Alternate History is historical fiction that examines the ramifications of a change or changes in known history. Alternate History can use science-fiction devices — such as time-travel — to change history, or it can simply pick a point where, had things merely happened differently (for example: Abraham Lincoln decided not to go to the theater that night, or Henry VIII stayed married to his first wife), history might have taken another path altogether. These books take place 20 years after the Worldwar series. The story begins with the arrival of the alien colonization fleet, and a new phase of the invasion brings thousands of extraterrestrials to Earth.

Crippled and disconsolate, sixteen-year-old Catalina is the one person unable to join in the festivities of the Feast of the Assumption. Yet that is when she miraculously meets and talks with the Blessed Virgin as though she were her own mother. But in the dark days of the Spanish Inquisition, the Church is apt to take a serious view of such an ostentatious claim. The last of Maugham's novels, Catalina is a romantic celebration of Spain and a delightfully mischievous satire on absolutism.

In this stunning novel Andre Dubus III set in present-day California a story of human conflict that has the power and resonance of a classical tragedy. Working on a road crew in California, a former colonel in the Shah's Air Force yearns to restore his family's dignity. When an attractive bungalow comes up at a country auction for a fraction of its value, he sees an opportunity to dream his own American Dream, for himself, his wife and children. But for the house's former owner, a recovering alcoholic and addict down on her luck, the loss of her father's house is the latest in a series of insults life has dealt her. When he becomes involved with a married policeman who takes up her cause, the stage is set for a gut-wrenching tragedy, which keeps the reader gripped and moved to the last page. Dubus has an extraordinary ability to get us inside each of his characters, to see the world as it is for each of them. These are ordinary people, people just looking for a small piece of ground to stand on, driven by the same ordinary needs into inevitable conflict — a conflict in which even the reader, rooting for all of them, has no safe haven. Unfolding relentlessly from its opening pages, House of Sand and Fog is a narrative triumph. It turns both the traditional immigrant success story and a modern love story upside down with a heartrending outcome, combining American realism with a Shak.

The 15th novel in the bestselling series finds Kinsey Milhone investigating why her ex-husband Mickey, the man she left years ago after his implication in a fatal beating, lies dying in an L.A. hospital. Kinsey uncovers evidence that Mickey was innocent of the beating charge, but as she searches those in Mickey's life, she must also search the blind spots of her own life, including one that hides a killer. A New York Times Notable Book.

Much of Peter Ackroyd's work has been concerned with the life and past of London but here, as a culmination, is his definitive account of the city. For him it is an organism with its own laws of growth and change, so this book is a biography rather than a history. Ackroyd reveals the dozens of ways in which the continuity of the city survives — in ward boundaries unchanged since the Middle Ages, in vocabulary and in various traditions — showing London as constantly changing, yet forever the same in essence.

«An abused child, yet confident of her destiny to reign, a woman in a man's world, passionately sexual--though, as she maintained, a virgin — Elizabeth I is famed as England's most successful ruler. David Starkey's brilliant new biography concentrates on Elizabeth's formative years — from her birth in 1533 to her accession in 1558 — and shows how the experiences of danger and adventure formed her remarkable character and shaped her opinions and beliefs. From princess and heir-apparent to bastardized and disinherited royal, accused traitor to head of the princely household, Elizabeth experienced every vicissitude of fortune and extreme of condition — and rose above it all to reign during a watershed moment in history. A uniquely absorbing tale of one young woman's turbulent, courageous, and seemingly impossible journey toward the throne, «Elizabeth» is the exhilarating story of the making of a queen.»

The Cat in the Hat takes children to the Feeling Great Clinic, where they learn about exercise, germs, healthy eating, and playing safely.

Celia Jordan must make difficult choices between ethics and profits and between love and career as she rises to success in the pharmaceutical industry.

