"I'd heard about him but had never seen him, the foreigner with the funny name who wandered the countryside painting pictures." F rom a talented new author comes a poignant and haunting novel of creation and desire, passion and madness, art and love.A young prostitute seeking temporary refuge from the brothel, Rachel awakens in a beautiful garden in Arles to discover she is being sketched by a red-haired man in a yellow straw hat. This is no ordinary artist but the eccentric painter Vincent van Gogh—and their meeting marks the beginning of a remarkable relationship. He arrives at their first assignation at No. 1, Rue du Bout d'Arles, with a bouquet of wildflowers and a request to paint her—and before long, a deep, intense attachment grows between Rachel and the gifted, tormented soul.But the sanctuary Rachel seeks from her own troubled past cannot be found here, for demons war within Vincent's heart and mind. And one shocking act will expose the harsh, inescapable truth about the artist she has grown to love more than life.

How many electronic innovations have you dialed, watched, surfed, charged, listed to, booted up, commuted on, cooked with, and plugged in today?Consider your typical day: If you're like most people, it probably starts in front of your coffee maker and toaster, ends as you set the alarm on your cell phone, and involves no end of computers and gadgets, televisions and microwaves in between.We're being zapped: Today 84 percent of Americans own a cell phone, 89 million of us watch TV beamed in by satellite, and we can't sip a cup of coffee at our local café without being exposed to Wi-Fi. The very electronic innovations that have changed our lives are also exposing us, in ways big and small, to an unprecedented number of electromagnetic fields. Invisible pollution surrounds us twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, interrupting our bodies' natural flow of energy. And for some, that pollution has reached the point of toxicity, causing fatigue, irritability, weakness, and even illness.But we don't have to simply surrender. Ann Louise Gittleman brings forth the latest research into electro-magnetic fields to create this groundbreaking guide for every citizen of the wireless age. With the proactive, levelheaded approach that has made her one of our most respected health experts, she not only clarifies the risks but also offers specific, step-by-step information for how anyone can minimize them. From where you place your sofa to when you use your cell phone to what you eat for dinner, Zapped is packed with strategies for avoiding and mitigating the damaging effects of electropollution.As she examines modern life room by room, device by device, Gittleman reveals a master plan for detoxifying your surroundings and protecting yourself and your family.We don't need to abandon our homes—or even give up our PDAs—to be healthier and happier. Based on the latest scientific data, case studies, and Gittleman's years of clinical practice, Zapped is an empowering guide to living safely with the gadgets we can't live without.

From New York City to the former East Germany, from rural Virginia to affluent suburbia, the characters in these short stories grapple with love, loss, greed, perversion, and other awful truths as they try to transcend their limitations with occasional humor and dignity. In "History on a Personal Note," Lorraine, a Southerner, wonders if her German paramour will find the inspiration to leave his wife amidst the destruction of the Berlin Wall. In "Viewing Stacy from Above," a pregnant woman descends into a pit of despair as she contemplates the constraints of motherhood. In "Money Honey," a young adulteress who ditches her husband is reprimanded by an extended family of elders whose morals are even more dubious than her own.Contemplative, allegorical, and witty, History on a Personal Note takes us into a world laced with black humor and makes us laugh -- until it hurts.

No one is immune. For people from champion athletes to desk-bound white-collar professionals, many simple acts of life--a relaxing evening stroll through the neighborhood, an exhilarating run along a sandy beach, just bending down to tie a loose shoelace-are often acts of torture. The walking wounded suffer from torn rotator cuffs, tennis elbow, jogger's knees, bad backs, stiff necks, sore feet, and swollen ankles. It could, without exaggeration, be called a modem epidemic. In this brilliant book, renowned anatomical functionalist Pete Egoscue identifies the epidemic's causes and effects. By recognizing that the human body is dependent on adequate motion to maintain its full range of physical functions, he has revolutionized both the treatment of musculoskeletal pain and the techniques for training athletes to achieve peak performance levels. Brimming with common sense and practical advice, the heart of this important book consists of twenty-two easy-to-do, highly effective exercises that stretch, strengthen, and relax the body, allowing a return to proper alignment.

A family of three: father, mother, son. A house that gives them shelter but shapes their nightmares.An illness that nearly arrested the past, and looms over the future.A second family—a copy family. Mirror bodies.Events on the horizon: a hole, a box, a light, a girl. Holes in houses. Holes in speaking. Holes in flesh.Memories that deceive and figures that tempt and lure and withdraw.There Is No Year is the astonishing new novel by Blake Butler. It is a world of scare, a portrait of return, a fable of survival and the fierce burden of art.

