Center point (Mehr als 17.000 Ergebnisse)

Hardback. Zustand: Good. A graceful, inspired memoir about building a home from scratch and discovering a true sense of self--in just eighty-four square feet--by Dee Williams, a pioneer in sustainable living and the proud owner of a very tiny house After a heart condition felled Dee Williams in the grocery store ten years ago, she initially threw herself headfirst back into her old life, which included a pricey three-bedroom house, overtime hours to cover homeowner bills, and a general lack of free time. In the midst of contemplating her future, a new sense of clarity took hold. What was all this stuff for? Mortgage payments and the time-suck of homeownership felt like a waste, and no one has the money or desire to pack it in and live on an island without family, friends, or health insurance. Discovering the sustainability movement and building her own house was just the beginning of building a new life. Williams can now list everything she owns on one sheet of paper, her monthly bills amount to about eight dollars, and it takes her ten minutes to clean the entire house. It's allowed her to slow down, scale back, spend more time with family and friends--and given her the freedom to head out for adventure, or watch the clouds and sunset while drinking a beer on her (yes, tiny) front porch. Without escaping to the wilds or going off the grid, Williams achieved a happy balance of the normal and the radical and created a new model for simple, practical living.Part how-to and part why-to, The Big Tiny is not just a memoir of that aha moment posttrauma but an utterly seductive meditation on what it means to build the good life and the right life, every day.…

Hardback. Zustand: Good. Winner of the 2015 Golden Leaf Award for Romantic SuspenseGold Medal Winner: Military Writers Society of AmericaReaders' Favorite International Award WinnerIt started as a chance encounter on the beach, and ended 24 hours later when they parted to go their separate ways.Or so they thought.WHEN LAUREN CANTREL said goodbye to the guy she had just met on the beach, she had no way of knowing their paths would ever cross again. But fate had another unexpected meeting in store for them--this time in a place where danger was part of the culture and the stakes were life and death.THE LAST PERSON in the world Michael Rad Radcliff expected to see at a special ops briefing in Afghanistan is the girl he met at the beach two weeks ago--the one he can't stop thinking about.From the sundrenched beaches of Ocean City, Md. to the snowcapped mountains of Afghanistan, this thrilling tale of espionage and intrigue takes readers on a spellbinding journey into the secret lives of our nation's quiet heroes--and answers the question: What do you do when the person you most want to protect is the one risking everything to make sure you survive?MEANT TO BE recounts the dedication of our military, the honor and sacrifice of our soldiers, and a relationship that is tested and sustained by the powerful forces of love, courage and resolve.Sweetly sentimental and moving. An endearing page-turner offering a unique view of military life. - Publishers WeeklyA tapestry of emotion deeply set inside the bravest of Americans: the soldier. -- Military Writers Society of America.…

Hardback. Zustand: Good. Five days ago, the blowing up of the express office safe in Burnt Timbers, Montana, had gone off without a hitch for the four members of the Buck Streeter gang, netting them $28,000. Since then they have taken refuge in an abandoned shack on a plateau above the town of Brigham in northern Wyoming. With its bank and express office across the street from each other and lacking any telegraph for communication, Brigham seems like the perfect place to stage their next robbery before laying low for a while.Streeter is worried about their newest but oldest gang member, Frank Reno, who suffers from consumption and whose coughing throughout the night makes sleep difficult for them all; they need their rest in this tough, cold high country. Still, the gang is confident, and they take their time visiting and studying the lay of the land in Brigham. What they haven't taken into consideration is the snowstorm heading into northern Wyoming and, even more significantly, the determination of US Marshal John Galloway.Although eighteen years as a lawman has worn down the aging Galloway, he has no fear of death, and he is committed to stopping the gang's spree of robbing and terrorizing small towns across the West, which has taken him from Texas to the Pacific Northwest to Montana. With orders coming from the Denver office, Galloway, who has learned everything he can about the four, has followed his instincts from Burnt Timbers to northern Wyoming. Galloway is convinced that Brigham will be the gang's next target, but as the icy storm sets in, the question becomes when will they strike.…

Hardback. Zustand: Good.

