A French hunting term, denoting the portion of game thrown to the hounds who killed it, the novel’s original title La Curée (1872) neatly foreshadows Zola’s exploration of the rapacious, animalistic greed of the newly rich bourgeoisie during the Second Empire of Napoleon III. The main protagonist, Saccard, takes his own spoils from corrupt property speculation in the wake of Baron Haussmann’s radical reconstruction of Paris. Against a backdrop of modernisation, extravagant luxury, politica...

A grumpy Marine. A Christmas-obsessed baker. A town that remembers everything.Former Marine Commander Luke Taylor never planned to come home again. Holly Ridge still blames him for the mission that went wrong—one that left their local golden boy dead and Luke carrying the weight of “acceptable losses.” He’s here for one reason only: sign the papers, sell the house, disappear.But the town needs a hero… and he’s the only one who qualifies on the grant application.

Anna Marie Hahn had a gambling habit.She indulged her addiction at the horse races and bookie joints throughout Cincinnati in the 1930s. Anna wasn't very good at picking horses, losing time and again while accruing debt.But it was an addiction had to be fed.She needed a scheme, a way to acquire money to keep her compulsion satisfied.Anna Marie Hahn was a clever woman. While walking through her neighborhood of elderly pensioners, the idea came to her like a bolt ...

She was a summer mistake. Now she’s standing under his mistletoe.Ellie Springer never planned to fall for her ethics professor. Especially not before she knew who he really was. Now, with her grad school future uncertain and grief weighing heavy on her heart, she’s returned home for the holidays to help save her family’s struggling bakery—and avoid thinking about Gabriel Kane.Gabriel doesn’t do Christmas. He doesn’t do emotions. And he definitely doesn’t do...

"Pugh excels at weaving together different historical threads into a single narrative...The book is sure to appeal to fans of the works of Dan Brown and other conspiracy-curious storytellers." Kirkus Reviews1565. Their last mission on behalf of the Lord Chancellor nearly got them killed. Now back in England, former soldier Matthew Longstaff and his Italian wife, Aurélie, are living quietly in the countryside when news arrives from France;...

Britain is celebrated for having avoided the extremism, political violence and instability that blighted many European countries between the two world wars. But her success was a closer thing than has been realized. Disillusionment with parliamentary democracy, outbreaks of fascist violence and fears of communist subversion in industry and the Empire ran through the entire period.Fascist organizations may have failed to attract the support they achieved elsewhere but fascist ideas ...

She believes in sugar, spice, and second chances. He doesn’t believe in Christmas.Beth Morrison has two great loves: baking and bringing cheer to her sleepy hometown of Evergreen Hollow. When her car breaks down on the way to the holiday market, she finds herself at the mercy of grumpy mechanic Daryl Walker—the town’s least festive citizen.Daryl would rather spend Christmas under a hood than under mistletoe. But Beth’s infectious spirit—and her peppermint c...

“Pugh’s first novel is a magnificent achievement. Let us hope he returns to enthral us with another very soon.” David Dickinson, author of the Powerscourt seriesThe Otiosi? As far as Mathew Longstaff knows, they’re just a group of harmless scholars with an eccentric interest in the works of antiquity. When they ask him to travel east, to recover a lost text from Ivan the Terrible’s private library, he can’t think of anything but the reward – home. A return to England and an end to ...

No sooner have they mastered the basics than students of theology can quickly find themselves in over their heads. They are bombarded with claim and counter-claim as soon as they want to tackle anything topical. The contentious subjects tend to be the historical Jesus, gender and sexuality, or the atonement. Other subjects might be less contentious but attract an astonishing excess of literature. Take the vast literature tackling the subject of the Church, for instance, or the bloated body...

The challenges that Western culture keeps posing to the Christian faith are ever new. The goal-posts keep changing. This study guide will equip theology students to understand the culture-shaping beliefs that are driving the kinds of questions it brings to faith. It will be an historical overview of the key stages in the history of Western philosophy with each section carefully tracing the genealogical line of ideas and the Christian responses to them, right up to the present day.

When Belle Foreman returns to Holly Ridge for the holidays, she doesn’t expect to end up in the home of the town’s most feared recluse—scarred veteran Charlie Archer. Volunteering to catalog his legendary book collection should have been simple… until she discovers her late father’s handwriting inside his books and a past Charlie refuses to talk about.Charlie wants her gone. Belle refuses to be scared off.As a blizzard closes in and Christmas draws near, Belle’s warmth begi...

She came to write about Christmas. She didn’t plan to fall into it.When city writer Evie Thorne arrives in Evergreen Hollow, she has two weeks to capture the magic of a small-town Christmas—or risk failing her biggest project yet.There’s just one problem: the most meaningful traditions are hidden deep in the snowy wilderness… and she can’t access them alone.Her only option? Brendan Nottingham—the town’s gruff, reclusive ranger who wants nothing to d...