Editorial: Alien Ebooks
An austere young scientist is humanized by a brilliant lawyer and his beautiful wife. Terry is a riveting tale of personal growth, enveloped in a tapestry of complex emotions and relationships.
In this panoramic tale of manifest destiny, Stephen Moran comes of age with the young country that he crosses on the Union Pacific, just as the railroad unites the continent. Propelled westward from his Brooklyn neighborhood and the killing fields of the Civil War to the Battle of Little Big Horn, he befriends Walt Whitman, becomes a bugler on President Lincoln’s funeral train, apprentices with frontier photographer William Henry Jackson, and stalks General George Custer. When he comes face-to-face with Crazy Horse, his life will be spared but his dreams haunted for the rest of his days. By turns elegiac and comic, American Meteor is a novel of adventure, ideas, and mourning: a unique vision of America’s fabulous and murderous history.Ver libro
From the bestselling author of The Land Girls comes a beautifully realised novel that speaks to the true history and real experiences of post-war Australian women. Sydney 1945 The war is over, the fight begins. The war is over and so are the jobs (and freedoms) of tens of thousands of Australian women. The armaments factories are making washing machines instead of bullets and war correspondent Tilly Galloway has hung up her uniform and been forced to work on the women's pages of her newspaper - the only job available to her - where she struggles to write advice on fashion and make-up. As Sydney swells with returning servicemen and the city bustles back to post-war life, Tilly finds her world is anything but normal. As she desperately waits for word of her prisoner-of-war husband, she begins to research stories about the lives of the underpaid and overworked women who live in her own city. Those whose war service has been overlooked; the freedom and independence of their war lives lost to them. Meanwhile Tilly's waterside worker father is on strike, and her best friend Mary is struggling to cope with the stranger her own husband has become since being liberated from Changi a broken man. As strikes rip the country apart and the news from abroad causes despair, matters build to a heart-rending crescendo. Tilly realises that for her the war may have ended, but the fight is just beginning...PRAISE 'A richly crafted novel that graphically depicts life during those harrowing years. A touching tale and an enthralling read.' Reader's Digest 'A powerful and moving book.' Canberra WeeklyVer libro
In the late 19th century Sydney, a captivating drama involves amidst the cutthroat world of building barons, reminiscent of ‘Pillars of the Earth’ and Patricia Shaw’s ‘A Cross of Stars’. At its heart is the towering ambition of Leary Contracting entrusted with the monumental task of erecting Sydney’s tallest hotel the awe-inspiring Imperial.John Leary, a man of 55 years, leads his construction empire with an iron grip and is not alone in this endeavour. His two sons play pivotal roles in the family business, but it is his firstborn charismatic yet unpredictable Richard who basks in his father’s favour in stark contrast to Brendan, Richard’s half-brother who has the respect of Leary’s hard-working site men because he seems to have mortar running through his veins. As John tackles the colossal hotel project, he must navigate a labyrinth of bureaucratic red tape and withstand the relentless assault of his fiercest rival. The Imperial, a towering behemoth casts its shadow over the city while an array of tireless workers toils relentlessly to meet the unforgiving deadlines. Richard with his charm and capriciousness weds into high society dazzling the elite of 1885 Sydney while Brendan’s resilience shines when the demands of genuine love arise. John faces an agonising choice as he contemplates the future of Leary’s with only one of his sons fit to lead the family dynasty into the new century. It is only upon the completion of the Imperial that he makes his momentous decision.Succession stands as the third instalment in the Australian Sandstone Series; an evocative journey through the 19th century Sydney narrated from the gritty ground up.Ver libro
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy is one of the greatest masterpieces in world literature—a sweeping epic that intertwines the lives of unforgettable characters against the vast backdrop of history. First published between 1865 and 1869, this monumental novel explores the complexities of human experience through themes of love, conflict, destiny, family, and the search for meaning. Set during the tumultuous period of the Napoleonic Wars, the novel follows several aristocratic Russian families whose lives are profoundly shaped by the forces of political upheaval and military invasion. Among them are the idealistic Pierre Bezukhov, the ambitious and introspective Prince Andrei Bolkonsky, and the spirited and compassionate Natasha Rostova. Through their triumphs and tragedies, Tolstoy examines both the grandeur of historical events and the intimate struggles of personal growth. Rather than presenting history as the result of individual heroes or rulers alone, Tolstoy offers a profound philosophical meditation on the nature of power and destiny. He challenges the traditional view of history, portraying it instead as a complex web of countless individual actions and choices. Battles are depicted not merely as strategic movements, but as chaotic, human experiences filled with fear, courage, confusion, and sacrifice. At the same time, War and Peace is deeply concerned with the private lives of its characters. Love affairs, family bonds, spiritual crises, and moral dilemmas unfold alongside scenes of battlefield drama. Tolstoy masterfully contrasts the brutality of conflict with moments of tenderness and reflection, revealing the resilience of the human spirit even amid uncertainty and loss. The novel's scope is vast, yet its emotional depth is intimate. Tolstoy's rich characterization brings each figure vividly to life, from youthful dreamers to hardened soldiers, from devoted mothers to philosophical seekers. Through their journeys, the novel explores questions of faith, free will, personal responsibility, and the pursuit of inner peace. Epic in scale yet profoundly human at its core, War and Peace stands as a towering achievement of literary art. Its exploration of history, morality, and the complexity of existence continues to resonate with readers around the world. Both a grand historical saga and a deeply personal narrative, it remains a timeless reflection on the forces that shape nations—and the hearts of those who live through them.Ver libro
A “profoundly raw and gripping” novel of a girl’s life of hardship in rural Mississippi (The Baltmore Sun). As a child, Logic Harris survived a fall from a tree—an accident that precipitated her transformation into a young girl lost in her own world. Logic's mother has secretly wished that Logic had not survived, and she now ignores the increasingly apparent evidence of the aberrant attention Logic's father bestows upon his daughter in her adolescence. As her mother retreats into her work as a neighborhood midwife and Logic's father collapses into paranoia, Logic is left to navigate alone what she scarcely understands. In inspired prose, stunning in its imaginative authority, Logic is a chilling allegory about the dangers of silence and a searing portrait of a girl lost in shame and fear, and a family and community too scarred by their own wounds to save her. “Steeped in religious, surreal imagery and references to ordering principles—atoms, alphabets, life's basic materials—Vernon’s abstract language asks precise questions about the chances for survival in a lawless world.”—BooklistVer libro
