A collection of original travel stories told by some of the world's best novelists, including Isabel Allende, Keri Hulme, Peter Matthiessen, Alexander McCall Smith, Joyce Carol Oates, Téa Obreht and DBC Pierre.Exhilaratingly varied in place, plot, and voice, these tales all share one common characteristic: They manifest a passion for the precious gifts that travel confers, from its unexpected but inevitably enriching lessons about other peoples and places to the truths – sometimes uncomfortable but always enlarging – it reveals about ourselves."... a brilliant collection of travel stories ... threaded with great warmth, as readers are invited to travel in the company of these famous authors and experience their passions and revelations." Bookseller+Publisher

A richly detailed, darkly hilarious novel of a family held together and torn apart by its narcissistic matriarch To those in her Cape Cod town, Mother is an exemplar of piety, frugality, and hard work. To her husband and seven children, she is the selfish, petty tyrant of Mother Land. She excels at playing her offspring against each other. Her favorite, Angela, died in childbirth; only Angela really understands her, she tells the others. The others include the officious lawyer, Fred; the uproarious professor, Floyd; a pair of inseparable sisters whose devotion to Mother has consumed their lives; and JP, the narrator, a successful writer whose work she disparages. As she lives well past the age of 100, her brood struggles with and among themselves to shed her viselike hold on them. Mother Land is a piercing portrait of how a parent's narcissism impacts a family. While the particulars of this tale are unique, Theroux encapsulates with acute clarity and...

27 mystery tales of Dr. John Thorndyke (and others).

"The Forbidden Man is angsty perfection" - #1 Bestselling Author L.J. Shen °On Buzzfeed's Best Romance of 2019 List° A reckless and irresistible soccer star. A forbidden affair that could ruin her career. The locker room has never been this steamy. Starting over was her only option. Forty-years old and still reeling from a public and painful divorce, Thalia Blackwood is looking for a fresh start, somewhere far away from her upside down life. When she's offered a new job as the sports therapist for a football (soccer) team, she jumps at the chance. This is just what she needs to leave the heartbreak and shame of Manchester behind, trading it in for the warmth and hopeful vibrancy of Madrid. He was her only desire. Alejo Albarado is rising up the ranks in his career. As the charming forward for the Real Madrid team, Alejo's life revolves around women, parties, and being a tabloid darling, that is until the new sports therapist...

THE STORY OF CUBAN BOXER AND POLITICAL PARIAH GUILLERMO RIGONDEAUX'S HARROWING DECISION TO DEFECT IN HOPES OF REAPING THE REWARDS OF THE AMERICAN DREAM."What is one million dollars compared to the love of eight million Cubans?"This was the question posed by legendary boxer Teofilo Stevenson in the 1970s, crowned by many as the Muhammad Ali of Cuba, in response to an offer of five million dollars to leave his island to fight Ali. But not all Cubans have come to the same conclusion, let alone with such apparent ease. Guillermo Rigondeaux, the heir to Stevenson's throne and two-time Olympic champion, sacrificed everything he had in his home country—his wife, his son, his government-subsidized car and house, as well as universal reverence among his fellow citizens—to try to make it in the mecca of big money boxing, the United States of America. But has the chance to make good in America been worth the loss of his national identity and the love of his...

Here are the thrills, grandeur, and unabashed fun of the Greek myths, stylishly retold by Stephen Fry. The legendary writer, actor, and comedian breathes life into ancient tales, from Pandora's box to Prometheus's fire, and transforms the adventures of Zeus and the Olympians into emotionally resonant and deeply funny stories, without losing any of their original wonder. Classical artwork inspired by the myths and learned notes from the author offer rich cultural context.

The story of a field cricket named Charlie who learns to sing.

Considering the hundreds of thousands of words that have been written about Shakespeare, relatively little is known about the man himself. In the absence of much documentation about his life, we have the plays and poetry he wrote. In this addition to the Eminent Lives series, bestselling author Bryson (The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid) does what he does best: marshaling the usual little facts that others might overlook-for example, that in Shakespeare's day perhaps 40% of women were pregnant when they got married-to paint a portrait of the world in which the Bard lived and prospered. Bryson's curiosity serves him well, as he delves into subjects as diverse as the reliability of the extant images of Shakespeare, a brief history of the theater in England and the continuing debates about whether William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon really wrote Shakespeare's works. Bryson is a pleasant and funny guide to a subject at once overexposed and elusive-as Bryson puts it, he is a kind of literary equivalent of an electron-forever there and not there.

Spirit of the Jungle, by real-life adventurer Bear Grylls, is a heart-stopping, contemporary adventure inspired by Rudyard Kipling's classic The Jungle Book.When teenager Mak discovers the whole family is going on a trip to India, his heart sinks. He's happiest at home playing computer games and practising his magic tricks in his room - and he's about to be thrown into the busy, colourful heart of India. When they arrive, his dad suggests a trip into the jungle as an escape from the hustle and bustle of the city. But as they set out along the Wainganga River, the family are caught in a flash storm and Mak' is washed away. Alone in the jungle, he must learn to survive. Dodging poachers, poisonous snakes and evil monkeys, Mak finds help and friendship from other jungle creatures. But can he gather all his skills to make it back to civilization?