoing), this epic novel about the explorer David Livingstone and the extraordinary group of Africans who carry his body across impossible terrain “illuminates the agonies of colonialism and blind loyalty” (O, The Oprah Magazine). “This is how we carried out of Africa the poor broken body of...David Livingstone, so that he could be borne across the sea and buried in his own land.” So begins Petina Gappah's “searing…poignant” (Star Tribune, Minneapolis) novel of exploration and adventure in 19th-century Africa—the captivating story of the African men and women who carried explorer and missionary Dr. Livingstone's body, papers, and maps, fifteen hundred miles across the continent of Africa, so his remains could be returned home to England and his work preserved there. Narrated by Halima, the doctor's sharp-tongued cook, and Jacob Wainwright, his rigidly pious secretary, this is a “powerful novel, beautifully told” (Jesmyn Ward, author of Sing, Unburied, Sing) that encompasses all of the hypocrisy of slavery and colonization—the hypocrisy of humanity—while celebrating resilience, loyalty, and love.

'The first Easter, eh? That would have been something for a sharp-eyed Roman investigator.'He barked a short laugh:'One executed prisoner, mission accomplished and... boom--all of a sudden they stand there with an empty tomb! Well, isn't that something...'The conversation came to an end. The only thing that broke the silence was the sound of the ripping of envelopes and flicking through of papers. Had John H. Watson lifted his eyes, he would have seen that something had changed in the other man's appearance. The listless expression on his face had disappeared, and was now replaced by intense concentration. Sherlock sprang up from his chair, his eyes crystal clear, in that unmistakable way that bore witness that something had awoken inside his brain. He turned to John and emphatically declared:'I'll take the case!'How would the world's greatest investigator handle the strangest disappearance in history? From Ash Wednesday to Easter Morning, Sherlock Holmes and John Watson travel through present-day England to establish what actually happened to the executed prisoner Jesus of Nazareth. Can Sherlock solve all problems which may arise along the way? And what is the solution to The Case of the Empty Tomb?

The classic English children's novel of three young friends and one special garden, stunningly reimagined in a deluxe full-color edition, illustrated with beautiful artwork and unique interactive features created by the award-winning design studio behind the graphics for the Harry Potter film franchise, MinaLima—sure to delight fans of the live action film versions coming in 2018 from Disney and Universal Studios.After tragedy leaves Mary Lennox orphaned, the bratty ten-year-old British girl is sent from her home in India to Yorkshire, to live with Archibald Craven, a distant uncle whom she has never met.At first, life in the isolated Misselthwaite Manor is as cold and desolate as the bleak moor outside her window. Then Mary learns the story of the late Mrs. Craven, the estate's mistress, who spent hours in a walled garden tending to her roses. Mrs. Craven died after an accident in the garden, and her forlorn husband forbid anyone to enter it again, locking it and burying the key. The tale piques Mary's curiosity and inspires her to find this secret garden, a search that introduces her to new friends, including a robin redbreast; Dickson, a twelve-year-old boy with a kindness to animals; and Colin, her secluded sickly first-cousin. Spending time in the garden transforms Mary and Colin and ultimately, life at Misselthwaite Manor itself.Originally published in 1911, Frances Hodgson Burnett's poignant story has captured reader's hearts for more than a century. Part of Harper Design's series of deluxe reimagined children's classics, this captivating unabridged gift edition takes readers on a memorable journey that teaches them lessons about hardship, friendship, happiness, and restoration.Illustrated throughout, The Secret Garden comes with ten interactive features, including:A layout of the Manor House and groundsA map of the Secret GardenA dial showing how plants grow throughout the seasonA cut-out paper doll of Mary and her clothesA removable letter to Dickon from his older sister, the maid who tells Mary the story of the garden

Kate Fordham, escaping terrible personal trauma, has fled to the beautiful sunlit city of Granada, the ancient capital of the Moors in Spain. There she is scraping by with an unfulfilling job in a busy bar. One day, in the glorious gardens of the Alhambra—once home to Sultan Abu Abdullah Mohammed—Kate finds a scrap of paper hidden in one of the ancient walls. Upon it, in strange symbols, has been inscribed a message from another era. The message has lain undiscovered since before the Fall of Granada in 1492, when the city was surrendered to Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand. Born of love, in a time of danger and desperation, the fragment will be the catalyst that changes Kate's life forever. An epic saga of romance and redemption, Court of Lions brings one of the great turning-points in human history to life, telling the dual stories of a modern woman and the last Moorish sultan of Granada, as they both move towards their cataclysmic destinies.

