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Trespassing by Uzma Aslam Khan

Back in Karachi for his father's funeral, Daanish, a young Pakistani changed by his years at an American university, is entranced by Dia, a fiercely independent heiress to a silk factory in the countryside. Their illicit affair will forever rupture two households and three families, destroying a stable present built on the repression of a bloody past. In this sweeping novel of modern Pakistan, Uzma Aslam Khan takes us from the stifling demands of tradition and family to the daily oppression of routine political violence, from the gorgeous sensual vistas of the silk farms to the teeming streets of Karachi--stinking, crumbling, and corrupt.    

Fruits Basket, Vol. 13 by Natsuki Takaya

The number one manga in America continues! The time for Yuki's parent-teacher conference has finally arrived, and Yuki must learn how to make his own decisions if he wants to have a say about his future. Later, Tohru sets off on a quest to find out if Kureno Sohma is the same person Arisa has been in love with all this time. But along the way she will discover a tragic secret about Momiji's sister Momo...     

Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton

A tale of love, money, and family conflict--among dragons. A family deals with the death of their father. A son goes to court for his inheritance. Another son agonises over his father's deathbed confession. One daughter becomes involved in the abolition movement, while another sacrifices herself for her husband. And everyone in the tale is a dragon, red in tooth and claw.  Here is a world of politics and train stations, of churchmen and family retainers, of courtship and country houses... in which, on the death of an elder, family members gather to eat the body of the deceased. In which the great and the good avail themselves of the privilege of killing and eating the weaker children, which they do with ceremony and relish, growing stronger thereby. You have never read a novel like Tooth and Claw.    

The Kitchen Boy: A Novel of the Last Tsar by Robert Alexander

Drawing from decades of work, travel, and research in Russia, Robert Alexander re-creates the tragic, perennially fascinating story of the final days of Nicholas and Alexandra as seen through the eyes of the Romanovs' young kitchen boy, Leonka. Now an ancient Russian immigrant, Leonka claims to be the last living witness to the Romanovs' brutal murders and sets down the dark secrets of his past with the imperial family.  Does he hold the key to the many questions surrounding the family's murder? Historically vivid and compelling, The Kitchen Boy is also a touching portrait of a loving family that was in many ways similar, yet so different, from any other.     

Myrren's Gift by Fiona McIntosh

For the sake of an imperiled kingdom, the line between "traitor"and "savior" must blur . . . and vanish. Though barely a teenager, Wyl Thirsk must now assume the role he has been destined for since birth: commander of the Morgravian army -- an awesome responsibility that calls him to the royal palace of the crown prince Celimus. Already a cruel despot who delights in the suffering of others, Celimus enjoys forcing his new general to witness his depraved "entertainments." But a kindness to a condemned witch in her final, agonizing hours earns young Thirsk a miraculous bequest, while inflaming the wrath of his liege lord. With war looming in the north, Wyl must obey Celimus's treacherous dictates and undertake a suicidal journey to an enemy court -- armed with a mysterious power that could prove both boon and curse. For unless he accepts Myrren's gift, it will surely destroy him . . . and the land he must defend.      

Brick Lane by Monica Ali

A captivating read from a debut novelist, Brick Lane brings the immigrant milieu of East London to vibrant life. With great poignancy, Ali illuminates a foreign world; her well-developed characters pull readers along on a deeply psychological, almost spiritual journey. Through the eyes of two Bangladeshi sisters—the plain Nazneen and the prettier Hasina—we see the divergent paths of the contemporary descendants of an ancient culture. Hasina elopes to a "love marriage," and young Nazneen, in an arranged marriage, is pledged to a much older man living in London. Ali's skillful narrative focuses on Nazneen's stifling life with her ineffectual husband, who keeps her imprisoned in a city housing project filled with immigrants in varying degrees of assimilation. But Ali reveals a bittersweet tension between the "two kinds of love" Nazneen and her sister experience—that which begins full and overflowing, only to slowly dissipate, and another which em...

Interview with A. J. King – Author of “ The Power Vested in Me Book 2 Part 2 The Seekers ”

Q : How would you describe yourself in one word?   Relentless Q : Do you have a specific reason or reasons for writing  " The Power Vested in Me Book 2 Part 2 The Seekers " ,  Can you please tell us a bit about the book?   There are lots of stories within the story that I felt compelled to tell. Also I have a fascination with the Zodiac and the individual behaviours of the signs. I wanted to illustrate some of this behaviour in the book –for better or worse. The cold, distant, aloof (tough nut to crack) Virgo lady. The sullen, moody, vindictive, yet kind, generous and passionate Scorpio. The fickle Libran Judge whose views change with the weather. The Sagittarian who is a reluctant a hero, the self serving Capricorn, and the maverick Aquarian. As the Stardust themselves are all Scorpio’s, so there is a danger of the heart ruling the head, I felt it vital that Virgo logic would provide the advice which indirectly saved the Land of Nod (although you have to have ...