Random House Inc.

When Ravi Kapoor, an over-worked London doctor, is driven beyond endurance by his obnoxious father-in-law, he asks his wife: 'Can't we just send him away somewhere? Somewhere far, far away'. His prayer seems to have been answered when his entrepreneurial cousin, Sonny, sets up a retirement home, recreating a lost corner of England in a converted guesthouse in Bangalore. Travel and set-up are inexpensive, staff willing and plentiful — and the British pensioners can enjoy the hot weather and take mango juice with their gin. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is a brilliant comedy of manners, mixing acute observation with a deeper message about how different cultures cope in the modern world.

Detective Alex Cross is one of the first on the scene of the biggest case he's ever been part of. The President's son and daughter have been abducted from their school — an impossible crime, but somehow the kidnapper has done it. Alex does everything he can but is shunted to the fringes of the investigation. Someone powerful doesn't want Cross too close. A deadly contagion in the DC water supply threatens to cripple the capital, and Alex sees the looming shape of the most devastating attack the United States has ever experienced. He is already working flat-out on the abduction, and this massive assault pushes Cross completely over the edge. With each hour that passes, the chance of finding the children alive diminishes. In an emotional private meeting, the First Lady asks Alex to please save her kids. But even the highest security clearance doesn't get him any closer to the kidnapper — and Alex makes a desperate decision that goes against everything he believes in. A full-throttle thriller with unstoppable action, unrestrained emotion, and relentless suspense, Kill Alex Cross is the most gripping Alex Cross novel James Patterson has ever written.

In 1886, a mysterious travelling circus becomes an international sensation. Open only at night, constructed entirely in black and white, Le Cirque des Reves delights all who wander its circular paths and warm themselves at its bonfire. Although there are acrobats, fortune-tellers and contortionists, the Circus of Dreams is no conventional spectacle. Some tents contain clouds, some ice. The circus seems almost to cast a spell over its aficionados, who call themselves the reveurs — the dreamers. At the heart of the story is the tangled relationship between two young magicians, Celia, the enchanter's daughter, and Marco, the sorcerer's apprentice. At the behest of their shadowy masters, they find themselves locked in a deadly contest, forced to test the very limits of the imagination, and of their love... A fabulous, fin-de-siecle feast for the senses and a life-affirming love story, The Night Circus is a captivating novel that will make the real world seem fantastical and a fantasy world real.

The hit BBC series Sherlock offers a fresh, contemporary take on the original Sir Arthur Conan Doyle stories, and has helped introduce a whole new generation of fans to the legendary detective. In this TV tie-in edition of the classic novel, first published in The Strand in 1901, Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson are called to the haunting and beautiful moors of Dartmoor and the home of the Baskerville family, who seem to have fallen victim to a family curse. A terrifying spectre in the shape of a great hound was once said to have hunted an ancestor across the moors and the recent, mysterious death of Sir Charles Baskerville suggests that the hound has returned. But is this really a supernatural curse or is a much more dastardly and earthly plot a foot? Sherlock and Dr Watson must solve the riddle of the hound before another murder is committed.

The hit BBC series Sherlock offers a fresh, contemporary take on the original Sir Arthur Conan Doyle stories, and has helped introduce a whole new generation of fans to the legendary detective. This TV tie-in edition to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's second collection of Sherlock Holmes short stories, which was first published in 1894, includes the infamous The Final Problem . It is one of Conan Doyle's favourite Sherlock tales and the detective's deadliest challenge. This is the ultimate thriller, in which Sherlock meets his intellectual match: the criminal mastermind Professor Moriarty. As Moriarty pushes Sherlock to his intellectual limits, this game of cat and mouse will test not only their wits but their mortality.

