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‘an impressive debut that takes readers on a physical and mental journey, shoulder-to-shoulder with this lovable protagonist. It explores the human experience, the Australian landscape, and where these two fascinating enigmas intercede. Ya Reeves is a charming new literary voice.'–Sydney Morning Herald ‘The beauty of the descriptive prose stands out, in what is ultimately a story of resilience and transformation.​'–The AgeI shake my head – it's only day one. That wind is hot. I can feel the salt drying and gluing my eyebrows and lashes and gripping to the fine hairs on my cheeks. Shoulders, already knotted, ache. Blisters bubble their way to the surface, and I know I should have stopped for them but I'm single-minded to the point of recklessness in wanting to keep moving. Feet are too broad for the boots, anyway. Pack is too heavy, but I'd never breathe a word of it because that'd prove them right and I'm too young to be wrong. Peta has a plan that she is determined to follow – a timeline, things to prove—but nothing is as expected. She is ghosted by wild dogs, almost trampled by horses, hunted down by the police, dehydrated and flooded-in; but none of this compares to the rollercoaster that is her relationship of the past year. Shifting between Peta's journey across the Australian Alps Walking Track and her past, we learn about Peta and Ben's tumultuous connection, her attempts to extract herself, and her subsequent experiences in the South Australian desert that both liberated and shattered her.Over This Backbone is about the things we try to bury—about when'I'm fine'means the opposite, when battling alone doesn't equate to strength. It is about the Australian landscape and the way it seeps into our bones, the way it rattles and calms us. It is about walking a long way, and walking away.

LONGLISTED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE 2024'Starnone uses languages the way a great painter works with colour, conjuring the illusion of three dimensions from a blank flat surface.'—Jhumpa Lahiri'One of Italy's most accomplished novelists.'—The Guardian'Masterly.'—Times Literary Supplement The modest apartment on Via Gemito smells of paint and white spirit. The furniture is pushed up against the wall to create a make-shift studio, and drying canvases must be moved off the beds each night. Federì, a railway clerk, is convinced that, if he didn't have a family to feed, he'd be a world-famous painter. Talented, ambitious, and frustrated, his life is marked by bitter disappointment. His long-suffering wife and their four sons bear the brunt. Years later, his first-born son will tell the story of a man he spent his whole life trying not to resemble. Narrated against the background of a Naples still marked by WWII and first published in Italy over 20 years ago, The House on Via Gemito is a masterpiece of contemporary Italian literature.

LONGLISTED FOR THE 2024 INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR The Washington Post·Kirkus Reviews A NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS'CHOICE This extraordinary Strega Prize-winning novel confirms Domenico Starnone's reputation as one of Italy's greatest living writers. Told against the backdrop of Naples in the 1960s, a city that itself becomes a vivid character in this lush, atmospheric novel, The House on Via Gemito is a masterpiece of Italian fiction, one that is steeped in Neapolitan lore. A modest apartment in Via Gemito smelling of paint and turpentine. Its furniture pushed up against the wall to create a make-shift studio. Drying canvases moved from bed to floor each night. Federí, the father, a railway clerk, is convinced that he possesses great artistic promise. If it weren't for the family he must feed and the jealousy of his fellow Neapolitan artists, nothing would stop him from becoming a world-famous painter. Ambitious and frustrated, genuinely talented but also arrogant and resentful, Federí is scarred by constant disappointment. He is a larger-than-life character, a liar, a fabulist, and his fantasies shape the lives of those around him, especially his young son, Mimi, short for Domenico, who will spend a lifetime trying to get out from under his father's shadow. Starnone, a finalist for the National Book Award with Trick, author of New York Times notable book of the year, Ties, and the critically acclaimed Trust, takes readers beyond the slim, novella-length works for which he is known by American readers to create a vast fresco of family, fatherhood, and modern Naples.

An uncompromising and compelling feminist Western for readers of The Natural Way of Things.In Darkwater, being female doesn't amount to much. But Chelsea's luckier than most. She's the young lover of the town's feared leader, which she keeps telling herself is a good thing, what with food getting scarce and the wells drying up. She's secure and safe and can almost believe she's happy.But when a stranger rides into town, gun on one hip, whip on the other, Chelsea can't look away. Especially when it turns out this stranger is a woman.Nobody can say what the stranger is there for. But she brings talk of an outside perhaps no longer so chaotic, no longer something to hide away from - and she knows far too much about dark choices made in the town when the world outside was falling apart. As the rumours fly about Darkwater's bloodied past and the murder of a woman twenty years earlier, Chelsea finds herself being drawn into someone else's terrifying quest for justice. Or is it merely deadly revenge?In a place ruled by fear, Chelsea's going to have to decide whose side she's really on, and how far she's prepared to go to uncover the town's dirty secrets before more blood soaks the ground of Darkwater - this time, perhaps her own.Original, unflinching, gritty and visionary, The Stranger is a stunning feminist Western for our times.'The Stranger is the kind of book you wish you'd written and yet are so grateful to have been able to read. A wild and glorious ride!'CLEMENTINE FORD, author of How We Love and Fight Like A Girl'A feisty heroine … so entertaining.'JESSIE TU, author of A Lonely Girl is a Dangerous Thing

On his way back from a meeting one day, investment banker Alex Wold finds himself standing up to his waist in the Thames, trying to guide a lost bottlenose whale back out to the sea. Later, as he's drying out his suit and shoes, the news comes through that Tony Nolan – his mother's ex-husband – has died of a sudden heart attack.Alex wonders if the universe is urging him to resolve a long-running feud with his environmentalist brother Matthew, and with the Wolds and the Nolans all heading back to Warwickshire for Tony's funeral he now has an opportunity to do just that. But he finds Matthew as angry as ever, unable to relinquish his obsession with Caitlin, Tony's troubled daughter, whose actions force both families to take an uncomfortable journey into the past.In Midland, the acclaimed novelist James Flint carries out a devastating exploration of what binds families together, and what tears them apart.

What a swift odd turn his life had taken. A teenage girl with a ring in her nose was sliding ware into his drying racks. Russell Bass is a potter living on the edge of Katoomba, in the Blue Mountains. His wife has been dead less than a year and, although he has a few close friends, he is living a mostly solitary life. Each month he hikes into the valley below his house to collect rock for glazes from a remote creek bed. One autumn morning, he finds a chocolate wrapper on the path. His curiosity leads him to a cave where three siblings — two young children and a teenage girl — are camped out, hiding from social services and the police. Although they bolt at first, Russell slowly gains their trust, and, little by little, this unlikely group of outsiders begin to form a fragile bond. In luminous prose that captures the feel of hands on clay and the smell of cold rainforest as vividly as it does the minute twists and turns of human relationships, Hare's Fur tells an exquisite story of grief, kindness, art, and the transformation that can grow from the seeds of trust.

