Fiction

Young Bernadette Maguire is ripe for adventure as she embarks on her junior year abroad. Seduced by a handsome Swiss banker, she is horrified when she discovers she's pregnant. Protected and befriended by those who help to keep her secret for as long as possible, this moving rite-of-passage tale will warm the heart as a young woman faces an all-too-familiar dilemma. Yet after an unexpected death and the discovery of her pregnancy by a classmate, Bernie's life takes some turns that will take decades to resolve.

One of the 20th century's greatest works of social protest-and its 21st-century message.

A classic examination of the American experience for hard-working Italian immigrants living in New York City's Lower East Side shortly before the Great Depression, Christ in Concrete focuses on a family's struggle against harsh economic realities and tenement living.

"Reading Christmas in London, you'll feel magically transported!" --Mary Alice Monroe, New York Times bestselling author of A Lowcountry Christmas

Set during London's most festive time of year and filled with delicious food, Anita Hughes's Christmas in London reminds us that love and forgiveness are truly the greatest gifts of all.

It's a week before Christmas, and Louisa Graham is working twelve hour shifts at a bakery on Manhattan's Lower East Side. When a young cooking show assistant comes in from the rain and begs to buy all the cinnamon rolls on her tray, she doesn't know what to do. Louisa is just the baker, and they aren't hers to sell. But the show burned the rolls they were supposed to film that day; so she agrees.

The next morning, Louisa finds out that her cinnamon rolls were a hit, but the star of the show was allergic, and the whole crew is supposed to leave for London that afternoon. They want Louisa to step in for their annual Christmas Eve Dinner TV special at Claridge's. It's a great opportunity, and Digby Bunting, Louisa's famous baking idol, will be there. Even if he does seem more interested in her than her food.

And then there's Kate, the show's beautiful producer. On their first day in London she runs into the skinny boy she jilted at St. Andrew's in Scotland ten years ago. Now he's a handsome, brilliant mathematician, and newly divorced. Their familiar spark is still there, but so is the scar of how they left things. Kate and Louisa are busy preparing for the show, but old and new flames are complicating their work.

This enchanting novel is a delicious holiday treat!

Alvirah Meehan, the lottery winner turned amateur sleuth, joins forces once again with private detective Regan Reilly to track down the beautiful ninety-foot tree that has been hijacked on its way to the Rockerfeller Center for the Christmas season.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR, BOOKPAGE, AND SHELF AWARENESS - "Paula McLain is considered the new star of historical fiction, and for good reason. Fans of The Paris Wife will be captivated by Circling the Sun, which . . . is both beautifully written and utterly engrossing."--Ann Patchett, Country Living

Paula McLain, author of the phenomenal bestseller The Paris Wife, now returns with her keenly anticipated new novel, transporting readers to colonial Kenya in the 1920s. Circling the Sun brings to life a fearless and captivating woman--Beryl Markham, a record-setting aviator caught up in a passionate love triangle with safari hunter Denys Finch Hatton and Karen Blixen, who as Isak Dinesen wrote the classic memoir Out of Africa.

Brought to Kenya from England as a child and then abandoned by her mother, Beryl is raised by both her father and the native Kipsigis tribe who share his estate. Her unconventional upbringing transforms Beryl into a bold young woman with a fierce love of all things wild and an inherent understanding of nature's delicate balance. But even the wild child must grow up, and when everything Beryl knows and trusts dissolves, she is catapulted into a string of disastrous relationships.

Beryl forges her own path as a horse trainer, and her uncommon style attracts the eye of the Happy Valley set, a decadent, bohemian community of European expats who also live and love by their own set of rules. But it's the ruggedly charismatic Denys Finch Hatton who ultimately helps Beryl navigate the uncharted territory of her own heart. The intensity of their love reveals Beryl's truest self and her fate: to fly.

Set against the majestic landscape of early-twentieth-century Africa, McLain's powerful tale reveals the extraordinary adventures of a woman before her time, the exhilaration of freedom and its cost, and the tenacity of the human spirit.

