An irresistible tale of swashbuckling pirates in the New World from master storyteller Michael Crichton — now in paperback Jamaica, in 1665 a lone outpost of British power amid Spanish waters in the sunbaked Caribbean. Its capital, Port Royal, a cuthroat town of taverns, grog shops and bawdy houses — the last place imaginable from which to launch an unthinkable attack on a nearby Spanish stronghold. Yet that is exactly what renowned privateer Captain Charles Hunter plans to do, with the connivance of Charles II's ruling governor, Sir James Almont. The target is Matanceros, guarded by the bloodthirsty Cazalla, and considered impregnable with its gun emplacements and sheer cliffs. Hunter's crew of buccaneers must battle not only the Spanish fleet but other deadly perils — raging hurricanes, cannibal tribes, even sea monsters. But if his ragtag crew succeeds, they will make not only history...but a fortune in gold.

The new novel by the author of The Alchemist. Aleph marks a return to Paulo Coelho's beginnings. In a frank and surprising personal story, one of the world's most beloved authors embarks on a remarkable and transformative journey of self-discovery. Facing a grave crisis of faith, and seeking a path of spiritual renewal and growth, Paulo decides to start over: to travel, to experiment, to reconnect with people and the world. On this journey through Europe, Africa, and Asia, he will again meet Hilal — the woman he loved 500 years before — an encounter that will initiate a mystical voyage through time and space, through past and present, in search of himself. Aleph is an encounter with our fears and our sins; a search for love and forgiveness, and the courage to confront the inevitable challenges of life.

HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. 'Full wise is he that can himselven knowe.' Written at the end of the fourteenth century, the poet Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales are a collection of stories told in Middle-English. Thirty pilgrims leave Southwark to travel to a shrine in Canterbury and become the narrators, telling each other stories of chivalrous romance, fable, parable, debate and comedy as they journey. Their accounts of the human condition remain as resonant today as when they were first written.

Fear is contagious! The No.1 bestselling internet sensation. Now in an updated edition with exclusive new material. A terrifying enigma — with the power to destroy! Twenty years ago, Kate Maddox was a volunteer at research centre where scientists hunted for a cure for the common cold virus. That summer, Kate fell in love with a handsome young doctor, Stephen, but her stay ended in his tragic death and Kate fled to a new life in the US. Now Kate is back in England and on the run with her young son, this time from her vile husband. But a chance encounter sets her on a terrifying path of discovery. What really happened at the Cold Research Unit two decades ago? Pursued by both her estranged husband and a psychotic killer who is obsessed with his prey, Kate must fight to solve the puzzle of the past — uncovering a sickening betrayal and a truth more horrifying than she could ever have imagined!

HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. 'You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.' Knocked unconscious, it is only when mechanic Hank Morgan comes to that he finds himself in 6th-century England rather than nineteenth-century America. Surrounded by the traditions and customs of Camelot and King Arthur's court, Morgan dislikes the hereditary social class structure and state church and attempts to instil his American idealism and love for technology and progress in King Arthur's people. Hugely comedic and satirical in its take on the British monarchy and society, the book remains one of Twain's most original and best-loved works.

She turns to face the future in a world that's falling apart. For sixteen-year-old Tris, the world changes in a heartbeat when she is forced to make a terrible choice. Turning her back on her family, Tris ventures out, alone, determined to find out where she truly belongs. Shocked by the brutality of her new life, Tris can trust no one. And yet she is drawn to a boy who seems to both threaten and protect her. The hardest choices may yet lie ahead! A debut novel that will leave you breathless.

HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. 'One by one they were all becoming shades. Better pass boldly into that other world, in the full glory of some passion, than fade and wither dismally with age.' Revealing the truths and realities about Irish society in the early 20th century, Joyce's Dubliners challenged the prevailing image of Dublin at the time. A group portrait made up of 15 short stories about the inhabitants of Joyce's native city, he offers a subtle critique of his own town, imbuing the text with an underlying tone of tragedy. Through his various characters he displays the complicated relationships, hardships and mundane details of everyday life and the desire for escape — a yearning that so closely mirrored his own experiences.

The cataclysmic conclusion to Koontz's brilliant reworking of the classic tale. The war against humanity is raging. As the small town of Rainbow Falls, Montana, comes under siege, scattered survivors come together to weather the onslaught. Victor Frankenstein's nihilistic plan is to remake the future: a future in which mankind will be annihilated. To accomplish this aim he has created nothing less than the shock troops of the Apocalypse. Now the alliance of the good must make their last, best stand and do battle against overwhelming odds. And Deucalion, Frankenstein's original and flawed attempt at replicating life, must finally confront his evil creator. In a climax that will shatter every expectation, the fate of humanity hangs in the balance!

HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. 'Up on the Alp with grandfather is the loveliest spot in all the world.' Little orphan Heidi is sent to live with her grandfather in his remote house in the Swiss Alps. She soon begins to love her life with her grandfather and makes friends with Peter, the goat-herder and his grandmother. Idyllic as her existence is, her aunt sends Heidi to live in Frankfurt to become a companion to the invalid daughter of a wealthy family although Heidi yearns to be back in the fresh air and freedom of the mountains.

HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. 'Welcome, O life! I go to encounter for the millionth time the reality of experience and to forge in the smithy of my soul the uncreated conscience of my race.' Autobiographical in tone, Joyce's tale of Stephen Dedalus' journey into adulthood explores the intellectual and moral development of an artist as he struggles to overcome the ingrained Catholic consciousness of his childhood — a family life governed by Irish history, religion and politics. Realistic and innovative in its approach, the style of writing proved controversial upon publication in 1916 and the character of Stephen on a quest for his identity did not appeal to readers.However, Joyce expertly encapsulates the development of individual consciousness and the role of the artist in society in what is considered one of his greatest works.

No suspects. No clues. No rest for the wicked. 'You will raise money for the safe return of Alison and Jenny McGregor. If you raise enough money within fourteen days they will be released. If not, Jenny will be killed.' Alison and Jenny McGregor — Aberdeen's own mother-daughter singing sensation — are through to the semi-finals of TV smash-hit Britain's Next Big Star. They're in all the gossip magazines, they've got millions of YouTube hits, everyone loves them. But their reality-TV dream has turned into a real-life nightmare. The ransom demand appears in all the papers, on the TV, and the internet, telling the nation to dig deep if they want to keep Alison and Jenny alive. The media want action; the public displays of grief and anger are reaching fever-pitch. Time is running out, but DS Logan McRae and his colleagues have nothing to go on: the kidnappers haven't left a single piece of forensic evidence. The investigation is going nowhere. It looks as if the price of fame just got a lot higher!

HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. 'Sometimes it is harder to deprive oneself of a pain than of a pleasure.' Set on the French Riviera in the 1920s, American Dick Diver and his wife Nicole are the epitome of chic, living a glamorous lifestyle and entertaining friends at their villa. Young film star Rosemary Hoyt arrives in France and becomes entranced by the couple. It is not long before she is attracted to the enigmatic Dick, but he and his wife hold dark secrets and as their marriage becomes more fractured, Fitzgerald laments the failure of idealism and the carefully constructed trappings of high society in the Roaring Twenties.

HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. 'That's Harris all over — so ready to take the burden of everything himself, and put it on the backs of other people.' Three late-Victorian gentlemen, George, Harris and the writer himself as well as their fox terrier Montmorency take a trip in a boat along the River Thames to Oxford. What ensues is a hilarious journey through the English waterways full of anecdotes, and farcical incidents with Montmorency wreaking havoc along the way.

HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. 'Sleep went quite away. I used to rise in the night, look round for her, beseech her earnestly to return. A rattle of the window, a cry of the blast only replied — Sleep never came!' Based on Charlotte Bronte's own experiences as a governess in Brussels, her last novel tells the story of lonely Lucy Snowe who finds employment at a girls' boarding school in the town of Villette. Finding the students challenging and experiencing the pain of unrequited love for the first time, Lucy becomes increasingly isolated in a world governed by societal expectation and struggles to maintain her integrity in the face of her envious and watchful employer, Madame Beck.

HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. 'In fact, the fairies had turned him into a water-baby. A water-baby? You never heard of a water-baby. Perhaps not. That is the very reason why this story was written.' Poor Tom is an orphan, employed by the underhand Grimes as a chimney sweep. While cleaning a chimney one day, Tom becomes lost and appears in Ellie's bedroom. She mistakes him for a thief and he flees in fright, down to the edge of a stream where he falls asleep. In his dreamlike world, he becomes a water baby, swimming with the other water babies and discovering an aquatic playground full of strange and wonderful characters.

The new novel from the bestselling author of Middlesex and The Virgin Suicides. Brown University, 1982. Madeleine Hanna, dutiful English student and incurable romantic, is writing her thesis on Jane Austen and George Eliot — authors of the great marriage plots. As Madeleine studies the age-old motivations of the human heart, real life, in the form of two very different men, intervenes. Leonard Bankhead, brilliant scientist and charismatic loner, attracts Madeleine with an intensity that she seems powerless to resist. Meanwhile, her old friend Mitchell Grammaticus, a theology student searching for some kind of truth in life, is certain of at least one thing — that he and Madeleine are destined to be together. But as all three leave college, they will have to figure out how they want their own marriage plot to end.

From contemporary sustainable architectural projects to a review of the historical trends in architecture and interior home design, this magnificent book is a collection of the most innovative residences built over the past ten years. Richly illustrated with site photos, floor plans, interior and exterior shots, this thorough compendium will serve as a source of inspiration for anyone seeking building or renovation plans. Whether you are actually planning to build or just want to feast on this architectural bounty, The Sourcebook of Contemporary Houses is sure to be a must-have for any home owner, renter, or dreamer.

For over 50 years, the Type Directors Club has encouraged the worldwide graphic arts community to achieve excellence in typography through its annual international competition. Typography 32 is the only annual devoted exclusively to typography and presents the finest work in this field for the year 2010. Selected from approximately 2300 international submissions to the annual Type Directors Club competition, the winning designs are models of excellence and innovation in the use of type design, encompassing a wide range of categories, including books, magazines, corporate identities, logo types, stationery, annual reports, video and Web graphics, and posters.

This new edition of Collins Gem Thesaurus is part of the Collins Gem range — the world's best-selling little dictionaries and thesauruses. The seventh edition is fully up-to-date, with the newest words to enter the English language. With thousands of alternative words, subject lists and a new supplement, this colour edition of the Collins Gem English Thesaurus is ideal for everyday use in home, school and office. The handy little thesaurus gives you practical, applied knowledge in your pocket. It contains a wide selection of alternative words and opposites, with the most useful words highlighted for ease of reference. The clear colour layout also makes the content easily accessible. Giving you added value, the supplement provides advice on finding the right words for your purpose, including tips on making the right choice between two easily.