At a time when Charlemagne ruled, the Byzantines were encroaching upon Russia, and the faith of Allah was flourishing in Baghdad, there existed a kingdom with a tolerant, advanced civilization: somewhere between the Caucasus mountains and the Volga, the Khazar kingdom grew and flourished, and in one of the oddest choices ever made, converted itself to Judaism. A thousand years later, when the writer Marc Sofer is given an ancient Khazarian coin by a mysterious visitor, he is drawn into investigating the fascinating enigma of the Khazars. Why did these Steppe warriors decide to become Jews? Why, after centuries of power and prosperity, were they effaced from history? What is the connection between this ancient, vanished people, and the terrorist group calling themselves the New Khazars, who have begun attacking oil plants on the Caspian sea? Taking place both in the 10th century and the 21st, this absorbing, dramatic tale is part historical novel, part thriller. The story of the Khazars is interwoven with a contemporary political conspiracy in an unusual blend of reality and fiction that explores the ever important themes of history and identity.

MACKINLAY KANTOR Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Andersonville THIS NOVEL WAS THE BASIS FOR THE 1943 FILM HAPPY LAND "Hail, Columbia, happy land Hail, ye heroes, heav'n-born band-" Happy Land is about Rusty Marsh, and the life he lived. It is about ordinary folks, and how they came to be brave. It is the record of a civilization which strengthens itself with Boy Scouts and bob-rides, with public high schools and neighborly kindnesses, with churches and drug stores and cornfields and Indian stories-with the simple fare of American life which once seemed dull and now holds bewitching beauty. This civilization must not perish from our land or from this earth. It will not perish while one Rusty Marsh is alive to fight for it.

Basis for the film Hannah Lee: An American Primitive MACKINLAY KANTOR Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Andersonville "Well," Montgomery challenged him, "how many people have you killed?" The young man stopped laughing. His face turned into black stone. "Sixty-seven." To Western cattle barons in 1899 the encroaching homesteaders were like cinders eyes. But they were legal. Even the rustlers among them seldom were brought to justice for lack of evidence. There seemed to be only one way to pry loose those on the land, and discourage others from settling: scare them off. To do just that some of the ranchers met in Pearl City in secret conclave. They agreed to hire the most notorious professional killer then known-Bus Crow. They figured that a small dose of Bus Crow would quickly clear the ranges, and keep them clear. WICKED WATER is the story of the bloody descent of Bus Crow on the homesteaders of Pearl County. It is the story, too, of the woman who loved him in spite of herself, who bowed to justice in spite of her love. Against a background of driving action, MacKinlay Kantor probes the mysteries of a killer's mind, of the dark rebellion that made him cry: I'll always kill. I'll shoot them down ... get a gun and keep killing and killing. A NOVEL ABOUT A KILLER-BY THE AUTHOR OFMIDNIGHT LACE & GENTLE ANNIE

Over the past twenty years debates about pornography have raged within feminism and beyond. Throughout the 1970s feminists increasingly addressed the problem of men's sexual violence against women, and many women reduced the politics of men's power over women to questions about sexuality. By the 1980s these questions had become more and more focused on the issue of pornography--now a metaphor for the menace of male power. Collapsing feminist politics into sexuality and sexuality into pornography has not only caused some of the deepest splits between feminists, but made it harder to think clearly about either sexuality or pornography--indeed, about feminist politics more generally. This provocative collection, by well-known feminists on both sides of the Atlantic, surveys these arguments, and in particular asks why recent feminist debates about sexuality keep reducing to questions of pornography. The authors open up the debate by looking at such topics as the improbable alliance between the right and pro-censorship feminists, the displacement of heterosexual desire and its discontents onto pornography, Andrea Dworkin's novel Mercy, psychoanalytic reflections on fantasy, censorship in relation to AIDS work, the new lesbian and bisexual pornography, the controversy over Robert Mapplethorpe's supposed racism in his photos of black nudes, Mae West as sexual icon and her brushes with the law, and the female nude in "high" art. In addition to the editors, the contributors are Elizabeth Cowie, Harriett Gilbert, Robin Gorna, Marybeth Hamilton, Loretta Loach, Anne McClintock, Kobena Mercer, Jane Mills, Mandy Merck, Lynda Nead, Gillian Rodgerson, Carol Smart, Carole S. Vance, Linda Williams, and Elizabeth Wilson.

