Adult

James Franco’s story collection traces the lives of a group of teenagers as they experiment with vices of all kinds, struggle with their families and one another, and succumb to self-destructive, often heartless nihilism.

Through her work as an artist’s model, Eliza meets the magnetic and irascible Devil --- a born showman whose dream is to run his own theater company. Devil’s righthand man is Carlo Bonomi, an ill-tempered dwarf with an enormous talent for all things magic and illusion. And then there is Jasper Button, the enigmatic, unlikely final member of this fascinating cast of characters. Thrown together by a twist of fate, their lives are inextricably linked. As Eliza gets sucked into their seductive and dangerous world, she risks not only her heart, but also her life, which is soon thrown into peril.

Young Leon Hubbard was arrogant and near psychotic. So when he was killed on a South Philadelphia construction site, everyone who knew him wanted to bury the bad news with the body. All, that is, except two --- Leon's mother and the local columnist for the common man. 

Most significant of the Russian novelist's early stories (1846) offers a straight-faced treatment of a hallucinatory theme. Golyadkin senior is a powerless target of persecution by Golyadkin junior, his double in almost every respect. Familiar Dostoyevskan themes of helplessness, victimization, scandal --- beautifully handled in this small masterpiece.

In 2011, one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in American legal history was set right when Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley were released after 18 years in prison. Award-winning journalist Mara Leveritt’s THE DEVIL’S KNOT remains the most comprehensive, insightful reporting ever done on the investigation, trials and convictions of three teenage boys who became known as the West Memphis Three. 

From acclaimed biographer Paula Byrne, the sensational true tale that inspired the major motion picture Belle (May 2014) starring Tom Wilkinson, Miranda Richardson, Emily Watson, Penelope Wilton, and Matthew Goode --- a stunning story of the first mixed-race girl introduced to high society England and raised as a lady.  

Artist Richard Haddon is in despair. He's supposedly "successful" in that his art is selling, but he despises the work he’s doing. Even worse, his mistress has dumped him, and his once-wonderful marriage has turned frosty and impersonal. Just when you might think his life cannot get any worse, it does, making his road to redemption rough indeed --- as well as a terrific read.

HARD CHOICES is Hillary Rodham Clinton’s inside account of the crises, choices and challenges she faced during her four years as America’s 67th Secretary of State, and how those experiences drive her view of the future. Clinton’s descriptions of diplomatic conversations at the highest levels offer readers a master class in international relations, as does her analysis of how we can best use “smart power” to deliver security and prosperity in a rapidly changing world.

Once an ambitious, altruistic environmentalist, Tom Keely now finds himself broke, embroiled in scandal, and struggling to piece together some semblance of a life. From the heights of his urban high-rise apartment, he surveys the wreckage of his life and the world he's tumbled out of love with. Just before he descends completely into pills and sorrow, a woman from his past and her preternatural child appear, perched on the edge of disaster, desperate for help. When you're fighting to keep your head above water, how can you save someone else from drowning?