Praise for Circling the Sun

"In McLain's confident hands, Beryl Markham crackles to life, and we readers truly understand what made a woman so far ahead of her time believe she had the power to soar."--Jodi Picoult, author of Leaving Time

"Enchanting . . . a worthy heir to [Isak] Dinesen . . . Like Africa as it's so gorgeously depicted here, this novel will never let you go."--The Boston Globe

"Famed aviator Beryl Markham is a novelist's dream. . . . [A] wonderful portrait of a complex woman who lived--defiantly--on her own terms."--People (Book of the Week)

"Circling the Sun soars."--Newsday

"Captivating . . . [an] irresistible novel."--The Seattle Times

"Like its high-flying subject, Circling the Sun is audacious and glamorous and hard not to be drawn in by. Beryl Markham may have married more than once, but she was nobody's wife."--Entertainment Weekly

"[An] eloquent evocation of Beryl's daring life."--O: The Oprah Magazine

"Markham's life is the stuff of legend. . . . McLain has created a voice that is lush and intricate to evoke a character who is enviably brave and independent."--NPR

"Bold, absorbing fiction."--New York Daily News

"Paula McLain has such a gift for bringing characters to life. I loved discovering the singular Beryl Markham, with all her strengths and passions and complexities."--Jojo Moyes, author of Me Before You

From the Hardcover edition.

"NEW YORK TIMES "BESTSELLER
Dean Koontz is at the peak of his acclaimed powers with this major new novel.
A young boy, a musical prodigy, discovering life's wonders--and mortal dangers.
His best friend, also a gifted musician, who will share his journey into destiny.
His remarkable family, tested by the extremes of evil and bound by the depths of love . . . on a collision course with a band of killers about to unleash anarchy.
And two unlikely allies, an everyday hero tempered by the past and a woman of mystery who holds the key to the future.
These are the people of "The City, " a place where enchantment and malice entwine, courage and honor are found in the most unexpected quarters, and the way forward lies buried deep inside the heart. Brilliantly illumined by magic dark and light, their unforgettable story is a riveting, soul-stirring saga that speaks to everyone, a major milestone in the celebrated career of #1 "New York Times" bestselling author Dean Koontz and a dazzling realization of the evergreen dreams we all share.
Praise for "The City"
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"Beautifully crafted and poignant . . . "The City" is many things: serious, lighthearted, nostalgic, courageous, scary, and mysterious. . . . [It] will have readers staying up late at night.""--New York Journal of Books"
"[Koontz] can flat-out write. . . . The message of hope and depiction of how the choices you make can change your life ring true and will remain with you once the book has been closed."--"Bookreporter"
Acclaim for Dean Koontz
"Perhaps more than any other author, Koontz writes fiction perfectly suited to the mood of America: novels that acknowledge the reality and tenacity of evil but also the power of good . . . that entertain vastly as they uplift."--"Publishers Weekly"
"A rarity among bestselling writers, Koontz continues to pursue new ways of telling stories, never content with repeating himself.""--Chicago Sun-Times"
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"Tumbling, hallucinogenic prose. 'Serious' writers . . . might do well to examine his technique.""--The New York Times Book Review"
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"[Koontz] has always had near-Dickensian powers of description, and an ability to yank us from one page to the next that few novelists can match.""--Los Angeles Times"
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"Koontz is a superb plotter and wordsmith. He chronicles the hopes and fears of our time in broad strokes and fine detail, using popular fiction to explore the human condition.""--USA Today"
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"Characters and the search for meaning, exquisitely crafted, are the soul of [Koontz's] work. . . . One of the master storytellers of this or any age.""--The Tampa Tribune"
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"A literary juggler."--"The Times" (London)

The author of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil returns after a decade to offer, in his inimitable style, an intimate look at the magic, mystery, and decadence of the city of Venice and its inhabitants.

Prostitution has been legal in Rhode Island for more than a decade; Liam Mulligan, an old-school investigative reporter at dying Providence newspaper, suspects the governor has been taking payoffs to keep it that way. But this isn't the only story making headlines...a child's severed arm is discovered in a pile of garbage at a pig farm. Then the body of an internet pornographer is found sprawled on the rocks at the base of Newport's famous Cliff Walk.

