The extraordinary story of two generations in a Lisbon family of carpenters and of a father’s attempt to outrun his fate in the marathon at the Stockholm Olympics in 1912. Set in the working-class district of Benfica in Lisbon, The Piano Cemetery tells the story of a family, and especially of the hopes and fears of the fathers who pass the baton of the generations on to their sons. The Lazaro family are cabinet-makers who would rather be piano-makers. They have a carpentry shop in the Benfica district of Lisbon and there at the back is the ‘piano cemetery’ piled high with broken-down pianos that provide the spare parts needed for repairing pianos all over the city. It is a mysterious and magical place, a place of solace, a dreaming place and, above all, a trysting place for lovers. The Piano Cemetery is a wonderfully accomplished novel in which the true story of the Portuguese marathon-runner, Francisco Lazaro, is woven into a rich narrative of love, betrayal, domestic happiness and dashed hopes. Narrated in part by the father of Francisco Lazaro on the day his grandson is born and the day he himself dies and in part by his son as he runs the Stockholm marathon of 1908, remembering his family and his loves as he struggles against the heat and strives to outrun death itself. It is a beautifully constructed tale, that is by turns, violent and tender, funny and moving, with flashes of true insight, startling imagery and an instinctive understanding of families and their ways. The Piano Cemetery establishes José Luís Peixoto not only as the leading Portuguese novelist of his generation, but as a major figure on the international literary scene

Former Elle editor Lee delivers a standout debut dealing with the rigors of love and survival during a time of war, and the consequences of choices made under duress. Claire Pendleton, newly married and arrived in Hong Kong in 1952, finds work giving piano lessons to the daughter of Melody and Victor Chen, a wealthy Chinese couple. While the girl is less than interested in music, the Chens' flinty British expat driver, Will Truesdale, is certainly interested in Claire, and vice versa. Their fast-blossoming affair is juxtaposed against a plot line beginning in 1941 when Will gets swept up by the beautiful and tempestuous Trudy Liang, and then follows through his life during the Japanese occupation. As Claire and Will's affair becomes common knowledge, so do the specifics of Will's murky past, Trudy's motivations and Victor's role in past events. The rippling of past actions through to the present lends the narrative layers of intrigue and more than a few unexpected twists. Lee covers a little-known time in Chinese history without melodrama, and deconstructs without judgment the choices people make in order to live one more day under torturous circumstances

The Piazza Tales were written upon the public indignation over his novel Pierre, which had forced Melville to retire to the piazza of his house in Lenox, Massachusetts. The six tales included here are among Melville’s most notable writings. They include the famed tale “Bartleby” a story of slavery, “Benito Cereno,” “The Encantadas,” “The Lightning-Rod Man,” “The Bell-Tower,” and the title story, “The Piazza.”

When Julie Summers' car breaks down in a sleazy street, a young Arab garage mechanic comes to her rescue. Out of this meeting develops a friendship that turns to love. But soon, despite his attempts to make the most of Julie's wealthy connections, Abdu is deported from South Africa and Julie insists on going too — but the couple must marry to make the relationship legitimate in the traditional village which is to be their home. Here, whilst Abdu is dedicated to escaping back to the life he has discovered, Julie finds herself slowly drawn in by the charm of her surroundings and new family, creating an unexpected gulf between them… ‘As gripping as a thriller and as felt as a love song' IRISH TIMES

The Pickwick Papers was Charles Dickens’s first and personal favourite novel. It was serialised under the title “The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club” between April 1836 and November 1837 when its author was only in his mid-twenties. Unlike some of his later works it is extremely episodic and comic. It always shows its origins in a periodical with its cliff-hangers and the way Dickens changes the story and various characters’ position in the novel as it grows and according to their popularity (such the Wellers). Mr Samuel Pickwick is the founder and chairman of the absurd Pickwick Club which consists of Tupman, Snodgrass and Winkle who go through various amusing and often quite ridiculous adventures that are scantily interconnected and never amount to a complex sequence of events until perhaps Pickwick’s disastrous misunderstanding with Mrs Bardell

Walter Jon Williams lives in rural New Mexico, a fact that “compels me to perpetual war with mosquito and tumbleweed, and to lengthy disquisitions on the merits and failings of my tractor, the name of which is Beam.” One of the author’s most recent short stories for Asimov’s, “Foreign Devils” (January 1996), won the 1996 Sidewise Alternate History Award for Best Short Form

This is a story of moral corruption. A gothic melodrama, it is full of subtle impression and epigram. It touches on many of Wilde's recurring themes, such as the nature and spirit of art, aestheticism and the dangers inherent in it

