Showing titles in Contemporary Fiction

In 1904, six-year-old Polly Flint is sent to live with her aunt’s in a house by the sea. Orphaned shortly thereafter, Polly will spend the next eighty years stranded in this quiet corner of the world as 20th century rages in the background. Throughout it all Polly returns again and again to the story of Robinson Crusoe, who, marooned like her, fends off the madness of isolation with imagination.

The men in the tan-and-cream Chrysler came with guns blazing. When Ray Kelly woke up in the hospital, it was a month later, he was missing an eye, and his father was dead. Then things started to get bad. From the mind of the incomparable Donald E. Westlake comes a devastating story of betrayal and revenge, an exploration of the limits of family loyalty and how far a man will go when everything he loves is taken from him.

A funny, sad, and transcendent story of a young girl growing up in Appalachia. The New York Times Book Review called this Oprah Book Club selection "vivid and unforgettable."

Nestled in the lush Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, the town of Big Stone Gap has been home for Ave Maria Mulligan MacChesney and her beloved family and friends for generations. But with her daughter, Etta, having flown the nest to enchanting Italy, Ave Maria has reached a turning point, and she realizes that it’s time to go in search of brand-new dreams. Yet before she can put her foot on the path, her life is turned upside down.

A hilarious and romantic standalone novel from the bestselling author of the I Heart series, Rachel Summers loves a to-do list: Boyfriend – Flat - Great job. NOT on the list: Being dumped - Best friends Emelie and Matthew ride to her rescue with an entirely new kind of list – The Single Girl’s To-Do List.

いま、村上春樹が語り始める――小説家は寛容な人種なのか……。村上さんは小説家になった頃を振り返り、文学賞について、オリジナリティーについて深く考えます。さて、何を書けばいいのか?

Professor Perl invites you in these eight lectures to abandon your preconceptions and consider some of the most controversial authors of the 20th century: the Modernists.Who were they? How did "classical" Modernists like Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot, and James Joyce differ from "neo-Modernists" like Gertrude Stein and William Carlos Williams? What made them believe and write as they did? Why were political extremism, war, and self-destructive behavior such defining forces in their writing (and their personal demons)? What do they have to say to us today in the 21st century?These lectures place literary Modernism within the wide-ranging context of the philosophy, literature, politics, and morality of its time. In doing so, they allow you to look more clearly at the writers and works who have contributed to the definition of human culture. You'll see Eliot, Joyce, Pound, Yeats, James, Lawrence, and others spring to life with their radical beliefs about art and their unforgettable novels and stories. These lectures do not shrink from the challenges imposed by exploring Modernism, or from challenging the answers that scholars have routinely accepted. Nor do they shy away from the difficulties of literary Modernism itself; a literary genre that intimidates many. But despite all this, these lectures are brilliantly organized, crystal clear, and an invaluable tool for finally wrapping your brain around a dramatic roster of authors and an enduring canon of literature.

As Jake Rayne travels through Idahaho in his classic '57 Thunderbird, a devastating accident is the catalyst for a journey he isn't expecting. Alone in the deep forest, with his body battered and broken, Jake calls out for help. And the help he finds changes not only his life but his whole reality.

Everyone tells Martha Friel she is clever and beautiful, a brilliant writer who has been loved every day of her adult life by one man, her husband Patrick. So why is everything broken? Why is Martha - on the edge of 40 - friendless, practically jobless and so often sad? And why did Patrick decide to leave? Maybe she is just too sensitive, someone who finds it harder to be alive than most people. Or maybe - as she has long believed - there is something wrong with her.

Discreetly disguised as a boy, Brook travels to Texas with a tantalizing young army captain and his Indian guide. There she finds her father who welcomes her with open arms. But Brook's stepmother and Ram, her handsome stepbrother, resent her. When she accidently discovers Ram's underhanded schemes, she knows that her life is in danger. Isolated on the ranch, is there anywhere she can go for help? Would she dare to turn to Captain Jeremy Grant for help?

People start dropping dead around Charlie, giant ravens perch on his building, and it seems that everywhere he goes, a dark presence whispers to him from under the streets. Strange names start appearing on his nightstand notepad, and before he knows it, those people end up dead, too. Yup, it seems that Charlie Asher has been recruited for a new job, an unpleasant but utterly necessary one: Death.

It begins with a glimpse or a passing thought. It ends in obsession. One day a renowned author discovers that his wife, a war correspondent, has disappeared leaving no trace. Though time brings more success and new love, he remains mystified - and increasingly fascinated - by her absence. Was she kidnapped, blackmailed, or simply bored with their marriage? The unrest she causes is as strong as the attraction she exerts.

For Edmund Biffen Christopher, life is about to be very good - assuming he can stay out of trouble. If he can avoid being arrested until his 30th birthday, he will inherit his godfather's millions. The trouble is Biff has a certain proclivity for getting into fisticuffs...particularly with policemen. And he's already nearing 30.

Sasha is well and truly over it all: work (all-consuming), friendships (on the back burner), sex-life (non-existent). Sasha has hit a brick wall. Armed with good intentions to drink kale smoothies, try yoga and find solitude, she heads to the Devon resort she loved as a child. But it's off-season, the hotel is falling apart and now she has to share the beach with someone else: a grumpy, stressed-out guy called Finn. How can she commune with nature when he's sitting on a rock, watching her? Especially when they don't agree on burnout cures.

In the small Irish town of Knockglen, best friends Bernadette ('Benny') and Eve are inseparable. Benny is an adored only child, and Eve a poor, birdlike orphan brought up by nuns. On their first day at University College, Dublin, a fatal road accident brings the pair together with fellow students Nan Mahon and Jack Foley, and new friendships are quickly struck. Jack and Nan introduce Eve and Benny to a life of excitement and sophistication.

高い壁に囲まれ、外界との接触がまるでない街で、そこに住む一角獣たちの頭骨から夢を読んで暮らす〈僕〉の物語、〔世界の終り〕。

Gegen Ende des 18. Jahrhunderts machen sich zwei junge Deutsche an die Vermessung der Welt. Der eine, Alexander von Humboldt, kämpft sich durch Urwald und Steppe, befährt den Orinoko, kostet Gifte, zählt Kopfläuse, kriecht in Erdlöcher, besteigt Vulkane und begegnet Seeungeheuern und Menschenfressern. Der andere, der Mathematiker und Astronom Carl Friedrich Gauß, der sein Leben nicht ohne Frauen verbringen kann und doch in der Hochzeitsnacht aus dem Bett springt, um eine Formel zu notieren.

With Black Ice dead after Michael beheads him, Envy, Mike, and all his victims can finally live a normal life, but the nightmares are far from over. Rachel is the only one that can feel the truth in her soul that the drama is long from being over.

事故か、自殺か、殺人か――。母の手記と娘の回想が交錯し、浮かび上がる事件の真相とは。圧倒的に新しい、母娘ミステリー!

美しき宝石商が解き明かす、人の心のミステリー。公務員志望の堅実な大学生・中田正義は、酔っ払いに絡まれていた美貌の外国人・リチャードを助ける。彼は国内外に数多の顧客をもち、スーツケースで飛び回る敏腕宝石商だった。