Three World War II novels of intrigue and romance inspired by real events—from an acclaimed British author who “skillfully blends fact with fiction” (Time Out London). Early One Morning: In the Roaring Twenties, William Grover-Williams and Frenchman Robert Benoist were teammates and rivals on the Bugatti racing team. Locked in a fierce competition for the world championship, they also raced to win the heart of the gorgeous Eve Aubicq. Then the war changed everything—and nothing. As members of the British Special Operations Executive, Grover-Williams and Benoist dashed across France in support of the Resistance, but it wasn't just the Nazis they had to watch out for. Double agents were everywhere, and friendship—or love—was no guarantee of loyalty. Based on actual events, this is an epic narrative of friendship, rivalry, and fast cars in occupied France. “Excellent.” —The Daily Telegraph The Blue Noon: Harry Cole's rakish charm has served him well from London's East End to Hong Kong and now to occupied France, where he's found the perfect cover—as the debonair Captain Mason of the British Special Operations Executive. Harry plans to wait out World War II and maybe make a little money in the meantime, until a beautiful French nurse convinces him to join the Resistance—just the kind of high-wire act he was born to perform. But the two lovers risk crossing the wrong person at every turn. By war's end, Harry is facing the one charge that even he might not be able to talk his way out of: treason. Ryan's “exciting yarn” is based on a true story (The Daily Telegraph). “The Blue Noon grips from page one. Part intelligent thriller, part love story, it skillfully mixes real events and characters with fictional dialogue to create a novel that's damn near impossible to put down.” —Time Out London Night Crossing: In fall 1938 in Berlin, a British executive is stabbed to death and papers of “utmost importance” have gone missing. Inspector Cameron Ross of the Metropolitan Police is sent to assist in the murder investigation, but his real mission—as outlined by his father, Colonel Ross of the Secret Intelligence Service—is to find out what was in those documents. Ulrike Walter, a beautiful young violinist, knows more than she should. She may be engaged to a member of the Hitler Youth, but Ulrike and the British inspector have an undeniable chemistry. When war is declared a year later, Ulrike flees to England, where she is immediately jailed as an enemy alien. Her only chance for freedom is Cameron Ross. “Ryan again deftly integrates a love story with thriller material and has patented a method combining invented characters with factual events.” —The Sunday Times

A formerly enslaved woman's remarkable story of pressing charges on her captors is vividly captured in this historical novel based on true events.Two decades before the Civil War, middle-class farmer Samuel Maddox lies on his deathbed. Elsewhere in his Virginia home, a young woman named Kitty knows her life is about to change. Not only is she is kept by the Maddox family as a slave, she is also Samuel's daughter. But after his death, Samuel's wife Mary grants Kitty and her children their freedom.Helped by Quaker families along the Underground Railroad, Mary travels with them to Pennsylvania to file emancipation papers. But Kitty is not yet safe. Dragged back to Virginia by a gang of slave catchers led by Samuel's own nephew, Kitty takes a defiant step: charging the younger Maddox with kidnapping and assault.On the surface, the charge appears hopeless. But Kitty has allies—Mary, and Fanny Withers, a socialite who secures a lawyer. The sensational trial that follows will decide the fate of Kitty and her children—and bond three extraordinary yet very different women together in their quest for justice.“Ford does an excellent job portraying the warring factions of the time: those in the South who wanted to preserve their way of life, and those who felt slavery was unjust.” —Publishers Weekly

Excerpt:'My dear children, Some of you have heard already of the old Greeks; and all of you, as you grow up, will hear more and more of them. Those of you who are boys will, perhaps, spend a great deal of time in reading Greek books; and the girls, though they may not learn Greek, will be sure to come across a great many stories taken from Greek history, and to see, I may say every day, things which we should not have had if it had not been for these old Greeks. You can hardly find a well-written book which has not in it Greek names, and words, and proverbs; you cannot walk through a great town without passing Greek buildings; you cannot go into a well-furnished room without seeing Greek statues and ornaments, even Greek patterns of furniture and paper; so strangely have these old Greeks left their mark behind them upon this modern world in which we now live. And as you grow up, and read more and more, you will find that we owe to these old Greeks the beginners of all our mathematics and geometry—that is, the science and knowledge of numbers, and of the shapes of things, and of the forces which make things move and stand at rest; and the beginnings of our geography and astronomy; and of our laws, and freedom, and politics—that is, the science of how to rule a country, and make it peaceful and strong. And we owe to them, too, the beginning of our logic—that is, the study of words and of reasoning; and of our metaphysics—that is, the study of our own thoughts and souls. And last of all, they made their language so beautiful that foreigners used to take to it instead of their own; and at last Greek became the common language of educated people all over the old world, from Persia and Egypt even to Spain and Britain. And therefore it was that the New Testament was written in Greek, that it might be read and understood by all the nations of the Roman empire; so that, next to the Jews, and the Bible which the Jews handed down to us, we owe more to these old Greeks than to any people upon earth.'

