-Titulo Original : The Bad Muslim Discount A Novel-Fabricante : Anchor-Descripcion Original: Following two families from Pakistan and Iraq in the 1990s to San Francisco in 2016, The Bad Muslim Discount is an inclusive, comic novel about Muslim immigrants finding their way in modern America.“Masood’s novel presents a stereoscopic, three-dimensional view of contemporary Muslim America: the way historical conflict in the Middle East lingers in individual lives, the way gossip travels in a close-knit immigrant community.” -The New York Times Book ReviewIt is 1995, and Anvar Faris is a restless, rebellious, and sharp-tongued boy doing his best to grow up in Karachi, Pakistan. As fundamentalism takes root within the social order and the zealots next door attempt to make Islam great again, his family decides, not quite unanimously, to start life over in California. Ironically, Anvars deeply devout mother and his model-Muslim brother adjust easily to life in America, while his fun-loving father cant find anyone he relates to. For his part, Anvar fully commits to being a bad Muslim.At the same time, thousands of miles away, Safwa, a young girl living in war-torn Baghdad with her grief-stricken, conservative father will find a very different and far more dangerous path to America. When Anvar and Safwas worlds collide as two remarkable, strong-willed adults, their contradictory, intertwined fates will rock their community, and families, to their core. The Bad Muslim Discount is an irreverent, poignant, and often hysterically funny debut novel by an amazing new voice. With deep insight, warmth, and an irreverent sense of humor, Syed M. Masood examines universal questions of identity, faith (or lack thereof), and belonging through the lens of Muslim Americans. Review Masood offers sharp observations on religion, violence, and politics, and his clever choice to place the characters’ disparate experiences in parallel challenges Islamophobic stereotypes. The New YorkerTake it from a bad Jew, this is one of the bravest and most eye-opening novels of the year. Masood is a whiz at characters and knows the way the world works inside out. A future classic. Gary Shteyngart, New York Times bestselling author of Lake Success“Masood’s novel presents a stereoscopic, three-dimensional view of contemporary Muslim America: the way historical conflict in the Middle East lingers in individual lives, the way gossip travels in a close-knit immigrant community.” The New York Times Book Review“The Bad Muslim Discount reads like a bingeable TV series - fast-paced and surprising at every turn. As the characters rebel, we root for them, eagerly hoping that they are able to build a life that’s true to them without losing everything they love.” San Francisco ChroniclePerfect. . .I was torn between wanting to take my time to savor it, or just blazing through. This is a book that I didn’t know I deeply needed. Buzzfeed“Syed M. Masood brings something new and necessary to the immigrant story: a sense of humor. Surprising, provocative, and damn funny, The Bad Muslim Discount is the story we always needed but never had.” Neel Patel, author of If You See Me, Don’t Say Hi: Stories “Masood’s compelling, provocative and hugely enjoyable tragicomedy explores crises of faith and issues of identity, and throws a new light on the immigrant experience.” The National“Masood’s purpose throughout the novel is to draw you deep into Anvar’s family world, not simply lampoon it - or, in Safwa’s case, righteously condemn it….By its end, “The Bad Muslim Discount” delivers a quintessentially American tale about what immigrants gain or lose when they assimilate - or refuse to do so.” The Seattle Times“Set in the 90s, this engaging novel about identity and belonging is compelling from cover to cover.” HelloGiggles, “10 Best New Books to Read in February”Masood adeptly balances humor with pathos in this unforgettable, twisting tale. . .A moving, comic take on the immigrant experience. Booklist, starred review “A born storyteller, Masoo...

-Titulo Original : Ageless The New Science Of Getting Older Without Getting Old-Fabricante : Anchor-Descripcion Original: “A fascinating look at how scientists are working to help doctors treat the aging process itself, helping us all to lead longer, healthier lives.” -Sanjay Gupta, MDAging-not cancer, not heart disease-is the underlying cause of most human death and suffering. The same cascade of biological changes that renders us wrinkled and gray also opens the door to dementia and disease. We work furiously to conquer each individual disease, but we never think to ask: Is aging itself necessary? Nature tells us it is not: there are tortoises and salamanders who are spry into old age and whose risk of dying is the same no matter how old they are, a phenomenon known as “biological immortality.” In Ageless, Andrew Steelecharts the astounding progress science has made in recent years to secure the same for humans: to help us become old without getting frail, to live longer without ill health or disease. Review “Writing with the vim of a Bill Bryson and the technical knowledge of a scientist, Steele . . . gives us a chance to grasp what’s at stake in this dazzling, daunting age where big data meets human biology.” -The Independent (London)“Entertaining and thoughtful.” -The Wall Street Journal“An immensely important book. Steele surveys the biology of human aging, as well as the cutting-edge research on how to prevent it.” -Lewis Dartnell, author of Origins: How Earth’s History Shaped Human History“Andrew Steele wants to make birthdays fun again. He knows that once we reach a certain age, most of us greet the turn of another year with at least a little dread. That’s because we assume that ‘getting older’ inevitably means ‘getting old,’ with all the increased frailty and diminished vitality we associate with advancing age. But getting on in years doesn’t have to mean becoming elderly, Steele argues-and . . . he does a surprisingly effective job of decoupling the two.” -The New York Times “A hopeful message for all those facing this prospect [of ageing] (ie, everyone).” -The Economist “Fascinating.” -The Times (London) “A rich and exciting exploration of that surprisingly intriguing topic we’d rather not talk about: old age” -The Irish Times “An essential book for anyone interested in the fast-developing science of longevity.” -Jim Mellon, chairman of Juvenescence “What Steele says is both revolutionary and important-life-changing in the true sense of the word. His thinking is bold, visionary, utopian.” -The Herald (Scotland) “Good science in service of a convincing case that vast life extension is inevitable.” -Kirkus Reviews “A fascinating, stimulating, and pleasingly practical guide to the science of aging and how we might be able to bend the arrow of biological time to improve our health.” -Kat Arney, author of Rebel Cell: Cancer, Evolution, and the New Science of Life’s Oldest Betrayal “An exhilarating journey.” -The Daily Telegraph “Steele describes how the field of aging biology moved from hope to promise. This is a masterly road map for interested laypeople, scientists at large, and also geroscientists like myself-I was surprised how much I learned.” -Nir Barzilai, MD, author of Age Later: Health Span, Life Span, and the New Science of Longevity “A fascinating read with almost every page bursting with extraordinary facts.” -TheMail on Sunday “Ageless explains the extraordinary achievements and promise of current scientific research around longevity. Read it and prepare to think differently about your future.” -Andrew Scott, professor of economics, London Business School, and co-author of The 100-Year Life: Living and Working in an Age of Longevity About the Author After obtaining a PhD in physics from the University of Oxford, Andrew Steele decided that aging was the most important scientific challenge of our time and switched fields to computational biology. He worked at the Francis Crick Institute, using machine learning to decode our DNA and predict heart attacks using patients’...

-Titulo Original : Sooley A Novel-Fabricante : Anchor-Descripcion Original: #1 NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER * John Grisham takes you to a different kind of court in his first basketball novel. Samuel “Sooley” Sooleymon is a raw, young talent with big hoop dreams-and even bigger challenges off the court. “Hard to put down ... the pages turn quickly ... building to a climax that won’t leave readers doubting whether this is a John Grisham novel.” -Associated PressIn the summer of his seventeenth year, Sam­uel Sooleymon gets the chance of a lifetime: a trip to the United States with his South Sudanese teammates to play in a showcase basket­ball tournament. He has never been away from home, nor has he ever been on an airplane. The opportunity to be scouted by dozens of college coaches is a dream come true.Samuel is an amazing athlete, with speed, quick­ness, and an astonishing vertical leap. The rest of his game, though, needs work, and the American coaches are less than impressed.During the tournament, Samuel receives dev­astating news from home: A civil war is raging across South Sudan, and rebel troops have ran­sacked his village. His father is dead, his sister is missing, and his mother and two younger brothers are in a refugee camp.Samuel desperately wants to go home, but it’s just not possible. Partly out of sympathy, the coach of North Carolina Central offers him a scholar­ship. Samuel moves to Durham, enrolls in classes, joins the team, and prepares to sit out his freshman season. There is plenty of more mature talent and he isn’t immediately needed.But Samuel has something no other player has: a fierce determination to succeed so he can bring his family to America. He works tirelessly on his game, shooting baskets every morning at dawn by himself in the gym, and soon he’s dominating everyone in practice. With the Central team los­ing and suffering injury after injury, Sooley, as he is nicknamed, is called off the bench. And the legend begins.But how far can Sooley take his team? And will success allow him to save his family?Gripping and moving, Sooley showcases John Grisham’s unparalleled storytelling powers in a whole new light. This is Grisham at the top of his game. Review “Hard to put down ... the pages turn quickly ... building to a climax that won’t leave readers doubting whether this is a John Grisham novel.” -Associated PressAn intensely moving story, told with the same eye for character and descriptive detail Grisham brings to his crime novels. His occasional forays into general fiction are usually interesting, but this one is considerably more than that. It’s skillfully written, with a deeply compelling central character and a story that is full of raw emotion and suspense.-Booklist About the Author JOHN GRISHAM is the author of thirty-six novels, one work of nonfiction, a collection of stories, and seven novels for young readers. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. C H A P T E R 1 In April, when Samuel Sooleymon was invited to try out for the national team, he was seventeen years old, stood six feet two inches tall, and was considered to be a promising point guard, known for his quickness and vertical leap, but also for his erratic passing and mediocre shooting. In July, when the team left Juba, the capital of South Sudan, for the trip to America, he was six feet four inches tall, just as quick but even more erratic handling the ball and no more accurate from the arc. He was hardly aware of his growth, which was not unusual for a teenager, but he did realize that his well-worn basketball shoes were tighter and his only pair of pants now fell well above his ankles. But back in April when the invitation arrived, his neighborhood erupted in celebration. He lived in Lotta, a remote village on the outskirts of Rumbek, a city of 30,000. He had spent his entire life in Lotta doing little more than playing basketball and soccer. His mother, Beatrice, was a homemaker, with little education, like all th...

