Holiday Literary

It’s the most wonderful time of the year… and for Heather Andrews, security manager at Timberwoods Mall, undoubtedly the busiest. But this Christmas, Heather has more to contend with than frazzled parents and disgruntled Santas. Angela Steinhart, a young woman who designed the mall’s spectacular holiday displays, has had a premonition that tragedy will strike on Christmas Eve. And Angela’s visions have a habit of coming true. Heather would love to dismiss the warning as holiday stress. But the more she gets to know the quiet, lonely Angela, the more she trusts her.

Beth Cardall has a secret. For 18 years, she has had no choice but to keep it to herself, but on Christmas Eve 2008, all that is about to change. For Beth, 1989 was a year marked by tragedy. She had lost any ability to trust, to hope, or to believe in herself. Then, on Christmas Day, as she rushed through a blizzard to the nearest 7-Eleven, Beth encountered Matthew, a strikingly handsome, mysterious stranger, who would single-handedly change the course of her life.

As Martine and Jacques Le Guennec prepare for their annual family Christmas dinner, Martine reminds her husband to be on his best behavior. Their son Nicolas is bringing his girlfriend, Jeanne, to their home for the first time, and she doesn't want Jacques to scare this one off. Jacques has always ruled his roost with patriarchal bravado, and he can't help but verbally antagonize everyone - especially the wives of his sons.

When Luke graduates from Wharton with his MBA, his father, CEO and co-founder of Fortune 500 Crisp’s Copy Centers, is ready to share some good news: he wants to turn the family business over to his son. But Luke has other plans. Taking control of his trust funds, Luke leaves home to pursue a life of wanton pleasure seeking. But when his funds run out, so do his friends. Humbled and alone, Luke takes a job at one of his father's copy centers.

Big Cats opens with "Charlotte", in which a young girl with a broken pelvis spies on her voluptuous neighbor during a long, hot summer night, setting the tone of irrepressible curiosity and yearning that is evident throughout the collection. In "Get Away from Me, David", a bank manager tries to overcome his haunted past as he deals with the aftermath of a minor earthquake and the body of a customer who died in the lobby.

After the death of his mother, Michael Keddington finds employment at the Arcadia nursing home, where he befriends Esther, a reclusive but beautiful elderly woman who lives in mourning for her youth and lost love. "Do you suppose life gives us second chances?" Esther asks Michael one day. "I don't know. But we'd probably just make the same mistake over again," he concludes. Michael faces his own challenges when he loses his greatest love, Faye.

Spain, 1939: Following the wishes of her parents to keep her safe during the war, a young girl, Julia, enters a convent in Barcelona. Looking for a way to maintain her links to the outside world, she volunteers to help in a maternity clinic. But worrying adoption practices in the clinic force Sister Julia to decide how far she will go to help those placed in her care. England, 2011: Six months after her parents' shocking death, 34-year-old journalist and jazz enthusiast Ruby Rae has finally found the strength to pack away their possessions and sell the family home. But as she does so, she unearths a devastating secret....

Biochimiste de 54 ans, Douglas Petersen imagine déjà sa retraite auprès de Connie, sa femme artiste, dans leur maison londonienne. Mais celle-ci lui apprend brusquement qu'elle n'est plus certaine de l'aimer. Pathologiquement maladroit et réservé, Douglas va devoir déployer toute son énergie pour reconquérir sa femme et tenter de tisser des liens avec cet inconnu qu'est devenu son fils adolescent. Douglas entraîne alors sa famille sur les traces de leur passé, dans un tour très balisé de l'Europe.

Melanie McLaughlin desperately wants to adopt two orphaned siblings and give them a real home for Christmas. A just-for-the-holiday marriage to Bryce Landry fits her plan perfectly...until unexpected sparks have Melanie dreaming of forever by his side....

Brodie Logan had thought her marriage to Colin was a match made in heaven. But now her once-loving husband is distant and unfriendly so she makes the life-changing decision to leave him. She moves into Chestnuts, a ramshackle old house in Liverpool inherited from her mother. Deciding to let out the rooms to lodgers, three very different women come to join Brodie. Life at Chestnuts seems idyllic. But nothing lasts forever....

Calling Major Tom is a funny, uplifting tale of friendship and community about a man who has given up on the world...but discovers in the most unlikely way that it might not have given up on him. We all know someone like Thomas. The grumpy next-door neighbour who complains to the residents' committee about the state of your front lawn. The man who tuts when you don't have the correct change at the checkout. The colleague who sends an all-company email when you accidentally use the last drop of milk.

The deal: Elizabeth Anders and best friend Bradley Hunt made a pact - if they were both single at thirty, they would add a "naughty benefits" package to their friendship. Now it's time to seal the deal...and it's going to involve much more than just a kiss! The dilemma: Elizabeth is all about The Career. No relationships, no complications. Still, the chance to indulge in the barely controlled lust between her and Bradley is more than she can resist. But Bradley has an agenda of his own....

Eight-year-old Janey Sullivan has had a difficult year, between losing her mother and adjusting to life with her guardian, Brian Duncan. But with the holidays approaching, her one Christmas wish is to find the perfect gift for Brian - if she can learn to trust him first.

The holidays have arrived in Avalon, Illinois and everyone is filled with festive cheer. Well, maybe not everyone. The husbands of Avalon have started a Bah Humbug Club. A neighborhood cookie exchange wreaks havoc on Erin Meeks' carefully planned life. Melvin O'Malley's daughter has abandoned him for the holidays in a senior facility, and shop owner Margot West is intent on creating the best holiday shopping experience for her customers when a stranger threatens to ruin it. But a few surprises await them as well.

Pressato dagli editori, Fëdor Dostoevskij scrisse "Il giocatore" in poche settimane 'per necessità'...

Köln, Gegenwart: "Wie soll mein Leben weitergehen?", fragt sich Laura. Jetzt, da ihre beiden Kinder zunehmend selbstständig werden und sich ihr Mann immer weiter von ihr entfernt, denkt Laura an ihren einstigen Traum zurück, Meeresbiologin zu werden. Als sich die Chance bietet, für einige Zeit im Bereich der Wal- und Delfinbeobachtung in Neuseeland zu arbeiten, ergreift sie diese mit gemischten Gefühlen.

There's one corpse too many in this ingenious mystery featuring husband-and-wife sleuth duo PI Rosco Polycrates and crossword editor Belle Graham. The residents of the bucolic Massachusetts hamlet are up in arms. A developer has bought the sprawling Quigley homestead, and his construction crew is causing a ruckus digging up the land. The noise stops abruptly when a female skeleton is found buried in the garden.

It's Christmas Eve at 221-B as Doctor Watson reads A Christmas Carol to his friend, and to us! In this all new, full-length, and unabridged One Voice Recordings production, listeners will enjoy his lusty-yet-reverent telling of Ebenezer Scrooge's moral redemption and return to the joyful possibilities within the human race

In Hans Christian Andersen's classic tale, a little fir tree realizes too late that it did not appreciate the grand moments of life - the majesty of the forest, the dazzling grandeur of its night as a Christmas tree - while they were happening...

Welcome to Christmas, Colorado, a charming small town where the beloved sheriff will need a Christmas miracle to convince a hotshot city girl to believe in the magic of the holidays. Resort developer Madison Lane is about to lose the one thing she loves most in the world - her job. Dubbed "The Grinch Who Killed Christmas", Madison spoiled a deal that would turn quaint Christmas, Colorado, into a tourist's winter wonderland. Now the citizens want her fired but the company gives her one last chance, sending Madison to the small town to restore the holiday cheer.