Random House Inc.

The British Secret Service has many enemies. Whether it's a sniper in East Berlin, a Russian agent secretly bidding for a Faberge egg, or a retired major in Jamaica with a treacherous secret, it is down to James Bond to neutralize the threat. In these stories the dirty world of international espionage tests Bond's skills to the extreme.

Ernst Stavro Blofeld, head of the terrorist organization SPECTRE, is holed up in his Alpine base, conducting research into a terrifying biological weapon. 007's mission is to gain access to Blofeld's icy retreat and gather information vital to guaranteeing world safety. A new alliance with the troubled daughter of the head of the French mafia offers 007 the chance to bring down his nemesis once and for all — but will Bond be prepared to pay the ultimate price for victory?

From the critically acclaimed, bestselling author of Birdsong, new fiction about love and war — five transporting stories and five unforgettable lives, linked across centuries. In Second World War Poland, a young prisoner closes his eyes and pictures going to bat on a sunlit English cricket ground. Across the yard of a Victorian poorhouse, a man is too ashamed to acknowledge the son he gave away. In a 19th-century French village, an old servant understands — suddenly and with awe — the meaning of the Bible story her master is reading to her. On a summer evening in the Catskills in 1971, a skinny girl steps out of a Chevy with a guitar and with a song that will send shivers through her listeners' skulls. A few years from now, in Italy, a gifted scientist discovers links between time and the human brain and between her lover's novel and his life. Throughout the five masterpieces of fiction that make up A Possible Life, exquisitely drawn and unforgettable characters risk their bodies, hearts and minds in pursuit of the manna of human connection. Between soldier and lover, parent and child, servant and master, and artist and muse, important pleasures and pains are born of love, separations and missed opportunities. These interactions — whether successful or not — also affect the long trajectories of characters' lives. Provocative and profound, Sebastian Faulks's dazzling new novel journeys across continents and centuries not only to entertain with superb old-fashioned storytelling but to show that occasions of understanding between humans are the one thing that defines us — and that those moments, however fluid, are the one thing that endures.

Vivienne Michel is a troubled young woman on the run. Fleeing England she comes to a deserted motel in the Adirondack Mountains where she thinks she has finally escaped her past. Sluggsy and Horror are ruthless mobsters on a mission of their own. Holding a terrified Viv hostage in the motel, they plot death and destruction. Bond has just one night to take on the gangsters. But with two hardened killers to outwit, and time running out, can he save Vivienne — and himself?

Spectre — the international terrorist organization led by Blofeld — is holding the world to ransom with two stolen nuclear weapons. Operation Thunderball is launched to stop them, and — in a race against time — Bond travels to the Bahamas to uncover the stolen bombs before Spectre can put its deadly plan into action. With less than a week to find the weapons Bond must enter a world of fine yachts and casinos to infiltrate the secret operation and foil Blofeld.

The Castle of Death is a Japanese poisoned garden on a rocky island in desolate waters, curated by a criminal mastermind. The task: James Bond needs to infiltrate and destroy the castle in exchange for top-secret intelligence, and to save his job. Bond is shattered by the murder of his wife by Ernst Stavro Blofield so M gives him one last chance with this impossible mission. Bond must learn the skills of ninja warriors and face his ultimate enemy one last time in a treacherous battle of wits.

Covering Oregon, Washington, and Vancouver, this Fodor's Gold Guide to the Pacific Northwest offers vibrant graphic tools that make planning a trip easy. The full-color guide provides comprehensive planning information on sights, dining, and lodging.

Lydia Chin is called in on what appears to be a simple case. Jeff Dunbar, art world insider, wants her to track down a rumour. Contemporary Chinese painting is sizzling hot on the art scene and no one is hotter than Chau Chun, known as the Ghost Hero. A talented and celebrated ink painter, Chau's highly-prized work mixes classical forms and modern political commentary. The rumour of new paintings by Chau is shaking up the art world. There's only one problem — Ghost Hero Chau has been dead for twenty years, killed in the 1989 Tianamen Square uprising. But not only is Ghost Hero Chau long dead, but Lydia's client isn't who he claims to be either. And she's not the only PI hired to look for these paintings. Lydia and her partner, Bill Smith, soon learn that someone else — Jack Lee: PI, art expert, and, like Lydia, American Born Chinese — is also on the case. What starts as rumours over new paintings by a dead artist quickly becomes something far more desperate and high stakes...

In these 17 essays (plus a short story) the 2011 Man Booker Prize winner examines British, French and American writers who have meant most to him, as well as the cross — currents and overlappings of their different cultures. From the deceptiveness of Penelope Fitzgerald to the directness of Hemingway, from Kipling's view of France to the French view of Kipling, from the many translations of Madame Bovary to the fabulations of Ford Madox Ford, from the National Treasure Status of George Orwell to the despair of Michel Houellebecq, Julian Barnes considers what fiction is, and what it can do. As he writes in his preface, 'Novels tell us the most truth about life: what it is, how we live it, what it might be for, how we enjoy and value it, and how we lose it'. When his Letters from London came out in 1995, the Financial Times called him 'our best essayist'. This wise and deft collection confirms that judgment.