She was determined to be the best wife, mother, and professional; something had to give...For weeks Woman of Valor topped Israel's best-seller lists, conquering hearts. In trenchant and colorful prose, Lihi Lapid tells a true-life story of women (and men) struggling to live up to expectations (most of all their own): a story about shattered dreams, and about finding the strength to gather up the pieces and learn to smile again. Woman of Valor is a must-read for every mother.Lihi Lapid's best-selling novel starts where most love stories leave off: at the beginning of real life. Woman of Valor follows the lives of two women in their first years of motherhood. One is a fictional character trying to live happily ever after. The second woman is the author herself, who courageously and honestly relates her true-life experiences as a wife, mother, professional, and parent of a special needs child. Interspersed are actual letters from readers of Lapid's popular newspaper column, sharing the most intimate moments of their lives.

Written in the readable, light style of an entertaining novel, this is a well researched explanation of the growth of primaeval beliefs as well as the development of all major religions of the world.

A Nick Hoffman / Academic Mystery, Book 6 - It's winter, but academic madness is in full bloom at the State University of Michigan. Untenured professor Nick Hoffman is desperately trying to keep out of the way as three senior professors battle to be the chair of his department. They all hate each other and all demand his support in an atmosphere of intense crisis. The situation implodes when an emergency meeting turns the department upside down. Nick is left desperate to make a quick getaway, so his partner Stefan suggests an idyllic week at a Caribbean Club Med. The island of Serenity, however, proves to be anything but serene. Once again, Edith Wharton scholar Nick Hoffman, who grew up in New York City and was never even mugged, finds himself face-to-face with murder. In this sixth novel in the series, Lev Raphael, Lambda Award winner, amuses and delights on campus and on vacation. Included in this new edition, a foreword by Anthony Bidulka (Russell Quant Mysteries). "Author Lev Raphael knows quite a lot about the dismal swamps of academe and the sunlit beaches of the Caribbean. The time he has obviously spent in these places make it possible for him to write vividly - and wittily - about both, with his tongue planted firmly in his cheek." - Lambda Book Report "Funny, cynical, and bittersweet, the new Nick Hoffman mystery will be eagerly pounced on by Raphael's many fans." - Lauren Henderson, My Lurid Past "Lev Raphael has done it again - another mordantly witty mystery featuring everyone's favourite acerbic English professor, Nick Hoffman. Relax with Tropic of Murder and take an entertaining, exotic Club Med vacation without even having to get out of your favorite chair." - Dean James, Decorated to Death "Beguiling and funny." - Washington Post "Raphael keeps us turning pages with mouthwatering descriptions of buffets and a paradise brimming with cheerful attendants; he ratchets up tension with rumors of ghosts and some very substantial fellows threatening to trade blows." - Booklist "Raphael's wit is sharp as ever." - Kirkus Reviews

A Nick Hoffman / Academic Mystery, Book 7 -Fitness = Death when Nick Hoffman heads back to the gym right after a vacation, finding himself caught in a Desperate Housewives-type mystery. Michigan Muscle is a state-of-the-art health club adjacent to the State University of Michigan. Boasting luxurious facilities, the latest equipment, and topnotch personal trainers, it's a palatial complex for fitness. But every palace has its intrigue, and when Nick stumbles across a dead trainer, he's drawn into a web of passion and privilege unlike anything he's ever experienced before. The prime suspect because he's the one who discovered the body, Nick has to work this mystery out to its bitter end. In this seventh novel in the series, Lev Raphael, Lambda Award winner, takes us on another voyage with one of the mystery world's funniest - and best-read - amateur sleuths. Included in this new edition, a foreword by R E Bradshaw (Rainey Bell Thriller series). "Raphael's latest smoothly delivers a satisfying mystery while providing insight into the middle-aging of America, gay marriage, the excitement of sleuthing as a means of exercising control over our lives, the 'Orwellian' Patriot Act, and more." - Booklist "Hot Rocks is a comic mystery of bad manners, written with the suspenseful touch of Alfred Hitchcock bred to the epigrammatic wit of Oscar Wilde. The hero of the tale, assistant professor Nick Hoffman, is among the most lovably erudite characters in all of mystery fiction." - Robert Eversz, Zero to the Bone "If you like your mysteries smart, witty, and steaming with suspense, you won't find a better read than Lev Raphael's Hot Rocks. The new spa in town is proving hazardous to Nick's health, and it's great to be back at his side while he sleuths in the sauna. Lev's turned up the heat in one of my favorite series in crime fiction." - Linda Fairstein, Bad Blood

