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A beautifully unconventional love story. It's the summer of 2008, and thirty-five-year-old Ursula Tunder, reeling from the breakup of a bad marriage, has abandoned her career as a botanist and moved home to the family farm to start a wholesale garden-plant greenhouse, and, perhaps more importantly, to care for her ailing father, Joe. Her younger brother, Bodie, now that a shoulder injury has ended his NFL career, comes home as well, to try his hand at organic farming. Their land at the edge of a prosperous college town is coveted by developers. Ursula wants to sell the farm to Camas Valley State University, which has promised to create a research facility on the land, but Bodie and his idealistic wife, Fleece, are committed to farming. Enter Nu, Ursula and Bodie's Vietnamese-American cousin by adoption, and an up-and-coming visual artist. When Nu gets arrested after a fight with a pair of dirt bikers, Joe persuades him to take refuge at the Tunder farm. Nu gets pressed into service helping Bodie with farm chores and taking care of Joe, so Ursula seizes the opportunity to get away from the farm, accepting a temporary job surveying native plants in the Cascades. But when Joe's health plummets and Bodie's finances crash, Ursula abandons her summer job to return home once again. Facing bankruptcy, Ursula, Bodie, and Nu enlist a ragtag troupe of land-defenders in a festival of resistance in a last-ditch effort to save a way of life that may disappear forever.

'Trenow's first novel chronicles civilian life in England during the terrors of war while also weaving a beautifully moving love story. Reminiscent in tone and subject of Nicholas Spark's The Notebook (1996) and Ian McEwan's Atonement (2002), Lily's tale will resonate with fans of each.'—BooklistOnline.comWe all make mistakes. Some we can fix. But what happens when we can't?Decades ago, as Nazi planes dominated the sky, Lily Verner made a terrible choice. She's tried to forget, but now an unexpected event pulls her back to the 1940s British countryside. She finds herself remembering the brilliant colors of the silk she helped to weave at her family's mill, the relentless pressure of the worsening war, and the kind of heartbreaking loss that stops time.In this evocative novel of love and consequences, Lily finally confronts the disastrous decision that has haunted her all these years. The Last Telegram uncovers the surprising truth about how the stories we weave about our lives are threaded with truth, guilt, and forgiveness.'Sparked my interest from the start...charming.'—Sharon Knoth, Between the Covers, Harbor Springs, MI'This book will easily appeal to fans of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, and I can see it quickly becoming a favorite of book clubs.'—Billie Bloebaum, Powell's Books

Catherynne M. Valente enchanted readers with her spellbinding In the Night Garden. Now she continues to weave her storytelling magic in the next book of Orphan's Tales—an epic of the fantastic and the exotic, the monstrous and mysterious, that will transport you far away from the everyday....Her name and origins are unknown, but the endless tales inked upon this orphan's eyelids weave a spell over all who listen to her read her secret history. And who can resist the stories she tells? From the Lake of the Dead and the City of Marrow to the artists who remain behind in a ghost city of spice, here are stories of hedgehog warriors and winged skeletons, loyal leopards and sparrow calligraphers. Nothing is too fantastic, anything can happen, but you'll never guess what comes next in these intimately linked adventures of firebirds and djinn, singing manticores, mutilated unicorns, and women made entirely of glass and gears. Graced with the magical illustrations of Michael Kaluta, In the Cities of Coins and Spice is a book of dreams and wonders unlike any you've ever encountered. Open it anywhere and you will fall under its spell. For here the story never ends and the magic is only beginning....

An epic of Israel from its founding to the Six-Day War by the #1 New York Times–bestselling author: “Full of excitement.” —Entertainment Weekly From the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Winds of War and The Caine Mutiny, this saga spans from 1948 to 1967, the early decades of the state of Israel as it struggles for its life, outmatched and surrounded by enemies—the first of the two-part epic that concludes with The Glory. Zev Barak, Sam Pasternak, Don Kishote, and Benny Luria are all officers in the Israeli army caught up in the sweep of history, fighting the desperate desert skirmishes and meeting the larger-than-life personalities that shaped Israel's fight for independence. The four heroes and the women they love weave a compelling tapestry of individual destinies through a grand recounting of one nation's battle against the odds. “Much of the dialogue is witty; the descriptions of back-channel diplomacy between the United States and Israel are fascinating and convincing.” —The New York Times Book Review “Solid historical research... fictional characters of Wouk's own invention rub shoulders with real-life historical figures like David Ben Gurion [and] Moshe Dayan.” —The Christian Science Monitor “Rich and satisfying... deftly portrays the human face of inhuman conflict.” —The Plain Dealer “An engrossing and often moving tale.” —Publishers Weekly

Connected via the fictional town of St Anne's, a community along Nova Scotia's western shore, each story takes its title from the children's rhyme Counting Crows. One for sorrow, two for joy, three for a message, four for a boy, five for silver, six for gold, seven for a secret never to be told. Within each tale an individual (often from the same family, always from the same town) will note the number of crows in their midst and recall the poem as it relates to the prophecy and the story at hand. Between the last century and the current one, the characters (for the most part, women) walk a shifting landscape carved out by war, poverty, and patriarchal expectations. Beneath the gaze of a small town and these intelligent birds whose memories are unforgiving, we are as close as a heartbeat to the souls upon these pages. Born in Nova Scotia, Mary Verna Feehan has lived, worked and studied throughout Canada, the United States and Ireland. Her writing, fed by place and the souls inhabiting them, speaks from the blue and pink collar world she hails from and navigates. Her work has appeared in North American and European journals. She lives with her family on Cape Breton Island. In the Shadow of Crows is her first collection of short stories. Reviews and Praise “Ms. Feehan ingeniously crafts each story so that we get an idea of what life in St. Anne's is like and a feel for its inhabitants... I can highly recommend this small but mighty collection of excellent short stories. Each one has the requisite amount of tension to keep the reader engaged and wanting to finish the book in one sitting.... A remarkable example of interlinked stories that leave you wanting more from an author to watch. I'm sure there are many more stories to come out of little St. Anne.” James Fisher, Founding Editor of The Miramichi Reader “M.V. Feehan's In the Shadow of Crows is a book of immense tenderness, grace, and emotional acuity. I admire Feehan's subtle attention to states of yearning and loss, and to the secrets we reveal and conceal—from ourselves, and from each other. She deftly maps the ways we navigate our internal worlds in the face of uncertainty, anxiety, shame, fear, hope, and love. Which is to say, as she writes, ‘that jumble of history we carry. The world only we know because of the steps in our wake.'” —Jared Bland, editor and former publisher, McClelland & Stewart “Poetic in its telling—M.V. Feehan's stories weave through time with recurring characters in the varied moments of a life.These people who live in or are connected to the town of St. Anne's experience hope and disappointment, small dreams and painful realities. Throughout the narrations a Greek chorus of crows foretell the fates that await the men and women whose lives are forever changing…. From a high school crush to the tragedy of a miscarriage to family ostracization, Feehan's characters endure the burden of being alive, but they also live lives shot through with the joy of friendship, unexpected bureaucratic kindness and acts of tenderness.” Frank Macdonald, (A Forest for Callum and Smeltdog Man) “A poignant view of lives passing with crows from a children's rhyme poised at the margins of each story. Feehan has a deep and sensitive understanding of human nature and a relentless focus on each individual working his and her way through the maze.” Phyllis Barber, author of The Desert Between Us and The Desert Above “Feehan successfully evokes nostalgia but more profoundly finds poignancy in each symbolic line, which is mirrored in the precision of her writing. The result is a mosaic that is at once dreamlike and realist. The struggles and moments of joy feel epic despite her remarkable concision.” Chris Benjamin, author of Boy with a Problem Cover art: ALEX COLVILLE, Seven Crows 1980 Acrylic on hardboard, Owens Art Gallery, Mount Allison University, Copyright A.C. Fine Art. Reproduced with permission

