- Table View
- List View
An Absolutely Remarkable Thing: A Novel
by Hank GreenIF YOU CAME ACROSS AN ABSOLUTELY REMARKABLE THING AT 3 A.M. IN NEW YORK CITY . . .WOULD YOU KEEP WALKING?OR DO THE ONE THING THAT WOULD CHANGE YOUR LIFE FOREVER?**************** The Carls just appeared . . .While roaming the streets of New York City at 3 a.m., twenty-three-year-old April May stumbles across a giant sculpture she calls Carl. Delighted by its appearance - like a ten-foot-tall Transformer wearing a suit of samurai armour - April and her friend Andy make a video with it, which Andy uploads to YouTube. The next day April wakes up to a viral video and a new life. There are Carls in dozens of cities around the world - everywhere from Beijing to Buenos Aires - and April, as their first documentarian, finds herself at the centre of an international media spotlight. Now April has to deal with the pressure on her relationships, her identity and her safety that this new position brings, all while being on the front lines of the quest to find out not just what the Carls are, but what they want from us . . . Compulsively entertaining and powerfully relevant, An Absolutely Remarkable Thing grapples with how the social internet is changing fame and radicalisation; how our culture deals with fear and uncertainty; and how vilification and adoration can follow a life in the public eye. ***************** 'A fun, contemporary adventure that cares about who we are as humans, especially when faced with remarkable events' Kirkus (starred review) 'Hank Green hasn't just written a great mystery adventure (though he has), and he hasn't just written the most interesting meditation on the internet and fame I've ever seen (but he did that too), Hank has written a book [that] expands your mind while taking you on a hell of a ride' Joseph Fink, author of Welcome to Night Vale'An Absolutely Remarkable Thing is pure book joy' Lev Grossman, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Magicians Trilogy 'Fun and full of truth. To be honest, I'm a little irritated at how good the book is. I don't need this kind of competition' Patrick Rothfuss, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Kingkiller Chronicles
An Absolutely Remarkable Thing: A Novel (The Carls #1)
by Hank GreenIn his much-anticipated debut novel, Hank Green--cocreator of Crash Course, Vlogbrothers, and SciShow--spins a sweeping, cinematic tale about a young woman who becomes an overnight celebrity before realizing she's part of something bigger, and stranger, than anyone could have possibly imagined. <P><P>The Carls just appeared. Coming home from work at three a.m., twenty-three-year-old April May stumbles across a giant sculpture. Delighted by its appearance and craftsmanship--like a ten-foot-tall Transformer wearing a suit of samurai armor--April and her friend Andy make a video with it, which Andy uploads to YouTube. The next day April wakes up to a viral video and a new life. <P><P>News quickly spreads that there are Carls in dozens of cities around the world--everywhere from Beijing to Buenos Aires--and April, as their first documentarian, finds herself at the center of an intense international media spotlight. <P><P>Now April has to deal with the pressure on her relationships, her identity, and her safety that this new position brings, all while being on the front lines of the quest to find out not just what the Carls are, but what they want from us. <P><P>Compulsively entertaining and powerfully relevant, An Absolutely Remarkable Thing grapples with big themes, including how the social internet is changing fame, rhetoric, and radicalization; how our culture deals with fear and uncertainty; and how vilification and adoration spring from the same dehumanization that follows a life in the public eye. <P><b>A New York Times Bestseller</b>
An Absorbing Errand: How Artists and Craftsmen Make Their Way to Mastery
by Janna Malamud SmithAn Absorbing Errand uses stories of artists' lives, personal anecdotes, and insights from the author's work as a psychotherapist to examine the psychological obstacles that prevent people from staying with, and relishing, the process of art-making. Each chapter is devoted to a problem intrinsic to the creative process and illustrates how these very obstacles, once understood, can become prime sources of the energy that actually fuels the mastery of art-making.Ultimately, An Absorbing Errand provides a philosophical, historical, and analytical look at the creative impulse and how certain artists from a wide field mastered their craft. From Julia Child to Charlie Chaplin, Lady Gaga to Michael Jackson, famous painters to established writers, Smith shows us how each overcame the obstacles they faced in the pursuit of their creative visions.Many people carry within their hearts an aching sense that they have something they want to express through art; or that they will not feel complete until they've brought out some hidden part of themselves. Yet they cannot begin to do the work of bringing their creative idea into the world. Or, maybe they've begun over and over, but they can't stay with their labor long enough to finish it. An Absorbing Errand is a supportive companion, an enlightened and compassionate ballast, a guide for anyone who has ever picked up a pencil to write, or a paint brush to paint, or any tool -from chisel to loom- to pursue any serious craft, and then put it down again frustrated, discouraged, and unable to continue.An Absorbing Errand is unlike any book about creating art of any kind, and aspiring and working artists alike will find it both original and invaluable.