-Titulo Original : Bring Your Baggage And Dont Pack Light Essays-Fabricante : Anchor-Descripcion Original: The bestselling author of American Housewife and Southern Lady Code returns with an “inspiring, hilarious, straight-to-the-point” (Entertainment Weekly) collection of essays on friendship among grown-ass women.When Helen Ellis and her lifelong friends arrive for a reunion on the Redneck Riviera, they unpack more than their suitcases: stories of husbands and kids, lost parents and lost jobs, powdered onion dip and photographs you have to hold by the edges, dirty jokes and sunscreen with SPF higher than they hair-sprayed their bangs senior year, and a bad mammogram. Its a diagnosis that scares them, but could never break their bond. Because women pushing fifty wont be pushed around.In these twelve gloriously comic and moving essays, Helen Ellis dishes on married middle-age sex, sobs with a theater full of women as a psychic exorcises their sorrows, gets twenty shots of stomach bile to the neck to get rid of her double chin, and gathers up the courage to ask, Are you there, Menopause? Its Me, Helen. A book that reads like the best cocktail party of your life, Bring Your Baggage and Dont Pack Light is alive with the sensational humor and ferocious love for her friends that won Helen Ellis legions of fans. This book has a raw vulnerability and an emotional generosity that takes this acclaimed author to a whole new level of accomplishment. Review SOUTHERN BOOK AWARD FINALIST * A New York Post Best New Book to Read * A Garden and Gun Best Book of the Year * A New York Times New and Noteworthy Book * A PureWow Best Beach Read *A Buzzfeed Book to Read this Summer * A People Best Book of the Week“Sharply funny… Ellis has clearly found her stride - or, in her case, her strut. The writer who so memorably opened American Housewife with a Beyonce-inspired stallion walk to the toaster is indeed noticeably unbridled and self-assured in this collection… The spirit of Nora Ephron… hovers over this book… Ellis prose is filled with so many laugh lines, you might want to go ahead and book the Botox… Ellis is a hoot. Shes also a force… She has come to own the power of her personality - and her work.” -Heller McAlpin, NPRDespite how often I type the letters LOL, it actually takes a lot for me to laugh out loud. But I found myself doing so at least once a chapter while reading the Alabama native Helen Ellis’s new essay collection, Bring Your Baggage and Don’t Pack Light... Hilarious.-Amanda Heckert, Garden and GunAs with everything written by the Alabama-born novelist who gave us Southern Lady Code, this collection of twelve essays is equal parts irreverent and poignant-a mirthful toast to friendship at middle age.-Southern LivingHelen Ellis has done it again. And by it, we mean shes pulled together her thoughts on lifes disparate moments and produced an inspiring, hilarious, straight-to-the-point essay collection.-Entertainment WeeklyEllis is a humorist, a writer with a sharp eye for finding the funny in any situation... Secrets are exactly what make Ellis’s essay collection fun. She doesn’t hold back... A little bit naughty, but also self-aware... She writes without fear of exposing her own vulnerabilities, of putting on display for everyone to see what many people would want to hide, and in that willingness, what emerges feels real and genuine.-Southern Review of BooksYou gotta love a middle-aged gal who enjoys the good ole-boy adonises at a water park in Georgia, plays professional poker in her pearls and speculates with her chagrined husband about her friends’ sex lives (Those two have costumes). Ellis is as original as she is hilarious, and in these laugh-out-loud essays she unleashes her no-holds-barred humor while sneaking in sharp and generous insights.-PeopleAn uproarious joyride, best enjoyed with a souvenir cup of white wine. Her tales of travels and tribulations with her middle-aged crew are both deep and deeply funny, seeded with bumper-sticker lines like, Instead of a ch...

-Titulo Original : A Tip For The Hangman A Novel-Fabricante : Anchor-Descripcion Original: An Elizabethan espionage thriller in which playwright Christopher Marlowe spies on Mary, Queen of Scots while navigating the perils of politics, theater, romance-and murder. England, 1585. In Kit Marlowes last year at Cambridge, he is approached by Queen Elizabeths spymaster offering an unorthodox career opportunity: going undercover to intercept a Catholic plot to put Mary, Queen of Scots on Elizabeths throne. Spying on Queen Mary turns out to be more than Kit bargained for, but his salary allows him to mount his first play, and over the following years he becomes the toast of Londons raucous theater scene. But when Kit finds himself reluctantly drawn back into the world of espionage and treason, he realizes everything hes worked so hard to attain-including the trust of the man he loves-could vanish in an instant. Pairing modern language with period detail, Allison Epstein brings Elizabeths lavish court, Marlowes colorful theater troupe, and the squalor of sixteenth-century London to vivid, teeming life. At the center of the action is Kit himself-an irrepressible, irreverent force of nature. Review “Marlowe’s story as the playwright may have told it himself: full of adventure, fun … and murder.” -BookRiot“A clever concoction of genres, with a generous helping of historical fiction, espionage, class critique, and theatrical flair. . . Epstein vividly conjures up the world of Elizabethan theater . . . and adds on top a genuinely compelling spy story, creating an exuberant, irreverent romp.” -Crime Reads“Epstein presents Marlowe as supremely capable, something of a trickster, a consummate liar, a fiendish lover-and someone capable of murder . . . The suspense is palpable. . . . Epstein breathes life into a celebrated figure.” -The New York Times Book Review “This fizzy debut is a Tudor espionage tale, set among spies close to Mary, Queen of Scots. One of them is Christopher Marlowe, whose spy work bankrolls a rather promising theater career.” -The Chicago Tribune, 25 Books We Can’t Wait to Read in 2021 “Draws you into a morally convoluted world of spies, treason, politics, romance and murder. With a witty, captivating protagonist and fast-paced adventure, it’s the sort of book you should never pick up before bedtime lest you look out the window to see the sun rising. This is easily one of 2021’s best historical fiction books to date.” -The Michigan Daily “Thrilling and romantic. . . . Epstein successfully evokes both the beauty and the brutality of 16th-century England.” -Historical Novel Society “Epstein’s diverting debut gallivants through Elizabethan England. . . . A fun escapade.” -Publishers Weekly About the Author ALLISON EPSTEIN earned her MFA in fiction from Northwestern University and a BA in creative writing and Renaissance literature from the University of Michigan. A Michigan native, she now lives in Chicago, where she works as a copywriter for clients in higher education and the arts. When not writing, she enjoys good theater, bad puns, and fancy jackets. A Tip for the Hangman is her first novel. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. OneWithout tobacco, Kit knew, he would never survive Cambridge. The university would have destroyed him otherwise: the relentless pace, the always-­rising stakes. One arcane lecture after another, endless pages of Greek readings that became no less bewildering with time. And beneath it all, the pervasive fear of falling behind, of falling to pieces, of publicly confirming what the fellows all privately believed: that whatever scholarship the master of the college had conferred upon him, Kit Marlowe didn’t belong here, should never have come. But once a wisp of smoke curled up in his lungs, none of that mattered. At least for the night.Tobacco unwound his nerves like a worn shirt, turned soft and loose, trailing easy threads to nowhere. It changed nothing, of course. Kit’s presence at Corpus Christi Colleg...

-Titulo Original : Cheated The Inside Story Of The Astros Scandal And A Colorful History Of Sign Stealing-Fabricante : Anchor-Descripcion Original: “A baseball book that reads like a spy novel-a story about cheaters and the cheated that has the power to forever change how we feel about the game.” -Brian Williams, MSNBC anchor and host of The 11th Hour The definitive insider story of one of the biggest cheating scandals to ever rock Major League Baseball, bringing down high-profile coaches and players, and exposing a long-rumored sign-stealing dark side of baseballBy the fall of 2019, most teams in Major League Baseball suspected that the Houston Astros, winners of the 2017 World Series, had been stealing signs for several years. Deconstructing exactly what happened in this explosive story, award-winning sports reporter and analyst Andy Martino reveals how otherwise good people like Astros manager A. J. Hinch, bench coach Alex Cora, and veteran leader Carlos Beltran found themselves on the wrong side of clear ethical lines. Along the way, Martino explores the colorful history of cheating in baseball, from notorious episodes like the 1919 “Black Sox” fiasco all the way to the modern steroid era. But as Martino deftly shows, the Astros scandal became one of the most significant that the game has ever seen-its fallout ensnaring many other teams, as victims, alleged cheaters, or both. Like a riveting true sports whodunit, Cheated is an electrifying, behind-the-scenes look into the heart of a scandal that shocked the baseball world. Review Finalist for the 2021 Casey Award for Best Baseball Book of the Year“Andy Martino offers the definitive account of the sign-stealing scandal that brought low the 2017 World Series winners, undermining that victory and tarnishing the reputations of players and management alike. . . In forensic detail, Martino describes the execution of the Astros’ scheme and assesses the advantage it conveyed. More compelling, though, are his attempts to understand its perpetrators, especially Carlos Beltran, one of the ringleaders. . . Beltran’s descent down the slippery slope from all-but-sanctioned espionage to reprehensible cheating gives Martino’s narrative its compelling tragic arc.”-The New York Times Book Review Andy Martino delves, dissects, and masterfully delivers the high drama of the sign-stealing scandal that has rocked the baseball world since 2017. Crisply told and densely packed with historical and psychological insights, this is one of the best books about American sports I have read in years.-Paul Auster, author of The New York Trilogy and 4 3 2 1Listen up. Here’s a coded whistle, a bang on the nearest garbage can to let you know that a fastball is coming from Andy Martino with Cheated. This is a caper story about a plot to steal baseball’s most coveted prize, the World Series, an outlandish scheme that works…until it doesn’t. Fascinating, fascinating stuff.-Leigh Montville, author of The Big Bam and Ted WilliamsTinker, Tailor, Soldier…Trash Can? Andy Martino has given us a baseball book that reads like a spy novel-a story about cheaters and the cheated that has the power to forever change how we feel about the game.-Brian Williams, MSNBC anchor and host of The 11th HourLeave it to an old-school journalist like Andy Martino to get to the bottom of a modern-day baseball crime. With his intimate knowledge of clubhouse culture and ability to humanize the sport’s most recognizable figures, Martino explains how an accepted form of gamesmanship gradually transformed into blatant cheating. This story couldn’t be told in 280-character blockson Twitter and we are fortunate Martino took the time to detail the confluence of factors that resulted a scandal that damaged baseball’s credibility.-Dylan Hernandez, Los Angeles Times sports columnistWith the eye of a keen reporter and the touch of a gifted storyteller, Andy Martino exposes the shadowy subculture of sign-stealing in baseball. Through historical perspective, vivid details and textured character studies, Cheated is the definitive story of the biggest...

