Romane

Germany, 1939: "Quickly, take this emerald. This was my late mother's gem, and it will keep you safe. And I promise, we will all meet again in Paris..." When Sophie Weiss boards the SS St Louis, she has no reason to stay in Germany. The Nazis have taken everything from her, and her only hope is escape. But when she meets fellow Jewish refugees Rosa, Hannah and Rachel on board, the friendship they form gives Sophie hope that there can be happiness in her future, after all.But their worst fears are realized when the boat is refused entry at a port they thought would be safe. Terrified of being sent back to Europe, the women cling together and desperately wait for news. At last, word reaches the ship that a friend of Sophie's father is willing to take her in - but there is only room for her.Quickly, Sophie unpicks the lining of her coat, revealing her late mother's emerald hidden in the lining. She hands a piece of the precious stone to each of her friends, and the women promise to meet in Paris when this nightmare is over.Watching the SS St Louis grow smaller on the horizon, Sophie's heart breaks. How can she embrace her freedom when those she loves face an unknown fate? And what can she do to help them? Gripping her emerald with a fierce determination, she fixes her eyes on the boat: I will find a way to help you, no matter what...This is the first book in the unmissable Emerald Sisters series that follows the incredible stories of four brave young women, as they each forge their futures against the backdrop of the Second World War. Perfect for fans of Roberta Kagan, Kristin Harmel and Kate Quinn.Readers are loving The Girl on the Boat: "Heartbreaking... Absolutely brilliant... Outstanding." Goodreads reviewer ¿¿¿¿¿ "Unforgettable... will stay with you long after you've finished reading." Goodreads reviewer ¿¿¿¿¿ "Amazing... Beautiful... I found myself not wanting the story to end... A tearjerker." Goodreads reviewer ¿¿¿¿¿ "Hard to put down read!!... Amazing... I couldn't put the book down for a minute!" Goodreads reviewer ¿¿¿¿¿

I feel the steady thump of my new heart beating inside me. The surgeon said everything went well. But I can't stop thinking about my donor: the girl who was killed. Her death saved my life. But now whoever took hers is coming for mine... I can't believe it when I learn my donor's identity. The attack on Flora was all over the news. From my hospital bed I read every article, obsess over every word and soon I feel like I know her: the beautiful girl with flame-coloured hair, adored by everyone around her. Why would anyone hurt someone so perfect?When Flora's family reach out to me, I'm unsure. My hands are shaking as I arrive at their grand mansion with its golden stone and sprawling gardens, but they're warm and welcoming, tears shining in her mother's eyes as she smiles at me. She even tells me to take anything I want from Flora's things, as she can't bear to go through them herself. I run my fingers over the racks of beautiful designer items, carefully choosing outfits in Flora's signature yellow, the bright colour complementing the new flush in my cheeks. I think of the years I've wasted being ill, and the crushing loneliness I thought would never end. I deserve this. But then there's a violent attack on another patient who received one of Flora's organs. My heart - Flora's heart - races dangerously fast. Is it a coincidence? Maybe I've made a mistake by stepping into Flora's life. Has this second chance really saved me? Or has it cost me everything? A totally gripping psychological thriller that will keep you turning the pages late into the night. If you loved The Silent Patient, The Housemaid and The Doctor's Wife, you won't want to miss this.See what readers are saying about Teri Terry:'M-I-N-D-B-L-O-W-I-N-G!!!!!!!!!!!!! Five stars are simply not enough!... Brilliant, full of twists and suspense!' Goodreads reviewer, ¿¿¿¿¿'Filled with twists and turns that I couldn't predict and I just wanted more and more and more of. It had me on the edge of my seat. Literally.' Goodreads reviewer, ¿¿¿¿¿'Everything about this book I loved... Amazing, amazing writing.' Goodreads reviewer, ¿¿¿¿¿'Wow, wow wow!... Absolutely amazing! I was frantically turning the pages over and over... Unputdownable!' Goodreads reviewer, ¿¿¿¿¿'I was hooked after reading the first paragraph... Just incredible!' Goodreads reviewer, ¿¿¿¿¿'I picked it up at about 11.30 this morning and I had finished it by 6 this evening. I spent most of the day reading, I couldn't put the book down it was so gripping.' Goodreads reviewer, ¿¿¿¿¿

