Kanzaki Shizuku is the son of a recently deceased, world-renowned wine critic, Kanzaki Yutaka, who owns a vast wine collection. In order to take ownership of his legacy, he must find 13 wines, known as 'The Twelve Apostles' and 'Les Gouttes de Dieu' that his father described in his will. He has a competitor by the name of Toomine Issei - an acclaimed young wine critic who just happens to be his father's adopted son. Shizuku has never drunk, nor had any previous knowledge of wine, but with strong senses he submerges himself in the world of wine to solve the mysteries of the 13 wines.
Wine novice Shizuku Kanzaki has defeated his rival, up-and-coming wine critic, Issei Tomine in their first of twelve wine hunting trials to find the Drops of God. By the slightest of margins, he was able to distinguish a variance in vintage to capture the First. Now Shizuku has to utilize all his abilities to take on a determined and humiliated Issei, as they both go forth in search of a particularly capricious Bordeaux. Yutaka Kanzaki laid down a very task with the First Apostle; this Second will be a statement to test the mettle of both contestants.
From the bestselling author of The Day of the Jackal, international master of intrigue Frederick Forsyth, comes a thriller that brilliantly blends fact with fiction for one of this summer’s—or any season’s—most explosive reads! From the behind-the-scenes decision-making of the Allies to the secret meetings of Saddam Hussein’s war cabinet, from the brave American fliers running their dangerous missions over Iraq to the heroic young spy planted deep in the heart of Baghdad, Forsyth’s incomparable storytelling skill keeps the suspense at a breakneck pace. Somewhere in Baghdad is the mysterious “Jericho,” the traitor who is willing—for a price—to reveal what is going on in the high councils of the Iraqi dictator. But Saddam’s ultimate weapon has been kept secret even from his most trusted advisers, and the nightmare scenario that haunts General Schwarzkopf and his colleagues is suddenly imminent, unless somehow, the spy can locate that weapon—The Fist of God—in time. Peopled with vivid characters, brilliantly displaying Forsyth’s incomparable, knowledge of intelligence operations and tradecraft, moving back and forth between Washington and London, Baghdad and Kuwait, desert vastnesses and city bazaars, this breathtaking novel is an utterly convincing story of what may actually have happened behind the headlines.
Out of a lifetime of familiarity with the great biblical narratives, Kilian McDonnell draws a portrait of the biblical God charged with vitality, at once prodigal in mercy and ruthless, thunderous, and painfully silent.In God Drops and Loses Things, his third collection, the poems are by turns edgy, affectionate, gentle, deeply moving, and always compassionate.
Yutaka Kanzaki, a wine critic whose reviews have enough clout to move the industry worldwide, has died-leaving behind a wine collection worth over two billion yen. Only the one who can name his favorite bottles, plus vintages, will inherit this dream of a cellar. It's a battle between Yutaka's biological son Shizuku and adopted child Issei to identify these “Twelve Apostles”-along with the very best wine in his collection, the so-called “Drops of God.”
"Layton Jonquil is a man tormented by the lies surrounding the death of his late wife, but he cannot deny his growing attraction for the beautiful governess whose goodness and optimism have touched his dormant heart." --Back cover.
The Garden of God is a sequel to novel The Blue Lagoon and it picks up precisely where it left off, with Arthur Lestrange in the ship Raratonga discovering his son Dicky and niece Emmeline with their own child, lying in their fishing boat which has drifted out to sea. It turns out that Dicky and Emmeline died and the child is drowsy but alive and is picked up by the sailors. Arthur has a dream-vision of the pair; they ask him to come to Palm Tree, the island where they lived, and promise he will see them again. Arthur takes the child, which gets the nickname Dick M, and takes his ship to Palm Tree, where he plans to stay with Dick M and Kearney, a volunteer from the crew who grows fond of Dick. The rest of the crew leave with a promise to return the next year, but they get swallowed up in a storm out at sea, and the trio stays stuck on the island
Chosuke Honma, the “Italian Monster,” first cultivated his love for the nation's wine after his relationship with Frenchwoman Catherine Noella fell apart. Upon hearing of her marriage, Honma, burning as hot as the sun itself, distills three years' worth of conflicted emotions into a single bottle of wine…