The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield (2006)
A compelling emotional mystery about family secrets and the magic of books and storytelling. A dying writer bids a young bookshop assistant to write her biography.
2206 books
A compelling emotional mystery about family secrets and the magic of books and storytelling. A dying writer bids a young bookshop assistant to write her biography.
A sweep through the past 4 centuries of Irish history, woven around a family saga. Very readable and credible accounts of the historical events, although some of the fictional characters are a bit far fetched at the end of the tale, to round up the whole thing. It answers a lot of questions about the complexity of "THE IRISH QUESTION", and you can see modern day parallels to recent post-colonial efforts by other countries. A long book but a good read.
Micheal Monroe is learning a few new lessons in school this week: Never trust a teacher who believes in monsters. Don't even think about entering her house. And stay away from the giant egg in her attic- especially if it's about to hatch!
A Tomb With a View! Abby and Peter are staying with Uncle Jonathan in an eerie old village. Their uncle knows a lot about Egypt, and his living room even looks like an ancient tomb. Do other secrets lurk inside the house? MUM's the word! From Mummies to Dummies! Next, Abby and Peter will get all WRAPPED up in a terrifying mystery. Slappy the Dummy and other villains have been sighted in HorrorLand theme park. A monster named Byron might offer help... if they can find him.
A brilliant, disquieting first novel about a pair of conjoined twins who are deeply unhappy in each other's company. Nora, the dominant twin, is strong, funny, and deeply independent, thirsting for love and adventure. Blanche, by contrast, has been sleeping for nearly twenty years. Finally sick of carrying her sister's dead weight, Nora decides she wants her other half gone for good, so she leaves San Francisco for London in search of the mysterious Unity Foundation, which promises to make two one. And that one, of course, will be Nora -- Blanche will be mourned, but not missed.But once Nora arrives in London, her past begins to surface in surprising and disturbing ways, forcing her into a most reluctant voyage into memory. Something seems to be drawing Nora's thoughts back to the site of her rather unusual conception, birth, and childhood -- the reconstructed ghost town of Too Bad, Nevada, where lizards skitter across the playa and "Shootout at Noon" comes every day. Searching for meaning and understanding in both her own and Blanche's past, Nora pushes herself to the brink of insanity -- and begins to question her own, and Blanche's, grip on the truth. Grotesque, funny, intricately wrought, verbally and conceptually dazzling, Shelley Jackson's first novel is an imaginative and touching portrait of two lives in a cleft world yearning for wholeness -- a world not unlike our own.
The iconic First Lady, Jackie lived her life in a fishbowl yet she was shrouded in mystery. She was the epitome of style, poise, grace, and femininity, but her lifelong silence in front of the media has left many unanswered questions.In this juicy yet reverential examination of her life, Eve Pollard's insight into what made America's most admired woman tick is blended into a page-turning, believable thriller. Starting from the somber days following the shocking assassination of Jackie's husband, President John F. Kennedy, Pollard explores the emotions that guided her existence as the world's most famous widow. Everything in Jackie's life is encompassed: the painful childhood that prepared her for the dual role of dramatic chatelaine of the White House and cheated wife; the hidden mental torture behind her marriage to Jack as she attempted to maintain her self-esteem—an anguish that doubled when his debauched love life became public after his death. To cope, Jackie developed a self-defense system to deal with the friends and family who were revealed as the willing helpers in her late husband's constant quest for new sexual partners. And, finally, she used different methods from sunglasses to psychiatry, from remarriage to realpolitik to protect herself and her precious children.With brilliant storytelling, Pollard, one of the former First Lady's first biographers, entangles Jackie during her early days as a senator's wife in the complex world of espionage with startling and thrilling consequences after the tragic murder of her husband. Pollard's wealth of information on the adored Jackie produces a captivating and realistic tale that both surprises and entertains.
The border town of Ludlow has it all: exquisite medieval streets, an imposing ruined castle, a parish church the size of a cathedral and a weight of history and legend. Wealthy people, famous people, have come to Ludlow to live. A sad teenage boy comes here to die — dramatically, at sunset, in a fall from the ruins. Accident or suicide? Either way, no great mystery. Or is there? Robbie Walsh was the nephew of former Detective Sergeant Andy Mumford, newly — and reluctantly — retired from West Mercia CID. When Mumford's ailing mother becomes convinced she's still seeing her dead grandson in the old town, the ex-policeman brings in Merrily Watkins, parish priest, single mum and Deliverance consultant to the diocese of Hereford. Is his mother's problem dementia, delusion or something even more disturbing? It's already a difficult time for Merrily, now having to work with a new diocesan Deliverance advisory panel headed by an ambitious priest and a sceptical a psychiatrist. When, after two more deaths, she is drawn towards the peculiar lifestyle of the onetime Gothic rock singer Belladonna, Merrily is compelled, for the first time, to work undercover ... discovering that below the surrounding beauty lie layers of alienation and despair, while the shadowy medieval streets nurture a noxious obsession with the nature of death and the afterlife. Both scepticism and the dark underside of belief threaten Phil Rickman's engagingly open-minded heroine in the seventh in this hauntingly unique mystery series.
its a very nice book...a sweet romantic book....its about Krish from Punjab and Ananya from south India....they want to get married but their parents don't agree......this story is about how they convince each others parents for their marriage....author shows their whole experience very immpresively.....best of Chetan Bhagat
Takes the readers from the final days of the Chinese emperors to the dying era of the British Empire, with a young man's perilous journey through the betrayals of war and into manhood.
