万本电子书0元读

万本电子书0元读

Portrait of an Unknown Woman
Portrait of an Unknown Woman
Bennett, Vanora
¥83.69
The year is 1527. The great portraitist Hans Holbein, who has fled the reformation in Europe, is making his first trip to England under commission to Sir Thomas More. In the course of six years, Holbein will become a close friend to the More family and paint two nearly identical family portraits. But closer examination of the paintings reveals that the second holds several mysteries...Set against the turmoil, intrigue and, tragedy of Henry VIII's court, Portrait of an Unknown Woman vividly evokes sixteenth-century England on the verge of enormous change. As the Protestant Reformation sweeps across Europe to lap at England's shores, relations between her king and the Catholic Church begin to plummet-driven by Henry VIII's insatiable need for a male heir and the urgings of his cunning mistress Anne Boleyn-and heresy begins to take hold. As tensions rise, Henry VIII turns to his most trusted servant and defender of Catholic orthodoxy, Sir Thomas More to keep peace in England, but soon the entire More family find their own lives at risk.At the center of Portrait of an Unknown Woman is Meg Gigg's, Sir Thomas More's twenty-three year old adopted daughter. Intelligent, headstrong, and tender-hearted, Meg has been schooled in the healing arts. And though she is devoted to her family, events conspire that will cause Meg to question everything she thought she knew-including the desires of her own heart. As the danger to More and his family increases, two men will vie for Meg's affections: John Clement, her former tutor and More's protg who shares Meg's passion for medicine, but whose true identity will become unclear, and the great Holbein, who's artistic vision will forever alter her understanding of the world. With a striking sense of period detail Portrait of an Unknown Woman is an unforgettable story of sin and religion, desire and deception. It is the story of a young woman on the brink of sensual awakening and of a country on the edge of mayhem.
The Post-Birthday World
The Post-Birthday World
Shriver, Lionel
¥83.03
American children's book illustrator Irina McGovern enjoys a secure, settled life in London with her smart, loyal, disciplined partner, Lawrence until the night she finds herself inexplicably drawn to kissing another man, a passionate, extravagant, top-ranked snooker player. Two competing alternate futures hinge on this single kiss, as Irina's decision to surrender to temptation or to preserve her seemingly safe partnership with Lawrence will have momentous consequences for her career, her friendships and familial relationships, and the texture of her daily life.
A Poisoned Season
A Poisoned Season
Alexander, Tasha
¥78.32
London's social season is in full swing, and Victorian aristocracy is atwitter over a certain gentleman who claims to be the direct descendant of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. Adding to their fascination with all things French, an audacious cat burglar is systematically stealing valuable items that once belonged to the ill fated queen. But things take a dark turn. The owner of one of the pilfered treasures is found murdered after the theft is reported in the newspapers, and the mysterious thief develops a twisted obsession with Lady Emily Ashton. It takes all of Lady Emily's wit and perseverance to unmask her stalker and ferret out the murderer, while faced with a brewing scandal that threatens both her reputation and her romance with the dashing Colin Hargreaves.
The Monk Upstairs
The Monk Upstairs
Farrington, Tim
¥77.26
Heavenly Ever After?When Rebecca Martin finds the love of her life, it's finally time to cross off one giant task from life's to-do list. But not so fast. The wedding is a minor disaster, the honeymoon doesn't get much better, and then the biggest shock of all living together as monk and wife.
Mules and Men
Mules and Men
Hurston, Zora Neale
¥90.51
Mules and Men is a treasury of black America's folklore as collected by a famous storyteller and anthropologist who grew up hearing the songs and sermons, sayings and tall tales that have formed an oral history of the South since the time of slavery. Returning to her hometown of Eatonville, Florida, to gather material, Zora Neale Hurston recalls "a hilarious night with a pinch of everything social mixed with the storytelling." Set intimately within the social context of black life, the stories, "big old lies," songs, Vodou customs, and superstitions recorded in these pages capture the imagination and bring back to life the humor and wisdom that is the unique heritage of African Americans.