A novel about the crucial passage in the life of an aging actress who must confront the pain of looking backward - to old lovers, old values, old ways - in order to grow and go on.

Leib Goldkorn, aged musician, first appeared almost a quarter-century ago in The Steinway Quintet. Now Leib has replaced his magic flute with his phallus: it is love, longing, and the quest for sexual fulfillment that must stave off both his own death and the imminent destruction of the Jews. In Ice he rescues the celebrated skater Sonja Henie from Hitler's clutches. In Fire his paramour is Carmen Miranda. And in Water he engages in a South Sea Island intrigue with a famous swimming star of the 1940s. Meanwhile, in the present, Leib seeks consummation with three other inamoratas: Clara, his wife; Hustler model Miss Crystal Knight; and the critic Michiko Kakutani (causing a real-life literary scandal). In this "wickedly funny" (Elle) and no less heartbreaking novel, Leib Goldkorn emerges as one of American literature's most enduring, and endearing, creations. A New York Times Notable Book; a Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year.

"Delia Welegtabit discovered two things during her childhood on a South Pacific island: her love for mathematics and a novel that isn't supposed to exist. But the elusive book proves unexpectedly dangerous. Oskar Lens, a science fiction-obsessed mobster in the midst of an existential crisis, will stop at nothing to find the novel. After Delia's husband Levi goes missing, she seeks help from Daniel Chase, a young, face-blind book dealer. The infamous novel Lode Stars was written by the infamous Eugene Charles Hartley: legendary pulp science-fiction writer and founder of the Church of the All-Seeing Eyes. In Hartley's novel, a doppelganger of Delia searches for her missing father in a strange star system. But is any of Lode Stars real? Was Hartley a cynical conman on a quest for wealth and immortality, creating a religion he did not believe in? Or was he a visionary who truly discovered the secrets of the universe?"--

A delightfully clever contemporary novel inspired by the Louisa May Alcott classic In Katharine Weber's third novel, The Little Women , three adolescent sisters--Meg, Jo and Amy--are shocked when they discover their mother's affair, but are truly devastated by their father's apparently easy forgiveness of her. Shattered by their parents' failure to live up to the moral standards and values of the family, the two younger sisters leave New York (and their private school) and move to Meg's apartment in New Haven, where Meg is a junior at Yale. They enroll in the local inner-city public high school, and, divorced from their parents, they try to make a life with Meg as their surrogate mother. Written in the form of an autobiographical novel by Joanna, the middle sister, the pages of The Little Women are punctuated by comments from the "real" Meg and Amy. Their notes and Jo's replies form a second narrative, as they argue about the "truth" of the novel. Why do readers insist on searching for the autobiographical elements of fiction? When does a novelist go too far in mulching actual experience for a novel? What rights, if any, does a writer have to grant the people in her life and story? An ingenious combination of classic storytelling in a contemporary mode, The Little Women confirms Katharine Weber's reputation as a writer who "astutely explores the gap between perception and reality." ( The New York Times Book Review )

A novel for anyone who’s ever had to risk it all to be the person they wanted to be… From the critically acclaimed authors of Literacy and Longing in L.A . comes the ultimate story for late bloomers of every exotic shade. And a quirky young heroine with a knack for reinvention and a flair for the unexpected no reader will ever forget. Thirty, newly single, and desperately in need of a paycheck, inveterate bird-watcher Cassie Shaw finds herself doing something that goes against all her principles. She lies on a résumé to land a job and finds herself employed at an elite university working for a pair of professors as unique as the rare birds she covets. One of them is the sexy, handsome, cheerfully aristocratic expert in animal behavior, Professor William Conner. Under his charismatic tutelage, Cassie begins her personal transformation into the person she was meant to be while meeting the kinds of people she has never met before. But when your entire future and your unlikely new career teeters on an unbearable untruth, the masquerade can’t go on forever. And when Cassie steps out from behind her mask it will transform her life—and the lives of those around her—forever.

