"Rabbit holes" are, by my definition, those secret places to which we all go to escape the occasional drudgery or unpleasantness of everyday existence. Each vignette in this book is designed to take you down a new rabbit hole to a place you wish to be or, on occasion, to a place you may need to be, whether or not it is obvious to you. The stories are flights of fancy, daydreams put to paper, designed to ignite your imagination and awaken that part of your brain grown stagnant by the predictability of everyday life. But these aren't stories you simply read; each of the forty rabbit holes in this collection is written in the second person making you, the reader, the central character. You will be an integral part of each story you read.
In this illuminating and deeply moving memoir, a former American military intelligence officer goes beyond traditional Cold War espionage tales to tell the true story of her family—of five women separated by the Iron Curtain for more than forty years, and their miraculous reunion after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Forty Autumns makes visceral the pain and longing of one family forced to live apart in a world divided by two. At twenty, Hanna escaped from East to West Germany. But the price of freedom—leaving behind her parents, eight siblings, and family home—was heartbreaking. Uprooted, Hanna eventually moved to America, where she settled down with her husband and had children of her own. Growing up near Washington, D.C., Hanna’s daughter, Nina Willner became the first female Army Intelligence Officer to lead sensitive intelligence operations in East Berlin at the height of the Cold War. Though only a few miles separated American Nina and her German relatives—grandmother Oma, Aunt Heidi, and cousin, Cordula, a member of the East German Olympic training team—a bitter political war kept them apart. In Forty Autumns, Nina recounts her family’s story—five ordinary lives buffeted by circumstances beyond their control. She takes us deep into the tumultuous and terrifying world of East Germany under Communist rule, revealing both the cruel reality her relatives endured and her own experiences as an intelligence officer, running secret operations behind the Berlin Wall that put her life at risk. A personal look at a tenuous era that divided a city and a nation, and continues to haunt us, Forty Autumns is an intimate and beautifully written story of courage, resilience, and love—of five women whose spirits could not be broken, and who fought to preserve what matters most: family. Forty Autumns is illustrated with dozens of black-and-white and color photographs.
D. C. Detective Shaun Patrick is in a cat and mouse game with a mastermind who is using ancient Taoist sorcery to raise the dead and send them out to kill. Pressured by the FBI and his own department and targeted by the killer, Shaun is in a race against time to solve the murder of his best friend, save his girlfriend and stop a supernatural force that will soon make the nation's capital a wasteland.
J. Barton Mitchell's The Razor is a riveting science fiction thriller about a man struggling to survive the chaos on a prison planet. Brilliant engineer Marcus Flynn has been sentenced to 11-H37 alongside the galaxy’s most dangerous criminals. A hard labor prison planet better known as the Razor, where life expectancy is short and all roads are dead ends. At least until the Lost Prophet goes active... In a few hours, prison guards and staff are evacuated, the prisoners are left to die, and dark mysteries begin to surface. Only Flynn has the skills and knowledge to unravel them, but he will have to rely on the most unlikely of allies--killers, assassins, pirates and smugglers. If they can survive each other they just might survive the Razor...and claim it for their own. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
From the bestselling author of the Blue Bloods and The Descendants series comes the third installment in the fantastical Witches of East End series. Freya Beauchamp is trapped in 1692, in Salem of all places, with no recollection of her past. A powerful enemy spell has sent her spiraling away so that she is separated by centuries from her mother, Joanna, and sister, Ingrid. This is not good news for a twenty-first-century witch. Not to mention the immediate threat she faces from the wealthy and influential Putnam family. When little Annie Putnam is one of the first to make accusations of witchcraft, her landowner father jumps at the opportunity to consolidate his power and expand his holdings in Puritan Salem Town. If Freya is caught using magic, she will be forced to relive the witch trials, and this time, her immortality will be in question. Meanwhile, twenty-first-century North Hampton has its own snares. Joanna and Norm consult the Oracle for advice, and Freddie and his pixie allies search for a missing totem that could reopen the passages of time and help bring his sister home. When Ingrid bumps into an old flame, she finds that her new love for Detective Matt Noble is in doubt. Moving between past and present, with dizzying plot twists and page-turning suspense, Winds of Salem is sure to bewitch fans old and new.
Marissa Gorning has been going to Crowbarland Preparatory School since first grade. Its unique curriculum has given her skills beyond the norm for a teen her age. She didn't think much about it until the new girl came to school. Now, Mare and Ellie have to solve the disappearance of Ellie's father and, in the process, stumble upon the mysteries of their world beyond anything they had considered. This stand alone book takes place in the Crowbarland Chronicles universe.
After months working on an oil rig in the Atlantic Ocean, engineer Jo Blaine can't wait to get home. Her job is tough, and she is desperate for some long-overdue girl time. When she walks through her front door to find an unexpected man in her house, she's tempted to head straight back out to sea. Stephen Hardy has always felt guilty for the part he played in ruining Jo's leaving home years earlier and jumps at the chance to make amends. It takes some fast talking, but he finally convinces Jo to let him look after her apartment and her giant cranky cat while sh'es away on the rig. And by the time she leaves for her next shift, they're both eagerly anticipating her return. But balancing family and friends with a new relationship when you're never around is tricky, and Jo is also keeping secrets about her past. After a lifetime of taking care of herself, Jo isn't used to sharing her problems – especially when they involve her messy family history. Picking up the pieces every time she comes home is getting harder, and Jo begins to wonderif a fly-in fly-out lifestyle is really worth it . . . 'Full of Ms Penney's signature humour and wit.' My Written Romance
After months working on an oil rig in the Atlantic Ocean, engineer Jo Blaine can't wait to get home. Her job is tough, and she is desperate for some long overdue girl time. The last thing Jo needs when she walks through her front door is to find a strange man staying in her house. When she learns that her uninvited guest is none other than Stephen Hardy, she's tempted to head straight back out to sea. Stephen has always felt guilty for the part he played in ruining Jo's life years earlier and immediately jumps at the chance to make things up to her by looking after her apartment and her giant cranky cat. It takes some fast talking, but Jo is finally convinced to let him stay. And by the time she leaves for her next shift at work, they're both eagerly anticipating her return. But as they grow closer, it soon becomes clear Jo is hiding something about her past that is coming back to haunt her. After a lifetime of taking care of herself and her sister Amy, Jo isn't used to sharing her problems, especially when they involve her messy family history. But when threats start to escalate, Jo must decide whether to trust Stephen before her stubborn independence places them all at risk.