Hardback. Zustand: Good. In See Now Then, the brilliant and evocative new novel from Jamaica Kincaid--her first in ten years--a marriage is revealed in all its joys and agonies. This piercing examination of the manifold ways in which the passing of time operates on the human consciousness unfolds gracefully, and Kincaid inhabits each of her characters--a mother, a father, and their two children, living in a small village in New England--as they move, in their own minds, between the present, the past, and the future: for, as she writes, the present will be now then and the past is now then and the future will be a now then. Her characters, constrained by the world, despair in their domestic situations. But their minds wander, trying to make linear sense of what is, in fact, nonlinear. See Now Then is Kincaid's attempt to make clear what is unclear, and to make unclear what we assumed was clear: that is, the beginning, the middle, and the end. Since the publication of her first short-story collection, At the Bottom of the River, which was nominated for a PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, Kincaid has demonstrated a unique talent for seeing beyond and through the surface of things. In See Now Then, she envelops the reader in a world that is both familiar and startling--creating her most emotionally and thematically daring work yet.…

Hardback. Zustand: Fair. NO ONE BELIEVED HER SHOCKING STORY.Trying to mix business with pleasure, KEY News correspondent Diane Mayfield has brought her children and her sister to the New Jersey Shore town of Ocean Grove to investigate a story on girls who cry wolf for the season premiere of Hourglass, television's highly rated news magazine.UNTIL IT HAPENED AGAIN.Diane lands an exclusive interview with a troubled young woman whose tale of being abducted and held against her will for three terrifying days had been disbelieved by the authorities. No sooner does Diane finish taping the interview, though, than a second victim disappears.--AND AGAIN.The small community, already in the grip of a record heat wave, is now wracked by fear and terror--no one knows who could be next. With only the first victim as eyewitness, Diane and the police turn to her for clues. But it may already be too late to save Diane and her loved ones from the mortal danger that lurks in Ocean Grove.With a Mary Jane Clark novel, every word is a clue.A great summer read, one that draws you in and keeps you reading until the end.--Anniston StarKeeps readers on the edoge of their seats.haunting and entrancing.--Romantic Times BOKclub Magazine.…

Hardback. Zustand: Fair. In See Now Then, the brilliant and evocative new novel from Jamaica Kincaid--her first in ten years--a marriage is revealed in all its joys and agonies. This piercing examination of the manifold ways in which the passing of time operates on the human consciousness unfolds gracefully, and Kincaid inhabits each of her characters--a mother, a father, and their two children, living in a small village in New England--as they move, in their own minds, between the present, the past, and the future: for, as she writes, the present will be now then and the past is now then and the future will be a now then. Her characters, constrained by the world, despair in their domestic situations. But their minds wander, trying to make linear sense of what is, in fact, nonlinear. See Now Then is Kincaid's attempt to make clear what is unclear, and to make unclear what we assumed was clear: that is, the beginning, the middle, and the end. Since the publication of her first short-story collection, At the Bottom of the River, which was nominated for a PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, Kincaid has demonstrated a unique talent for seeing beyond and through the surface of things. In See Now Then, she envelops the reader in a world that is both familiar and startling--creating her most emotionally and thematically daring work yet.…

Hardback. Zustand: Very Good. Darcy Van Aiken is doing fine, thank you. She's an ICU nurse with an amicable divorce from her husband Mike, two great kids, a cute little house of her own, and a prescription for Ritalin. When her older son Jeremy gets engaged, Darcy has to figure out if Rose, the bride's mother, is going to be her new best friend or the mother-in-law who insists that all future holidays be celebrated in her home. Meanwhile Claudia, Darcy's ex-husband's new girlfriend, beautifully dressed with perfect taste, can't help thinking she would make a much better mother-of-the-groom than Darcy. It's a battle of will and wits. What Darcy learns about herself --and about family, and friendship--makes for a delicious, hilarious, touching read.…

Hardback. Zustand: Good. In the West, he had legendary shoes to fill. Now the Loner is about to face his deadliest challenge yet. . . Bravery Is In The Blood The son of legendary gunman Frank Morgan, Conrad Browning goes by the name Kid Morgan--the Loner--and forged a growing reputation of his own. But in the midst of a fight for his life, the Kid discovered that he too was a father: of twins he'd never met. Now, the Kid heads back east to pierce a mystery guarded by murderous criminals for hire. Why is his ex-fianc e hiding his children from him? And why is this secret worth killing to keep? The answers lead the Kid back to a small Kansas town and a tale of cruelty, greed and power--the kind of story his father always knew how to end: with courage and a gun. . . …

