Other books that might interest you

• 

  A Burden Shared: The Dundee Murders

  Malcolm Archibald

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  The second book in the Mendick Mystery Series. Following "The Darkest Walk", when Sergeant Mendick is sent to Dundee to collect a prisoner, he expects a speedy return to London but instead an unfortunate turn of events see him retained to help solve a particularly gruesome murder. Within days Mendick finds himself leading the hunt for the mysterious China Jim who appears to control the criminal classes of Dundee through fear. Mendick's investigations take him from the curling rinks to the foul closes of the disregarded poor, and the bed of the enigmatic Johanna Lednock. More deaths follow and suspicion falls on a handful of men the elite of Dundee society, including Johanna's husband and Mr Gilbride, a local ship owner. Each murder involves apparent cannibalism, shocking even the war-hardened Mendick, who strives to find a connecting link. Dundee seems closed against him apart from the friendly Adam and Mrs Leslie, a prosperous couple who mourn the death of their seaman son. An attempt on Mendick's life convinces him he is nearing the truth, but only when a pawnbroker uncovers a watch stolen from one of the murdered men does Mendick begin to unravel the case.

  Show book

• 

  Teak Lord

  Ron Emmons

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  A tale of piety, greed, debauchery and equanimity in a remote Asian kingdom. 
  It’s 1875 and Chiang Mai, capital of Lanna, is a cultural crossroads of Buddhist monks and Christian missionaries, of spirit doctors and opium smokers, of seductive dancers and Western adventurers. 
  A sharp rise in teak prices sets off a mad rush for logging concessions, and the forests of Lanna resound to the thwack of axes and the trumpeting of elephants as the mighty trees are felled. 
  Enter Doctor Marion Cheek, a medical missionary and teak trader, whose exploits in this exotic realm – saving the life of the ruler’s wife, setting up a harem of local beauties and standing triumphant at the kingdom’s highest point – make him a legend in his lifetime.

  Show book

• 

  I Am Venus - A Novel

  Bárbara Mujica

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  This fictional account of the seventeenth-century Spanish painter’s life is “a very enjoyable read . . . A portrait of Velázquez and a meditation on love” (Washington Independent Review of Books).   Narrated by the mysterious model who posed for Rokeby Venus, Diego Velázquez’s only surviving female nude, I Am Venus is the riveting account of a great artist’s rise to prominence, set against the backdrop of political turmoil and romantic scandal. A sweeping story of scandal and passion, and a vivid recreation of a corrupt kingdom on the brink of collapse, I Am Venus is a thrilling novel that brings to life the public and private worlds of Spain’s greatest painter.   “A well-plotted read with engaging characters and rich detail. Fans of Tracy Chevalier and Elizabeth Kostova as well as art history buffs will enjoy Mujica’s interpretation.” —Library Journal   “A worthwhile read . . . Mujica continues her realistic representation by loading the text with rich historical detail [that] instantly creates a sensory world for her readers to inhabit.” —Booklist   “Mujica’s prose is vigorous and intense, and the story is paradoxically both dark and illuminating.” —Kirkus Reviews

  Show book

• 

  Lord Nelson Tavern

  Ray Smith

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  The Lord Nelson Tavern: a Halifax watering hole in the early 1960s. The group of young university students who hang out there—a ramshackle coterie of aspiring artists, economists, poets, and philosophers—come together to gossip and ponder the big questions of art and life, all the while pining after the vain and untouchable Francesca. 
  Though these friends soon drift apart, their early rivalries, jealousies and conquests will continue to reverberate. In the novel’s seven interlocking sequences, Ray Smith explores the often decisive and even fatal impact of seemingly innocuous choices upon the course of our lives. With unforgettable scenes that marry the sacred and the profane, and with structural innovations that recall the works of Barthelme and Nabokov, Lord Nelson Tavern is a must-read cult-classic of Canadian fiction. 
  Bespeak Audio Editions brings Canadian voices to the world with audiobook editions of some of the country’s greatest works of literature, performed by Canadian actors.

  Show book

• 

  The Folkungs

  M.E. Javits

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Based on 14th Century Scandinavian actual events, The Folkungs --Sweden's royal family--is a generational saga interwoven with jealousy, conspiracy, rivalry, treason, regicide, exorcism, paganism, torture, witchcraft, shamanism, Falconry, folklore, power struggles, and deeply touching love stories.It begins at Nykoping Castle, Sweden, 1291. King Magnus is dead and his three young sons--Birger (eleven), Erik (nine), and Valdemar (eight)--await the arrival of the appointed Regent of Sweden, a powerful noble and celebrated warrior, who will teach them the arts of governing, knighthood and skills of war until the young king, Birger, comes of age. Under his tutelage, Erik, the middle child, will show himself to be the most intelligent and skilful of the three; Valdemar, the youngest, will look on in admiration, while the fledgling King, will bridle with jealousy.Kristina, all innocence, is entering a world where personal desires are sacrificed to political necessity. Marriage is about forging international alliances so Birger, King of Sweden, will marry Princess Marta of Denmark; the King of Denmark will marry Princess Ingeborg of Sweden while Dukes Valdemar and Erik will marry a Norwegian princess or a princess from one of the German principalities. Kristina cannot but wonder what her own future will hold.As the young princes mature, King Birger proves himself to be increasingly inept and manipulated by the self-seeking Regent. He accuses his innocent brothers of treachery and wages war against them as punishment, wreaking unnecessary bloodshed on the land. For Erik this is intolerable. Can Sweden be left prey to his brother's weak rule? Alliances are formed across the borders as t

  Show book

• 

  The Children's Block - A Novel...

  Otto Kraus

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  A literary event that tells the story of five hundred children who lived in the Czech Family Camp in Auschwitz-Birkenau between September 1943 and June 1944. 
   
   
   
  We lived on a bunk built for four but in times of overcrowding, it slept seven and at times even eight. There was so little space on the berth that when one of us wanted to ease his hip, we all had to turn in a tangle of legs and chests and hollow bellies as if we were one many-limbed creature, a Hindu god or a centipede. We grew intimate not only in body but also in mind because we knew that though we were not born of one womb, we would certainly die together. 
   
   
   
  Alex Ehren is poet, a prisoner, and a teacher in block 31 in Auschwitz-Birkenau, also known as the Children's Block. He spends his days trying to survive and illegally giving lessons to his young charges, all while shielding them as best he can from the impossible horrors of the camp. But trying to teach the children is not the only illicit activity that Alex is involved in. Alex is keeping a diary . . .

  Show book