-Titulo Original : Black Hole Survival Guide-Fabricante : Anchor-Descripcion Original: From the acclaimed author of Black Hole Blues and Other Songs from Outer Space-an authoritative and accessible guide to the most alluring and challenging phenomena of contemporary science.[Levin will] take you on a safe black hole trip, an exciting travel story enjoyed from your chair’s event horizon.” -Boston Globe Through her writing, astrophysicist Janna Levin has focused on making the science she studies not just comprehensible but also, and perhaps more important, intriguing to the nonscientist. In this book, she helps us to understand and find delight in the black hole-perhaps the most opaque theoretical construct ever imagined by physicists-illustrated with original artwork by American painter and photographer Lia Halloran. Levin takes us on an evocative exploration of black holes, provoking us to imagine the visceral experience of a black hole encounter. She reveals the influence of black holes as they populate the universe, sculpt galaxies, and even infuse the whole expanse of reality that we inhabit. Lively, engaging, and utterly unique, Black Hole Survival Guide is not just informative-it is, as well, a wonderful read from first to last. Review [Levin’s] writing is clear and so colloquial that it sometimes seems as though she’s right there chatting with you, telling a story in a conversation so compelling that you hardly notice the complexity of the actual physics . . . Not only is Levin a brilliant physicist, she’s a gifted writer, sensitive to language and its nuances . . . [She is] an extravagant storyteller with a vivid imagination and an acute intellect who is willing to take you on a safe black hole trip, an exciting travel story enjoyed from your chair’s event horizon.”-Boston GlobeIn prose that revels in the immensity and dispassion of the barely known universe - and bolstered by Lia Halloran’s illustrations of strange celestial shapes and astronauts floating in inky voids - Levin makes space sound like a somewhat reasonable place.-The Philadelphia Inquirer“Warm, smart prose inviting readers to share her fascination with these cosmic phenomena. Enhanced by wonderful artwork, Levin’s book glides through the universe, from relativity and quantum mechanics to the solar system, the Milky Way, and the Andromeda galaxy. Stirring imagination and curiosity about the mysteries of black holes, Levin makes a case that they are a fodder for fantasy”-The National Book ReviewVivid . . . Readers couldn’t hope for a more fascinating intro to a family of cosmic objects whose existence promises still more wonders to be discovered.-Publishers WeeklyArmchair astronomers will find this a fascinating and illuminating read.-BooklistA short, lively account of one of the oddest and most intriguing topics in astrophysics.-Kirkus ReviewsEngrossing . . . Levin describes the subject matter in an accessible writing style that is both entertaining and poetic . . . Recommended for nonscientists and those seeking to understand the cosmos better.-Library JournalA comprehensible exploration of that which cannot be physically explored . . . a vibrant, illustrated text.-Shelf AwarenessThis slender volume will get the reader quickly up to speed when it comes to black holes, without equations or torrents of jargon.-The Space Review“Beguiling . . . Levin writes authoritatively and evocatively with a warm, poetic voice . . . The 23 paintings that Halloran made to be interspersed among its pages add to the imagination-stirring allure . . . There are lighter parts too, and the surreality at play in the mix of the writing and the art gives Black Hole Survival Guide an idiosyncratic spirit.”-Art News About the Author JANNA LEVIN is a professor of physics and astronomy at Barnard College of Columbia University. She is also director of sciences at Pioneer Works, a center for arts and sciences in Brooklyn. Her previous books include Black Hole Blues and Other Songs from Outer Space, How ...

-Titulo Original : Tiny Tales Stories Of Romance, Ambition, Kindness, And Happiness-Fabricante : Anchor-Descripcion Original: It is often said that the best things in life come in small packages; anyone in search of proof need look no further than the stories in this collection from the acclaimed author of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series: brief, utterly engaging tales that offer lasting surprise and delight, accompanied by charming illustrations by Iain McIntosh. In Tiny Tales, Alexander McCall Smith explores romance, ambition, kindness, and happiness in thirty short stories accompanied by thirty witty cartoons designed by Iain McIntosh, McCall Smith’s longtime creative collaborator. Here we meet the first Australian pope, who hopes to finally find some peace and quiet back home in Perth; a psychotherapist turned motorcycle racetrack manager; and an aspiring opera singer who gets her unlikely break onstage. And, of course, we spend time in McCall Smith’s beloved Scotland, where we are introduced to progressive Vikings, a group of housemates with complex romantic entanglements, and a couple of globe-trotting dentists. These tales and illustrations depict the full scope of human experience and reveal the rich tapestry of life-painted in miniature. Review Praise for Alexander McCall Smiths Tiny Tales:Whimsical. . . . Quirky and delightful. -Booklist (starred review)Praise for Alexander McCall Smith: McCall Smiths generous writing and dry humor, his gentleness and humanity, and his ability to evoke a place and a set of characters without caricature or condescension have endeared his books to readers. --The New York TimesA virtuoso storyteller. --The ScotsmanA writer who charms many readers . . . McCall Smiths characters are well drawn and alive. --The Providence JournalMcCall Smiths accomplished novels [are] dependent on small gestures redolent with meaning and main characters blessed with pleasing personalities. --Newsday About the Author ALEXANDER McCALL SMITH is the author of the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency novels and a number of other series and stand-alone books. His works have been translated into more than forty languages and have been best sellers throughout the world. He lives in Scotland. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. DESCENT Molly wanted to do a parachute jump. “I wouldn’t if I were you,” said her friend. “What’s the point?” That was a difficult question to answer. What was the point of jumping out of an aeroplane and tumbling down through the air? The deliberate courting of risk? Proving something about yourself-namely that you can jump out of an aero­plane? It was not a simple question to answer, and so Molly simply said, “I could meet somebody. You never know.” “On a parachute jump?” her friend mocked. “Meet some­body? Are you serious?” But when she went to the parachute club, Molly met an exceedingly handsome instructor. He was known as Drop-Dead Gorgeous. This was not a good nickname for a para­chutist to have, but Molly did not know about it at the time. “All right, Molly,” said Drop-Dead Gorgeous. “I’m going to strap you to me. Then we’re going to jump out of the air­craft strapped together. Any questions?” Molly tried to think of a question, but could only think of asking, How long will it last? She was not thinking so much of the jump, but of how long she would be strapped to the instructor. They went up in the plane. Molly looked down at the ground below. The countryside was parcelled out in small, neat fields. Rivers were tiny veins of silver. The cars on the roads were minute beetles. The earth was so dear . . . “Com­fortable?” asked Drop-Dead Gorgeous. “Very,” said Molly. The descent took very little time. The ground seemed to come up rather fast, but the instructor landed on his feet, cushioning Molly’s landing. She looked into his eyes. “That was lovely,” she said. He smiled at her. “Let’s not unstrap just yet,” he said. “We could go for coffee together.” He did the walking. Strapped to him in he...

-Titulo Original : When I Ran Away A Novel-Fabricante : Anchor-Descripcion Original: Longlisted for the Center for Fiction’s 2021 First Novel Prize * A rich, bighearted debut that takes us from working-class Staten Island in the wake of the September 11th attacks to moneyed London a decade later, revealing a story of loss, motherhood, and love.As the Twin Towers collapse, Gigi Stanislawski flees her office building and escapes lower Manhattan on the Staten Island Ferry. Among the crying, ash-covered, and shoeless passengers, Gigi, unbelievably, finds someone she recognizes--Harry Harrison, a British man and a regular at her favorite coffee shop. Gigi brings Harry to her parents house, where they watch the television replay the planes crashing for hours, and she waits for the phone call that will never come: the call from Frankie, her younger brother. Ten years later, Gigi, now a single mother consumed with bills and unfulfilled ambitions, meets Harry, again by chance, and they fall deeply, headlong in love. But their move to London and their new baby--which Gigi hoped would finally release her from the past--leave her feeling isolated, raw, and alone with her grief. As Gigi comes face-to-face with the anguish of her brothers death and her rage at the unspoken pain of motherhood, she must somehow find the light amid all the darkness. Startlingly honest and shot through with unexpected humor, When I Ran Away is an unforgettable first novel about love--for our partners, our children, our mothers, and ourselves--pushed to its outer limits. Review A Good Morning America Must-Read BookA thematic companion to Kiley Reid’s Such a Fun Age, Bannister’s novel is a searing insight into the complexities of motherhood and the interminable frustration of the tiny needs, musts, and wants that keep a family moving. A gripping, introspective read.” -BooklistA powerful and compassionately told story of loss, grief, love and motherhood.-Daily Mail (UK) Bannister’s emotionally raw debut offers an unflinching glimpse of new motherhood. . . Bannister effectively captures Gigi’s awareness of cultural and class divides. This poignant story feels genuine.”-Publishers WeeklyA beautiful and unflinching story of loss, motherhood and love in all its forms. Both heartbreaking and funny, Bannister perfectly captures the brilliant darkness of existing. I adored this brave debut.-Ella Berman, bestselling author of The Comeback“Ilona Bannister is the best friend every new mother wants-the one who tells you it’s OK to fall apart and the one who makes you laugh until you get back up again. This first novel is a wise, big-hearted, triumphant story of marriage and motherhood.” -Emily Giffin, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Lies that Bind A furious and tender exploration of family and motherhood. A novel about survival - in the immediate sense, but also how you keep hold of yourself in those small every day moments of erasure.-Pandora Sykes, author of How Do We Know We Are Doing It Right? When I Ran Away is a profoundly moving story showing the redemptive power of love and acceptance-of friends, family and also of ourselves. Richly textured, populated by wonderfully observed, deftly drawn characters, from the hilarious chorus of Staten Island girlfriends to the blinkered office colleagues and the desperate-to-seem-in-control women of the mums and babies group. A smart, brave and often very funny book that’s full of hope for the future. I was captivated.-Sarah Haywood, bestselling author of The Cactus“How much can one woman take? That is the question this novel asks, furiously [and] impatiently. . . Gigi is sharp and funny and endearing. . . A searing account of the pain and rage motherhood can sometimes produce.”-Kirkus About the Author ILONA BANNISTER grew up on Staten Island and lived in New York City until she married a Brit and moved to London. Ilona Bannister, a dual qualified U.S. attorney and UK solicitor, practiced immigration law in the UK before taking a career break ...