An Abundance of Babies (The Baby of the Month Club #3)
by Marie FerrarellaWhen the man who broke her heart delivers her babies, a new mom learns to trust in love again in this heartwarming romance from a USA Today bestseller.Giving birth in a parking lot was not what Stephanie Yarbourough had in mind when she agreed to be a surrogate mother. Then she discovered old flame Sebastian Caine was now a doctor—and willing to lend a hand! Trust the man who’d abandoned her years ago? Never!Sebastian Caine usually delivered babies and sent them on their way. But with the twins’ biological parents dead, and Stephanie intending to raise the babies alone, he kept dropping by to help. That was all. But his heart had other plans. . . .
An Abundance of Katherines
by John GreenFrom the #1 bestselling author of The Fault in Our Stars Michael L. Printz Honor BookLos Angeles Times Book Prize FinalistKatherine V thought boys were grossKatherine X just wanted to be friendsKatherine XVIII dumped him in an e-mailK-19 broke his heartWhen it comes to relationships, Colin Singleton's type happens to be girls named Katherine. And when it comes to girls named Katherine, Colin is always getting dumped. Nineteen times, to be exact.On a road trip miles from home, this anagram-happy, washed-up child prodigy has ten thousand dollars in his pocket, a bloodthirsty feral hog on his trail, and an overweight, Judge Judy-loving best friend riding shotgun--but no Katherines. Colin is on a mission to prove The Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability, which he hopes will predict the future of any relationship, avenge Dumpees everywhere, and finally win him the girl.Love, friendship, and a dead Austro-Hungarian archduke add up to surprising and heart-changing conclusions in this ingeniously layered comic novel about reinventing oneself.
An Academic Affair (Literary Lovers #1)
by Jodi McAlisterThe Love Hypothesis meets The Hating Game in a new standalone rom-com from New York Times acclaimed author and romance academic Jodi McAlister. Sadie Shaw and Jonah Fisher have known each other for fifteen years – and they&’ve disliked each other for every one of them. It started with a minor altercation in an undergrad literature class, but as their academic careers developed, so did the intensity of their arguments. By the time they graduate with their doctorates, they&’re embroiled in a full-on rivalry. So when a position comes up that Sadie and Jonah are both perfect for, their ongoing enmity explodes into a red-hot competition. But as Sadie fights to secure her future, she realises there might be a way for both of them to get their dream job. There's just one catch –they'll have to get married first. When things get personal, though, Sadie will have to keep her eye on the prize. A fake marriage isn't worth jeopardising her real career over, is it?
An Academic History of China's Han Dynasty: Volume I Communicational Factors in Academic Development
by Tieji XiongThis book offers an innovative take on the study of Chinese academic history, approaching the subject from the perspective of broader social and cultural developments, one that is not only comprehensive and inclusive, but also sheds new light on the subject. The book investigates the main academic developments of the Han Dynasty, such as the formation of new-Confucianism and the new-Daoism of Han, the establishment of history studies, advances in astronomy and geography, breakthroughs in agronomy and hydraulics, and the achievements in traditional Chinese medicine. It also explores the cultural and political backgrounds, the main influencing factors, and the main features of academic developments, especially academic carriers and Chinese hermeneutics. It provides a new paradigm for academic history studies and includes many new theories, e.g., the reconstruction of the pre-Qin academics by the Han scholars. This book offers a unique resource for all those who want to learn about and understand Chinese history and culture, especially the academic history of the Han Dynasty.