SCENE.—Short and Sweet's Lodgings, near the Crystal Palace—a handsomely furnished Apartment, door, C.—backed by landing and staircase, doors, L. 1. E. and 2 E.—fireplace, L. in flat—looking glass over mantelpiece—vases and ornaments on mantelpiece—fender, fireirons, &c.—door, R. 2 E.—a large round table, R., laid for luncheon for four—chairs—an easy chair, L. of table—sofa against R. in flat—sideboard against L. in flat—a work table and chairs, L.—footstool near sofa. MRS. SWEET is seen, R., arranging the remains of a luncheon, from which she and MRS. SHORT are supposed to have just risen—MRS. SHORT sitting working at table, L. MRS. SWEET. That tiresome husband of mine! What has he done with himself? MRS. SHORT. Compose yourself, my dear; men of business, you know, are not always their own masters. My good man, you see, has not found his way back yet. MRS. SWEET. Ah, you quite spoil Mr. Short. You know we don't agree upon that subject. (calls) Come, come, William, come and take your lunch! SWEET. (within, R. door) In one minute, my dear. I'm only just drying my hands. MRS. SWEET. Vexatious! We shan't get the things cleared away all day...

Long before anyone would christen it “The Dust Bowl,” Nola Merrill senses the destruction. She's been drying up bit by bit since the day her mother died, leaving her to be raised by a father who withholds his affection the way God keeps a grip on the Oklahoma rain. A hasty marriage to Russ, a young preacher, didn't bring the escape she desired. Now, twelve years later with two children to raise, new seeds of dissatisfaction take root.When Jim, a mysterious drifter and long-lost friend from her husband's past, takes refuge in their home, Nola slowly springs to life under his attentions until a single, reckless encounter brings her to commit the ultimate betrayal of her marriage. For months Nola withers in the wake of the sin she so desperately tries to bury. Guilt and shame consume her physically and spiritually, until an opportunity arises that will bring the family far from the drought and dust of Oklahoma. Or so she thinks. As the storms follow, she is consumed with the burden of her sin and confesses all, hoping to find Russ's love strong enough to stand the test.

Few American writers create more memorable landscapes - both natural and interior - than James Sallis. His highly praised Lew Griffin novels evoked classic New Orleans and the convoluted inner space of his black private detective. More recently - in Cypress Grove and Cripple Creek - he has conjured a small town somewhere near Memphis, where John Turner - ex-policeman, ex-con, war veteran and former therapist - has come to escape his past. But the past proved inescapable; thrust into the role of Deputy Sheriff, Turner finds himself at the centre of his new community, one that, like so many others, is drying up, disappearing before his eyes. As Salt River begins, two years have passed since Turner's amour, Val Bjorn, was shot as they sat together on the porch of his cabin. Sometimes you just have to see how much music you can make with what you have left, Val had told him, a mantra for picking up the pieces around her death, not sure how much he or the town has left. Then the sheriff's long-lost son comes ploughing down Main Street into City Hall in what appears to be a stolen car. And waiting at Turner's cabin is his good friend, Eldon Brown, Val's banjo on the back of his motorcycle so that it looks as though he has two heads.'They think I killed someone,'he says. Turner asks:'Did you?'And Eldon responds:'I don't know.'Haunted by his own ghosts, Turner nonetheless goes in search of a truth he's not sure he can live with. James Sallis has been called by critics one of the best writers in America.'It's a crime that a writer this good isn't better known,'wrote David Montgomery in the Chicago Tribune, while Marilyn Stasio in the New York Times Book Review called his Turner books'a superior series... a keeper.'Salt River will take his reputation even higher and reach the wider audience he so richly deserves.

A remarkable debut novel and bittersweet tale of the unflinching love and devotion between a mother and daughter. Razor sharp and darkly funny, Going Down Swinging chronicles two years in the life of the Hoffmans. Eilleen Hoffman has just told Danny, her con-artist lover and father of her youngest daughter Grace, to get out—for good. Once a teacher, Eilleen lived a middle-class life, but her taste in men coupled with a predilection for pills and booze has brought her down. Desperate to prevent her family from sinking deeper into poverty, Eilleen reluctantly goes on welfare. Eventually she turns to the only friends she has left, hustlers and hookers, to learn how a woman makes fast money, no investment necessary. With Eilleen on welfare and her older daughter Charlotte a teenaged runaway, child welfare authorities descend on the Hoffmans. As Eilleen trails through several attempts at drying out, the well-intentioned Children's Protection Society finally intervenes to apprehend Grace. With the threat of prolonged separation now a stark reality, Eilleen and Grace must rally to confront their demons with grit, determination and humour. Unblinkingly observed and brilliantly written, Going Down Swinging is about the powerful bond between mother and child. And with her skilful narrative interplay, Billie Livingston illustrates poignantly how the truth of our stories lies not so much in the black and white, as it does in the grey.

From the bestselling author of Midwives and The Flight Attendant, a comic and life affirming novel of the clash between progress and tradition, science and magic: “one of the most elegantly philosophical, urgent—yet somehow timeless—novels of these perilous times” (Howard Norman, National Book Award finalist for The Bird Artist).Vermont is drying up. The normally lush, green countryside is in the grip of the worst drought in years: stunted cornstalks rasp in the hot July breeze, parched vegetable gardens wither and die, the Chittenden River shrinks to a trickle, and the drilling trucks are booked solid as one by one the wells give out. Patience Avery, known nationwide as a gifted'water witch', is having a busy summer, too. Using the tools of the dowser's trade —divining sticks, metal rods, bobbers, and pendulums—she can locate, among other things, aquifers deep within the earth. In the midst of this crisis, Scottie Winston lobbies for permits to expand Powder Peak, a local ski area that's his law firm's principal client. As part of the expansion, the resort seeks to draw water for snowmaking from the beleaguered Chittenden, despite opposition from environmentalists who fear that the already weakened river will be damaged beyond repair.

