"Alicia Berenson's life is seemingly perfect. A famous painter married to an in-demand fashion photographer, she lives in a grand house overlooking a park in one of London's most desirable areas. One evening, her husband, Gabriel, returns home late from work, and Alicia shoots him five times in the face and then never speaks another word. Alicia's refusal to talk, or give any kind of explanation, turns a domestic tragedy into something far grander,...

Today we may be living in the most peaceful time in human existence. The ceaseless news about war, crime, and terrorism makes it seem as if the world is getting bloodier. But in this book the author shows that violence has in fact declined over long stretches of history. How has this happened? Here the author examines the inner demons that incline us toward violence and the better angels that pull us away, and shows how changes in ideas and practices...

"From the #1 New York Times bestselling author, a novel about the power of family to harm--and to heal. Within the walls of a tasteful, perfectly kept house in North Carolina's Blue Ridge Mountains, young Zane Bigelow feels like a prisoner of war. Strangers--and even Zane's own aunt across the lake--see his parents as a successful surgeon and his stylish wife, making appearances at their children's ballet recitals and baseball games. Zane and his...

"Hailed as a bold foray into new literary territory, Kawakami's novel is told in the voice of a 14-year-old student subjected to relentless torment for having a lazy eye. Instead of resisting, the boy chooses to suffer in complete resignation. The only person who understands what he is going through is a female classmate who suffers similar treatment at the hands of her tormenters. These raw and realistic portrayals of bullying are counterbalanced...

"Ten years ago, college student Quincy Carpenter went on vacation with five friends and came back alone, the only survivor of a horror movie-scale massacre. In an instant, she became a member of a club no one wants to belong--a group of similar survivors known in the press as the Final Girls ... Now, Quincy is doing well ... That is, until Lisa, the first Final Girl, is found dead in her bathtub, wrists slit, and Sam, the second, appears on Quincy's...

Kali Fajardo-Anstine’s magnetic story collection breathes life into her Latina characters of indigenous ancestry and the land they inhabit in the American West. Against the remarkable backdrop of Denver, Colorado—a place that is as fierce as it is exquisite—these women navigate the land the way they navigate their lives: with caution, grace, and quiet force.

From Africa to Asia and Latin America, the era of climate wars has begun. Extreme weather is breeding banditry, humanitarian crisis, and state failure. In Tropic of Chaos, investigative journalist Christian Parenti travels along the front lines of this gathering catastrophe -- the belt of economically and politically battered postcolonial nations and war zones girding the planet's midlatitudes. Here he finds failed states amid climatic disasters....

Divorceé Liz Kendall is devoted to her two kids, and most people who know her know that she wouldn't hurt a fly. But there's another side to Liz -- one that's dark and malicious. She will do anything to get her way, no matter how extreme. And when this alter ego takes control, the consequences are devastating. Teenager Fran is a survivor of childhood abduction; she's protected by her imaginary friend, a fox named Jinx who's a battle-ready vulpine...

In a shadowy antiques shop in Rome, violinist Julia Ansdell happens upon a curious piece of music — the Incendio waltz — and is immediately entranced by its unusual composition. Full of passion, torment, and chilling beauty, and seemingly unknown to the world, the waltz, its mournful minor key, its feverish arpeggios, appear to dance with a strange life of their own. Julia is determined to master the complex work and make its melody heard. Back...

"Based on the author's decades of experience teaching everyday people how to defend themselves and on a rational approach to the scientific data, The Gift of Violence provides the average person with the knowledge they need to reduce the likelihood of becoming a victim of violence-and to survive a violent encounter"--