Nel Everett, a young American woman, is touring Italy with her famous musician husband when, in a moment of fury, she pulls down her luggage and gets off the train. As her life speeds away down the tracks, Nel is marooned and on her own for the first time in eight years. Bewildered, Nel returns to Venice where she encounters a tiny dog who leads her to a enigmatic stranger, a contessa, and a decaying Gothic palazzo. She is soon drawn into a world of charismatic characters, centuries of Venetian history, and the mystery of a lost masterpiece. What begins as a tale of loneliness and heartbreak opens into a dazzling, enchanting story of secrets and self-discovery in a magical city.

Witnessing a murder while on vacation, a detective is drawn into a twisting case in “another tour de force” for the New York Times bestseller (Publishers Weekly). As a newly appointed Scotland Yard superintendent, Richard Jury takes a much-needed holiday in West Yorkshire. But the respite is short-lived when he observes a woman shoot her husband at an inn called The Old Silent. With no question of “whodunit”, Jury is determined to discover why. Snooping outside his jurisdiction leads him to the dark tale of a kidnapped music prodigy—as more murders ratchet up the stakes. Now caught up in a triple murder, Jury would go to any lengths to help Nell Healey, the lovely widow of one of the victims. But Nell Healey remains silent as the Yorkshire moors, quiet as the grave, while the scope of the mystery widens.

This book provides a comprehensive picture of Venice’s shipping industry from the days of glory to its definitive decline, challenging the accepted hierarchy of the political, economic, and environmental factors impacting the history of the maritime republic.

Every story has a dark side, and this story belongs to Cam, the brooding, bad-boy dark angel FALLEN readers love. High school can be hell. Cam knows what it’s like to be haunted. He’s spent more time in Hell than any angel ever should. And his freshest Hell is high school, where Lilith, the girl he can’t stop loving, is serving out a punishment for his crimes. Cam made a bet with Lucifer: he has fifteen days to convince the only girl who really matters to him to love him again. If he succeeds, Lilith will be allowed back into the world, and they can live their lives together. But if he fails . . . there’s a special place in Hell just for him. Tick-tock. Spread your wings and cry as bad boy dark angel Cam finally reveals his anguished heart in the epic FALLEN novel, UNFORGIVEN.

Frustrated by a regime of statutory testing, and keen for a midlife adventure, Sue Cowley and her partner decided to step out of the system, and set off on the educational adventure of a lifetime with their children. Road School is the story of their family's adventures around Europe and across China, and what they learned along the way. Part comedy travelogue, part parenting guide, part educational philosophy, Road School asks you to consider what 'an education' really means and offers tips for anyone planning their own learning adventure. As a parent in the UK, you must make sure that your child has a full time education, once they are of compulsory school age. However, this education does not have to take place in a school. A growing number of parents are finding that home educating, or 'unschooling', either permanently or on a short term basis, is a viable and attractive option. The national curriculum, benchmark tests and exams serve to reinforce the idea that there is a specific set of knowledge which equates to 'an education'. However, when you are home educating, it is entirely up to you what and how you wish to teach your children. Or, rather, what and how you wish your children to learn. You might choose to include part or everything that is in the national curriculum, or you might not. Sue's family found that one of the best things about Road School was the freedom to follow their interests. Sue offers plenty of advice based on the lessons her family learned on their Road School adventure, such as: take into account how learning can happen simply by visiting a place and exploring it. Don't feel that you always have to formalise your visit by turning it into a 'lesson'. The experience of going somewhere can be memorable and educational in its own right. Much of what your children will learn on the road is social and emotional rather than intellectual. They learn how to cope, how to adapt, how to be resilient and how to be brave. The challenges and difficulties that you face on the road will teach them all these things without any direct 'teaching' needed at all. Involve your children in making decisions about the content of their curriculum, particularly when it comes to choosing topics or themes. What would they most like to study during your learning journey together? You can teach subjects such as English or history through cross-curricular 'themes' rather than as discrete lessons. Ask your children to decide which topics interest them the most and capitalise on those. One of the great things about educating your child yourself is that you get to learn alongside them. Not only do you provide a model of lifelong learning, but it's also very liberating to learn new things as an adult. Remember that teaching is not the same thing as learning. You don't have to teach your children directly for a set number of hours each day in order to educate them. Learning can take place all the time, and anywhere, rather than just during 'school' hours. It doesn't matter what time of the day or day of the week it is - if there is learning happening, then your child is being educated. Contents include: England, English Lessons, Stepping Out of the System, The Netherlands, Dutch Lessons, The Practicalities, Germany, German Lessons, Cultural Literacy, Italy, Italian Lessons, An Education, Portugal, Portuguese Lessons, Travelling with Children, France, French Lessons, Pussycat Parenting, China, Chinese Lessons, A Road School Curriculum.

In a job like this, one mistake can cost you everything. As a Shadowchaser, Kira Solomon has been trained to serve the Light, dispatch the Fallen, and prevent the spread of chaos. It’s a deadly job, and Kira knows the horror of spilling innocent blood. But now she has a new role, as the Hand of Ma’at, the Egyptian Goddess of Truth and Order, and an assignment that might just redeem her. A fellow Shadowchaser has gone missing, and so has a unique artifact imbued with astonishing magic. Unless the Vessel of Nun is returned, it will cause destruction beyond anything the modern world has seen. Kira’s got a team at her back, including Khefar, a near-immortal Nubian warrior who’s already died for her once. But as complicated as her feelings for him are, they’re nothing compared to the difficulties of the task she faces.And the only way to defeat the enemy is to trust in a powershe can barely control, and put her life—and her soul—on the line.

“One part The Da Vinci Code, one part The Name of the Rose and one part A Separate Peace . . . a smart, swift, multitextured tale that both entertains and informs.”—San Francisco Chronicle NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Princeton. Good Friday, 1999. On the eve of graduation, two friends are a hairsbreadth from solving the mysteries of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, a Renaissance text that has baffled scholars for centuries. Famous for its hypnotic power over those who study it, the five-hundred-year-old Hypnerotomachia may finally reveal its secrets—to Tom Sullivan, whose father was obsessed with the book, and Paul Harris, whose future depends on it. As the deadline looms, research has stalled—until a vital clue is unearthed: a long-lost diary that may prove to be the key to deciphering the ancient text. But when a longtime student of the book is murdered just hours later, a chilling cycle of deaths and revelations begins—one that will force Tom and Paul into a fiery drama, spun from a book whose power and meaning have long been misunderstood. BONUS: This edition includes an excerpt from Dustin Thomason's 12.21. “Profoundly erudite . . . the ultimate puzzle-book.”—The New York Times Book Review