A quirky tale of a hard-drinking artist by an author who “writes about the rural South without sentimentality... but with plenty of sharp-witted humor” (NPR Morning Edition). Renegade artist Harp Spillman is lower than a bow-legged fire ant. Because of an unhealthy relationship with the bottle, he's ruined his reputation as one of the South's preeminent commissioned metal sculptors. And his desperate turn to ice sculpting might've led to a posse of angry politicians on his trail. With the help of his sane and practical wife, Raylou, Harp understands that it's time to get his act together and prove that he can complete a series of twelve-foot-high metal angels—welded completely out of hex nuts—for the city of Birmingham. Is it pure chance that the Elbow Boys, with arms voluntarily fused together so they can't drink, show up in order to help Harp? And why did his neighbor smuggle anteaters into the desolate little South Carolina town of Ember Glow? Harp is drying out, but somehow being sober isn't making the world seem any less confusing... “Engagingly comic... Singleton has a flair for capturing Southern eccentricity, and Raylou's imperturbable patience is just as funny in its way as Harp's self-loathing.” —Publishers Weekly “If there is a fiction genre blending the riotous, bleary-eyed excess and absurdity of gonzo journalism with the rather earnest sensitivity of a John Irving hero—who always does right by his wife in the end—Work Shirts belongs to it.... It's a fun read... An adventure to be undertaken.” —Newsweek

Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times national correspondent Timothy Egan turns to fiction with The Winemaker's Daughter, a lyrical and gripping novel about the harsh realities and ecological challenges of turning water into wine.When Brunella Cartolano visits her father on the family vineyard in the basin of the Cascade Mountains, she's shocked by the devastation caused by a four-year drought. Passionate about the Pacific Northwest ecology, Brunella, a cultural impact analyst, is embroiled in a battle to save the Seattle waterfront from redevelopment and to preserve a fisherman's livelihood. But when a tragedy among fire-jumpers results from a failure of the water supply–her brother Niccolo is among those lost--Brunella finds herself with another mission: to find out who is sabotaging the area's water supply. Joining forces with a Native American Forest Ranger, she discovers deep rifts rooted in the region's complicated history, and tries to save her father's vineyard from drying up for good... even as violence and corruption erupt around her.

The Adirondack Foothills, 1801. Hugh's venture to blast open the wilderness is failing. Is it the uncommon wet season, his crew on the verge of mutiny, or a mysterious stranger intent upon sabotage? Desperate to escape their loveless marriage, his wife Georgie is trapped in the unnavigable woods and rivers. As she broods on her troubles, their willful and stout-hearted daughter befriends the stranger, an entity consumed with the landscape and the ghosts of waylaid soldiers of a nearby battlefield. He is willing to trade the secret to keeping black powder dry. But Hugh won't listen and Georgie is preoccupied with the survival of her small family, and with that of Black Vy, the family cook and a former enslaved woman with whom she has forged a cautious bond. When Black Vy's freedom is again threatened, the two women devise a daring plan of escape through a rugged, untamed wilderness, fleeing the dangerous prejudice of unscrupulous men as well as the stranger that haunts them all.

In the sweltering heat of 1947 Los Angeles, the'Raptor,'a serial murderer, prowls, casting a shadow of fear over aspiring starlets. Drawn by the allure of the city's glitz and glamor, May arrives, her heart heavy with loss, seeking a purpose. But the city's veneer of brightness conceals a darkness that envelopes her when Lilly, an enigmatic actress, ushers May into a world of opulence and intrigue. As acquaintances begin to disappear, May finds herself ensnared in a perilous game of cat and mouse, desperately piecing together fragments of truth while Agnes Crandall, an unyielding crime reporter, unearths a tangled web of deception and whispers of the occult within the city's elite circles. With each passing day, as the body count rises, May and Agnes race against time, their fates intertwined in a dangerous dance with the Raptor. Will they discover the truth before one of them becomes the next victim? In a riveting blend of literary thriller and feminist noir, THE CITY BENEATH HER delivers an electrifying tale of suspense that will leave readers on the edge of their seats.

Deva, a Brazilian nightclub singer, accepts a mysterious invitation to become the companion to a wealthy recluse living in a London penthouse. Known only as Harry, he suffers from a traumatic brain injury where he rises each morning, having forgotten all that has transpired the day before. One cryptic clue offers a glimpse into Harry's past— a photograph of a man in a field, picking a daffodil. Endeavoring to identify the man, Deva discovers that her own turbulent past intertwines not only with Harry's but with the unnamed man in the photograph, and that all of their movements are being monitored, even orchestrated, by the doctor and housekeeper in Harry's employ, who have ties to British intelligence and a dark purpose of their own. Harry's past memories are the key— but remembering the past might just destroy them all.

Blood Heir by M.A. AmruJester McNichol manages to escape the conflict that befell the castle-city as the Calhron soldiers cause ruin and despair in nearly every corner. Before the Jester left, under the guidance of the D'ua caste caster, the Jester retrieved a magical sword from the Eastern Library. He intends to reach the Genesis Battalion and help them in this dreadful conflict by finding the sword of Oman the Blasphemy. Soon he finds himself fighting between magic and technology as well as good and evil. However, prophecies will remain as prophecies. Nothing will go the way it should be and this will become the greatest dejection for Jester McNichol.Yesterday Forgotten by Rani JayakumarA woman who cannot remember her recent past struggles to connect with a husband and children she has never known. As she tries to come to terms with her present, she finds that the tragic events of her past may be the key to fully embracing her future.Desiré e by Ken GoldmanDON'T KISS DESIREE CHAPPELLE!Yes, Desiré e is beyond beautiful. Seductive even as a child, she seems every man's erotic dream, a fantasy woman possessing charms that no man can resist. And therein lies the problem.Because if you are a young man with bubbling testosterone you had better resist her. In fact, you should run like hell.Whether it's an innocent kids'game of Spin The Bottle or a grope fest in the back of an old van, you would be wise to keep repeating... DON'T KISS DESIREE CHAPPELLE!But someone is wise to Desiré e. Someone who knows her secrets and who has a very personal reason to uncover the truth no matter what it will take, no matter what it will cost.Someone who knows she has to destroy her...Hector and Achilles: An Aegean Love Story by Benjamin TocheThe Trojan War erupts as expected, as we've all heard the story: Paris kidnaps Helen, the wife of King Menelaus, and all hell breaks loose. But all of that covers up the real love story of this war, the passionate tryst between the conflict's two biggest heroes: the Trojan prince Hector and the Greek warrior Achilles. In this modern re-telling of the events of the Trojan war, we see Zeus give up on the mortals out of boredom and disinterest, while his godly offspring throw 21st century slurs (and menstrual blood) at each other, as they meddle in mortal affairs. Meanwhile, the mortals discuss their affairs over breakfast at the local Waffle House or pull tabs at the corner bar. And of course, a love affair gone wrong is the driving force behind it all, as told in true Greek style by the universal voice of the Lyceum Janitor.

