Receiving an invitation to his ex-boyfriend's wedding, Arthur, a failed novelist on the eve of his fiftieth birthday, embarks on an international journey that finds him falling in love, risking his life, reinventing himself, and making connections with the past.

"In the wake of the Civil War, Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd travels through northern Texas, giving live readings from newspapers to paying audiences hungry for news of the world. An elderly widower who has lived through three wars and fought in two of them, the captain enjoys his rootless, solitary existence. In Wichita Falls, he is offered a $50 gold piece to deliver a young orphan to her relatives in San Antonio. Four years earlier, a band of Kiowa...

After Mary Margaret Kelly's father, an Air Force pilot, died when she was nine, Maggie's family moved from one city to the next. Her mother warned her to avoid risk at all cost. Forgoing the magic of first love with a high school boyfriend who was too wild to feel safe, Maggie sought out a predictable partner, a stable home, and a regular paycheck. When tragedy strikes her conventional suburban family, Maggie decides to face her fears. Her travels...

"Brenda Malloy wants nothing to do with Christmas ever again. Last year, Brenda and her husband rushed their beloved dog, Tim, to the emergency vet on Christmas Eve. The good news: Tim survived after the vet cleared the obstruction--a pair of women's lace undies. The bad news: the undies were not Brenda's. A year after the breakup, Brenda has put her life back together. She's trained for a marathon, is writing a children's novel, and she's found purpose...

"A god will return when the earth and sky converge under the black sun in the holy city of Tova... The winter solstice is usually a time for celebration and renewal, but this year it coincides with a solar eclipse, a rare celestial event proscribed by the Sun Priest as an unbalancing of the world. Meanwhile, a ship launches from a distant city bound for Tova and set to arrive on the solstice. The captain of the ship, Xiala, is a disgraced Teek whose...

Trapped in the middle of five siblings, Everly Lancaster always had big dreams. Now a top real-estate executive, Everly's work leaves no space for anything (or anyone) else in her life. Sensing her stress, her boss insists she take December off and take a trip. At first, a month away seems crazy--but Everly's mother convinces her otherwise. Plus, when she returns, she'll have no excuse to skip family Christmas like she did last year. But after her...

"Dorothea Benton Frank novels are filled with smart and witty fiction that every reader wants on their bookshelf: soulful, edgy stories about realistic characters familiar to us all that explore the most deeply felt moments of life with wry humor and heart. All Summer Long follows one charming New York couple - prominent interior designer Olivia Ritchie and her husband Nicholas Seymour, an English professor and true southern gentleman. They are seemingly...

"Consumed with grief, driven by vengeance, a man undertakes an unrelenting odyssey across the lawless post-Civil War frontier seeking redemption in this fearless novel from the award-winning and New York Times bestselling author of News of the World. Union soldier John Chenneville suffered a traumatic head wound in battle. His recovery took the better part of a year as he struggled to regain his senses and mobility. By the time he returned home, the...

"A special 25th anniversary edition of Paulo Coehlo's extraordinary international bestselling phenomenon--the inspiring spiritual tale of self-discovery that has touched millions of lives around the world. Combining magic, mysticism, wisdom and wonder, The Alchemist has become a modern classic, selling millions of copies around the world and transforming the lives of countless readers across generations. Paulo Coelho's masterpiece tells the mystical...

Their love affair happened long ago by whatever measurement Claire Randall took. Two decades before, she had traveled back in time and into the arms of a gallant eighteenth-century Scot named Jamie Fraser. Then she returned to her own century to bear his child, believing him dead in the tragic Battle of Culloden. Yet his memory has never lessened its hold on her ... and her body still cries out for him in her dreams. When she discovers that Jamie...