Karpathos publishes the greatest works of history's greatest authors and collects them to make it easy and affordable for readers to have them all at the push of a button. All of our collections include a linked table of contents. Henry James was an American writer who is regarded as a significant figure in the literary realism of the 19th century. With classics such as Daisy Miller, The Portrait of a Lady, and The Turn of the Screw, James is still one of the most widely read authors today. This collection includes the following: NOVELS: The Portrait of a Lady Roderick Hudson The American The Europeans Confidence Washington Square The Bostonians The Princess Casamassima The Reverberator The Tragic Muse The Other House The Spoils of Poynton What Maisie Knew The Awkward Age The Sacred Fount The Wings of the Dove The Ambassadors The Golden Bowl The Outcry NOVELLAS AND SHORT STORIES: The Turn of the Screw Daisy Miller The Aspern Papers The Beast in the Jungle The Madonna of the Future The Jolly Corner The Figure in the Carpet In the Cage The Altar of the Dead The Pupil The Real Thing and Other Tales NON-FICTION: Italian Hours France Within the Rim Refugees in Chelsea The Long Wards The Letters of Henry James edited by Percy Lubbock

The international Number One bestseller from the author of The Song of Achilles, shortlisted for the Women's Prize for FictionWoman. Witch. Myth. Mortal. Outcast. Lover. Destroyer. Survivor. CIRCE. In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. Circe is a strange child – not powerful and terrible, like her father, nor gorgeous and mercenary like her mother. Scorned and rejected, Circe grows up in the shadows, at home in neither the world of gods or mortals. But Circe has a dark power of her own: witchcraft. When her gift threatens the gods, she is banished to the island of Aiaia where she hones her occult craft, casting spells, gathering strange herbs and taming wild beasts. Yet a woman who stands alone will never be left in peace for long – and among her island's guests is an unexpected visitor: the mortal Odysseus, for whom Circe will risk everything. So Circe sets forth her tale, a vivid, mesmerizing epic of family rivalry, love and loss – the defiant, inextinguishable song of woman burning hot and bright through the darkness of a man's world. THE NUMBER ONE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER CHOSEN AS A BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE GUARDIAN, TELEGRAPH, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, I PAPER, SUNDAY EXPRESS, IRISH TIMES, TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT, AMAZON, AUDIBLE, BUZZFEED, REFINERY 29, WASHINGTON POST, BOSTON GLOBE, SEATTLE TIMES, TIME MAGAZINE, NEWSWEEK, PEOPLE, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY, KIRKUS, PUBLISHERS WEEKLY AND GOODREADS

Ribelle Soderini, Reb to his family and friends, works for his father's construction company in North Boston. The Soderinis are famous for the quality of their work. They build fine houses. Reb toils hard all day and enjoys hearty food, a good drink and, if he can find it, the company of an obliging woman at night. But then he receives his call-up papers; his country is fighting in Korea and he is expected to do his duty. Emilio, his father, is an ageing anarchist and urges his son to skip the country to avoid waging someone else's war. Angelina, his mother, quietly watches on, her silent pleas those of thousands of mothers across the country. Reb himself has no appetite for fighting, and even less for leaving his simple yet tranquil life in Massachusetts, but neither is he a shirker. He finds himself determined to find a way to do his duty while staying true to his father's anarchist spirit. But first, Reb plans one more night on the town. What About Reb is a tale of families and divided loyalties and of a young man enjoying his last days of freedom.

When Grace married the handsome and worldly Captain Leo Waterhouse in Australia during the middle of the Second World War, she never doubted that she had married a hero and he would come back to her unscathed. But Leo never returns from a commando raid on Japanese ships in the Singapore Harbour, leaving Grace a widow, like so many, to shoulder the pain and regret of losing her husband. Sixty years later, Grace is still bitter and perplexed by the tragic death of the love of her life when the true story of the abortive mission comes to light. As Leo's diary during captivity, scrawled on toilet paper, and new fragments of the events emerge, Grace must confront her doubts about her hero and his ultimate betrayal.

On his eighteenth birthday David is given a six-month-old German Shepherd puppy, and immediately a bond is formed between David and Lady, as he calls her. They become inseparable, working together on the family farm in Yorkshire.It is, however, 1944, and the country is still engaged in World War Two so it is only a short time before David receives his call up papers to fight for his country. He wants to do his duty but is worried about leaving Lady behind, David then discovers he is able to enlist her as a guard dog to work alongside him.Although the Germans are in retreat there is still fierce fighting and David, along with Lady, is taken as prisoner of war. Whilst in the camp Lady offers comfort to the internees, and is even a link between the internees and the German guards, and the bond between her and David becomes even stronger.This bond, indeed love, for each other makes them even more inseparable right to the very end.