The French cooking of everyday life is lighthearted, accessible, and suited to modern tastes. Whether it's getting weeknight dinners on the table fairly fast (Basil Beef, Rhubarb Chops, or Carrot Juice Chicken) or leisurely cooking for dining at a slightly slower pace (Lamb Tagine, Holiday Hen, or Fennel Bass), Laura Calder shares recipes she's created at home in her own French kitchen.

Tranquillity reigns in the ancient redwood forest until a women-only music festival sets up camp downriver from an all-male retreat for the ruling class. Among those entangled in the ensuing mayhem are a lovesick nurseryman, a panic-stricken philanderer, and the world’s most beautiful fat woman. Significant Others is Armistead Maupin’s cunningly observed meditation on marriage, friendship, and sexual nostalgia.

They are Microserfs—six code-crunching computer whizzes who spend upward of sixteen hours a day "coding" and eating "flat" foods (food which, like Kraft singles, can be passed underneath closed doors) as they fearfully scan company e-mail to learn whether the great Bill is going to "flame" one of them. But now there's a chance to become innovators instead of cogs in the gargantuan Microsoft machine. The intrepid Microserfs are striking out on their own—living together in a shared digital flophouse as they desperately try to cultivate well-rounded lives and find love amid the dislocated, subhuman whir and buzz of their computer-driven world.

One late spring evening in 1912, in the kitchens at Sterne, preparations begin for an elegant supper party in honor of Emerald Torrington's twentieth birthday. But only a few miles away, a dreadful accident propels a crowd of mysterious and not altogether savory survivors to seek shelter at the ramshackle manor—and the household is thrown into confusion and mischief.The cook toils over mock turtle soup and a chocolate cake covered with green sugar roses, which the hungry band of visitors is not invited to taste. But nothing, it seems, will go according to plan. As the passengers wearily search for rest, the house undergoes a strange transformation. One of their number (who is most definitely not a gentleman) makes it his business to join the birthday revels.Evening turns to stormy night, and a most unpleasant parlor game threatens to blow respectability to smithereens: Smudge Torrington, the wayward youngest daughter of the house, decides that this is the perfect moment for her Great Undertaking.The Uninvited Guests is the bewitching new novel from the critically acclaimed Sadie Jones. The prizewinning author triumphs in this frightening yet delicious drama of dark surprises—where social codes are uprooted and desire daringly trumps propriety—and all is alight with Edwardian wit and opulence.

The moment Jane Tennison takes over Scotland Yard's investigation into the death of sex worker Della Mornay, two grim facts become immediately clear to her. First, that the constabulary's old boy club is determined to hinder, harass, and undermine the new female Detective Chief Inspector at every turn. And second, that their murder victim isn't Della Mornay.Now the police are a step behind, and a madman is loose on the streets of London. To apprehend the criminal stalking women through the city's shadows, Tennison will have to steel herself against the hostility of her fellow officers and conceal her own mounting obsession?with breaking through the glass ceiling of the station house—even as department politics, a crumbling relationship, and a wickedly elusive prime suspect threaten her very existence.A dark and riveting race against the clock, Prime Suspect is an unforgettable introduction to this bestselling series from Edgar Award-winning author Lynda La Plante.

This e-book edition of the New York Times bestselling novel The Hurricane Sisters includes an excerpt from Frank's new novel, All the Single Ladies.Hurricane season begins early and rumbles all summer long, well into September. Often people's lives reflect the weather and The Hurricane Sisters is just such a story.Once again Dorothea Benton Frank takes us deep into the heart of her magical South Carolina Lowcountry on a tumultuous journey filled with longings, disappointments, and, finally, a road toward happiness that is hard earned. There we meet three generations of women buried in secrets. The determined matriarch, Maisie Pringle, at eighty, is a force to be reckoned with because she will have the final word on everything, especially when she's dead wrong. Her daughter, Liz, is caught up in the classic maelstrom of being middle-age and in an emotionally demanding career that will eventually open all their eyes to a terrible truth. And Liz's beautiful twenty-something daughter, Ashley, whose dreamy ambitions of her unlikely future keeps them all at odds.Luckily for Ashley, her wonderful older brother, Ivy, is her fierce champion but he can only do so much from San Francisco where he resides with his partner. And Mary Beth, her dearest friend, tries to have her back but even she can't talk headstrong Ashley out of a relationship with an ambitious politician who seems slightly too old for her.Actually, Ashley and Mary Beth have yet to launch themselves into solvency. Their prospects seem bleak. So while they wait for the world to discover them and deliver them from a ramen-based existence, they placate themselves with a hare-brained scheme to make money but one that threatens to land them in huge trouble with the authorities.So where is Clayton, Liz's husbandHe seems more distracted than usual. Ashley desperately needs her father's love and attention but what kind of a parent can he be to Ashley with one foot in Manhattan and the other one planted in indiscretionAnd Liz, who's an expert in the field of troubled domestic life, refuses to acknowledge Ashley's precarious situation. Who's in charge of this familyThe wake-up call is about to arrive.The Lowcountry has endured its share of war and bloodshed like the rest of the South, but this storm season we watch Maisie, Liz, Ashley, and Mary Beth deal with challenges that demand they face the truth about themselves. After a terrible confrontation they are forced to rise to forgiveness, but can they establish a new order for the future of them all?Frank, with her hallmark scintillating wit and crisp insight, captures how a complex family of disparate characters and their close friends can overcome anything through the power of love and reconciliation. This is the often hilarious, sometimes sobering, but always entertaining story of how these unforgettable women became The Hurricane Sisters.