Mark Haddon, author of the international bestselling novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and A Spot of Bother, returns with a collection of unsparing short stories. In the prize-winning story "The Gun," a man's life is marked by a single afternoon and a rusty.45; in "The Island," a mythical princess is abandoned on an island in the midst of war; in "The Boys Who Left Home to Learn Fear," a cadre of sheltered artistocrats sets out to find adventure in a foreign land and finds the gravest dangers among themselves. These are but some of the men and women who fill this searingly imaginative and emotionally taut collection of short stories by Mark Haddon, that weaves through time and space to showcase the author's incredible versatility. Yet the collection achieves a sum that is greater than its parts, proving itself a meditation not only on isolation and loneliness but also on the tenuous and unseen connections that link individuals to each other, often despite themselves. In its titular story, the narrator describes with fluid precision a catastrophe that will collectively define its victims as much as it will disperse them — and brilliantly lays bare the reader's appetite for spectacle alongside its characters'. Cut with lean prose and drawing inventively from history, myth, fairy tales, and, above all, the deep well of empathy that made his three novels so compelling, The Pier Falls reveals a previously unseen side of the celebrated author

Undoubtedly, “The Revolution WILL be televised” was the main players’ motto. Most Romanians only saw their revolution on their small black and white televisions while others were the actors, willing and uninformed…. The Revolution ruthlessly took more than it gave — beautiful bodies, healthy food, cultivated culture, tested tradition. In the end, communism’s empty materialism was simply traded for western society’s empty materialism, which happily did away with what the Eastern Block years had inefficiently leftover. The hungry people of before 1989 have been transformed into obese people. Instead of queuing for meagrely rationed bread they now queue to buy imported foods in overpriced hypermarkets. It’s time the world heard this true story of Romania’s Revolution, because most Romanians took only a couple of years to realize how little western culture had to offer

Both of Glen Hirshberg’s first two collections,American Morons and The Two Sams won the International Horror Guild Award and were selected by Locus as one of the best books of the year. He is also the author of a novel,The Snowman’s Children, and a five-time World Fantasy Award finalist. With Dennis Etchison and Peter Atkins, he co-founded the Rolling Darkness Revue, a traveling ghost story performance troupe that tours the west coast of the United States each October. His fiction has appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies, including multiple appearances in The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror, The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror, Inferno, The Dark, Dark Terrors 6, Trampoline, and Cemetery Dance. He lives in the Los Angeles area with his wife and children

The fourth anniversary of the transfer of Saint Winifred's bones to the Abbey at Shrewsbury is a time of celebration for the 12th-century pilgrims gathering from far and wide. In distant Winchester, however, a knight has been murdered. Could it be because he was a supporter of the Empress Maud, one of numerous pretenders to the throne? It's up to herbalist, sleuth, and Benedictine monk Brother Cadfael to track down the killer in the pious throng

Sequel to the New York Times bestselling Faith of the Fallen New York Times bestselling author Terry Goodkind has created his most lavish adventure yet. Tormented her entire life by inhuman voices, a young woman named Jennsen seeks to end her intolerable agony. She at last discovers a way to silence the voices. For everyone else, the torment is about to begin. With winter descending and the paralyzing dread of an army of annihilation occupying their homeland, Richard Rahl and his wife Kahlan must venture deep into a strange and desolate land. Their quest turns to terror when they find themselves the helpless prey of a tireless hunter. Meanwhile, Jennsen finds herself drawn into the center of a struggle for conquest and revenge. Worse yet, she finds her will seized by forces more abhorrent than anything she ever envisioned. Only then does she come to realize that the voices were real. Staggered by loss and increasingly isolated, Richard and Kahlan must stop the relentless, unearthly threat which has come out of the darkest night of the human soul. To do so, Richard will be called upon to face the demons stalking among the Pillars of Creation. Discover breathtaking adventure and true nobility of spirit. Find out why millions of readers the world over have elevated Terry Goodkind to the ranks of legend

When the Colonnaders plucked him from a life of misery and their surgeons rebuilt his twisted body with silicon bones, Joachim Boaz renamed himself after THE PILLARS OF ETERNITY. Now he seeks Meirjaihn the Wanderer, a planet that plots its own course between stars: for on its surface lies a gem that offers mastery over time itself…

