Other books that might interest you

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  Iron Curtain - A Love Story

  Vesna Goldsworthy

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  East and West collide in a "timely" and "bittersweet tale of loyalty, love, and the siren call of freedom" (Rebecca Abrams, Financial Times).Milena Urbanska is a red princess living in a Soviet satellite state in the 1980s. She enjoys limitless luxury and limited freedom; the end of the Cold War seems unimaginable. When she meets Jason, a confident but politically naïve British poet, they fall into bed together. Before long, Milena is planning her escape. She follows Jason to London, where she's shocked to find herself living in bohemian poverty. The rented apartment is dingy, the food disgusting, and Jason's family withholding, but at least there are no hidden cameras recording her every move. As she adjusts to her new life, however, Milena discovers the dark side of Jason's idea of freedom.With cool wit and tender precision, Vesna Goldsworthy delivers a razor-sharp vision of two worlds on the brink of change, amidst the failures of family and state. Iron Curtain is a sly, elegant comedy of manners that challenges the myths we tell ourselves.

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  The Financier

  Theodore Dreiser

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  A ruthlessly ambitious mogul finds his life derailed by the financial panic of 1873 in this classic novel by the author of An American Tragedy.   Frank Cowperwood’s story begins at an auction sale in Philadelphia, where an unassuming bid for seven cases of soap quickly makes him a large personal gain in just one day. Having grown up among the ruthlessness and glamour of the Gilded Age, Frank finds he has a taste for turning a profit, no matter who gets in his way. Embarking on a life of callous stock brokering, shady political intrigue, sordid crimes, and passionate affairs, Cowperwood walks on the edge—until the Great Chicago Fire and the financial panic that follows send him down a perilous path.  The Financier, the first in a trilogy, is based on the life of tycoon Charles Tyson Yerkes and provides both a glimpse into a fascinating period in American history and a timeless portrait of the dark side of human nature.

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  The Pioneers

  Vivian Stuart

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  The twelfth book in the dramatic and intriguing story about the colonisation of Australia: a country made of blood, passion, and dreams.
   
  Against overwhelming odds they fought to tame a savage land, now they must fight to keep it.
   
  The struggle continues – a struggle to harness an alien wilderness, to lay the bold foundation for their dreams. But powers outside the Australians' control are threatening to put all they have accomplished in jeopardy.
  A new generation of Australians comes into its own, more newcomers arrive, and together, they all must battle to forge the glorious destiny that is rightfully theirs.

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  Martin Dressler - The Tale of an...

  Steven Millhauser

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  The American Dream is a theme so compelling it resonates throughout our culture. In Martin Dressler, Steven Millhauser creates a young man who, in dedicating his life to it, becomes a symbol of that dream. Powerful, lyrical, finely crafted, this best-selling book won the Pulitzer Prize, was a National Book Award finalist, and was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. Martin Dressler, son of an immigrant cigar maker, believes he can achieve anything if he works hard enough. At the turn of the century, he rises from the shadows of his father's shop in New York City to become a powerful entrepreneur and builder of hotels. But, as he contemplates this land of almost limitless opportunity, his plans grow impossibly grand. Through the curve of Martin's spectacular rise and eventual downfall in the business world, his tale remains a uniquely American one. Martin may not always control an empire, but he will always be able to dream. Narrator George Guidall voices Martin's industry and optimism while his performance captures the literary power of Millhauser's style.

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  The Earth Hums in B Flat

  Mari Strachan

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  “Dark family secrets are at the core of this bewitching debut novel . . . a memorable read” from the author of Dead Man’s Embers (Herald on Sunday). 
   
  Gwenni Morgan is not like any other girl in this small Welsh town. Inquisitive, bookish and full of spirit, she can fly in her sleep and loves playing detective. So when a neighbor mysteriously vanishes, and no one seems to be asking the right questions, Gwenni decides to conduct her own investigation.  
   
  Mari Strachan’s unforgettable novel “is a richly evocative, warm but unsentimental tale of a child detective struggling to piece together clues about the lives around her. These lives, and the characters who live them, are so vividly drawn and Mari Strachan’s careful unraveling of the secrets they hide is extremely compelling” (Catherine O’Flynn, award-winning author of What Was Lost). 
   
  “A lyrical debut . . . [Strachan’s] light touch keeps the story unfamiliar and surprising, while Gwenni’s uber-precocious narration revels in a love for language and reveals an unspoiled innocence about the world. It’s small, quiet and nicely done.”—Publishers Weekly 
   
  “An unsettling account of matrilineal madness, illegitimacy and domestic abuse . . . Strachan’s deft handling of a dark subject is both sober and sparkling.”—The Guardian 
   
  “One of those books that eases you in gently and then floors you . . . The Earth Hums in B Flat reads authentically, and the fictive truth in the story remains consistent and powerful as Gwenni moves towards the end . . . [of] this is a lovely, original, and imaginative debut.”—Gather.com

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  Francis Bacon Mysteries - Books...

  Anna Castle

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  Three award-winning historical mystery novels in one convenient package! 
  Francis Bacon reluctantly puts down his books to solve crimes in Elizabethan London, aided by Thomas Clarady, a privateer’s son who will do anything to climb into the ranks of the gentry — or up to a lady’s bedchamber. 
  Book 1: Murder by Misrule 
  Francis Bacon must catch a killer to regain Queen Elizabeth’s favor. He recruits dashing Thomas Clarady to chase witnesses from Whitehall to the London streets, where everyone has something up his pinked and padded sleeve. 
  Book 2: Death by Disputation 
  Thomas Clarady risks his life, his chastity, and his very soul to catch a Puritan seditioner at Cambridge with Francis Bacon as his exacting spymaster. 
  Book 3: The Widows Guild 
  London, 1588: Someone is turning Catholics into widows, masking the crimes under armada fever. Francis Bacon is charged with the investigation by a widows’ guild led by his formidable aunt. He must untangle multiple crimes driven by patriotism, greed, lunacy — or all three.

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