At first, the killings seem random, but as Mulligan keeps digging into the state's thriving sex business, strange connections emerge. Promised free sex with hookers if he minds his own business--and a beating if he doesn't--Mulligan enlists Thanks-Dad, the newspaper publisher's son, and Attila the Nun, the state's colorful Attorney General, in his quest for the truth. What Mulligan learns will lead him to question his beliefs about sexual morality, shake his tenuous religious faith, and leave him wondering who his real friends are.

Cliff Walk is at once a hard-boiled mystery and an exploration of sex and religion in the age of pornography. Written with the unique and powerful voice that won DeSilva an Edgar Award for Best First Novel, Cliff Walk lifts Mulligan into the pantheon of great suspense heroes and is a giant leap for the career of Bruce DeSilva.

By the New York Times bestselling author of The Bone Clocks - Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize

A postmodern visionary and one of the leading voices in twenty-first-century fiction, David Mitchell combines flat-out adventure, a Nabokovian love of puzzles, a keen eye for character, and a taste for mind-bending, philosophical and scientific speculation in the tradition of Umberto Eco, Haruki Murakami, and Philip K. Dick. The result is brilliantly original fiction as profound as it is playful. In this groundbreaking novel, an influential favorite among a new generation of writers, Mitchell explores with daring artistry fundamental questions of reality and identity.

Cloud Atlas begins in 1850 with Adam Ewing, an American notary voyaging from the Chatham Isles to his home in California. Along the way, Ewing is befriended by a physician, Dr. Goose, who begins to treat him for a rare species of brain parasite. . . . Abruptly, the action jumps to Belgium in 1931, where Robert Frobisher, a disinherited bisexual composer, contrives his way into the household of an infirm maestro who has a beguiling wife and a nubile daughter. . . . From there we jump to the West Coast in the 1970s and a troubled reporter named Luisa Rey, who stumbles upon a web of corporate greed and murder that threatens to claim her life. . . . And onward, with dazzling virtuosity, to an inglorious present-day England; to a Korean superstate of the near future where neocapitalism has run amok; and, finally, to a postapocalyptic Iron Age Hawaii in the last days of history.

But the story doesn't end even there. The narrative then boomerangs back through centuries and space, returning by the same route, in reverse, to its starting point. Along the way, Mitchell reveals how his disparate characters connect, how their fates intertwine, and how their souls drift across time like clouds across the sky.

As wild as a videogame, as mysterious as a Zen koan, Cloud Atlas is an unforgettable tour de force that, like its incomparable author, has transcended its cult classic status to become a worldwide phenomenon.

Praise for Cloud Atlas

"[David] Mitchell is, clearly, a genius. He writes as though at the helm of some perpetual dream machine, can evidently do anything, and his ambition is written in magma across this novel's every page."--The New York Times Book Review

"One of those how-the-holy-hell-did-he-do-it? modern classics that no doubt is--and should be--read by any student of contemporary literature."--Dave Eggers

"Wildly entertaining . . . a head rush, both action-packed and chillingly ruminative."--People

"The novel as series of nested dolls or Chinese boxes, a puzzle-book, and yet--not just dazzling, amusing, or clever but heartbreaking and passionate, too. I've never read anything quite like it, and I'm grateful to have lived, for a while, in all its many worlds."--Michael Chabon

"Cloud Atlas ought to make [Mitchell] famous on both sides of the Atlantic as a writer whose fearlessness is matched by his talent."--The Washington Post Book World

"Thrilling . . . One of the biggest joys in Cloud Atlas is watching Mitchell sashay from genre to genre without a hitch in his dance step."--Boston Sunday Globe

"Grand and elaborate . . . [Mitchell] creates a world and language at once foreign and strange, yet strikingly familiar and intimate."--Los Angeles Times

From the Hardcover edition.

When William's father kicks him out of his Kansas home, no one--including William--thinks he'll amount to much. William suffers from an ailment that causes him to twitch uncontrollably. Of course, this is strange behavior to folks on the frontier. Needless to say, it's tough for William to make friends.

William's strange tic insults an outlaw. Forced to defend himself, William discovers his condition gives him phenomenal speed and accuracy with a six-gun.