"DAZZLING". — Time "[THEROUX'S] WORK IS DISTINGUISHED BY A SPLENDID EYE FOR DETAIL AND THE TELLING GESTURE; a storyteller's sense of pacing and gift for granting closure to the most subtle progression of events; and the graceful use of language. . We are delighted, along with Theroux, by the politeness of the Turks, amazed by the mountainous highlands in Syria, touched by the gesture of an Albanian waitress who will not let him pay for his modest meal. . The Pillars of Hercules [is] engrossing and enlightening from start (a damning account of tourists annoying the apes of Gibraltar) to finish (an utterly captivating visit with Paul Bowles in Tangier, worth the price of the book all by itself)". — Chicago Tribune "ENTERTAINING READING. . WHEN YOU READ THEROUX, YOU'RE TRULY ON A TRIP". — The Boston Sunday Globe "HIS PICARESQUE NARRATIVE IS STUDDED WITH SCENES THAT STICK IN THE MIND. He looks at strangers with a novelist's eye, and his portraits are pleasantly tinged with malice". — The Washington Post Book World "THEROUX AT HIS BEST. . An armchair trip with Theroux is sometimes dark, but always a delight". — Playboy "AS SATISFYING AS A GLASS OF COOL WINE ON A DUSTY CALABRIAN AFTERNOON. . With his effortless writing style, observant eye, and take-no-prisoners approach, Theroux is in top form chronicling this 18-month circuit of the Mediterranean". — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

One day a stream of life-giving water, the next an evil ribbon of salt — could Illya and Solo entrap the mad monster who had sworn to turn the world’s great waterways into death traps? THRUSH had its most monstrous weapon in its hands — and only U.N.C.L.E. stood in the way!

A story of passion and idealism, which describes a group of men and women in the Middle Ages whose destinies are fatefully linked with the building of a cathedral. In a country torn by civil war, two generations struggle to rise above their primitive circumstances and create something beautiful. *** “KEN FOLLETT TAKES A GIANT STEP!” – San Francisco Chronicle “With this book Follett risks all and comes out a clear winner… a historical novel of gripping readability, authentic atmosphere and memorable characterization… Beginning with a mystery that casts its shadow… the narrative is a seesaw of tension… suspense… impeccable pacing… action, intrigue, violence and passion… ambition, greed, bravery, dedication, revenge and love… A NOVEL THAT ENTERTAINS, INSTRUCTS AND SATISFIES ON A GRAND SCALE.” – Publishers Weekly “An extraordinary epic buttressed by suspense… a mystifying puzzle involving the execution of an innocent man… the erection of a magnificent cathedral… romance, rivalry and spectacle… A MONUMENTAL MASTERPIECE… A TOWERING TRIUMPH FROM A MAJOR TALENT.” – ALA Booklist

THE TREES WHISPER OF DANGER The youngest in a long line of witches, Ari senses things are changing—for the worse. For generations, her kin have tended the Old Places, keeping the land safe and fertile. But with the Summer Moon, the mood of her neighbors has soured. And Ari is no longer safe. The Fae have long ignored what occurs in the mortal world, passing through on their shadowy roads only long enough to amuse themselves. But the roads are slowly disappearing, leaving the Fae Clans isolated and alone. Where harmony between the spiritual and the natural has always reigned, a dissonant chord now rings in the ears of both Fae and mortal. And when murmurs of a witch-hunt hum through the town, some begin to wonder if the different omens are notes in the same tune. And all they have to guide them is a passing reference to something called the Pillars of the World

Samurai Sano Ichiro and his wife Reiko, are hot on the heels of a mysterious courtesan in bestselling novelist Laura Joh Rowland's latest historical thriller. In the carefully ordered world of 17th century Japan, the Yoshiwara pleasure quarter is home to women who have been sold to brothels as punishment for their crimes. It is here that the shogun's dashing young cousin and heir apparent is found dead – stabbed through the eye with a long hairpin – in the bed of a beautiful courtesan named Lady Wisteria. When both Lady Wisteria and her private journal – or pillow book – turn up missing, Sano Ichiro, the shogun's Most Honourable Investigator of Events, Situations and People, is called upon to solve the crime and find the lady, a job that is complicated slightly by the fact that Sano had a brief affair with her some years ago. Against his better judgement Sano accepts the help of his fiery, young wife, Reiko, in exploring the surprisingly dangerous world of the pleasure quarter as he seeks to unmask a killer

