The first entry in a series about a private investigator in post-war London and Berlin. He's no Philip Marlowe, but what else is a demobbed SOE agent to do now the war is over and the world is struggling back to normality? 1946: The war's over, but there are no medals for Danny McRae. Just amnesia and blackouts; twin handicaps for a private investigator with a filthy rich client on the hook for murder. Danny's blackouts mean that hours, sometimes days, are a complete blank. So when news of a brutal killer stalking London's red light district start to stir grisly memories, Danny is terrified about what he might discover if he delves deeper into his fractured mind. As the two bloody sagas collide and interweave, Danny finds himself running for his life across the bomb-ravaged city. The only escape is through that gap in his memory. Will his past catch up with him before his enemies, and which would be worse?
A love story with a difference – girl meets girl, they fall in love. A powerful and turbulent novel about first love and crossing boundaries. Louie is a prefect at Woodhaugh High. She plays hockey, passes exams and acts in school plays. She’s going to be a lawyer. Willa lives in a pub. She had an affair with the daughter of a preacher and was kicked out of Miller Park College. She just wants to get through her final exams and become a chef. Quietly. Then they fall in love – fast. And everything the girls were sure of – their families, their friends, their faith, their identities – are called into question. Willa and Louie face the consequences, difficulties and joys of their relationship. A fast-paced, turbulent but ultimately uplifting story of deep, painful, heart-wrenching first love. Written in Paula Boock's crisp, direct style this gripping book has a strong appeal for both adults and teenagers. '...an essential addition for all secondary school and public libraries.' Dr Elody Rathgen, Senior Lecturer in Education, University of Canterbury '...it has such a powerful and beautifully written message about the meaning of love.' Otago Daily Times 'I laughed, I cried, I held my breath, as Paula Boock's Willa and Louie fell in and out of love and dared to be true to themselves. Evening Post
With his stunning debut novel, She's Come Undone, Wally Lamb won the adulation of critics and readers with his mesmerizing tale of one woman's painful yet triumphant journey of self-discovery. Now, this brilliantly talented writer returns with I Know This Much Is True, a heartbreaking and poignant multigenerational saga of the reproductive bonds of destruction and the powerful force of forgiveness. A masterpiece that breathtakingly tells a story of alienation and connection, power and abuse, devastation and renewal--this novel is a contemporary retelling of an ancient Hindu myth. A proud king must confront his demons to achieve salvation. Change yourself, the myth instructs, and you will inhabit a renovated world. When you're the same brother of a schizophrenic identical twin, the tricky thing about saving yourself is the blood it leaves on your bands--the little inconvenience of the look-alike corpse at your feet. And if you're into both survival of the fittest and being your brother's keeper--if you've promised your dying mother--then say so long to sleep and hello to the middle of the night. Grab a book or a beer. Get used to Letterman's gap-toothed smile of the absurd, or the view of the bedroom ceiling, or the influence of random selection. Take it from a godless insomniac. Take it from the uncrazy twin--the guy who beat the biochemical rap. Dominick Birdsey's entire life has been compromised and constricted by anger and fear, by the paranoid schizophrenic twin brother he both deeply loves and resents, and by the past they shared with their adoptive father, Ray, a spit-and-polish ex-Navy man (the five-foot-six-inch sleeping giant who snoozed upstairs weekdays in the spare room and built submarines at night), and their long-suffering mother, Concettina, a timid woman with a harelip that made her shy and self-conscious: She holds a loose fist to her face to cover her defective mouth--her perpetual apology to the world for a birth defect over which she'd had no control. Born in the waning moments of 1949 and the opening minutes of 1950, the twins are physical mirror images who grow into separate yet connected entities: the seemingly strong and protective yet fearful Dominick, his mother's watchful "monkey"; and the seemingly weak and sweet yet noble Thomas, his mother's gentle "bunny." From childhood, Dominick fights for both separation and wholeness--and ultimately self-protection--in a house of fear dominated by Ray, a bully who abuses his power over these stepsons whose biological father is a mystery. I was still afraid of his anger but saw how he punished weakness--pounced on it. Out of self-preservation I hid my fear, Dominick confesses. As for Thomas, he just never knew how to play defense. He just didn't get it. But Dominick's talent for survival comes at an enormous cost, including the breakup of his marriage to the warm, beautiful Dessa, whom he still loves. And it will be put to the ultimate test when Thomas, a Bible-spouting zealot, commits an unthinkable act that threatens the tenuous balance of both his and Dominick's lives. To save himself, Dominick must confront not only the pain of his past but the dark secrets he has locked deep within himself, and the sins of his ancestors--a quest that will lead him beyond the confines of his blue-collar New England town to the volcanic foothills of Sicily 's Mount Etna, where his ambitious and vengefully proud grandfather and a namesake Domenico Tempesta, the sostegno del famiglia, was born. Each of the stories Ma told us about Papa reinforced the message that he was the boss, that he ruled the roost, that what he said went. Searching for answers, Dominick turns to the whispers of the dead, to the pages of his grandfather's handwritten memoir, The History of Domenico Onofrio Tempesta, a Great Man from Humble Beginnings. Rendered with touches of magic realism, Domenico's fablelike tale--in which monkeys enchant and religious statues weep--becomes the old man's confession--an unwitting legacy of contrition that reveals the truth's of Domenico's life, Dominick learns that power, wrongly used, defeats the oppressor as well as the oppressed, and now, picking through the humble shards of his deconstructed life, he will search for the courage and love to forgive, to expiate his and his ancestors' transgressions, and finally to rebuild himself beyond the haunted shadow of his twin. Set against the vivid panoply of twentieth-century America and filled with richly drawn, memorable characters, this deeply moving and thoroughly satisfying novel brings to light humanity's deepest needs and fears, our aloneness, our desire for love and acceptance, our struggle to survive at all costs. Joyous, mystical, and exquisitely written, I Know This Much Is True is an extraordinary reading experience that will leave no reader untouched.