Following on the heels of her exciting and widely acclaimed A Monster's Notes, and with Sheck's characteristic brilliance of language, Island of the Mad follows the solitary, hunchbacked Ambrose A., as he sets out on a mysterious journey to Venice in search of a lost notebook he knows almost nothing about.Eventually he arrives in San Servolo, the Island of the Mad, in the Venetian Lagoon, only a few minutes'boat–ride from Venice. At the island's old, abandoned hospital which has been turned into a conference center, he discovers a mess of papers in a drawer, and among them the correspondence and notes of two of the island's former inhabitants—a woman with a rare genetic illness which causes the afflicted to gradually become unable to sleep until, increasingly hallucinatory and feverish, they essentially die of sleeplessness; and her friend, a man who experiences epileptic seizures. As the sleepless woman's eyesight fails, she wants only one thing—that her friend read to her from Dostoevsky's great novel, The Idiot, a book she loves but can no longer read herself. As Ambrose follows their strange tale, everything he has ever known or thought is called into question.

In the shadow of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, New Mexico's Mora Valley harbors the ghosts of history: troubadours and soldiers, Plains Indians and settlers, families fleeing and finding home. There, more than a century ago, villagers collect scraps of paper documenting the valley's history and their identity—military records, travelers'diaries, newspaper articles, poetry, and more—and bind them into a leather portfolio known as “The Book of Archives.” When a bomb blast during the Mexican-American War scatters the book's contents to the wind, the memory of the accounts lives on instead in the minds of Mora residents. Poets and storytellers pass down the valley's traditions into the twentieth century, from one generation to the next. In this pathbreaking dual-language volume, author A. Gabriel Meléndez joins their ranks, continuing the retelling of Mora Valley's tales for our time. A native of Mora with el don de la palabra, the divine gift of words, Meléndez mines historical sources and his own imagination to reconstruct the valley's story, first in English and then in Spanish. He strings together humorous, tragic, and quotidian vignettes about historical events and unlikely occurrences, creating a vivid portrait of Mora, both in cultural memory and present reality. Local gossip and family legend intertwine with Spanish-language ballads and the poetry of New Mexico's most famous dueling troubadours, Old Man Vilmas and the poet García. Drawing on New Mexican storytelling tradition, Meléndez weaves a colorful dual-language representation of a place whose irresistible characters and unforgettable events, and the inescapable truths they embody, still resonate today.

“A gorgeous and thrilling novel… Perfect for book clubs and fans of The Nightingale.” –PopSugarA historical novel of love and survival inspired by real resistance workers during World War II Austria, and the mysterious love letter that connects generations of Jewish families. A heart-breaking, heart-warming read for fans of The Women in the Castle, Lilac Girls, and Sarah's Key.Author of the forthcoming In Another Time. Austria, 1938. Kristoff is a young apprentice to a master Jewish stamp engraver. When his teacher disappears during Kristallnacht, Kristoff is forced to engrave stamps for the Germans, and simultaneously works alongside Elena, his beloved teacher's fiery daughter, and with the Austrian resistance to send underground messages and forge papers. As he falls for Elena amidst the brutal chaos of war, Kristoff must find a way to save her, and himself.Los Angeles, 1989. Katie Nelson is going through a divorce and while cleaning out her house and life in the aftermath, she comes across the stamp collection of her father, who recently went into a nursing home. When an appraiser, Benjamin, discovers an unusual World War II-era Austrian stamp placed on an old love letter as he goes through her dad's collection, Katie and Benjamin are sent on a journey together that will uncover a story of passion and tragedy spanning decades and continents, behind the just fallen Berlin Wall. A romantic, poignant and addictive novel, The Lost Letter shows the lasting power of love.

