Cecilia, or, Memoirs of an heiress

Sample

Vanina Marsot

Anna has just had her heart broken in LA. But unlike most women who have been unlucky with love, she has an enviable backup plan - she uses her dual citizenship and moves to Paris to live in her aunt's empty (and free) apartment. Paris, the city of romance, might not seem like the easiest place to mend a broken heart, but Anna tries to find solace in the cobble-stoned streets, fresh bread, delectable pastries, and sexy Parisian men. While there, she finds a job translating a mysterious, erotic French novel by a famous French author who is staying anonymous. As she is intrigued by his story and taken in by the mystery behind the book, she learns more about herself and how to find the best parts of her French and American self.

Sample

Charles Dickens

Upon its publication in 1857, Little Dorrit immediately outsold any of Dickens's previous books. The story of William Dorrit, imprisoned for debt in Marshalsea Prison, and his daughter and helpmate, Amy, or Little Dorrit, the novel charts the progress of the Dorrit family from poverty to riches. In his Introduction, David Gates argues that "intensity of imagination is the gift from which Dickens's other great attributes derive: his eye and ear, his near-universal empathy, his ability to entertain both a sense of the ridiculous and a sense of ultimate significance.

Sample

Michael Moorcock

"The narrator, Dennis Dover, son of 'the last real Londoner to be hanged for murder', is born and raised in Brookgate, an inner London area rich in multi-layered histories and resonances. He grows to adulthood streetwise and savvy - and deeply attached to his beautiful, brilliant cousin Rosie Beck with whom he has an almost telepathic empathy. But neither Dennis nor Rosie can foresee the inexorable rise of John Barbican Begg, the financial genius and unscrupulous schemer who, despite their resistance, latches lamprey-like onto their lives. As Dennis pursues a dual career as underground rock guitarist and intrepid photojournalist while Rosie devotes her intelligence and energies to helping the poor of the world, Barbican builds a commercial empire whose unprecedented wealth and power dwarfs that of most nation states.". "Rosie, Dennis and Barbican follow their different paths, drawing towards a spectacular joint resolution of their destinies at one of the most historic nodal points of the Old World."--BOOK JACKET.

Sample

Maher, Kevin

A warm and funny debut about a young man in trouble and a family in love and in pieces. Over the summer, Jim wins the attention of a beautiful older girl-but he also becomes the unwilling target of a devious religious figure in the community. His life starts to unravel as he faces consequences from both his love for his girlfriend and his attempts to avoid the Parish Priest. When he and his girlfriend take a ferry for a clandestine trip to London, the dark and difficult repercussions from the trip force Jim to look for the solution to all his problems in some very unusual places. THE FIELDS is an unforgettable story of an extraordinary character. It's a portrait of a boy who sinks into troubles as he grows into a man, and the loving but fractured family that might be his downfall-or his salvation. Lyrical, funny, and endlessly inventive, it is a brilliant debut from a remarkable new voice.