Hardback. Zustand: Good. Part comedy of manners, part treasure hunt, the first novel from the writer whom David Sedaris calls perfectly, relentlessly funnyKezia, Nathaniel, and Victor are reunited for the extravagant wedding of a college friend. Now at the tail end of their twenties, they arrive completely absorbed in their own lives-Kezia the second-in-command to a madwoman jewelry designer in Manhattan; Nathaniel the former literary cool kid, selling his wares in Hollywood; and the Eeyore-esque Victor, just fired from a middling search engine. They soon slip back into old roles: Victor loves Kezia. Kezia loves Nathaniel. Nathaniel loves Nathaniel.In the midst of all this semi-merriment, Victor passes out in the mother of the groom's bedroom. He wakes to her jovially slapping him across the face. Instead of a scolding, she offers Victor a story she's never even told her son, about a valuable necklace that disappeared during the Nazi occupation of France.And so a madcap adventure is set into motion, one that leads Victor, Kezia, and Nathaniel from Miami to New York and L.A. to Paris and across France, until they converge at the estate of Guy de Maupassant, author of the classic short story The Necklace.Heartfelt, suspenseful, and told with Sloane Crosley's inimitable spark and wit, The Clasp is a story of friends struggling to fit together now that their lives haven't gone as planned, of how to separate the real from the fake. Such a task might be possible when it comes to precious stones, but is far more difficult to pull off with humans.…

Hardback. Zustand: Good.

Hardback. Zustand: Good. When Elizabeth Gunnar accepts a teaching position at the preparatory school she attended as a girl, she revisits ghosts of the past and old self-doubts. But she is returning to more than a place-to memories, mysteries, and an old love. Once there, she meets unexpected challenges-and challenging new people.and she is reminded of the faith that first captured her there in what she called her moments of being. A rich, complex weave of character, mystery and divine epiphanies, Every Secret Thing will have you turning the pages late into the night. Tatlock's prose is simply exquisite. -Michele Howe, faithfulreader.comTatlock's produced a winner. - Publishers Weekly Foreign editions in the following languages: German, Norwegian, Dutch.…

Hardback. Zustand: Good. In this novel in Thomas Kinkade's Cape Light series, Reverend Ben Lewis reflects on Christmas past while his beloved daughter, Rachel, looks to the future. After some old photos spark Reverend Ben's memories, he recalls his first Christmas as a young minister in Cape Light, when a prominent church benefactor stood accused of a serious crime, tearing the town apart. Ben had to carry the banner of God's mercy into the fray--while struggling to prove to everyone, including himself, that he was worthy of his calling. Rachel Anderson has trouble picturing life without her husband. But single dad Ryan Cooper might be just the man to show her there's such a thing as focusing--and fretting--too much. Moved by Ryan's gentleness and understanding, Rachel soon imagines a new world filled with hope. But deep loss and old fears are not easily dispelled, and Christmas brings a choice: cling to the past's comforting memories, or reach for a future of bright possibilities. …

Hardback. Zustand: Good. Once upon a time there was a young psychiatrist called Hector who was not very satisfied with himself. . . . Hector is very good at treating patients in need of his help. But he can't do much for those who are simply dissatisfied with life, and that is beginning to depress him. When a patient tells him he looks in need of a vacation, Hector takes a trip around the world to learn what makes people happy-and sad. As he travels from Paris to China to Africa to the United States, he lists his observations about the people he meets. Is there a secret to happiness, and will Hector find it? Combining the winsome appeal of The Little Prince with the inspiring philosophy of The Alchemist, Hector's journey ventures around the globe and into the human soul. Lelord's writing inspires us to consider life's great questions. Uplifting, empowering, and optimistic, this is a fable for our times and all time.…

Hardback. Zustand: Good. Critics and fans alike are wild about Rita Mae Brown's richly imagined and utterly engaging foxhunting mysteries-and this latest novel promises more thrilling hunts, breathtaking vistas, and an all-new sinister scandal. Millions of dollars seem to be missing after a long-overdue audit of the local aluminum plant reveals a major accounting discrepancy. Company president Garvey Stokes finds himself at a loss-in more ways than one. He turns to his sharp-tongued, ornery bookkeeper, Iphigenia Iffy Demetrios, for an explanation, but she's no help. Yet when the fuzzy math suddenly includes a body count, the figures can no longer be ignored. While the town sheriff tries to get to the bottom of the matter, leave it to Sister Jane Arnold, venerable master of the Jefferson Hunt Club, to rely on her keen horse-and-hound sense to follow the trail of murder and cover-up. Throwing her off the scent, however, is former hunt club donor and all-around cad Crawford Howard, who thinks he can go toe-to-toe with the beloved septuagenarian and outclass her club by grossly sidestepping hound- and-hunt etiquette. Against the backdrop of the Blue Ridge Mountains, a menagerie of friends, foes, and fresh new faces saddle up for the breakneck ride to unravel the conspiracy. Even the furry denizens in the fields and boroughs have a thing or two to say about these peculiar humans. Incomparable author Rita Mae Brown returns to the glorious hills of Virginia and its genteel foxhunting society, where how much money you have in the bank is not nearly as important as how long your family has lived on the land-and where nearly everyone has something to hide. As Sister muses, The little secrets leak out. The big ones, well, some escape like evils from Pandora's box. And others we'll never know.…