This book contains the complete novels of Charles Dickens in the chronological order of their original publication. - The Pickwick Papers - Oliver Twist - Nicholas Nickleby - The Old Curiosity Shop - Barnaby Rudge - Martin Chuzzlewit - Dombey and Son - David Copperfield - Bleak House - Hard Times - Little Dorrit - A Tale of Two Cities - Great Expectations - Our Mutual Friend - The Mystery of Edwin Drood

THE YELLOW WALLPAPER It is very seldom that mere ordinary people like John and myself secure ancestral halls for the summer. A colonial mansion, a hereditary estate, I would say a haunted house, and reach the height of romantic felicity—but that would be asking too much of fate! Still I will proudly declare that there is something queer about it. Else, why should it be let so cheaply? And why have stood so long untenanted? John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in marriage. John is practical in the extreme. He has no patience with faith, an intense horror of superstition, and he scoffs openly at any talk of things not to be felt and seen and put down in figures. John is a physician, and PERHAPS—(I would not say it to a living soul, of course, but this is dead paper and a great relief to my mind)—PERHAPS that is one reason I do not get well faster. You see he does not believe I am sick! And what can one do? If a physician of high standing, and one's own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression—a slight hysterical tendency—what is one to do? My brother is also a physician, and also of high standing, and he says the same thing. So I take phosphates or phosphites—whichever it is, and tonics, and journeys, and air, and exercise, and am absolutely forbidden to'work'until I am well again. Personally, I disagree with their ideas. Personally, I believe that congenial work, with excitement and change, would do me good. But what is one to do? I did write for a while in spite of them; but it DOES exhaust me a good deal—having to be so sly about it, or else meet with heavy opposition. I sometimes fancy that in my condition if I had less opposition and more society and stimulus—but John says the very worst thing I can do is to think about my condition, and I confess it always makes me feel bad. So I will let it alone and talk about the house.

Starting out on the wrong foot is about to put their hearts at risk in this fiery historical romance from the author of Her Sheriff Bodyguard.Self-proclaimed spinster Jessamine Lassiter is striving to keep Smoke River's newspaper afloat when Cole Sanders rides into town to start up a rival paper. Emotions run high as Cole's constant, infuriating presence causes sparks to fly both in and out of the office. But does he truly desire Jess, or is he just waiting to put her out of business? Whatever it is he wants, she's not about to make it easy for him... “Banning's warm, engaging Smoke River series continues to thrive and grow, especially when a competitive newspaper arrives and sets sparks flying between the editors—on and off their editorial pages. Familiar characters and the town's favorite haunts all lend support as the at-odds editors find a way toward harmony.” —RT Book Reviews

Albert Gallatin Riddle was a U.S. Representative from Ohio. His papers are at the Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio. They include the unpublished manuscript'Accounts of experiences in Cuba'(1862-1864).

Critically acclaimed author Gwyn Cready leaves readers on the edge of their seats in a provocative time travel romance A door to the pastAmbitious art historian Campbell Stratford is about to make a name for herself with her scandalously sexy biographies of famous seventeenth-century artists. Suddenly she is catapulted back in time and comes face-to-face with one of her subjects: bad-boy painter Peter Lely, portraitist to the king.Creates chaos of classic proportionsPeter is entranced by his mysterious visitor, and Cam can't resist becoming one of the lovely ladies to pose on his modeling chaise. But Sir Peter knows a lot more than he's telling about time travel in general and art historians in particular. What he doesn't know is that Cam is the one responsible for the very project he's about to sabotage. And when Cam finds she's been tricked, she exacts her revenge on paper...'A wonderful jaunt through time.'—RT Book Reviews, 4 stars'Entertaining and lively...will leave readers breathless.'—Publishers Weekly STARRED REVIEW

As the 19th century draws to a close America is at war – a circulation war! In New York the two great leaders of the Yellow Press, William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer, have gone head to head and nothing sells papers like a real war. Such is the power of the press that they get one. American victory over Spain brings its prizes: Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines. But in the Philippines a rebel army is already fighting for independence, but the Land of the Free doesn't want to grant them their wish … Fourth in James Green's successful Agents of Independence series, tracing the development of the American Secret Service.

Vinny's Wilderness opens in South Belfast with divorced teacher Vinny. She returns to her home to discover that her dearly loved and overgrown garden has been bulldozed and unceremoniously dumped in a skip outside her house. Who is responsible? We learn of her friendship with the glamorous Alex Masterton, whose son Denzil she is tutoring for the elevenplus. More interested in the outdoors than in endless practice papers, Denzil struggles against expectations, both at school, and within his rigid family home. The constraints governing Alex's life as Mrs Masterton are similarly exposed, with a psychologically abusive husband scornful of her supposedly inferior education. As Alex and Vinny's relationship develops, both women struggle to come to terms with past hurts and Alex makes a dramatic decision that will affect all their lives. Vinny's Wilderness is a sensitive rendering of childhood friendship, meditating on the importance and strength of female friendships alongside the curveballs of motherhood.