-Titulo Original : That Old Country Music Stories-Fabricante : Anchor-Descripcion Original: ONE OF BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR * LIBRARY JOURNALA collection of short stories of rural Ireland in the classic Irish mode: full of love (and sex), melancholy and magic, bedecked in some of the most gorgeous prose being written today-from the author of the wildly acclaimed Night Boat to Tangier.With three novels and two short story collections published, Kevin Barry has steadily established his stature as one of the finest writers not just in Ireland but in the English language. All of his prodigious gifts of language, character, and setting in these eleven exquisite stories transport the reader to an Ireland both timeless and recognizably modern. Shot through with dark humor and the uncanny power of the primal and unchanging Irish landscape, the stories in That Old Country Music represent some of the finest fiction being written today. Review ONE OF NPRS BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR * Named a most anticipated book of the year by Vulture, O, The Oprah Magazine, The New York Post, Literary Hub, The Millions, and more*Barry brilliantly evokes both the good and bad sides of love, and does so with stunningly gorgeous writing…Theres not an aspect of writing that Barry doesnt excel at. His dialogue rings true, and hes amazingly gifted at scene-setting-he evokes both the landscape of western Ireland and the landscape of the human heart beautifully.-NPRI had to quit reading this book the first day I had it in my hands, just so I could have it to read the next day. Its that good.-Richard Ford“Coarse and lyrical, arresting and often hilarious. There are verbal titillations and delights on nearly every page, but also an undertow of sorrow…Barry’s old country music cuts deep into the reader’s heart.”-Washington PostSplendid...Easygoing in their elegance and capacious in their emotional range, these stories draw naturally from Ireland’s literary tradition without becoming distorted by nostalgia or homage.-Wall Street JournalKevin Barry’s new collection of melodic and melancholy short stories, set against the harsh, majestic landscape of the Irish countryside, conjures a dark and richly textured world haunted by history. Read slowly and savor. -VultureThere are no bad Kevin Barry books. There are no sedate Kevin Barry books. Every darkly-soulful tragicomedy he produces-be it a novel or a short story collection-is a wild, electrified beast of language that throws you up on its back as it dances with manic glee around the lonesome, haunted west of Ireland landscape…The stories in That Old Country Music have all the hypnotic pathos and inimitable linguistic verve of Barry at his very best.-LitHubBarry’s style [is] a nervy mix of high poetry and low comedy that he applies with unceasing vigor.-The New York Times Book ReviewBarry’s new collection creates its own literary language, blending a deep humanity with mordant humor.-O, The Oprah MagazineBarry skillfully blends humor and pathos...An inspired, evocative book.-Minneapolis Star Tribune“Barry has the right stuff for short stories. He brings characters to life quickly and then blesses them with his uncanny ear for dialogue and prose rhythms, his compassion and wry wit…Exceptional writing and a thoroughly entertaining collection.”-Kirkus (starred review)The multi-award-winning Barry (Night Boat to Tangier) dazzles with his word wizardry and the effortless grace of his perfect sentences.”-Library JournalStellar...The hallmarks of Mr. Barry’s writing are in evidence here, from the earthy dialogue to his many poetic descriptions. Pittsburgh Post-GazetteThe master short story teller turns messy emotions into riveting tales of wounded Irish folk...One of the best collections youll read this year. Sunday Times (UK)Wild, witty stories...The west of Ireland teems with canny characters and vivid language...Darkly glimmering...Their language is exhilarating, its verve evoking the very best of Barrys compatriots while further carving out a t...

-Titulo Original : Red Line The Unraveling Of Syria And Americas Race To Destroy The Most Dangerous Arsenal In The World-Fabricante : Anchor-Descripcion Original: In Red Line, Joby Warrick, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Black Flags, shares the thrilling unknown story of America’s mission in Syria: to find and destroy Syria’s chemical weapons and keep them out of the hands of the Islamic State.In August 2012, Syrian president Bashar al-Assad was clinging to power in a vicious civil war. When secret intelligence revealed that the dictator might resort to using chemical weapons, President Obama warned that doing so would cross “a red line.” Assad did it anyway, bombing the Damascus suburb of Ghouta with sarin gas, killing hundreds of civilians, and forcing Obama to decide if he would mire America in another unpopular war in the Middle East. When Russia offered to broker the removal of Syria’s chemical weapons, Obama leapt at the out. So began an electrifying race to find, remove, and destroy 1,300 tons of chemical weapons in the midst of a raging civil war. The extraordinary little-known effort is a triumph for the Americans, but soon Russia’s long game becomes clear: it will do anything to preserve Assad’s rule. As America’s ability to control events in Syria shrinks, the White House learns that ISIS, building its caliphate in Syria’s war-tossed territory, is seeking chemical weapons for itself, with an eye to attack the West. Drawing on astonishing original reporting, Warrick crafts a character-driven narrative that reveals how the United States embarked on a bold adventure to prevent one catastrophe but could not avoid a tragic chain of events that led to another. Review “A nonfiction thriller.” -The Washington Post“Excellent.” -The Independent (London)“[A] highly readable and well-sourced work, a bleak but real-life thriller.” -The Guardian“A detailed look at an excruciating moment for Syria, the United States, and the world-the time in 2013 when the United States concluded that Syria’s government had used chemical weapons in its long-running civil war.” -Morning Edition, NPR“[An] engrossing account of chemical warfare in the Syrian civil war. . . . [A] gripping investigation of the challenges of Middle East politics.” -Library Journal (starred review) “Red Line can grip as tightly as any thriller.” -Hugh Hewitt, The Washington Post “Red Line is a forensic examination of the moral culpability of the Assad government and its Russian backers . . . Warrick combines the novelist’s gift for storytelling with the journalist’s gift for hard research.” -The Tablet “[An] electric tale.” -Publishers Weekly “The virtue of Warrick’s book is that it provides a panoramic reconstruction of the [2013] chemical attack and its aftermath. We see it from the eyes of survivors, doctors, activists, disarmament experts, diplomats, and policymakers. The book cuts from scenes on the ground in Eastern Ghouta, to the U.N. inspectors in Damascus, to National Security Council meetings in the White House, telling the story with urgency and clarity.” -Newlines Magazine “An unsettling look at the extraordinarily brutal civil war that has engulfed Syria since 2011. . . . Warrick delivers a vivid account.” -Kirkus Reviews “A valuable addition to the growing literature on the war in Syria. . . . The book includes . . . compelling accounts with characters ranging from UN weapons inspectors and Syrian doctors to Islamic State operatives planning their own chemical attacks. In Warrick’s hands, their experiences come alive.” -The National Interest “Lively and easily accessible . . . [Red Line] contains powerful material that should serve as a warning to us all.” -The New Arab “A meticulously reported, gripping story.” -LitHub“[President Biden] may wish to read Joby Warrick’s Red Line. . . . [It] has important implications for countering proliferation.” -The Wall Street Journal“Riveting. . . . Warrick’s vivid portraits of so many of the diverse individuals involved, from victims to American engineers and U.N. investigators, provide a devastating perspective on the ci...

-Titulo Original : A Time For Mercy A Jake Brigance Novel-Fabricante : Anchor-Descripcion Original: #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * Jake Brigance is back! The hero of A Time to Kill, one of the most popular novels of our time, returns in a courtroom drama that The New York Times says is riveting and suspenseful. Clanton, Mississippi. 1990. Jake Brigance finds himself embroiled in a deeply divisive trial when the court appoints him attorney for Drew Gamble, a timid sixteen-year-old boy accused of murdering a local deputy. Many in Clanton want a swift trial and the death penalty, but Brigance digs in and discovers that there is more to the story than meets the eye. Jake’s fierce commitment to saving Drew from the gas chamber puts his career, his financial security, and the safety of his family on the line. In what may be the most personal and accomplished legal thriller of John Grisham’s storied career, we deepen our acquaintance with the iconic Southern town of Clanton and the vivid cast of characters that so many readers know and cherish. The result is a richly rewarding novel that is both timely and timeless, full of wit, drama, and-most of all-heart. Bursting with all the courthouse scheming, small-town intrigue, and stunning plot twists that have become the hallmarks of the master of the legal thriller, A Time for Mercy is John Grisham’s most powerful courtroom drama yet. There is a time to kill and a time for justice. Now comes A Time for Mercy.Don’t miss any of John Grisham’sgrippingJake Brigance novels:A TIME TO KILL * SYCAMORE ROW * A TIME FOR MERCY * SPARRING PARTNERS Review Grisham has returned to the place closest to his heart... The trial is riveting...its striking how suspenseful the story is...how much were gripped by the small details.-Sarah Lyall, The New York Times“Textbook Grisham-and that’s a compliment…a briskly paced legal drama, with just the right amount of suspense, conflict, plot twists, and courtroom theatrics.”-St. Louis Post-Dispatch About the Author JOHN GRISHAM is the author of thirty-five novels, one work of non-fiction, a collection of stories, and seven novels for young readers. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Six days a week, every day but Sunday, Jake Brigance allowed himself to be dragged out of bed at the unholy hour of 5:30 a.m. by a noisy alarm clock. Six days a week he went straight to the coffeepot, punched a button, then hurried to his own private little bathroom in the basement, far away from his sleeping wife and daughter, where he showered in five minutes and spent another five with the rest of his ritual before dressing in the clothes he’d laid out the night before. He then hurried upstairs, poured a cup of black coffee, eased back into his bedroom, kissed his wife goodbye, grabbed his coffee, and, at precisely 5:45 closed the kitchen door and stepped onto the rear patio. Six days a week he drove the dark streets of Clanton to the picturesque square with the stately courthouse anchoring life as he knew it, parked in front of his office on Washington Street, and, at 6:00 a.m., six days a week, walked into the Coffee Shop to either hear or create the gossip, and to dine on wheat toast and grits. But on the seventh day, he rested. There was never an alarm clock on the Sabbath, and Jake and Carla reveled in a long morning’s rest. He would eventually stumble forth around 7:30 and order her back to sleep. In the kitchen he poached eggs and toasted bread and served her breakfast in bed with coffee and juice. On a normal Sunday. But nothing about this day would be normal. At 7:05 the phone rang, and since Carla insisted that the phone be located on his night table, he had no choice but to answer it. “If I were you I’d leave town for a couple of days.” It was the low raspy voice of Harry Rex Vonner, perhaps his best friend and sometimes his only one. “Well good morning, Harry Rex. This better be good.” Harry Rex, a gifted and devious divorce lawyer, ran in the dark shadows...

