Isabel Allende's first memory of Chile is of a house she never knew. The "large old house" on the Calle Cueto, where her mother was born and which her grandfather evoked so frequently that Isabel felt as if she had lived there, became the protagonist of her first novel, The House of the Spirits. It appears again at the beginning of Allende's playful, seductively compelling memoir My Invented Country, and leads us into this gifted writer's world. Here are the almost mythic figures of a Chilean family -- grandparents and great-grandparents, aunts, uncles, and friends -- with whom readers of Allende's fiction will feel immediately at home. And here, too, is an unforgettable portrait of a charming, idiosyncratic Chilean people with a violent history and an indomitable spirit. Although she claims to have been an outsider in her native land -- "I never fit in anywhere, not into my family, my social class, or the religion fate bestowed on me" -- Isabel Allende carries with her even today the mark of the politics, myth, and magic of her homeland. In My Invented County, she explores the role of memory and nostalgia in shaping her life, her books, and that most intimate connection to her place of origin. Two life-altering events inflect the peripatetic narration of this book: The military coup and violent death of her uncle, Salvador Allende Gossens, on September 11, 1973, sent her into exile and transformed her into a writer. The terrorist attack of September 11, 2001, on her newly adopted homeland, the United States, brought forth from Allende an overdue acknowledgment that she had indeed left home. My Invented Country, whose structure mimics the workings of memory itself, ranges back and forth across that distance accrued between the author's past and present lives. It speaks compellingly to immigrants, and to all of us, who try to retain a coherent inner life in a world full of contradictions.

Winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction   A harvest and not a winnowing, this volume collects 103 stories, almost all of the short fiction that John Updike wrote between 1953 and 1975. “How rarely it can be said of any of our great American writers that they have been equally gifted in both long and short forms,” reads the citation composed for John Updike upon his winning the 2006 Rea Award for the Short Story. “Contemplating John Updike’s monumental achievement in the short story, one is moved to think of Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry James, Ernest Hemingway, and perhaps William Faulkner—writers whose reputations would be as considerable, or nearly, if short stories had been all that they had written. From [his] remarkable early short story collections . . . through his beautifully nuanced stories of family life [and] the bittersweet humors of middle age and beyond . . . John Updike has created a body of work in the notoriously difficult form of the short story to set beside those of these distinguished American predecessors. Congratulations and heartfelt thanks are due to John Updike for having brought such pleasure and such illumination to so many readers for so many years.”

Silly little city girl The corn maze is no place for fancy little morsels like her, especially on Halloween. Monsters creep among the stalks... and we're starving. My mortal enemy and I have never been properly paid for our services. That changes tonight. We'll take our payment from the lost little human wandering through our field. We'll feast on her slick. Revel in her fear. Bask in her screams of pain and pleasure. But what if one round on our special hayride isn't enough? What if she's the straw that causes us to burst at the seams? This addition to The Knottiverse is dark, filthy, and knotty. If you like primal chase and capture scenes, intense stop, I can't take anymore but they don't stop situations or I hate you, leave me alone but they smirk and pull her closer, then this is the story for you. If not... go somewhere else. I've got hot, feral...

The immortal Emperor can grant a form of eternal life-after-death, creating an elite known as the Risen, and so has ruled the eighty worlds unchallenged for sixteen hundred years. The only thing he fears are the Rix, machine-augmented humans who worship AI compound minds. They are dedicated to replacing his prolonged rule with an eternal cybernetic dynasty of their own. Brilliant tactician Captain Laurent Zai of the Imperial Frigate Lynx faces a suicide mission: stopping the next thrust of the Rix invasion with just his own vessel. While ship-to-ship combat rages among the stars, Zai's lover, Senator Nara Oxham, is caught in a deadly political fencing match with the Emperor himself. The Emperor has a terrible secret, a secret Nara is in danger of finding out, a secret for which he would countenance the killing of worlds.