SHORTLISTED FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND FICTION BOOK AWARD ‘a compelling, intricate and multifaceted tale'–The Saturday Paper ‘Politica can't make war make sense (what can?), but it does offer a small balm. In her book Kassab looks horror in the eye, dignifies private desires and grieves their loss, and in doing so reminds us what being human looks like.'–Meanjin ‘Like an impressionist painter, Kassab uses words like brushstrokes to build a vivid picture of intertwined lives set against the continuing drumbeat of war. The narrative moves between past, present and future and uses time as an effective device to illustrate how the effects of war linger long after its cessation.'– Books and PublishingA captivating literary journey that delves into the intertwined lives of a town, its people, and a region shaped by revolution and war. The war broke out and she decided to call her dad. Weeks and weeks they do not speak, and the weeks become months and then they are so many years. She imagines herself starting this story. She imagines how she will tell this story later to someone else.We hadn't spoken for years but then the war broke out... As conflict plays out across an unnamed region, its inhabitants deal with the fallout. Families are torn apart and brought together. A divide grows between those on either side of the war, compromises are struck as the toll of violence impacts near and far. We learn about those who are left behind and those who choose to leave in a great scattering. As the stories of those affected play out, they weave together to show the whole of a society in the most extreme of circumstances. Even after the last shot is fired, their world will never recover. From the acclaimed author of The House of Youssef, Australiana and The Lovers comes a powerful new novel that asks again if it's possible to ever measure the personal cost of war.PRAISE FOR POLITICA: ‘In a 2022 interview, Kassab said a responsibility of the novelist is to “write with an eye towards humanity”. And she never falters in this, with Politica always drawing us back to war's immeasurable personal cost.'– The Guardian‘a rewarding tale of real people navigating war, love, loss, poverty and many other challenges, all linked by time and location. The novel asks if it is possible to ever measure the personal cost of war. Through all the stories she creates here, Kassab makes it clear that it can never be.'– The Saturday Paper ‘an evocative literary tale'– Australian Women's Weekly

“A breakneck romp of a novel with a stolen Vermeer, a tangled love triangle, a half-baked heist and enough depraved opulence to make Gatsby gasp.” —People“This novel pops— Cosmopolitan, sexy, and funny.” —Percival Everett, New York Times-bestselling author of James The White Lotus meets The Talented Mr. Ripley in this high-spirited novel of a stolen Vermeer, a Polish transplant in LA, and the charismatic couple who seduce her into a misguided international heistOne bright Los Angeles day, a young Polish émigré named Viva is driving along the freeway when she's flagged down by a dazzling, disheveled woman in green chiffon. The woman is Bobby Sleeper, a fellow Eastern European and an erstwhile art gallerist with a mysterious background and even more mysterious filmmaker husband. Within days the couple hire Viva as their assistant, then enlist her as an accomplice in an improbable scheme involving a long-lost Vermeer masterwork, a multi-million-dollar reward, and several shadowy ex-husbands.As Bobby and her husband weave her ever more tightly into their web, Viva is swept up in an escapade that's one part art heist, one part love triangle, and one part education of a felon. Entranced by their lifestyle, alarmed by their ramshackle scam, Viva realizes she's out of her depth—and that only luck, cunning, and her own hustler's instinct can save her from disaster. Careening from the canyons of LA to the canals of Venice, The Lady Waiting is a page-turning caper, a cavalcade of twenty-first-century sins—rapacious capitalism, shameless fraud, and atrocious behavior—and a showcase for three of the biggest and most unforgettable characters in recent fiction.

Candid and unfettered, Sven Popović's Last Night is a playfully existential meditation on youth and the search for the self. Acclaimed in his native Croatia, Popović's unique blend of intimacy and contemplation has garnered him a following in the alternative literary scene of Zagreb—and beyond. With an intellectualism that never takes itself too seriously, an unaffected fluidity of form, and a keen eye for the smallest, strangest moments that color our lives, his stories weave an offbeat tapestry of urban life. Last Night is the first short story collection from Sven Popović, whose writing was previously featured in Dalkey Archive Press's Best European Fiction 2017, and his first full work to be released in English. Slickly translated by Vinko Zgaga, Popović's sometimes-dreamlike, sometimes-conversational vignettes offer a shrewd, original outlook on life's absurdities.

A smart and sexy modern noir set in the steamy underbelly of 21st century Hollywood.Billy Rosenberg is a workmanlike screenwriter who finds his fate intertwined with would-be starlet Vincenza Morgan in this fiendish and sharp tale of a city where Image always trumps Reality. Filled with plot twists, wicked humor, and vivid commentary on celebrity culture, author Jonathan Leaf has skillfully crafted a compelling romp which manages to weave murder, drugs, sex cults, modern relationships, and naked ambition together into a tale that lays bare the real Los Angeles—a city where even the angels have an angle.

Embark on a riveting literary journey with'The Adventures of Ferdinand, Count Fathom'by Tobias Smollett. This captivating novel takes readers on a rollicking ride through the 18th-century European landscape, following the exploits of the charming and enigmatic Count Fathom.From the bustling streets of London to the opulent courts of Paris, Count Fathom's daring escapades weave a tapestry of intrigue, deception, and unexpected twists. Born into mystery and driven by ambition, Fathom navigates a world of con artists, noble intrigue, and treacherous plots.As the charismatic Count Fathom maneuvers his way through the social strata, he charms and cons his way into the lives of unsuspecting individuals. With each encounter, his complex character evolves, revealing both his cunning nature and surprising depths.Smollett's masterful prose captures the essence of 18th-century society, blending adventure and satire in a tale that exposes the foibles of human nature.'The Adventures of Ferdinand, Count Fathom'is a spellbinding narrative that delves into the complexities of identity, ambition, and the art of deception.As Count Fathom weaves his web of schemes, readers are drawn into a world where appearances can be deceiving, and where the line between ally and adversary is blurred. With its richly drawn characters and exhilarating plot, this novel offers a thrilling exploration of the darker facets of human behavior and the art of manipulation. Dive into this classic work to experience a tale of intrigue, suspense, and moral ambiguity that has captivated readers for generations.ABOUT THE AUTHOR Tobias Smollett, a literary trailblazer of the 18th century, brought his vibrant imagination to life through his eloquent prose and sharp wit. Born in 1721, this Scottish novelist and satirist embarked on a journey that would leave an indelible mark on the literary landscape. With an insatiable curiosity and an eye for detail, Smollet penned tales that spanned genres and captured the essence of his era. From the uproarious escapades of'The Adventures of Roderick Random'to the biting social commentary of'The Expedition of Humphry Clinker,'his works resonated with readers across generations. His distinctive style intertwined humor, adventure, and astute observations, painting vivid portraits of both his characters and the society they inhabited. A skilled physician turned prolific writer, Smollett's narratives blended reality and fiction to create a rich tapestry of storytelling. As a satirist, he wielded his pen to illuminate the follies of his time, using humor as a powerful tool for commentary. Smollett's legacy endures, reminding us of the enduring power of storytelling to entertain, enlighten, and reflect the complexities of the human experience.