-Titulo Original : How To Raise An Elephant No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency (21) (the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, 21)-Fabricante : Anchor-Descripcion Original: In this latest installment in the cherished No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, Mma Ramotswe must balance family obligations with the growing needs of one of Charlie’s pet projects. Precious Ramotswe loves her dependable old van. Yes, it sometimes takes a bit longer to get going now, and it has developed some quirks over the years, but it has always gotten the job done. This time, though, the world-and Charlie-may be asking too much of it, for when he borrows the beloved vehicle, he returns it damaged. And, to make matters worse, the interior seems to have acquired an earthy smell that even Precious can’t identify. But the olfactory issue is not the only mystery that needs solving. Mma Ramotswe is confronted by a distant relative, Blessing, who asks for help with an ailing cousin. The help requested is of a distinctly pecuniary nature, which makes both Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni and Mma Makutsi suspicious. And there is no peace at home, either, as the new neighbors are airing their marital grievances rather loudly. Still, Mma Ramotswe is confident that the solutions to all of these difficulties are there to be discovered-as long as she is led by kindness, grace, and logic and can rely on the counsel of her friends and loved ones. Review In a time of pandemic, there could be few more rewarding and soothing tales to read than How to Raise an Elephant.-New York Journal of Books Series fans will be charmed, as usual, by the conversations between Mwa Ramotse and her friends on such topics as the usefulness of men and the benefits of bush tea.-Publishers Weekly“Picking up any Alexander McCall Smith novel during these troubling times offers a respite from the surrounding chaos. His philosophical perspective on how we mere humans interact with one another is at once amusing, informative and insightful without being preachy. Smith holds a deep and abiding love for Africa, which we sense in every word he produces.”-Book Reporter About the Author ALEXANDER McCALL SMITH is the author of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency novels and of a number of other series and stand-alone books. His works have been translated into more than forty languages and have been best sellers throughout the world. He lives in Scotland. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. CHAPTER ONE: NO DOUBLE BED Precious Ramotswe, owner and only begetter of the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency-established to deal with the problems of ladies, and others-looked across her office towards the desk occupied by Grace Makutsi, former secretary and distinguished graduate-with ninety-seven per cent in the final examinations-of the Botswana Secretarial College. The sun was streaming through the high window behind Mma Ramotswe’s desk, sending a narrow butter-yellow beam to illuminate small particles of floating dust, just perceptible, feather-light, moving up and down, sometimes sliding sideways in obedience to the invisible currents in the room. But for the most part the air was still-it being that sort of day, sluggish and non-committal. The sort of day on which something might happen, but was more likely not to. It was not unusual for Mma Ramotswe to look up and see Mma Makutsi staring back at her; and the same thing might be said for Mma Makutsi, who would suddenly lift her gaze from the papers in front of her and notice Mma Ramotswe watching her thoughtfully. Neither minded this-indeed, both were used to it, and when either of them was out of the office for whatever reason, the other would find that she missed seeing her colleague there at her desk when she looked up. This was particularly true for Mma Makutsi, for whom Mma Ramotswe was a reassuring presence every bit as significant, every bit as reassuring, as the great rock dome of Kgale Hill on the outskirts of town, or the deep waters of the Limpopo River, just a few hours off to the east, or the sandhills of the Kalahari over to the west. The...

-Titulo Original : Sex And Vanity A Novel-Fabricante : Anchor-Descripcion Original: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A Good Morning America Book Club Pick The author of the New York Times bestselling phenomenon Crazy Rich Asians takes you from Capri to NYC, where Lucie Tang Churchill finds herself torn between two men-and two very different cultures.On her very first morning on the jewel-like island of Capri, Lucie Churchill sets eyes on George Zao and she instantly cant stand him. She cant stand it when he gallantly offers to trade hotel rooms with her so that she can have a view of the Tyrrhenian Sea, she cant stand that he knows more about Casa Malaparte than she does, and she really cant stand it when he kisses her in the darkness of the ancient ruins of a Roman villa and they are caught by her snobbish, disapproving cousin Charlotte. The daughter of an American-born Chinese mother and a blue-blooded New York father, Lucie has always sublimated the Asian side of herself in favor of the white side, and she adamantly denies having feelings for George. But several years later, when George unexpectedly appears in East Hampton, where Lucie is weekending with her new fiance, Lucie finds herself drawn to George again. Soon, Lucie is spinning a web of deceit that involves her family, her fiance, the co-op board of her Fifth Avenue apartment building, and, ultimately, herself as she tries mightily to deny George entry into her world-and her heart. Moving between summer playgrounds of privilege, peppered with decadent food and extravagant fashion, Sex and Vanity is a truly modern love story, a daring homage to A Room with a View, and a brilliantly funny comedy of manners set between two cultures. Review A NPR, Marie Claire, and New York Post Best Book of 2020Good Morning Americas July Book Club PickA CNN Perfect Summer ReadA New York Times New & Noteworthy BookKevin Kwan has had a singular influence on Asian American storytelling and Hollywood’s pop cultural landscape.- Yoonj Kim, Los Angeles Times “With this sparkling confection of a potboiler, Kwan more than delivers on the promises of his title, and he does so with tongue planted firmly in cheek.”- Elizabeth Egan, New York Times“Kevin Kwan has dedicated his fourth novel, Sex and Vanity, to two unique destinations. One is New York... the other is the Italian island of Capri... Both locales-rich, glamorous, and filled with their share of both insiders and outsiders looking for their ticket in-serve as backdrops for Kwan’s latest ode to love, class, and the problematic, hilarious search for happiness in a world spinning with too much of pretty much everything. Kwan… is an urban romantic and he’s also a keen observer of social mores and the Teflon charms of an offbeat character. Sex and Vanity is sharp, clever, and irresistibly drawn.”- Cornelia Guest, InterviewOn its face, the story is a zippy beach read, but Kwan engages with serious subject matter (racism, identity, and deep-rooted Asian classism) all while thoroughly lampooning the extravagance of the ultrarich... The best part is that like all of Kwan’s work, Sex and Vanity also functions as a vacation read - it’s funny, there are ridiculous, steamy sex scenes, and part of the book takes place at a luxurious destination wedding. It’s the kind of thing you can take to whatever beach substitute you’re working with right now (the bedroom with the most sun, or a patch of asphalt at the nearest park) and escape for a little while.- The CutSex and Vanity [is] both homage to A Room with a View and very much in Kwans style. It begins as Forsters book does - with a hotel room swap - and then spins off into its own gold-plated world, with a few unexpectedly serious stops along the way... Kwans witty Sex and Vanity is a fine beach read.- Moira MacDonald, Chicago TribuneA romantic comedy set in New York and the Hamptons, and a nuanced exploration of race and identity.- AvenueAnother riveting tale of privilege, culture and romance... in a world of extravagant fashion and de...

-Titulo Original : Perestroika In Paris A Novel-Fabricante : Anchor-Descripcion Original: NATIONAL BESTSELLER * From the Pulitzer Prize-winning and best-selling author: a captivating, brilliantly imaginative story of three extraordinary animals-and a young boy-whose lives intersect in Paris in this feel-good escape” (TheNew York Times).Paras, short for Perestroika, is a spirited racehorse at a racetrack west of Paris. One afternoon at dusk, she finds the door of her stall open and-shes a curious filly-wanders all the way to the City of Light. Shes dazzled and often mystified by the sights, sounds, and smells around her, but she isnt afraid. Soon she meets an elegant dog, a German shorthaired pointer named Frida, who knows how to get by without attracting the attention of suspicious Parisians. Paras and Frida coexist for a time in the citys lush green spaces, nourished by Fridas strategic trips to the vegetable market. They keep company with two irrepressible ducks and an opinionated raven. But then Paras meets a human boy, Etienne, and discovers a new, otherworldly part of Paris: the ivy-walled house where the boy and his nearly-one-hundred-year-old great-grandmother live in seclusion. As the cold weather nears, the unlikeliest of friendships bloom. But how long can a runaway horse stay undiscovered in Paris? How long can a boy keep her hidden and all to himself? Jane Smileys beguiling new novel is itself an adventure that celebrates curiosity, ingenuity, and the desire of all creatures for true love and freedom. Review An Amazon Best Book of December 2020: Jane Smiley is best known for her novel A Thousand Acres, the Pulitzer Prize-winning retelling of King Lear. And shes a big fan of horses, which is evident in the decidedly whimsical turn she takes in Perestroika in Paris. This story about an orphan and a coterie of animals who look out for each other is just the tonic we need for 2020. It’ll make you smile-y. -Erin Kodicek, Amazon Book Review Review “A sparkling screwball-comedy treat . . . If ever there were a year when we could use some light relief, 2020 is it. Perestroika in Paris couldn’t have come at a better time . . . It’s hard to imagine anyone not enjoying this wistful charmer of a book.” -Seattle Times “Sprightly, fun . . . A lighthearted spree of a novel . . . Here Smiley stretches her talents even further.” -Washington Post“Wholesomely timeless, full of good intentions and happy endings that feel far removed from the problems of the moment.” -Wall Street Journal “A cozy, fairy-tale trot through the City of Light . . . Delightful, heartwarming . . . An appealing balm for harsh times . . . It’s such a joy when an author whose work you’ve been reading for decades surprises you with something unexpected . . . An especially welcome reminder of the bright spots even in dark times.” -NPR “In an era beset by polarization and even violent tribalism, it feels like a gift to find a novel in which characters of different species-with different desires and instincts-come together to build a community.” -Los Angeles Times “After writing some of the most brilliant and ferocious fiction of the past 40 years, Jane Smiley takes a gentler approach in Perestroika in Paris . . . Her tone may be genial, but she’s as tough-minded as ever . . . Underpinning the novel’s abundant humor is a pervasive atmosphere of loneliness and longing for companionship felt by humans and animals alike.” -Boston Globe “A beautifully done story . . . An absolutely extraordinary tribute to Paris.” -NPR’s Weekend Edition “An immersive fable . . . Beguiling . . . A comforting read at the end of a difficult year-a winter’s tale full of wit, warmth, and charm.” -The Economist “A remarkable novel that splits the difference between Charlotte’s Web and Animal Farm . . . Perestroika in Paris takes its place alongside the likes of Through the Looking-Glass, in that it will reward both precocious young readers and their parents with a sense of wonder and whimsy.” -Book...