In The Girl in the Flammable Skirt Aimee Bender has created a world where nothing is quite as it seems. From a man suffering from reverse evolution to a lonely wife who waits for her husband to return from war; to a small town where one girl has a hand made of fire and the other has a hand made of ice. These stories of men and women whose lives are shaped and sometimes twisted by the power of extraordinary desires take us to a place far beyond the imagination.

The wedding is a ritual that — in the last 20 years — has taken on a life of its own to become a main area of focus for stylists, event planners and designers alike. Vogue Weddings presents an unprecedented range of high-end wedding dresses and some of the most exotic and glamorous wedding destinations in the world. With careful and skilled editing from Vogue's European Editor, Hamish Bowles, and featuring a foreword from iconic designer Vera Wang, this is a one-of-a-kind record of the most beautiful weddings ever to take place.

Detective Michael Bennett arrests infamous South American crime lord Manuel Perrine in a deadly chase that leaves Bennett's lifelong friend Hughie McDonough dead. From jail, the prisoner vows to rain terror down upon New York City — and to get revenge on Michael Bennett. Perrine's men create chaos: police officers are shot, judges murdered. As Bennett is engulfed in the struggle against this widening organised violence, he realises that not only is he being targeted, the lives of everyone he loves are under threat.

Mary Boleyn is remembered by posterity as a 'great and infamous whore'. She was the mistress of two kings, Francois I of France and Henry VIII of England, and sister to Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII's second wife. She may secretly have borne Henry a child and it was because of his adultery with Mary that his marriage to Anne was annulled. It is not hard to see how this tangled web of relationships has given rise to rumours and misconceptions that have been embroidered over the centuries. In this, the first full-scale biography of Mary Boleyn, Alison Weir explodes much of the mythology that surrounds her subject and uncovers the facts about one of the most misunderstood figures of the Tudor age. Her extensive, forensic research has facilitated a new and detailed portrayal, in which she recounts that, contrary to popular belief, Mary was entirely undeserving of her posthumous notoriety as a great whore or the 'hackney' whom the King of France famously boasted of riding. Weir also presents compelling new evidence that almost conclusively determines the paternity of Mary's two oldest children. In this astonishing and riveting book, Alison Weir shows that Mary's story had a happy ending and that she was by far the luckiest of the Boleyns.

When he hears her favourite Beatles song, Toru Watanabe recalls his first love Naoko, the girlfriend of his best friend Kizuki. Immediately he is transported back almost twenty years to his student days in Tokyo, adrift in a world of uneasy friendships, casual sex, passion, loss and desire — to a time when an impetuous young woman called Midori marches into his life and he has to choose between the future and the past.

Haruki Murakami is an international phenomenon. When Books One and Two of his latest masterpiece, 1Q84, were published in Japan, a million copies were sold in one month, and the critical acclaim that ensued was reported all over the globe. Readers were transfixed by the mesmerising story of Aomame and Tengo and the strange parallel universe they inhabit. Then, one year later, to the surprise and delight of his readers, Murakami published an unexpected Book Three, bringing the story to a close. In order to reflect the experience of 1Q84's first readers, Harvill Secker is publishing Books One and Two in one beautifully designed volume and Book Three in a separate edition. A long-awaited treat for his fans, 1Q84 is also a thrilling introduction to the unique world of Murakami's imagination. This hypnotically addictive novel is a work of startling originality and, as the title suggests, a mind-bending ode to George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four. (The number 9 in Japanese is pronounced like the letter 'Q'). The year is 1984. Aomame sits in a taxi on the expressway in Tokyo. Her work is not the kind which can be discussed in public but she is in a hurry to carry out an assignment and, with the traffic at a stand-still, the driver proposes a solution. She agrees, but as a result of her actions starts to feel increasingly detached from the real world. She has been on a top-secret mission, and her next job will lead her to encounter the apparently superhuman founder of a religious cult. Meanwhile, Tengo is leading a nondescript life but wishes to become a writer. He inadvertently becomes involved in a strange affair surrounding a literary prize to which a mysterious seventeen-year-old girl has submitted her remarkable first novel. It seems to be based on her own experiences and moves readers in unusual ways. Can her story really be true? Both Aomame and Tengo notice that the world has grown strange; both realise that they are indispensable to each other. While their stories influence one another, at times by accident and at times intentionally, the two come closer and closer to intertwining.

'The first shot had been fired. There would be others. And whose finger was on the trigger? Who had got him so accurately in their sights?' Crab Key island is desolate and remote. So why is Dr No defending it so ruthlessly? Only Bond can uncover the truth, in Fleming's sixth 007 adventure.

Midsummer approaches, and Inspector Kurt Wallander prepares for a holiday with the new woman in his life, hopeful that his wayward daughter and his ageing father will cope without him. But his restful summer plans are thrown into disarray when a teenage girl commits suicide before his eyes, and a former minister of justice is butchered in the first of a series of apparently motiveless murders. Wallander's desperate hunt for the girl's identity and his furious pursuit of a killer who scalps his victims will throw him and those he loves most into mortal danger. This title is the winner of the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger.