Mutant Message Down Under
Mutant Message Down Under
Morgan, Marlo
¥88.56
Mutant Message Down Under is the fictional account of an American woman's spiritual odyssey through outback Australia. An underground bestseller in its original self-published edition, Marlo Morgan's powerful tale of challenge and endurance has a message for us all. Summoned by a remote tribe of nomadic Aborigines to accompany them on walkabout, the woman makes a four-month-long journey and learns how they thrive in natural harmony with the plants and animals that exist in the rugged lands of Australia's bush. From the first day of her adventure, Morgan is challenged by the physical requirements of the journey she faces daily tests of her endurance, challenges that ultimately contribute to her personal transformation. By traveling with this extraordinary community, Morgan becomes a witness to their essential way of being in a world based on the ancient wisdom and philosophy of a culture that is more than 50,000 years old.
Napoleon's Pyramids
Napoleon's Pyramids
Dietrich, William
¥84.16
“A frothy, swashbuckling tale of high adventure….Escapist fiction at its ultimate.” —Seattle Times “It has a plot as satisfying as an Indiana Jones film and offers enough historical knowledge to render the reader a fascinating raconteur on the topics of ancient Egypt and Napoleon Bonaparte.” —USA Today A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, author William Dietrich introduces readers to the globe-trotting American adventurer Ethan Gage in Napoleon’s Pyramids—an ingenious, swashbuckling yarn whose action-packed pages nearly turn themselves. The first book in Dietrich’s fabulously fun New York Times bestselling series, Napoleon’s Pyramids follows the irrepressible Gage—a brother in spirit to George MacDonald Fraser’s Flashman—as he travels with Napoleon’s expedition across the burning Egyptian desert in an attempt to solve a 6,000 year old riddle with the help of a mysterious medallion. Here is superior adventure fiction in the spirit of Jack London, Robert Lewis Stevenson, and H. Rider Haggard, and fans of their acclaimed successors—James Rollins, David Liss, Steve Berry, Kate Mosse—will certainly want to get to know Ethan Gage.
Necklace of Kisses
Necklace of Kisses
Block, Francesca Lia
¥83.03
Where were the kissesWeetzie Bat wondered. And so begins a magical journey of discovery. As she turns forty and the relationship with her secret-agent lover-man Max falls apart, Weetzie packs up her lime green and bright orange bikini, orange suede sneakers, and Pucci tunic, jumps in her '65 mint green Thunderbird, and leaves. Weetzie finds herself at the enchanted pink hotel in sparkling Los Angeles, where she once shied away from a kiss that may have led her to the love of her life. Now she returns, perhaps in search of her lost passion, and meets an otherworldy cast of characters, among them a blue-skinned receptionist, an invisible cleaning lady, a seductive fawn, and a sushi-eating mermaid who gives her a kiss that sets the wheel of self-discovery in motion. Block invests every scene with equal shots of magic and realism, rendering her heroine and supporting players in vivid, poetic detail. In Necklace of Kisses the fans that have grown up with Weetzie Bat will be able to meet her in adulthood and find that life is still no less trying and no less full of wonder.
Shadow Ranch
Shadow Ranch
Mapson, Jo-Ann
¥83.93
The impact of four-year-old Spencer's death has rocked the Carpenter family. For Lainie, the loss of her son is unbearable, and now both her marriage and her very sanity are threatened. Her guitar-obsessed, slacker brother Russell isn't doing very well either, and his own love relationship is rapidly coming undone. Then there's Bop, her fierce and crusty 80-year-old grandfather. When he falls in love with a retired stripper, their earthy romance touches each of the Carpenters' lives in unexpected ways.
