The Inn At The Edge Of The World

Five strangers gather at Eric's inn on a remote Hebridean island after he advertises in the London weeklies for "Christmas at the edge of the world." Harry, a military widower, is fascinated by General Gordon and the last days of Khartoum. Jessica is a voice-over artist and actress. Jon is a vain actor who is dangerously obsessed with Jessica. Anita, a salesperson in the stationary department of a store and, Ronald, a psychoanalyst who is pining for the cooking and domestic skills of his recently departed wife. Each has their own reasons for escaping the usual festivities, but the refuge of the island is complicated as Eric's wife Mabel flounces out at the last minute and the locals and visitors mingle and clash. A beautifully timed comic novel with a hint of the supernatural.

Sam's family lives a boring, gray life in Charcoal City, but one day, they decide to leave the city behind and open the Inn at the Edge of the World. Suddenly, every day is a magical adventure. With quirky guests and silly setbacks, a night at the Inn is anything but boring!

ORPHANED BY THE plague and penniless, Mateo must find his way in the world. By chance he is made a cabin boy on the celebrated voyage of Captain-General Ferdinand Magellan. The destination is secret, but the crew whispers that Magellan will be the first to sail east to the Spice Islands by going west—and everyone shall return with untold riches. At sea, Mateo discovers the meaning of friendship, loyalty, and hard work, as well as the delight of first love. But when the ocean rages and brother turns against brother, both Mateo and Magellan are in danger—and it’s not clear if anyone will survive. . . . “Torrey deftly maintains the taut thread of adventure that, along with the cast of memorable characters, keep the pages turning.”—Publishers Weekly, Starred “This deserves to be in the hands of every reader who loves history and adventure.”—Kirkus Reviews

In this riveting sequel to the Newbery-Award winning Crispin: The Cross of Lead--the second book in a planned trilogy--Avi explores themes of war, religion, and family as he continues the adventures of Crispin and Bear. The more I came to know of the world, the more I knew I knew it not. He was a nameless orphan, marked for death by his masters for an unknown crime. Discovering his name- Crispin-only intensified the mystery. Then Crispin met Bear, who helped him learn the secret of his full identity. And in Bear-the enormous, red-bearded juggler, sometime spy, and everyday philosopher-Crispin also found a new father and a new world. Now Crispin and Bear have set off to live their lives as free men. But they don't get far before their past catches up with them: Bear is being pursued by members of the secret brotherhood who believe he is an informer. When Bear is badly wounded, it is up to Crispin to make decisions about their future-where to go, whom to trust. Along the way they become entangled with an extraordinary range of people, each of whom affects Crispin and Bear's journey in unexpected ways. To find freedom and safety, they may have to travel to the edge of the world-even if it means confronting death itself.

Set in a world on the edge of an apocalyptic flood, this heart-stoppingly romantic fantasy debut is perfect for fans of Rachel Hartman and Rae Carson. In a world bound for an epic flood, only a chosen few are guaranteed safe passage into the new world once the waters recede. The Kostrovian royal court will be saved, of course, along with their guards. But the fate of the court's Royal Flyers, a lauded fleet of aerial silk performers, is less certain. Hell-bent on survival, Principal Flyer, Natasha Koskinen, will do anything to save the flyers, who are the only family she's ever known. Even if "anything" means molding herself into the type of girl who could be courted by Prince Nikolai. But unbeknownst to Natasha, her newest recruit, Ella Neves, is driven less by her desire to survive the floods than her thirst for revenge. And Ella's mission could put everything Natasha has worked for in peril. As the oceans rise, so too does an undeniable spark between the two flyers. With the end of the world looming, and dark secrets about the Kostrovian court coming to light, Ella and Natasha can either give in to despair . . . or find a new reason to live.

Queen Elizabeth’s spymasters recruit an unlikely agent—the only Muslim in England—for an impossible mission in a mesmerizing novel from “one of the best writers in America” (The Washington Post) “Evokes flashes of Hilary Mantel, John le Carré and Graham Greene, but the wry, tricky plot that drives it is pure Arthur Phillips.”—The Wall Street Journal NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW AND THE WASHINGTON POST The year is 1601. Queen Elizabeth I is dying, childless. Her nervous kingdom has no heir. It is a capital crime even to think that Elizabeth will ever die. Potential successors secretly maneuver to be in position when the inevitable occurs. The leading candidate is King James VI of Scotland, but there is a problem. The queen’s spymasters—hardened veterans of a long war on terror and religious extremism—fear that James is not what he appears. He has every reason to claim to be a Protestant, but if he secretly shares his family’s Catholicism, then forty years of religious war will have been for nothing, and a bloodbath will ensue. With time running out, London confronts a seemingly impossible question: What does James truly believe? It falls to Geoffrey Belloc, a secret warrior from the hottest days of England’s religious battles, to devise a test to discover the true nature of King James’s soul. Belloc enlists Mahmoud Ezzedine, a Muslim physician left behind by the last diplomatic visit from the Ottoman Empire, as his undercover agent. The perfect man for the job, Ezzedine is the ultimate outsider, stranded on this cold, wet, and primitive island. He will do almost anything to return home to his wife and son. Arthur Phillips returns with a unique and thrilling novel that will leave readers questioning the nature of truth at every turn.

In the summer of '87, Chris Marshal travels to the Western Isles of Scotland and spends the night in a remote mountain hut. There, he's joined by an adventurous backpacker, Jen Munroe, who invites him to go with her on the trip of a lifetime, just the two of them, hiking along the old Hippy trail, all the way to India. But Chris is shy, and afraid of this bold, confident woman. He says no, then wakes the following morning to find her gone. It's then he realizes going with her was actually the one thing his life actually needed, that he's now doomed to spend the rest of it searching for the essence of what it was he lost that day. Through the cold-war of the eighties, the surveillance-capitalism and political disintegration of the early twenty-first century, and finally into the depths of a very British dystopia, Chris does his best to adapt, but is forever wishing he could turn back time, and strike out along a more authentic path. And of course, never far from his thoughts is Jen. She's never far from his dreams either, and in particular his strange recurring dreams of the Inn at the Edge of Light, a place where there's always a welcome, wise counsel, and a warm bed for the night. Here too might lie the answer to the enigma of his life, if he could only work out why it is the landlord keeps asking him if he's happy always with the same room,... Or if he'd like a change now and then.

Save lives... Or take them? A gripping novel of the Roman frontier. Ebook includes a new short story, entitled The West Pasture Army Medic Postumus Justinius Corvus is a long way from his native Britannia, in the Syrian provinces at the far corner of Empire. But now he is going home, unexpectedly promoted to Senior Surgeon in the Sixth. The new Emperor faces problems in the far flung island at the edge of Empire. Trouble is brewing north of the Wall. The tribes are stirring, a new conflict is brewing, old and new loyalties will be tested. Postumus will find himself at the heart of the maelstrom – and with his hands soaked in blood... Deeply researched and utterly enthralling, this is a searing historical epic perfect for fans of Ben Kane, Conn Iggulden and Bernard Cornwell. Praise for The Wall at the Edge of the World ‘A fine mix of story and history, and the author manages to shed light on a period when the Roman Empire flexed its muscles at the edge of the world’ Historical Novel Society ‘The finest sense of history, character and narrative I’ve seen since Rosemary Sutcliffe’ Delia Sherman, author of Changeling