As a toddler Elodie Jacques was abandoned by her mother and left in the care of her French grandmother, Gabriella in Dartmouth, Devon. Now 24 years old, Elodie struggles to reconcile the deep anger for the mother she has never since seen. When Gabriella unexpectedly announces she wants the two of them to spend Christmas and her 70th birthday in her home town of Juan-les-Pins in the South of France Elodie is thrilled.Gabriella meanwhile has her own ulterior motives for wanting to return after 40 years, a daunting homecoming potentially filled with memories, secrets and recriminations. With Juan-les-Pins pulsing with lights, decorations and the festive spirit, Christmas promises to be filled with fun. But when Elodie learns there is the possibility that her long absent mother may join them she hides her feelings behind a show of indifference and animosity. Will there be the reconciliation that Gabriella longs for -- or will the spirit of Christmas fail to work its magic?
At fourteen the unworldly, idealistic Jack Easy leaves the luxury of his father's estate in England and sails into a world of action and adventure aboard the sloop of war HMS Harpy. At first Jack finds it hard to stomach the discipline of naval life and, with his mischievous sense of humor, is always getting himself into scrapes. But soon he is bravely taming a band of mutineering seamen, outwitting a wily and murderous Sicilian nobleman, and breathing the smell of gunpowder and raw steel as the Harpy chases Spanish ships on the Mediterranean.
Told in a continuous monologue from patient to psychoanalyst, this novel draws us into the turbulent mind of one lust-ridden young Jewish bachelor named Alexander Portnoy.
Jonah Hargrove joins the mysterious River, a teenage girl carrying thousands of dollars in stolen meth. They are pursued by local drug kingpin John Curtis and his murderous enforcer, Dakota Cade. But Cade and Curtis have their own enemies, and keeping tabs on everyone is the Thin Man, a silent assassin. As their final paths collide and all are forced to come to terms with their choices, their circumstances, and their own definition of God.
As a boy, Dick Falkner ran away from abject poverty and an abusive alcoholic father. Sixteen years later, he finds himself hungry of body and empty of spirit in a Midwestern town. Although he finds no help in this so-called Christian town, he is eventually taken in by George Udell, a local publisher and kindhearted man. Through hard work and Christian morals, this man, who becomes known as "that printer of Udell's," rises above his past to a new, inspiring life with God.