Hardback. Zustand: Good. For students of literature, a background in literary theory will provide tools for analysis that yield a rich understanding of literary texts as well as a variety of approaches to writing about them. This is the first introductory Spanish-language textbook to present the complex and challenging thought of Barthes, Derrida, Foucault, Lacan, Kristeva and other leading authors, as well as feminists of the first and second waves, Russian formalists, Marxists, post-colonial writers, cultural and queer studies theorists and many other central thinkers in literary theory. Each chapter explores a separate theory and discusses its fundamental concepts and how they apply to literary texts at a basic level. Chapters are identically organized, better helping students to compare and link theories. There are four sections at the end of each chapter, including a collection of review questions that provide instructors with direction for class discussion, a series of ideas for applying each theory to literary works, a glossary and a bibliography.…

Hardback. Zustand: Fair. For students of literature, a background in literary theory will provide tools for analysis that yield a rich understanding of literary texts as well as a variety of approaches to writing about them. This is the first introductory Spanish-language textbook to present the complex and challenging thought of Barthes, Derrida, Foucault, Lacan, Kristeva and other leading authors, as well as feminists of the first and second waves, Russian formalists, Marxists, post-colonial writers, cultural and queer studies theorists and many other central thinkers in literary theory. Each chapter explores a separate theory and discusses its fundamental concepts and how they apply to literary texts at a basic level. Chapters are identically organized, better helping students to compare and link theories. There are four sections at the end of each chapter, including a collection of review questions that provide instructors with direction for class discussion, a series of ideas for applying each theory to literary works, a glossary and a bibliography.…

Hardback. Zustand: Good. In the spirit of the season, New York Times bestselling author Anne Perry presents readers with the gift of another holiday mystery, taking them to the Holy Land for an intriguing and miraculous journey of discovery. The year is 1900, and Victor Narraway is giving his wife, Vespasia, an unforgettable Christmas present--a trip to Jerusalem. Vespasia is enchanted by the exotic landscape of Palestine, and charmed by a fellow traveler the Narraways meet at their hotel in Jaffa. But when the man is murdered over a torn piece of ancient parchment he was taking to Jerusalem, Victor and Vespasia risk their lives to finish his mission and deliver the puzzling document to its home. Pursued by a shadowy figure with evil intent, they embark on a dangerous yet ultimately enlightening pilgrimage to the holy city, where the mysterious message on the parchment may finally be revealed. Rich in suspense and wonder, A Christmas Message is at once a breathtaking adventure story and a poignant meditation on faith and spirituality. Praise for A Christmas Message A strangely intriguing mystery handled neatly by the wonderfully capable Victor Narraway] and his new wife, Lady] Vespasia.--Library Journal. …

Hardback. Zustand: Good. Emma London never thought she had anything in common with her grandmother, Genevieve London. The regal old woman came from wealthy and bluest-blood New England stock, but that didn't protect her from life's cruelest blows: the disappearance of Genevieve's young son, followed by the premature death of her husband. But Genevieve rose from those ashes of grief and built a fashion empire that was respected the world over, even when it meant neglecting her other son.…

Hardback. Zustand: Very Good. In the small California town of River Rock, the river is always there--sometimes unpredictable and wild, sometimes a source of comfort, always a part of life. Bestselling author Barbara Freethy will capture your heart with an emotional story about love, family . . . and fighting for what matters most. Ex-Marine Gabe Ryder is fulfilling the last request of his best friend, Rob, who was killed in a firefight during their final days of service. He promised to help Rob's family-- especially Rob's twin sister, Alicia--with their struggling river rafting business. Gabe has a hidden past with Alicia, though. She's the woman who taught him that love might exist, yet he walked away from her. Alicia has more than enough on her plate with her brother's death, her father's injury from a tragic rafting accident, the entire town turning against them, and a series of dangerous attacks on her business. She doesn't need this rugged loner who broke her heart. But passion flares between them, and this time, they can't walk away. Alicia can't help wondering: did Rob really send Gabe to watch over her--or did he want her to show Gabe the way home.…

