Midnight: Three Women at the Hour of Reckoning PDF Download

Author: Victoria Shorr
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 132400147X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 215

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Book Description
Exquisite and nuanced in its storytelling, Midnight crafts intimate, humanizing portraits of Jane Austen, Mary Shelley, and Joan of Arc that ask us to behold the women behind the icons. Midnight is a study in the courage of three women—Jane Austen, Mary Shelley, and Joan of Arc. Jane Austen was poor in 1802, unmarried and homeless. She had outlines, ideas, and first drafts of her future novels but no place to sit and write them. It is at this bleak moment that she receives an offer of marriage from a rich man. Midnight takes us to the hour of her decision between financial security and her writing life. When sixteen-year-old Mary Godwin elopes to France with the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, she scoffs at the cost—life as an outcast. Together they travel through Europe, reading and writing, but Midnight finds her alone, eight years later, pacing a terrace overlooking the Italian shore, watching for Shelley to sail home over stormy seas in a shaky boat. Joan of Arc, imprisoned in chains, kept her faith for a long year. Be brave, daughter of God, her saints had whispered, you will be saved—and she believes it, until she is taken to be burned at the stake. Midnight is the story of Joan’s final days, between her terrified recantation and her heroic return to the stake.

Author: Victoria Shorr
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393540863
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 174

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Book Description
A poignant tale about one woman’s quest to recover her family’s history, and a story of loss and survival during the Holocaust. Consie is home for a funeral when she stumbles upon a family letter sent from Germany in 1945, which contains staggering news: Consie’s great-uncle Hermann, who was transported to Auschwitz with his wife and three daughters, might have escaped. This seems improbable to Consie. Did people escape from Auschwitz? Could her great-uncle have been among them? What happened to Hermann? Did anyone know? These questions are at the root of Consie’s excavation of her family’s history as she seeks, seventy years after the liberation of Auschwitz, to discover what happened to Hermann. The Plum Trees follows Consie as she draws on oral testimonies, historical records, and more to construct a visceral account of the lives of Hermann, his wife, and their daughters from the happy days in prewar Czechoslovakia through their internment in Auschwitz and the end of World War II. The Plum Trees is a powerful, intimate reckoning with the past.

Author: Charlaine Harris
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101514388
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 259

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Book Description
Caught up in the politics of the vampire world, psychic Sookie Stackhouse learns that she is as much of a pawn as any ordinary human in this novel in the #1 New York Times bestselling series—the inspiration for the HBO® original series True Blood. With her knack for being in trouble’s way, Sookie witnesses the firebombing of Merlotte’s, the bar where she works. Since Sam Merlotte is now known to be two-natured, suspicion falls immediately on the anti-shifters in the area. Sookie suspects otherwise, but her attention is divided when she realizes that her lover, Eric Northman, and his “child” Pam are plotting to kill the vampire who is now their master. Gradually, Sookie is drawn into the plot—which is much more complicated than she knows...

Author: Lily Brooks-Dalton
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 0812998901
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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“A remarkable and gifted debut novel” (Colson Whitehead) about two outsiders—a lonely scientist in the Arctic and an astronaut trying to return to Earth—as they grapple with love, regret, and survival in a world transformed. THE INSPIRATION FOR THE NETFLIX ORIGINAL FILM THE MIDNIGHT SKY, DIRECTED BY AND STARRING GEORGE CLOONEY Augustine, a brilliant, aging astronomer, is consumed by the stars. For years he has lived in remote outposts, studying the sky for evidence of how the universe began. At his latest posting, in a research center in the Arctic, news of a catastrophic event arrives. The scientists are forced to evacuate, but Augustine stubbornly refuses to abandon his work. Shortly after the others have gone, Augustine discovers a mysterious child, Iris, and realizes that the airwaves have gone silent. They are alone. At the same time, Mission Specialist Sullivan is aboard the Aether on its return flight from Jupiter. The astronauts are the first human beings to delve this deep into space, and Sully has made peace with the sacrifices required of her: a daughter left behind, a marriage ended. So far the journey has been a success. But when Mission Control falls inexplicably silent, Sully and her crewmates are forced to wonder if they will ever get home. As Augustine and Sully each face an uncertain future against forbidding yet beautiful landscapes, their stories gradually intertwine in a profound and unexpected conclusion. In crystalline prose, Good Morning, Midnight poses the most important questions: What endures at the end of the world? How do we make sense of our lives? Lily Brooks-Dalton’s captivating debut is a meditation on the power of love and the bravery of the human heart. NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY SHELF AWARENESS AND THE CHICAGO REVIEW OF BOOKS “Stunningly gorgeous . . . The book contemplates the biggest questions—What is left at the end of the world? What is the impact of a life’s work?”—Portland Mercury “A beautifully written, sparse post-apocalyptic novel that explores memory, loss and identity . . . Fans of Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven and Kim Stanley Robinson’s Aurora will appreciate the Brooks-Dalton’s exquisite exploration of relationships in extreme environments.”—The Washington Post

Author: Leo Hunt
Publisher: Candlewick Press
ISBN: 0763696692
Category : Young Adult Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 353

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Book Description
Just when Luke thinks he’s left Deadside—and Dunbarrow—behind, he finds himself back where it all started as the two worlds violently collide in a riveting finale. Now that last year’s nightmare is in the past, Luke and Elza have started college, and Luke’s mum has moved on, too, with a new boyfriend named Darren. Life is returning to something like normal — until Luke and Elza spend New Year’s Eve at Darren’s cottage and find themselves transported to the forest near Dunbarrow with no knowledge of how they got there. Gray fog is spreading through town, the sky is awash with green light, and something is clearly very wrong: a great spirit from Deadside, known as the Barrenwhite Tree, has broken open the gateway between the living and spirit worlds, leaving Dunbarrow to be taken over by the world of the dead. Together with Luke’s old friends from school, who seem oddly unaffected by the plague of insanity unleashed on the town, Luke and Elza need to find a way to close the gateway while they still can. Not only that, but the devilish Mr. Berkley is abroad in Dunbarrow with an agenda of his own — and he hasn’t forgotten Luke’s debt to him.