The tales of King Arthur and his Knights are of Celtic origin. The Celts were the people who occupied Britain at the time when the history of the country opens, and a few words are necessary to explain why the characters in the stories act and speak as though they belonged to a later age. It is believed that King Arthur lived in the sixth century, just after the Romans withdrew from Britain, and when the Britons, left to defend themselves against the attacks of the marauding Saxons, rose and defeated them at Mount Badon, securing to themselves peace for many years. It was probably about this time that King Arthur and his company of Knights performed the deeds which were to become the themes of stories and lays for generations afterwards. In olden times, it was the custom of minstrels and story-tellers to travel through the land from court to court, telling of tales of chivalry and heroism, and for many centuries the tales of King Arthur formed the stock from which the story-teller drew. In this way the stories came to be handed down from father to son, in Brittany (whose people are of the same family as the Welsh) as well as in Wales and England, and by this means alone were they prevented from being lost. But in the reigns of Henry II. and Richard I., they were set down on paper, and so became literature. Before this, however, a British writer had written out some of the tales, and from him as well as from the lips of the bards and story-tellers of their own generation, the writers in the time of Henry II. were able to collect their information. vi Now, it will be remembered that the second and third crusades were being carried on during the reigns of Henry II. and Richard I., and many English and French Knights were therefore fighting in the fields of Palestine. The story-teller, whose living depended on the welcome his stories met with, instead of telling them according to tradition, altered them to suit the tastes of his hearers.

The Crown Prince is partly right; the majority in the world is against him and what he stands for; but not against Germany and the Germans. He professes surprise at the attitude of the United States. That attitude is the natural result of various causes among which are the following: Distrust of any aggressor by a nation inclined toward peace. Disgust at the'scrap of paper'episode. Resentment at the invasion of Belgium. Contempt for the Imperial Government which is industriously screwing the last penny of'indemnity'out of a ruined nation, which the people of the United States are taxing their private means to keep from starvation. Further back there are other reasons. For thirty years the press of Germany has seldom missed an opportunity to express its contempt for Americans. Any American who has ever lived in Germany or who has read German newspapers during the last thirty years is aware of the tone of the German press concerning America and Americans. No innuendoes have been too vulgar, no sneers too brutal for the editors of these papers, and, presumably for the readers. Also Americans do not forget the attitude of the Imperial Government during the Spanish war. The bad manners of a German Admiral are bearing fruit. Imperialism we Americans do not understand, but it need not make us unfriendly to empires. But we do understand when manners are bad, or when a military caste, which maintains its traditions of personal honour by violence, becomes arrogant to the point of brutality. A false notion of personal honour is alone enough to prevent a sympathetic understanding between two peoples. America is not an enemy to Germany, only is it inexorably opposed to any Government which breaks faith; and which enthrones above all other gods the god of violence. For the German soldiers who are dying in this Hohenzollern-Hapsburg war we have only sympathy and pity.

A Son of War presents Melvyn Bragg's second installment in what the Sunday Telegraph calls “one of the finest literary sagas of postwar Britain.” Continuing the story of the Richardson family begun in the award-winning The Soldier's Return, this powerful novel depicts how the terrible upheavals of World War II reverberated in the peace that followed. After returning from the campaign in Burma, Sam Richardson was determined to leave his small hometown of Wigton for the promised land of Australia. Yet now, a few months later, he has settled for a job in Wigton's paper factory, and believes he has put both his aspirations and his memories of the war behind him. His wife, Ellen, knows better, realizing how close their marriage has come to disaster. Caught between them, their young son Joe strives to fulfill their conflicting expectations for him, as he faces the challenges of childhood and adolescence and confronts his own demons.Crafted with admirable understatement and acute insight into the twists and turns of the heart, this is a worthy successor to the highly praised The Soldier's Return. A Son of War portrays a family forever altered by an experience subsequent generations can scarcely imagine, yet whose individual hopes, compromises, and quiet triumphs form the fabric of everyday, universal life.Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade, Yucca, and Good Books imprints, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in fiction—novels, novellas, political and medical thrillers, comedy, satire, historical fiction, romance, erotic and love stories, mystery, classic literature, folklore and mythology, literary classics including Shakespeare, Dumas, Wilde, Cather, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

