The Good Companions

A world-shaping event revives old favorites, introduces new complications—and moves hero Drizzt Do'Urden into a restored era of the Forgotten Realms Alone and with his fate hanging in the balance, Drizzt Do'Urden reflects on the lives of the trusted allies who stood by his side throughout his early life—the friends now known as the Companions of the Hall. Unbeknownst to him, the goddess Mielikki has given Bruenor, Catti-brie, Regis, and Wulfgar the chance to return to the world they left behind. Reborn as children but with their memories still intact, the friends must find a way back to one another—and to their lone Companion, Drizzt. Meanwhile, three seemingly unrelated commoners, growing up across the far reaches of the Forgotten Realms, display incredible feats of power. Against all odds, they hold the fate of Drizzt Do'Urden in their hands—a fate that is far from certain. For in the shadows, a cunning cabal of wizards is watching, intent on hunting the "Chosen" mortals who have been blessed by the gods. These wizards know something mere commoners do not: Long-forgotten gods have begun to stir. Long-lost lands have begun to tremble. The world around them is about to change—and these wizards will do whatever it takes to turn the coming chaos to their advantage. The Companions is the first book in the Sundering series and the twenty-seventh book in the Legend of Drizzt series.

The wonderfully entertaining new novel from bestselling author of The Fall and Rise of Reggie Perrin.

LAURA PURCELL'S THRILLING NEW NOVEL THE WHISPERING MUSE IS AVAILABLE TO PREORDER NOW Winner of the W H Smith Thumping Good Read Award As featured on the Radio 2 Book Club and the Zoe Ball ITV Book Club '[An] extraordinary, memorable and truly haunting book' Jojo Moyes '[It] shone, for originality for the sheer quality of the writing, the characters and some masterly chills' Peter James Some doors are locked for a reason... Newly married, newly widowed Elsie is sent to see out her pregnancy at her late husband's crumbling country estate, The Bridge. With her new servants resentful and the local villagers actively hostile, Elsie only has her husband's awkward cousin for company. Or so she thinks. For inside her new home lies a locked room, and beyond that door lies a two-hundred-year-old diary and a deeply unsettling painted wooden figure – a Silent Companion – that bears a striking resemblance to Elsie herself...

This text is a collection of letters that were sent over a period of seven years, between a mother and daughter who lived in South Carolina and Philadelphia respectively. The correspondence offers a sweeping view of antebellum Charleston, Philadelphia and Newport, Rhode Island.

What will it be like to admit Artificial Companions into our society? How will they change our relations with each other? How important will they be in the emotional and practical lives of their owners – since we know that people became emotionally dependent even on simple devices like the Tamagotchi? How much social life might they have in contacting each other? The contributors to this book discuss the possibility and desirability of some form of long-term computer Companions now being a certainty in the coming years. It is a good moment to consider, from a set of wide interdisciplinary perspectives, both how we shall construct them technically as well as their personal philosophical and social consequences. By Companions we mean conversationalists or confidants – not robots – but rather computer software agents whose function will be to get to know their owners over a long period. Those may well be elderly or lonely, and the contributions in the book focus not only on assistance via the internet (contacts, travel, doctors etc.) but also on providing company and Companionship, by offering aspects of real personalization.

'Antoni Jach takes one of the oldest of storytelling forms, the traveller who shares with us the tales of other travellers, and makes new magic from it. Travelling Companions is a joy from start to finish.’ — John Connolly, author of he: A Novel and the Charlie Parker series Solitary travellers and a couple encounter Nina, an eloquent storyteller, on their travels through Spain, France and Italy. She entrances them all with her tales, which prompts her fellow travelling companions to share their own stories. A handsome young man from Staten Island, who believes that life forms exist in other galaxies, vows to never work in an office again and travels by container ship to a commune in Italy. A lonely postal worker from Lodz takes home and reads the most interesting love letters, often becoming convinced a relationship needs his intervention, before delivering them the next day. A woman named Pauline calls herself Kim because her surname is Nowak. Depressed about turning forty, she mysteriously disappears from her own birthday party. Told by people on a journey, these are stories – rich with unexpected wisdoms – of lives in transit. Travelling Companions is charming, amusing and philosophical – a wholly original exploration of what it means to honour our strangest dreams and disappointments. It is both a confrontation with, and a sweet diversion from, these, the darkest of times. ‘In the tradition of Boccaccio and Chaucer, Jach is an extraordinarily inventive fabulist for late capitalism, seducing his reader into an ever-expansive web of captivating and often hilarious stories from likely – and unlikely — travelling companions.’ — Marion May Campbell, author of Shadow Thief and Konkretion ‘Travelling Companions is a hybrid travelogue of Europe and the strangeness of the human spirit. It reminds us that storytelling is different from ‘fiction’ — it catches us in a different pulse and breath as we open ourselves to even the most far-fetched and ironic pleasures of the tale. It leads our tourists further than mere travelling: these stories transport them, with folly, irony, humour and endless pleasure.’ — Philip Salom, author of The Returns and The Fifth Season