When lonely sixth grader April Boxler volunteers to help out during fourth-grade recess, she meets Joey Byrd, who walks in circles, spends recess alone, and has an unusual artistic skill.
Two-time British Fantasy Award Winner Astounding Award Winner Lambda Literary Award Finalist Hugo Award Finalist Locus Award Finalist Otherwise Award Finalist "Magnificent in every way."—Samantha Shannon, author of The Priory of the Orange Tree "A dazzling new world of fate, war, love and betrayal."—Zen Cho, author of Black Water Sister She Who Became the Sun reimagines the rise to power of the Ming Dynasty’s founding emperor. To possess the Mandate of Heaven, the female monk Zhu will do anything “I refuse to be nothing...” In a famine-stricken village on a dusty yellow plain, two children are given two fates. A boy, greatness. A girl, nothingness... In 1345, China lies under harsh Mongol rule. For the starving peasants of the Central Plains, greatness is something found only in stories. When the Zhu family’s eighth-born son, Zhu Chongba, is given a fate of greatness, everyone is mystified as to how it will come to pass. The fate of nothingness received by the family’s clever and capable second daughter, on the other hand, is only as expected. When a bandit attack orphans the two children, though, it is Zhu Chongba who succumbs to despair and dies. Desperate to escape her own fated death, the girl uses her brother's identity to enter a monastery as a young male novice. There, propelled by her burning desire to survive, Zhu learns she is capable of doing whatever it takes, no matter how callous, to stay hidden from her fate. After her sanctuary is destroyed for supporting the rebellion against Mongol rule, Zhu takes the chance to claim another future altogether: her brother's abandoned greatness. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
The history behind the Copper Scroll and the true story of Jim Barfield’s quest for its treasure. Whether the objects are of legend or history, certain ancient mysteries arrest the imaginations of every generation. These antiquities refuse to be forgotten by the human spirit—hidden sufficiently to evade discovery, but historically prominent enough to leave a smattering of clues. Many explorers have fallen prey to fortune’s siren call, spending their lifetimes searching for the artifacts that promise to alter human history. The Copper Scroll Project is a relative newcomer to the modern treasure hunt. Part of the Dead Sea Scrolls collection, the Copper Scroll is unlike any of the leather and papyrus documents, though not simply for its copper plates. The relic reads like a coded map, listing dozens of hiding spots where tithes and vessels thought to be secreted from the Jewish Temple were stored for safekeeping. More than fifty years after archaeologists found this unique artifact in a cave near Qumran, four adventurers have dared to chase after the scroll’s priceless relics. “A unique introduction not only to a famous biblical mystery but to the world of American Christian interest in Israel, which remains opaque or bewildering to many outsiders, and is often caricatured.”—Matti Friedman, author of The Aleppo Codex “Equal parts mystery, treasure hunt and erudite elucidation of biblical history.”—Chanan Tigay, author of The Last Moses “Neese’s narrative pacing and story-telling is masterful. She gets the political and religious nuances of contemporary Israel.”—Elliot Jager, Jerusalem-based author and former editorial page editor at The Jerusalem Post