The owner of the bookshop THE VERB TO BE, is a red-haired giant imprisoned in an enormous body and his solitude. One wet afternoon, driving a vanload of new and second-hand books, �tienneVollard knocks down and seriously injures a little girl, �va. In the hospital, he meets �va's mother, Th�r�se, a struggling single parent who lacks maternal instincts and whose dream is to be faraway, alone. Both are haunted by guilt: Th�r�se because of her lateness in collecting her daughter, and Vollard because he did not manage to stop his car on time (even if he knows that he could not have avoided -va: indeed she seemed to throw herself in front of the car). Vollard visits �va regularly while she is in a coma and reads books to her, while Th�r�se spaces her visits out. When �va eventually wakes up, she has become mute and is terribly weakened. A few weeks after �va has been sent to a rehabilitation centre in the Massif de la Chartreuse, Th�r�se gets a job faraway and asks Vollard to visit her daughter on her behalf. Soon, Vollard enjoys their walks in the mountain, where he tells her stories and poems he has memorized and tries to break her out of her mute, impassive shell. However, nothing seems to help "La Petite Chartreuse" - Vollard calls �va that way in reference to the monastic order of the Chartreux - to enjoy life again. She becomes weaker everyday to such a point that Vollard decides to find Th�r�se and to take her back to her daughter before it is too late . . .

Etienne Vollard, owner of the bookshop The Verb To Be, is a red-haired man imprisoned in an enormous body and his solitude. One wet afternoon, driving a vanload of books, he knocks down and seriously injures a little girl, Eva. In the hospital, he meets Eva's mother, Therese, a struggling single parent who lacks maternal instincts and whose dream is to be far away, alone. Both are haunted by guilt: Therese because of her lateness in collecting her daughter, and Vollard because he did not manage to stop his car on time (even if he knows that he could not have avoided Eva). Vollard visits Eva regularly while she is in a coma and reads books to her, while Therese spaces her visits out. When Eva eventually wakes up, she has become mute and is terribly weakened. A few weeks after Eva has been sent to a rehabilitation centre in the Massif de la Chartreuse, Therese gets a job far away and asks Vollard to visit her daughter on her behalf. However, nothing seems to help "La Petite Chartreuse" - Vollard calls Eva that way in reference to the monastic order of the Chartreux - to enjoy life again. She becomes weaker every day to such a point that Vollard decides to find Threse and to take her back to her daughter before it is too late...

Chet Gecko loves a good mystery. Almost more than he loves his fee—stinkbug pie. So when fellow fourth grader Shirley Chameleon asks him to find her missing brother, Billy, Chet expects the case to be as easy a pie. But Billy's disappearance is part of a larger plot, one that involves the Rat Sisters, a riddling junkyard dog, and a vicious Gila monster named Herman. If Chet doesn't solve the case fast, the entire school could be humiliated. Worst of all, Chet might not get his fee. And Chet's hungry. . . .

“Jackson at her best: plumbing the extraordinary from the depths of mid-twentieth-century common. [Just an Ordinary Day] is a gift to a new generation.”—San Francisco Chronicle Acclaimed in her own time for her short story “The Lottery” and her novel The Haunting of Hill House—classics ranking with the work of Edgar Allan Poe—Shirley Jackson blazed a path for contemporary writers with her explorations of evil, madness, and cruelty. Soon after her untimely death in 1965, Jackson’s children discovered a treasure trove of previously unpublished and uncollected stories, many of which are brought together in this remarkable collection. Here are tales of torment, psychological aberration, and the macabre, as well as those that display her lighter touch with humorous scenes of domestic life. Reflecting the range and complexity of Jackson’s talent, Just an Ordinary Day reaffirms her enduring influence and celebrates her singular voice, rich with magic and resonance. Praise for Shirley Jackson “[Jackson’s] work exerts an enduring spell.”—Joyce Carol Oates “Shirley Jackson’s stories are among the most terrifying ever written.”—Donna Tartt “An amazing writer . . . If you haven’t read [Jackson] you have missed out on something marvelous.”—Neil Gaiman “Shirley Jackson is unparalleled as a leader in the field of beautifully written, quiet, cumulative shudders.”—Dorothy Parker “An author who not only writes beautifully but who knows what there is, in this world, to be scared of.”—Francine Prose “The world of Shirley Jackson is eerie and unforgettable.”—A. M. Homes “Jackson enjoyed notoriety and commercial success within her lifetime, and yet it still hardly seems like enough for a writer so singular. When I meet readers and other writers of my generation, I find that mentioning her is like uttering a holy name.”—Victor LaValle

A collection of three thrillers by Tom Vater, now available in one volume! The Cambodian Book Of The Dead: German detective Maier travels to Cambodia in search of the heir to a Hamburg coffee empire, but his investigation takes him on a dark and dangerous journey through the country's troubled past. Along the way, Maier encounters a cast of characters, including a mysterious scarred woman with a frightening past, a Khmer Rouge general, an expat gangster, and a group of teenage girl assassins. As he delves deeper into the investigation, Maier is led to the White Spider, a Nazi war criminal who has taken refuge in an ancient Khmer temple deep in the Cambodian jungle. Captured and imprisoned by the White Spider, Maier must confront the horrors of the past and write the biography of a mass murderer, or face his own death. The Devil's Road To Kathmandu: In 1976, Dan, Fred, Tim, and Thierry embarked on a journey along the hippie trail from London to Kathmandu. But after a drug deal gone wrong, they barely escaped with their lives. Years later, the remaining three friends receive mysterious emails inviting them to Kathmandu to collect their share of the money. They reunite, but soon find themselves entangled in a web of kidnapping and murder, spanning across the Himalayas. With the help of Dan's backpacking son, a tattooed lady, and a Buddhist angel, the ageing hippies confront their past and try to solve a 25-year-old mystery. As they venture amongst the Himalayan peaks, they are led towards a climactic showdown with their dark and dangerous history. The Green Panthers: The Green Panthers are a multi-national underground army sponsored by private entities, whose mission is to hold corporate polluters accountable. During the attempted rescue of a snow leopard in Siberia, they stumble upon Project SILEO, a plot by millionaires to abandon a dying planet due to climate change and pollution. However, the Panthers soon realize that SILEO hides an even greater threat to humanity. As they race against time to stop the Slow King's apocalyptic ambitions, which span from Britain to Thailand and the private space station Stella Blue, riots and unrest take hold worldwide. In a future world where everything is for sale, The Green Panthers explores themes of systemic corruption, capitalism, space exploration, and climate change, as well as the courage and nature of friendship.

Reproduction of the original.