The second book in Bracewell’s outstanding Emma of Normandy series, set in 11-century England, when Vikings are on the brink of invasion. 1006 AD. Queen Emma, the Norman bride of England’s King ?thelred, has given birth to a son. Now her place as second wife to the king is safe and Edward marked as heir to the throne. But the royal bed is a cold place and the court a setting for betrayal and violence, as the ageing king struggles to retain his power over the realm. Emma can trust no one, not even the king’s eldest son Athelstan, the man she truly loves. Elsewhere Viking threats to the crown are gaining strength, and in the north the powerful nobleman ?lfhelm is striking an alliance with the Danes. His seductive daughter Elgiva, former mistress to the king, is forced to act as a pawn in his plan, and is given as wife to a Viking Lord. Can King ?thelred finally listen to Athelstan, whose plan to strengthen the kingdoms’ ties will put off the Viking threat once and for all? Emma must protect her only child without abandoning her noble position. And her inner conflict, between maternal instinct and royal duty, will be played out against the dramatic and bloody struggle for Britain’s rule.

“Megan Frampton’s delightful characters and delicious sense of humor always entertain!” - Sabrina Jeffries In this Dukes Behaving Badly holiday novella, a young lady entertains a sudden proposal of marriage—to a man she’s only just met What does a lady do when a man she’s never seen before offers his hand in marriageLady Sophronia Bettesford doesn’t scream and run away. Instead, she accepts the shocking proposition. After all, what’s her other choiceTo live with her cousin, caring for six children and a barnyard full of chickensJames Archer has roamed the world, determined never to settle down. He’s faced danger and disaster…he fears nothing and no one—except his mother and her matchmaking ways. So when ordered to attend a Christmastime house party filled with holiday cheer and simpering young misses, he produces—a fiancée! Sophronia and James vow to pretend to be in love for one month. But when they promise to give each other a Christmas kiss, it becomes clear that this pact made out of necessity might just be turning into love. An Avon Romance

This is an essential book for everyone who wants to write clearly about any subject and use writing as a means of learning.

Being fearless has never looked so good . . .Aubrey Evans needs to get her life back on track after her father is indicted for embezzlement. All she has to do to hightail it out of small-town Tennessee is save up money for college tuition and steer clear of hard-muscled boys on motorcycles. Yet there's no ignoring someone like Zion. A knight in black leather, Zion looks like every bad idea she's been told to avoid, but she can't resist him. Whenever she's in trouble, he's there. Appealing as his rough exterior may be, it's the protective, principled man beneath who tempts her like crazy.Zion knows Aubrey doesn't intend to stick around. She claims to want only friendship, but he senses there's a naughty girl hiding on the inside one whose intense desires match his own. For now, he'll be patient and play by her rules. But he knows it's just a matter of time before he weakens her resolve.As they join forces to figure out who's behind a local crime spree, it's clear that the danger goes deeper than Aubrey guessed. And when she needs someone tall, dark, and undaunted to keep her safe, Zion intends to be there now and always.

Here, in this compelling assembly of writings, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Annie Dillard explores the world of natural facts and human meanings.

Most writing books dwell on common issues of style and grammar. Yet most writers also confront complex problems of story design.This 50-rule guide by Francis Flaherty, a New York Times editor, offers much-needed solutions and sage advice to address these concerns. "Sometimes, say things sideways," Flaherty writes. "The reader will be grateful." "White is whitest on black," he observes. "Let contrast work for you." Through such hard-won, story-level insights, sprinkled with examples from real stories and leavened with a good dose of newsroom memoir, The Elements of Story merits a spot on every writer's shelf.

Now in paperback, revised and redesigned: This is Thomas Merton's last book, in which he draws on both Eastern and Western traditions to explore the hot topic of contemplation/meditation in depth and to show how we can practice true contemplation in everyday life. Never before published except as a series of articles (one per chapter) in an academic journal, this book on contemplation was revised by Merton shortly before his untimely death. The material bridges Merton's early work on Catholic monasticism, mysticism, and contemplation with his later writing on Eastern, especially Buddhist, traditions of meditation and spirituality. This book thus provides a comprehensive understanding of contemplation that draws on the best of Western and Eastern traditions. Merton was still tinkering with this book when he died; it was the book he struggled with most during his career as a writer. But now the Merton Legacy Trust and experts have determined that the book makes such a valuable contribution as his major comprehensive presentation of contemplation that they have allowed its publication.