Cuando los reyes estan en guerra, toda la tierra tiembla... Ahora hay mas reyes en el reino que ratas en un castillo, afirma uno de los personajes de Choque de reyes. Despues de la sospechosa muerte de Robert Baratheon, el monarca de los Siete Reinos, su hijo Joffrey ha sido impuesto por la fuerza, aunque quienes realmente gobiernan son su madre, un eunuco y un enano, como dice la voz del pueblo. Cuatro nobles se proclaman, a la vez, reyes legitimos, y las tierras de Poniente se estremecen entre guerras y traiciones. Y todo este horror se encuentra presidido por la mas ominosa de las senales: un inmenso cometa color sangre suspendido en el cielo. En esta novela prodigiosa nada es realmente lo que parece ser. Los protagonistas, trazados con una complejidad asombrosa, son capaces de hacerse odiar o amar desde las primeras paginas. George R. R. Martin, con pulso firme y energico, vuelve a ofrecernos un brillante despliegue de personajes en una trama rica, densa y sorprendente. Nos convierte en testigos de luchas fratricidas, intrigas y traiciones palaciegas en una tierra maldita, donde fuerzas ocultas se alzan de nuevo y acechan para reinar en las noches del largo invierno que se avecina.

The star of The Lorax by Dr. Seuss makes his Step into Reading debut in this rhymed reader that offers kids easy suggestions for going green! After explaining how the trash in a wastebasket ultimately ends up in a landfill or incinerator, the Lorax suggests realistic ways children can reduce waste, such as by carrying a lunch box, donating old clothes and toys, sharing magazines with friends, recycling cans and bottles, and using rechargeable batteries. He also explains how they can save energy around the home by turning off lights, taking shorter showers, donning sweaters to stay warm, and much, much more. All in all, this is a great introduction to helping the Earth and helping kids step into reading!

With unequaled insight and brio, David Brooks, the New York Times columnist and bestselling author of Bobos in Paradise, has long explored and explained the way we live. Now, with the intellectual curiosity and emotional wisdom that make his columns among the most read in the nation, Brooks turns to the building blocks of human flourishing in a multilayered, profoundly illuminating work grounded in everyday life. This is the story of how success happens. It is told through the lives of one composite American couple, Harold and Erica — how they grow, push forward, are pulled back, fail, and succeed. Distilling a vast array of information into these two vividly realized characters, Brooks illustrates a fundamental new understanding of human nature. A scientific revolution has occurred — we have learned more about the human brain in the last thirty years than we had in the previous three thousand. The unconscious mind, it turns out, is most of the mind--not a dark, vestigial place but a creative and enchanted one, where most of the brain's work gets done. This is the realm of emotions, intuitions, biases, longings, genetic predispositions, personality traits, and social norms: the realm where character is formed and where our most important life decisions are made. The natural habitat of The Social Animal. Drawing on a wealth of current research from numerous disciplines, Brooks takes Harold and Erica from infancy to school; from the odyssey years that have come to define young adulthood to the high walls of poverty; from the nature of attachment, love, and commitment, to the nature of effective leadership. He reveals the deeply social aspect of our very minds and exposes the bias in modern culture that overemphasizes rationalism, individualism, and IQ. Along the way, he demolishes conventional definitions of success while looking toward a culture based on trust and humility. The Social Animal is a moving and nuanced intellectual adventure, a story of achievement and a defense of progress. Impossible to put down, it is an essential book for our time, one that will have broad social impact and will change the way we see ourselves and the world.

The fifth volume in the greatest epic work of the modern age The future of the Seven Kingdoms hangs in the balance. In the east, Daenerys, last scion of House Targaryen, her dragons grown to terrifying maturity, rules as queen of a city built on dust and death, beset by enemies. Now that her whereabouts are known many are seeking Daenerys and her dragons. Among them the dwarf, Tyrion Lannister, who has escaped King's Landing with a price on his head, wrongfully condemned to death for the murder of his nephew, King Joffrey. But not before killing his hated father, Lord Tywin. To the north lies the great Wall of ice and stone — a structure only as strong as those guarding it. Eddard Stark's bastard son Jon Snow has been elected the 998th Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, but he has enemies both in the Watch and beyond the Wall, where the wildling armies are massing for an assault. On all sides bitter conflicts are reigniting, played out by a grand cast of outlaws and priests, soldiers and skinchangers, nobles and slaves. The tides of destiny will inevitably lead to the greatest dance of all.

From Aquarium to Zoo: all of London is here in this covetable portable guide to the capital. This title is brilliant for any visitor to London as a handy checklist, as well as a gorgeous gift for the London lover. There are tons to spot in the pictures, including a lost penguin, trying to find his way home. Illustrated in a gloriously retro palette by Ben Hawkes, The London ABC is quirky, witty and endlessly appealing.