A dazzling, spellbinding novel set in a mythical Jewish community by the acclaimed author of the New York Times Notable Book The Book of Mischief. It's the late 1960s. The Pinch, once a thriving Jewish community centered on North Main Street in Memphis, has been reduced to a single tenant. Lenny Sklarew awaits the draft by peddling drugs and shelving books — until he learns he is a character in a book about the rise and fall of this very Pinch. Muni Pinsker, who authored the book in an enchanted day containing years, arrived in the neighborhood at its height and was smitten by an alluring tightrope walker. Muni's own story is dovetailed by that of his uncle Pinchas Pin, whose epic journey to North Main Street forms the book's spine. Steve Stern interweaves these tales with an ingenious structure that merges past with present, and his wildly inventive fabulism surpasses everything he's done before. Together, these intersecting stories transform the real-world experience of Lenny, whose fate determines the future of the Pinch, in this brilliant, unforgettable novel

Although The Pioneers was first of the “Leatherstocking” books to be published, the period of time covered (principally 1793) makes it the fourth chronologically. The story takes place on the rapidly advancing frontier of New York State and features a middle-aged Leatherstocking (Natty Bumppo), Judge Marmaduke Temple of Templeton, whose life parallels that of the author’s father Judge William Cooper, and Elizabeth Temple (Cooper’s sister), of Cooperstown. The story begins with an argument between the Judge and the Leatherstocking over who killed a buck, and as Cooper reviews many of the changes to his fictional Lake Otsego, questions of environmental stewardship, conservation, and use prevail. The plot develops as the Leatherstocking and Chingachgook begin to compete with the Temples for the loyalties of a mysterious young visitor, “Oliver Edwards,” the “young hunter,” who eventually marries Elizabeth. Chingachgook dies, exemplifying the vexed figure of the “dying Indian,” and Natty vanishes into the sunset. For all its strange twists and turns, ‘The Pioneers’ may be considered one of the first ecological novels in the United States. (source: Wikipedia)

"An Icelandic-punk version of Catcher in the Rye." — Dallas Morning News "If there were more people like Jón Gnarr the world wouldn't be in such a mess." — Oliver Sacks The second book in a trilogy chronicling the troubled childhood of international sensation Jón Gnarr, The Pirate revisits his teenage years with sincere compassion and great humor: bullied relentlessly, Jón receives rebellious inner strength through the Sex Pistols and Prince Kropotkin — punk rock and anarchy offer the promise of a better and more exciting life. Jón Gnarr, the most famous comedic actor in Iceland, founded the Best Party, ran for mayor of Reykjavík as a joke and won, and served as mayor of Reykjavík 2010–2014, in the process becoming an international sensation and symbol of true alternatives to the political process worldwide

SWASHBUCKLING-TIME-TRAVEL! Griffin Rourke: Pirate.Spy. He wants revenge on the infamous buccaneer Blackbeard,for killing his father. And nothing-not even a bewitching woman named Meredith-is going to stop him! When Meredith finds Griffin washed up on shore,she cant believe her eyes.The handsome pirate of her dreams has come to life! But she hasnt counted on her lover's 18th century need for vengeance and that he needs to return to his own time

16 - начало 17 века. Самый разгар вражды между Испанией, Англией и Францией; происходит бесконечная делема Новых Земель, из-за которых каждый раз вспыхивают очередные скандалы, революции, войны. Юная девица-красавица Френсис Бонфуа, которая волшебным способом добилась доверия самого короля и всего французского народа, неспеша идёт по следам загадочного британского преступника. Пирата, от которого, возможно, зависит судьба трёх государств. А может...и всего мира?

Drizzt returns to Luskan, and the Realms will never be the same! The Arcane Brotherhood has long held the city of Luskan in their power, but when corruption eats away at their ranks, Captain Deudermont comes to the rescue of a city that has become a safe haven for the Sword Coast's most dangerous pirates. But rescuing a city from itself may not be as easy as Deudermont thinks, and when Drizzt can't talk him out of it, he'll be forced to help. Drizzt is back in action again, and bringing more changes to the Forgotten Realms setting. This all new hardcover adventure will keep Drizzt fans guessing the whole way, with edge-of-your-seat action and plot twists that even the most casual reader of the Forgotten Realms novel line can't afford to miss!

Masters Jared and Lance are experienced Doms and regularly join forces via The Pleasure Club to fulfill women’s dreams and have fun in the process. From sex dungeons to gothic castles, they’ve been there and done it all. But tonight, they’re armed and ready for a high seas adventure with a more dangerous twist. Dana Hawthorne thinks the Pleasure Guardians set up a sweet-n-sexy tryst with a "wealthy boss man" for her first fantasy night. But it’s not until a pair of bad-boy pirates storm the yacht and take command that the real fantasy…and the erotic pleasure…really begin

Not ships but nations are the prey of the sinister Oriental mastermind, Tom Too. Only Doc Savage and his daring crew stand a chance of saving the world from this figure of evil and his lethal legions. On land and on sea, in the weirdest corners of the wide world, Doc and his friends plunge into their wildest adventure — against their most dangerous foe!