Author: John Saul
Publisher: Ballantine Books
ISBN: 0345516893
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
After the untimely death of her mother and the arrest of her father for killing a man in barroom brawl, fourteen-year-old Sarah Crane is forced to grow up fast. Left in the cold care of a foster family and alienated at school, Sarah befriends classmate Nick Dunnigan, a former mental patient still plagued by voices and visions, and the eccentric art instructor Bettina Phillips, a mentor eager to nurture Sarah’s talent for painting. But within the walls of Bettina’s ancestral mansion, Sarah finds that monstrous images from the house’s dark history seem to flow unbidden from her paintbrush—images echoed by Nick’s chilling hallucinations. It seems the violence and fury of long-dead generations have finally found a gateway from the grave into the world of the living. And Sarah and Nick have found a power they never had: to take control, and take revenge.

Author: Paul French
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101580380
Category : True Crime
Languages : en
Pages : 263

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Book Description
Winner of the both the Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime and the CWA Non-Fiction Dagger from the author of City of Devils Chronicling an incredible unsolved murder, Midnight in Peking captures the aftermath of the brutal killing of a British schoolgirl in January 1937. The mutilated body of Pamela Werner was found at the base of the Fox Tower, which, according to local superstition, is home to the maliciously seductive fox spirits. As British detective Dennis and Chinese detective Han investigate, the mystery only deepens and, in a city on the verge of invasion, rumor and superstition run rampant. Based on seven years of research by historian and China expert Paul French, this true-crime thriller presents readers with a rare and unique portrait of the last days of colonial Peking.

Author: Jack Higgins
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101204389
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 308

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“Death is the midnight runner.” – Arab proverb Higgins’ last novel, Edge of Danger, was “hugely entertaining,” said the Los Angeles Times. “The publisher describes it as a powerful thriller, and it’s no lie.” At its end, the murderous Arab/English Rashid family lay decimated – but not extinct. And that may have been Sean Dillon’s fatal error. Her brothers killed one by one, Kate Rashid swears vengeance on all who have harmed her family. Never mind that they tried to assassinate the President of the United States, that villainy ran in their veins. They were her brothers, and her enemies would pay. British agent Sean Dillon…White House operative Blake Johnson…the President himself…their time was coming, and only she knew how – or when. Brilliantly suspenseful, Midnight Runner is further proof that, in the words of the Associated Press, “when it comes to thriller writers, one name stands well above the crowd – Jack Higgins.”

Author: Harriet Tyce
Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc.
ISBN: 1728263867
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 319

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Book Description
"Gripping." —Alex Michaelides, New York Times bestselling author "Blisteringly brilliant." —Sarah Pinborough, New York Times bestselling author Three friends. Two bodies. A party to die for... From international bestselling author Harriet Tyce comes a chilling psychological thriller set in one of Edinburgh's poshest neighborhoods, where a lavish New Year's Eve party ends in a gruesome double murder. Sylvie understands the crime she and Tess committed decades ago was wrong, and that's why she has buried the secret deep in her past—no one needs to know about the person Sylvie once was, especially since it would mean the end of her relationship and ruin her breakout legal career. But when Tess is diagnosed with cancer, she decides the time is right to make amends for past wrongs and organizes an extravagant New Year's Eve party as a backdrop for her dramatic confessions. As midnight approaches and the countdown begins, it seems one of the guests doesn't want a resolution. They want revenge. They want someone at this party to die. With a deliciously twisty plot and a heart-stopping finale, It Ends at Midnight is perfect for fans of Lucy Foley and Gillian Flynn, serving as an unnerving yet propulsive examination of exactly what we might be willing to say—and even believe—to justify our worst mistakes.

Author: Alma Katsu
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1439197075
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 450

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Book Description
From the author of The Hunger—hailed by Stephen King as “deeply, deeply disturbing, hard to put down”—comes a hauntingly atmospheric tale filled with alchemy, lust, and betrayal. True love can last an eternity…but immortality comes at a price. On the midnight shift at a hospital in rural Maine, Dr. Luke Findley is expecting another quiet evening of frostbite and the occasional domestic dispute. But the minute Lanore McIlvrae—Lanny—enters his ER, she changes his life forever. A mysterious woman with plenty of dark secrets, Lanny is unlike anyone Luke has ever met. He is inexplicably drawn to her…despite the fact that she is a murder suspect with a police escort. As she begins to tell her story, Luke finds himself utterly captivated. Her impassioned account begins at the turn of the 19th century in the same small town of St. Andrew, Maine, back when it was a Puritan settlement. Consumed as a child by her love for the founder’s son, Jonathan, Lanny will do anything to be with him. But the price she pays is steep—an immortal bond that chains her to a terrible fate for all eternity. And now, two centuries later, the key to her healing and her salvation lies with Dr. Luke Findley. Part historical novel, part supernatural page-turner, The Taker is a “mesmerizing” (Booklist, starred review) story about the power of unrequited love not only to elevate and sustain, but also to blind and ultimately destroy.