As if Borges wrote The DecameronDuring an atomic alarm in Barcelona in the year 2025, the thirty-year old hero takes refuge in a luxurious mansion in the mountains where he is put up, along with other guests, awaiting the outcome of the conflict. For the following seven days the residents of the mansion spend their spare time reading and taking walks, and, above all, telling stories to each other. The narrators (most of whom belong to the generation thirty years older than the hero's) are eight in number, and the stories they tell can be taken as autonomous ones, although, as the novel advances, it may soon be that when juxtaposed, they do indeed weave a web of intrigue about a family of bankers—a web that gradually involves some of the guests in the mansion.

A story of conflicted friendship and its unravelling, told against the background of an ever-present, mind-twisting social media verse.'A truly precious book.'—Grazia Maia is 26. Stuck in a dead-end job and a dysfunctional relationship, she's treading water. Gloria, 18, is an influencer with 2 million followers, and the fragility of those who grow up too fast. Both are bereft. Maia, of purpose, and of the sister who took her own life, even though they weren't close, and she doesn't miss her. Gloria, of someone to help her grow and become stronger, but also of ideas and words that are truly hers. When Maia starts working for Gloria, both their lives change forever. The two young women weave a complex, intense relationship. Its yarn will unwind behind the scenes of the virtual world Gloria inhabits, and for the first time both will see themselves as they really are. But in this dangerous game of mirrors, will Maia and Gloria still be able to distinguish what belongs to whom?

All Daniel Corriente wants is to escape his past and be “normal,” but as he enters his senior year in college, he must face the past traumas that have made him who he is. During his journey, Dani will find himself at the intersections of seemingly conflicting identities — Mexican/Chicano/Anglo, thug/intellectual, straight/queer, loner/friend. Along the way, Dani will begin to weave toward clarity with the help of a therapist, feuding mentors, an elitist boss, a persistent drug addict, a former love, and an old woman obsessed with his character flaws and the pizzas with extra green peppers. If he has any hope of finding himself, Dani must ultimately answer the question posed by one of his customers—a question that haunts him at every turn: ¿Qué tipo de persona quieres ser? What kind of person do you want to be?

The three novellas in The Emptiest Quarter find their inspiration in the sands and streets of Abu Dhabi, where author Raymond Beauchemin lived for four years, a time that overlapped with the building of the Louvre and Guggenheim museums and the opening of Sorbonne and NYU campuses, the convulsions of the Arab Spring and the eruption of civil war in Syria. The characters who populate The Emptiest Quarter live at both the centre and the fringes of the conflict between preservation and progress, including sheikhs, western oil-and-gas men, burned-out journalists, pearl divers, and Filipina caregivers, all striving to find themselves, to find love, to find balance in ever-shifting sands.'Beauchemin is a master storyteller who fittingly has chosen a cast of storytellers to weave poignant, delicate and yet powerful tales of family lore among the political history and cultural complexities at work in the land we know today as the United Arab Emirates. Bold, lyrical in parts and yet unflinching and raw in their portrayal of how one nation and its residents chart a course between modernity, religious faith and strict social, personal and political hierarchies, these three marvellous novellas show us the emptiest quarter is not only the external place we must negotiate in the geographical world but also one that resides within.'-- Jackie Copleton, A Dictionary of Mutual Understanding'Read Beauchemin, a writer of place and memories, skilled practitioner of stealth. Wait. Process what he has done to your heart and mind.'-- Deepak Unnikrishnan, Temporary People

A cursed typewriter. A man sitting on the railing of a balcony. The protagonist of his novel. Two lives that weave together similar experiences, two paths in precarious equilibrium.Franco is sitting comfortably on the railing of the balcony of his house, on the third floor of the building where he lives. As if it were nothing unusual, he is reading the pages of the novel he has just finished writing and then lets them fall below, among the crowd of onlookers who have gathered to watch him. Believing that he is about to jump off, someone has called for help, and now a firefighter is coming up towards him with the mechanical ladder while in the distance you can hear the sirens of the police and ambulance. Regardless of all this, Franco keeps reading, incredulous. He did not believe that he could write a novel, and it seems impossible that he was able to finish it before the punishment arrived. Writing it, in fact, has cost him a lot: to succeed he has followed a path that led him to commit unspeakable acts. His wife is running to him to try to save him, in fact talking to him on the phone she has guessed that Franco has found her typewriter in the cellar, that machine that is said to be cursed. Meanwhile, he reads and remembers... Franco is convinced that love is the force that makes the world go round. Due to an accident at work, he is forced to spend the summer holidays alone, at home, convalescing. When they deliver the results of the tests, he will be able to leave and join his family on vacation, his wife and two children. After a long time, he finds himself having to spend an extended period in complete solitude, but he is no longer used to it and becomes very bored. While rummaging in the basement he finds an old typewriter and decides that he will write a novel to pass the time. It is the story of Mr. Carpetti, a lonely man who, having lost his love for life, is dying of a non-existent illness. When the doctor reveals that he has only a few months to live, he embarks on a journey that will lead him to change profoundly. During this journey he will meet a person who will take him with him on an incredible adventure that will lead him back to believing in the values of love. This person is Walter, a missionary doctor who is the victim of an international plot that has as its object the sale of expired medicines to third world countries. It is he who will teach Carpetti the love for life, for people and for things. But the machine that Franco is using to write this story has something strange about it: it is believed to have belonged to a crazy writer, a man who after writing a single masterpiece committed suicide, leaving an accusatory letter against the machine itself where he calls it cursed. As Carpetti goes through experiences of various kinds and completes his own journey towards salvation, Franco identifies himself more and more with Carpetti so as to tell the story it in the best way possible. Meanwhile, he establishes a very special relationship with the typewriter, he does not recognize some pages of the novel as his own and thinks that the machine wrote them. Although he fears that this will drive him crazy definitively, he feels he must write at all costs because when he leaves the typewriter he is seized by strange sensations, anguish, physical pain. Some recurring illnesses make him believe that he is seriously ill, that he has a disease that progresses day by day and that will soon lead him to die. As a result, he carries out in his mind the same experiences as Carpetti in a reverse journey and arrives at discovering the dark part of himself and questioning everything he believes in.

In the much-anticipated follow-up to the bestselling and beloved The Travelling Cat Chronicles, seven cats weave their way through their owners'lives, climbing, comforting, nestling, and sometimes just tripping everyone up in this uplifting collection of tales by international bestselling author Hiro Arikawa.Against the backdrop of changing seasons in Japan, we meet Spin, a kitten rescued from the recycling bin, whose playful nature and simple needs teach an anxious father how to parent his own human baby; a colony of wild cats on a popular holiday island show a young boy not to stand in nature's way; a family is perplexed by their cat's undying devotion to their charismatic but uncaring father; a woman curses how her cat will not stop visiting her at night; and an elderly cat hatches a plan to pass into the next world as a spirit so that he and his owner may be in each other's lives forever.Bursting with love and warmth, The Goodbye Cat exquisitely explores the cycle of life, from birth to death—as each of the seven stories explores how, in different ways, the steadiness and devotion of a well-loved cat never lets us down. A huge bestseller in Japan, this magical book is a joyous celebration of the wondrousness of cats and why we choose to share our lives with them.