One of the most valuable survival guides for men or women recovering from a partner's affair.Featured on Oprah, 48 Hours, CNN, Fox News, and in USA TodayIn this landmark book, Peggy Vaughan helps us to understand the stages of suspicion, confrontation, and the healing process necessary to recover, including rebuilding self-esteem, the marriage/divorce dilemma, and seeking professional help. Packed with practical, time-tested advice and successful strategies, this authoritative guide reveals: You are not alone estimates are that at least 60 percent of men and 40 percent of women will have an extramarital affair. People from all walks of life have affairs devoted parents, religious individuals, regardless of income or social class. Our society contributes to the prevalence of affairs. An affair does not mean the end of a marriage. Recovery is fueled by honest, open discussion of the affair. Substantiated by case studies, ongoing research, and the author's own experience, this updated third edition includes information on the role of the Internet in relationships, shares the words of others who are recovering from affairs, and describes the six-step program for establishing communication between partners that can actually prevent affairs.

When Stewart Copeland gets dressed, he has an identity crisis. Should he put on "leather pants, hostile shirts, and pointy shoes"Or wear something more appropriate to the "tax-paying, property-owning, investment-holding lotus eater" his success has allowed him to becomeThis dilemma is at the heart of Copeland's vastly entertaining memoir-in-stories, Strange Things Happen. The world knows Copeland as the drummer for The Police, one of the most successful bands in rock history. But they may not know as much about his childhood in the Middle East as the son of a CIA agent. Or be aware of his film-making adventures with the Pygmies in the deepest reaches of the Congo, and his passion for polo (Brideshead Revisited on horses). In Strange Things Happen we move from Copeland's remarkable childhood to the formation of The Police, their rise to stardom, and the settled-down life that followed. It ends with a behind-the-scenes view of The Police's extraordinarily successful reunion tour. It's a book of amazing anecdotes, all completely true, which take us backstage in a life that is fully lived.

For over a decade, Motherpeace has been an inspiration and oracle for women all over the world. Motherpeace recovers the positive, nurturing peace-oriented values of prepatriarchal times, and brilliantly combines art, history, mythology, folklore, philosophy, and comparative religion with an informed spiritual and feminist perspective.Vicki Noble challenges us to celebrate our ancient peaceful heritage and to reclaim our right as a people to a life without war. The book is a vision of hope and transformation, made even more powerful by the vibrant pictorial images of the seventy-eight Motherpeace tarot cards.Motherpeace shows how traditional myths and symbols can provide ideas and images for understanding the meaning and power of the Goddess for women and men today.

Americans spend more than $11 billion a year on self-help products everything from books to diet pills to career coaches to seminars. So why with all this time, money, and energy being spent are so few people living the life they really wantWhy are millions of smart, talented, motivated people still going through life with one foot on the brakeHere's the real Secret: You don't need any more how-to-succeed information to reach your full potential.The problem isn't lack of motivation or lack of information. The real problem is that most people focus on the "how-to" aspects of success taught by traditional self-help programs, without coming to terms with what productivity expert Noah St. John calls your "head trash" the subconscious, emotional roadblocks that prevent people from acting on their real hopes, dreams, and ambitions. In this groundbreaking book, based on work with thousands of clients around the world, Noah St. John has created a remarkable, step-by-step approach that helps you achieve long-term happiness, success, and wealth. In The Secret Code of Success, you will learn how to: Eliminate the causes of self-sabotage and fear of success Allow yourself to make more money Remove stress while dramatically increasing personal productivity Improve relationships with coworkers, family, and friends Experience enhanced feelings of happiness, connection, and love The Secret Code of Success shows that, when it comes to success, the conscious mind is exactly the wrong place to start. It's only when we first conquer the self-sabotage of our subconscious (which accounts for 90 percent of our behavior) that we can truly begin to enjoy a life filled with success. This insight is at the core of The Secret Code of Success and leads to Noah's revolutionary 7-step method for eliminating these psychological obstacles. True financial freedom and personal success is possible at last!The Secret Code of Success shows you how to get your foot off the brake and start living the life you deserve.