"A third irrepressible outing for the ebullient Countess Ashby de la Zouche and her awesomely bosomed maid, Alpiew, a pair of Restoration detectives dubbed Cagney and Lacey in corsets, although I'd add a strong dash of Laurel and Hardy to the mix. ...Plots within plots, culinary eccentricities, the Bastille's most mysterious prisoner and the discovery of Lord Whippingham's favourite depravity, involving women with strong teeth, pepper the uproarious progress of our two unconventional heroines. Fun never came so lusty." The Guardian

Roland Deschain and his *ka-tet* are bearing southeast through the forests of Mid-World on their quest for the Dark Tower. Their path takes them to the outskirts of Calla Bryn Sturgis. But beyond the tranquil farm town, the ground rises to the hulking darkness of Thunderclap, the source of a terrible affliction that is stealing the town's soul. The wolves of Thunderclap and their unspeakable depredation are coming. To resist them is to risk all, but these are odds the gunslingers are used to. Their guns, however, will not be enough.... Set in a world of extraordinary circumstances, filled with stunning visual imagery and unforgettable characters, the Dark Tower series is unlike anything you have ever read. Here is the fifth installment.

'Fast-moving and immensely readable ... a page turner from start to finish' - Maeve Binchy Alexander Kinross is remembered in his native Scotland only as a shiftless boilermaker's apprentice. But when he writes from Australia to summon his bride, his relatives realize he is now a man to be reckoned with. Arriving in Sydney after a difficult voyage, sixteen-year-old Elizabeth Drummond meets her husband-to-be and discovers that he frightens and repels her. And, isolated in Alexander's great house, Elizabeth finds that marriage does not prompt her husband to enlighten her about his past life - nor his present one, in which his mistress, the sensuous, tough, outspoken Ruby Costevan, still plays a part...

A dead and dismembered body has been found at the zoo, the first of many. Now it's up to Detective Isaac Taylor to find out if those people were killed by an animal or by an actual beast. The kind that walk around on two legs. Sidney Taylor is going through a personal struggle of her own. One that has her fighting constant untamed fear. At what should be one of the happiest times of her life, the ferocious worry has its claws in her throat. When an unexpected opportunity lands in Ike's lap, and a shocking twist leaves both him and Sidney reeling, they know they've got some big decisions to make. But will they choose wisely or will one wild decision destroy their future?

Join Brenda Novak in Dundee, Idaho, for a delightful story about two rivals who can't fight their growing attraction in this contemporary romance originally published as A Husband of her Own in 2003Rebecca Wells desperately wants to overcome her reputation. She's finally trying to put an end to her twenty-four-year rivalry with the perfect Josh Hill, a rivalry that began when she was a kid and the Hills moved in across the street. Great-looking, popular, a successful horse rancher, Josh is Dundee's golden boy—and the son her father always wanted.But even when her father insists they call a truce, it's hard for Rebecca to drop her resentment of Josh. She refuses to acknowledge that she feels more for him than she's ever let on. The man she loves to hate is also the man she'd hate to love...

As the current Aphrodite, Anastasia has been pretty unlucky in love. When she agrees to appear on her own dating show to find that someone special, she didn't expect to make a connection with her matchmaker instead. Helena is honoured to match the Aphrodite and wants to do the best job as she can. When her own feelings get in the way, can she remain objective in finding potential candidates or will her jealousy cloud her judgement? - Apple From Aphrodite is a fantasy twist on the classic Greek mythology of Aphrodite with a sapphic romantic sub-plot. This story is a standalone.

A Sudden Easter Romance! Event planner Emily is a meticulous perfectionist determined to make the annual Easter gala at the prestigious Windsor Estate her Most successful event yet. But when Roslyn is commissioned to create the gala's show-stopping mural, Emily's meticulous plans are thrown into chaos. At first, Emily & Roslyn clash over their contrasting approaches. Emily prizes order & control, while Roslyn embraces spontaneity and flow. As tensions rise, it seems their working relationship is doomed before it begins. With a bit of persuasion from trusted friend & co-worker Pedro, Emily & Roslyn agree to put aside their differences to salvage the gala. Unexpectedly, they find themselves challenged and inspired by one another. Emily learns to loosen her rigid grip, while Roslyn gains focus for her artistic talents. As the event draws near & animosity transforms into a deep connection, Emily and Roslyn's growing...