-Titulo Original : The Geometry Of Holding Hands An Isabel Dalhousie Novel (13) (isabel Dalhousie Series)-Fabricante : Anchor-Descripcion Original: Isabel finds herself entangled in some tricky familial and financial situations that will require all of her kindness, charm, and philosophical expertise to navigate. Just when Isabel and Jamie finally seem to have some time to connect and unwind, a wealthy Edinburgh resident comes to Isabel with an unusual request-he would like her to become the executor of his large Highland estate. He has only a short time to live and, without any direct heirs, is struggling to determine which of his three cousins would be the best caretaker. Should the estate go to the bohemian artist, the savvy city property developer, or the quiet, unassuming bachelor? And all the while, Isabel is also busy helping her niece, Cat, who, though perennially unlucky in love, appears to have finally found her match in the leonine Leo. But Isabel is beginning to suspect that Leo might be interested in more than Cat’s charms-namely, her access to the family trust. Isabel will need to rely upon her remarkable reserves of intelligence and compassion in order to give all parties exactly what they want and deserve-no more and no less. About the Author ALEXANDER McCALL SMITH is the author of The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency novels and of a number of other series and stand-alone books. His works have been translated into more than forty languages and have been best sellers throughout the world. He lives in Scotland. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Chapter OneWe deserve it, don’t we?” said Isabel Dalhousie, half in jest-­but only half.On the other side of the kitchen table, her husband, Jamie- ­whom she still thought of as her lover, as he thought of her too-­was engaged in feeding their younger son, Magnus, a mix­ture of boiled egg and yoghurt. It was an unlikely dish, not one to be found in any cookbook of children’s food, but one that Magnus clearly enjoyed, at least judging by the way he waved his arms with delight whenever it was offered to him. Magnus had developed a habit of waving his arms that Jamie, in particular, found endearing. “He’s destined to be a conductor,” he announced proudly. “That’s the first sign. Daniel Barenboim must have waved his arms exactly like that when he was a baby.”“Be careful what you wish for,” Isabel had cautioned. “Would you want Magnus to grow into Toscanini?”Jamie laughed. As a professional musician, he had experi­enced his fair share of difficult and irascible conductors. Conductors could be bullies and fly into rages. “Perhaps not,” he said. “Unless that’s what he wanted.” He looked intently at Magnus, who stared back at him. “Would you like to be like Arturo Toscanini, my wee darling?”Magnus transferred his gaze to the bowl from which his father had been feeding him.“I read that as a no,” he said.“Grub first, then music,” said Isabel. “To parody Brecht.”Jamie picked up a spoon. He had stumbled upon the combination by mistake, when he had inadvertently emptied a carton of yoghurt into a bowl already containing chopped-­up boiled egg. “I discovered it in the same way in which Sir Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin,” he said. “He left a Petri dish on a windowsill, didn’t he? And in floated the mould. Serendipity, I think they call it.”Now, as the last remnants of œuf au yaourt, as he called it, was scraped off the side of the bowl and offered to Magnus, Jamie thought about Isabel’s question. They had been talking about their planned evening out, and Isabel, who tended to engage in moral self-­examination in circumstances in which others would not bother, was now wondering about how they might justify a night out at an expensive restaurant.Jamie looked across the table and grinned. “Are you worried about spending the money?” he asked. “This place . . . what’s it called?”“Casa Trimalchio . . . I think.” She hesitated. “It made me think of Trimalchio’s Feast, of course. Petronius, the Satyricon. Remember?”Jamie shook his head. His classical education had ...

-Titulo Original : The Handmaids Tale And The Testaments Box Set-Fabricante : Anchor-Descripcion Original: A box set of Margaret Atwoods bestselling companioned novels, The Handmaids Tale and The TestamentsIn The Handmaids Tale, environmental disasters and declining birthrates have led to a Second American Civil War and the rise of the Republic of Gilead, a totalitarian regime that enforces rigid social roles and enslaves the few remaining fertile women. Offred is one of these, a Handmaid bound to produce children for one of Gileads Commanders. Deprived of her husband, her child, her freedom, and even her own name, Offred clings to her memories and her will to survive. In The Testaments, set more than fifteen years after the events of The Handmaids Tale, The Republic of Gilead maintains its repressive grip on power, but it is beginning to rot from within. At this crucial moment, the lives of three radically different women come together, with potentially explosive results. This beautifully designed box set will make the perfect gift. About the Author Margaret Atwood, whose work has been published in more than forty-five countries, is the author of more than fifty books of fiction, poetry, critical essays, and graphic novels. In addition to The Handmaids Tale, now an award-winning TV series, her novels include Cats Eye, short-listed for the 1989 Booker Prize; Alias Grace, which won the Giller Prize in Canada and the Premio Mondello in Italy; The Blind Assassin, winner of the 2000 Booker Prize; Oryx and Crake, short-listed for the 2003 Man Booker Prize; The Year of the Flood; MaddAddam; and Hag-Seed. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, the Franz Kafka Prize, the PEN Center USA Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Los Angeles Times Innovators Award. In 2019, she was made a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour for services to literature...

-Titulo Original : The Testaments A Novel (the Handmaids Tale)-Fabricante : Anchor-Descripcion Original: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * WINNER OF THE BOOKER PRIZE * A modern masterpiece that reminds us of the power of truth in the face of evil” (People)-and can be read on its own or as a sequel to Margaret Atwood’s classic, The Handmaid’s Tale. “Atwood’s powers are on full display” (Los Angeles Times) in this deeply compelling Booker Prize-winning novel, now updated with additional content that explores the historical sources, ideas, and material that inspired Atwood. More than fifteen years after the events of The Handmaids Tale, the theocratic regime of the Republic of Gilead maintains its grip on power, but there are signs it is beginning to rot from within. At this crucial moment, the lives of three radically different women converge, with potentially explosive results. Two have grown up as part of the first generation to come of age in the new order. The testimonies of these two young women are joined by a third: Aunt Lydia. Her complex past and uncertain future unfold in surprising and pivotal ways. With The Testaments, Margaret Atwood opens up the innermost workings of Gilead, as each woman is forced to come to terms with who she is, and how far she will go for what she believes. Review “A chilling invitation no Atwood fan can resist . . . The Testaments reminds us of the power of truth in the face of evil.”-People “Margaret Atwood’s powers are on full display . . . Everyone should read The Testaments.”-Los Angeles Times “A fast, immersive narrative that’s as propulsive as it is melodramatic.”-Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times “The Testaments is worthy of the literary classic it continues. That’s thanks in part to Atwood’s capacity to surprise, even writing in a universe we think we know so well.”-USA Today “The women of Gilead are more fascinating than ever.”-NPR “There may be no novelist better suited to tapping the current era’s anxieties than Margaret Atwood.”-Entertainment Weekly “Powerful, revealing, and engaging.”-The Boston Globe “A rare treat . . . a corker of a plot, culminating in a breathless flight to freedom.”-Laura Miller, Slate About the Author Margaret Atwood, whose work has been published in more than forty-five countries, is the author of more than fifty books of fiction, poetry, critical essays, and graphic novels. In addition to The Handmaid’s Tale, now an award-winning TV series, her novels include Cat’s Eye, short-listed for the 1989 Booker Prize; Alias Grace, which won the Giller Prize in Canada and the Premio Mondello in Italy; The Blind Assassin, winner of the 2000 Booker Prize; Oryx and Crake, short-listed for the 2003 Man Booker Prize; The Year of the Flood, MaddAddam; and Hag-Seed. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, the Franz Kafka Prize, the PEN Center USA Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Los Angeles Times Innovator’s Award. In 2019, she was made a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour for services to literature. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. 1 | The Ardua Hall HolographOnly dead people are allowed to have statues, but I have been given one while still alive. Already I am petrified.This statue was a small token of appreciation for my many contributions, said the citation, which was read out by Aunt Vidala. She’d been assigned the task by our superiors, and was far from appreciative. I thanked her with as much modesty as I could summon, then pulled the rope that released the cloth drape shrouding me; it billowed to the ground, and there I stood. We don’t do cheering here at Ardua Hall, but there was some discreet clapping. I inclined my head in a nod. My statue is larger than life, as statues tend to be, and shows me as younger, slimmer, and in better shape than I’ve been for some time. I am standing straight, shoulders back, my lips curved into a firm but benevolent smile. My eyes are fixed on some cosmic point of referenc...