'A monumental feat... a book of rare elemental power that lays bare the dark forces driving Putin's Russia today.'—Catherine Belton, author of Putin's People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and Then Took on the WestThe mystical laundress at the center of this novel is obsessed with purity. Her task is formidable as she stands guard over a sealed shaft at a Ukrainian coal mine that hides terrible truths. The bodies of dead Jews lying in its depths seem to attract still more present-day crimes. Acclaimed Russian author Sergei Lebedev portrays a ghostly realm riven by lust and fear just as the Kremlin invades the same part of Ukraine occupied by the German Wehrmacht in World War II. Then corpses rain from the sky when a jetliner is shot down overhead, scattering luxury goods along with the mortal remains. Eerie coincidences and gruesome discoveries fill this riveting exploration of an uncanny place where the geography exudes violence, and where the sins of the past are never all that in the past. Lebedev, who has won international praise for his soul-searching prose and unflinching examination of history’s evils, shines light on the fault line where Nazism met Soviet communism, evolving into the new fascism of today’s Russia.

From the award-winning author of the internationally-bestselling Brigid Quinn thrillers, which have been translated into 20 languages, comes this gripping series spin-off: an upmarket novel of domestic suspense about a pair of sisters nicknamed Malice and Lethal, and a husband who vanishes into thin air, only to reappear and throw a bomb into both their livesAlice Einstein - known as'Malice'to her former schoolfriends - likes to tell herself stories. There's a good one she's workshopping about how, despite once being a critically acclaimed literary novelist, she's ended up blocked and uninspired, living in her timid, conflict-averse sister Liesl's spare room.But then Liesl sends her an SOS worthy of a thriller novel. The horror! The horror! Sam is back.Sam, Liesl's wealthy ex-husband, vanished ten years ago, leaving her a chunk of money but no explanation. Sam is handsome, charming, manipulative... and now he claims he's sick. But Alice, with her experience of spinning tales, knows a liar when she sees one.Haunted by a childhood tragedy that gave birth to the cruel nickname'Lethal', Liesl now specialises in saving things: dogs, children, sisters. Telling herself it's time she returned the favor, Alice engages the services of Brigid Quinn, a hardboiled local private investigator with a shady past, to help her get rid of Sam for good.But as the plot thickens, Alice begins to wonder if she knows anyone involved - most of all herself - quite as well as she thinks...Packed with quirky, colorful characters, and with a nail-biting, slow-burn plot, Her Prodigal Husband is a nail-biting novel of domestic suspense that raises thought-provoking questions about self-deception, the power of stories, and what it means to be a family, and marks the long-awaited return of Brigid Quinn,'one of the most memorable FBI agents since Clarice Starling'(Publishers Weekly).

••'A powerful, thoughtful novel about memory and how the past shapes the future'- Red Magazine (Best Books of October) •• An emotionally wrenching novel, set in today's London and 90s Ghana, exploring generational trauma and what it means to be Black British, surviving between the gaps of knowledge around familial migrant journeys. On the cusp of thirty, Ghanaian Londoner Whitney Appiah was born with a special gift. The massage therapist can physically sense where her clients'trauma lies and heal them. But Whitney has no idea that she too is suffering. Tragic events from her youth have left a terrible, unseen mark. When a dangerous encounter with the man she's dating triggers a wave of fragmented recollections, Whitney embarks on a journey to reclaim her memories and the truth that is buried deep in her early years growing up in Kumasi. Spanning three decades, told through the viewpoints of Whitney, her aunts, Gloria and Aretha, and their house help, Maame Serwaa, The Rest of You explores what happens when we try to resolve the mysteries of our past. Perfect for fans of Candace Carty Williams'Queenie, Brit Bennett's The Vanishing Half and Anna Hope's Expectation.'A novel that doesn't shy away from the modern issues of being Black and female. At times heartbreaking, this portrait of a family coming to terms with a tragic past is vivid and tender'- Louise Hare, author of This Lovely City'A beautiful, compelling exploration of familial bonds, trauma and the secrets of the past. Maame Blue's tender, emotionally rich portrait of diasporic Black lives is a novel to return to. Highly recommended'- Irenosen Okojie, author of Hag'Maame Blue places vulnerability and emotional truth at the heart of this novel, interwoven between place, time and character... The Rest is You is surprising and tender, precise and free-ranging. A novel of layers, heartfelt meaning, and revelation'- Courttia Newland, author of A River Called Time'A story of friendship, loss, trauma and hope, that explores multi-generational pain and the secrets and silences that families can fall into in a bid to move forward. The Rest of You is a quintessential immigrant story with a particular Black British twist'- Nii Ayikwei Parkes, author of Azúcar'The Rest of You is sharply written and is a compelling read. In this book, Maame Blue is incisive in her exploration of friendship and family'- Peace A. Medie, author of Nightbloom'Maame Blue's skill at crafting characters that take bits of your heart with them as you read the final pages is a true gift... A wonderful book!'- Kelechi Okafor, author of Edge of Here'Gripping - you wonder what isn't being said, but you feel it anyway'- Gabriel Gbadamosi'Evocative prose and keen insights make for a compelling read, inviting reflection on the nature of trauma and the quest for identity. This powerful story affirms Blue's place as a significant voice in contemporary literature'- Booklist This novel contains depictions of violence and sexual assault.

Someone has taken a trip and taken photographs of that trip and someone else has been invited to watch a slideshow of the trip taken. There is a road, there is an abstract painting, there is a viewer who wishes he could live in a televised loop of a sunset and another who wonders why people are fat. Tribulations of a Westerner in the Western World is a stunning first book by Vincent Dachy, a narrated slideshow of inner and outer geographies complete with 52 black and white photographs taken by the author.