"A STRONG, CAPTIVATING NOVEL." --San Francisco Chronicle For Caroline the kitchen has always been her home, and Italian food her specialty. In fact, the minute she sets foot in Italy--and meets the appreciative Angelo, who loves her cooking like nobody's business--Caroline decides to stay. But even the magic spices of Italy can't make her marriage taste right. Angelo takes over the raising of their beautiful daughter Olivia, who, by the age of ten, hardly speaks to her mother. Caroline leaves the country and her daughter for four years, until Olivia seeks out her mother in New York. Caroline is overjoyed and hopeful--until she reacquaints herself with the difficult, demanding daughter she could never stop loving but discovers she doesn't exactly like.... "Between the risotto and the romance, Rossner treats family life with a wise and witty touch." --Us Magazine "Everything you expect from a Judith Rossner novel: story, character, language, and uniqueness--and more--a new ripeness, a maturity. It's altogether a deep and satisfying journey." --Betty Rollin

"Katz lives up to her first novel's potential in this moving, funny, wholly original picaresque about a nice Jewish girl. . . . The pasts and common destiny of two remarkable women--related with perfect timing in Sofia's convincing Yiddish-tinged English--come together beautifully in this nicely crafted, emotionally satisfying, and well-researched historical fiction."-- Publishers Weekly " The Escape Artist , a brilliant work of historical fiction . . . fast-paced and gorgeously written novel" -- Liberty Press Set in the brothels and gangster dens of Jewish Buenos Aires at the beginning of the twentieth century, The Escape Artist catapults us into the lives of Sofia Teitelbaum and Hankus Lubarsky. Sofia, a nice Jewish girl from Poland, is lured away from home by Tutsik Goldenberg, a wealthy traveling businessman who claims to be a lonely Argentine diamond merchant in search of a wife. Upon arriving in Buenos Aires, Tutsik dumps Sofia at his sister's brothel. Hankus, also a nice Jewish girl from Poland, is passing as a man. Having escaped the pogroms of Poland that killed her family, she lives her life as a handsome and mysterious magician and escape artist. When Tutsik spots the talented juggler and acrobat Hankus he envisions success as his manager, seeing Hankus as the means to get out from under his sister's thumb. Sofia and Hankus fall in love and their attempts to walk the tightrope of love, freedom, and independence are quickly put to the test. Sex, deception, magic, and love are the main ingredients of this tour de force novel by Lambda Literary Award winner Judith Katz. In The Escape Artist , Katz reveals that all human interactions consist of love and hate, deception and candor, altruism and self-interest. This is as true in our lives today as it was in an immigrant community at the turn of the last century. Judith Katz is the author of two published novels, The Escape Artist and Running Fiercely Toward a High Thin Sound , which won a Lambda Literary Award for Best Lesbian Fiction. She has received Bush Foundation, McKnight Foundation, and National Endowment fellowships for fiction.