The tree is decorated, the cookies are baked, and the presents are wrapped, but the biggest celebration this Christmas is Gaby Summerhill's wedding. Since her husband died three years ago, Gaby's four children have drifted apart, each consumed by the turbulence of their own lives. They haven't celebrated Christmas together since their father's death, but when Gaby announces that she's getting married — and that the groom will remain a secret until the wedding day — she may finally be able to bring them home for the holidays. But the wedding isn't the only surprise — there is one more unexpected gift, and it could change all their lives for ever. With deeply affecting characters and the emotional twists of a James Patterson thriller, The Christmas Wedding is a fresh look at family and the magic of the festive season.

Overnight, the flame-haired the author became a heroine for fashion insiders and the general public alike. This title shares the excitement and vision that go into producing so many unforgettable fashion images.

The murder has been solved. But has justice been done? Harry Hole is back in Oslo. He's been away for some time, but his ghosts have a way of catching up with him. The case that brings him back is already closed. There is no room for doubt: the young junkie was shot dead by a fellow addict. The police don't want him back... Denied permission to reopen the investigation, Harry strikes out on his own. Beneath the city's eerie tranquillity, he discovers a trail of violence and mysterious disappearances seemingly unnoticed by the police. At every turn Harry is faced with a conspiracy of silence. The criminals don't want him back... Harry is not the only one who is interested in the case. From the moment he steps off the plane, someone is watching his every move and tracing his every call. Someone wants him silenced.

Matthew Bannon, a poor art student living in New York City, finds a leather bag filled with diamonds during a chaotic attack at Grand Central Station. Plans for a worry-free life with his gorgeous girlfriend Katherine fill his thoughts — until he realises that he is being hunted, and that whoever is after him won't stop until they have reclaimed the diamonds and exacted maximum revenge. Trailing him is the Ghost, the world's greatest assassin, who has just pulled off his most high-profile hit: killing Walter Zelvas, a top member of the international Diamond Syndicate. There's only one small problem: the diamonds he was supposed to retrieve from Zelvas are missing. Now, the Ghost is on Bannon's trail — but so is a rival assassin who would like nothing more than to make the Ghost disappear forever.

It's a snowy Christmas Eve, and Detective Alex Cross is at home celebrating with his family. Nana Mama's famous pecan pie is in the oven and the kids are hanging their favourite ornaments on the tree. Just as Alex's wife Bree emerges from the kitchen with a bowl of homemade eggnog, his phone rings with news that shatters the night: at a nearby home, a family has been taken hostage — and the situation is spiralling out of control fast. Alex rushes to the scene and confronts the unthinkable: a father is threatening to murder his own children and his ex-wife. Then just as the insanity peaks, a second horrific situation explodes — one that no one could have foreseen and that puts millions of people at risk. This is a red alert of the darkest kind, and Alex is forced to make a decision that could end as many lives as it saves — including his own. Merry Christmas, Alex Cross is James Patterson's most shocking Alex Cross novel yet: a breakneck-paced and heart-pounding adrenaline rush of a thriller.

Marriage can be a real killer. One of the most critically acclaimed suspense writers of our time, New York Times bestseller Gillian Flynn takes that statement to its darkest place in this unputdownable masterpiece about a marriage gone terribly, terribly wrong. The Chicago Tribune proclaimed that her work «draws you in and keeps you reading with the force of a pure but nasty addiction.» Gone Girl's toxic mix of sharp-edged wit and deliciously chilling prose creates a nerve-fraying thriller that confounds you at every turn. On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne's fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick's clever and beautiful wife disappears from their rented McMansion on the Mississippi River. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn't doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife's head, but passages from Amy's diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media-as well as Amy's fiercely doting parents-the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he's definitely bitter-but is he really a killer? As the cops close in, every couple in town is soon wondering how well they know the one that they love. With his twin sister, Margo, at his side, Nick stands by his innocence. Trouble is, if Nick didn't do it, where is that beautiful wife? And what was in that silvery gift box hidden in the back of her bedroom closet? With her razor-sharp writing and trademark psychological insight, Gillian Flynn delivers a fast-paced, devilishly dark, and ingeniously plotted thriller that confirms her status as one of the hottest writers around.

Jack and Annie are ready for their next fantasy adventure in the bestselling middle-grade series — the Magic Tree House! Jack and Annie's mission from Merlin the Magician? To help the famous writer Charles Dickens! In a magical whirl, the brother and sister are whisked back in time to Victorian England and the foggy streets of London. There, Jack and Annie discover that Charles Dickens has everything he could possibly want. How can they help him? It is not until Mr. Dickens rescues them from being thrown in jail that they discover his secret past and the sad memories that haunt him. They will need all their magic — and help from three ghosts — to keep the great writer from ruining his life! Mary Pope Osborne mixes magic, humor, history, a little spookiness, and a lot of heart to create this tale, which celebrates the joys of writing — something she knows a lot about, thanks to millions of readers all over the world! This is the perfect book for boys and girls about to see the classic play A Christmas Carol.