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American Innovations
American Innovations
Rivka Galchen
¥66.22
A short-story collection from one of America’s brightest young talents. In one of these intensely imaginative stories a young woman’s furniture walks out on her. In another, the narrator feels compelled to deliver a takeout order that has incorrectly been phoned in to her. In a third, the petty details of a property transaction illuminate the complicated dependences and loves of a family. Following spiralling paths towards utterly logical, entirely absurd conclusions, Galchen’s creations occupy a dreamlike dimension, where time is fluid and identities are best defined by the qualities they lack. The tales in this groundbreaking collection are secretly in conversation with canonical stories, allowing the reader the pleasure of discovering familiar favourites in new guises. Here ‘The Lost Order’ covertly recapitulates James Thurber’s ‘The Secret Life of Walter Mitty’, while ‘The Region of Unlikeness’ playfully mirrors Jorge Luis Borges’s ‘The Aleph’. By turns realistic, fantastical and lyrical, all these marvellously uneasy stories share a deeply emotional core and are written in dryly witty, pitch-perfect prose. Whether exploring the tensions in a mother-daughter relationship or the finer points of time travel, Galchen is a writer of eye-opening ingenuity.
The Islands of Chaldea
The Islands of Chaldea
Diana Wynne Jones
¥51.50
The brand new and final novel from the magical pen of ‘the Godmother of Fantasy’, Diana Wynne Jones; co-authored with her sister Ursula Jones. Now in paperback. How are you supposed to turn into a Wise Woman if your powers just won’t show up? Aileen is convinced she’ll never become as magical as her Aunt Beck. Then one day her aunt is set a seemingly impossible mission. She must go to the island of Logra and rescue the kidnapped High Prince from the enemy, and Aileen must go with her. They set off along with Ivar, Aileen’s spoilt cousin, and Ogo his clophopping servant, recruiting on their way a huge and elusive cat, a monk with an uncannily wise parrot, and a boy inventor who keeps a pet lizard up his sleeve. But this is no band of mighty warriors, and the evil Lograns and their wizards have blocked their way with an invisible barrier in the sea. Aileen doubts that even with all the magic in the Islands of Chaldea, including Aunt Beck’s, they will be able to penetrate it. But Aileen is about to discover that she could be more important to the mission than she realises. Perhaps it is her, above all, who is being drawn to Logra, and for a very special purpose…
Aztec Attack (Time Hunters, Book 12)
Aztec Attack (Time Hunters, Book 12)
Chris Blake
¥44.15
Join Tom on an incredible treasure hunt through time and battle history’s mightiest warriors. The twelfth book in an action-packed, time-travelling series – perfect for fans of Beast Quest. Travel through time with Tom as he battles the mightiest warriors of the past! When Tom bangs on a drum in a museum he releases an ancient curse. Now he must go back in time and track down six golden coins… On this adventure, Tom travels back to the ancient Aztec Empire where he must face the rain god Tlaloc! Can Tom outsmart a god and snatch the missing treasure before it’s too late?
The Life You Left
The Life You Left
Carmel Harrington
¥62.59
The life you lived. The life you loved. The life you left… For fans of Jojo Moyes and Cecelia Ahern. It started out like any other day for Sarah Lawler; getting the kids ready for school, making the pack lunches and juggling baby Ella’s feeds. There was no way of knowing that her husband, Paul, would leave for work that morning and simply not come home. Now the questions are piling up quicker than the unpaid bills and, unable to answer her children’s questions about where their Daddy is, Sarah is getting desperate. But it turns out she isn’t quite as alone as she thought she was. When her beloved childhood friend, Edward, comes back into her life, Sarah thinks she’s finally been thrown a life line. There’s just one problem with Edward: Sarah is the only person who can see him. “Carmel Harrington has done it again! Brilliantly written… it surpasses all expectations.” ChickLitClub
One Fine Day
One Fine Day
Teresa F. Morgan
¥45.42
Just a boy standing in front of a girl… Actor Steve Mason has it all … gorgeous looks, the perfect starlet girlfriend hanging on his arm and his name on every Hollywood producer’s lips. That is, until it turns out the ‘perfect girl’ is actually a perfect PR stunt! Dumped and with his name plastered across every tabloid headline, Steve decides to head home to England, questioning if he’ll ever find a woman who genuinely loves him for who he is, and not just his place on the Sexiest Man Alive list. It’s been fifteen long years since Ruby last saw her big brother – but the new LA version of Steve complete with designer wardrobe, California tan and an American accent is too much to bear – Ruby hardly recognises him and decides it’s time to get her brother back! With Ruby’s help, Steve goes undercover as he plays the part of a regular guy who leads a regular life. And then one perfectly fine, ordinary day he meets lovely, funny, down-to-earth Lydia. But when Hollywood comes calling, will Steve be able to leave both Lydia and his little sister behind?
