A Desperate Lord... As rebel, soldier, hero, and spy, Kenneth Wilding had never known defeat. But nothing can save his heritage when he returns from the wars to an empty title and a ravaged estate. Nothinguntil a stranger offers a devils bargain: financial salvation in return for Kenneths special subversive skills. Reluctantly Kenneth enters the household of the greatest artist in England to unmask a terrible crime. Instead, he discovers something infinitely more dangerous: a tantalizing new way of life and an irresistible woman. Everything he has always wanted and can never have. A Scandalous Lady... Her reputation ruined by a disastrous elopement, tempestuous Rebecca Seaton withdraws to her attic studio and buries herself in her painting. Then Kenneth Wilding sweeps into her life with his pirates face and poets soul. Warily they slide into a duel of desire that brings both searing risks and shattering fulfillment. But Kenneths secret mission comes between them, unleashing a danger that threatens Rebeccas life even as passion sweeps them into a river of fire that transforms their very souls...

Otherland. In many ways it is humankind's most stunning achievement: a private, multidimensional universe built over two generations by the greatest minds of the twenty-first century. But this most exclusive of places is also one of the world's best kept secrets, created and controlled by an organization made up of the world's most powerful and ruthless individuals, a private cartel known--to those who know of their existence at all--as The Grail Brotherhood. Though their purpose in creating Otherland is still a mystery, it may not remain so for long. For they have exacted a terrible price from humanity in the process, and even their highly organized global conspiracy cannot hide the nature of their crimes forever. And now a small band of adventurers has penetrated the veil of secrecy that prevents the uninitiated from entering Otherland. But having broken into the amazing worlds within worlds that make up this universe, they are trapped, unable to escape back to their own flesh-and-blood bodies in the real world. And as dangers and circumstances split their party into small, widely scattered groups, their only hope of reuniting lies in returning again and again to the River that flows--in one form or another--through all the worlds. But the odds seem to be completely against them as they--and the one outsider with whom they might join forces--become hopelessly lost in realms where an Ice Age tribe's fears can only be quenched in blood...where insects are as large and deadly as dinosaurs...where they are caught in the war between a man made of straw and one made of tin...where cartoon ads take on a life of their own...where humans strive to survive in the aftermath of an alien invasion...and where one among their party is actually The Grail Brotherhood's most terrifying weapon--a sociopathic killer who has never failed and whose current mission is to make certain that not even one member of this little invasion force lives long enough to reveal the truth about Otherland to the people of Earth...

In this magisterial study of the relationship between illness and art, the best-selling author of An Unquiet Mind, Kay Redfield Jamison, brings an entirely fresh understanding to the work and life of Robert Lowell (1917-1977), whose intense, complex, and personal verse left a lasting mark on the English language and changed the public discourse about private matters. In his Pulitzer Prize-winning poetry, Robert Lowell put his manic-depressive illness (now known as bipolar disorder) into the public domain, creating a language for madness that was new and arresting. As Dr. Jamison brings her expertise in mood disorders to bear on Lowell's story, she illuminates not only the relationships among mania, depression, and creativity but also the details of Lowell's treatment and how illness and treatment influenced the great work that he produced (and often became its subject). Lowell's New England roots, early breakdowns, marriages to three eminent writers, friendships with other poets such as Elizabeth Bishop, his many hospitalizations, his vivid presence as both a teacher and a maker of poems--Jamison gives us the poet's life through a lens that focuses our understanding of his intense discipline, courage, and commitment to his art. Jamison had unprecedented access to Lowell's medical records, as well as to previously unpublished drafts and fragments of poems, and she is the first biographer to have spoken with his daughter, Harriet Lowell. With this new material and a psychologist's deep insight, Jamison delivers a bold, sympathetic account of a poet who was--both despite and because of mental illness--a passionate, original observer of the human condition.