Magic stops. Men vanish. Worlds end. Life goes on. The stories in The Last Vanishing Man start with the end of the world, as a narrator seeks to imagine how the actions of an American terrorist ripple through his family. American violence and masculinity are topics that weave through these stories, as characters of various genders and sexualities get scarred by the wounds of manhood. But though these stories bounce similar themes off each other, they are not narrow in focus or tone. Hard-edged realism lives alongside ghost stories and weird tales; the lyrical tragedy of “A Suicide Gun” sits beside the wild, filthy, absurdist romp that is “The Ballad of Jimmy and Myra”, a murder ballad that might be a lost Weird Al song for a John Waters movie. The collection winds down with an expatriot American living in the melting tundra of Siberia, seeking liberation from the forces that deranged his life, the same forces that shaped and warped the lives of all the other characters in the book.The Last Vanishing Man is organized in four sections. The first section tells tales of people seeking to make sense of history and their place in it, whether the history of a queer sanctuary in Canada or of the unfulfilled dreams of the Warhol star Candy Darling. The second section gives us characters who are each on a quest to understand someone who is gone, vanished into memory or worlds beyond, their stories closer to myth than history. In the third section, lonely men seek meaning in a world where they have lost their way. Their quests become philosophical, even spiritual, as they wander toward something greater than their own transient desires. The final section breaks the book open with extremes: extremes of feeling, extremes of strangeness, extremes of horror. The fiercely disturbing story “Patrimony” portrays a post-apocalypse where male power renders the procreation of humanity into torture. “On the Government of the Living” is also a post-apocalyptic story, also a story of children and humanity, but more haunting parable than horror, more Samuel Beckett than Clive Barker.The Last Vanishing Man is a book for readers seeking more than familiar genre conventions, readers seeking stories that challenge, unsettle, surprise, and sing. These are stories aware of the sufferings of the world, stories of characters tormented by unfulfilled desires and unfathomable violence, but also stories of compassion, of community, of humor, and of infinite possibilities beyond the prison of the self.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2024••The international bestseller••••A Guardian Book of the Autumn 2023••••Chosen as a book of the year by the independent.co.uk••'Her prose is a thing of wonder'Telegraph'Michaels's writing continues to stand head and shoulders above most other fiction'OBSERVER'Through luminous moments of chance, change, and even grace, Michaels shows us our humanity'MARGARET ATWOOD'Michaels is exceptionally open to beauty'GUARDIAN The triumphant new novel from the author of the Orange Prize-winning Fugitive Pieces: a soaring and luminous story of chance and change_________________________________________________1917. On a battlefield near the River Escaut, John lies in the aftermath of a blast, unable to move or feel his legs. Struggling to focus his thoughts, he is lost to memory – a chance encounter in a pub by a railway, a hot bath with his lover on a winter night, his childhood on a faraway coast – as the snow falls. 1920. John has returned from war to North Yorkshire, near another river – alive, but not still whole. Reunited with Helena, an artist, he reopens his photography business and endeavours to keep on living. But the past erupts insistently into the present, as ghosts begin to surface in his pictures: ghosts whose messages he cannot understand. So begins a narrative that spans four generations, moments of connection and consequence igniting and re-igniting as the century unfolds. In luminous moments of desire, comprehension, longing, transcendence, the sparks fly upward, working their transformations decades later. Held is a novel like no other, by a writer at the height of her powers: affecting and intensely beautiful, full of mystery, wisdom and compassion.'I am blown away by the scale, beauty, weave and thinking of this book... It dances with words, time and ideas in a way that seems to reinvent everything I know about the novel'RACHEL JOYCE

A National Bestseller A New Yorker Best Book of 2022 Fifteen years after the publication of Evidence of Things Unseen, National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize finalist Marianne Wiggins returns with a novel destined to be an American classic: a sweeping masterwork set during World War II about the meaning of family and the limitations of the American Dream.Rockwell “Rocky” Rhodes has spent years fiercely protecting his California ranch from the LA Water Corporation. It is here where he and his beloved wife Lou raised their twins, Sunny and Stryker, and it is here where Rocky has mourned Lou in the years since her death. As Sunny and Stryker reach the cusp of adulthood, the country teeters on the brink of war. Stryker decides to join the fight, deploying to Pearl Harbor not long before the bombs strike. Soon, Rocky and his family find themselves facing yet another incomprehensible tragedy. Rocky is determined to protect his remaining family and the land where they've loved and lost so much. But when the government decides to build a Japanese-American internment camp next to the ranch, Rocky realizes that the land faces even bigger threats than the LA watermen he's battled for years. Complicating matters is the fact that the idealistic Department of the Interior man assigned to build the camp, who only begins to understand the horror of his task after it may be too late, becomes infatuated with Sunny and entangled with the Rhodes family. Properties of Thirst is a novel that is both universal and intimate. It is the story of a changing American landscape and an examination of one of the darkest periods in this country's past, told through the stories of the individual loves and losses that weave together to form the fabric of our shared history. Ultimately, it is an unflinching distillation of our nation's essence—and a celebration of the bonds of love and family that persist against all odds.

One of literature's most decadent stories is now available in an exclusive collector's edition, featuring beautiful cover art from artist Laci Fowler and decorative interior pages, making it ideal for fiction lovers and book collectors alike.Beloved by fans across the globe, Fitzgerald's third novel The Great Gatsby exposes the dark side of the American Dream. This time-honored classic is now available as an exclusive collector's edition.Whether you're buying it as a gift or for yourself, this remarkable edition features:A beautiful, high-end hardcover featuring Laci Fowler's distinctive hand-painted artDecorative interior pages featuring pull quotes throughoutMatching ribbon marker and gold page edges Part of a 4-volume collection including The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Frankenstein, and The Return of Sherlock HolmesThe Great Gatsby has been casting its hypnotic spell on readers since 1925, unveiling every decadence and overindulgence the'Roaring Twenties'label implies. Nick Carraway, Daisy and Tom Buchanan, Jordan Baker, and of course, Jay Gatsby himself weave a sordid tale of love and betrayal.Exploring the themes of social division, wealth and materialism, and excess, this unique collector's edition presents Fitzgerald's classic tale in a giftable new way.

An intimate yet wide-sweeping story of a marine biologist working to save ocean ecosystems from climate change.With the world's oceans ravaged by climate change, Émeraude, a young marine biologist, works to preserve aquatic ecosystems by recreating them for zoos. When her work earns her a spot aboard a research vessel with an extended mission in the Arctic, it is the inescapable draw of the ocean that will save her when the world she leaves behind is irrevocably changed.Stories of Émeraude's ancestors — a young sailor abandoned at birth, a conjuror who mixes potions for her neighbours, a violent young man who hides in the woods to escape an even more violent war, and a talented young singer born to a mother who cannot speak — weave their way through her intimate reflections on a modest life, unknowingly shaped by those who came before.A RARE MACHINES BOOK

From the Booker Prize nominee and New York Times best-selling author of Great Circle, a piercing, irresistible first collection of short stories exquisite in their craft and audacious in their range A love triangle plays out over decades on a Montana dude ranch. A hurdler and a gymnast spend a single night together in the Olympic village. Mistakes and mysteries weave an intangible web around an old man's deathbed in Paris, connecting disparate destinies. On the slopes of an unfinished ski resort, a young woman searches for her vanished lover. A couple's Romanian honeymoon goes ominously awry, and, in the mesmerizing title story, a former child actress breaks with her life in a Hollywood cult. In these and other stories, knockout after knockout, Maggie Shipstead delivers another “extraordinary” (New York Times) work of fiction and seals her reputation as a writer of “breathtaking range and skill” (Kirkus Reviews). Rich in imagination and dazzling in its shapeshifting style, You Have a Friend in 10A excavates the complexities of love, sex, and life in ways unsparing and hilarious, sharp-eyed and tender.