-Titulo Original : The Stand-Fabricante : Anchor-Descripcion Original: #1 BESTSELLER * Stephen King’s apocalyptic vision of a world blasted by plague and tangled in an elemental struggle between good and evil remains as riveting-and eerily plausible-as when it was first published. This edition includes all of the new and restored material first published in The Stand: The Complete And Uncut Edition. A patient escapes from a biological testing facility, unknowingly carrying a deadly weapon: a mutated strain of super-flu that will wipe out 99 percent of the world’s population within a few weeks. Those who remain are scared, bewildered, and in need of a leader. Two emerge-Mother Abagail, the benevolent 108-year-old woman who urges them to build a peaceful community in Boulder, Colorado; and Randall Flagg, the nefarious “Dark Man,” who delights in chaos and violence. As the dark man and the peaceful woman gather power, the survivors will have to choose between them-and ultimately decide the fate of all humanity.Also a limited series on CBS All Access Review [The Stand] has everything. Adventure. Romance. Prophecy. Allegory. Satire. Fantasy. Realism. Apocalypse. Great! -The New York Times Book ReviewA master storyteller. -Los Angeles TimesAs brilliant a dark dream as has ever been dreamed in this century. -Palm Beach Post“An undisputed master of suspense and terror.” -The Washington Post “King is one of the most powerful storytellers we have. His work satisfies on first reading and is even better the second time around.” -Chicago Tribune “Crackling . . . with explosive climaxes.” -The Boston Globe “[For] those who like their horror on a humongous scale.” -Los Angeles Times “Peerless imagination.” -The Observer (London) About the Author Stephen King is the author of more than fifty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. Among his most recent are 11/22/63; Full Dark, No Stars; Under the Dome; Just After Sunset; Duma Key; Lisey’s Story; Cell; and the concluding novels inthe Dark Tower saga: Wolves of the Calla, Song of Susannah,and The Dark Tower. His acclaimed nonfiction book, On Writing, is also a bestseller. He was the recipient of the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, and in 2007, he received the Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America. He lives in Maine with his wife, novelist Tabitha King. stephenking Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. CHAPTER 1 Hapscombs Texaco sat on Number 93 just north of Arnette, a pissant four-street burg about 110 miles from Houston. Tonight the regulars were there, sitting by the cash register, drinking beer, talking idly, watching the bugs fly into the big lighted sign. It was Bill Hapscombs station, so the others deferred to him even though he was a pure fool. They would have expected the same deferral if they had been gathered together in one of their business establishments. Except they had none. In Arnette, it was hard times. In 1980 the town had had two industries, a factory that made paper products (for picnics and barbecues, mostly) and a plant that made electronic calculators. Now the paper factory was shut down and the calculator plant was ailing-they could make them a lot cheaper in Taiwan, it turned out, just like those portable TVs and transistor radios. Norman Bruett and Tommy Wannamaker, who had both worked in the paper factory, were on relief, having run out of unemployment some time ago. Henry Carmichael and Stu Redman both worked at the calculator plant but rarely got more than thirty hours a week. Victor Palfrey was retired and smoked stinking home-rolled cigarettes, which were all he could afford. Now what I say is this, Hap told them, putting his hands on his knees and leaning forward. They just gotta say screw this inflation shit. Screw this national debt shit. We got the presses and we got the paper. Were gonna run off fifty million thousand-dollar bills a...

-Titulo Original : A Walk In The Woods Rediscovering America On The Appalachian Trail-Fabricante : Anchor-Descripcion Original: Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. We hiked till five and camped beside a tranquil spring in a small, grassy clearing in the trees just off the trail. Because it was our first day back on the trail, we were flush for food, including perishables like cheese and bread that had to be eaten before they went off or were shaken to bits in our packs, so we rather gorged ourselves, then sat around smoking and chatting idly until persistent and numerous midgelike creatures (no-see-ums, as they are universally known along the trail) drove us into our tents. It was perfect sleeping weather, cool enough to need a bag but warm enough that you could sleep in your underwear, and I was looking forward to a long nights snooze--indeed was enjoying a long nights snooze--when, at some indeterminate dark hour, there was a sound nearby that made my eyes fly open. Normally, I slept through everything--through thunderstorms, through Katzs snoring and noisy midnight pees--so something big enough or distinctive enough to wake me was unusual. There was a sound of undergrowth being disturbed--a click of breaking branches, a weighty pushing through low foliage--and then a kind of large, vaguely irritable snuffling noise.Bear!I sat bolt upright. Instantly every neuron in my brain was awake and dashing around frantically, like ants when you disturb their nest. I reached instinctively for my knife, then realized I had left it in my pack, just outside the tent. Nocturnal defense had ceased to be a concern after many successive nights of tranquil woodland repose. There was another noise, quite near.Stephen, you awake? I whispered.Yup, he replied in a weary but normal voice.What was that?How the hell should I know.It sounded big.Everything sounds big in the woods.This was true. Once a skunk had come plodding through our camp and it had sounded like a stegosaurus. There was another heavy rustle and then the sound of lapping at the spring. It was having a drink, whatever it was.I shuffled on my knees to the foot of the tent, cautiously unzipped the mesh and peered out, but it was pitch black. As quietly as I could, I brought in my backpack and with the light of a small flashlight searched through it for my knife. When I found it and opened the blade I was appalled at how wimpy it looked. It was a perfectly respectable appliance for, say, buttering pancakes, but patently inadequate for defending oneself against 400 pounds of ravenous fur.Carefully, very carefully, I climbed from the tent and put on the flashlight, which cast a distressingly feeble beam. Something about fifteen or twenty feet away looked up at me. I couldnt see anything at all of its shape or size--only two shining eyes. It went silent, whatever it was, and stared back at me.Stephen, I whispered at his tent, did you pack a knife?No.Have you get anything sharp at all?He thought for a moment. Nail clippers.I made a despairing face. Anything a little more vicious than that? Because, you see, there is definitely something out here.Its probably just a skunk.Then its one big skunk. Its eyes are three feet off the ground.A deer then.I nervously threw a stick at the animal, and it didnt move, whatever it was. A deer would have bolted. This thing just blinked once and kept staring.I reported this to Katz.Probably a buck. Theyre not so timid. Try shouting at it.I cautiously shouted at it: Hey! You there! Scat! The creature blinked again, singularly unmoved. You shout, I said.Oh, you brute, go away, do! Katz shouted in merciless imitation. Please withdraw at once, you horrid creature.Fuck you, I said and lugged my tent right over to his. I didnt know what this would achieve exactly, but it brought me a tiny measure of comfort to be nearer to him.What are you doing?Im moving my tent.Oh, good plan. Thatll really confuse it.I peered and peered, but I couldnt see anything but those two wide-se...

-Titulo Original : When Bad Things Happen To Good People-Fabricante : Anchor-Descripcion Original: The #1 bestselling inspirational classic from the nationally known spiritual leader; a source of solace and hope for over 4 million readers. When Harold Kushner’s three-year-old son was diagnosed with a degenerative disease that meant the boy would only live until his early teens, he was faced with one of life’s most difficult questions: Why, God? Years later, Rabbi Kushner wrote this straightforward, elegant contemplation of the doubts and fears that arise when tragedy strikes. In these pages, Kushner shares his wisdom as a rabbi, a parent, a reader, and a human being. Often imitated but never superseded, When Bad Things Happen to Good People is a classic that offers clear thinking and consolation in times of sorrow. Review “Whether religious or not, this book will speak because it touches-profoundly, but simply-on questions no parent and no person can avoid.” -Harvey Cox, Harvard Divinity School “When Bad Things Happen to Good People offers a moving and humane approach to understanding life’s windstorms.” -Elisabeth KŸbler-Ross “A touching, heartwarming book for those of us who must contend with suffering, and that, of course, is all of us.” -Andrew M. Greeley “This is a book all humanity needs. It will help you understand the painful vicissitudes of this life and enable you to stand up to them creatively.” -Norman Vincent Peale From the Inside Flap When Harold Kushners three-year-old son was diagnosed with a degenerative disease and that he would only live until his early teens, he was faced with one of lifes most difficult questions: Why, God? Years later, Rabbi Kushner wrote this straightforward, elegant contemplation of the doubts and fears that arise when tragedy strikes. Kushner shares his wisdom as a rabbi, a parent, a reader, and a human being. Often imitated but never superseded, When Bad Things Happen to Good People is a classic that offers clear thinking and consolation in times of sorrow.Since its original publication in 1981, When Bad Things Happen to Good People has brought solace and hope to millions of readers and its author has become a nationally known spiritual leader. About the Author Harold S. Kushner is rabbi laureate of Temple Israel in Natick, Massachusetts, having long served that congregation. He is best known as the author of When Bad Things Happen to Good People. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. OneWhy Do the Righteous Suffer? There is only one question which really matters: why do bad things happen to good people? All other theological conversation is intellectually diverting; somewhat like doing the crossword puzzle in the Sunday paper and feeling very satisfied when you have made the words fit; but ultimately without the capacity to reach people where they really care. Virtually every meaningful conversation I have ever had with people on the subject of God and religion has either started with this question, or gotten around to it before long. Not only the troubled man or woman who has just come from a discouraging diagnosis at the doctor’s office, but the college student who tells me that he has decided there is no God, or the total stranger who comes up to me at a party just when I am ready to ask the hostess for my coat, and says, “I hear you’re a rabbi; how can you believe that . . .” -they all have one thing in common. They are all troubled by the unfair distribution of suffering in the world.The misfortunes of good people are not only a prob- lem to the people who suffer and to their families. They are a problem to everyone who wants to believe in a just and fair and livable world. They inevitably raise questions about the goodness, the kindness, even the existence of God.I am the rabbi of a congregation of six hundred families, or about twenty-five hundred people. I visit them in the hospital, I officiate at their funerals, I try to help them through the wrenching pain of their divorces, their b...

