The Last Island

From the internationally bestselling author of Disquiet, a brilliant political allegory that vividly illustrates how capitalism and authoritarianism harm us and the environment. Having failed to hold onto power after an ironfisted first term, the former President moves to a secluded island and decides to rid it of what he sees as its “anarchic” components. The island, described by its close-knit community as a utopia, the last peaceful resort for humankind, morphs into dystopia when the President, in the hope of bringing order to island life, begins to act more and more like a dictator. The first ones to revolt against him are the seagulls. Originally written in 2008 as a condemnation of the authoritarian Turkish regime, The Last Island has only grown more relevant, foreshadowing the events and aftermath of Istanbul’s bloody Gezi Park/Taksim Square political protests of 2013, as well as the protest movements of our time.

On the island of St Helena in the south Atlantic ocean, Napoleon spends his last years in exile. It is a hotbed of gossip and secret liaisons, where a blind eye is turned to relations between colonials and slaves. The disgraced emperor is subjected to vicious and petty treatment by his captors, but he forges an unexpected ally: a rebellious British girl, Betsy, who lives on the island with her family and becomes his unlikely friend. Based on fact, Napoleon's Last Island is the surprising story of one of history's most enigmatic figures and a British family who dared to associate with him. It is a tale of vengeance, duplicity and loyalty, and of a man whose charisma made him dangerous to the end.

A universal tale of escape, love and redemption. A Boston fireman, in an attempt to flee personal and professional tragedy, accepts a job as a bartender on a Greek island. In an isolated cove, he meets Kerryn, an animal rights activist who believes dolphins possess consciousness, intelligence and souls. Kerryn enjoys an extraordinary and personal relationship with a dolphin and is waging a covert war to stop the local fishermen from using illegal nets that not only deplete the sea of fish but also take dolphins' lives. The fireman is pulled into this conflict as his relationship with Kerryn deepens. But Kerryn's passion and convictions lead her to make a fatal decision that changes the island and both their lives forever. The novel's emotional landscape and its themes of environmentalism, animal rights, and the costs of capitalism make The Last Island both timely and timeless.

In 1814 Napoleon Bonaparte arrived on St. Helena for a surreal exile that would last until his death six years later. • "Dazzling... a compelling meditation on Napoleon's exile...Blackburn has brought her startlingly imaginative sensitivity to bear on a vanished time."—The New York Times Book Review “A resonant meditation on exile, fame, the stories we tell about ourselves (and) the bigger stories we tell about our great figures.” —Los Angeles Times Book Review

A traveler with insatiable wanderlust, journalist and ethnographer Lafcadio Hearn spent much of his life journeying to new and unfamiliar cultures. After spending some time in New Orleans, Hearn became interested in the fate of a barrier island off the Gulf Coast that had been destroyed by a tropical storm. It is this doomed island that forms the centerpiece of Hearn's engrossing novel Chita.

From the internationally bestselling author of Disquiet, a brilliant political allegory that vividly illustrates how capitalism and authoritarianism harm us and the environment. Having failed to hold onto power after an ironfisted first term, the former President moves to a secluded island and decides to rid it of what he sees as its “anarchic” components. The island, described by its close-knit community as a utopia, the last peaceful resort for humankind, morphs into dystopia when the President, in the hope of bringing order to island life, begins to act more and more like a dictator. The first ones to revolt against him are the seagulls. Originally written in 2008 as a condemnation of the authoritarian Turkish regime, The Last Island has only grown more relevant, foreshadowing the events and aftermath of Istanbul’s bloody Gezi Park/Taksim Square political protests of 2013, as well as the protest movements of our time.

"This historical novel takes the reader back to this South Louisiana barrier island during the heyday of the steamboats. ""Remember Last Island,"" the ultimate hurricane warning issued even today, shows the reader a life of luxury at this exclusive resort th"

World Literature Today: Notable Translation of the Year PopMatters: Best Book of the Year From the internationally bestselling author of Serenade for Nadia, a powerful story of love and faith amidst the atrocities committed by ISIS against the Yazidi people. Disquiet transports the reader to the contemporary Middle East through the stories of Meleknaz, a Yazidi Syrian refugee, and Hussein, a young man from the Turkish city of Mardin near the Syrian border. Passionate about helping others, Hussein begins visiting a refugee camp to tend to the thousands of poor and sick streaming into Turkey, fleeing ISIS. There, he falls in love with Meleknaz—whom his disapproving family will call “the devil” who seduced him—and their relationship sets further tragedy in motion. A nuanced meditation on the nature of being human and an empathetic, probing look at the past and present of these Mesopotamian lands, Disquiet gives voice to the peoples, faiths, histories, and stories that have swept through this region over centuries.