From literary icon Joyce Carol Oates, author of Blonde, now a major motion picture, comes a brand new collection of haunting and, at times, darkly humorous mystery and suspense stories. These are tales of psyches pushed to their limits by the expectations of everyday life – from a woman who gets lost on her drive back to her plush suburban home and ends up breaking into a stranger's house, to a first-person account of a cloned 1940s magazine pinup girl being sold at auction and embodying America's ideals of beauty and womanhood.Taken as a whole, the collection forms a poignant tapestry of regular people searching for their place in a social hierarchy, often with devastating and disastrous results. Rendered with stylish, fresh writing from an author who continues to push the envelope, the stories deftly weave in and out of a stream-of-consciousness to reflect the ways we process traumatic experiences and impart that uncertainty and uneasiness to the reader. The stories comprising Night, Neon showcase Oates'mastery of the suspense story and her relentless use of the form to conduct unapologetically honest explorations of American identity.'Embracing the twists and turns of everyday American life, the author's latest short story collection is playful, gripping and disturbing.'GuardianReviews for Joyce Carol Oates:'Oates chillingly depicts the darkness lurking within the everyday.'Sunday Express'Both haunting and sublime.'Literary Review'Splendidly chilling.'Financial Times'Visceral, psychologically involving, and socially astute.'Booklist

WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION FINALIST • REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK • NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • The author of award-winning Hamnet brings the world of Renaissance Italy to jewel-bright life in this unforgettable fictional portrait of the captivating young duchess Lucrezia de'Medici as she makes her way in a troubled court.“I could not stop reading this incredible true story.” —Reese Witherspoon (Reese's Book Club Pick)'O'Farrell pulls out little threads of historical detail to weave this story of a precocious girl sensitive to the contradictions of her station...You may know the history, and you may think you know what's coming, but don't be so sure.'—The Washington PostFlorence, the 1550s. Lucrezia, third daughter of the grand duke, is comfortable with her obscure place in the palazzo: free to wonder at its treasures, observe its clandestine workings, and devote herself to her own artistic pursuits. But when her older sister dies on the eve of her wedding to the ruler of Ferrara, Modena and Reggio, Lucrezia is thrust unwittingly into the limelight: the duke is quick to request her hand in marriage, and her father just as quick to accept on her behalf. Having barely left girlhood behind, Lucrezia must now enter an unfamiliar court whose customs are opaque and where her arrival is not universally welcomed. Perhaps most mystifying of all is her new husband himself, Alfonso. Is he the playful sophisticate he appeared to be before their wedding, the aesthete happiest in the company of artists and musicians, or the ruthless politician before whom even his formidable sisters seem to tremble? As Lucrezia sits in constricting finery for a painting intended to preserve her image for centuries to come, one thing becomes worryingly clear. In the court's eyes, she has one duty: to provide the heir who will shore up the future of the Ferranese dynasty. Until then, for all of her rank and nobility, the new duchess's future hangs entirely in the balance. Full of the beauty and emotion with which she illuminated the Shakespearean canvas of Hamnet, Maggie O'Farrell turns her talents to Renaissance Italy in an extraordinary portrait of a resilient young woman's battle for her very survival.

WINNER of the Gotham Book Prize • Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award, and the Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence • Longlisted for the Story Prize Named a BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR by NPR, Kirkus Reviews, Library Journal, Chicago Review of Books, LitHub, and Electric Lit “A standout achievement…American speech is an underused commodity in contemporary fiction and it's a joy to find such a vital example of it here.” —The Wall Street Journal From a superb new literary talent, a rich, lyrical collection of stories about a tight-knit cast of characters grappling with their own personal challenges while the forces of gentrification threaten to upend life as they know it.At Banneker Terrace, everybody knows everybody, or at least knows of them. Longtime tenants'lives are entangled together in the ups and downs of the day-to-day, for better or for worse. The neighbors in the unit next door are friends or family, childhood rivals or enterprising business partners. In other words, Harlem is home. But the rent is due, and the clock of gentrification—never far from anyone's mind—is ticking louder now than ever. In eight interconnected stories, Sidik Fofana conjures a residential community under pressure. There is Swan, in apartment 6B, whose excitement about his friend's release from prison jeopardizes the life he's been trying to lead. Mimi, in apartment 14D, hustles to raise the child she had with Swan, waitressing at Roscoe's and doing hair on the side. And Quanneisha B. Miles, in apartment 21J, is a former gymnast with a good education who wishes she could leave Banneker for good, but can't seem to escape the building's gravitational pull. We root for the tight-knit cast of characters as they weave in and out of one another's narratives, working to escape their pasts and blaze new paths forward for themselves and the people they love. All the while we brace, as they do, for the challenges of a rapidly shifting future. Stories from the Tenants Downstairs brilliantly captures the joy and pain of the human experience in this “singular accomplishment from a writer to watch” (Library Journal, starred review).

Mrs. Robinson, meet Holden Caulfield—if Holden were a smart, sexy teenage lesbian in love with her mother's best friend. For Candace “Ace” Ragsdale, Mrs. Forest is an irresistible force of nature: luscious, tantalizing—and maybe not completely out of reach. No one in her family is moored to social convention—but they've each learned to surf the wave of the unfamiliar and make the most of chaos. From Ace's womanizing-yet-worshipful brother to her elusive-yet-loving parents, we watch this well-meaning family weave its way into a rich tapestry of townspeople, often to comic effect. The backdrop is the Massachusetts seaside town of Horton, cut off from the world. On the surface, boats sway on their moorings, while below bubbles a primal brew of salt and sea life—much like the Ragsdales, a decidedly modern family whose humor and goodwill skim breezily above an ocean of smoldering emotions. Into this infinite chaos careens a rebel grandmother who shows up to help the family save the town windmill, whose mysterious energy whips up the coastal disturbances of a changing world. As this spectacle of public conflict and private anguish unfolds, we're fully on Ace's side as she pilots the turbulent waters of love, sex, and traditionally non-traditional small-town values.

FINALIST FOR THE 2022 NATIONAL BOOK AWARDA new masterwork of satire, lore, and living memory from the leading voice of French-Rwandan literature “Mukasonga breathes upon a vanished world and brings it to life in all its sparkling multifariousness” --J.M. CoetzeeIn four beautifully woven parts, Mukasonga spins a marvelous recounting of the clash between ancient Rwandan beliefs and the missionaries determined to replace them with European Christianity.When a rogue priest is defrocked for fusing the gospels with the martyrdom of Kibogo, a fierce clash of cults ensues. Swirling with the heady smell of wet earth and flashes of acerbic humor, Mukasonga brings to life the vital mythologies that imbue the Rwandan spirit. In doing so, she gives us a tale of disarming simplicity and profound universal truth.Kibogo's story is reserved for the evening's end, when women sit around a fire drinking honeyed brew, when just a few are able to stave off sleep. With heads nodding, drifting into the mist of a dream, one faithful storyteller will weave the old legends of the hillside, stories which church missionaries have done everything in their power to expunge.To some, Kibogo's tale is founding myth, celestial marvel, magic incantation, bottomless source of hope. To white priests spritzing holy water on shriveled, drought-ridden trees, it looms like red fog over the village: forbidden, satanic, a witchdoctor's hoax. All debate the twisted roots of this story, but deep down, all secretly wonder – can Kibogo really summon the rain?