In the wake of The Guardship and The Blackbirder comes The Pirate Round, the exciting conclusion to the Brethren of the Coast trilogy and the swashbuckling adventures of former pirate Thomas Marlowe.In 1706, war still rages in Europe, and the tobacco planters of the Virginia colony's Tidewater struggle against shrinking markets and pirates lurking off the coast. But American seafarers have found a new source of wealth: the Indian Ocean and ships carrying fabulous treasure to the great mogul of India.Faced with ruin, Thomas Marlowe is determined to find a way to the riches of the East. Carrying his crop of tobacco in his privateer, Elizabeth Galley, he secretly plans to continue on to the Indian Ocean to hunt the mogul's ships. But Marlowe does not know that he is sailing into a triangle of hatred and vengeance – a rendezvous with two bitter enemies from his past. Ultimately, none will emerge unscathed from the blood and thunder, the treachery and danger, of sailing the Pirate Round

Protagonist Bran Hoddan wants nothing more for himself than to be free of the taint of criminal activity that has long besmirched his clan. His plans for his future include a steady job and a fulfilling marriage. However, unforeseen circumstances have intervened, and suddenly Hoddan finds himself being pursued by a brutal group of primitive people. In desperation, he turns to his native trade – piracy – to free himself

Because Bron Hoddan was a serious electronics engineer, he didn’t want any part of his particular planetary heritage. For he was from Zan - and Zan’s only occupation was space-ship piracy!. So Bron went to Walden, the most civilized planet of them all. His first step to making himself a good reputation was to invent a machine that would save the government millions. But when instead he was seized and jailed as the most unspeakable criminal in Walden’s history, he realized that there was only one way open to remedy this “civilized” disaster. And that was by putting into use some of Zan’s old-fashioned buccaneering techniques! First serialized as The Pirates of Ersatz in Astounding Science Fiction in February– April 1959. Nominated for Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1960

The Pisstown Chaos is the story of a family’s dislocation in the midst of chaos, disease, and forced-relocation. Political power seems to be solely in the hands of one Reverend Herman Hooker, an “American Divine,” who revels in the sufferings of others as he spouts platitudes to the ever-on-the-move masses. As chaos rages on and parasitic infestations spread, the Reverend rules with an iron fist from his Templex headquarters, utterly without mercy. This is the final book in the cult trilogy

The Edgar-nominated author of Gun Monkeys is back with a thrill-a-minute suspense novel that mixes crime and academia-with hilarious results. Here Victor Gischler draws us into a wild and wicked world, where tenured professors are busy burying bodies, cash-up-front P.I.'s hunt for missing coeds and one desperate street-tough has to decide which he'd rather be: a live poet or a dead criminal. An unlucky grad student just got himself killed in a robbery gone bad. And as lowly drug lieutenant Harold Jenks races with the killer out of the alley, a light goes off in his head: He'll steal the dead kid's identity. Now Jenks, who once lorded it over seven square blocks in East St. Louis, is headed due west. With a.32 in his pocket, a 9mm Glock taped across his back, and a rap sheet nearly as long as Finnegans Wake, he's cruising the halls of academia as Eastern Oklahoma U's newest grad student, looking for action and hoping he can stay one couplet ahead of his violent past. While this new bad boy on campus makes mincemeat of his metaphors, across campus visiting professor Jay Morgan has a more pressing problem: What to do about the dead coed in his bed. The professor's no killer, but try telling that to private eye Deke Stubbs. With the professor on the lam and Stubbs hot on his trail, more trouble blows into town. Now, as St. Louis drug boss Red Zach and his minions converge on Fumbee, Oklahoma, looking for a consignment of missing cocaine, the bullets start flying faster than the zingers at a faculty hate fest. For Morgan and Jenks, now desperate fugitives from poetic justice, survival means learning new skills-and learning fast. Because if they find out they're bottom-of-the-class, that means they're already dead. Featuring the sleaziest, sorriest, and most captivating group of criminal lowlifes, sexed-up academics, poets, and rappers ever to collide in one crime novel, The Pistol Poets speeds deliriously to its electrifying payoff

Discovering the countess Yvette hiding behind a bush without any clothes on, Sergeant Thorolf is soon enlisted to take her to Rhaetia, a wizard, in order that he might change her form and help her elude her pursuers