From the master of French noir and winner of the French Voices Prize, a gripping mystery about the blossoming of poisonous passions set in the brooding landscapes of Gironde, France When Franck gets out after five years in jail, he expects to find the brother he protected with his silence—instead, waiting for him is his brother Fabien's girlfriend. Jessica takes him to the gloomy country house where she lives with her cantankerous, hard-drinking parents, her eight-year old daughter, Rachel—who doesn't speak, hardly eats, and seems to be carrying a secret much bigger than herself—and a large mastiff dog they all seem to fear. Time passes, Fabien doesn't return, and Franck is increasingly mystified by Jessica's behavior, seductive at times, hostile at others. Nonetheless, Franck follows her around on her crazy nocturnal rounds until he finds himself with a gun pointed at his head. It's the beginning of a crescendo of retaliation in a gang war in which Franck believes he is participating, only to realize he's merely a sacrificial pawn. In the scorching heat of the summer, love and violence, sweetness and blood, will result in an unpredictable ending, one that perhaps only the little girl knew from the start.

International bestseller The Break is the first in Katherena Vermette's heart-rending, utterly immersive Indigenous family saga that includes The Strangers and The Circle.When Stella, a young Mé tis mother, looks out her window one evening and spots someone in trouble on the Break — a barren field on an isolated strip of land outside her house — she calls the police to alert them to a possible crime. But when they arrive, no one is there; scuff marks in the compacted snow are the only sign anything may have happened.In a series of shifting narratives, people who are connected, both directly and indirectly, with the victim — police, family, and friends — tell their personal stories leading up to that fateful night. Lou, a social worker, grapples with the departure of her live-in boyfriend. Cheryl, an artist, mourns the premature death of her sister Rain. Paulina, a single mother, struggles to trust her new partner. Phoenix, a homeless teenager, is released from a youth detention centre. Officer Scott, a Mé tis policeman, feels caught between two worlds as he patrols the city. Through their various perspectives a larger, more comprehensive story about lives of the residents in Winnipeg's North End is exposed.

In London, Ted, a lapsed American Catholic married to a British woman encounters a friend's child who is studying for his first communion. The boy, Jonathan, is terminally ill and believes the ritual of his first communion might miraculously heal him. Ted sees himself in the boy, and vividly recalls his childhood self. The idea of an eternal afterlife comforts Jonathan, but for Ted the idea represents a kind of dislocation: Is life merely something to be endured in preparation for eternity? Ted believed that as a child and now, in Jonathan, he finds the same beliefs taking hold. He must find a way back to his life and rediscover the profound joy that anchors him in this life, rather than in eternity.

“This richly imagined journey into a dystopian future is at once cautionary and provocative, inviting us to heed the lessons of the Ancients.”—Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer, New York Times bestselling author of Braiding SweetgrassA richly imagined, sweeping novel of hope, love, and adventure set in the unforgiving world of our own descendants, by the acclaimed author of WHISKEY WHEN WE'RE DRYA young boy and his older sisters find themselves suddenly and utterly alone, orphaned in an abandoned fishing village. Their food supplies dwindling, they set out across a breathtaking yet treacherous wilderness in search of the last of their people.Down the coast, raiders deliver the children's mother, along with the rest of their human cargo, to the last port city of a waning empire. Determined to reunite with her family, she plots her escape—while her fellow captives plan open revolt. At the center of power in this crumbling city, a young scholar inherits his father's business and position of privilege, along with the burden of his debts. As the empire's elite prepare to flee to new utopia across the sea, he must decide where his allegiance lies.With a rapidly changing climate shifting the sands beneath their feet, these three paths converge in a struggle for the future of humanity—who will inherit what remains and who gets to tell its story. At once a sweeping survival story; an epic of the distance future; and a post-apocalyptic vision of hope and optimism, THE ANCIENTS weaves a multilayered narrative about human resilience, hope, and stewardship of our world for future generations.

There is something about the number 3. The Ancient Greeks believed 3 was the perfect number, and in China 3 has always been a lucky number, and they know a thing or two. Most religions also have 3 this and 3 that and, of course, in these mo

There is something about the number 3. The Ancient Greeks believed 3 was the perfect number, and in China 3 has always been a lucky number, and they know a thing or two. Most religions also have 3 this and 3 that and, of course, in these mo

There is something about the number 3. The Ancient Greeks believed 3 was the perfect number, and in China 3 has always been a lucky number, and they know a thing or two. Most religions also have 3 this and 3 that and, of course, in these mo

'The world of art is blown wide open'(Jonathan Santlofer, national bestselling author of The Lost Van Gogh) in this novel for fans of The Cartographers, a simmering speculative suspense following art historian Camille Leray, whose secret ability lands her in the middle of the dangerous schemes of the most powerful players in the industry…Art historian Camille Leray has spent her career surrounding herself with fineries and selling pieces worth millions. But she harbors a secret: she has the ability to enter the world of any piece of artwork, and she can take others with her. But tapping into history comes with great risks. And someone has been watching, someone who knows about her magic, and her mistakes...After Camille ruins her career and reputation by misusing her powers, she vows to get her old life back. So when Maxime Foucault, an enigmatic aristocrat who owns a sprawling French estate, enlists her help in authenticating the statues of a mysterious artist, whose disappearance she has been trying to solve for years, she knows this could be her chance to turn her career around and get the man she's always wanted.But something isn't right about the Foucault family and the grand chateau they inhabit, and as Camille gets sucked into its walls, she finds a world of luxury and greed that causes her to risk losing herself, and everything she has ever known, forever.Filled with magic, suspense, the allure of Arthurian legend, and dark academia, The Estate unravels a mystery that spans generations. This captivating tale will leave readers pondering the fine lines between reality and imagination, creation and destruction, and being haunted or free.

In September 1913, Mieczysław Wojnicz, a student suffering from tuberculosis, arrives at Wilhelm Opitz's Guesthouse for Gentlemen, a health resort in what is now western Poland. Every day, its residents gather in the dining room to imbibe the hallucinogenic local liqueur, to obsess over money and status, and to discuss the great issues of the day: Will there be war? Monarchy or democracy? Do devils exist? Are women inherently inferior? Meanwhile, disturbing things are beginning to happen in the guesthouse and its surroundings. As stories of shocking events in the nearby highlands reach the men, a sense of dread builds. Someone – or something – seems to be watching them and attempting to infiltrate their world. Little does Mieczysław realize, as he attempts to unravel both the truths within himself and the mystery of the sinister forces beyond, that they have already chosen their next target. A century after the publication of The Magic Mountain, Olga Tokarczuk revisits Thomas Mann territory and lays claim to it, blending horror story, comedy, folklore and feminist parable with brilliant storytelling.