The Dead Sea Scrolls, found in caves near the Dead Sea fifteen miles east of Jerusalem from 1947 to 1956, include the oldest existing biblical manu*s and the remarkable texts of the purist Jewish community at Qumran. The discovery of the scrolls has added dramatically to our understanding of the varieties of Judaism at the time of Jesus and the rise of Christianity, but has also prompted heated debate about the nature of these religions. As the monumental task of transcribing and translating the Dead Sea Scrolls is finally completed, people around the world are taking stock of the significance of these ancient documents. In this book, two of the world's leading experts on the scrolls reveal the complete and fascinating story in all its detail: the amazing discovery, the intense controversies, and the significant revelations. Drawing together all the evidence, this timely book explores: The discovery and dating of the scrolls Their relationship to the Hebrew Bible, Apocrypha, and New Testament Their messianic and apocalyptic messages The identity, nature, and theology of the Qumran community The nonbiblical scrolls Controversies surrounding the scrolls This comprehensive, up-to-date guide is the definitive introduction to all aspects of the scrolls, including their teachings, the community that created them, the world of Judaism, the origins of Christianity, our understanding of Jesus and the New Testament. Featuring photos of the original texts, the sites, and the scholars who deciphered them, and including illustrative passages from the scrolls, The Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls presents the most complete and accurate scholarship on the Dead Sea Scrolls available today.

Whether we love our jobs or not, the amount of work on our plate has reached unsustainable levels. We start each workday anxious about how we will get it all done, and which important tasks will have to be sacrificed again so we can keep our heads above water. We often respond to our out-of-control to-do lists by focusing on being more efficient trying to get more done in less time.According to Josh Davis, Ph.D., we're going about it the wrong way. The answer is not to get more done faster, but rather to create the conditions for at least two awesome hours of peak productivity each day.Neuroscience and psychology research is revealing what those conditions are. Drawing on this research, Davis explains that our minds operate according to complex factors that, when leveraged the right way, can make us truly effective. Davis shows us five deceptively simple strategies to create the conditions for incredible productivity and to restore sanity and balance to our lives: Maximize the moments in our day when we are between tasks, intentionally choosing what to tackle next Schedule tasks based on their cognitive and emotional demands Learn how to direct attention Feed and move our bodies for short-term benefit Identify how our environment affects our focus and alertness We are capable of impressive feats of comprehension, motivation, and performance when our psychological and biological systems are functioning optimally. Two Awesome Hours will show us how to be our most productive every day.

Robert V. Remini's prize-winning, three-volume biography Life of Andrew Jackson won the National Book Award on its completion in 1984 and is recognized as one of the greatest lives of a U.S. President. In this meticulously crafted single-volume abridgment, Remini captures the essence of the life and career of the seventh president of the United States. As president, from 1829-1837, Jackson was a significant force in the nations's expansion, the growth of presidential power, and the transition from republicanism to democracy. Jackson is a highly controversial figure who is undergoing historical reconsideration today. He is known as spurring the emergence of the modern American political division of Republican and Democractic parties, for the infamous Indian removal on the Trail of Tears, and for his brave victory against the British as Major General at the Battle of New Orleans. Never an apologist, Remini portrays Jackson as a foreceful, sometimes tragic, hero--a man whose strength and flaws were larger than life, a president whose conviction provided the nation with one of the most influential, colorful, and controversial administrations in our history.

