"She was raised to be free, not some rich man's pet . . . It's just not right!" Bernie Cholach's dad wants him to take over the family's rural Alberta feedlot, but Bernie has other ideas: he wants to be a biologist, an interest sparked by his experiences as a volunteer bird handler at a Canadian Wildlife Service facility that breeds and rears peregrine falcons for release into the wild. Sheik Nasur bin Mukhta, son of a Persian Gulf emir, studying petroleum engineering at the University of Alberta, dutifully accepts his life's course, laid out for him by his traditionalist culture. Rosie Leboucan, daughter of a Métis trapper, running her injured dad's trap line in the Swan Hills, is focused on keeping a roof over their heads and food on the table. Then the Government of Canada decides to give the emir one of the peregrines as a diplomatic gift. It's more than Bernie can stand. Impulsively, he takes the bird he has been tending-he's named it Skyrider-and flees to a remote cabin in the Swan Hills wilderness. The RCMP mount a search. Nasur, sent by his father to collect the bird, insists on being on the scene-which turns out to be both Rosie's trapping territory and the territory of a hungry and dangerous mama grizzly bear with cubs. The paths of the young people and the bear converge-and their coming together will send each in a new direction.

Suppose you were living peacefully in your own country when you were suddenly visited by foreign agents from a nearby nation, who advised you that you were to no longer speak your own language, English. You were given ninety days to learn the language of the foreign country or suffer the consequences: lose your hand or arm. And if you chose to run, expect a rifle bullet to strike you in your unprotected back. That is exactly what Bayto Afwerki faced while exiting from his last day of school. This horror story and many others will greet you as you turn each page of this heart-gripping tale of two of the most impoverished nations in the world, engaging in a life-and-death struggle, fighting a thirty-year war before Eritrea obtained its independence. Chillingly, you learn that the United Nations and all the world powers felt that Eritrea would be better off federated to Ethiopia. This story will literally take you around the world to include the presence of American soldiers stationed at nearby Kagnew Station, and other characters as far-reaching as Australia and Saudi Arabia.

“Bordihn renders vivid descriptions of the medieval era in this engrossing account of a legendary ruler both revered and reviled.” —Publishers Weekly The Falcon of Palermo opens with the nations of modern Europe just beginning to take shape, while the papacy clings to its temporal power. Into this era of shifting borders and alliances steps a leader who will become legendary—the brilliant maverick, Frederick II. After losing his parents, Emperor Henry Hohenstaufen and Queen Constance, by age four, a young, neglected Frederick runs among the urchins in the Muslim quarter while German warlords overrun Sicily. To restore order the Pope sends Archbishop Berard, a warmhearted man who gradually develops a deep bond with the gifted boy. Fluent in Arabic and strongly influenced by Muslim culture, Frederick aims to return Sicily to her former glory. However, when elected Holy Roman Emperor in a surprise move by the German princes, his vision grows. Once established as the unchallenged ruler, Frederick works to create an empire equal to that of Rome. Marked by his struggle with the Papacy for the domination of Europe, his glorious feats in battle, his recapturing of the Holy Land, his falconry, and the passions that led him to wives, mistresses, and one enduring love, Frederick’s life is a fascinating glimpse into a pivotal period in medieval history. “This fascinating fictional account of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II is realistically detailed with all the pomp, pageantry, poverty, and pestilence of the Middle Ages.” —Booklist

Terry Hayes, author of the #1 global bestseller I Am Pilgrim, returns with a terrifying and eagerly awaited new thriller. If, like Kane, you’re a Denied Access Area spy for the CIA, then boundaries have no meaning. Your function is to go in, do whatever is required, and get out again—by whatever means necessary. You know when to run, when to hide—and when to shoot. But some places don’t play by the rules. Some places are too dangerous, even for a man of Kane’s experience. The badlands where the borders of Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan meet are such a place—a place where violence is the only way to survive. Kane travels there to exfiltrate a man with vital information for the safety of the West—but instead he meets an adversary who will take the world to the brink of extinction. A frightening, clever, vicious man with blood on his hands and vengeance in his heart...

A love story, set both in medieval England and the Holy Land, this novel describes the attraction between a quiet, convent-raised young woman and the exiled illegitimate son of a Norman earl.

The year is 1072. The Normans have captured England. The Turks have captured a Norman knight. And in order to free him, a soldier named Vallon must capture four rare hawks. On a heart-stopping journey to the far ends of the earth, braving Arctic seas, Viking warlords, and the blood-drenched battlefields, Vallon and his comrades must track down their quarry one by one in a relentless race against time. The scale is huge. The journey is incredible. The history is real. This is Hawk Quest.