The House of Many Doors follows the adventures of Colin and Brenna, siblings who go on a magical journey in their family home, directed by the mysterious hand of their long-lost great grandfather. Through a series of magic doors, brother and sister face quests and puzzles that they think, at first, are just for fun. However, as they learn of the odd circumstances surrounding Great Poppy's disappearance and start to see that clues left behind each door line up to lead them to a cryptic final task, the magical doors take on a new importance. Juggling school, a new baby brother, and avoiding the suspicions of their parents, Brenna and Colin must solve the riddle of what happened to Great Poppy before some serious family setbacks pull them away from the magic of the house forever.
Every year on Halloween night, villains from around the world gather to attend a secretive event known as a midnight auction. Here the wealthy, the diabolical and the curious get to bid on items from the darker side of history: antique spell-books, knives used by famous murderers, hands of glory. It's not the kind of place for those with a weak constitution and it's certainly not the kind of place for a twelve-year old boy, no matter how brave he might think he is ... Tony Lott lives with his uncle in a dusty antiques shop in London, England. Joseph Martell--said uncle--is an old man harboring a terrible secret. When the pair are lured to the grandest midnight auction of all they find themselves caught up in a frightening conspiracy. At the center of the puzzle lies Marshwood, the House of Many Doors. But what does its owner want with Tony? And why is a teenage witch with a short temper the key to unraveling the whole mystery?
Bent on taking over the Earth, the deadly Thone have planted a monstrous device on our planet's surface. Trapped inside is a group of scientists, spies, and innocent bystanders. Part maze, part torture chamber, part laboratory, the House of Doors is a test. If its captives survive, the Thone will withdraw from Earth and leave us in peace. Survival seems impossible. At every turn of the labyrinth the prisoners encounter alien world and terrifying monsters ripped from their own subconscious fears. Only by defeating the demons within can these men and women escape the House of Doors and save the Earth. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Generations ago the House of the Red Doors visited your village. Now, so many years hence, could it be passing this way again? As the story goes, its mistress, Jassafae, still untouched by time's ravages, is a powerful being of unknown origin. Through her, fates are altered and wishes granted, but only to those brave enough to cross her threshold. You toil unceasingly, suffer much, and to what end? Unrequited dreams and the hope of an early grave? You resolve to enter and change your destiny.
The legendary lost crime novel from Pulitzer Prize finalist Oakley Hall, instructor of Ann Rice, Amy Tan, Richard Ford, and Michael Chabon, who calls SO MANY DOORS "Beautiful, powerful, even masterful." It begins on Death Row, with a condemned man refusing the services of the lawyer assigned to defend him. It begins with a beautiful woman dead, murdered - Vassilia Caroline Baird, known to all simply as V. That's where this extraordinary novel begins. But the story it tells begins years earlier, on a struggling farm in the shadow of the Great Depression and among the brawling "cat skinners" of Southern California, driving graders and bulldozers to tame the American West. And the story that unfolds, in the masterful hands of acclaimed author Oakley Hall, is a lyrical outpouring of hunger and grief, of jealousy and corruption, of raw sexual yearning and the tragedy of the destroyed lives it leaves in its wake. Unpublished for more than half a century, So Many Doors is Hall's masterpiece, an excoriating vision of human nature at its most brutal, and one of the most powerful books you will ever read.
In this sequel to the international bestseller Howl’s Moving Castle, bookish Charmain finds herself smack in the middle of magical court intrigues . . . and dealing with the dashing Wizard Howl. When Charmain Baker agreed to look after her great-uncle's house, she thought she was getting blissful, parent-free time to read. She didn't realize that the house bent space and time, and she did not expect to become responsible for an extremely magical stray dog and a muddled young apprentice wizard. Now, somehow, she's been targeted by a terrifying creature called a lubbock, too, and become central to the king's urgent search for the fabled Elfgift that will save the country. The king is so desperate to find the Elfgift, he's called in an intimidating sorceress named Sophie to help. And where Sophie is, the great Wizard Howl and fire demon Calcifer won't be far behind. How did respectable Charmain end up in such a mess, and how will she get herself out of it? All fans of classic fantasy books deserve the pleasure of reading those by Diana Wynne Jones, whose acclaim included the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement. As Neil Gaiman stated, she was "quite simply the best writer for children of her generation." The three books in the World of Howl are: Howl's Moving Castle Castle in the Air House of Many Ways Other beloved series from Dianna Wynne Jones include the Chronicles of Chrestomanci and the Dalemark Quartet.
