Join us on a literary world trip!

Subscribe to read the full book or read the first pages for free!

I want to read the book!

All characters reduced

Peony - A Novel of China - cover

Peony - A Novel of China

Pearl S. Buck

Publisher: Open Road Media

0
1
0

Summary

A young Chinese woman falls in love with a Jewish man in nineteenth-century China in this evocative novel by the Nobel Prize–winning author of The Good Earth. In 1850s China, a young girl, Peony, is sold to work as a bondmaid for a rich Jewish family in Kaifeng. Jews have lived for centuries in this region of the country, but by the mid-nineteenth century, assimilation has begun taking its toll on their small enclave. When Peony and the family’s son, David, grow up and fall in love with one another, they face strong opposition from every side. Tradition forbids the marriage, and the family already has a rabbi’s daughter in mind for David. Long celebrated for its subtle and even-handed treatment of colliding traditions, Peony is an engaging coming-of-age story about love, identity, and the tragedy and beauty found at the intersection of two disparate cultures.   This ebook features an illustrated biography of Pearl S. Buck including rare images from the author’s estate.

Available since: 08/21/2012.

Print length: 339 pages.

Other books that might interest you

Secrets of a Proper Lady - cover

Secrets of a Proper Lady

Victoria Alexander

0
0
0

The delicious series about four men desperately trying to avoid matrimony continues—from the #1 New York Times–bestselling author of What a Lady Wants. 
 
Lady Cordelia Bannister simply cannot marry a man she has not chosen herself, no matter what her father decrees. So, pretending to be her own companion, she decides to seek out information about her intended by meeting with his secretary—a man who soon beguiles her. But Lady Cordelia doesn’t know the truth—the man she can’t resist is really her intended, Daniel Sinclair. 
 
Daniel has nearly won the wager he made with three of London’s most eligible bachelors. While two of his compatriots have surrendered to the shackles of marriage, he’s remained free to woo any woman he chooses. Yet duty forces him to consider Lady Cordelia, so, determined to find a way to escape honor intact, he continues the masquerade he started. 
 
Each finds the other completely irresistible, but when they uncover their mutual mistaken identities, Daniel and Cordelia must make the most important choice of all . . . 
 
“A laugh-out-loud romantic comedy chockfull of witty dialogue, sensual romance and enough twist and turns to keep readers thoroughly entertained.” —Fresh Fiction 
 
“Alexander knows what her romance readers want—charming characters, sharp banter, missed connections and a happy ending—and delivers with gusto.” —Publishers Weekly

Steadfast Heart (Brides of Seattle Book #1) - cover

Steadfast Heart (Brides of...

Tracie Peterson

0
4
0

Despite her spoiled upbringing, twenty-year-old Lenore Fulcher isn't pretentious. She simply believes a marriage should be built on true love. Her father, however, thinks she's wasted enough time searching for the perfect husband. He wants to marry her off to one of his business partners--who is seventeen years her senior--an idea that is out of the question for Lenore.Kolbein Booth, a young lawyer from Chicago, arrives in Seattle looking for his headstrong sister, who he believes may have answered an advertisement for mail-order brides. Sick with worry, he storms into the Madison Bridal School, demanding to see his sister, only to learn she isn't there. But Lenore Fulcher is, and something about her captures his attention.Is this the man Lenore has been searching for? She may not have long to find out...

Behind the Lines - A Novel - cover

Behind the Lines - A Novel

W. F. Morris

0
0
0

After killing a fellow officer, a British World War I fighter joins the ranks of deserters and outlaws in a suspenseful novel from the author of Bretherton.Behind the Lines follows army man Peter Rawley, who accidentally kills an overbearing, taunting fellow officer and, terrified that he will not receive a fair hearing amid the chaos of the trenches, flees the battlefield. Now a fugitive, Rawley must join forces with other deserters, criminals, and lost soldiers in a hand-to-mouth existence, trying to survive in the no-man’s-land between opposing armies. He will encounter both adventure and disaster, including capture by the Germans and the threat of a firing squad—and will need to call upon his own bravery and the support of the woman he loves to survive. A thriller from the author of Bretherton: Khaki or Field-Grey?—which was praised by the Sunday Times as “a mystery as exciting as a good detective story and an extraordinarily vivid account of trench-warfare”—this is a meditation on the issues of identity and allegiance, as well as the role of chance. Behind the Lines is a classic of WWI fiction and an exciting read that brings the drama of the Great War to life.

The Good Pilot Peter Woodhouse - cover

The Good Pilot Peter Woodhouse

Alexander McCall Smith

0
0
0

From the beloved and bestselling author of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series comes a heartwarming tale of hope and friendship set amid the turmoil of World War II. 
Val Eliot, a young woman working on an English farm during the war, meets Mike, a US Air Force pilot stationed nearby. When Val rescues a Border Collie named Peter Woodhouse, who is being mistreated by his owner, she realizes the dog would actually be safer with Mike. And so Peter Woodhouse finds a new home on the air force base, and Val finds herself falling in love. 
Peter Woodhouse becomes Dog First Class, a canine mascot on the base who boldly accompanies the officers on their missions, and Val becomes Mike's fiancee. But then a disaster jeopardizes the future of them all, and Peter Woodhouse brings Ubi, a German corporal, into their orbit, sparking a friendship that comes with great risk but carries with it the richest of rewards. 
Infused with Alexander McCall Smith's renowned charm and warmth, The Good Pilot Peter Woodhouse is an uplifting story of love and the power of friendship to bring sworn enemies together.

Cashelmara - cover

Cashelmara

Susan Howatch

0
0
0

The New York Times–bestselling saga: In nineteenth-century Ireland, a titled English family keeps an estate in an era of famine and violent conflict.  When Edward de Salis travels to America after the death of his first wife, he is astonished to find himself falling in love with Marguerite, a young woman many years his junior. Full of hope for the future, he returns to his Irish estate, Cashelmara, but in nineteenth-century Ireland—a country racked by poverty and famine—his family eventually becomes trapped in a sinister spiral of violence that Edward could never have foreseen. Cashelmara follows the fortunes of three generations as they struggle to survive both the tragedies of history and their own chaotic lives. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Susan Howatch including rare photos and never-before-seen documents from the author’s personal collection.

Between Tides - cover

Between Tides

Angel Khoury

0
0
0

A captivating historical novel set on Cape Cod and North Carolina's Outer Banks, perfect for fans of Where the Crawdads Sing and Marilynne Robinson's Housekeeping1890s, Cape Cod: Between tides, a man deserts his wife and his post as keeper of the Chatham Beach Lifesaving Station to start a new family far to the south, at Cape Hatteras.1940s: His daughter, en route to serve in World War II with the Red Cross, travels to Cape Cod where she meets his first wife, Blythe, reanimating a life she had long buried: memories of her courtship, her bitter losses, and her husband's slow-motion vanishing.Set on two wild seascapes, Cape Cod and North Carolina's Outer Banks, Between Tides is a lyrical novel for fans of Virginia Woolf, Djuna Barnes, and Marilynne Robinson—a story of two women stitching together a family ripped at the seams and discovering that even through absence, love's presence is everlasting.