A gifted writer makes her fiction debut with this lyrical and haunting story of missed chances and enduring love, set against the backdrop of high society Charleston, which asks the eternal question: can we ever truly go home again?When Eliza Poinsett left the elegant world of Charleston for college, she never expected it would take her ten years to return. Now she is an art historian in London with a charming Etonian boyfriend who adores her. But the past catches up with her when she runs into Henry, a former boyfriend from Charleston, at a wedding in the English countryside.Already unnerved by the earlier encounter, Eliza's carefully guarded equilibrium is shattered when she meets Henry again in Charleston, where she's come for her stepsister's debut, a decade after she first left. Set against a backdrop of stately homes, the seductive Lowcountry landscape, and the entangled lives of families who trace their ancestors back for generations, 2 hinges on Eliza's difficult choice: must she risk everything for which she has worked so hard to be with the only man she has ever truly loved?2 is an evocative, melancholy novel about one woman's love—for both a man and an unforgettable city. Emotionally resonant, beguiling in its atmosphere, it illuminates the elusive notion of home, and explores whether we can ever truly go back to the place—and the people—that indelibly shaped us.

In this arrestingly powerful novel of 1950s America, Ravi Howard, the award-winning author of Like Trees, Walking, reminds us that no black man, no matter how gifted or famous, could escape the racial tensions threatening to divide the country.Montgomery, Alabama, December 1945. The fighting in Europe is over and war hero Nat Weary has returned to his hometown, eager to build his taxi business and marry his sweetheart. His childhood friend, the famous Nat King Cole, is also home for a rare performance. During the concert, Weary plans to propose, and the singer will honor the special moment with an unforgettable song.But Weary's dreams for the future are destroyed when a white man, armed with a pipe, rushes the stage. Leaping from the audience, the soldier who valiantly fought for his country stops the assailant—an act of bravery that leads to ten years of hard labor in prison.Free at last a decade later, Weary heads to Los Angeles to work for his old friend, Nat King Cole. It is the promise of a new life removed from the terror, violence, and degradation of Jim Crow Alabama. While the City of Angels is more progressive than the Deep South, Weary discovers here, too, that wealth, popularity, and talent cannot protect a black man from discrimination and hate. From his position as Cole's chauffeur and protector, Weary sees the capacity for human cruelty hiding behind Hollywood's glittering veneer.Drawn back to Montgomery to lay some unfinished business to rest, Nat King Cole and Weary discover a city in the midst of change. A woman named Rosa Parks has inspired blacks to boycott the city's buses—a daring fight for dignity and rights that will eventually grip the entire nation.Ravi Howard, winner of the Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence, creates an indelible portrait of pre–civil rights America and an exceptional friendship. Exploring the impact of prejudice and segregation, he pays tribute to the courage of ordinary lives and illuminates our capacity for hate, and for love.

Welcome to Paradise!Freshly laid-off Wisconsinites Patrick and Barbara McDougall are going to sunny Florida for a modest romantic vacation. But the motel they picked isn't quite a pastel paradise, and they have to be midwesterners and make the best of a bad situation. Except bad goes to worse, and a string of misfortunes renders them unable to leave the state. Meanwhile, the next Mexican-American War is being fought, this time in Fort Lauderdale, between the Kentucky mafia and the Oxy cartel over control of the lucrative pain clinic market. Latinos are turning up dead, hillbillies are wandering the beach trampling sand castles, and cops continue arresting doctors wriggling out of office windows.But it's never really a party until Serge and Coleman arrive. Cruising down U.S. 1, Captain Florida and his perpetually altered sidekick are on a mission to film the best reality show ever! Back at their motel, the McDougalls are peeking out the curtains. They've become very popular, especially with Serge, who believes he's found the perfect stars for the pilot of his new TV series. Are the McDougalls safer with Serge or should they take their chances on the mean streetsWill Coleman get tired of signing autographs?Can pelicans be used as murder weapons?Is time running out for our heroes?And, finally, the question still on everyone's lips: What's up with Florida?Stay tuned for all the answers in . . . The Riptide Ultra-Glide!

