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  The Portrait of a Lady

  Henry James

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  Henry James’s beloved novel about a young woman’s search for freedom in a world that seeks to tie her to convention In the wake of her father’s death, young Isabel Archer decides to travel to England to visit her aunt, leaving behind the life set out for her in America and spurning the romantic overtures of her Bostonian suitor. At her aunt’s country estate, Isabel is determined to plot a new course unburdened by routine. But, prodded by convention at every turn, Isabel makes a decision that not only undermines her longing for independence, but may seal her fate forever. Among one of Henry James’s most timeless works, The Portrait of a Lady is a rich and nuanced depiction of human psychology and the tension between the pull of social norms and the desire for autonomy. This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.

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  The ugly sisters

  Danny King

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  For hundreds of years, readers have been enchanted by the tale of Cinderella, of how a nobleman's daughter escaped a life of servitude with the help of a pumpkin, a pair of glass slippers and her Fairy Godmother. But the truth is very different from the fairytale yet no less extraordinary. Marigold and Gardenia Roche have simple dreams; to marry well and live happily ever after. Yet this is a tricky proposition when neither heralds from money nor could be considered a great beauty. But two events are about to change the lives of everyone in the tiny Kingdom of Andovia: the first is the announcement of a great ball, at which the Crown Prince has vowed to choose a bride. The second is the arrival of a widowed French nobleman and his beautiful daughter. Two events, seemingly unconnected, and yet both will have dire consequences for all – unless something is done. Marigold and Gardenia's lives are about to become entwined with the girl who would be Queen. And yet few will ever know the dangers they faced nor the sacrifices they made to save a vainglorious Kingdom from the damsel with the crocodile smile.
  Every child knows the story of Cinderella. But this is the story of Marigold and Gardenia Roche – otherwise known as the Ugly Sisters. And it is no fairytale.
  »One of the few writers to make me laugh out loud.« – David Baddiel, Comedian
  »One of Britain's best kept literary secrets.« – The Big Issue in the North

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  The Girl Who Could Breathe Under...

  Erin Bartels

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  The best fiction simply tells the truth.  
  But the truth is never simple. 
   
  When novelist Kendra Brennan moves into her grandfather's old cabin on Hidden Lake, she has a problem and a plan. The problem? An inflammatory letter from A Very Disappointed Reader. The plan? To confront Tyler, her childhood best friend's brother--and the man who inspired the antagonist in her first book. If she can prove that she told the truth about what happened during those long-ago summers, perhaps she can put the letter's claims to rest and meet the swiftly approaching deadline for her next book. 
   
  But what she discovers as she delves into the murky past is not what she expected. While facing Tyler isn't easy, facing the consequences of her failed friendship with his sister, Cami, may be the hardest thing she's ever had to do.  
   
  Plumb the depths of the human heart with this emotional exploration of how a friendship dies, how we can face the unforgivable, and how even those who have been hurt can learn to love with abandon. 
   
   
  Praise for the novels of Erin Bartels 
   
  "Bartels proves herself a master wordsmith and storyteller."--Library Journal starred review of All That We Carried 
   
  "A story of love found in the written word and love found because of the written word."--Booklist on The Words between Us 
   
  "A deeply moving story of heartbreak, long-held secrets, and the bonds of family."--Publishers Weekly starred review of We Hope for Better Things

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  The First Murder

  Carol Goodman Kaufman

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  The ME ruled her death an accident. He was dead wrong.
   
  When Mary Jane Bennett is found dead in her bed— alone, strangled by her own scarf, and with every door in the house locked — the medical examiner rules her death accidental, the result of a sex game gone horribly awry. State police decline to investigate further, but Queensbridge Police Chief Caleb Crane doesn't buy for a minute that his good friend died this way, so he undertakes his own investigation. Facing town councilors afraid of bad publicity, an angry medical examiner, and his own personal demons, he labors to solve what he believes is the first-ever murder in his pastoral Berkshire Hills village. Complicating things: the list of suspects includes some of the people to whom he is closest — including his own wife.
   
  “. . . [a] smartly-paced debut novel . . .”—Gerald Elias, author of the Daniel Jacobus mystery series
   
  “. . . one of my favorite mystery reads this year . . . With a talent reminiscent of Louise Penny, Kaufman creates a small town ambience of alliances and hidden resentments among characters whose humanity draws you in while raising your suspicions. The First Murder is an engaging and intriguing journey to an exciting conclusion.”—Sharon Healy-Yang, author of the Jessica Minton Mystery Series
   
  “. . . [a] deftly constructed debut novel [that] kept me guessing until the very end.”—Leslie Wheeler, award-winning author of the Berkshire Hilltown Mysteries

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  Escape from Paradise

  Robert J. Szmidt

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  A secret hidden on a colony world could affect the course of a war between humanity and an alien civilization in this bestselling space opera from Poland. It is the mid-twenty-fourth century. After colonizing a significant portion of Orion’s Arm, humanity encounters an advanced alien civilization, which—unwilling to make contact—starts a total war. There is more at stake here than just the conquest of territory. It’s a matter of survival for the human race.  On one of the hurriedly evacuated planets, Captain Darski wages his own private war to save as many people as possible. The colony in the Ulietta System hides a much bigger secret, though—one that could possibly alter the course of the war. Book two in The Fields of Long-Forgotten Battles series.

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  Grey Dog

  Elliott Gish

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  “Gish’s prose is as sharp as a scalpel.” — Publishers Weekly, starred review
  		 
  “Grey Dog is a bewitching tale of the horrors of spinsterhood in the early 1900s, with madness and magic threaded through every sentence.” — Heather O’Neill, author of When We Lost Our Heads and Lullabies for Little Criminals
  		 
  A subversive literary horror novel that disrupts the tropes of women’s historical fiction with delusions, wild beasts, and the uncontainable power of female rage
  		 
  The year is 1901, and Ada Byrd — spinster, schoolmarm, amateur naturalist — accepts a teaching post in isolated Lowry Bridge, grateful for the chance to re-establish herself where no one knows her secrets. She develops friendships with her neighbors, explores the woods with her students, and begins to see a future in this tiny farming community. Her past — riddled with grief and shame — has never seemed so far away.
  		 
  But then, Ada begins to witness strange and grisly phenomena: a swarm of dying crickets, a self-mutilating rabbit, a malformed faun. She soon believes that something old and beastly — which she calls Grey Dog — is behind these visceral offerings, which both beckon and repel her. As her confusion deepens, her grip on what is real, what is delusion, and what is traumatic memory loosens, and Ada takes on the wildness of the woods, behaving erratically and pushing her newfound friends away. In the end, she is left with one question: What is the real horror? The Grey Dog, the uncontainable power of female rage, or Ada herself?

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