Penny Vincenzi, master of the contemporary blockbuster, returns with a moving, engaging portrait of people coping with a notorious financial disaster and its unpredictable emotional repercussions.
Set during the boom-and-bust years of the 1980s, An Absolute Scandal follows the lives of a group of people drawn together by their mutual monetary woes when the great financial institution Lloyd’s undergoes a devastating downturn. For Nigel Cowper, this means the destruction of his family business; his wife, Lucinda, is willing to do everything she can to help him—except give up her irresistible lover.
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On a sunny hillside in Kent, in the Garden of England, a group of nine migrant workers from various parts of the world are picking strawberries for Mr. Leapish, the farmer. Housed in two trailers, and fed a daily diet of bread, margarine, jam, and sausages, life isn’t easy for them. But the friendships they forge, and their dreams of love and hopes for a new life in the West, carry them along.
Nineteen-year-old Irina has arrived from Kiev, Ukraine buoyed up by enthusiasm for the Orange Revolution, and full of dreams of a romantic and refined life in the West.
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The beloved Victorian children’s tale—now available in its original unabridged edition
Instantly popular upon its initial publication in 1863, The Water Babies is at once a bewitching childhood fantasy and a skillfully woven moral allegory. Tom, a young chimney sweep, escapes his horrendous job and his cruel boss, Grimes, when fairies plunge him into a fantastical world under the sea. As he meets and befriends his fellow water babies, as well as all sorts of sea creatures, he begins to learn some valuable lessons. Much in demand by scholars, this authoritative new edition—featuring the Victorian illustrations from early editions—will charm children and adults alike.
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In “lyrical, openhearted prose” (Michael Glitz, The New York Post), Enger tells the story of eleven-year-old Reuben Land, an asthmatic boy who has reason to believe in miracles. Along with his sister and father, Reuben finds himself on a cross-country search for his outlaw older brother who has been controversially charged with murder. Their journey is touched by serendipity and the kindness of strangers, and its remarkable conclusion shows how family, love, and faith can stand up to the most terrifying of enemies, the most tragic of fates. Leif Enger’s “miraculous” (Valerie Ryan, The Seattle Times) novel is a “perfect book for an anxious time,
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Conservation activist and nature writer Laura Lynne Williams shares the true story of her life-changing move to the tiny, remote Russian village of Chukhrai. The Storks’ Nest follows Laura, a young American, as she travels to Russia to establish a presence for the World Wildlife Fund then moves to a remote nature reserve to work on public outreach. There she meets and falls in love with the reserve’s director, award-winning nature photographer Igor Shpilenok. Together they explore the wilderness in the Bryansk Forest surrounding their village. Through the long winter, they cope with hardships, which Laura learns are nothing compared to those the villagers have experienced in the past century.
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It is 1527. The English Renaissance is in full swing under the young King Henry VIII. The young German painter Hans Holbein, who has come to London to seek his fortune, is delighted when he gets a commission to paint the family of Thomas More, one of England’s leading statesman and men of learning, at his country home in Chelsea.
The story is seen through the eyes of More’s young ward Meg, and shows her growing feelings for her tutor, a man of mysterious background called John Clement, whom she will marry, and for Holbein himself, whom she will love.
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