Collects nine stories written between 1979 and 2011 that chronicle three decades of American life from the perspective of a range of characters, including a pair of nuns in the South Bronx and two astronauts orbiting the Earth.

International bestselling author Ken Follett has enthralled millions of readers with The Pillars of the Earth and World Without End, two stories of the Middle Ages set in the fictional city of Kingsbridge. The saga now continues with Follett's magnificent new epic, A Column of Fire. In 1558, the ancient stones of Kingsbridge Cathedral look down on a city torn apart by religious conflict. As power in England shifts precariously between Catholics and...

Celebrated author Jim Harrison delivers a collection of three novellas infused with the wisdom and wit that have made him a master writer. The title novella, “The Summer He Didn't Die”, introduces us to Brown Dog, a hapless but charming Michigan Indian trying to parent his two stepchildren on meager resources. “Republican Wives” is a riotous satire on the sexual neuroses of the political right and the irrational nature of love. “Tracking”...

William J. Cobb's Book Sense 2006 Pick showcases a fishing town on the Gulf Coast of Texas. Goodnight is slowly being swallowed by an increasingly lifeless sea. Shrimpers and fishermen, with nothing to catch, watch their vessels rot in the stagnant brine. And then a gigantic sea creature, long believed extinct, washes ashore. But during the struggle to profit from this find, a menacing hurricane looms offshore.

Travelling back to Scotland to visit an old friend, Judith Hampton takes the opportunity to meet the father she has never known. Along the way, she falls in love with the Scottish laird Iain Maitland, who tries to shield Judith from the truth about her father, the Laird Maclean.

Banished after a scandal, Miss Mariah Aubrey hides away in a long-abandoned gatehouse on the far edge of a distant relative's estate, supporting herself by writing novels. Captain Matthew Bryant returns to England wealthy after the Napoleonic wars, and leases an estate to impress a society beauty who once rejected him. When he discovers the gatehouse, he's intrigued by its striking young inhabitant and sets out to discover her identity - and her past....

From the perils of French dentistry to the eating habits of the Australian kookaburra, from the squat-style toilets of Beijing to the particular wilderness of a North Carolina Costco, we learn about the absurdity and delight of a curious traveler's experiences. Whether railing against the habits of litterers in the English countryside or marveling over a disembodied human arm in a taxidermist's shop, Sedaris takes us on side-splitting adventures that...

Route 312 is the Chinese Route 66. It flows 3,000 miles, passing through the factory towns of the coastal areas, through the rural heart of China, then up into the Gobi Desert, where it merges with the Old Silk Road. The highway witnesses every part of the social and economic revolution that is turning China upside down. In this surprising book, radio journalist Rob Gifford, a fluent Mandarin speaker, takes Route 312 from its start in the boomtown...