An Academic History of China’s Han Dynasty: Volume II Brilliant Academic Achievements
by Tieji XiongThis book examines the academic legacy of the Han dynasty. It explicates the line between the explaining of a classical text (训诂) and the study of classical texts and their interpretation (训诂学). The study of hermeneutics was developed already, including the Chinese specific figure, meaning, sound, interpretation, and rites and systems. It details analyses of the Confucian School, Daoist School, Yin-Yang School, Legalist School, Terminologist School, Mohist School, Political Strategist School, Syncretist School, Agriculturalist School, and Literalist School. Among important classical works of the Han Dynasty examined throughout the book Shiji, Hanshu and Hanji are deeply analysed. Referring to various works during the Earlier and Later Han Dynasty, the author details categories of historiographical writing, i.e., the category of classical, official, and miscellaneous history, and different branches of analysis and interpretation.The book expatiates chapters on astronomy, mathematics, geography, agriculture, and medicine. Among these are the three theories on sky, the mathematics, map drawing, ox-plowing, an agricultural treatise, water project examinations, and the process of knowledge transfer and advancement in medicine during the Han Dynasty.
An Academic Life: A Memoir (The William G. Bowen Memorial Series in Higher Education)
by Hanna Holborn GrayA compelling memoir by the first woman president of a major American universityHanna Holborn Gray has lived her entire life in the world of higher education. The daughter of academics, she fled Hitler's Germany with her parents in the 1930s, emigrating to New Haven, where her father was a professor at Yale University. She has studied and taught at some of the world's most prestigious universities. She was the first woman to serve as provost of Yale. In 1978, she became the first woman president of a major research university when she was appointed to lead the University of Chicago, a position she held for fifteen years. In 1991, Gray was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, in recognition of her extraordinary contributions to education.An Academic Life is a candid self-portrait by one of academia's most respected trailblazers. Gray describes what it was like to grow up as a child of refugee parents, and reflects on the changing status of women in the academic world. She discusses the migration of intellectuals from Nazi-held Europe and the transformative role these exiles played in American higher education--and how the émigré experience in America transformed their own lives and work. She sheds light on the character of university communities, how they are structured and administered, and the balance they seek between tradition and innovation, teaching and research, and undergraduate and professional learning.An Academic Life speaks to the fundamental issues of purpose, academic freedom, and governance that arise time and again in higher education, and that pose sharp challenges to the independence and scholarly integrity of each new generation.
An Academic Question (Virago Modern Classics #308)
by Barbara PymA delightful comedy of manners with a touch of mystery, An Academic Question is prime Barbara Pym territory. In a provincial university town Caro Grimstone, a dissatisfied faculty wife, becomes the unwilling accomplice to her husband Alan's ambitions. When she volunteers as a reader to a blind, esteemed anthropologist, Alan seizes the opportunity to steal his papers - research that could both advance his reputation while refuting the findings of a respected colleague.
An Academic Question (Virago Modern Classics #308)
by Barbara PymINTRODUCED BY KATE SAUNDERS'I'm a huge fan of Barbara Pym' RICHARD OSMAN'My favourite writer . . . I pick up her books with joy' JILLY COOPERIn a provincial university town, Caro Grimstone, a dissatisfied faculty wife, becomes the unwilling accomplice to her husband Alan's ambitions. When she volunteers to read to a blind, esteemed anthropologist in a nursing home, Alan seizes the opportunity to steal his papers - research that could both advance his reputation while refuting the findings of a respected colleague. A delightful comedy of manners with a touch of mystery, An Academic Question is prime Barbara Pym territory. 'She is the rarest of treasures; she reminds us of the heartbreaking silliness of everyday life' ANNE TYLER'Beneath the gentle surfaces of her novels is a slow-building comedy, salt wit in a saline drip' NEW YORK TIMES
An Academic Question (Virago Modern Classics #491)
by Barbara Pym Hazel HoltA small English community is thrown into a hilarious uproar in this delightful comedy of manners from the acclaimed Man Booker prize-nominated author. Caroline (Caro) is the wife of Dr. Alan Grimstone, a lecturer at a provincial university in a West Country town in England. She knows her circle believes that she should do more with her life. She is the mother of a young daughter, but happy to leave the girl in the care of an au pair. Her one selfless act—reading aloud to a former missionary at a rest home—is sullied when she allows her husband to “borrow” some of the old gentleman’s papers in order to get the better of a colleague. This seemingly small act sets in motion a series of academic and amorous rivalries that will touch a surprisingly large number of lives in this bright, witty, and perceptive novel. Barbara Pym completed the first draft of her satirical “Academic Novel” in 1970, ten years before her death. It was first published posthumously in 1985, thanks to her friend and biographer Hazel Holt.