A Family Scandal
A Family Scandal
Kitty Neale
¥61.51
**A gritty and emotional family drama, from the Sunday Times bestseller. Perfect for fans of Nadine Dorries and Katie Flynn.** You can never leave a bad man behind… Mavis Pugh has had a hard life. Despised and abused throughout her teenage years, she turned to the first man who showed her kindness. But her new husband, Alec, quickly revealed himself to be a violent bully. When Mavis escapes from Alec, she thinks the worst is behind her. Moving to a large family house with her two children is more than she ever dreamed of, and when handsome sign-writer Tommy takes an interest in her, she can't believe her luck. But Alec is far from a distant memory and, unbeknown to Mavis, he’s watching her and her happy family closely. Just waiting for the right time to make his next – and final – move…
The Girl Who Couldn’t Read
The Girl Who Couldn’t Read
John Harding
¥66.22
A sinister Gothic tale in the tradition of The Woman in Black and The Fall of the House of Usher New England, The 1890s When a young doctor begins work at an isolated mental asylum, he is expected to fall in with the shocking regime for treating the patients. He is soon intrigued by one patient, a strange amnesiac girl who is fascinated by books but cannot read. He embarks upon a desperate experiment to save her but when his own dark past begins to catch up with him, he realises it is she who is his only hope of escape. In this chilling literary thriller from a master storyteller, everyone has something to hide and no one is what they seem.
Uprooted - A Canadian War Story
Uprooted - A Canadian War Story
Lynne Reid Banks
¥51.50
From the author of The Indian in the Cupboard and The L-Shaped Room comes a fascinating story of a wartime childhood, heavily influenced by her own experience. In 1940 as war rages across Europe, ten-year-old Lindy waves goodbye to England and makes the long journey to Saskatoon, Canada, along with her mother and her cousin Cameron. They may be far from the war but they are also far from home and everyone they know and love. Life in Canada is very different but it is also full of exciting new adventures… This captivating story is inspired by Lynne Reid Banks’ own childhood experience and her time in Canada.
Checker and the Derailleurs
Checker and the Derailleurs
Lionel Shriver
¥66.22
From the Orange Prize winning author of We Need to Talk About Kevin this is a novel about what it takes to make it in music. How charisma is worth its weight in gold. And how jealously can grow until it has eaten away at a musician’s heart. He has that thing that they’d all pay for but can’t buy: on stage and off, the 19-year-old rock drummer Checker Secretti is electric. When he plays with his band The Derailleurs, the natives of Astoria, Queens clamour for a piece of him. But charisma comes at a price. A Salieri to Checker’s Mozart, the fiercely envious fellow drummer Eaton Striker is eager to sow discord among the Derailleurs, that he might replace the exasperatingly popular goody-goody in the close-knit neighbourhood’s affections. An examination of the passion, the jealousy and the friendship of young musicians trying to break out, Checker and The Derailleurs is also about cycling, rock lyrics, glass blowing, the marriage of convenience, and―most of all―the mystery of joy.
Favourite Cat Stories
Favourite Cat Stories
Michael Morpurgo
¥142.44
Three beautiful tales for all feline-lovers told by the nation’s favourite storyteller including wartime kittens and African lion cubs. ‘The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips’: In 1943, Lily Treganza was living in a sleepy seaside village, scarcely touched by the war. But all that was soon to change… ‘Kaspar’: Kaspar the cat first came to the Savoy Hotel in a basket – Johnny Trott knows, because he was the one who carried him in. Johnny was a bellboy, you see, and he carried all of Countess Kandinsky's things to her room, including this very special cat! ‘The Butterfly Lion’: When Bertie is a little boy, he rescues an orphaned white lion cub from the African veld. They are inseparable until Bertie is sent to boarding school far away in England and the lion is sold to a circus. Bertie swears that one day they will see one another again, but it is the butterfly lion which ensures that their friendship will never be forgotten.