When Tito is a child, his grandmother teaches him how to weave magic around the ones you love in order to keep them close. She is the master and he is the pupil, exasperating Tito's put-upon mother who, although exhausted from working long hours, is usually the focus of their mischief. As Tito grows older and his grandmother's mind becomes less sound, their games take a dangerous turn. They both struggle with a particular spell, one that creates an illusion of illness to draw in love. But as the lines between magic and childish tales blur, so too do those between fantasy and reality. In this beautifully told drama of the bond between grandson and grandmother, JT Torres delicately explores the complexities of family ties – in which love is need, and need becomes manipulation – along with the pain and difficulties of dementia and mental ill health.

When William Came (1913) is a novel by Saki. Considered a masterpiece of invasion literature, When William Came indulges in the paranoid atmosphere of the leadup to the Great War to weave a sinister tale of espionage, survival, and conspiracy. Keenly aware of the heightening tensions between Britain and Germany, Saki crafts an entertaining story with a political purpose: to call for national conscription in the event of war. Much has changed in London since Murrey Yeovil left for a hunting trip in Eastern Siberia. War came and went, London fell to German forces, and his wife Cicely found a younger lover. Disembarking from the train, he gets into a cab and gives his address, only to discover his driver speaks German. Slowly, he grows accustomed to the rhythms of life under an occupying force, but it is impossible to ignore how many people have been lost. Of those who survived the war, many fled for the countryside or to colonies and nations overseas. They are the lucky ones, who need not fear a trip to the store or a turn down the wrong street might lead to imprisonment—or worse. Soon, Murrey must decide where his true loyalties lie. This edition of Saki's When William Came is a classic of British invasion literature reimagined for modern readers. Since our inception in 2020, Mint Editions has kept sustainability and innovation at the forefront of our mission. Each and every Mint Edition title gets a fresh, professionally typeset manuscript and a dazzling new cover, all while maintaining the integrity of the original book. With thousands of titles in our collection, we aim to spotlight diverse public domain works to help them find modern audiences. Mint Editions celebrates a breadth of literary works, curated from both canonical and overlooked classics from writers around the globe.

One of O: The Oprah Magazine's Most Anticipated Books of 2021 One of Publishers Weekly's Top 10 picks for Spring 2021 Ethan, a young lawyer in New York, learns that his father has long kept a second family - a wife and two kids living in Queens. In the aftermath of this revelation, Ethan's mother spends a year travelling abroad, returning much changed, just as her now ex-husband falls ill. Across town, Ethan's half brothers are caught in their own complicated journeys: one brother's penchant for minor delinquency has escalated and the other must travel to Bangkok to bail him out, while the bargains their mother struck about love and money continue to shape all their lives. As Ethan finds himself caught in a love triangle of his own, the interwoven fates of these two households elegantly unfurl to touch many other figures, revealing secret currents of empathy and loyalty, the bounty of improvised families and the paradoxical ties that weave through life's rich contours. With a generous and humane spirit, Secrets of Happiness elucidates the ways people marshal the resources at hand in an effort to find joy.

A small group of Jews weave a web of intrigue and fantasy around a book reviewer's contention that he is the son of Borus Schultz, the legendary Polish writer killed by the Nazis before his magnum opus, THE MESSIAH, could be brought to light.

Shortlisted for the CWA Daggers Debut Award 2022Cullrothes, in the Scottish Highlands, where Innes hides a terrible secret from his girlfriend Alice, a gorgeous, cheating, lying schoolteacher. In the same village, Donald is the aggressive distillery owner, who floods the country with narcotics alongside his single malt; when his son goes missing, he becomes haunted by an anonymous American investor intent on purchasing the Cullrothes Distillery by any means necessary. Schoolgirl Jessie is trying to get the grades to escape to the mainland, while Grandpa counts the days left in his life.This is a place where mountains are immense and the loch freezes in winter. A place with only one road in and out. With long storms and furious midges and a terrible phone signal. The police are compromised, the journalists are scum, and the innocent folk of Cullrothes tangle themselves in a fermenting barrel of suspicion, malice and lies.The Mash House uses multiple narratives to weave together the parallel lives of individuals in the village. Each fractured by the fears and uncertainty in their own minds.

Dmitry Lipskerov, an award-winning Russian writer compared throughout his career to Mikhail Bulgakov and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, focuses his unbridled imagination on the story of wealthy, satisfied Mr. Iratov, whose virile world is flipped upside-down. Taking a page from Gogol's satirical story “The Nose,” wherein the protagonist loses his aforementioned facial feature, Lipskerov's novel transposes such a loss onto a more delicate organ. The protagonist awakens one morning bereft of his tool; and the tool, which re-appears, sentient and in a small village far away, without his man. Thus begins a novel both funny and absurd, in which characters come together across disparate social strata and with differing goals to weave the fate of a universe familiar yet fantastical, a perfect satire of the madness of Russian society today. The Tool and the Butterflies, Lipskerov's eagerly anticipated English language debut, is not just a darkly comedic exploration of post-Soviet attitudes towards gender and sexuality, but also a historically and socially grounded narrative rich in naturalistic dialogue and everyday detail, and an engaging story of family and what matters most in life, in the grandest tradition of Russian literature.

An intriguing novel which is a skilful weave of striking images, providing the reader with a brief snapshot of the lives of a number of people on one particular day. We gradually come to realise that their lives are entwined, and the bond is a taut one which can't be broken...

As a teenager in the 1970s, Sarah is forced to leave her home in upstate New York to accompany a missionary to Idaho. When she falls pregnant, she is dispatched to relatives in Sydney, who place her in a home for unmarried mothers. Years later her daughter, Bet, pieces together her mother's life story, hoping to understand her better. As she learns more about Sarah's past, Bet struggles to come to terms with her own history and identity, yet is determined to make peace with Sarah's choices before it's too late. Lucy Neave's moving and deeply personal novel follows three generations of one family and questions what we can ever truly know of our parents'early lives, even as their experiences weave invisibly into our identities and destinies.

When Tito is a child, his grandmother teaches him how to weave magic around the ones you love in order to keep them close. She is the master and he is the pupil, exasperating Tito's put-upon mother who, although exhausted from working long hours, is usually the focus of their mischief. As Tito grows older and his grandmother's mind becomes less sound, their games take a dangerous turn. They both struggle with a particular spell, one that creates an illusion of illness to draw in love. But as the lines between magic and childish tales blur, so too do those between fantasy and reality. In this beautifully told drama of the bond between grandson and grandmother, J. T. Torres delicately explores the complexities of family bonds - in which love is need, and need becomes manipulation, along with the pain and difficulties of dementia and mental ill health.

Winner of the LA Times/Ray Bradbury PrizeNineteen sparkling stories that weave between the lands of the living and the lands of the dead. Spirits Abroad is an expanded edition of Zen Cho's Crawford Award winning debut collection with nine added stories including Hugo Award winner “If at First You Don't Succeed, Try, Try Again.” A Datin recalls her romance with an orang bunian. A teenage pontianak struggles to balance homework, bossy aunties, first love, and eating people. An earth spirit gets entangled in protracted negotiations with an annoying landlord, and Chang E spins off into outer space, the ultimate metaphor for the Chinese diaspora.

WINNER OF THE STELLA PRIZEThe lives of three women weave together across centuries in this dazzling new novel. Sarah, accused of being a witch, is fleeing for her life. Ruth, in the aftermath of World War II, is navigating a new marriage and the strange waters of the local community. Six decades later, Viv, still mourning the death of her father, is cataloging Ruth's belongings in Ruth's now-empty house. As each woman's story unfolds, it becomes increasingly clear that their choices are circumscribed, in ways big and small, by the men who seek to control them. But in sisterhood there is also the possibility of survival and a new way of life. Intricately crafted and compulsively readable, The Bass Rock burns bright with love and fury—a devastating indictment of violence against women and an empowering portrait of their resilience through the ages.