An Academic's Guide to Social Media: Learn, Engage, and Belong
by Shane R. Jimerson Kelly-Ann Allen Daniel S. Quintana Lara McKinleyAre you an academic who struggles to know what to post on social media and how to disseminate your research effectively on different social media platforms? Social media serves as a powerful communication tool, yet while most academics are aware of the benefits of social media, many are unsure of what to post, and how to do it in a way that is authentic, engaging, and above all, comfortable! This user-friendly practical guide is designed for all academics who aim to engage in social media platforms in an effective and productive way. This book explains how academics can build their reputation, develop networks, and disseminate their research. It includes 365 useful post prompts applicable to all mainstream social media platforms which help guide academics on what to post on the platforms they choose to engage with. The book is designed for all academics at all levels and can be applied across various social media platforms including Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, and Instagram.
An Academy at the Court of the Tsars: Greek Scholars and Jesuit Education in Early Modern Russia (NIU Series in Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies)
by Nikolaos A. ChrissidisThe first formally organized educational institution in Russia was established in 1685 by two Greek hieromonks, Ioannikios and Sophronios Leichoudes. Like many of their Greek contemporaries in the seventeenth century, the brothers acquired part of their schooling in colleges of post-Renaissance Italy under a precise copy of the Jesuit curriculum. When they created a school in Moscow, known as the Slavo-Greco-Latin Academy, they emulated the structural characteristics, pedagogical methods, and program of studies of Jesuit prototypes. In this original work, Nikolaos A. Chrissidis analyzes the academy's impact on Russian educational practice and situates it in the contexts of Russian-Greek cultural relations and increased contact between Russia and Western Europe in the seventeenth century. Chrissidis demonstrates that Greek academic and cultural influences on Russia in the second half of the seventeenth century were Western in character, though Orthodox in doctrinal terms. He also shows that Russian and Greek educational enterprises were part of the larger European pattern of Jesuit academic activities that impacted Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox educational establishments and curricular choices. An Academy at the Court of the Tsars is the first study of the Slavo-Greco-Latin Academy in English and the only one based on primary sources in Russian, Church Slavonic, Greek, and Latin. It will interest scholars and students of early modern Russian and Greek history, of early modern European intellectual history and the history of science, of Jesuit education, and of Eastern Orthodox history and culture.
An Academy for Liars
by Alexis HendersonA student will find that the hardest lessons sometimes come from outside the classroom in this stunning dark academia novel from the acclaimed author of The Year of the Witching and House of Hunger.Lennon Carter&’s life is falling apart. Then she gets a mysterious phone call inviting her to take the entrance exam for Drayton College, a school of magic hidden in a secret pocket of Savannah. Lennon has been chosen because—like everyone else at the school—she has the innate gift of persuasion, the ability to wield her will like a weapon, using it to control others and, in rare cases, matter itself. After passing the test, Lennon begins to learn how to master her devastating and unsettling power. But despite persuasion&’s heavy toll on her body and mind, she is wholly captivated by her studies, by Drayton&’s lush, moss-draped campus, and by her brilliant classmates. But even more captivating is her charismatic adviser, Dante, who both intimidates and enthralls her. As Lennon continues in her studies, her control grows, and she starts to uncover more about the secret world she has entered into, including the disquieting history of Drayton College. She is increasingly disturbed by what she learns, for it seems that the ultimate test is to embrace absolute power without succumbing to corruption...and it&’s a test she&’s terrified she&’s going to fail.
An Acceptable Sacrifice (Bibliomysteries #4)
by Jeffery DeaverA pair of federal agents from either side of the US–Mexico border target a cartel kingpin. They call him &“Cuchillo,&” the Knife. Not because he kills with a blade—he has plenty of men to do that kind of work for him—but because his mind is so sharp. As Mexico&’s government wages war on the drug cartels, it takes brains to survive, and Cuchillo has not just survived—he has prospered. But when Cuchillo begins to cut too deeply, the federal police of both the United States and Mexico step in to dull his blade. P. Z. Evans and Alejo Díaz know the Hermosillo cartel is planning an attack on a tourist bus in Sonora, and they know they will have to capture or kill Cuchillo to stop it. The cartel leader has one weakness: rare, old books. To destroy the intellectual&’s evil empire, this unlikely pair of international police will have to appeal to his inner bibliophile.The Bibliomysteries are a series of short tales about deadly books, by top mystery authors.