Heedless. Stubborn. Disgraced. Small town Illinois, 1870: "My stepfather was not particularly fond of me to begin with, and now that he'd found out about the baby, he was foaming at the mouth" Desperate to avoid marriage, Nell Lillington refuses to divulge the name of her child's father and accepts her stepfather's decision that the baby be born at a Poor Farm and discreetly adopted. Until an unused padded cell is opened and two small bodies fall out. Nell is the only resident of the Poor Farm who is convinced the unwed mother and her baby were murdered, and rethinks her decision to abandon her own child to fate. But even if she manages to escape the Poor Farm with her baby she may have no safe place to run to.
1st Runner Up-Eric Hoffer Award-General Fiction 2011 1st Runner Up-San Francisco Book Festival-Teenage Category 2011 Mama takes thirteen-year-old Serena and her sister to the US in search of fortune, leaving behind their multicultural family, stability, and the colors of the Caribbean. After driving from Miami to Hollywood, their money and luck run out and a 1963 Ford Galaxie becomes their first American home. Guided by the memory of her native Cura ao and the words of her wise grandmother, Serena confronts unimagined challenges and grows up quickly. What gifts will this new country bring, and at what price? "Intimate, at times lyrical, charged with pain and wonder, laughter and perennial hope, The House of Six Doors is terrific storytelling." Olga Rojer, Associate Professor, American University, Washington DC "An honest tale of love, acceptance, and American dreams." --El Mundo If you feel as though the circumstances of your life are against you and you wonder whether this will ever change, this is a story that will fill you with hope. --David Robert Ord, author, "Lessons in Loving, A Journey into the Heart" The book is about affairs of the heart, clashing cultures, courage and how we each deal differently with love and pain. ...there is a Hemingwayesque type of reportage to it it 's satisfying. --Michael Bowker, author, Winning the Battle Within
"A gorgeous, aching love letter to stories, storytellers, and the doors they lead us through...absolutely enchanting."—Christina Henry, bestselling author of Alice and Lost Boys LOS ANGELES TIMES BESTSELLER! Finalist for the 2020 Hugo, Nebula, Locus, and World Fantasy Awards. In the early 1900s, a young woman embarks on a fantastical journey of self-discovery after finding a mysterious book in this captivating and lyrical debut. In a sprawling mansion filled with peculiar treasures, January Scaller is a curiosity herself. As the ward of the wealthy Mr. Locke, she feels little different from the artifacts that decorate the halls: carefully maintained, largely ignored, and utterly out of place. Then she finds a strange book. A book that carries the scent of other worlds, and tells a tale of secret doors, of love, adventure, and danger. Each page turn reveals impossible truths about the world and January discovers a story increasingly entwined with her own. Lush and richly imagined, a tale of impossible journeys, unforgettable love, and the enduring power of stories await in Alix E. Harrow's spellbinding debut--step inside and discover its magic. Praise for The Ten Thousand Doors of January: "One for the favorites shelf... Here is a book to make you happy when you gently close it. Here you will find wonder and questions and an unceasingly gorgeous love of words which compasses even the shape a letter makes against a page."―NPR Books "Devastatingly good, a sharp, delicate nested tale of worlds within worlds, stories within stories, and the realm-cracking power of words."―Melissa Albert, New York Times bestselling author "A love letter to imagination, adventure, the written word, and the power of many kinds of love."―Kirkus For more from Alix E. Harrow, check out The Once and Future Witches.
LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE SHORTLISTED FOR THE WALTER SCOTT PRIZE FOR HISTORICAL FICTION INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER A NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS' CHOICE NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORKER, NPR, SLATE, THE FINANCIAL TIMES, AND A WASHINGTON POST NOTABLE WORK The “masterful” (San Francisco Chronicle) Booker longlisted novel about love and betrayal, colonialism and revolution, storytelling and redemption. The year is 1921. Lesley Hamlyn and her husband, Robert, a lawyer and war veteran, are living at Cassowary House on the Straits Settlement of Penang. When “Willie” Somerset Maugham, a famed writer and old friend of Robert's, arrives for an extended visit with his secretary Gerald, the pair threatens a rift that could alter more lives than one. Maugham, one of the great novelists of his day, is beleaguered: Having long hidden his homosexuality, his unhappy and expensive marriage of convenience becomes unbearable after he loses his savings-and the freedom to travel with Gerald. His career deflating, his health failing, Maugham arrives at Cassowary House in desperate need of a subject for his next book. Lesley, too, is enduring a marriage more duplicitous than it first appears. Maugham suspects an affair, and, learning of Lesley's past connection to the Chinese revolutionary, Dr. Sun Yat Sen, decides to probe deeper. But as their friendship grows and Lesley confides in him about life in the Straits, Maugham discovers a far more surprising tale than he imagined, one that involves not only war and scandal but the trial of an Englishwoman charged with murder. It is, to Maugham, a story worthy of fiction. A mesmerizingly beautiful novel based on real events, The House of Doors traces the fault lines of race, gender, sexuality, and power under empire, and dives deep into the complicated nature of love and friendship in its shadow.