Combining explosive suspense with sensual passion, Nora Roberts turns up the heat in this classic tale — the sizzling story of a man and woman on the trail of a demented killer, a search that will plunge them headlong into danger... In the lazy days of summer, a merciless heat wave is the biggest story in Washington, D.C. But the weather is knocked off the front pages when a young woman is found strangled to death. A note left behind reads Her sins are forgiven her. Two more victims soon follow, and suddenly every headline is devoted to the killer the press has dubbed the Priest. When the police ask top-notch psychiatrist Dr. Tess Court to help with their investigation, she comes up with a disturbing portrait of a twisted soul. Detective Ben Paris doesn't give a damn about the killer's psyche. What he can't easily dismiss is Tess. Tall, dark, and good-looking, Ben has a legendary reputation with women, but the coolly elegant Tess doesn't react to him like other women he's known — and he finds the challenge enticing. Now, as the two are thrown together in a perilous quest to stop a serial killer, the flame of white-hot passion flares. But someone also has his eyes on the beautiful blond doctor... and Ben can only pray that if the madman strikes, he'll be able to stop him before it's too late...

A perfect introduction to reading Spanish! Simple English words and sentences are introduced by pictures. Then the words and sentences are translated into Spanish with the translation of the featured word in capital letters. It's that easy. And for the child who wants to go further — a two-page, basic key to the pronunciation of the language. Great for introducing Spanish to English-speaking children and for introducing English to Spanish-speaking children!

At the age of twenty-three, Charlie Mason is endowed with good looks, good manners and a happy disposition. Following three years at Cambridge and one in his father's business, he is now looking forward to a jaunt in Paris with Simon Fenimore, his oldest friend. Yet Paris is not what he expects. And in just a few days his young eyes are opened to the horror and ugly drama of its underworld. Published before the outbreak of war in 1939, Maugham's purpose in Christmas Holiday was to warn the complacent, insular British middle-class of the immense upheavals taking place on the Continent.

Grendel prowled in, hating all men and all joy and hungry for human life. So swift was his attack that no man heard an outcry; but when the dawn came, thirty of Hothgar's best and noblest thanes were missing. Only Beowulf, foremost among warriors, has the strength and courage to battle with Grendel the Night-stalker. In this thrilling re-telling of the Anglo-Saxon legend, Rosemary Sutcliff recounts Beowulf's most terrifying quests: against Grendel the man-wolf, against the hideous sea-hag and, most courageous of all — his fight to the death with the monstrous fire-drake.

With the able assistance of Thing 1 and Thing 2 — and a fleet of Rube Goldbergian vehicles — the Cat in the Hat examines various parts of plants, seeds and flowers; basic photosynthesis and pollination; and seed dispersal.

Help children recognize basic shapes and colors, a necessary step in developing pre-math and pre-reading skills.

Double-sided cards with pictures and upper and lower case letters.

«This book includes an introduction by Paul Theroux. Somerset Maugham's success as a writer enabled him to indulge his adventurous love of travel, and he recorded the sights and sounds of his wide-ranging journeys with an urbane, wry style all his own. «The Gentleman in the Parlour» is an account of the author's trip through what was then Burma and Siam, ending in Haiphong, Vietnam. Whether by river to Mandalay, on horse through the mountains and forests of the Shan States to Bangkok, or onwards by sea, Maugham's vivid descriptions bring a lost world to life.»

Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson return to the vivid universe of Frank Herbert’s Dune, bringing a vast array of rich and complex characters into conflict to shape the destiny of worlds.... As Shaddam sits at last on the Golden Lion Throne, Baron Vladimir Harkonnen plots against the new Emperor and House Atreides — and against the mysterious Sisterhood of the Bene Gesserit. For Leto Atreides, grown complacent and comfortable as ruler of his House, it is a time of momentous choice: between friendship and duty, safety and destiny. But for the survival of House Atreides, there is just one choice — strive for greatness or be crushed.

It's the first day of kindergarten and Miss Bindergarten is hard at work getting the classroom ready for her twenty-six new students. Meanwhile, Adam Krupp wakes up, Brenda Heath brushes her teeth, and Christopher Beaker finds his sneaker. Miss Bindergarten puts the finishing touches on the room just in time, and the students arrive. Now the fun can begin! This rhyming, brightly illustrated book is the perfect way to practice the alphabet and to introduce young children to kindergarten.

A year after the murder of Mrs. Yvonne Harrison at her home, the CID are still baffled. Morse refused to become involved, even after new evidence and a fresh murder arose. Sgt. Lewis's loyalty to Morse turns to distress as his own investigation suggests Mrs. Harrison was no stranger to Morse. This title is the finale to the Inspector Morse series.

They say a leopard can't change his spots but Spot sure can Babies and toddlers will love pointing out the colors of his changing spots in this delightful, rhyming adaptation of Robert Lopshire's classic Bright and Early Book.