-Titulo Original : The Broker A Novel-Fabricante : Anchor-Descripcion Original: #1 NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER * In his final hours in the Oval Office, the outgoing President grants a controversial last-minute pardon to Joel Backman, a notorious Washington power broker who has spent the last six years hidden away in a federal prison. What no one knows is that the President issues the pardon only after receiving enormous pressure from the CIA. It seems Backman, in his power broker heyday, may have obtained secrets that compromise the world’s most sophisticated satellite surveillance system. Backman is quietly smuggled out of the country in a military cargo plane, given a new name, a new identity, and a new home in Italy. Eventually, after he has settled into his new life, the CIA will leak his whereabouts to the Israelis, the Russians, the Chinese, and the Saudis. Then the CIA will do what it does best: sit back and watch. The question is not whether Backman will survive-there is no chance of that. The question the CIA needs answered is, who will kill him? Review “Most and best of all, it’s Grisham living up to his reputation as a great storyteller.”-Entertainment Weekly“A fast-paced, fun read with echoes of something deeper. The author’s command of pop fiction delivers crisp, sharp prose.”-The Boston Globe “[Grisham] is exceptionally good at what he does. . . . Indeed, right now in this country, nobody does it better.”-The Washington Post “Where Grisham leads, millions of readers follow.”-New York Daily News About the Author John Grisham is the author of twenty-three novels, including, most recently, The Litigators; one work of nonfiction, a collection of stories, and a novel for young readers. He is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Mississippi Innocence Project at the University of Mississippi School of Law. He lives in Virginia and Mississippi. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. 1In the waning hours of a presidency that was destined to arouse less interest from historians than any since perhaps that of William Henry Harrison (thirty-one days from inauguration to death), Arthur Morgan huddled in the Oval Office with his last remaining friend and pondered his final decisions. At that moment he felt as though hed botched every decision in the previous four years, and he was not overly confident that he could, somehow, so late in the game, get things right. His friend wasnt so sure either, though, as always, he said little and whatever he did say was what the President wanted to hear.They were about pardons-desperate pleas from thieves and embezzlers and liars, some still in jail and some whod never served time but who nonetheless wanted their good names cleared and their beloved rights restored. All claimed to be friends, or friends of friends, or die-hard supporters, though only a few had ever gotten the chance to proclaim their support before that eleventh hour. How sad that after four tumultuous years of leading the free world it would all fizzle into one miserable pile of requests from a bunch of crooks. Which thieves should be allowed to steal again? That was the momentous question facing the President as the hours crept by.The last friend was Critz, an old fraternity pal from their days at Cornell when Morgan ran the student government while Critz stuffed the ballot boxes. In the past four years, Critz had served as press secretary, chief of staff, national security advisor, and even secretary of state, though that appointment lasted for only three months and was hastily rescinded when Critzs unique style of diplomacy nearly ignited World War III. Critzs last appointment had taken place the previous October, in the final frantic weeks of the reelection onslaught. With the polls showing President Morgan trailing badly in at least forty states, Critz seized control of the campaign and managed to alienate the rest of the country, except, arguably, Alaska.It had been a historic election; never before had an in...

-Titulo Original : Madam The Biography Of Polly Adler, Icon Of The Jazz Age-Fabricante : Anchor-Descripcion Original: The compulsively readable and sometimes jaw-dropping story of the life of a notorious madam who played hostess to every gangster, politician, writer, sports star and Cafe Society swell worth knowing, and who as much as any single figure helped make the twenties roar-from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Most Famous Man in America.“Applegate’s tour de force about Jazz Age icon Polly Adler will seize you by the lapels, buy you a drink, and keep you reading until the very last page.... A treat for fiction and nonfiction fans alike. -Abbott Kahler, New York Times bestselling author (as Karen Abbott) of The Ghosts of Eden ParkSimply put: Everybody came to Pollys. Pearl Polly Adler (1900-1962) was a diminutive dynamo whose Manhattan brothels in the Roaring Twenties became places not just for men to have the company of women but were key gathering places where the culturati and celebrity elite mingled with high society and with violent figures of the underworld-and had a good time doing it. As a Jewish immigrant from eastern Europe, Polly Adlers life is a classic American story of success and assimilation that starts like a novel by Henry Roth and then turns into a glittering real-life tale straight out of F. Scott Fitzgerald. She declared her ambition to be the best goddam madam in all America and succeeded wildly. Debby Applegate uses Pollys story as the key to unpacking just what made the 1920s the appallingly corrupt yet glamorous and transformational era that it was and how the collision between high and low is the unique ingredient that fuels American culture. Review “Pearl to Polly, shtetl child to savvy New Yorker, Brooklyn corset factory girl to Manhattan’s most notorious brothel owner: Madam: The Biography of Polly Adler, Icon of the Jazz Age, by the Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Debby Applegate, tells a fast-paced tale of radical, willful transformation. . .Replete with accounts of Polly’s many court battles, newspaper headlines, mobster dealings and society gossip, Madam is a breathless tale told through extraordinary research.” --The New York Times Book ReviewA biography that is also a story of America bursting into the modern age, with new roles for women, new rules for couples, and parties that flowed into rooms down the hall.” --CBS Sunday Morning“Some of Manhattan’s most colorful denizens - from writers and pols to corrupt cops and mobsters - traipsed through the Depression-era brothels run by Polly Adler, the savvy subject of this exuberant history by a Pulitzer-winning biographer. . .‘Applegate, armed with formidable skills, may be the biographer who can come closest to revealing her.’ ” --The New York Times Editors Choice, Best Books of 2021“Madam, Debby Applegate’s tour de force about Jazz Age icon Polly Adler, will seize you by the lapels, buy you a drink, and keep you reading until the very last page. Applegate’s brilliant research and cinematic prose made me feel I was peering over Adler’s shoulder, watching her drift through the parlor of her brownstone establishment, wisecracking with the Mob and paying off the cops. Madam is a judicious exploration of the dark side of the American Dream, and Applegate is a lively and knowledgeable guide. A treat for fiction and nonfiction fans alike. --Abbott Kahler, New York Times bestselling author (as Karen Abbott) of The Ghosts of Eden Park“A vividly detailed social history of Manhattan’s netherworld, peopled by gangsters and bootleggers, bookies and racketeers, corrupt policemen and politicians, and a seemingly endless stream of ‘working girls.’. . . An animated, entertaining history.” --Kirkus Reviews“In effervescent writing, Applegate chronicles how Adler, after escaping anti-Semitic Russia for New York City in 1913, survived judgmental relatives, sweatshop work, and rape before stumbling into a job procuring women for Nick Montana, ‘the Henry Ford of the sex trade’. . .The result is a rollicking examination ...

-Titulo Original : The Women Of Troy: A Novel-Fabricante : Anchor-Descripcion Original: A daring and timely feminist retelling of The Illiad from the perspective of the women of Troy who endured it-an extraordinary follow up to The Silence of the Girls from the Booker Prize-winning author of The Regeneration Trilogy. Troy has fallen and the victorious Greeks are eager to return home with the spoils of an endless war-including the women of Troy themselves. They await a fair wind for the Aegean. It does not come, because the gods are offended. The body of King Priam lies unburied and desecrated, and so the victors remain in suspension, camped in the shadows of the city they destroyed as the coalition that held them together begins to unravel. Old feuds resurface and new suspicions and rivalries begin to fester. Largely unnoticed by her captors, the one time Trojan queen Briseis, formerly Achilless slave, now belonging to his companion Alcimus, quietly takes in these developments. She forges alliances when she can, with Priams aged wife the defiant Hecuba and with the disgraced soothsayer Calchas, all the while shrewdly seeking her path to revenge. Review ONE OF THE GUARDIANS BEST BOOKS OF THE YEARNow the publication of The Women of Troy (Doubleday) brings the author back to the bloodied plains where the Greeks and the Trojans fought-here, once again, a staging ground for the battle between the sexes.-The New Yorker[Barker’s] insight and compassion are on full display. As is her outrage.-The New York Times Book ReviewThis continuation of the Trojan womans story feels like another victory for every person who was silenced by history, their story stolen from them.-Refinery29Barker’s prose has a plain force more powerful than fancy wordsmithing; she makes these long-ago events immediate … More work from one of contemporary literature’s most thoughtful and compelling writers is always welcome.-The Washington PostPat Barker is in the process of writing the Greek trilogy by which she always intended to crown a remarkable career.-The New York Review of BooksImmersive and textured: full of smoke from the fires, and sand whipped up by the wind thats keeping the Greek army pinned to the shore.-NPR[T]he narrative is at its most absorbing when Briseis is on the page and observing the scheming and infighting among the Greek men and the resilience and bravery of the Trojan women. She is a wonderful creation. With luck, Barker is already planning her next move.-The Minneapolis Star Tribune“Like its predecessor, The Women of Troy returns voice and agency to characters who were silenced in the original epic… Barker’s writing is swift, detailed, and immersive… [The Women of Troy] succeeds at making us understand that what they felt-the grief of the Trojan women-cannot have been much different than our own.”-Chicago Review of BooksBarkers sequel to The Silence of the Girls (2018) continues the story of Queen Briseis, given as a war prize to Achilles… Through Briseis’ eyes, readers experience the aftermath of the fall of Troy… Briseis is an engaging character, both pragmatic and perceptive, providing keen insight into monsters such as Pyrrhus, as well as the women of Troy.-BooklistOnce again, Barker uses blunt prose to tell human stories that strip the romance from one of literature’s enduring epics.-The Millions[A] masterly continuation of her fiercely feminist take on Homer’s Iliad. . . In a novel filled with names from legend, Briseis stands tall as a heroine: brave, smart and loyal. . . Barker’s latest is a wonder.-Publishers Weekly *Starred Review*Barker’s blunt, earthy prose strips the romance from Greek mythology, revealing its foundations in murder and oppression, yet she also understands-and conveys-the stark appeal of these ancient stories as she asks us to reconsider them through the eyes of their victims. As with her masterful Regeneration trilogy, the inconclusive close of this volume leaves readers hungry to know what happens next to a host of complex and e...