Sharpe's Escape
Sharpe's Escape
Cornwell, Bernard
¥95.11
It is 1810, and in Napoleon's determination to conquer Portugal—and push the British back to the sea—he sends his largest army yet across the Spanish frontier. But between the Portuguese border and Napoleon's seemingly certain victory are twoobstacles—a wasted land, stripped of food by Wellington's orders, and Captain Richard Sharpe.But Sharpe is in trouble. The captain of the Light Company is threatened from inside and out: First by an incompetent British officer, who by virtue of family connections is temporarily given Sharpe's command. An even greater danger is posed by two corrupt Portuguese brothers—Major Ferreira, a high-ranking officer in the army of Portugal, and his brother, nicknamed "Ferragus" (after a legen-dary Portuguese giant), who makes no claims to respectability, preferring instead to rule by crude physical strength and pure intimidation. Together the brothers have developed a devious plot to ingratiate themselves with the French invaders who are threatening to become Portugal's new rulers.Sharpe's interference in the first stage of their plan earns the undying enmity of the brothers. Ferragus vows revenge and plots a merciless trap that seems certain to kill Sharpe and his intimates—battle-tested ally Sergeant Harper, the Portuguese officer Jorge Vicente, and a prickly but lovely English governess. As the city of Coimbra is burned and pillaged, Sharpe and his companions plot a daring escape, ensuring that Ferragus will follow on toward Lisbon, into the jaws of a snare laid by Wellington—the massive lines of Torres Vedras, a daring and ingenious last stand against the invaders. There, beneath the British guns, Sharpe is reunited with his shattered but grateful company, and meets his enemies in a thrilling and decisive fight.Sharpe's Escape emphatically reaffirms Bernard Cornwell's status as "perhaps the greatest writer of historical adventure novels today" (Washington Post); its climactic battle scenes and evocative re-creation of history sweep the reader off the page and into the action and drama of nineteenth-century warfare.
Sharpe's Havoc
Sharpe's Havoc
Cornwell, Bernard
¥84.16
Lieutenant Richard Sharpe finds himself fighting the ruthless armies of Napoleon Bonaparte as they try to bring the whole of the Iberian Peninsula under their control. Napoleon is advancing fast through northern Portugal, and no one knows whether the small contingent of British troops stationed in Lisbon will stay to fight or sail back to England. Sharpe, however, does not have a choice: He and his squad of riflemen are on the lookout for the missing daughter of an English wine shipper when the French onslaught begins and the city of Oporto becomes a setting for carnage and disaster.Stranded behind enemy lines, Sharpe returns to his mission to find Kate Savage. Sharpe's position on enemy grounds is precarious, and his search is further complicated by a mysterious and threatening Englishman, Colonel Christopher, who has his own ideas on how the French can be driven from Portugal.
Reality TV Bites
Reality TV Bites
Bolks, Shane
¥84.16
Allison Holloway may be one of the last holdouts: a true reality TV junkie. (Hey, there's no shame in admitting you enjoy watching the Donald say "You're fired!" for the millionth time.) But when her boss signs up their interior design firm for Kamikaze Makeover, Allison knows things are never going to be the same again. Dozens of cameras are set to tape every embarrassing moment as two teams compete for $3 million by executing a bold design concept using unorthodox materials (sex toys, anyone?). As if that wasn't bad enough, a hunky producer tries to seduce Allison with fine champagne and limo rides, while an equally hunky Dave wants to introduce her to the finer things in his life like beer and basketball games, and a piranhalike press hounds her day and night -- and let's not forget the vibrator wall art. Will Allison ever get her life backWill she finally find her prince after kissing so many frogsJoin Allison as she fights back against the lies, the double-dealing, and the backstabbing to prove that she's a survivor even a gooey round of pudding wrestling can't defeat.
A Red Hot New Year
A Red Hot New Year
Mercury, Diana
¥77.26
This New Year's Eve, turn up the heat . . . At the stroke of midnight a new year begins—a time for passionate resolutions and brand-new pleasures; a time to let go of past restraints and embrace new sensual boundaries. Four masterful writers offer a quartet of boldly erotic tales guaranteed to heat up those winter nights.Anna has always been the good girl, until a mysterious and powerful encounter with a wolf brings out her wild side! Now she's unleashing her long-repressed desires on the sexy stranger who comes to her rescue . . . in Cynthia Eden's New Year's Bites.Seducing her lover at a lavish party seems like the perfect way for Chantal to rekindle their lost passion. But the tables are turned when she finds herself the target of an even more intoxicating man's desire . . . in Diana Mercury's Night Resolutions.During a weekend getaway at a cozy mountain cabin, two couples decide the long winter nights lend themselves to exciting sensual exploration. But no one expects their red-hot sessions will turn good friends into lovers for life . . . in Virginia Reede's Snow Blind.Gina is your average female who just happens to become a bit of a . . . dragon when she's turned on! Good thing she's found the kind of savagely sexy man who can bring out the beast in her . . . in Denise Rossetti's Coming on Strong.