A heartbreaking and life-affirming novel about small towns and second chances - from the international bestselling author of Four Letters of Love'Irresistible … A powerful pleasure'Karen Joy Fowler'I am such a fan of Niall Williams'work'Ann Patchett_____________________________________Doctor Jack Troy was born and raised in the little town of Faha, but his responsibilities for the sick and his care for the dying mean he has always been set apart from his community. A visit from the doctor is always a sign of bad things to come. His youngest daughter, Ronnie, has grown up in her father's shadow, and remains there, having missed her chance at real love – and passed up an offer of marriage from an unsuitable man. But in the advent season of 1962, as the town readies itself for Christmas, Ronnie and Doctor Troy's lives are turned upside down when a baby is left in their care. As the winter passes, father and daughter's lives, the understanding of their family, and their role in their community are changed forever.'My own life feels richer having read it'Mary Beth Keane'A triumph... There is so much to admire: the lyrical language, how landscape and destiny intertwine, the complex bonds of community'Ron Rash

Romance with an intoxicating text full of action, emotion, adventure and an x-ray about political life and bohemia in the 80s. Sometimes we find beauty in complex things. We want explanations, we seek to organize the world, we seek harmony, we yearn for the ideal world. No, this is definitely not the world of writer João Calazans Filho. And “The Salamander” is the reflection of this raw, real, possible and absolutely playful universe of a writer who captures the depths through the surface, in a telluric, sweet, ironic look... And, at times, sarcastic. Salamandra is the writer's personal invitation to this world, located right there, in the south of Bahia. Intrigues, bohemia, betrayals, murders, dark plans and power games. Salamander is a universal romance, filled with passions, unlikely loves and a lot of backbiting. A cheer to popular culture, to the language of the people, from the simplest to the most exquisite, from the religious to the profane, from the mythical to the real world, from the logical to the fantastic realism. Simply passionate. The Romance brings as a backdrop a series of murders involving political, corrupt and corrupting criminals. The saga of an oppressed and enslaved people. Salamander brings various types of slavery: physical, psychological, financial, showing the fragility of man in the face of abuse of force, power and authority usurped by scoundrels, murderers, criminals. Far beyond, it is a mirror of who we are or who we should be. Truth and justice, sex and love, passion and despair, the lust for power and the desire for easy money. Mix all this in a universal soup and we have the atmosphere of a unique writer, who brings the “naked and raw” truth seasoned with the art of a people that needs to “turn around” to survive, without ever losing its essence, its morals, its form. to say: Let's fight for freedom until the end. Salamander is an invitation to the interior of the human being.

2024 NYC Big Book Award Winner: Suspense“Love thrillers? Me too, and Linda Moore's whip smart Five Days in Bogotá adds extra ammunition to the genre….” —Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of Pictures of You and With or Without You“Add this to the thriller section.” —Booklist“…a pulse-pounding game of cat-and-mouse.” —Kirkus ReviewsFor fans of B. A. Shapiro's Art Forger and Daniel Silva's Art Collector, a courageous female art dealer blocks a heist of valuable paintings and an international conspiracy in this gripping caper.Young widow Ally Blake risks everything to save her grieving family from bankruptcy by choosing to exhibit at an art fair in Bogotá in the 1990s—during the height of the drug wars. When her art crates are mysteriously tampered with, she discovers an ex-boyfriend from her State Department days has involved her in a money laundering scheme. Now it's up to her to stop the fraud, save herself, and secure her family's future—but pulling it off will require the art deal of a lifetime.

It is May 2014, and Dr. Klara Lieberman—forty-nine, single, professor of archaeology at a small liberal arts college in Maine, a contained person living a contained life—has just received a letter from her estranged mother, Bessie, that will dramatically change her life. Her father, she learns—the man who has been absent from her life for the last forty-three years, and about whom she has long been desperate for information—is dead. Has been for many years, in fact, which Bessie clearly knew. But now the Polish government is giving financial reparations for land it stole from its Jewish citizens during WWII, and Bessie wants the money. Klara has little interest in the money—but she does want answers about her father. She flies to Warsaw, determined to learn more. In Poland, Klara begins to piece together her father's, and her own, story. She also connects with extended family, begins a romantic relationship, and discovers her calling: repairing the hundreds of forgotten, and mostly destroyed, pre-War Jewish cemeteries in Poland. Along the way, she becomes a more integrated, embodied, and interpersonally connected individual—one with the tools to make peace with her past and, for the first time in her life, build purposefully toward a bigger future.

Louisa MacDonald was born in 1845, one of eleven children of part Scottish descent. Together with three of her sisters they were known as the ‘MacDonald sisters'primarily because of their marriages to well-known men. In 1866 she married the wealthy industrialist Alfred Baldwin in a double wedding with her sister Anne. After giving birth to Stanley on the 3rd August 1867, who would go on to become Prime Minister, she drifted into an unhappy life in her then residence in Worcestershire. She had at least one miscarriage and days alone depressed and in darkness.During the 1870's the couple travelled to find a lasting cure and tried a variety of treatments which led to her recovery in 1883. She now became a leading figure in her local village of Wilden, near Stourbridge.Her writing career of novels, short stories and poetry is often overlooked, as was the case with so many women, yet her works reveal many talents and a gift for melding odd and weird circumstances into seemingly everyday life. Louisa Baldwin died in 1925.

In Budapest Noir 1945, 1956 and 1974 merge into 1991 and a nation is allowed to remember the dark days of its past and come to terms with its history before seeking to move on to a different future. The novel starts with Ilona getting a phone installed in 1991. This banal act has huge significance as before the fall of the Communist government Ilona was not allowed to have a phone as her husband took part in the 1956 Uprising and her son escaped in 1974. In 1991 with the aid of a Fullbright Scholarship with his wife and small child Ilona's son Emil returns to Budapest for the first time to create an exhibition about Hungary's transition to democracy. Ilona wants her son to get back what had been stolen from them by the Communists and make them rich while Emil just wants to make art and learn about the past. This clash of values nearly spells disaster. There are flashbacks to the Russian army arriving in 1945 and the uprising in 1956. The novel recounts the dark and tragic events which took place. It is hard not to be moved to tears by what Ilona and her family had to endure. Her story is one that she shared with countless others in Budapest and Hungary during those dark days. Ilona never complains and never talks about the past, it is a weight she carries in silence.