In Trinidad, Colorado, William struggles to keep out of the way of two railroad giants fighting to control the town. He wants to pick up and leave. But he has a new friend and she needs his help.

William just wants to fit in somewhere. But people keep picking on him. People with guns.

This is the first book in a series in the adventures of Clown William.

World War II certainly had its share of deserving heroes and heroines, many of whom have received their due recognition. But how many civilian women can say they saved the lives of at least 250 downed airmen in just over two years? "Code Name Lily" takes you on an unforgettable journey from Belgium, into France, and over the Pyrenees Mountains into Spain. An extremely clever and persuasive young Belgian nurse outsmarts the Nazis time and again, risking her life if she is caught, but protecting every airman she successfully aids to evade the Germans. "Code Name Lily" is based on the true story of Micheline "Michou" Dumon-Ugeux, a legend in the Comet Line escape network from 1940-1944 who went only by the name of Lily. You, too, will fall in love with Lily.

12 cassettes / approx. 15 hours
UNABRIDGED
Read by the Author, Charles Frazier
"A rare and extraordinary book . . . heart-stopping . . . spellbinding." --"San Francisco Chronicle"
Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain is a masterpiece that is at once an enthralling adventure, a stirring love story, and a luminous evocation of a vanished American in all its savagery, solitude, and splendor.
Based on local history and family stories passed down by the author's great-grandfather, Cold Mountain is the tale of Inman, a wounded Confederate soldier who walks away from the ravages of the Civil War and back home to Ada, his prewar sweetheart. Inman's odyssey through the devastated landscape of the soon-to-be-defeated South interweaves with Ada's struggle to revive her father's farm. As their long-separated lives begin to converge at the close of the war, Inman and Ada must confront the vastly transformed world they've been delivered.
Read by the author, Cold Mountain asserts itself as an authentic American "Odyssey"--powerful, majestically lovely, and keenly moving.

Cold Mountain is an extraordinary novel about a soldier's perilous journey back to his beloved at the end of the Civil War. At once a magnificent love story and a harrowing account of one man's long walk home, Cold Mountain introduces a stunning new talent in American literature.

Based on local history and family stories passed down by the author's great-great-grandfather, Cold Mountain is the tale of a wounded soldier, Inman, who walks away from the ravages of the war and back home to his prewar sweetheart, Ada. Inman's odyssey through the devastated landscape of the soon-to-be-defeated South interweaves with Ada's struggle to revive her father's farm, with the help of an intrepid young drifter named Ruby. As their long-separated lives begin to converge at the close of the war, Inman and Ada confront the vastly transformed world they've been delivered.

Charles Frazier reveals marked insight into man's relationship to the land and the dangers of solitude. He also shares with the great nineteenth century novelists a keen observation of a society undergoing change. Cold Mountain re-creates a world gone by that speaks eloquently to our time.

When Spenser's closest ally, Hawk, is brutally injured and left for dead while protecting bookie Luther Gillespie, Spenser embarks on an epic journey to rehabilitate his friend in body and soul. Hawk, always proud, has never been dependent on anyone. Now he is forced to make connections: to accept the medical technology that will ensure his physical recovery, and to reinforce the tenuous emotional ties he has to those around him.
Spenser quickly learns that the Ukrainian mob is responsible for the hit, but finding a way into their tightly knit circle is not nearly so simple. Their total control of the town of Marshport, from the bodegas to the police force to the mayor's office, isn't just a sign of rampant corruption-it's a form of arrogance that only serves to ignite Hawk's desire to get even. As the body count rises, Spenser is forced to employ some questionable techniques and even more questionable hired guns while redefining his friendship with Hawk in the name of vengeance.

The fourth volume of Louis L'Amour's collected short stories features more than forty of the master's greatest adventure tales in a keepsake edition to cherish for generations. This unique collection gathers stories guaranteed to thrill and delight readers again and again, establishing why Louis L'Amour is truly America's favorite storyteller.

Louis L'Amour's tales of adventure cannot be surpassed for sheer storytelling excitement, and they stand as a testament to his legendary appeal. Here are timeless stories of danger and daring, wanderlust and heroism, filled with ordinary men and women facing often insurmountable challenges with courage, dignity, honor-and heart.

