A haunting classic from the author of All Quiet on the Western Front, Shadows in Paradise reveals the deepest scars of the men and women who experienced the Holocaust. After years of hiding and surviving near death in a concentration camp, Ross is finally safe. Now living in New York City among old friends, far from Europe’s chilling atrocities, Ross soon meets Natasha, a beautiful model and fellow émigré, a warm heart to help him forget his cold memories. Yet even as the war draws to its violent close, Ross cannot find peace. Demons still pursue him. Whether they are ghosts from the past or the guilt of surviving, he does not know. For he is only beginning to understand that freedom is far from easy—and that paradise, however perfect, has a price. “The world has a great writer in Erich Maria Remarque. He is a craftsman of unquestionably first rank, a man who can bend language to his will. Whether he writes of men or of inanimate nature, his touch is sensitive, firm, and sure.”—The New York Times Book Review

For readers of Kate Morton and Jamie Ford comes a captivating novel of two very different women, struggling to come to terms with the ghosts from their past—by the internationally bestselling author of A Vintage Affair and The Very Picture of You Sometimes the only way forward is through the past. Jenni Clark is a ghostwriter. She loves to immerse herself in other people’s stories—a respite from her own life, and from a relationship that appears to be nearing its end. Jenni’s latest assignment takes her to a coastal hamlet in England, where she’s agreed to pen the memoir of an elderly farm owner named Klara. Jenni assumes the project will be easy: a quiet, ordinary tale of a life well lived. But Klara’s story is far from quiet. She recounts the tale of a family torn apart by World War II, and of disgraceful acts committed against a community in the Japanese prison camps on the Pacific island paradise of Java. As harrowing details emerge and stunning truths come to light, Jenni is compelled to confront a secret she’s spent a lifetime burying. Weaving together the lives of two very different women, Isabel Wolff has created a captivating novel of love, loss, and hope that reaches across generations. Praise for Shadows Over Paradise “An excellent choice for fans of Sarah Jio and Kate Morton.”—Booklist “Shifting focus from the present to the past with ease, this novel brings to the page the reality of the horrors of the Japanese-run internment camps in vivid and gory detail. Wolff’s latest will please fans of women’s stories that include a realistic depiction of life during wartime and the ability to overcome adversity.”—Library Journal “Beautifully written . . . an outstanding book club selection . . . If you liked Jamie Ford’s novels [then] you’ll like Shadows Over Paradise.”—Huntington News

A childhood mistake. A lifetime of regrets—the poignant and bittersweet new novel from beloved writer Isabel Wolff, author of A Vintage Affair Jenni loves her job as a ghostwriter—it satisfies her insatiable curiosity about people, and she’s helped create everything from cookbooks to celebrity biographies. It also means that she can hide behind the stories of others, and not think about her own life too much . . . But when she starts work on the wartime memoirs of a survivor from the Japanese internment camps in Java, striking coincidences force Jenni to examine her role in a tragedy that has haunted her since childhood. Gripping, moving and beautifully researched, Ghostwritten delivers Isabel Wolff ’s signature blend of pathos, mystery and romance. Wolff’s legions of fans and new readers alike will be riveted by this touching, layered story, which sheds light on a forgotten chapter of history and shimmers with an element of the supernatural that will send tingles down the reader’s spine. “A brilliant, tender and thought-provoking read.” —THE LADY

Now a major Lifetime movie event, from New York Times bestselling author and literary phenomenon V.C. Andrews (Flowers in the Attic, My Sweet Audrina) comes the fourth installment in the classic story of the Casteel family saga. Stunned by tragedy, a young woman finds herself desperate and alone, and clinging to the frailest of dreams. Can Heaven’s daughter find the inner strength to survive? The car crash that killed Heaven and Logan left Annie Casteel Stonewall orphaned and crippled. Whisked off to Farthinggale Manor by the possessive Tony Tatterton, Annie pines for her lost family, but especially for Luke, her half-brother. Friend of her childhood, her fantasy prince, her loving confidante…without the warm glow of Luke’s love, she is lost in the shadows of despair. When Annie discovers Troy’s cottage hidden in Farthinggale’s woods, the mystery of her past deepens. And even as she yearns to see Luke again, her hopes and dreams are darkened by the sinister Casteel spell…treacherous, powerful, and evil.