Flight without End (German: Die Flucht ohne Ende) is a 1927 novel by the Austrian writer Joseph Roth. The novel is set in the period between August 1916 and 27 August 1926. It starts in the city of Irkutsk and ends in Paris. During his journey the protagonist lives in Ukraine, Baku, Vienna and an unspecified German university town on the Rhine. The novel starts with protagonist Franz Tunda, born 1894, escaping confinement in Russia and finding a home with Baranowicz from Poland, who lives in Werchne-Udisnk. In the spring of 1919 the lieutenant hears of the end of the war and decides to go to Vienna to meet his fiancee, Miss Irene Hartmann. By September Tunda has made it to Ukraine. Caught up in the Russian Civil War, he first falls into the hands of the White Army, but later he ends up with the Red Army. Tunda falls in love with his supervisor, a Russian woman named Natascha Alexandrowna, becomes a revolutionary himself and gives passionate speeches in support of Communism. Later, in Moscow, Tunda has to manage his postwar life. He is asked to join the Communist Party, but leaves to Georgia and falls in love with a woman called Alja. They get married in Baku. Tunda takes care of a French delegation from Paris, shows them around and sleeps with Mrs. G., the only woman in the delegation. Later he is regarded as a spy by the French. When saying goodbye, Mrs G. tells Tunda her address in France. Tunda leaves his wife, gets Austrian identity papers and later lives in Vienna on unemployment benefit. He misses his home in Siberia just as much as he misses to Irene. On his way to Paris, he visits his brother, a well-off bandmaster who lives in the Rhineland, but they don't have anything to talk about. Tunda publishes a book about his experiences and sends his wife in Baku a bit of money. In Paris, he meets Mrs G. again, but everyone in France seems to know that he is broke. Tunda and Irene pass each other once, but neither recognizes the other. Baranowicz writes a letter from Siberia: Alja has just arrived at his place and they are both waiting for Tunda. Tunda can now go back to the region of Irkutsk but he doesn't know what to do. The novel was adapted into a 1985 film directed by Michael Kehlmann. A stage adaptation by Steve Waters was performed at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in May 2006. (wikipedia.org)

A critical biography of Belgium's highest-ranking Nazi collaborator, Léon Degrelle, who fought with the Waffen-SS on the Eastern Front during the Second World War and served as inspiration for the protagonist of Jonathan Littell's bestselling, Prix Goncourt-winning novel The Kindly Ones ([Gallimard 2006] HarperCollins 2009). Originally published in French as Le sec et l'humide: Une brève incursion en territoire fasciste (Gallimard 2008) and translated into Spanish, German, Italian, Dutch, Czech, Catalan, and now English, The Damp and the Dry is a critical case study of a fascist true believer who was supported by both Hitler and Mussolini during the Second World War and later sheltered by Franco in Spain. Littell pays close attention to Degrelle's autobiographical writings, especially his account of fighting on the Eastern Front, The Russian Campaign, and uncovers an "anatomy of fascist discourse," developing on the theories of German sociologist Klaus Theweleit, whose Afterword follows the text.

In resolving the suicide of his friend, Philip Strayhorn explores the dividing line between good and evil in this fantasy novel, from the same author who wrote Sleeping in Flame, Bones of the Moon and Voice of our Shadow. He is the 1988 World Fantasy Award winner for short stories.

In this wise and funny novel, three single women, all expatriates living in Rome, face middle age: Margaret walked out on her husband as soon as her son was old enough to leave home, and she's never regretted it. She relishes her solitary lifestyle until illness threatens her independence. Katja, a former model, still believes that Mr. Right will come along, and she fights hard to stay beautiful until he does. Francesca has recently ended a relationship with a man she hopes will be her last big mistake. She wants to slink into a cozy old age alone, but the dark-eyed men of Rome are impossible to ignore. Cover illustration by Augusto Ranocchi Author photo by Rudi Weislein

In this utterly compelling novel, two sisters born into privilege find themselves forced to make wrenching life decisions as they struggle with a troubled family legacy and the immense weight of wealth, fame, ambition, and betrayal.Misfortune's Daughters chronicles the gripping, multigenerational saga of the wealthy Stephanopolis family. Beginning in the Golden Era of Hollywood, the beautiful and talented actress Laura Marlowe meets the young, dashing, and rich shipping magnate Nicholas Stephanopolis. After a whirlwind courtship, the two marry and move to the private Stephanopolis Island in the south of Greece. Yet heartache and tragedy soon find them and extend into the lives of their two very different but willful and ambitious daughters, Venetia and Atlanta. One is a beautiful and favored daughter who's bent on self-destruction; the other is a wallflower who buries herself in books and shies away from her privileged world. But both must confront the legacy and tragedy of the lives of their parents.Sweeping across almost 60 years and jetting from New York to Paris, Los Angeles, and Greece, Misfortune's Daughters is an irresistible, page-turning tale that reveals the glittering life of show business and the grittiness of the journalistic profession. Drawing on her own knowledge and experience, Collins takes the reader deep inside the exclusive gates of wealth and luxury, exposing dark secrets and forbidden desires as two young women vie to break free from their family's shadow and become independent women in their own right.