"Spanning the years from the 1830s to the Civil War, and moving from Massachusetts to England, Portugal, and Italy, [this book] explores the tension within a famous marriage of two soulful, strong-willed people, each devoted to the other but also driven by a powerful need to explore the far reaches of their creative impulses. It is the story of a forgotten woman in history who inspired one of the greatest writers of American literature"--Dust jacket...

The manuscript of this novel was discovered by John J. Healey in a box left by his grandfather, Professor Vincent P. Healey, after his death. This engaging work of fiction is a romantic account in which four iconic figures of American Letters play a leading role. In the summer of 1851 Herman Melville was finishing Moby Dick on his family farm in the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts. Surrounded by his mother, sisters and pregnant wife, it...

"Retired professor Emily Cavanaugh and her husband, Luke, are taking a much-needed break from Windy Corner and spending their honeymoon five thousand miles away as paying guests at Fizhugh Manor in Oxfordshire. Quaint nearby villages and the manor's impressive turrets and arches capture Emily's Anglophile heart, but when she meets its dashing young heir, James Fitzhugh and his American wife, Allison, James's cousin Penelope, his dithering uncle Roger...

"Looking for wit, wisdom, and inspiration all within the pages of one useful book? Read Something Else. Life is a turbulent journey, fraught with confusion, heartbreak, and inconvenience. This collection of wit and wisdom from New York Times bestselling author Lemony Snicket is unlikely to help. It includes a new introduction filled with curious aphorisms, a handful of never-before-seen-or-heard quotations, and fan favorites from works over the years....

"Crime writer Julia Gooden has just completed the most important story of her life--a book about her beloved brother's childhood abduction and how she found his killer after thirty years. But that hasn't taken her focus off her day job--especially with what looks to be a serial killer terrorizing the city. Female runners are being snatched off jogging trails, then slaughtered in abandoned churches. As Julia begins investigating, with help from Detective...

"In this uproariously funny memoir, Ludwig Bemelmans uncovers the fabulous world of the Hotel Splendide, the luxury New York hotel where he worked as a waiter. With equal parts affection and barbed wit, he records the everyday chaos that reigns behind the smooth facades of the gilded dining room and banquet halls. In hilarious detail, Bemelmans sketches the hierarchy of hotel life and its strange and fascinating inhabitants: from the ruthlessly authoritarian...

""A Fugitive in Walden Woods manages that special magic of making Thoreau's time in Walden Woods seem fresh and surprising and necessary right now. Norman Lock tells the story of Samuel Long, an escaped slave who encounters Thoreau, with insight and some welcome humor. This is a patient and perceptive novel, a pleasure to read even as it grapples with issues that affect the United States to this day." -Victor LaValle, author of The Ballad of Black...

A brash American writer living in London hires the perfect British butler and then struggles to retain the upper hand--and the last word. Cultures clash as she pits her anti-British views against his old-school attitudes.