In Belgrave Square old Mr Gresham is baffled by his tigerish daughter Rebecca, whose intentions he cannot fathom. In the clubs of St James' rakish Mr Happerton plays billiards with his crony Captain Raff, while in darkest Lincolnshire sad Mr Davenant broods over his financial embarrassments and waits for his daughter's new governess.

July 2012: The Games have arrived in London. Preparations have gone flawlessly and the stage is set for one of the greatest ever showcases of sporting excellence. But one man has a devastating plan. Having waited years for this chance, he is now ready for vengeance. When Sir Denton Marshall, a key member of the London Olympic organising committee, is found decapitated in his garden, Peter Knight, head of Private London, is called to the scene. Private are working with the organising committee on the security for the Games, so Denton Marshall was a valuable client. But there is a more personal link: Marshall was also the fiance of Knight's mother. Having only recently lost close friends and colleagues at Private London in a fatal plane crash, this is another torturous blow for Knight and threatens to push him over the edge. But it soon becomes clear that Denton Marshall's murder is no isolated incident, and that the killer's number one target is the Games itself. As the most talented athletes in the world gather in London, Knight knows he must find Sir Denton's killer. Thousands of lives are at stake...

Part-time environmentalist and philanthropist Ben and his ex-mercenary buddy Chon run a Laguna Beach-based marijuana operation, reaping significant profits from their loyal clientele. In the past when their turf was challenged, Chon took care of eliminating the threat. But now they may have come up against something that they can't handle — the Mexican Baja Cartel wants in, sending them the message that a no is unacceptable. When they refuse to back down, the cartel escalates its threat, kidnapping Ophelia, the boys' playmate and confidante. O's abduction sets off a dizzying array of ingenious negotiations and gripping plot twists that will captivate readers eager to learn the costs of freedom. Savages is an adrenaline-fuelled novel by a master thriller writer at the very top of his game.

Nineteenth-century Europe, from Turin to Prague to Paris, abounds with the ghastly and the mysterious. Conspiracies rule history. Jesuits plot against Freemasons. Italian priests are strangled with their own intestines. French criminals plan bombings by day and celebrate black masses by night. Every nation has its own secret service, perpetrating forgeries, plots, and massacres. From the unification of Italy to the Paris Commune to the Dreyfus Affair to the notorious forgery The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, Europe is in tumult and everyone needs a scapegoat. But what if, behind all of these conspiracies both real and imagined, lay just one man? What if that evil genius created the most infamous document of all?

In the early 1950s, an eleven-year-old boy boards a huge liner bound for England — a 'castle that was to cross the sea'. At mealtimes, he is placed at the lowly 'Cat's Table' with an eccentric group of grown-ups and two other boys, Cassius and Ramadhin. As the ship makes its way across the Indian Ocean, through the Suez Canal, into the Mediterranean, the boys become involved in the worlds and stories of the adults around them, tumbling from one adventure and delicious discovery to another, 'bursting all over the place like freed mercury'. And at night, the boys spy on a shackled prisoner — his crime and fate a galvanizing mystery that will haunt them forever. As the narrative moves from the decks and holds of the ship and the boy's adult years, it tells a spellbinding story about the difference between the magical openness of childhood and the burdens of earned understanding — about a life-long journey that began unexpectedly with a spectacular sea voyage, when all on board were 'free of the realities of the earth'. With the ocean liner a brilliant microcosm for the floating dream of childhood, «The Cat's Table» is a vivid, poignant and thrilling book, full of Ondaatje's trademark set-pieces and breathtaking images: a story told with a child's sense of wonder by a novelist at the very height of his powers.

Jack Torrance's new job at the Overlook Hotel is the perfect chance for a fresh start. As the off-season caretaker at the atmospheric old hotel, he'll have plenty of time to spend reconnecting with his family and working on his writing. But as the harsh winter weather sets in, the idyllic location feels ever more remote... and more sinister. And the only one to notice the strange and terrible forces gathering around the Overlook is Danny Torrance, a uniquely gifted five-year-old.