OSS Commando: Final Option
OSS Commando: Final Option
Sasser, Charles
¥56.07
As American involvement in WW II grew imminent, President Roosevelt authorized the establishment of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the predecessor of both the CIA and military Special Operations Forces. Using military cover OSS began building a clandestine capability to combat the Axis powers, in which saboteurs, guerillas, commandos, spies and counterintelligence agents worked behind enemy lines. Captain James Cantrell, a former Chicago homicide detective, is the leader of a secret intelligence team for OSS. He is charged with protecting Operation Overlord, the top–secret Allied plans for invading France, and with ferreting out Nazi spies who are desperately attempting to uncover these secrets. With time running out before D–Day, Cantrell must stop a cunning––and seductive––female Gestapo agent operating in London from delivering stolen Overlord information in time for Hitler to reinforce defenses at Normandy. The chase leads him through bomb ravaged London streets and across the English Channel only hours behind his prey. Parachuting into France behind enemy lines only days before the scheduled D–Day landings, his orders are to assassinate her before she reports to her contact on the French mainland. The fate of WW II hangs in the balance.
Site Unseen
Site Unseen
Cameron, Dana
¥45.49
Brilliant, dedicated, and driven, archaeologist Emma Fielding finds things that have been lost for hundreds of years -- and she's very, very good at it. A soon-to-be-tenured professor, she has recently unearthed evidence of a seventeenth-century coastal Maine settlement that predates Jamestown, one of the most significant archaeological finds in years. But the dead body that accompanies it has embroiled Emma and her students in a different kind of exploration. With her reputation suddenly in jeopardy -- due to the ruthless machinations of a disgruntled rival -- and a second suspicious death, heartbreakingly close to home, Emma must unearth a killer among the relics. But that means digging deep to get to dark secrets buried in the heart of the archaeological community -- which, in turn, could bury Emma Fielding.
Skeleton Canyon
Skeleton Canyon
Jance, J. A.
¥70.10
Top ten New York Times bestselling author J.A. Jance brings us another mesmerizing thriller featuring Arizona Sheriff Joanna Brady as she searches for the brutal killer of a young girl. Brianna "Bree" O'Brien never returned from Skeleton Canyon. Someone brutally murdered the pretty, popular teenager who had stolen away under cover of darkness to rendezvous with her boyfriend. Perhaps youthful rage, jealousy and savage passion cost young Bree her life. Or maybe she stumbled onto something too dangerous to know. Sheriff Joanna Brady of Cochise County knows only too well the pain of losing a loved one to violence. But she is disturbed by the O'Brien's insistence that Bree's boyfriend is responsible for their daughter's slaying. Joanna senses there are words not being spoken, and dark mysteries locked behind doors of the sprawling O'Brien family compound. But it is the strange disappearance of a good friend that is pulling Sheriff Brady ever closer to the lethal nest of lies, greed and secrets hiding in a desolate corner of the Arizona desert - where the next blood that feeds the parched, cracked earth could be her own.
The Sky Is Falling
The Sky Is Falling
Sheldon, Sidney
¥145.55
If America had a royal family, the Taylor Winthrops would wear the crown. The popular, charismatic Winthrops have captured the imagination of the world with their public service, their enormous charity, and their glamorous lives. But in the period of one year., all five members of the family are killed in a series of accidents. Beautiful young anchor woman Dana Evans begins an investigation and starts unraveling compelling evidence that she can hardly believe.In her determined pursuit of the truth, Dana never anticipated the cat-and-mouse chase that leads her through a half dozen countries in search of a remorseless killer. As she closes in on her suspect, the shocking secrets she uncovers place Dana and her young son in dire jeopardy. Can Dana outwit her pursuers and expose the truth that will astound the world?A dynamite thriller filled with all the elements that have made his previous works phenomenal bestsellers) The Sky Is Falling is Sidney Sheldon at his sizzling best.