An Acceptable Time (A Wrinkle in Time Quintet #5)
by Madeleine L'EngleA flash of lightning, quivering ground, and, instead of her grandparents' farm, Polly sees mist and jagged mountains -- and coming toward her, a group of young men carrying spears. Why has a time gate opened and dropped Polly into a world that existed 3,000 years ago? Will she be able to get back to the present before the time gate closes -- and leaves her to face a group of people who believe in human sacrifice?
An Accident in August
by Laurence Cossé“The August 31, 1997, car crash that claimed the life of Princess Diana propels Cossé’s gripping psychological thriller.” —Publishers WeeklyFourteen years after the accident that cost the lives of Lady Diana, Dodi al Fayed, and Henri Paul, one person involved in the tragedy remains unidentified: the driver of a white Fiat Uno that was in the Alma tunnel at the time of the accident. In Cossé’s spellbinding novel, the driver of this car, a young French woman on her way home from work that fatal night, sees her life thrown into turmoil when, scared and alone, she flees the scene. While there are no immediate repercussions resulting from her flight, as news of the event spreads and TV stations, papers and radio talk of nothing else for weeks, she is assailed by a growing sense of guilt. Terrified of being found out, questioned, arrested, and thrown headfirst into a media whirlwind, she finds herself paralyzed by fear, paranoia, and a growing sense of remorse. When finally it seems she has evaded both the police and the media spotlights, a mysterious man appears who will force her into a decision that will dramatically change her life.Wonderfully paced, suspenseful and dramatic, An Accident in August is the story of an ordinary person radically altered by her chance involvement in an extraordinary event.“The psychological issues [Cossé] raises are telling and true.” —Kirkus Reviews“Cossé springs a nice ironic twist as a final flourish. Readers who enjoy the woman-in-peril genre may find themselves biting a few nails in delicious anguish.” —MostlyFiction Book Reviews
An Accident in Paris: The stunning new Princess Diana conspiracy thriller you won't be able to put down
by Gavin Collinson'Absolutely fascinating . . . A fantastic read' – BBC Radio London 'Remarkable' – BBC Radio BerkshireEver wondered what really happened to Princess Diana? Then this gripping new conspiracy thriller is for you. ___________August 1997: A princess dies in Paris.When private investigator Marc Novak is hired to investigate what – and who – really caused the death of Princess Diana, the last thing he expects to discover is a brutal, covert world.But soon he's drawn head-to-head with people so powerful, they'll kill to protect their secrets. To them, murder is legal and the truth can be tailored to suit the highest bidder.25 years on, could it be that the fatal crash wasn't just an accident in Paris?'Gavin Collinson has created a thriller which is both suspenseful and funny as well as interesting' Bella ___________What readers are saying about An Accident in Paris:????? 'Slick and gripping'????? 'Fast moving and thought provoking'????? 'Whip smart'????? 'Pacy and high-octane conspiracy thriller'????? 'Intriguing and great fun'
An Accident of Hope: The Therapy Tapes of Anne Sexton
by Dawn M. SkorczewskiIn 1956, Anne Sexton was admitted into a mental hospital for post-partum depression, where she met Dr. Martin Orne, a young psychiatrist who treated her for the next eight years. In that time Sexton would blossom into a world-famous poet, best known for her "confessional" poems dealing with personal subjects not often represented in poetry at that time: mental illness, depression, suicide, sex, abortion, women's bodies, and the ordinary lives of mothers and housewives. Orne audiotaped the last three years of her therapy to facilitate her ability to remember their sessions. The final six months of these tapes are the focus of this book. In An Accident of Hope, Dawn Skorczewski links the content of the therapy with poetry excerpts, offering a rare perspective on the artist's experience and creative process. We can see Sexton attempting to make sense of her life and therapy and to sustain her confidence as a major poet, while struggling with the impending loss of Orne, who was moving elsewhere. Skorczewski's study provides an intimate, in-depth view of the therapy of a psychologically tortured yet immensely creative woman, during a period of emerging feminism and cultural change. Tracing the mutual development of the poet and the therapist during their years together, the author explores the tension between the classical therapeutic setting as practiced in the early 1960s and contemporary relational and developmental concepts in psychoanalysis, just then beginning to emerge. An Accident of Hope also raises broader questions about the nature of healing in psychotherapy. The poet and therapist we encounter in these sessions present complex and conflicted images of the therapeutic and creative process. Orne, equal parts honesty and hesitancy, works to bolster Sexton's self-image and maintain that she is more than the sum of her poetry. Sexton, working against a tendency to hide from her most painful feelings, valiantly pushes to tell the truth in therapy, while her poems invite the readers to see another side of the story. Just as Orne kept the audiotapes so that one day they might help others who suffer, An Accident of Hope tells the story of a therapy but moves beyond it. By offering a glimpse into the past, the present is open for reappraisal, both of Sexton herself and the legacy of psychoanalytic treatment.