The author of Men Explain Things to Me explores the moments of altruism and generosity that arise in the aftermath of disaster Why is it that in the aftermath of a disaster? whether manmade or natural?people suddenly become altruistic, resourceful, and brave? What makes the newfound communities and purpose many find in the ruins and crises after disaster so joyous? And what does this joy reveal about ordinarily unmet social desires and possibilities? In A Paradise Built in Hell, award-winning author Rebecca Solnit explores these phenomena, looking at major calamities from the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco through the 1917 explosion that tore up Halifax, Nova Scotia, the 1985 Mexico City earthquake, 9/11, and Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. She examines how disaster throws people into a temporary utopia of changed states of mind and social possibilities, as well as looking at the cost of the widespread myths and rarer real cases of social deterioration during crisis. This is a timely and important book from an acclaimed author whose work consistently locates unseen patterns and meanings in broad cultural histories.

The history of Hawaii may be said to be the story of arrivals -- from the eruption of volcanoes on the ocean floor 18,000 feet below to the first hardy seeds that over millennia found their way to the islands, and the confused birds blown from their migratory routes. Early Polynesian adventurers sailed across the Pacific in double canoes. Spanish galleons en route to the Philippines and British navigators in search of a Northwest Passage were soon followed by pious Protestant missionaries, shipwrecked sailors, and rowdy Irish poachers escaped from Botany Bay -- all wanderers washed ashore. This is true of many cultures, but in Hawaii, no one seems to have left. And in Hawaii, a set of myths accompanied each of these migrants -- legends that shape our understanding of this mysterious place. Susanna Moore pieces together the story of late-eighteenth-century Hawaii -- its kings and queens, gods and goddesses, missionaries, migrants, and explorers -- a not-so-distant time of abrupt transition, in which an isolated pagan world of human sacrifice and strict taboo, without a currency or a written language, was confronted with the equally ritualized world of capitalism, Western education, and Christian values.

An insightful account of a woman's perseverance through adoption secrecy and red tape, Shadows in Paradise traces Carolann Dowding's search for her biological family. Despite a wholesome upbringing by her adoptive family in a beautiful Queensland, Australia, Carolann is compelled to reconcile the silences of her past. As an adult, she reconnects with her birth mother and describes the unpredictable, awkward struggles of their relationship until later in life, a truce is drawn between them. Through her own determination, and with a boost from a private investigator, Carolann courageously pursues a trail of clues leading to her mysterious birth father, changing her life forever. Illuminated by compassion, tragedy and gratitude which span the generations, Shadows in Paradise reveals the breadth of our need for truth and connection.

Evil Paradise is based on the author’s unique and moving life story. Jane Schwalger-Wyatt was born the illegitimate child of a wealthy plantation owner’s nephew and a traditional village girl on the exotic Polynesian island of Samoa. Born between two cultures and classes in the turbulent post-colonial years, and unwanted by either parent, her future looked bleak. After Jane’s birth, a pact was made between her grandmother and her wealthy great aunt. Jane spent her first ten years as a village girl raised by her grandmother, with her identity kept secret. Although adored by her grandmother, she endured hardship, brutality, and sexual abuse. Upon her grandmother’s death, Jane escaped to what she thought would be paradise on earth: her rich aunt’s estate, but she discovered that it held terrible secrets. In time, Jane learned about the savage history that blighted the plantation and the bizarre secret kept hidden upstairs in the mansion. After a failed reunion with her father, she was sent to her mother in New Zealand, where she was rejected yet again. Whilst battling overwhelming obstacles to make a life for herself, Jane’s second child was diagnosed with profound disabilities. How she managed to endure proves an unparalleled feat of human endurance and faith. She clung to the few that truly loved her, striving to make a life for herself with fierce and inspirational determination.

A fascinating exploration of our past, present, and future relationship with food For the first time in human history, there is food in abundance throughout the world. More people than ever before are now freed of the struggle for daily survival, yet few of us are aware of how food lands on our plates. Behind every meal you eat, there is a story. Hamburgers in Paradise explains how. In this wise and passionate book, Louise Fresco takes readers on an enticing cultural journey to show how science has enabled us to overcome past scarcities—and why we have every reason to be optimistic about the future. Using hamburgers in the Garden of Eden as a metaphor for the confusion surrounding food today, she looks at everything from the dominance of supermarkets and the decrease of biodiversity to organic foods and GMOs. She casts doubt on many popular claims about sustainability, and takes issue with naïve rejections of globalization and the idealization of "true and honest" food. Fresco explores topics such as agriculture in human history, poverty and development, and surplus and obesity. She provides insightful discussions of basic foods such as bread, fish, and meat, and intertwines them with social topics like slow food and other gastronomy movements, the fear of technology and risk, food and climate change, the agricultural landscape, urban food systems, and food in art. The culmination of decades of research, Hamburgers in Paradise provides valuable insights into how our food is produced, how it is consumed, and how we can use the lessons of the past to design food systems to feed all humankind in the future.