How do master storytellers compel us? There have been many attempts to understand what makes a good story, but few have used a scientific approach. In The Science of Storytelling, Will Storr applies dazzling psychological research and cutting-edge neuroscience to our myths and archetypes to show how we can tell better stories, revealing, among other things, how storytellers—and also our brains—create worlds by being attuned to moments of unexpected change. Storr’s superbly chosen examples ...

"For busy, harried or distractible readers who have the time and energy only to skim the opening paragraph of a review, I'll say this as quickly and clearly as possible: The Death of the Adversary and Comedy in a Minor Key are masterpieces, and Hans Keilson is a genius..." —Francine Prose, The New York Times Book ReviewA penetrating study of ordinary people resisting the Nazi occupation—and, true to its title, a dark comedy of wartime manners—Comedy in a Minor Key tells th...

Written while Hans Keilson was in hiding during World War II, The Death of the Adversary is the self-portrait of a young man helplessly fascinated by an unnamed "adversary" whom he watches rise to power in 1930s Germany. It is a tale of horror, not only in its evocation of Hitler's gathering menace but also in its hero's desperate attempt to discover logic where none exists. A psychological fable as wry and haunting as Badenheim 1939, The Death of the Adversary i...

Christopher and His Kind covers the most memorable ten years in the writer’s life-from 1929, when Isherwood left England to spend a week in Berlin and decided to stay there indefinitely, to 1939, when he arrived in America. When the book was published in 1976, readers were deeply impressed by the courageous candor with which he describes his life in gay Berlin of the 1930s and his struggles to save his companion, Heinz, from the Nazis.An engrossing and dramatic story and a...

Marie Colvin, described as "the greatest war correspondent of her generation," was killed in a rocket attack in February 2012 while reporting on the desperate suffering of civilians inside Syria's besieged Homs. Paul Conroy, who had forged a close bond with Colvin as they put their lives on the line time and time again to report from some of the world's most dangerous conflict zones, was with her. Under the Wire is Paul's gripping, visceral and moving account of their friendship, ...

“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 ...

The first child was taken from her house.The second from his mother’s car.The third from her own bedroom...When Helen and Sean Philips go out for the evening, leaving their teenage daughter babysitting little Frankie, they have no idea that they are about to face every parent’s greatest fear.Detective Inspector Patrick Lennon is hopeful that the three children who have been abducted in this patch of south-west London will be returned safe and well. But when a ...

A friends-to-lovers dark academia romance set at the elite Scottish academy, featuring stunning stenciled edges and character art on the inside cover. "I don't want to just be anyone to her, I want to be everything." Charles Sinclair has been Victoria Belhaven-Wynford's best friend since fifth grade, the one person Tori can tell anything to-except how her stomach knots every time she's with her new boyfriend Valentine. Deep down, Tori knows what she feels for Valentine isn't comparable to ...

“Where is she? And what was she doing out on the waves that night?”For Hal, now, this summer is different. Sure he’s spending it, as always, with his family at their cottage on the wild west coast of England. But this summer he meets Jackie, beautiful, impetuous Jackie. Lying with her on the beach while she sculpts mermaids from wet sand–it’s paradise. Or would be, if only he didn’t keep hearing the desperate pleas of his lost sister Charley in his head . . .For Charley, the...

Gerald Wilkins never considered himself a particularly exceptional thirteen-year-old. But that was before he inherited twenty billion pounds, a Caribbean island, a yacht, and three estates from a great-aunt he never knew. With this fortune, however, comes a letter. One from his great-aunt Geraldine. One that tells Gerald that she was murdered, and that it's up to him to find out why.Along with his friends Ruby and Sam, Gerald embarks on a journey that will lead him from the British...

One of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies has employed Hector to track down their brilliant scientist, Professor Cormorant, who has disappeared abroad with the secret of a modern-day love potion. Leaving behind his troubled relationship with girlfriend Clara, Hector’s adventure takes him to the Far East and into the arms of beautiful Vayla, forcing our hero to think deeply about what love really is/means.In his follow-up to the multi-million-selling Hector and the Sea...

Captain James Thatcher and the crew of the sloop Adventure are on a mission—to find the legendary treasure of Captain Morgan and to restore their good names.James Thatcher is content with the life of a privateer captain. He has his ship, he has his crew, and he has the open sea. Then, with the stroke of a pen, his world is turned on its head. Britain signs an unthinkable treaty with Spain, and this is the change in the political winds that the crooked governor of Jamaica h...