An Accident of Stars: Book I of the Manifold Worlds
by Foz MeadowsBook I of the Manifold Worlds from Hugo-nominated author Foz Meadows.When Saffron Coulter stumbles through a hole in reality, she finds herself trapped in Kena, a magical realm on the brink of civil war. There, her fate becomes intertwined with that of three very different women: Zech, the fast-thinking acolyte of a cunning, powerful exile; Viya, the spoiled, runaway consort of the empire-building ruler, Vex Leoden; and Gwen, an Earth-born worldwalker whose greatest regret is putting Leoden on the throne. But Leoden has allies, too, chief among them the Vex'Mara Kadeja, a dangerous ex-priestess who shares his dreams of conquest. Pursued by Leoden and aided by the Shavaktiin, a secretive order of storytellers and mystics, the rebels flee to Veksh, a neighboring matriarchy ruled by the fearsome Council of Queens. Saffron is out of her world and out of her depth, but the further she travels, the more she finds herself bound to her friends with ties of blood and magic. Can one girl - an accidental worldwalker - really be the key to saving Kena? Or will she just die trying?File Under: Fantasy From the Paperback edition.
An Accidental Affair
by Eric Jerome DickeyNew York Times bestselling author Eric Jerome Dickey once again "pushes romance and deceit to the next level" (USA Weekend) in this tantalizing tale of a high-profile marriage rocked by scandal, obsession, and murder. Screenwriter James Thicke is a man whose mysterious past runs as deep as his violent streak. Now he and his volatile movie star wife, Regina Baptiste, have channeled their passions into an electrifying new project: a film rumored to cross the boundaries of on-screen sexuality. But it's James's limits that are about to be tested--by a surreptitiously filmed video of his wife with her co-star Johnny Bergs, in the most comprising of situations. Within hours, it goes viral. Regina claims she is innocent. But the humiliation and rage leave James with only one recourse--an act of violence that sends him on the run and into hiding. Seething with bitter betrayal, and a still-consuming love for his troubled wife, he nurses a slow-boiling desire for something more permanent: revenge. His need for vengeance takes James and Regina on a headlong odyssey of obsession, sexual impulse, blackmail, and murder. And getting back will be hell.
An Accidental Affair
by Eric Jerome DickeyNew York Times bestselling author Eric Jerome Dickey once again "pushes romance and deceit to the next level" (USA Weekend) in this tantalizing tale of a high-profile marriage rocked by scandal, obsession, and murder. Screenwriter James Thicke is a man whose mysterious past runs as deep as his violent streak. Now he and his volatile movie star wife, Regina Baptiste, have channeled their passions into an electrifying new project: a film rumored to cross the boundaries of on-screen sexuality. But it's James's limits that are about to be tested--by a surreptitiously filmed video of his wife with her co-star Johnny Bergs, in the most comprising of situations. Within hours, it goes viral. Regina claims she is innocent. But the humiliation and rage leave James with only one recourse--an act of violence that sends him on the run and into hiding. Seething with bitter betrayal, and a still-consuming love for his troubled wife, he nurses a slow-boiling desire for something more permanent: revenge. His need for vengeance takes James and Regina on a headlong odyssey of obsession, sexual impulse, blackmail, and murder. And getting back will be hell.