Sleeping with the Enemy
Sleeping with the Enemy
Devlin, Delilah
¥32.73
A lone rogue vampire mingles among his hunters in a blood bar, undetected…until a beautiful woman snares his attention. Suddenly, he's running, leading her on a chase until she corners him, stake dangling from her slender fingertips. Now he has two choices: play it sexy or safe?
Snow Place to Die
Snow Place to Die
Daheim, Mary
¥49.05
There's snow place like homicideB&B hostess Judith McMonigle Flynn's ready to hang up her oven mitts, but irrepressible Cousin Renie needs help catering the telephone company's annual winter retreat at secluded Mountain Goat Lodge. The pay's good, the scenery's to die for -- but they never figured there'd be a killer cooking up mischief among this innocuous stew of corporate-climbing phone company ding-a-lings. Unfortunately, Judith and Renie's discovery of the frozen garroted remains of the previous company caterer -- missing since last year's shindig -- suggests no less, since the same cast of characters is present this time around. It's Dial "M" for Mountain Goat Murder, and a storm's blowing in to boot -- leaving Judith and Renie stranded with ten suspects and a corpses...and with nothing better to do than to reach out and touch a killer who's like nothing better than to put two inquisitive cousins in the Deep Freeze.
The Space Between Us
The Space Between Us
Umrigar, Thrity
¥95.39
Each morning, Bhima, a domestic servant in contemporary Bombay, leaves her own small shanty in the slums to tend to another woman's house. In Sera Dubash's home, Bhima scrubs the floors of a house in which she remains an outsider. She cleans furniture she is not permitted to sit on. She washes glasses from which she is not allowed to drink. Yet despite being separated from each other by blood and class, she and Sera find themselves bound by gender and shared life experiences.Sera is an upper-middle-class Parsi housewife whose opulent surroundings hide the shame and disappointment of her abusive marriage. A widow, she devotes herself to her family, spending much of her time caring for her pregnant daughter, Dinaz, a kindhearted, educated professional, and her charming and successful son-in-law, Viraf.Bhima, a stoic illiterate hardened by a life of despair and loss, has worked in the Dubash household for more than twenty years. Cursed by fate, she sacrifices all for her beautiful, headstrong granddaughter, Maya, a university student whose education -- paid for by Sera -- will enable them to escape the slums. But when an unwed Maya becomes pregnant by a man whose identity she refuses to reveal, Bhima's dreams of a better life for her granddaughter, as well as for herself, may be shattered forever.Poignant and compelling, evocative and unforgettable, The Space Between Us is an intimate portrait of a distant yet familiar world. Set in modern-day India and witnessed through two compelling and achingly real women, the novel shows how the lives of the rich and the poor are intrinsically connected yet vastly removed from each other, and vividly captures how the bonds of womanhood are pitted against the divisions of class and culture.
Scots on the Rocks
Scots on the Rocks
Daheim, Mary
¥55.31
When Judith and her cousin Renie go on vacation in a remote and possibly haunted Scottish castle owned by a rich whiskey distillery baron strange things start occurring. They meet Harry Gibbs, a dissolute young man who is estranged from his wife and is found smothered to death shortly after Judith and Renie arrive. His widow, Moira, is suspect No. 1, of course, but there are plenty to go around since Harry was a real jerk and wanted to run the petrol company Moira inherited from dear old dad. Suspects include Moira's bastard half-brother, Blackwell Petroleum's sleazy CEO, the wily comptroller, an even wilier corporate attorney, the whisky baron, Moira's former mother-in-law who mixes delicious jams along with her not-so-delicious poisons, Moira's apparent lover, and, last but not least, Chuckie, the dwarfish epileptic who runs around castle. There's a ghost, some goofy villagers, and enough suspects to overwhelm any police force, but no challenge is too daunting for the cousins.