Kate, Michael, and Emma have been in one orphanage after another for the last ten years, passed along like lost baggage. Yet these unwanted children are more remarkable than they could possibly imagine. Ripped from their parents as babies, they are being protected from a horrible evil of devastating power, an evil they know nothing about. Until now. Before long, Kate, Michael, and Emma are on a journey to dangerous and secret corners of the world... a journey of allies and enemies, of magic and mayhem. And — if an ancient prophesy is correct — what they do can change history, and it is up to them to set things right. «The Emerald Atlas» brims with humor and action as it charts Kate, Michael, and Emma's extraordinary adventures through an unforgettable, enchanted world.

It is October 1914: the destroyer Svea emerged from the Stockholm archipelago bearing south-south-east. On board was Lars Tobiasson-Svartman, a naval engineer charged with making depth soundings to find a navigable channel for the Swedish navy. As a child Tobiasson-Svartman was fascinated by measurement; nothing is as magical as exact knowledge. His instinct for his profession is reflected in the comfortable domesticity he enjoys with his wife — herself meticulous in every detail. Close to the waters where soundings are taken Tobiasson-Svartman alights on a barren skerry, presumed uninhabited, and is surprised to discover there a young woman, Sara Fredrika. Despite her almost feral appearance, something about her strikes him to the core. The mission is a success and the Svea returns to Gothenburg. Tobiasson-Svartman, however, remains haunted by this chance encounter; his equilibrium has been disturbed, and he is now compelled to find any pretence to return to the remote islet. In Depths Mankell confirms his status as a writer beyond the crime genre. By delving deep into the male psyche, he has produced a novel both as tense and compelling in every way as the Wallander series, but also powerful, moving and ultimately tragic.

The year is 1Q84. This is the real world, there is no doubt about that. But in this world, there are two moons in the sky. In this world, the fates of two people, Tengo and Aomame, are closely intertwined. They are each, in their own way, doing something very dangerous. And in this world, there seems no way to save them both. Something extraordinary is starting.

The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rкves, and it is only open at night. But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway — a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will.

If you need to know it, it's in this book! Cracking the SAT with DVD, 2013 Edition includes everything you need to know to master the Math, Critical Reading, and Writing sections of the SAT. It includes: — Access to 8 full-length practice exams; — A DVD with tutorials and expert advice from the Princeton Review's top SAT instructors; — Our exclusive Hit Parade of vocabulary appearing most frequently on the SAT; — Tons of drills and detailed explanations to show you exactly what to expect on the exam; — Thorough review of all SAT topics, including essay-writing techniques and a focused grammar chapter; — Key strategies and a breakdown of SAT myths to help you feel more confident on test day.

Vaclav and Lena seem destined for each other. They first meet as children at their English class in Brooklyn. Vaclav dreams of becoming a famous magician with Lena his lovely assistant. But then Lena disappears. It seems that life can play cruel tricks too. Vaclav says goodnight to Lena every night for seven years to keep her safe and then discovers why she was taken from him. Is their connection strong enough to survive the truth, or is happily ever after only an illusion? Funny, heartbreaking, rich and wise, this is a story with the power to cast a spell all of its own.

In this abridged edition of John Campbell's two acclaimed volumes on Margaret Thatcher — used as the basis for the film The Iron Lady — we trace the life of Britain's only female Prime Minister, from her upbringing in Grantham to her unexpected challenge to Edward Heath for leadership of the Conservative party and her eventual removal from power. This is an extraordinary account of an extraordinary woman; John Campbell portrays an ambitious and determined woman who may have begun her career in office almost timidly but who became increasingly remote and arrogant after the Falklands, eventually losing the trust of her colleagues.

Time Out's resident team helps you get the best from the iconic British capital in this annual guide. Alongside the historic Tower of London, the 21st century Tate Modern and all the other major attractions, Time Out London gives you the inside track on local culture, with illuminating features and hundreds of independent reviews covering everything from West End shows to cosy pubs. And as a London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Licensee, the 2012 edition will be the first guidebook to bring you the latest from the Olympic Park bringing London 2012 to life. Helping visitors and Londoners alike plan where to go and how to get involved in the events taking place in the lead-up to London 2012, including the pick of the Cultural Olympiad and a guide to the sporting highlights.