The Hero’s Guide to Being an Outlaw
The Hero’s Guide to Being an Outlaw
Christopher Healy
¥51.50
The third book in this fast-paced and hilarious fantasy quest in the grand tradition of Shrek and The Princess Bride, starring four very unlikely, but likeable, heroes. Prince Liam. Prince Frederick. Prince Duncan. Prince Gustav… The four princes that have the worst luck in the world. After saving the kingdom YET AGAIN and going their separate ways, the princes are back in trouble… and this time it’s serious! Somehow, everyone thinks they have MURDERED a princess! And with bounty hunters after them, and a dastardly scheme sure to be behind it all, the princes have to overcome their differences, reunite, and clear their names. Oh, and save the kingdom again…
All the Days And Nights
All the Days And Nights
Niven Govinden
¥66.22
From the author of ‘Black Bread White Beer’ The East Coast of America, 1980. Anna Brown, a dying artist, works on her final portrait. Obsessive and secretive, it is a righting of her past failures; her final statement. John Brown, her husband and life-long muse, has left; walked out of their home one morning to travel cross-country in search of the paintings he has sat for. As their stories unfold – independently, for the first time in many years – a passionate unconventional relationship is revealed, between two people living through the most tumultuous decades of modern history. All the Days and Nights is the story of an art hunt during a twilight period of painting. It lays bare two relationships that are ever changing and incomparable: of the artist and the muse, and of lovers. It is an exploration of what it means to create, what it means to inspire, what it means to live.
The Serpent’s Curse (The Copernicus Legacy, Book 2)
The Serpent’s Curse (The Copernicus Legacy, Book 2)
Tony Abbott
¥51.50
RICK RIORDAN meets DAN BROWN in this epic historical adventure series packed full of puzzles, clues and edge-of-your-seat excitement! The four friends are back and on another even more awesome adventure…
The Sacrifice
The Sacrifice
Joyce Carol Oates
¥66.22
New York Times bestselling author Joyce Carol Oates returns with an incendiary novel that illuminates the tragic impact of sexual violence, racism, brutality, and power on innocent lives and probes the persistence of stereotypes, the nature of revenge, the complexities of truth, and our insatiable hunger for sensationalism. When a fourteen-year-old girl is the alleged victim of a terrible act of racial violence, the incident shocks and galvanizes her community, exacerbating the racial tension that has been simmering in this New Jersey town for decades. In this magisterial work of fiction, Joyce Carol Oates explores the uneasy fault lines in a racially troubled society. In such a tense, charged atmosphere, Oates reveals that there must always be a sacrifice—of innocence, truth, trust, and, ultimately, of lives. Unfolding in a succession of multiracial voices, in a community transfixed by this alleged crime and the spectacle unfolding around it, this profound novel exposes what—and who—the “sacrifice” actually is, and what consequences these kind of events hold for us all. Working at the height of her powers, Oates offers a sympathetic portrait of the young girl and her mother, and challenges our expectations and beliefs about our society, our biases, and ourselves. As the chorus of its voices—from the police to the media to the victim and her family—reaches a crescendo, The Sacrifice offers a shocking new understanding of power and oppression, innocence and guilt, truth and sensationalism, justice and retribution. A chilling exploration of complex social, political, and moral themes—the enduring trauma of the past, modern racial and class tensions, the power of secrets, and the primal decisions we all make to protect those we love—The Sacrifice is a major work of fiction from one of our most revered literary masters.
Four: A Divergent Collection
Four: A Divergent Collection
Veronica Roth
¥58.86
Fans of the Divergent series by No. 1 New York Times bestselling author Veronica Roth will be thrilled by Four: A Divergent Collection, a companion volume that includes four pre-Divergent stories told from Tobias Eaton’s point of view. DIVERGENT and INSURGENT were blockbuster movies in 2014 and 2015. Readers first encountered Tobias Eaton as "Four" in Divergent. His voice is an integral part of Allegiant. Readers will find more of this charismatic character's backstory told from his own perspective in Four: A Divergent Collection. When read together, these long narrative pieces illuminate the defining moments in Tobias Eaton's life. The first three pieces in this volume – "The Transfer," "The Initiate," and "The Son" – follow Tobias's transfer from Abnegation to Dauntless, his Dauntless initiation, and the first clues that a foul plan is brewing in the leadership of two factions. The fourth story, "The Traitor," runs parallel with the events of Divergent, giving readers a glimpse into the decisions of loyalty – and love – that Tobias makes in the weeks after he meets Tris Prior. Exclusive scenes included!