From the author of the USA Today bestselling novel, In Praise of the Bees, is another tale of Medieval Ireland in a time of turmoil and change.Ireland 1349Inside the nunnery of St Gobnait's, Meadbh's days are constrained by the hours of prayer and the close scrutiny of the abbess, though Meadbh has yet to take her vows. Her bees are her only solace. They understand her. But as the plague slowly creeps westward towards this group of nuns, Meadbh's ordered life is thrown into chaos when she's called home to tend her ailing father and the man chosen to accompany her there proves to be more than just an escort, one whose skills are more a warrior's than a labourer's. A man she's not sure she can trust. Meadbh is tossed into a world where the upheaval of war, cycles of famine and now plague have changed the very nature of society's fragile structure for both native Irish and Anglo-Irish. And now, Meadbh must now navigate a path through the chaos to secure her own future at a time when women have few choices.

Australian Rural Noir, Intrigue, Mystery, Crime Nearly every culture and community has their own brand of bogeyman, and the little community of Hemlock, nestled in the ranges beyond Melbourne and shrouded in problems and mystery, is no different. Bradley only wants what his family has been deprived of, and will do anything to reclaim it, even if it means breaking the law. Tim hopes that all his problems are solved with the arrival of an offer too good to be ignored, only to find his past puts him in peril. Fletcher believes he is being tested when tasked to head up a clandestine operation, and lives in fear that someone will break security. Melody is simply curious.

Originally published as chapters 5 through 8 of the original Italian edition L'inverno dei leoni in Italy in 2021 by Nord.

Set in a rich and complicated culture reflected in its cuisine, hospitality, and breathtaking landscapes, Desiderium weaves together the stories of three generations of Albanian women reaching for their deepest desires amid heartbreak, the quest for revenge, and war. Mira Zeka is a fighter seeking vengeance and national independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1911. A decision she makes for her family will change her heart more than she could have imagined. Valentina Muskaj, nicknamed Val, trades her schoolteacher duties to become a partisan guerrilla during World War II. To return to the life she had, in a homeland rid of the Axis Powers, she will endure anything, including injury and unspeakable loss. Dita Arbani, a history museum curator, is falling in love with the tales of Albania's past while the modern world rushes ahead. Her grandmother's vague hint about secret gold sends Dita on a mission, even while other parts of her life unravel.Desiderium's prose is as lyrical as Albania's rivers and seas. The characters are as fierce as the mountains surrounding them. Through their eyes, we see that the struggles, passions, and triumphs of the past may not be as deeply buried as we think.

The first book dedicated to exploring the comics of Ben Katchor

Unnatural Narratology: Extensions, Revisions, and Challenges offers a number of developments, refinements, and defenses of key aspects of unnatural narrative studies. The first section applies unnatural narrative theory and analysis to ideologically charged areas such as feminism, postcolonial studies, cultural alterity, and subaltern discourse. The book goes on to engage with and intervene in theoretical debates in several areas of both critical theory and narrative theory, including affect studies, immersion, narration, character theory, frames, and theories of reception and interpretation. Antimimetic perspectives are also extended to additional fields, including autobiography, graphic narratives, drama and film, performance studies, and interactive gamebooks. Written by an international assemblage of distinguished and emerging narrative scholars and theorists, this collection promises to greatly enhance the study of narrative and further advance the frontiers of narrative theory.

Mighty, Mighty is a modern day fable set in a crumbling metropolis riddled with urban poverty and violence. Dirty apartments, tattoo parlors, food kitchens – these are the markers of home for the struggling young adults around Chicago. Stefy is an artist at Ghost Town, the local tattoo shop, trying to provide for her younger sister Amanda and their ailing grandfather. Amanda is hoping for something better, seeking to escape a past riddled with addiction and an abusive relationship with Georgie. When he confronts her one drunken night at a dive bar, the situation turns violent: Amanda barely escapes with her life but Georgie lies dead on the bathroom floor. This one mistake puts the two sisters in the crosshairs of Georgie’s father, a twisted, corrupt ex-cop now out for revenge over the murder of his son. His quest for vengeance will make the neighborhoods of Chicago tremble, leaving no one untouched.Mighty, Mighty is a harsh and realistic look at the struggle of two families desperately trying to get out from under the heavy boot of violence and poverty. Like the works of Richard Price and Dennis Lehane, the novel is a startling and accurate portrait of contemporary urban life

