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The author of Cliffhanger returns with more despicable plots and crimes gone comically awry in this “fast paced and ingenious” mystery series (Daily Mail on Cliffhanger). A lover of Koi carp and hater of humanity, Al Greenwood isn’t above shoving his own wife over a cliff. But when the disgruntled cab driver went in for the kill, the unfortunate woman who got the shove turned out to be someone else entirely. That misdone misdeed led Al and his wife Audrey through the “rollicking ride” of T.J. Middleton’s “witty seaside comedy of manners,” Cliffhanger (The Independent). Now Al’s gotten himself into another sticky situation. When his estranged daughter, Carol, re-appears, apparently keen on making amends, Al thinks his days of scheming are behind him. But a camping holiday, a game of Scrabble, and yet another cliff have put the criminal cabbie back in the driver’s seat. And he’s going to need all his immoral cunning and dreadful charm to stay one step ahead.

A counting book in which a little monster's birthday party gets out of control.

Bestselling author Aimee Friedman is back, with her signature combination of warmth and humor. And with this book, she adds a touch of fantasy. . . Lifetime Original Movie!New York Times bestselling author Aimee Friedman is back, with her signature combination of warmth and humor. And with this book, she adds a touch of fantasy. . .Sixteen-year-old Miranda Merchant is great at science. . .and not so great with boys. After major drama with her boyfriend and (now ex) best friend, she's happy to spend the summer on small, mysterious Selkie Island, helping her mother sort out her late grandmother's estate.There, Miranda finds new friends and an island with a mysterious, mystical history, presenting her with facts her logical, scientific mind can't make sense of. She also meets Leo, who challenges everything she thought she knew about boys, friendship. . .and reality.

Through an analysis of a wide array of contemporary Chinese literature from inside and outside of China, this volume considers some of the ways in which China and Chineseness are understood and imagined. Using the central theme of the way in which literature has the potential to both reinforce and to undermine a national imaginary, the volume contains chapters offering new perspectives on well-known authors, from Jin Yucheng to Nobel Prize winning Mo Yan, as well as chapters focusing on authors rarely included in discussions of contemporary Chinese literature, such as the expatriate authors Larissa Lai and Xiaolu Guo. The volume is complemented by chapters covering more marginalized literary figures throughout history, such as Macau-born poet Yiling, the Malaysian-born novelist Zhang Guixing, and the ethnically Korean author Kim Hak-ch’ŏl. Invested in issues ranging from identity and representation, to translation and grammar, it is one of the few publications of its kind devoting comparable attention to authors from Mainland China, authors from Manchuria, Macau, and Taiwan, and throughout the global Chinese diaspora. Reading China Against the Grain: Imagining Communities is a rich resource of literary criticism for students and scholars of Chinese studies, sinophone studies, and comparative literature