A group of friends journey to a remote part of West Khasi Hills, in northeast India, to witness the performance of an ancient Lyngngam funeral ceremony that lasts six days. Concluding with the cremation of a beloved elder, a woman whose body has been preserved in a tree house for nine whole months, this may well be the last time Ka Phor Sorat, the feast of the dead, is performed. By mistake, however, the group arrives early. So they wait, stuck in the jungle, spending their nights around a fire in the middle of a spacious hut built for them especially, sharing stories in what proves an unexpected journey of discovery. Funeral Nights is a vast collection of tales both big and small, less about death than it is about life in all forms. It teems with admirable men and women, raconteurs and pranksters, lovers and fools, politicians and conmen, drunks and taxi drivers; it abounds with culture, history, gods, religions, myths and legends. Inspired by Boccaccio's Decameron and The Arabian Nights, this is intimate access to a whole world, spectacular in its documentation of a tribe's life and culture, and lush, warm, and entirely delightful in its telling.

Showcasing African Gothic at its finest, this hypnotic novel tangles together classic texts of madness and female rebellion alongside elements of the jingoistic novels of Victorian adventurer H. Rider Haggard. The result is an extraordinary reinvention of colonial and patriarchal perspectives.The unnamed narrator spins a web back through a century of colonial possession – political, spiritual and mental – to imagine the stories of conquest and captivity, control and disruption, from the perspective of the women and men ‘half-broken'by the stigmas attached to race and mental illness. Equally ‘half-broken'are those dehumanised by their insane greed for dominion and treasure.With trademark compassion and complexity, Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu balances the humanity of her characters against the cruelty of empire, making for a spellbinding and literally haunting account of love and magic.

When an unusual building appeared overnight in a remote northern Cape community in the 1970s, and disappeared a few weeks later, it seemed to point to a series of baffling existential overlaps.Some individuals claimed that occasionally they found themselves on the other side of a restive civil war divide, in identity embodiments that were highly contrary versions of themselves. In other cases, absurd social situations seemed to mock ‘normal reality'by alternating with it. When a small-town journalist reported on the events, his quiet life became cruelly disrupted by unwanted attention.Were these accounts imagined or real? Real enough to the eyewitnesses. Traumatised and adrift, the journalist later wrote up his story in reportage style when a childhood friend invited him to recuperate on her farm. He believed he had narrowly escaped the disappearance of an entire region – a place nobody has ever heard of – and its people, including the love of his life.As the mystery unfolds, with an aura of retrieved memory, the narrator's lost love becomes an increasingly evocative presence. The Equality of Shadows is a compelling novel – in some places uproariously funny, in others filled with deep pathos – about the vagaries of identity, love and time.

'Supplication is as visceral and gripping as an actual nightmare, but also teeming with wisdom about selfhood and trauma.'– Ainslie Hogarth, author of Motherthing'A highly sophisticated philosophical exploration of identity propelled by a surreal sense of the interconnectedness of random events. – Kerry Hadley-Pryce, author of God's Country'There, within the suddenness of the unending present, I was born.'An unnamed narrator comes to in a basement, tied to a chair, a man looming over her. Someone has a knife. She emerges from her captivity into a mysterious and nightmarish city, searching for meaning in her new reality. As figures emerge from the night, some offering sanctuary, and others judgement, she moves through a fever-dream narrative of alienation, fear, and the quest for respite. Nour Abi-Nakhoul's powerful debut novel, Supplication, is a hallucinatory literary horror set deep in the consciousness of a woman exploring a changed and frightening world.

Set during the first pivotal year of the Covid-19 pandemic, Guru Pi, a teacher, finds himself staying with a family in the UK. He embraces three challenges: reading a stack of books equal to his own height within a year, contemplating the vastness of a Googol (10100), and participating in a unique cultural interview. As Pi shares his eccentric ideas, some are welcomed while others are met with skepticism. This unexpected situation provides Pi with an opportunity to explore his life in ways he never thought possible. His world expands as he discovers the beauty of wildflowers, the wonder of birds, and other captivating aspects of nature. At its core, this novel celebrates the camaraderie among the characters at the Beck household and the diverse friends Pi makes at the local café, bars, and allotment. Through his eclectic reading and encounters with literary characters, Pi embarks on a transformative journey, ultimately embracing a profound shift in his personal philosophy.

From a remote village between Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire unrolls the intimate story of Teresa and Carlo, two young people whose paths cross and recross as they are first impelled by parents, then forced by sweeping world events to leave their childhood homes for lives they never imagined.Having left her mother and cherished dog Allucio, in Ulfano, Teresa works as a domestic servant in a large villa in Trento. She survives the Great War in the occupied city by banding together in a makeshift family with the other servants of the owners who have fled to escape the occupation. Carlo, an American still new to Italy and who speaks barely passable Italian, is just finding his footing in Trento when he's dragged from bed at his boarding school, along with his classmates, and conscripted by the invading Austrian army. In a comical twist of fate, Carlo's childhood near the Colorado gold mines motivates his captors to place him with a company of miners tasked with digging entrenchments and bunkers and building a massive fortress out of stone and ice, even as blizzards rage and artillery shells fall from the sky. Out of sheer loneliness, Carlo writes letters to Teresa, the girl he met only once in Trento.After the war, Carlo returns to Trento and reconnects with Teresa. Times are unsettled, as soldiers and those who fled the war flood back to the city and signs of the impending Influenza epidemic appear. With so much chaos, tradition gives way to new ideas, so neither worries about the consequences of their growing attachment. However, the same independence that has them dreaming of a future that didn't exist when they were children, may pull them apart forever.