Her mother was a brainy knockout with the sultry beauty of Marilyn Monroe, a raconteur whose fierce wit could shock an audience into hilarity or silence. Her father was a distinguished figure in American letters, the National Book Award–winning author of four of the greatest novels of World War II ever written. A daughter of privilege with a seemingly fairy-tale-like life, Kaylie Jones was raised in the Hamptons via France in the 1960s and '70s, surrounded by the glitterati who orbited her famous father, James Jones. Legendary for their hospitality, her handsome, celebrated parents held court in their home around an antique bar an eighteenth-century wooden pulpit taken from a French village church playing host to writers, actors, movie stars, film directors, socialites, diplomats, an emperor, and even the occasional spy. Kaylie grew up amid such family friends as William Styron, Irwin Shaw, James Baldwin, and Willie Morris, and socialized with the likes of Truman Capote, Norman Mailer, George Plimpton, and Kurt Vonnegut.Her beloved father showed young Kaylie the value of humility, hard work, and education, with its power to overcome ignorance, intolerance, and narrow-mindedness, and instilled in her a love of books and knowledge. From her mother, Gloria, she learned perfect posture, the twist, the fear of abandonment, and soul-shattering cruelty. Two constants defined Kaylie's childhood: literature and alcohol. "Only one word was whispered in the house, as if it were the worst insult you could call someone," she writes, "alcoholic was a word my parents reserved for the most appalling and shameful cases drunks who made public scenes or tried to kill themselves or ended up in the street or in an institution. If you could hold your liquor and go to work, you were definitely not an alcoholic." When her father died from heart failure complicated by years of drinking, sixteen-year-old Kaylie was broken and lost. For solace she turned to his work, looking beyond the man she worshipped to discover the artist and his craft, determined that she too would write. Her loss also left her powerless to withstand her mother's withering barbs and shattering criticism, or halt Gloria's further descent into a bottle one of the few things mother and daughter shared. From adolescence, Kaylie too used drink as a refuge, a way to anesthetize her sadness, anger, and terror. For years after her father's death, she denied the blackouts, the hangovers, the lost days, the rage, the depression. Broken and bereft, she began reading her father's novels and those writers who came before and after him and also pursued her own writing. With this, she found the courage to open the door on the truth of her own addiction.Lies My Mother Never Told Me is the mesmerizing and luminously told story of Kaylie's battle with alcoholism and her struggle to flourish despite the looming shadow of a famous father and an emotionally abusive and damaged mother. Deeply intimate, brutally honest, yet limned by humor and grace, it is a beautifully written tale of personal evolution, family secrets, second chances, and one determined woman's journey to find her own voice and the courage to embrace a life filled with possibility, strength, and love.

150 of the World's Funniest and Most Delightful Christmas CardsKaren Robert has spent the last several years tracking down the wonderful and wacky Christmas cards represented in this book the best out of tens of thousands she has reviewed. Featuring everything from young couples in love, classic kids-'n'-dogs, and quirky workplace situations to every incarnation of Santa fat, thin, young, old, canine these cards will surprise you with their irrepressible creativity. Some are heartwarming, some are hilarious, some are simply strange but every single one was actually sent out as a Christmas card. So whether you're one of the millions of people who love all things Christmas, looking for inspiration for your own holiday card, or just a desperate Scrooge on the hunt for the perfect stocking stuffer, pick up Merry Christmas from . . . for a holiday pick-me-up.

One Person Can Make a Difference In search of adventure, twenty-nine-year-old Conor Grennan traded his day job for a year-long trip around the globe, a journey that began with a three-month stint volunteering at the Little Princes Children's Home, an orphanage in war-torn Nepal. Conor was initially reluctant to volunteer, unsure whether he had the proper skill, or enough passion, to get involved in a developing country in the middle of a civil war. But he was soon overcome by the herd of rambunctious, resilient children who would challenge and reward him in a way that he had never imagined. When Conor learned the unthinkable truth about their situation, he was stunned: The children were not orphans at all. Child traffickers were promising families in remote villages to protect their children from the civil war for a huge fee by taking them to safety. They would then abandon the children far from home, in the chaos of Nepal's capital, Kathmandu.For Conor, what began as a footloose adventure becomes a commitment to reunite the children he had grown to love with their families, but this would be no small task. He would risk his life on a journey through the legendary mountains of Nepal, facing the dangers of a bloody civil war and a debilitating injury. Waiting for Conor back in Kathmandu, and hopeful he would make it out before being trapped in by snow, was the woman who would eventually become his wife and share his life's work. Little Princes is a true story of families and children, and what one person is capable of when faced with seemingly insurmountable odds. At turns tragic, joyful, and hilarious, Little Princes is a testament to the power of faith and the ability of love to carry us beyond our wildest expectations.

