In Indu s ancestral home, that she had escaped from so many years ago, nothing seems to have altered. Yet all is different. Akka, the rich family tyrant, is dead and the family is on the threshold of great change. And the key to their future now lies in Indu s hands. This novel provides a penetrative insight into the joint family revealing its strengths and weaknesses, its props and parasites.

This icily innovative thriller begins with every parent’s worst nightmare, when Davis Moore’s teenage daughter is brutally raped and murdered by an unknown assailant. It gets worse. For Davis Moore is a fertility doctor, dealing with cutting-edge genetic reproductive techniques. It’s a controversial and dangerous occupation: Moore has already been the object of a fanatic’s assassination attempt. But for a father driven half-mad by grief, his work presents one startling and dangerous opportunity–the chance to look into the face of his daughter’s killer. From the Trade Paperback edition.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • “Exciting and provocative . . . A tour de force of a book that begs to be seen as well as to be read.”—The Washington Post Book World World renowned scientist Carl Sagan and acclaimed author Ann Druyan have written a Roots for the human species, a lucid and riveting account of how humans got to be the way we are. Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors is a thrilling saga that starts with the origin of the Earth. It shows with humor and drama that many of our key traits—self-awareness, technology, family ties, submission to authority, hatred for those a little different from ourselves, reason, and ethics—are rooted in the deep past, and illuminated by our kinship with other animals. Sagan and Druyan conduct a breathtaking journey through space and time, zeroing in on critical turning points in evolutionary history, and tracing the origins of sex, altruism, violence, rape, and dominance. Their book culminates in a stunningly original examination of the connection between primate and human traits. Astonishing in its scope, brilliant in its insights, and an absolutely compelling read, Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors is a triumph of popular science.

At last, a contemporary Pagan perspective on Western religious history! Discover the historical roots of Neo-Paganism and its relationship to other modern religions. Dancing Shadows traces Western religions back 3,000 years to show how the cross-fertilization of the Christian and Pagan belief systems is the source of conflicts that continue to this day.

At the end of an arduous journey, refugee 214 finally gets his chance to enter the Other World. But to see his wish granted, the boy must first tell his story. He and his sister were forced to flee their homeland to escape a band of bloodthirsty horsemen. Frightened and helpless, they crossed forests, deserts, and seas, encountering creatures each more mysterious and frightening than the last: the capitalist ogre, the smuggler-snake, and the ever-present shadows from the great beyond... The boy's story must be told in every detail—but will the truth save him, or condemn him? This is the odyssey of a brother and sister who are forced to fight for their freedom and survival at every turn, all while trying not to forget about where they've come from, and what they've left behind. A subtle and captivating tale about exile and refugees today.

Old ways are pitted against new horrors in this compellingly crafted, “atmospherically beautiful” (Kirkus Reviews) dystopian tale about a girl who is both healer and seer. Two hundred years from now, blood has become the most valuable commodity on the planet—especially the blood of aboriginal peoples, for it contains antibodies that protect them from the Plague ravaging the rest of the world. Sixteen-year-old Cassandra Mercredi might be immune to the Plague, but that doesn’t mean she’s safe—government forces are searching for those of aboriginal heritage to harvest their blood. When a search threatens Cassandra and her family, they flee to the Island: a mysterious and idyllic territory protected by the Band, a group of guerilla warriors—and by an enigmatic energy barrier that keeps outsiders out and the spirit world in. And though the village healer has taken her under her wing, and the tribal leader’s son into his heart, the creatures of the spirit world are angry, and they have chosen Cassandra to be their voice and instrument... Incorporating the traditions of the First Peoples as well as the more familiar stories of Greek mythology and Arthurian legend, Shadows Cast by Stars is a haunting, beautifully written story that breathes new life into ancient customs.

Sautee Shadows: Book One of the Georgia Gold Series is the sweeping saga of four families whose lives intertwine through romance, adventure and murder, linking antebellum Georgia's coast and mountains during the mid-1800s. Journey back to a time when the foothills of Northeast Georgia were scarcely more than a frontier, a summer retreat for the state's wealthy coastal elite, verdant watercolor vistas where the footprint of the Cherokee remained. Where one half-Cherokee, orphaned girl grows up in the shadow of a mystery. Who killed her father, and what happened to the gold he mined from the Sautee Valley? And with whom does she belong, the adoptive farm family who raised her, or her white inn-keeper grandmother? Forced from the only life she's ever known and molded into her grandmother's idea of a proper young lady, Mahala Franklin finds life in Clarkesville lonely and full of challenges. But there are at least pieces of the puzzle of her past to be fit together, and relationships that will shape her future ... with Clay Fraser, her Cherokee friend who wants to be so much more, with wealthy entrepreneur and competitor Jack Randall, with whom Mahala doesn't dare to dream of more, and with Carolyn Calhoun, unwilling socialite caught between her feelings for two very different brothers. As the lives of the coastal summer people mingle with those of Habersham's natives, a tapestry of love, friendship and intrigue unfolds, a tapestry laced with a brilliant thread that will lure you through all four books of The Georgia Gold Series.

After the death of her parents, April Taylor flees north to take a job looking after Mrs. Westington's deaf granddaughter, Echo, until the arrival of the girl's mother and her drug-dealing boyfriend puts both girls' lives in danger.

For fans of bestselling WWII fiction comes a powerful novel from Lynn Austin about three women whose lives are instantly changed when the Nazis invade the neutral Netherlands, forcing each into a complicated dance of choice and consequence. Lena is a wife and mother who farms alongside her husband in the tranquil countryside. Her faith has always been her compass, but can she remain steadfast when the questions grow increasingly complex and the answers could mean the difference between life and death? Lenas daughter Ans has recently moved to the bustling city of Leiden, filled with romantic notions of a new job and a young Dutch police officer. But when she is drawn into Resistance work, her idealism collides with the dangerous reality that comes with fighting the enemy. Miriam is a young Jewish violinist who immigrated for the safety she thought Holland would offer. She finds love in her new country, but as her family settles in Leiden, the events that follow will test them in ways she could never have imagined. The Nazi invasion propels these women onto paths that cross in unexpected, sometimes-heartbreaking ways. Yet the story that unfolds illuminates the surprising endurance of the human spirit and the power of faith and love to carry us through.