'At once a gripping psychological thriller and a finely crafted work of literature ... An exhibition of stylistic virtuosity, a pyrotechnic display of fine writing' Financial Times 'Part psychological thriller and part literary puzzle' Grazia Zoya Andropova, a young Russian refugee, finds herself in an elite New Jersey boarding school. Having lost her family, her home and her sense of purpose, Zoya struggles to belong, a task made more difficult by her new country's paranoia about Soviet spies. When she meets charismatic fellow Russian émigré Leo Orlov – whose books Zoya has obsessed over for years – everything seems to change. But she soon discovers that Leo is bound by the sinister orchestrations of his brilliant wife, Vera, and that their relationship is far more complex than Zoya could ever have imagined.
Jessie Clemons is out of cash and on the run, from his job, his neighbors, the cops and his life. The Neighbor is a Middle American odyssey in which truck stops and farmhouses stand in for the Aegean Islands and the neon signs of convenience stores are the sirens of dissipation. Told in a unique double-narrative form, with sardonic humour and grim realism, Caleb Caudell's debut novel is an unflinching look at the desolations and consolations of the hidden people of the heartland.
Vintage Tom Wolfe, The Bonfire of the Vanities, the #1 bestseller that will forever define late-twentieth-century New York style. "No one has portrayed New York Society this accurately and devastatingly since Edith Wharton" (The National Review) “A page-turner . . . Brilliant high comedy.” (The New Republic) Sherman McCoy, the central figure of Tom Wolfe's first novel, is a young investment banker with a fourteen-room apartment in Manhattan. When he is involved in a freak accident in the Bronx, prosecutors, politicians, the press, the police, the clergy, and assorted hustlers high and low close in on him, licking their chops and giving us a gargantuan helping of the human comedy, of New York in the 1980s, a city boiling over with racial and ethnic hostilities and burning with the itch to Grab It Now. Wolfe's novel is a big, panoramic story of the metropolis that reinforces the author's reputation as the foremost chronicler of the way we live in America. Adapted to film in 1990 by director Brian De Palma, the movie stars Tom Hanks, Bruce Willis, Melanie Griffith, and Morgan Freeman.
Sometimes the most compelling landscapes are the ones where worlds collide: where a desert meets the sea, a civilization, no-man’s land. Here in Bonfire Opera, grief and Eros grapple in the same domain. A bullet-hole through the heart, a house full of ripe persimmons, a ghost in a garden. Coyotes cry out on the hill, and lovers find themselves kissing, “bee-stung, drunk” in the middle of road. Here, the dust is holy, as is the dark, unknown. These are poems that praise the impossible, wild world, finding beauty in its wake. Excerpt from “Bonfire Opera” In those days, there was a woman in our circle who was known, not only for her beauty, but also for taking off all her clothes and singing opera. And sure enough, as the night wore on and the stars emerged to stare at their reflections on the sea, and everyone had drunk a little wine, she began to disrobe, loose her great bosom and the tender belly, pale in the moonlight, the Viking hips, and to let her torn raiment fall to the sand as we looked up from the flames.
This inspiring and yet eminently practical guide shows entrepreneurs how to steer a company to enduring greatness. Leadership style, vision, corporate strategy, innovation, tactical excellence and other key elements are all explored in depth.
Essential strategies to transform your organization and boost your profits Want to recapture your organization's original innovative spirit? Stoking Your Innovation Bonfire helps you remove the obstacles that have crippled the innovation superpowers that made your organization successful in the first place. Helps you identify the blockages hindering innovation within your organization Reveals the fundamental changes that will help your business rebuild its hidden or lost innovation capabilities Explores leading innovation theories you can apply right away-without expensive consultants Get the strategies you need to remove innovation barriers, increase profits-and change the way you do business.
“This whodunit provides fully satisfying fare for a cold winter’s night around the fire”—from the Agatha Award-winning author of The Body in the Moonlight (Publishers Weekly). Caterer and small-town minister’s wife Faith Fairchild might never have accepted the job teaching a course on Cooking for Idiots at Mansfield Academy had it not been for Daryl Martin. An African-American student at the prestigious prep school, Daryl has lately become the target of a series of vicious and anonymous racial attacks—and Faith is determined to put an end to the injustice. But Mansfield, she finds, is a seething cauldron of secrets, academic in-fighting, and unspoken rules that complicate her task. When someone tampers with her classroom cooking ingredients—and then the remains of her prime suspect are discovered smoldering in a campus bonfire—she realizes that a monstrous evil is stalking both Daryl and the school. And suddenly Faith’s own life is in serious jeopardy as well! “Skillful sleuthing . . . bon appetit.” —The Tampa Tribune “Faith’s fans are sure to be pleased with another of the author’s always readable stories.” —Kirkus Reviews “A deservedly popular series.” —Library Journal