Two men separated by murder: Thomas, the rebellious doctor and heir to the vast Wayne empire, and Bruce, his son, whose life is forever altered by witnessing his parents' murder. The slaying of Thomas and Martha Wayne is the torturous point on which Bruce turns to become Batman.The Dark Knight's file on the case has long been closed, the foundations of Bruce Wayne's secret life secure in the simple genesis of a mugging gone horribly wrong.These foundations are shaken, however, when an unexpected guest invades the grounds of Wayne Manor, raising questions about the event that ended the lives of the mother he loved and the father he worshipped, and sparked his unquenchable drive to protect and avenge.To discover his real family history, Batman must face down old foes, his only confidant, and the evil heart of Arkham Asylum, and shoulder the new burden of a dark legacy.

The stunning conclusion to the smash New York Times bestselling series the Wicked YearsHailed as “bewitching,” “remarkable,” “extraordinary,” “engrossing,” “amazing,” and “delicious,” Gregory Maguire’s Wicked Years series—a sophisticated fantasy cycle inspired by the classic children’s novel The Wizard of Oz—became national bestsellers and the basis for a hit Tony-winning Broadway musical. Now, Maguire returns with the final installment in his transformative work, a thrilling and compulsively readable saga in which the fate of Oz is decided at last. . . .Once peaceful and prosperous, the spectacular Land of Oz is knotted with social unrest: The Emerald City is mounting an invasion of Munchkinland, Glinda is under house arrest, and the Cowardly Lion is on the run from the law. And look who’s knocking at the door. It’s none other than Dorothy. Yes. That Dorothy. Yet amidst all this chaos, Elphaba’s granddaughter, the tiny green baby born at the close of Son of a Witch, has come of age. Now it is up to Rain to take up her broom—and her legacy—in an Oz wracked by war. The stirring, long-awaited conclusion to the bestselling series begun with Wicked, Out of Oz is a magical journey rife with revelations and reversals, reprisals and surprises—the hallmarks of the unique imagination of Gregory Maguire.

From the author of the number one Canadian bestseller The Birth House comes the story of a young girl abandoned to the streets of post-Civil War New York City. "I am Moth, a girl from the lowest part of Chrystie Street, born to a slum-house mystic and the man who broke her heart."Set on the streets of Lower Manhattan in 1871, The Virgin Cure is the story of Moth, a girl abandoned by her father and raised by a mother telling fortunes to the city's desperate women. One summer night, twelve-year-old Moth is pulled from her bed and sold as a servant to a finely dressed woman. It is this betrayal suffered at the hands of her own mother that changes her life forever.Knowing that her mother is so close while she is locked away in servitude, Moth bides her time until she can escape, only to find her old home deserted and her mother gone without a trace. Moth must struggle to survive alone in the murky world of the Bowery, a wild and lawless enclave filled with thieves, beggars, sideshow freaks, and prostitutes. She eventually meets Miss Everett, the proprietress of an "Infant School," a brothel that caters to gentlemen who pay dearly for "willing and clean" companions—desirable young virgins like Moth.Moth also finds friendship with Dr. Sadie, a female physician struggling against the powerful forces of injustice, who teaches Moth to question and observe the world around her. The doctor hopes to protect Moth from falling prey to a terrible myth known as the "virgin cure"—the tragic belief that deflowering a "fresh maid" can cleanse the blood and heal men afflicted with syphilis—that has destroyed the lives of other Bowery girls.Ignored by society, unprotected by the law, Moth dreams of independence. But there's a high price to pay for freedom, and no one knows that better than a girl from Chrystie Street.