"What do you think of my fiction book writing?" the aspiring novelist extorted. "Darn," the editor hectored, in turn. "I can not publish your novel! It is full of what we in the business call 'really awful writing.'" "But how shall I absolve this dilemmaI have already read every tome available on how to write well and get published!" The writer tossed his head about, wildly."It might help," opined the blonde editor, helpfully, "to ponder how NOT to write a novel, so you might avoid the very thing!" Many writing books offer sound advice on how to write well. This is not one of those books. On the contrary, this is a collection of terrible, awkward, and laughably unreadable excerpts that will teach you what to avoid at all costs if you ever want your novel published. In How Not to Write a Novel, authors Howard Mittelmark and Sandra Newman distill their 30 years combined experience in teaching, editing, writing, and reviewing fiction to bring you real advice from the other side of the query letter. Rather than telling you how or what to write, they identify the 200 most common mistakes unconsciously made by writers and teach you to recognize, avoid, and amend them. With hilarious "mis-examples" to demonstrate each manu*-mangling error, they'll help you troubleshoot your beginnings and endings, bad guys, love interests, style, jokes, perspective, voice, and more. As funny as it is useful, this essential how-NOT-to guide will help you get your manu* out of the slush pile and into the bookstore.

Uniquely fusing practical advice on writing with his own insights into the craft, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Rhodes constructs beautiful prose about the issues would-be writers are most afraid to articulate: How do I dare writeWhere do I beginWhat do I do with this story I have to tell that fills and breaks my heartRich with personal vignettes about Rhode's sources of inspiration, How to Write is also a memoir of one of the most original and celebrated writers of our day.

"Save me! My child is acting like a brat!"What parent hasn't thought her child was a brat at one point or anotherWhether your child really is a brat, is at risk of becoming one, or is simply trying to grow up in a world filled with temptations and distractions, you'll love this book! It's the ultimate hands-on guide to cultivating character traits that are tried-and-true "bratbusters." Full of no-nonsense, practical "Tips and Scripts," You're Not the Boss of Me offers just the help you need to deal with many of the more challenging behaviors typical of four- to twelve-year-olds. With Betsy Brown Braun's humorous, supportive, and authoritative voice as a guide, navigating some of the most exasperating aspects of these formative years with confidence and laying the groundwork for your child's future just got a whole lot easier! It's All Here What to Say and Do to Help Your Child: Get Over the Gimmes Tell the Truth Be Self-Reliant Develop Empathy Show Gratitude Be Respectful Take Responsibility Be Independent Exercise Humor and Not Be Spoiled!

The world stopped in 1970 when Paul McCartney announced that he was through with the Beatles. His statement not only marked the end of the band's remarkable career, but also seemed to signal the demise of an era of unprecedented optimism in social history. Though the Beatles' breakup was widely viewed as a cultural tragedy, one of the most fascinating phases of their story was just about to begin.Now, for the first time, You Never Give Me Your Money tells the behind-the-scenes story of the personal rivalries and legal feuds that have dominated the Beatles' lives since 1969. Journalist Peter Doggett charts the Shakespearean battles between Lennon and McCartney, the conflict in George Harrison's life between spirituality and fame, and the struggle with alcoholism that threatened to take Richard Starkey's life. In vivid detail, Doggett also describes the wild mismanagement of the Beatles' fortune staked largely in Apple Corps. You Never Give Me Your Money is a compelling human drama and an equally rich and absorbing story of the Beatles' creative and financial empire, set up to safeguard their interests but destined to control their lives. From tragedy to triumphant reunion, and chart success to courtroom battles, this meticulously researched work tells the previously untold story of a group and a legacy that will never be forgotten.