The Goodbye Gift: A gripping story of love, friendship and betrayal
The Goodbye Gift: A gripping story of love, friendship and betrayal
Amanda Brooke
¥58.86
Three best friends. One tragic accident. A heartbreaking novel about friendship, love and sacrifice from R&J bestseller, Amanda Brooke Lucy has been desperate for a new heart for as long as she can remember. But getting the call to say a donor has been found will be a bittersweet relief: because for her to live, someone else must die. Julia, Helen and Phoebe have been fast friends for all their lives, through Helen’s unplanned pregnancy, the sudden death of Phoebe’s mother, and Julia’s desperation to conceive with her much younger husband. Yet a deep friendship can hide many secrets, and as their relationship reaches crisis point, what has long been buried is going to come bubbling to the surface. With one tragic accident, these four lives will converge and Lucy will get her new heart. But who has made the ultimate sacrifice?
The Idea of Him
The Idea of Him
Holly Peterson
¥58.86
From the New York Times bestselling author of THE MANNY comes a vibrant novel of love, life lessons and learning to trust yourself Allie Crawford has the life she always dreamed of – a career at a high-profile PR firm; two kids she adores; and a husband, Wade, who is everything she thought a man was supposed to be. But when Allie finds Wade locked in their laundry room with a stunning blonde in snakeskin heels, a scandal ensues that flips her life on its head. And she starts to think maybe she's fallen in love not with Wade himself – but with the idea of him. Captivating and seductive, told in a whip-smart voice, The Idea of Him is a novel of conspiracy, intrigue, and intense passion – and discovering your greatest strength through your deepest fears.
Dead Man Walking (Part 1 of 3) (Detective Mark Heckenburg, Book 4)
Dead Man Walking (Part 1 of 3) (Detective Mark Heckenburg, Book 4)
Paul Finch
免费
Dead Man Walking can be read either in three parts or as a full-length ebook (available 20 November 2014). The fourth unputdownable book in the DS Mark Heckenburg series. A killer thriller for fans of Stuart MacBride and Luther, from the #1 ebook bestseller Paul Finch. His worst nightmare is back… As a brutal winter takes hold of the Lake District, a prolific serial killer stalks the fells. ‘The Stranger’ has returned and for DS Mark ‘Heck’ Heckenburg, the signs are all too familiar. Last seen on Dartmoor ten years earlier, The Stranger murdered his victims in vicious, cold-blooded attacks – and when two young women go missing, Heck fears the worst. As The Stranger lays siege to a remote community, Heck watches helplessly as the killer plays his cruel game, picking off his victims one by one. And with no way to get word out of the valley, Heck must play ball… A spine-chilling thriller, from the #1 ebook bestseller. Perfect for fans of Stuart MacBride and James Oswald.
The Hound of Death: An Agatha Christie Short Story
The Hound of Death: An Agatha Christie Short Story
Agatha Christie
¥23.25
A classic Agatha Christie short story, available individually for the first time as an ebook. In this supernatural tale by the Queen of Crime, a nun has memories of a past-life in an ancient civilisation and believes she can harness natural psychic powers…
The Face of Helen: An Agatha Christie Short Story
The Face of Helen: An Agatha Christie Short Story
Agatha Christie
¥19.13
A classic Agatha Christie short story, available individually for the first time as an ebook. Mr Satterthwaite bumps into his old friend Mr Quin at the opera, where they spot a distressed-looking girl in the audience. Later, they discover that she is in real danger and decide to rescue her…
Say it with Sequins: The Charleston: (A Novella)
Say it with Sequins: The Charleston: (A Novella)
Georgia Hill
¥27.17
For fans of reality dance shows, this series is strictly irresistible! Into the last stage of ‘Who Dares Dances’ blasts Meredith Denning, a tour de force! She’s a voluptuous, beautiful Oxford grad looking for a direction in life. Merry is partnered with professional dancer Daniel, who is still nurturing feelings for a newly engaged Julia. Though it’s not long before these two take their incredible chemistry from ballroom… to bedroom! With Daniel on her arm and the trophy within reach, Merry finds herself in danger of breaking the habit of a lifetime as she falls heavily for Daniel. Find out how it all ends the final part of the flirty, fun and FAB-U-LOUS series, Say it with Sequins!