Weddings always have their fair share of drama, but this one comes on the heels of the highly controversial 2009 Iranian election and ensuing Green Wave protests.When the matriarch of Sarah's family arranged her marriage to Ali, it was with the intention of uniting two compatible families. However, as the 2009 election becomes contentious, political differences emerge and Sarah's conservative family tries to call off the wedding. Sarah and Ali, however, have fallen in love and, against the wishes of their parents, insist on going through with the marriage.Sarah's cousin, Sadegh, is a staunch supporter of the government and a member of the Basij, the volunteer militia tasked with arresting protestors and shutting down speech against the regime. Meanwhile, Ali's sister, Azar, is an activist, a divorce attorney, and a passionate Green Wave supporter, trying to enact change in a way that many Iranians see as inflammatory. When Sarah impulsively shelters a protestor in their car on the drive home from her wedding, she sets off a chain of events that can either unmask the government's brutality or ruin them all.Sarah, Sadegh, and Azar's stories weave together in an unflinching, humorous, and at times terrifying story that demonstrates that, even as the world is falling apart around us, choices matter.

Wrapped in controversy, the publication of'The Picture of Dorian Gray'in 1891 was a milestone in world literature. The work was censored by publishers, who were afraid of shocking British morale with the publication, then scandalized and turned into evidence against the author himself in a lawsuit of moral aggression. But the qualities of the novel – the only one written by Oscar Wilde, famous for his plays – spoke louder and it is still fascinating to meet Dorian Gray, a character who lives a double life. He shows himself to society as an elegant and virtuous man, while secretly indulges in the most extreme hedonism, a result of selling his soul to ensure that he remains as handsome and youthful as his portrait, painted by his friend Basil Hallward, a young painter. Mixing the philosophical and the fantastical, this is Oscar Wilde's sagacity at its best. The ns_english collection features literary classics in their original language, putting the reader in direct contact with the words – and the legacy – of the greatest names of the world literature. Here you will find the integral text in English, enabling new interpretations, insights, and studies of works that have helped weave the history of the world – and that will be forever in our memories.

Fake it so Real takes on the fallout from a punk-rock lifestyle—the future of “no future”—and its effect on the subsequent generations of one family. In June of 1983, Gwen, a gnarly Nancy Spungen lookalike, meets Damian, the enigmatic leader of a punk band. Seven years and two unplanned pregnancies later, Damian abandons Gwen, leaving her to raise their two daughters, Sara and Meg, on her own. The fourteen chapters that make up this book usher Gwen and her daughters through five decades, haunted by Damian's ghost. Fuelled by vodka and scrappy determination, Gwen balances a responsibility to her daughters with her narcissistic, self-destructive tendencies. Sara and Meg scramble through adolescence and enter adulthood walking the line between selfishness and self-sacrifice, attempting to avoid their parents'mistakes, all the while making a whole new set of mistakes of their own. In the voices of Gwen, Damian, Sara, Meg, Damian's bandmate and Gwen's true love, the novel weave a raw and honest tapestry of family life as told from the underbelly, focused on the grey area between right and wrong, the idea that we are all equally culpable and justified in our actions, and the pain and ecstasy that accompany a life lived authentically.

A collection of horror–inspired flash fiction, featuring over 40 new stories from literary, horror, and emerging writers—edited by Lincoln Michel and Nadxieli Nieto, the twisted minds behind Tiny Crimes: Very Short Tales of Mystery and MurderIn this playful, inventive collection, leading literary and horror writers spin chilling tales in only a few pages. Each slim, fast–moving story brings to life the kind of monsters readers love to fear, from brokenhearted vampires to Uber–taking serial killers and mind–reading witches. But what also makes Tiny Nightmares so bloodcurdling—and unforgettable—are the real–world horrors that writers such as Samantha Hunt, Brian Evenson, Jac Jemc, Stephen Graham Jones, Lilliam Rivera, Kevin Brockmeier, and Rion Amilcar Scott weave into their fictions, exploring how global warming, racism, social media addiction, and homelessness are just as frightening as, say, a vampire's fangs sinking into your neck. Our advice? Read with the hall light on and the bedroom door open just a crack. Featuring new stories from Samantha Hunt, Jac Jemc, Stephen Graham Jones, Rion Amilcar Scott, and more!

In a poverty-stricken neighbourhood wedged between the city and the sea, a father and son struggle to keep their heads above water. Rather than being discouraged by their difficulties and hardship, their response is to come up with increasingly bizarre and imaginative plans in order to get by. Even when a horrifying, macabre event rocks the neighborhood and the locals start to flee, father and son decide to stay put. What matters is staying together.This is a bold, poignant text that juxtaposes a very tender father-son relationship with the son's sexual liberation and a brutal depiction of homophobic violence. Giuseppe Caputo uses delicate – yet electrifying – lyricism and imagery to weave a tale that balances desire, violence, discrimination, love, eroticism and defiance, while evoking with surreal humor the social marginalization of the protagonists as they struggle to keep afloat in a society where there are no safety nets.Like a brightly-lit theme park with its house of horrors, reminiscent in parts of James Baldwin's Another Country or Virginie Despentes'Vernon Subutex trilogy, An Orphan World defies the reader to look away, and the reward is an exhilarating carnival ride filled with beauty, compassion and loss.

Winner of the Nadia Christensen Prize for translation from the American-Scandinavian FoundationIn a masterful blend of fiction and autobiography, a Norwegian novelist sends her character to the far north to learn what she can about their Sami ancestryInspired by Helene Uri's own journey into her family's ancestry, Clearing Out, an emotionally resonant novel by one of Norway's most celebrated authors, tells two intertwining stories. A novelist, named Helene, is living in Oslo with her husband and children and contemplating her new protagonist, Ellinor Smidt—a language researcher, divorced and in her late thirties, with a doctorate but no steady job.An unexpected call from a distant relative reveals that Helene's grandfather, Nicolai Nilsen, was the son of a coastal (sjø) Sami fisherman—something no one in her family ever talked about. Uncertain how to weave this new knowledge into who she believes she is, Helene continues to write her novel, in which her heroine Ellinor travels to Finnmark in the far north to study the dying languages of the Sami families there. What Ellinor finds among the Sami people she meets is a culture little known in her own world; she discovers history richer and more alluring than rumor and a connection charged with mystery and promise. Through her persistence in approaching an elderly Sami activist, and her relationship with a local Sami man, Ellinor confronts a rift that has existed between two families for generations.Intricate and beautifully constructed, Clearing Out offers a solemn reflection on how identities, like families, are formed and fractured and recovered as stories are told. In its depiction of the forgotten and the fiercely held memories among the Sea (sjø) Sami of northern Norway, the novel is a powerful statement on what is lost, and what remains in reach, in the character and composition of contemporary life.