From Kiana Davenport, the bestselling author of Song of the Exile and Shark Dialogues, comes another mesmerizing novel about her people and her islands. Told in spellbinding and mythic prose, House of Many Gods is a deeply complex and provocative love story set against the background of Hawaii and Russia. Interwoven throughout with the indelible portrait of a native Hawaiian family struggling against poverty, drug wars, and the increasing military occupation of their sacred lands. Progressing from the 1960s to the turbulent present, the novel begins on the island of O'ahu and centers on Ana, abandoned by her mother as a child. Raised by her extended family on the "lawless” Wai'anae coast, west of Honolulu, Ana, against all odds, becomes a physician. While tending victims of Hurricane 'Iniki on the neighboring island of Kaua'i, she meets Nikolai, a Russian filmmaker with a violent and tragic past, who can confront reality only through his unique prism of lies. Yet he is dedicated to recording the ecological horrors in his motherland and across the Pacific. As their lives slowly and inextricably intertwine, Ana and Nikolai's story becomes an odyssey that spans decades and sweeps the reader from rural Hawaii to the forbidding Arctic wastes of Russia; from the poverty-stricken Wai'anae coast to the glittering harshness of "new Moscow” and the haunting, faded beauty of St. Petersburg. With stunning narrative inventiveness, Davenport has created a timeless epic of loss and remembrance, of the search for family and identity, and, ultimately, of the redemptive power of love.

In the definitive biography of John Fante, English and film studies professor Stephen Cooper explores the life of a man whose muse was Los Angeles.

As flies the shadow, so does life. In Scotland, 1826, Meggy McKessar comes to live and work at John Lovie's Aberdeenshire farm. John's widowed mother is warned Meggy will bring trouble, but she refuses to listen; all she wants is to for the rumours about John's sordid past to be forgotten forever. But when a sudden death casts suspicion on the widow's favourite son, the life she has so desperately tried to preserve threatens to fall apart. Based on a sensational true crime, Three Times Buried is a sinister tale of torn loyalties, secrets, superstition and murder.

"From a debut voice comes a genre-breaking blend of apocalyptic sci-fi and epic fantasy about a scattered group of unlikely heroes traveling across their broken mechanical planet to stave off eternal darkness"--

"Il n¿était pas dans mes idées de publier un livre et je ne m¿y serais jamais décidé sans la bienveillante insistance d¿un grand nombre des auditeurs qui m¿ont fait l'¿honneur de suivre mon cours. Ils ont désiré ler résumé de mes leçons ; le leur refuser plus longtemps eût été de ma part de l¿ingratitude. Le livre que je soumets aujourd¿hui au jugement des horticulteurs n¿est donc sauf quelques additions que l¿exposé des faits qui ont été le sujet de nos conférences publiques... "

"Twins Calla and Briar have spent their entire lives hiding from the powerful sorceress who destroyed their kingdom... and from the humans, who don't know they're wolves. Each twin has their purpose in life: Briar's is to marry the prince of an ally pack and save the Golden Court. Calla's is to remain a secret, her twin's shadow...the backup plan."--

"My name's Ernest Cunningham. I used to be a fan of reading Golden Age murder mysteries, until I found myself with a haphazard career getting stuck in the middle of real-life ones. I'd hoped, this Christmas, that any self-respecting murderer would kick their feet up and take it easy over the holidays. I was wrong. So here I am, backstage at the show of world-famous magician Rylan Blaze, whose benefactor has just been murdered. My suspects are all professional tricksters: masters of the art of misdirection. ... My clues are even more abstract: A suspect covered in blood, without a memory of how it got there. A murder committed without setting foot inside the room where it happens. And an advent calendar. Because, you know, it's Christmas"--

We was playin' rummy over to Hatch's, and Hatch must of fell in a bed of four leaf clovers on his way home the night before, because he plays rummy like he does everything else; but this night I refer to you couldn't beat him, and besides him havin' all the luck my Missus played like she'd been bought off, so when we come to settle up we was plain seven and a half out. You know who paid it. So Hatch says: "They must be some game you can play." "No," I says, "not and beat you. I can run two blocks w'ile you're stoopin' over to start, but if we was runnin' a foot race between each other, and suppose I was leadin' by eighty yards, a flivver'd prob'ly come up and hit you in the back and bump you over the finishin' line ahead o' me." So Mrs. Hatch thinks I'm sore on account o' the seven-fifty, so she says: "It don't seem fair for us to have all the luck." "Sure it's fair!" I says. "If you didn't have the luck, what would you have?" "I know," she says; "but I don't never feel right winnin' money at cards." "I don't blame you," I says.