Hardback. Zustand: Good. In the small California town of River Rock, the river is always there--sometimes unpredictable and wild, sometimes a source of comfort, always a part of life. Bestselling author Barbara Freethy will capture your heart with an emotional story about love, family . . . and fighting for what matters most. Ex-Marine Gabe Ryder is fulfilling the last request of his best friend, Rob, who was killed in a firefight during their final days of service. He promised to help Rob's family-- especially Rob's twin sister, Alicia--with their struggling river rafting business. Gabe has a hidden past with Alicia, though. She's the woman who taught him that love might exist, yet he walked away from her. Alicia has more than enough on her plate with her brother's death, her father's injury from a tragic rafting accident, the entire town turning against them, and a series of dangerous attacks on her business. She doesn't need this rugged loner who broke her heart. But passion flares between them, and this time, they can't walk away. Alicia can't help wondering: did Rob really send Gabe to watch over her--or did he want her to show Gabe the way home.…

Hardback. Zustand: Fair. It happens in the chill of a September night, 1939: Their small Polish village is raided, burned to the ground. Anna, a devoutly Catholic teenager, watches as her friend is shot, as her father is dragged off for conscription in the German army.Szymon, the young village priest, stands silently with his parishioners as their church is ransacked and torched. Anna clings to him--her dear friend and confidant--and by some luck, the Germans spare them.Five Septembers later, Anna and Szymon still cling together, now amid the turmoil of war. Though Anna dreads her engagement to a local ruffian and Szymon fears for his father's life back home, the two find solace in their friendship.But when the Soviet army comes to liberate them, Anna endures an unspeakable atrocity and Szymon suffers his own tragedy. Now bound even more tightly by the sorrows they carry, they face a choice: honor the vows they've made to others or risk everything for the chance at salvation in each other.…

Hardback. Zustand: Good.

Hardback. Zustand: Good. Sky's the Limit tells the inspirational tale of John P. Calamos, Sr., an American trailblazer, self-made success story, and living legend in the world of investing. Each chapter contains stories and business lessons he learned along the way. From a stock boy in his parents' grocery store in Chicago's west side, to 400+ combat missions in Vietnam, to launching his own firm which now has upwards of $35 billion in assets, John's career and the extreme success he's enjoyed through that career have been built on taking risks and being resilient. Some of the events detailed in this book include: ● Teenage John's discovery of stock certificates in his family's basement ignites a passion for investing ● Major Calamos's time in the Air Force, including five years of active duty flying B-52 bombers and twelve years in the Reserves flying A-37 jet fighters ● Pioneering initiatives to launch one of the first convertible funds in 1985 and one of the first liquid alternative funds in 1990 Sky's the Limit earns a well-deserved spot on the bookshelves of all individuals seeking to mirror the success of a man who is a living embodiment of the quintessential rags-to-riches American dream. …

Hardback. Zustand: Very Good. When school psychologist Skye Denison stumbles over the body of pushy Promfest chairperson Annette Paine during a Halloween fundraiser, it looks like a clear-cut case of promicide. Annette was not the only prom mom desperate to see her daughter crowned queen--and her skirt-chasing hubby is no prince either. Skye's anxious to investigate, but she keeps getting sidetracked by the overeager new social worker at school, and her current beau's emotional distance. Still, one question haunts her: Annette Paine was wearing a witch costume identical to Skye's, so which witch was the intended victim? Will Skye realize too late that finding this killer is a matter of her own life or death.…

Hardback. Zustand: Good. Joanna Trollope's warm, insightful novel stars Eleanor, who invites two young mothers into her home from off the street, and slowly begins to connect with them and their friends. But when one of them meets a man, new questions are posed: can female friendships withstand the jealousies and intricacies of love?With wit and warmth Joanna Trollope opens a window onto six very different women's lives, their passions and their sorrows, and explores with insight and humanity the shifting currents of friendship.…