Cadence City matchmaker and para-resonator Celinda Ingram meets her match in security specialist Davis Oakes. On the hunt for the powerful relic that Celinda supposedly bought as a toy for her pet dust bunny, Davis must use all of his unique psychic abili
Stewart Dubinsky knew his father had served in World War II. And he'd been told how he rescued Stewart's mother from the horror of the Balingen concentration camp. But when he discovers, after his father's death, a packet of wartime letters to a former fiancee, and learns of his father's court-martial and imprisonment, he is plunged into the mystery of his family's secret history and driven to uncover the truth about this enigmatic, distant man who'd always refused to talk about his war.
Life becomes more interesting for Ananka Fishbein when, at the age of twelve, she discovers an underground room in the park across from her New York City apartment and meets a mysterious girl called Kiki Strike who claims that she, too, wants to explore the subterranean world.
With unraveled embroidery and fraying hems, the Traveling Pants are back for one last, glorious summer. Lena: Immerses herself in her painting and an intoxicating summer fling, fearing that the moment she forgets about Kostos will be the moment she sees him again. Carmen: Falls under the spell of a sophisticated college friend for whom a theatrical role means everything and the heritage of the Pants means nothing. Bridget: Joins a dig for an ancient city on the coast of Turkey and discovers that her archaeology professor is available in every way except one. Tibby: Leaves behind someone she loves, wrongly believing he will stay where she has left him. Join Ann Brashares's beloved sisterhood once again in a dazzling, fearless novel. It's a summer that will forever change the lives of Lena, Carmen, Bee, and Tibby, here and now, past and future, together and apart
Fresh from a six-month sojourn in Italy, Lady Julia returns home to Sussex to find her father's estate crowded with family and friends; but dark deeds are afoot at the deconsecrated abbey, and a murderer roams the ancient cloisters. Much to her surprise, the one man she had hoped to forget, the enigmatic and compelling Nicholas Brisbane, is among her father's houseguests... and he is not alone. Not to be outdone, Julia shows him that two can play at flirtation and promptly introduces him to her devoted, younger, titled Italian count.But the homecoming celebrations quickly take a ghastly turn when one of the guests is found brutally murdered in the chapel, and a member of Lady Julia's own family confesses to the crime. Certain of her cousin's innocence, Lady Julia resumes her unlikely and deliciously intriguing partnership with Nicholas Brisbane, setting out to unravel a tangle of deceit before the killer can strike again. When a sudden snowstorm blankets the abbey like a shroud, it falls to Lady Julia and Nicholas Brisbane to answer the shriek of murder most foul.
Shaken by a scrape with death, big-city detective Joe Cashin is posted away from the Homicide Squad to a quiet town on the South Australian coast where he grew up. Carrying physical scars and not a little guilt, he spends his time playing the country cop, walking his dogs, and thinking about how it all was before. When a prominent local is attacked and left for dead in his own home, Cashin is thrust into a murder investigation. The evidence points to three boys from the nearby Aboriginal community; whom everyone wants to blame. But Cashin is unconvinced, and soon begins to see the outlines of something far more terrible than a simple robbery gone wrong.--From publisher description.
In the wake of her father's death, Ash is left at the mercy of her cruel stepmother. Consumed with grief, her only joy comes by the light of the dying hearth fire, rereading the fairy tales her mother once told her. In her dreams, someday the fairies will steal her away. When she meets the dark and dangerous fairy Sidhean, she believes that her wish may be granted. The day that Ash meets Kaisa, the King's Huntress, her heart begins to change. Instead of chasing fairies, Ash learns to hunt with Kaisa. Their friendship, as delicate as a new bloom, reawakens Ash's capacity for love--and her desire to live. But Sidhean has already claimed Ash for his own, and she must make a choice between fairy tale dreams and true love. Entrancing and empowering, Ash beautifully unfolds the connections between life and love, and solitude and death, where transformation can come from even the deepest grief.
A husband can be good for a number of things:Companionship (when he's home)Household repairs (if he's handy)Good loving (if you're lucky), but...no girl needs a husband seven days a week!Marie needs her "stay-at-home husband" to clean the house and babysit the kids, so she can take care of business coast-to-coast...and enjoy some harmless flirting on the side.Mai's perfectly content to be the perfect wife to a successful corporate superstar—throwing lavish parties and organizing gala charity fundraisers. But it's funny how quickly everything can change with just a single phone call...from prison!And high-powered ad exec Kennedy believes the best husband is no husband at all. Hot encounters with a succession of studs keep her going strong as she climbs to the top of her profession.A spouse is fine as long as he doesn't screw up the rest of your life. Now three lovely ladies who think they have this "husband" thing all worked out are about to learn that, when it comes to love and marriage, "perfection" can always be improved upon. And it's going to be one wild ride!
The thrilling Strongbow Saga continues with this fierce sequel chronicling the adventures of a young man learning the ways of the Viking warriors. As fifteen-year-old Halfdan embarks on a perilous mission in a foreign land, he shows signs of greatness. But will he live up to his family name, or die trying? Author and Viking expert Judson Roberts draws on his detailed knowledge of this bloody time and culture to bring a young hero's exploits to life.
A collection of short fiction features "The Girl Who Was Infatuated with Death," an Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter story, as well as "House of Wizards," "Stealing Souls," and "Those Who Seek Forgiveness," a never-before-published Anita Blake tale.
Former playboy Darius Jones is back on top. His high-profile legal trouble is finally behind him, and ahead is a bright NBA career—and the engagement to his soul mate, the irrepressibly sexy Fancy Taylor. But bad news has a habit of coming when you least expect it, and this time Darius could loose everything he has...The New York Times and Essence Bestseller!