The Pyreneean valley in which the baths of Vernet are situated is not much known to English, or indeed to any travellers. Tourists in search of good hotels and picturesque beauty combined, do not generally extend their journeys to the Eastern Pyrenees. They rarely get beyond Luchon; and in this they are right, as they thus end their peregrinations at the most lovely spot among these mountains, and are as a rule so deceived, imposed on, and bewildered by guides, innkeepers, and horse owners, at this otherwise delightful place, as to become undesirous of further travel. Nor do invalids from distant parts frequent Vernet. People of fashion go to the Eaux Bonnes and to Luchon, and people who are really ill to Bareges and Cauterets. It is at these places that one meets crowds of Parisians, and the daughters and wives of rich merchants from Bordeaux, with an admixture, now by no means inconsiderable, of Englishmen and Englishwomen. But the Eastern Pyrenees are still unfrequented. And probably they will remain so; for though there are among them lovely valleys¿and of all such the valley of Vernet is perhaps the most lovely¿they cannot compete with the mountain scenery of other tourists loved regions in Europe. At the Port de Venasquez and the Breche de Roland in the Western Pyrenees, or rather, to speak more truly, at spots in the close vicinity of these famous mountain entrances from France into Spain, one can makecomparisons with Switzerland, Northern Italy, the Tyrol, and Ireland, which will not be injurious to the scenes then under view. But among the eastern mountains this can rarely be done. The hills do not stand thickly together so as to group themselves; the passes from one valley to another, though not wanting in altitude, are not close pressed together with overhanging rocks, and are deficient in grandeur as well as loveliness. And then, as a natural consequence of all this, the hotels¿are not quite as good as they should be.

Britain is an emergent mass of land rising from a submarine platform that attaches it to the Continent of Europe. The shallowness of its waters¿shallow relatively to the profundity of ocean deeps¿is most pronounced off the eastern and south-eastern coasts; but it extends westward as far as the isles of Scilly, which are isolated mountain-peaks of the submerged plateau. The seas that wash the long Cornish peninsula, therefore, though they are thoroughly oceanic in character, especially on the north, are not oceanic in depth; we have to pass far beyond Scilly to cross the hundred-fathom line. From the Dover strait westward there is a gradual lowering of the incline, though of course with such variations and undulations as we find on the emerged plains; but the existence of this vast submarine basis must cause us to think of our island, naturally and geologically, as a true part of the great European continent, rendered insular by the comparatively recent intrusion of shallow and narrow waters. With some developments and some limits, our flora and fauna are absolutely Continental, the limits being even more noticeable as regards Ireland. The extensive coast-line has played a most important part in influencing national history and characteristics. The greater or less resistance of different rocks and soils has affected not only coast-configurations, but therewith also the very existence and well-being of the inhabitants.

TOO often¿it is a half-acknowledged delusion, however¿one meets with what appears to be a theory: that a book of travel must necessarily be a series of dull, discursive, and entirely uncorroborated opinions of one who may not be even an intelligent observer. This is mere intellectual pretence. Even a humble author¿so long as he be an honest one¿may well be allowed to claim with Mr. Howells the right to be serious, or the reverse, "with his material as he finds it;" and that "something personally experienced can only be realized on the spot where it was lived." This, says he, is "the prime use of travel, and the attempt to create the reader a partner in the enterprise" ... must be the excuse, then, for putting one's observations on paper. He rightly says, too, that nothing of perilous adventure is to-day any more like to happen "in Florence than in Fitchburg." A "literary tour," a "cathedral tour," or an "architectural tour," requires a formula wherein the author must be wary of making questionable estimates; but he may, with regard to generalities,¿or details, for that matter,¿state his opinion plainly; but he should state also his reasons. With respect to church architecture no average reader, any more than the average observer, willingly enters the arena of intellectual combat, but rather is satisfied¿as he should be, unless he is a Freeman, a Gonse, or a Corroyer¿with an ampler radius which shall command even a juster, though no less truthful, view.