Perhaps never before has a single volume contained so many breathtaking thrills: from the down-on-his-luck fortune hunter who risks everything to save a diamond-hunting couple walking straight into a jungle massacre to the mystery "hero" aboard a downed commercial plane dangling six hundred feet above certain doom. You'll trek across the harsh steppes of East Asia with an American widow and her young son among a fierce nomadic warrior people, and you'll relive a harrowing tale of survival at sea against thirst, madness, and the elements as a common seaman redefines extraordinary courage as simply "doing his job."

Whether joining an American captain running a cargo ship through Japanese-controlled waters during World War II, only to find his vessel hijacked by traitorous pirates, or marveling at the resourcefulness of a young woman pushed to the limits of endurance as she flees a killer through a primeval forest, these adrenaline-laced tales of mystery, suspense, murder, and survival never let up and will keep your heart pounding long after the final page.

From those numbering a few intense pages to novella-length works, the tales in this action-packed anthology bear all the trademarks of the master's touch-the historical accuracy, memorable characters, and timeless themes that have earned Louis L'Amour his unique place among American writers.

Destined for bestseller lists, here is a multigenerational tale of three families and their entangled loves, dreams, and tragedies, set in a summer colony perched above the cold, rolling waters of the Maine coast. As 90-year-old Maude waits at the colony for her granddaughter to come and take her home, she looks back on her full life.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

"Absorbing . . . impossible to resist." --The Washington Post

As Europe erupts, can one young spy protect his queen? International bestselling author Ken Follett takes us deep into the treacherous world of powerful monarchs, intrigue, murder, and treason with his magnificent new epic, A Column of Fire.

In 1558, the ancient stones of Kingsbridge Cathedral look down on a city torn apart by religious conflict. As power in England shifts precariously between Catholics and Protestants, royalty and commoners clash, testing friendship, loyalty, and love.

Ned Willard wants nothing more than to marry Margery Fitzgerald. But when the lovers find themselves on opposing sides of the religious conflict dividing the country, Ned goes to work for Princess Elizabeth. When she becomes queen, all Europe turns against England. The shrewd, determined young monarch sets up the country's first secret service to give her early warning of assassination plots, rebellions, and invasion plans. Over a turbulent half century, the love between Ned and Margery seems doomed as extremism sparks violence from Edinburgh to Geneva. Elizabeth clings to her throne and her principles, protected by a small, dedicated group of resourceful spies and courageous secret agents.

The real enemies, then as now, are not the rival religions. The true battle pitches those who believe in tolerance and compromise against the tyrants who would impose their ideas on everyone else--no matter what the cost.

Set during one of the most turbulent and revolutionary times in history, A Column of Fire is one of Follett's most exciting and ambitious works yet. It will delight longtime fans of the Kingsbridge series and is the perfect introduction for readers new to Ken Follett.

The #1 New York Times bestseller by Nora Roberts now available in paperback.

Come Sundown named as one of Whoopi Goldberg's "Favorite Summer Reads" on ABC's The View and one of NY Post's biggest blockbuster "Whizbang Books" of the summer.


A novel of suspense, family ties, and twisted passions from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Obsession...

The Bodine ranch and resort in western Montana is a family business, an idyllic spot for vacationers. A little over thirty thousand acres and home to four generations, it's kept running by Bodine Longbow with the help of a large staff, including new hire Callen Skinner. There was another member of the family once: Bodine's aunt, Alice, who ran off before Bodine was born. She never returned, and the Longbows don't talk about her much. The younger ones, who never met her, quietly presume she's dead. But she isn't. She is not far away, part of a new family, one she never chose--and her mind has been shattered...

When a bartender leaves the resort late one night, and Bo and Cal discover her battered body in the snow, it's the first sign that danger lurks in the mountains that surround them. The police suspect Cal, but Bo finds herself trusting him--and turning to him as another woman is murdered and the Longbows are stunned by Alice's sudden reappearance. The twisted story she has to tell about the past--and the threat that follows in her wake--will test the bonds of this strong family, and thrust Bodine into a darkness she could never have imagined.

An innocent man is about to be executed.

Only a guilty man can save him.