The New York Times bestselling author of Love Her to Death shares the true-crime story of a small-town Midwestern teenager murdered by her own friends. Sixteen-year-old Adrianne Reynolds couldn't unravel the twisted tangles of jealousy and domination complicating her new life in East Moline, Illinois. What began as a fresh start after a troubled home life in Texas ended with Adrianne's body charred, stuffed into garbage bags, and scattered. It seemed the work of hardened criminals, but the truth was far more astonishing: her own “best friends” choked Adrianne to death and cut her up. Now, master crime writer M. William Phelps recounts this horrific saga of teen lust and violence in every gripping detail. Praise for Too Young to Kill “Phelps is the Harlan Coben of real-life thrillers.” —Allison Brennan, New York Times bestselling author of Tell No Lies Includes sixteen pages of revealing photos
Johanna Wise has always longed to be part of Dennis Arthur’s rich, popular crowd, and she can’t believe it when he finally asks her out. She thought she’d do anything to keep Dennis, but when he dares her to kill their teacher, she’s not so sure. Will she really kill for love?
The second Danny McRae thriller finds him in a perfect partnership—gang-busters by day, lovers by night. What could go wrong? Danny McRae is a private detective scraping a living in ration-card London. Eve Copeland, crime reporter, is looking for new angles to save her career. It's an alliance made in heaven—until Eve disappears, a contact dies violently, and an old adversary presents McRae with some unpalatable truths. His desperate search for his lover draws him into a web of black marketeers, double agents, and assassins, and hurls him into the shattered remains of Berlin, where terrorism and espionage foreshadow the bleakness of the Cold War. And McRae begins to lose sight of the thin line between good and evil.
Lyrical and radical, a debut novel that created a sensation in France Winner of the Prix Goncourt for first novel, one of the most prestigious literary awards in France A young revolutionary plants a bomb in a factory on the outskirts of Algiers during the Algerian War. The bomb is timed to explode after work hours, so no one will be hurt. But the authorities have been watching. He is caught, the bomb is defused, and he is tortured, tried in a day, condemned to death, and thrown into a cell to await the guillotine. A routine event, perhaps, in a brutal conflict that ended the lives of more than a million Muslim Algerians. But what if the militant is a “pied-noir”? What if his lover was a member of the French Resistance? What happens to a “European” who chooses the side of anti-colonialism? By turns lyrical, meditative, and heart-stoppingly suspenseful, this novel by Joseph Andras, based on a true story, was a literary and political sensation in France, winning the Prix Goncourt for First Novel and being acclaimed by Le Monde as “vibrantly lyrical and somber” and by the journal La Croix as a “masterpiece”.
Through practice comes Yoga, through Yoga comes knowledge, Through knowledge – love, through love – bliss! Yoga is a spiritual discipline based on the harmony between mind and body. It is an art as well as a science of healthy living. Swami Vivekananda was a great spiritual master who delved into the depths of practising Yoga and Meditation to find the ultimate goal of humankind – salvation and bliss. Not only did he define it as a bridge that connects our soul to God, but also helped propagate its tenets across the world. This compendium is a treasure of knowledge that will help you: - Understand the four-fold path of Yoga - Techniques of meditation for beginners - Awaken your inner self - Unravel your hidden potential - Learn from a great spiritual leader The Secrets of Yoga and Meditation unravels the age-old wisdom of spiritual masters in an easy-to-read way. Learn efficient ways to beat everyday challenges and stay devoted on the path of self-discovery.
When Abby Miller confesses her crush on Jake during a game of Truth or Dare and then receives a text message warning her to stay away from him, she starts suspecting that her stalker is a ghost, and not a jealous classmate.