An Accidental American
by Alex CarrForced out of a self-imposed exile, one woman faces a lifetime's worth of secrets and betrayal-all in the name of staying alive. Nicole Blake had planned to leave her criminal life in the past. She had done her time in a dank prison in Marseille and relinquished the world of forgery and counterfeiting for an unassuming career as a freelance consultant. Now her world is a small farm in the French Pyrenees, with daily fresh eggs and the companionship of her devoted dog. But when U. S. intelligence operative John Valsamis shows up at her door, Nicole is reminded that she'll always be an ex-con. Valsamis is after Nicole's former lover, Rahim Ali, and soon Nicole finds herself back in Lisbon, tracking down Rahim in all their old haunts. Except now Rahim isn't just a document forger-he's a suspected terrorist. Unwittingly drawn into an international web of fundamentalism, crime, and corruption, Nicole discovers that its threads stretch from the cobbled streets of Lisbon to the once-beautiful city of her birth, Beirut, and to the top levels of the government that sent Valsamis to find her. And as with any good web, the harder Nicole fights to free herself, the tighter it closes around her. "Thought-provoking . . . The gritty atmosphere is perfectly drawn, and complex layers of lies and betrayal keep the reader happily guessing up to the end. " -Publishers Weekly "Chilling and utterly believable,An Accidental Americanhurls the reader into the dark and forbidding world of espionage. Not to be missed. " -Gayle Lynds, author ofThe Last Spymaster ______________________________________________________________ THE MORTALIS DOSSIER- ALEX CARR'S NOTE ON THE BOMBING OF THE AMERICAN EMBASSY IN BEIRUT On April 18, 1983, at one o'clock in the afternoon, a van carrying two thousand pounds of explosives blew up outside the American embassy in Beirut, killing sixty-three people. Among the victims were seventeen Americans, eight of whom represented the Central Intelligence Agency's entire Middle East contingent. In the years preceding the bombing, an increasing number of attacks on Western and Israeli interests had been carried out by Palestinian and Muslim extremists, but the Beirut bombing was widely seen as a watershed event for American policies in the region. With the exception of the seizure of the American embassy in Tehran four years earlier, an act that was carried out within the framework of Iran's Islamic revolution, the embassy bombing represented the first time America had been so directly and bloodily targeted by Islamic terrorists for its military involvement in the Middle East. It's impossible to see why the United States was such an unwelcome force without an understanding of the history of Lebanon and the surrounding region, and of American and Western involvement in the politics of the Middle East in general. Though Lebanon has existed in one form or another since the ninth century b. c. , the modern country of Lebanon was not established until 1920, when it was granted to the French as part of a system of mandates established for the administration of former Turkish and German territories following World War I and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. In fact, almost all of what we think of as the modern Middle East was shaped by these mandates. America's first direct intervention in Lebanese politics came in 1946. During World War II, Lebanon had been declared a free state in order to liberate it from Vichy control. But when, after the war, Lebanon eventually moved toward full independence, the French balked, and the United States, Britain, and several Arab governments stepped
An Accidental American
by Alex CarrA powerful new thriller, the first in a series from this acclaimed writer. It features Nicole, part French, part Lebanese, part American - and a master forgerNicole has experienced enough danger and excitement to last her several lifetimes. But a six-year spell in Marseilles' toughest prison has cured her adrenaline habit. Now peace and quiet are what she craves. A farmhouse buried deep in the French Pyrenees, a garden to tend, and the occasional job whipping up a passport or a visa to pay for her simple lifestyle will do her fine. John Valsamis could have been any tourist, a solitary American needing directions in Nicole's empty corner of the world. But she knows he isn't. From his briefcase Valsamis pulls a Red Notice, a document reserved for people regarded by interpol as serious terrorist threats. On the document is a face familiar to Nicole - Rahim Ali. They had worked together and been lovers a decade earlier in Lisbon. Nicole does not believe Rahim has turned to terrorism, yet Valsamis confronts her with what looks like proof, along with intelligence of a planned major terrorist strike. Rahim was last spotted in Lisbon and Valsamis wants Nicole to track him down. Nicole cannot resist the pull, the need to prove Valsamis wrong about her former lover. Just a few days, she tells herself, a week at most. She'll find him and clear things up and be back to her old routine. But as the train slides south towards Lisbon's Santa Apolonia Station, she begins to realise how foolish her expectations had been ...