Maureen Pierce works the night shift in a convenience store, carries a .38 Smith & Wesson in her pocket, and talks to trees. She knows enough clinical psychology to think that when the trees answer, it proves she's crazy. She can live with that.She manages to get by in a world where she doesn't really fit, until the truth reaches out to touch her as she slogs home through the slushy midnight sidewalks of a February sleet storm. That truth offers a seductive promise of warmth and sun, green growing things and trees that really do answer when she talks to them. It tells her that she isn't truly human.Now her blood heritage drags her from Maine into ancient myth three steps away from the modern world, with all the claws and teeth and cruelty intact. Camelot is dead. Arthur is dead. Law is dead. Power rules the Summer Country of Celtic myth, behind the Old Blood faces of beast-master Dougal, dark witch Fiona, and her cunning, treacherous twin brother Sean. Their plots...

As Glasgow waits for enemy bombers to reach Clydeside and the German invasion to begin, Lizzie Conway's daughters throw themselves wholeheartedly into the war effort and eagerly accept their roles as working wives in Jessica Stirling's enthralling new novel set in the darkest days of the Second World War.With her husband in the army, mother-of-four Babs sends three of her darlings to the country and goes back to work long hours in an office. Her comfortable routine is disrupted, however, when a charming American news photographer insinuates himself into her life, an American who may not be all that he seems.Rosie's job as a skilled factory worker is marred by the taunts of her cruel and snobbish coworkers. Eager to start a family but fearful that she might pass her deafness to her children, she blames her ambitious policeman husband for her desperate unhappiness and risks not only her marriage but her future because of it.Wealthy and self assured, Polly...

Crazy things happen on Halloween. Still, the last thing Kestrel expects is to inadvertently bring a large gargoyle statue to life. And the last thing she figures a statue-come-to-life will want is a one night stand. Damaris is strong, sexy, and remarkably persuasive. Who is she to say no? But Damaris is cursed, and Kestrel might be falling for a man she can only be with one night a year.

A Selection of the Scientific American, History, and BOMC2 Book Clubs“An in-depth look at the anatomy and history of feet reveals their often overlooked importance in human evolution, medicine and art." —Science News“Stylish, informative, entertaining, and pleasantly personal . . . Whether Rinzler is exploring how our feet explain or illuminate such topics as evolution, disability, racism, diet, or desire, she maintains a fascinating perspective on the peculiarities of being human." —Rain Taxi Review of Books“This neat little book draws a clear picture of our feet, providing understanding that extends far beyond the obvious. Readers often like to walk away from a book feeling they learned something—that the author left them with a new way to look at an old idea, and this book fulfills that need." —City Book Review“Rinzler lifts the lowly human foot to new heights...

The exciting sequel to Slam Dunk! Julian Pryce was once the star center of the Tornadoes. But when he joins a new team after his family moves, he suddenly finds himself the star benchwarmer. It turns out the Warriors already have a starting center, Paul Boyd, who has no intention of sharing the court with Julian. The coach is no help, either, for one simple reason: Paul is his son! Now Julian may have to take drastic measures if he's going to get back into the game. . . but is he to blame when Paul winds up in the hospital?

Missy Turner thinks of herself as the most ordinary woman in the world. She has a lot to be thankful for: a great kid, a loving husband, a job she enjoys and the security of living in the small town where she was born. Then one day everything gets turned upside down. She loses her job, catches her husband making out with the neighbor and is briefly taken hostage by a young man who robs the local café. With her world rapidly falling apart, Missy finds herself questioning the certainties she's lived with her whole life. Originally published in 2010, The Middle Ground was a 2011 Golden Oak Award Nominee and an early work from an award-winning author. This edition includes discussion questions at the back for reading and literacy groups.

The huge imposing castle and the barren terrain of Merkazad are a far cry from the modest farm and the emerald fields that horsewoman Iseult calls home. Or used to, until Sheikh Nadim bought her family's stud farm. As part of the deal, she must work at his royal stables....Nadim enrages Iseult...but he also inspires a more unwelcome, unfamiliar feeling: desire. Drawn into Nadim's sensual world, Iseult feels like a beautiful, confident woman for the first time.But she must remember the sheikh's cast-iron rule....

Benjamin Britten, sailing uncomfortably close to the wind with his new opera, Death in Venice, seeks advice from his former collaborator and friend, W. H. Auden. During this imagined meeting, their first in twenty-five years, they are observed and interrupted by, among others, their future biographer and a young man from the local bus station. Alan Bennett’s new play is as much about the theater as it is about poetry or music. It looks at the unsettling desires of two difficult men, and at the ethics of biography. It reflects on growing old, on creativity and inspiration, and on persisting when all passion’s spent: ultimately, on the habit of art.**