For every innocent man sent to prison, there is a guilty one left on the outside. He doesn't understand how the police and prosecutors got the wrong man, and he certainly doesn't care. He just can't believe his good luck. Time passes and he realizes that the mistake will not be corrected: the authorities believe in their case and are determined to get a conviction. He may even watch the trial of the person wrongly accused of his crime. He is relieved when the verdict is guilty. He laughs when the police and prosecutors congratulate themselves. He is content to allow an innocent person to go to prison, to serve hard time, even to be executed.

Travis Boyette is such a man. In 1998, in the small East Texas city of Sloan, he abducted, raped, and strangled a popular high school cheerleader. He buried her body so that it would never be found, then watched in amazement as police and prosecutors arrested and convicted Donté Drumm, a local football star, and marched him off to death row.

Now nine years have passed. Travis has just been paroled in Kansas for a different crime; Donté is four days away from his execution. Travis suffers from an inoperable brain tumor. For the first time in his miserable life, he decides to do what's right and confess.

But how can a guilty man convince lawyers, judges, and politicians that they're about to execute an innocent man?

Confessions of the Meek and the Valiant is not your father's -- or Godfather's -- mob story. The notorious underworld gangs of South Boston are gone, but loyal men still meet to glorify them in the backrooms of the raucous neighborhood pubs. So when Riley Lynch, a shy, bright and likable Irish-Catholic kid from Southie is accepted to a prestigious college in New York, his proud family and their old connections rally to support him. But in doing so, they inadvertently expose disturbing secrets from his family's past that cause Riley to question everything he was raised to believe. And it is only through the passion of a pure and innocent heart that he and those he loves can be rescued from his family's dark legacy, and from the control of a rising, new and ambitious mob kingpin. Confessions of the Meek and the Valiant is a fast-paced chronicle of love, family, adventure and redemption. It is a story of a young man's quest to discover who he is, who he wants to be, and whether he can accept what the world believes he has become.

New York Times bestselling author Vince Flynn delivers his seventh heart-stopping thriller starring CIA operative Mitch Rapp. In the duplicitous world of espionage, the hunter becomes the hunted as Rapp is the prime target of a terrorist bent on revenge. Premium edition.

In his acclaimed career as a perennial bestselling author, Richard North Patterson has established himself as one of our most important voices in fiction and a keeper of the American conscience. He consistently writes novels that are intensely dramatic and deeply thought provoking. Now, in "Conviction," Patterson tackles one of the most emotional and complex of all legal debates: When, if ever, does the state have the right to exact the ultimate punishment-and is the death penalty a crime unto itself?
Fifty-nine days. That's how long Rennell Price has to live-after spending fifteen years on death row for the horrifying sexual assault and murder of a girl whose body was found floating in San Francisco Bay. But attorney Terri Paget, who has fought her own way out of hopelessness and abuse, has dedicated her life to fighting for people like Rennell Price. This time, Terri has a client she believes may actually be innocent, which means that an unpunished killer may still be free.
"I didn't do that little girl" is all Rennell Price has ever said in his own defense. In a trial, Rennell, along with his older brother, Payton, was found guilty of the heinous crime, and the conviction has been upheld through one appeal after another. But as Terri spends time with Rennell and re-creates the events that put him on death row-beginning with the first minutes of the police investigation-she starts to understand the forces that shaped Rennell and the reason he has never been able to defend himself adequately.
As Terri prepares for a last appeal, she gets a new weapon for her battle-fresh evidence suggesting that another man, not Rennell, helped Payton commit the atrocity. But the grimmachinery of capital punishment is already in motion, involving precedent and politics reaching from California to the highest court in the nation. As more people are drawn into Terri's last-ditch battle, and as agendas and personalities clash while time is running out for Rennell Price, this much is clear: The serious doubts about Rennell's guilt may not be enough to save him.
"Conviction "raises issues of ethics, political expediency, and personal trauma that will shake readers to their core. For here, in a novel of vivid characters on both sides of the law and profound tension on every page, Patterson illuminates the mysterious precincts between justice and truth-where the fate of one man involves not only his own life and the lives he has affected but the moral life of a nation.