'A delight of a novel. Brilliant. All the characters developed in fascinating and unpredictable ways.'Leslie Daniels, author of Cleaning Nabokov's House.Molly Giles is the WINNER of a Pushcart Prize, The Flannery O'Connor Prize and The Leapfrog Global Fiction Prize.At forty-four, Kay Sorensen has quit drinking, smoking, and overeating, and she has almost quit reading self-help books about quitting drinking, smoking and overeating. She has divorced her deadbeat husband, finished college, and landed a job she loves directing a small branch of the county library.But Kay still has one unconquered addiction: she just can't say no to someone who needs her.Praise for other books by Molly Giles“What an irreverent, original voice!”– Amy Tan, author of The Joy Luck Club'Roll over, Evelyn Waugh, here's Molly Giles. She's the authentic satiric voice – a rare bird in American Letters – wicked, affectionate, and amused.'– Frances Mayes, author of Under the Tuscan Sun'Molly Giles is the funniest writer of tragedy this country possesses.'– Lucy Ferriss, author of The Misconceiver'Molly Giles is like a dancer who can't put a foot down wrong.'– Cyra McFadden, author of The Serial

On a Caribbean island in the mid-1960s, a young girl copes with the heavy cost of migration.When her mother emigrates to England to find work, Wheeler and her older sisters are left to live with their aunts and cousins. She spends most days with her cousin Donelle, knocking about their island community. They know they must address their elders properly and change their shoes after church. And during the long, quiet weeks of Lent, when the absent sound of the radio seems to follow them down the road, they look forward to kite season. But Donelle is just a child, too, and though her sisters look after her with varying levels of patience, Wheeler couldn't feel more alone. Everyone tells her that soon her mother will send for her, but how much longer will it be? And as she does her best to navigate the tensions between her aunts, why does it feel like there's no one looking out for her at all?A story of sisterhood, secrets, and the sacrifices of love, The Pages of the Sea is a tenderly lyrical portrait of innocence and an intensely moving evocation of what it's like to be a child left behind.

A Walrus Best Book of Fall 2024 • Winner of the 2023 Prix Médicis, Prix Décembre, and Prix RinguetCéline Wachowski, internationally renowned architect and accidental digital-culture icon, unveils her plans for the Webuy Complex, her first megaproject in Montreal, her hometown. But instead of the triumph she anticipates in finally bringing her reputation to bear in her own city, the project is excoriated by critics, who accuse her of callously destroying the social fabric of neighborhoods, ushering in a new era of gentrification, and many even deadlier sins. When she is deposed as CEO of her firm, Céline must make sense of the charges against herself and the people in her elite circle. For the first time in danger of losing their footing, what fictions must they tell themselves to justify their privilege and maintain their position in the world that they themselves have built?Moving fluidly between Céline's perspective and the perspectives of her critics, and revealing both the ruthlessness of her methods and the brilliance of her aesthetic vision, May Our Joy Endure is a shrewd examination of the microcosm of the ultra-privileged and a dazzling social novel that depicts with razor-sharp acuity the terrible beauty of wealth, influence, and art.

Ghost Cities - inspired by the vacant, uninhabited megacities of China - follows multiple narratives, including one in which a young man named Xiang is fired from his job as a translator at Sydney's Chinese Consulate after it is discovered he doesn't speak a word of Chinese and has been relying entirely on Google Translate for his work. How is his relocation to one such ghost city connected to a parallel odyssey in which an ancient Emperor creates a thousand doubles of Himself? Or where a horny mountain gains sentience? Where a chess-playing automaton hides a deadly secret? Or a tale in which every book in the known Empire is destroyed - then re-created, page by page and book by book, all in the name of love and art? Allegorical and imaginative, Ghost Cities will appeal to readers of Haruki Murakami and Italo Calvino.

This book deals mostly with American avant-garde literature of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, and the present-day practice and politics of its translation into Polish, trying to answer the following questions: What are the meaning and the limits of avantgardism? What is the rationale of literary translations and what is their life-cycle in receiving literary polysystems? Furthermore: What is the importance of translation in shaping the politics of meaning – our collective textual practices determining our epistemological perspectives in literature and beyond? And finally: What are the consequences of implementing foreign modes of thinking and making politics in the receiving culture, both in the social sphere and in writing?

Welcome to the Marigold Mind Laundry, where we wash away the stains from your heart.In this enchanting tale—a blockbuster bestseller in Korea—the enigmatic owner of a magical laundromat that erases people's painful memories must learn to find her own peace before she can truly help others.Born with mysterious powers she does not know how to control, young Jieun accidentally causes her family to vanish. She vows to live a million lives in search of them. Finally, one night, she brings the Marigold Mind Laundry into existence. Its service: to remove the deepest pain from our hearts. Jieun listens while customers share their unhappy memories. As they speak, she transfers their sadness onto T-shirts as stains. After a spin in the washing machine, the stains become flower petals that soar into the air, and Jieun's customers find solace.Five wounded souls come to Jieun for help: a frustrated young filmmaker, a spiraling social media influencer, a mother betrayed by her husband, a woman jilted by her lover, and a talented photographer who hides in the safety of a mundane job. As Jieun listens to each of their stories, she learns that the will to heal is not a rare gift, but a power we all possess—if only we are open to it.Joyous and inspiring, The Marigold Mind Laundry offers wonderment and comfort as it teaches us to tap into the magic that lives within us all.

It was an exciting time for young women of the 1920s as they embraced liberation from the pre–World War I traditions of their mothers. In the mild Mediterranean climate of the Italian Riviera, a rebellious young Sydney Warren cautiously tested her newfound freedom, developing an intimate relationship with the charming middle-aged widow Mrs. Kerr that caused rumors and speculation to stir among the wealthy British guests of a luxurious seaside hotel. A sapphic affair simmers beneath the surface of Elizabeth Bowen's captivating first novel, published in 1927. With its masterful storytelling, combined with Bowen's keen observations and elegant prose, The Hotel beautifully illuminates the contrast between the tranquil Italian setting and the underlying tensions among the privileged characters. The novel is a thoughtful exploration of social norms, personal identity, and the subtle dynamics of group interaction, resulting in a rich story that often relies on what is left unsaid as much as what is written on the page.

A parade of people in need of solace find a mysterious sympathizer, in this uniquely moving classic by a New York Times–bestselling author. They come day and night to confess their troubles to an anonymous listener positioned behind a curtain. Could it be a priest, a psychiatrist, a friend, or a judge? Each person draws a different conclusion. From a businessman who feels betrayed by someone he trusted, to a society woman with contempt for her husband, to a scientist troubled by what his work has wrought, the visitors'situations vary widely as they struggle with grief, denial, prejudice, and fear. But in this small sanctuary, there are no office hours, the listener is always listening, and the visitors'lives are forever changed. This inspiring and inventive work of fiction comes from the award-winning author of Captains and the Kings, Testimony of Two Men, and many other bestsellers. “The gift of narration and characterization which Taylor Caldwell brings to each of her books is here in strong measure.” —Kirkus Reviews “I believe [Caldwell] wanted to instill hope, renew faith, and foster love in what she saw as a society on the decline. The year was 1960. But the issues can be universally applied today.” —The Book Cafe