“Richard Wiley is one of our best writers. These stories satisfy in the way that brilliant short fiction always satisfies; one feels as if one has absorbed the expansive vision and drama of a novel. Read slowly, and I bet you'll want to read again.” —Richard Bausch, author of Peace and Living in the Weather of the World“It's a strange and winsome feeling I have, reading Tacoma Stories, the blue sensation that Richard Wiley has made me homesick for a place I've never been, mourning the loss of friends I never had, in a life where each and every one of us is loved, however imperfectly. Think Sherwood Anderson inhabiting Raymond Carver's Northwest and you'll have a clear picture of Wiley's accomplishment.” —Bob Shacochis, author of Easy in the Islands and The Woman Who Lost Her SoulOn St. Patrick's Day in 1968, sixteen people sit in Pat's Tavern, drink green beer, flirt, rib each other, and eventually go home in (mostly) different directions. In the stories that follow, which span 1958 to the present, Richard Wiley pops back into the lives of this colorful cast of characters—sometimes into their pasts, sometimes into their futures—and explores the ways in which their individual narratives indelibly weave together. At the heart of it all lies Tacoma, Washington, a town full of eccentricities and citizens as unique as they are universal. The Tacoma of Tacoma Stories might be harboring paranoid former CIA operatives and wax replicas of dead husbands, but it is also a place with all the joys and pains one could find in any town, anytime and anywhere.Richard Wiley is the author of eight novels including Bob Stevenson; Soldiers in Hiding, winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction and the Washington State Book Award; and Ahmed's Revenge, winner of the Maria Thomas Fiction Award. Professor emeritus at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, he divides his time between Los Angeles, California, and Tacoma, Washington.

Kings, lords, liars, usherettes, goal-hangers, gun-men and prostitutes, Whether or not these stories bear any relation to life as it is lived in Endland (sic) is not my problem and good riddance to all those what prefer to read about truly good, lucky and nice people – you won't like this crap at all.A comical and brutal weave of parables gone wrong, Endland holds a broken mirror to England. In its garish but strangely familiar world of empty tower blocks, 24-hour cyber cafes and bomb sites, a motley collection of misfits, wanderers and charmed drunks do their best to survive. Nothing is stable in Endland and what's more, the gods have started drinking at lunchtime, which can only lead to trouble. Conjured in a mix of slang, pub anecdote, folktale and science fiction, Endland is the nightmare unfolding just outside the window – a glitchy parade of aging bikers and ghost children, cut-price assassins and witless wannabe celebs.The world fashioned by Thatcher, Google, NATO, ICANN, Brexit, Big Brother, Bin Laden and Trump needs new narratives to make sense of it. In Endland, with feverish wit and a broken compass, Etchells unpicks the myths and strange realities we're caught up in.

The sea has always intrigued mankind.Becalmed or angry, it is always majestic and speaks of nature's power, her ability to conjure our imaginations to action and to weave stories, myths and legends.Over the millennia our boats and ships have travelled seas and oceans in search of trade, of territory and to exchange and more usually, impose cultures on what we find. But the journey across the endless tracts of water continuously attracts the attentions of writers.Our authors here, with the exceptions of one or two, may not be especially well-known but the quality of their writing in these short stories vividly captures man's yearning to be there on the briny water.

A jaded young priest of a dwindling parish faces a man with a terrible secret. A lonely pensioner spends a Thanksgiving she'll never forget at a local diner, served by an acerbic waitress who has finally found her ticket out of there. A recent university graduate from small-town Ontario leaves home with nothing to his name but the hope of a new life in the city and places all his trust in a charismatic yet dubious life coach. Lyrical language, at times haunting, and moments of dry humour weave through the three novellas in this collection. Set in and around Ottawa, Ontario, these stories examine the peripheries of society. In the characters'journey toward the centre, they navigate flawed human relationships, seek to encounter a divine presence that is at once implicitly present yet dreadfully distant, and struggle to negotiate the conditions of redemption.

Think Downton Abbey, set in the heart of Boston Irish domestic worker Norah King's decision to ask her wealthy employer, Caroline Parker, for an elegant red coat that the Beacon Hill matriarch has marked for donation ignites a series of events that neither woman could have fathomed. The unlikely exchange will impact their respective daughters and families for generations to come, from the coat's original owner, marriage-minded collegian Cordelia Parker, to the determined and spirited King sisters of South Boston, Rosemary, Kay, and Rita. As all of these young women experience the realities of life – love and loss, conflict and joy, class prejudices and unexpected prospects – the red coat reveals the distinction between cultures, generations, and landscapes in Boston during the 1940s and 50s, a time of change, challenge, and opportunity. Meet the proud, working-class Irish and staid, upper-class Brahmins through the contrasting lives of these two families and their friends and neighbors. See how the Parkers and the Kings each overcome sudden tragedy with resolve and triumph. And witness the profound impact of a mother's heart on her children's souls. Carlson brings us front and center with her knowing weave of Celtic passion – both tragic and joyful – words of wisdom, romance, humor, and historical events. Dive into Boston feet first! The Red Coat is a rich novel that chronicles the legacy of Boston from both sides of the city, Southie and the Hill.

Victor Selo had blown up his life. A wannabe rock star turned tech savant, he'd wagered his Silicon Valley executive position on a corporate inside straight and lost. Having security escort him out of the building was the best thing that happened to him that day. The rest left him in the hospital, broken, broke, and with no prospects. That's when a shadowy stranger with questionable motives came with an offer: a chance to get his life back - and better - if he simply cooperates. It would require becoming invisible for a while, but he would be hiding in the spotlight, playing guitar in a Vegas cover band. Reluctantly, Victor accepts and begins an odyssey he never could have imagined. One that involves a charismatic lead singer who owns the stage but aspires to own an Elvis wedding chapel, a mesmerizing woman who can play anything on her keyboards and can really play with Victor's head, and two specters from his old life offering competing devil's bargains. Suddenly, multiple futures are opening up in front of Victor. All of them offer opportunity - and each comes with potentially catastrophic risk. Populated with a wide array of colorful characters, brimming with reflections on everything from love to God to the price of commitment, and backed by a great soundtrack, From Nothing is an endlessly engaging work of fiction that will resonate like your favorite song. Advance Praise for From Nothing: “Only a Silicon Valley insider with the soul of a classic rock musician could have authored this penetrating story of a man who finds his true identity after suffering the sting of betrayal from the men who promised to help fulfill his dreams. From Nothing is the perfect bookend to Ken Goldstein's now-classic novel This is Rage—a more personal, yet universal story about one man's struggle to embrace an elusive faith and receive the redemption he may or may not deserve. A book rich with insight and human introspection, From Nothing is also a page-turning thriller that will keep you guessing until the very end.” —Stephen Jay Schwartz, Los Angeles Times bestselling author of Boulevard and Beat “From the boardroom to the bandstand, Goldstein's From Nothing doesn't miss a beat, taking readers on a wildly unpredictable but wholly believable tale of 21st century rock n'roll soul redemption. Crackling dialog, tantalizing peeks into the cutthroat world of Silicon Valley, and vibrant scenes of unvanquished rock n'roll dreamers make From Nothing a must-read. —Robert Burke Warren, author of Perfectly Broken “In his third book, From Nothing, I was hooked from the very first page by Ken Goldstein's masterful storytelling. Only he could weave a story of competing vulture capitalists with eyes on a distressed software company with that of a Las Vegas cover band chasing dreams of superstardom—and teach us important lessons about leadership along the way.” —Scott Freiman, Founder, Deconstructing the Beatles'Ken Goldstein has done a masterful job with his latest, From Nothing. In this wild ride through the dark side of vulture finance, rock music and Sin City, you'll meet characters that think and speak like real people who find themselves facing tough choices. The plot moves fast and the stakes keep rising. Once you open this book, you won't put it down until you reach the thrilling finish.'—Robert Tercek, bestselling author of Vaporized