Country pastor Adam Wakefield is being lured into a trap.Young, handsome, and a little too trusting, he's given the chance of a lifetime.Country pastor Adam Wakefield is being lured into a trap.Young, handsome, and a little too trusting, he's given the chance of a lifetime.As pastor of a small church in Apple Valley, Arkansas, Adam embraces the entire valley as his congregation. Friends and neighbors all respect him as a man of God. He is content to stay there laboring for the Lord for the rest of his life. Then he receives a telegram inviting him to become pastor of the most prestigious church in Chicago. At first Adam refuses the offer. Who will care for his widowed mother and his congregation? Finally, believing this is God'swill, he surrenders. But things are not as they seem. He accepts unaware he is playing into the hands of extortionists and murderers. On the train to Chicago,Adam meets and is smitten with 19-year-old Victoria Winters, whose first job as a schoolteacher has ended in disaster. Falsely accused of beating a student,she is fired, jailed and run out of town. Although instantly attracted to Adam,Victoria is not so sure. Can she trust this strange man from the hill country?Can he overcome her fears and win her heart?

Product DescriptionWith great spiritual insight and unparalleled scholarship, Dr. Taitetsu Unno--the foremost authority in the United States on Shin or Pure Land Buddhism--introduces us to the most popular form of Buddhism in Japan. Unique among the various practices of Buddhism, this "new" form of spiritual practice is certain to enrich the growing practice of Buddhism in the United States, which is already quite familiar with Zen and Tibetan traditions. River of Fire, River of Water is the first introduction to the practice of Pure Land Buddhism from a trade publisher and is written for readers with or without prior experience with it. The Pure Land tradition dates back to the sixth century c.e., when Buddhism was first introduced in Japan. Unlike Zen, its counterpart which flourished in remote monasteries, the Pure Land tradition was the form of Buddhism practiced by common people. Consequently, its practice is harmonious with the workings of daily life, making it easily adaptable for seekers today. Despite the difference in method, though, the goal of Pure Land is the same as other schools--the awakening of the true self. Certain to take its place alongside great works such as Three Pillars of Zen, The Miracle of Mindfulness, and Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind--River of Fire, River of Water is an important step forward for American Buddhism.From the Trade Paperback edition.From the Inside FlapWith great spiritual insight and unparalleled scholarship, Dr. Taitetsu Unno--the foremost authority in the United States on Shin or Pure Land Buddhism--introduces us to the most popular form of Buddhism in Japan. Unique among the various practices of Buddhism, this "new" form of spiritual practice is certain to enrich the growing practice of Buddhism in the United States, which is already quite familiar with Zen and Tibetan traditions. River of Fire, River of Water is the first introduction to the practice of Pure Land Buddhism from a trade publisher and is written for readers with or without prior experience with it. The Pure Land tradition dates back to the sixth century c.e., when Buddhism was first introduced in Japan. Unlike Zen, its counterpart which flourished in remote monasteries, the Pure Land tradition was the form of Buddhism practiced by common people. Consequently, its practice is harmonious with the workings of daily life, making it easily adaptable for seekers today. Despite the difference in method, though, the goal of Pure Land is the same as other schools--the awakening of the true self. Certain to take its place alongside great works such as Three Pillars of Zen, The Miracle of Mindfulness, and Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind--River of Fire, River of Water is an important step forward for American Buddhism.

The most important novel of twentieth-century Urdu fiction. The most important novel of twentieth-century Urdu fiction. Qurratulain Hyder's River of Fire makes a bid to be recognized in the West as what it has long been acknowledged in the East: the most important novel of twentieth-century Urdu fiction. First published as Aag ka Darya in 1959, River of Fire encompasses the fates of four recurring characters over two and a half millennia: Gautam, Champa, Kamal, and CyrilBuddhist, Hindu, Muslim, and Christian. In different eras different relations form and reform among the four: romance and war, possession and dispossession. Interweaving parables, legends, dreams, diaries, and letters, Hyder's prose is lyrical and witty. And she argues for a culture that is inclusive: River of Fire is a book that insists on the irrelevance of religion in defining Indian identity.