THERE is no topographical division of Europe which more readily defines itself and its limits than the Rhine valley from Schaffhausen to where the river empties into the North Sea. The region has given birth to history and legend of a most fascinating character, and the manners and customs of the people who dwell along its banks are varied and picturesque. Under these circumstances it was but to be expected that architectural development should have expressed itself in a decided and unmistakable fashion. One usually makes the Rhine tour as an interlude while on the way to Switzerland or the Italian lakes, with little thought of its geographical and historical importance in connection with the development of modern Europe. It was the onward march of civilization, furthered by the Romans, through this greatest of natural highways to the north, that gave the first political and historical significance to the country of the Rhine watershed. And from that day to this the Rhenish provinces and the Low Countries bordering upon the sea have occupied a prominent place in history. There is a distinct and notable architecture, confined almost, one may say, to the borders of the Rhine, which the expert knows as Rhenish, if it can be defined at all; and which is distinct from that variety of pre-Gothic architecture known as Romanesque.

The majority of our English counties possess some special feature, some particular attraction which acts as a lodestone for tourists, in the form of a stately cathedral, striking physical beauty, or a wealth of historical or literary associations. There are large districts of rural England that would have remained practically unknown to the multitude had it not been for their possession of some superb architectural creation, or for the fame bestowed upon the district by the makers of literature and art. The Bard of Avon was perhaps the unconscious pioneer in the way of providing his native town and county with a valuable asset of this kind. The novels of Scott drew thousands of his readers to the North Country, and those of R. D. Blackmore did the same for the scenes so graphically depicted in Lorna Doone; while Thomas Hardy is probably responsible for half the number of tourists who visit Dorset.

The Jenolan Caves contain some of the most remarkable and beautiful objects in Australian wonderland. They are formed in a limestone "dyke," surrounded by magnificent scenery, and hide in their dark recesses natural phenomena of rare interest to the geologist, as well as of pleasurable contemplation by non-scientific visitors; while in and about them the moralist may find "¿¿ tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,Sermons in stones, and good in everything." To see these caves once is to create a lifelong memory. The pink and the white terraces of New Zealand, which before the recent eruptions attracted so many tourists, did not excel in splendour the caves at Jenolan. But it is common for people to go abroad to admire less interesting things than are to be found within easy distance of their starting point, and which, if they were a thousand miles away, would probably be regarded as worthy of a special pilgrimage. There are persons living two or three leagues from the caves who have never seen them, and who, if they embraced the opportunity for inspection, would possibly regard them with the kind of wonder with which they would gaze upon the transformation scene at a pantomime. And yet the most frequent entry in the visitors' book is that the caves are "grand beyond expectation," and in some of their principal features "indescribably beautiful."

¿Darn it!¿ he said. ¿Of course I owe it to you three fellows to give you all the dope, but I certainly hate to drag my affairs in. Still, after all our planning I can¿t leave you without an explanation. You know I live in Denver with my mother and two sisters. Boys, I¿ve got the finest mother, and the sweetest kid sisters. Mother works. She never gets a vacation; couldn¿t even come to my Commencement. Gosh! It made me sick. And my older sister (she¿s sixteen) has heard me tell all about you fellows, and she was so crazy to see you, and the school, and everything. But they couldn¿t make it. Too much car fare.¿¿Why, you big stiff!¿ cried the tall boy angrily. ¿Why didn¿t you say something? Mother and father came right through Denver. All your folks could have come on with them in the car.¿

"The Grand Canyon of Arizona: How to See It" is a travel guide written by George Wharton James. Published in 1910, this book serves as a comprehensive guide to exploring the Grand Canyon, offering practical advice on how visitors can make the most of their experience at this iconic natural wonder.George Wharton James, an American travel writer and lecturer, was known for his works on the American Southwest and Native American cultures. In this guidebook, he likely provides details on the various vantage points, trails, and viewpoints within the Grand Canyon, helping readers plan their visit and appreciate the geological and scenic wonders of the area.For individuals interested in early 20th-century travel literature, the Grand Canyon, and the history of exploration in the American West, George Wharton James' guidebook serves as both a practical resource and a historical document reflecting the attitudes and knowledge of the time.