The book begins a billion years ago. Its first characters are the mastadon and the woolly mammoth, followed by such other settlers as the Eskimos, Athapaskans, and Russians. Vignettes of characters as varied as the Danish navigator Vitus Bering, who explored Alaska for Russia's Peter the Great, and Kendra Scott, the young Colorado teacher who taught the Eskimo children during the recent Prudhoe Bay oil boom, illustrate the colorful history of this...

When an orphan boy witnesses a woman's kidnapping just days before Christmas, he is determined to save her, but the woman doesn't want to be rescued and is taking steps to bring her captors to justice for crimes far worse than kidnapping.

As the decisions made in the corridors of power bring the world to the brink of oblivion, five families from across the globe are brought together in an unforgettable tale of passion and conflict during the Cold War. When Rebecca Hoffmann, a teacher in East Germany, finds herself pursued by the secret police, she discovers that she has been living a lie. Her younger brother, Walli, longs to escape across the Berlin Wall to Britain to become part of...

Kitty and Ogden Milton appear to have everything. But after a tragedy befalls them, Ogden tries to bring Kitty back to life by purchasing an island in Maine. That island, and its house, come to define and burnish the Milton family, year after year after year. And it is there that Kitty issues a refusal that will haunt her till the day she dies.

Their friends? country house is not where Lady Vespasia wishes to spend Christmas with her new husband, Victor Narraway. She?d have preferred a relaxing holiday at home with him?especially as Victor, former head of the London Special Branch, seems to be hiding undercover dealings with the other guests who have gathered at the spacious estate. As tensions grow among the couples, the young and beautiful Iris Watson-Watt becomes the center of several...

"The author of such short-fiction masterpieces as Young Goodman Brown and The Minister's Black Veil, Nathaniel Hawthorne is regarded as one of the most significant American writers of the nineteenth century. This volume collects many of his most famous short works and is a fitting compendium of his literary achievements for newcomers or longtime Hawthorne fans alike"--Provided by GoodReads.com.

Melissa MacGregor is having a most difficult time finding a husband in the Highlands of Scotland. All her suitors have been scared off by one or more of her 16 strapping uncles, and now no man will dare come near her, except for one.

The romantic adventures of Judith Dunbar, who inherits money from an aunt, allowing her to move freely in English society. The novel chronicles her affairs from boarding school days, through World War II service in the army, to the post-war years.

Humphrey Wescott, Earl of Riverdale, has died, leaving behind a fortune and a scandalous secret, a daughter no one knew he had. Anna Snow grew up in an orphanage in Bath, knowing nothing of the family she came from. Now she discovers that the late Earl of Riverdale was her father and that she has inherited his fortune. She is also overjoyed to learn she has siblings. However, they want nothing to do with her or her attempts to share her new wealth....

"The novel follows the Cecil family's arduous journey by riverboat and wagon from Boone's Lick, Missouri, to Fort Phil Kearny in Wyoming. Fifteen-year-old Shay narrates, describing the journey that begins when his Ma, Mary Margaret, decides to hunt down her elusive husband, Dick, to tell him she's leaving him. Without knowing precisely where he is, they set out across the plains in search of him, encountering grizzly bears, stormy weather, and hostile...