The highly-anticipated novel from the best-selling author of 'The Joy Luck Club' and 'The Bonesetter's Daughter'. On an ill-fated art expedition of the Southern Shan State in Burma, eleven Americans leave their Floating Island Resort for a Christmas morning tour -- and disappear. Through the twists of fate, curses, and just plain human error, they find themselves deep in the Burma jungle, where they encounter a tribe awaiting the return of the leader and the mythical book of wisdom that will protect them from the ravages and destruction of the Myanmar military regime. Filled with Amy Tan's signature 'idiosyncratic, sympathetic characters, haunting images, historical complexity, significant contemporary themes, and suspenseful mystery' (Los Angeles Times), 'Saving Fish from Drowning' seduces the reader with a facade of Buddhist illusions, magical tricks, and light comedy, even as the absurd and picaresque spiral into a gripping morality tale about the consequences of intentions -- both good and bad -- and of the shared responsibility that individuals must accept for the actions of others.

Saving Fish from Drowning

Literature & Fiction

TAN, AMY.

Contemporary

Ballantine Books, Inc.

Artifact of the System: The Black Hole Travel Agency Book 2

Science Fiction & Fantasy

Jack McKinney

Fantasy

The Fate

With his gold stolen and his daughter kidnapped, Drogovich has  no choice but to call on sheriff and doctor Santiago Toole, whose  investigation uncovers a secret connection between Drogovich and the  robbers.

Rebecca S. Wheeler

Genre Fiction

Drawing on diaries, memoirs, and letters written by members of the Austen family,this sympathetic and probing biography enters the private world of Jane Austen,  revealing experiences and observations she drew upon to write such masterpieces as Northanger Abbey, Persuasion, Pride and Prejudice, and Sense and Sensibility. Austen's childhood is recreated, sketching her devotion to her ambitious parents and drawing a lively picture of Jane's two brothers—one of whom served with Nelson's navy at Trafalgar—and of Jane's closest confidante, her elder sister Cassandra. Set against a backdrop of rural Hampshire and Bath, Austen's life moves between a closely observed domestic setting with family and friends to descriptions of dances and parties, social mores, and malice. This account brings new insights into her checkered love life, her moments of loneliness and frustration, and her ironic appreciation of her situation as an intelligent, economically dependent woman.

Jane Austen: Her Life

Biographies & Memoirs

Park Honan

Arts & Literature

When cowboy artist Willie Russell is murdered on the Branding Iron Ranch, Sheriff Charles Matthews faces a mystery that seems built on the bones of the past. Willie Russell leaves behind sketches that illustrate a century-old legend of a brutal outlaw, a beautiful young woman, and the lost Santiago Crucifix, a three-foot-tall cross of solid gold. With only the sketches, the footprints of Johnny Brentwood, and very little else, Charles focuses on the eerie links between past and present events. Were Willie's sketches the story of the past, or a portent of the future?

The Sheriff and the Branding Iron Murders

D. R. Meredith

Children's Books

Clan of the Warlord

Elizabeth H. Boyer

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK A modern classic of personal journalism, "The Orchid Thief" is Susan Orlean's wickedly funny, elegant, and captivating tale of an amazing obsession. From Florida's swamps to its courtrooms, the New Yorker writer follows one deeply eccentric and oddly attractive man's possibly criminal pursuit of an endangered flower. Determined to clone the rare ghost orchid, Polyrrhiza lindenii, John Laroche leads Orlean on an unforgettable tour of America's strange flower-selling subculture, along with the Seminole Indians who help him and the forces of justice who fight him. In the end, Orlean-and the reader-will have more respect for underdog determination and a powerful new definition of passion. Praise for The Orchid Thief: "Fascinating . . . tales of theft, hatred, greed, jealousy, madness, and backstabbing . . . an engrossing journey." "-Los Angeles Times" "Irresistible . . . a brilliantly reported account of an illicit scheme to housebreak Florida's wild and endangered ghost orchid . . . Its central figure is John Laroche, the 'oddball ultimate' of a subculture whose members are so enthralled by orchids they 'pursue them like lovers.' " "-Minneapolis Star Tribune" "Artful . . . in Ms. Orlean's skillful handling, her orchid story turns out to be distinctly 'something more.' . . . [Her] portrait of her sometimes sad-making orchid thief allows the reader to discover acres of opportunity where intriguing things can be found." "-The New York Times" "Zestful . . . a swashbuckling piece of reporting that celebrates some virtues that made America great." "-The Wall Street Journal" "Deliciously weird . . . compelling." "-Detroit Free Press"

The Orchid Thief : A True Story of Beauty and Obsession

Crafts, Hobbies & Home

Orlean, Susan

Gardening & Landscape Design

Ken MacKay's career in space was going nowhere. The decrepit trading ship he served on was also going nowhere: the Rustam's Slipper was grounded on Schuyler's World, a backwater planet lacking even a good bar. For diversion, Schuyler's offered bad bars, cute yet conniving aliens called Rodents, and Catarina -- a mysterious, beautiful, unsettlingly smart woman. Catarina Wanted a berth on the Slipper; the Slipper needed a crew member. She Was hired.But Ken soon discovered that Catarina was more than a vamp with a razor-sharp wit. First was her case of McLendon's Syndrome, an obscure little contagious disease treatable only with chocolate-chip cookies. Then there were all the secrets she was hiding. So she wasn't the most trustworthy ally a guy could want as the Slipper hurried straight into murder, mayhem, intrigue, and an interspecies war -- but she was all Ken had. And unless she helped Ken whip the crew into shape and muster the misfits and malcontents of Schuyler's World, it would be the shortest war on record...Del Rey DiscoveryExperience the wonder of discovery with Del Rey's newest authors!

Mclendon's Syndrome (Del Rey Discovery)

Robert A. Frezza

World War 3

Ian Slater

Arctic Front (World War 3)

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