Hardback. Zustand: Good. Michael Hainey had just turned six when his uncle knocked on his family's back door one morning with the tragic news: Bob Hainey, Michael's father, was found alone near his car on Chicago's North Side, dead, of an apparent heart attack. Thirty-five years old, a young assistant copy desk chief at the Chicago Sun-Times, Bob was a bright and shining star in the competitive, hard-living world of newspapers, one that involved booze-soaked nights that bled into dawn. And then suddenly he was gone, leaving behind a young widow, two sons, a fractured family-and questions surrounding the mysterious nature of his death that would obsess Michael throughout adolescence and long into adulthood. Finally, roughly his father's age when he died, and a seasoned reporter himself, Michael set out to learn what happened that night. Died after visiting friends, the obituaries said. But the details beyond that were inconsistent. What friends? Where? At the heart of his quest is Michael's all-too-silent, opaque mother, a woman of great courage and tenacity-and a steely determination not to look back. Prodding and cajoling his relatives, and working through a network of his father's buddies who abide by an honor code of silence and secrecy, Michael sees beyond the long-held myths and ultimately reconciles the father he'd imagined with the one he comes to know-and in the journey discovers new truths about his mother. A stirring portrait of a family and its legacy of secrets, After Visiting Friends is the story of a son who goes in search of the truth and finds not only his father, but a rare window into a world of men and newspapers and fierce loyalties that no longer exists.…

Hardback. Zustand: Fair. From the New York Times bestselling author of Death Below Stairs A mystery of stolen antiquities has Kat Holloway setting aside her apron once again for the intrigues of the upper echelons of Victorian London Priceless artwork has gone missing from the home of a wealthy baronet, and his wife stands to take the blame. When Kat's employer asks for help in clearing her friend's name, Kat trades her kitchen for the homes of Mayfair's wealthiest families. Soon antiques are disappearing not only from the extravagant households of connoisseurs and collectors, but from the illustrious British Museum. As the thefts increase in frequency, Kat calls upon her friend Daniel McAdam, who has already set himself up in a pawnshop on the Strand as a seedy receiver of stolen goods. When a man is murdered in the shop, Kat must use all of her wits to see that the thieves are caught and justice is done.…

Hardback. Zustand: Good. A thrilling new Western series from William W. Johnstone and J.A. Johnstone featuring the Last Gunfighter himself, Frank Morgan. WESTERN JUSTICE. JOHNSTONE FURY. In this explosive new series, William W. and J.A. Johnstone bring together two of their greatest legends. The Drifter and the Kid. A gunslinging father and prodigal son, united at last, they are the Morgans. And the only thing thicker than a Morgan's blood is a Morgan's bullet. FAMILY FIRST. EVERYBODY ELSE DIES. There's nothing particularly unusual for a legendary gunman to be summoned to the lawless, bullet-riddled territory of Arizona. But when Frank Morgan, aka the Last Gunfighter, rides into Tucson, he finds himself ambushed and kidnapped by ruthless Mexican bandit Ramirez's army of thugs. The only way out is for Frank's son, Conrad Browning, heir to the vast Browning fortune, to ransom his father free. But Conrad isn't giving up one cent. He's got a far deadlier currency in mind. Conrad heads down to the border and infiltrates the compound. But to prove himself, he has to hold up a train with the rest of the gang. Ramirez catches on to Conrad's ruse, and the only way out is for Frank to come to the rescue. It's a wild turn of events for sure, but for the Morgans, when it comes to killing their enemies, it's all in the family.…

Hardback. Zustand: Good. Excitement abounds when the revolving door of life brings fresh faces and hilarious new developments to the residents of 44 Scotland Street. Things are looking up for seven-year-old Bertie Pollock. The arrival of his spirited grandmother and the absence of his meddlesome mother--who is currently running a book club in a Bedouin harem (don't ask)--bring unforeseen blessings: no psychotherapy, no Italian lessons, and no yoga classes. Meanwhile, surprises await Scotland Street's grown-ups. Matthew makes a discovery that could be a major windfall for his family, but also presents a worrisome dilemma. Pat learns a secret about her father's fianc e that may shake up her family, unless she can convince the perpetually narcissistic Bruce to help her out. And the Duke of Johannesburg finds himself in sudden need of an explanation--and an escape route--when accosted by a determined guest at a soir e. From the cunning schemes of the Association of Scottish Nudists to the myriad expressive possibilities of the word aye, Alexander McCall Smith guides us through the risks and rewards of friendship, love, and family with his usual inimitable wit and irresistible charm.…