Library of America gathers for the first time the entire body of work set in the imaginary central European nation of Orsinia—the enchanting, richly imagined historical fiction series written by Hugo, Nebula, and National Book Award winner Ursula K. Le Guin. In a career spanning half a century, Ursula K. Le Guin has produced a body of work that testifies to her abiding faith in the power and art of words. She is perhaps best known for imagining future intergalactic worlds in brilliant books that challenge our ideas of what is natural and inevitable in human relations—and that celebrate courage, endurance, risk-taking, and above all, freedom in the face of the psychological and social forces that lead to authoritarianism and fanaticism. It is less well known that she first developed these themes in the richly imagined historical fiction collected in this volume, which inaugurates the Library of America edition of her works. Written before Ursula K. Le Guin turned to science fiction, the novel Malafrena is a tale of love and duty set in the central European country of Orsinia in the early nineteenth century, when it is ruled by the Austrian empire. The stories originally published in Orsinian Tales (1976) offer brilliantly rendered episodes of personal drama set against a history that spans Orsinia's emergence as an independent kingdom in the twelfth century to its absorption by the eastern Bloc after World War II. The volume is rounded out by two additional stories that bring the history of Orsinia up to 1989, the poem “Folksong from the Montayna Province,” Le Guin's first published work, and two never-before-published songs in the Orisinian language. LIBRARY OF AMERICA is an independent nonprofit cultural organization founded in 1979 to preserve our nation's literary heritage by publishing, and keeping permanently in print, America's best and most significant writing. The Library of America series includes more than 300 volumes to date, authoritative editions that average 1,000 pages in length, feature cloth covers, sewn bindings, and ribbon markers, and are printed on premium acid-free paper that will last for centuries.

William Murray Graydon (1864-1946) was extremely prolific American writer for the juvenile market, Graydon moved to England around 1898, where he continued to write for the British story papers.

William Murray Graydon (1864-1946) was extremely prolific American writer for the juvenile market, Graydon moved to England around 1898, where he continued to write for the British story papers.

Inspired by the true events of an unsolved murder Sydney, 1946. Eleven-year-old Frances and her best friend, Nancy, are growing up in the doglegged streets of Newtown and into a world they do not understand. It is the aftermath of World War II, and thousands of damaged soldiers have returned to their homes, bearing the psychological scars of battle with them. Meanwhile, in the seediest part of the city, fifteen-year-old Templeton lives amid bootleggers, gangs, and prostitutes with his sister Annie and her friends. Threatened by Annie's abusive lover, the nefarious Jack Tooth, they are forced to seek protection from a Darlinghurst madam: the once-powerful grog runner Dolly Jenkins. Soon, Templeton is drawn into an enigmatic underbelly of violence, sexuality, and secrets. When Frances witnesses a shooting one night, these two worlds become inevitably intertwined. Templeton and the girls must grow up quickly and confront the darkness in the lives of those around them. Dark Fires Shall Burn is a superbly atmospheric, powerful debut about justice, vengeance, and the power of grief. PRAISE FOR ANNA WESTBROOK ‘Anna Westbrook delves into Sydney's seedy underbelly for this story, based on a real crime, set in 1946 … Westbrook has created an atmospheric tale of post-war life, full of sly grog, war-damaged soldiers and prostitutes … Verdict: dark and gripping.'The Herald Sun ‘a richly textured, entertaining caper... convincing.'The Saturday Paper

As the 19th century draws to a close America is at war - a circulation war! In New York the two great leaders of the Yellow Press, William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer, have gone head to head and nothing sells papers like a real war. Such is the power of the press that they get one. American victory over Spain brings its prizes: Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines. But in the Philippines a rebel army is already fighting for independence, but the Land of the Free doesn't want to grant them their wish... Fourth in James Green's successful Agents of Independence series, tracing the development of the American Secret Service.

A tale of religious brotherhoods, corruption, romantic intrigue and political scheming at the court of Louis XIV.'Keeps the reader guessing... conspiracy theorists will love it'Historical Novel Society 1661 is a year of destiny for France and its young King, Louis XIV. Cardinal Mazarin, the Chief Minister who has governed throughout the King's early years, lies dying. As a fierce power struggle develops to succeed him, a religious brotherhood, guardian of a centuries-old secret, also sees its chance to influence events. Gabriel de Pontbriand, an aspiring actor employed as secretary to Molière, becomes unwittingly involved when documents stolen from Mazarin's palace fall into his hands. The coded papers will alter Gabriel's life for ever, and their explosive contents have the power to change the course of history for France and the Sun King himself.

The body had no name. It was not supposed to be there...Jess is a researcher on a quest to give the one-hundred-year-old skeleton, discovered in the exhumed grave of a prominent bishop, an identity. But she's not sure of her own - her career is stalling, her marriage is failing. She doesn't want to spend hours in the archives, rifling through dusty papers in an endless search for a name. And when a young man named Hayden makes clear his interest in her, Jess has to decide what is most important to her.

1914 – 1918. The Great War. There was no television, no radio and of course no social media. Telephones were a rarity and photography was in its infancy. News came from the printed word, which was heavily censored, or spread by word of mouth. So what stories fascinated the reading public from the local papers? Read on.