They make clothes for “Petites” so why not a specialized diet planYou’re smaller, you’re more delicate, you’re 5'4" or under, yet you’re expected to follow a diet plan for the taller girls. What’s wrong with that?“A lot,” says Jim Karas, author of the number one New York Times bestseller The Business Plan for the Body. For over twenty years, Karas has helped the Petites. He makes them longer (without the rack). He makes them leaner (without starving) and he makes them feel more confident and sexier than they have ever felt before. WhyBecause he knows how to get results specifically for you . . . a “Petite”. . . and get them fast. “I understand you,” says Karas. “I know you are watching your taller friends and colleagues eat more than you do but stay slim.” Fact: you do have to eat less, because a Petite needs only about 1,600 calories a day (compared to 2,500 calories for a taller woman) and is therefore naturally more prone to gain weight. But you are looking at the glass only as half empty. Thee glass, according to Karas, is really half full. Being a Petite has huge advantages such as:You can work out more effectively than a taller woman because your muscle-to-height ratio is greater; translation—better opportunity to boost your metabolismYour center of gravity is lower, and therefore you are less likely to injure yourself when you’re working out, andYou can create that sexy hour-glass figure that taller women can’t achieve. Think Penelope Cruz (5’4”) and Dolly Parton (5’0”). Both are gorgeous members of “The Petites,” whose bodies rock.Karas has worked with women of all heights and sizes for more than twenty years, and has perfected strategies that bring effective and lasting fat loss for Petites. Based on solid, recent research, coupled with his passion for creating concrete solutions, Karas has crafted a program specially designed to help you create a longer, leaner, sexier body. Petites, you’re gonna love it!

After trying to help Benjamin Pearl, an undernourished, nearly feral eleven-year-old boy living in the Montana wilderness, social worker Pete Snow comes face-to-face with the boy's profoundly disturbed father, Jeremiah. With courage and caution, Pete slowly earns a measure of trust from this paranoid survivalist itching for a final conflict that will signal the coming End Times.But as Pete's own family spins out of control, Pearl's activities spark the full-blown interest of the FBI, putting Pete at the center of a massive manhunt from which no one will emerge unscathed.In this shattering and iconic American novel, Smith Henderson explores the complexities of freedom, community, grace, suspicion, and anarchy, brilliantly depicting our nation's disquieting and violent contradictions. Fourth of July Creek is an unforgettable, unflinching debut that marks the arrival of a major literary talent.

In this riveting sequel to the national bestseller The Queen of the Tearling, the evil kingdom of Mortmesne invades the Tearling, with dire consequences for Queen Kelsea and her realm.With each passing day, Kelsea Glynn is growing into her new responsibilities as Queen of the Tearling. By stopping the shipments of slaves to the neighboring kingdom of Mortmesne, Kelsea has crossed the brutal Red Queen, who derives her power from dark magic and who is sending her fearsome army into the Tearling to take what she claims is hers. And nothing can stop the invasion.But as the Mort army draws ever closer, Kelsea develops a mysterious connection to a time before the Crossing. She finds herself relying on a strange and possibly dangerous ally: a woman named Lily, fighting for her life in a world where being female can feel like a crime. Soon Kelsea herself begins to change; she does not recognize either her reflection in the mirror or the extraordinary power she now commands. The fate of the Tearling—and that of Kelsea's own soul—may rest with Lily and her story, but Queen Kelsea is running out of time.In this second volume of the compelling trilogy begun with her bestselling The Queen of the Tearling, Erika Johansen brings back favorite characters and introduces unforgettable new players, adding exciting layers to her multidimensional tale of magic, mystery, and a fierce young heroine.

"No other man can do to you what I can. No other man will love you like I do. . . . "His name is Rafe, and he is everywhere Clarissa turns.At the university where she works. At her favorite sewing shop. At the train station. Outside her apartment. His messages choke her voice mail; his unwanted gifts keep arriving at her door. Since that one regrettable night, his obsession with her has grown, becoming more consuming with each passing day. And as he has made clear, he will never let her go.With Rafe in pursuit, Clarissa's only sanctuary is the courtroom in which she is serving jury duty. The rhythm of the trial allows her a sense of normalcy and the space to make new friends, including Robert, an attractive widower. But Clarissa's deepening relationship with Robert—a source of hope she so desperately needs in her life—will not remain unnoticed for long. As a chilling tale of predator and prey unfolds in front of Clarissa on the stand, Rafe's relentless fixation, fueled by jealousy, escalates. Her only chance of escape lies in exposing his intentions for what they really are, even if it means immortalizing every moment she so desperately wants to forget.Conceiving a plan, Clarissa begins collecting the evidence of Rafe's madness to use against him. Strand by strand, she pulls apart the twisted, macabre fairy tale he has spun around them and discovers that the happy ending he envisions is more horrifying than her darkest fears. Masterly constructed, filled with exquisite tension and a pervasive sense of menace, The Book of You is a darkly sophisticated, utterly compelling debut that explores what happens when the lines between love and compulsion, fantasy and reality, become dangerously blurred.