Reporter, author, artist, and screenwriter Wallace Smith (1888–1937) served as the Washington correspondent for the Chicago American for over a decade, and originated the paper's Joe Blow comic panel feature. Reputed to have been one of the most colorful characters to have worked for the Hearst newspapers, he switched back and forth between cartooning and reporting, covering subjects as diverse as the criminal trials of Roscoe'Fatty'Arbuckle and Pancho Villa's Mexican campaigns.Smith's experiences as an eyewitness to the armed struggles of the Mexican Revolution during the 1910s and'20s inspired these remarkable stories. They begin with the title tale of a soldadera, one of the many women who abandoned their conventional roles to fight in the revolution. Populated by soldiers, bandits, and peasants, these tales of love, treachery, courage, and adventure are illustrated by the author's atmospheric drawings from his field sketchbook.

''St. Ronan's Well'is not so much my favourite as certain of its predecessors,'Lady Louisa Stuart wrote to Scott on March 26, 1824.'Yet still I see the author's hand in it, et c'est tout dire. Meg Dods, the meeting','and the last scene between Clara and her brother, are marked with the true stamp, not to be matched or mistaken. Is the Siege of Ptolemais really on the anvil?'she goes on, speaking of the projected Crusading Tales, and obviously anxious to part company with'St. Ronan's Well.'All judgments have not agreed with Lady Louisa's. There is a literary legend or fable according to which a number of distinguished men, all admirers of Scott, wrote down separately the name of their favourite Waverley novel, and all, when the papers were compared, had written'St. Ronan's.'Sydney Smith, writing to Constable on Dec. 28, 1823, described the new story as'far the best that has appeared for some time. Every now and then there is some mistaken or overcharged humour—but much excellent delineation of character, the story very well told, and the whole very interesting. Lady Binks, the old landlady, and Touchwood are all very good. Mrs. Blower particularly so. So are MacTurk and Lady Penelope. I wish he would give his people better names; Sir Bingo Binks is quite ridiculous.... The curtain should have dropped on finding Clara's glove. Some of the serious scenes with Clara and her brother are very fine: the knife scene masterly. In her light and gay moments Clara is very vulgar; but Sir Walter always fails in well-bred men and women, and yet who has seen more of both? and who, in the ordinary intercourse of society, is better bred? Upon the whole, I call this a very successful exhibition.'

Winner of the Modern Language Association's Fania & Yaakov Leviant Memorial Prize in Yiddish Studies (2018)Ellen Cassedy and Yermiyahu Ahron Taub (the translators) on encountering Blume Lempel's stories wrote:'When we began reading and translating, we didn't know we were going to find a mother drawn into an incestuous relationship with her blind son. We didn't know we'd meet a young woman lying on the table at an abortion clinic. We didn't know we'd meet a middle-aged woman full of erotic imaginings as she readies herself for a blind date. Buried in this forgotten Yiddish-language material, we found modernist stories and modernist story-telling techniques – imagine reading Gabriel Garcia Marquez with the conversational touch of Grace Paley.'Lempel (1907–1999) was one of a small number of writers in the United States who wrote in Yiddish into the 1990s. Though many of her stories opened a window on the Old World and the Holocaust, she did not confine herself to these landscapes or themes. She often wrote about the margins of society, and about subjects considered untouchable. her prize-winning fiction is remarkable for its psychological acuity, its unflinching examination of erotic themes and gender relations, and its technical virtuosity. Mirroring the dislocation of mostly women protagonists, her stories move between present and past, Old World and New, dream and reality.While many of her stories opened a window on the Old World and the Holocaust, she also wrote about the margins of society, about subjects considered untouchable, among them abortion, prostitution, women's erotic imaginings, and even incest. She illuminated the inner lives of her characters—mostly women. Her storylines migrate between past and present, Old World and New, dream and reality, modern-day New York and prewar Poland, bedtime story and passionate romance, and old-age dementia and girlhood dreams.Immigrating to New York when Hitler rose to power, Blume Lempel began publishing her short stories in 1945. By the 1970s her work had become known throughout the Yiddish literary world. When she died in 1999, the Yiddish paper Forverts wrote:'Yiddish literature has lost one of its most remarkable women writers.'Ellen Cassedy, translator, is author of the award-winning study'We Are Here', about the Lithuanian Holocaust. With her colleague Yermiyahu Ahron Taub, they received the Yiddish Book Center 2012 Translation Prize for translating Blume Lempel. Yermiyahu Ahron Taub is the author of several books of poetry, including'Prayers of a Heretic/Tfiles fun an apikoyres'(2013),'Uncle Feygele'(2011), and'What Stillness Illuminated/Vos shtilkayt hot baloykhtn (2008).'