Follows the adventures of a vice-driven loafer who becomes a celebrity in a magical parallel universe for his membership in an enchanted secret agent organization and his talent for solving extravagant and imaginative cases.

When Paula DeJagger, an exchange student staying with one of Nancy’s friends, begins acting strangely, Nancy investigates and discovers that Paula and other exchange students are being blackmailed to commit crimes.

The international-bestselling Labyrinths of Echo series reaches its thrilling conclusion as Sir Max’s many adventures come “all to one glorious end” (Kirkus Reviews). The adventures of Sir Max, who was a daydreaming loser before he discovered the parallel world of Echo, have become an international literary sensation. Now, in The Stranger’s Shadow, Max leads the Minor Secret Investigative Force on their most dangerous mission yet. When people in Echo start mysteriously dying, Max must travel to the Dark Side of Echo, where the shadows of the dead reside, to destroy the Lonely Shadow. But behind the Lonely Shadow lurks an even darker force. Someone has been manipulating its power to attack Echo. Now the redoubtable Max must venture into a realm of unparalleled danger. “If Harry Potter smoked cigarettes and took a certain matter-of-fact pleasure in administering tough justice, he might like Max Frei.” —Kirkus Reviews on The Stranger

The international-bestselling Russian fantasy author continues the adventures of Sir Max, the lazy gumshoe of the enchanted city of Echo. The tales of Sir Max, who was a daydreaming loser before he discovered the parallel world of Echo, have become an international literary sensation. In the second novel of the Labyrinths of Echoes series, Max is still a hardened smoker, glutton, and all-around loafer. But once again, he finds himself travelling to an alternate universe where he must root out illegal magic as an agent of the Secret Investigative Force. This time, Sir Max is called upon to handle a peculiar political dispute, investigate strange happenings in the cemetery, and when Echo’s police captain is poisoned, he must lead a team of magicians in pursuit of magical outlaws. “Echo is a world of all sorts of plots, a sort of Krypton with tobacco and the counter-universe’s equivalent of vodka.” —Kirkus Reviews

“A luminous, moving and visual record of fleeting moments of connection.” —New York Times Book Review, Editors’ Choice A visionary work of radical empathy. Known for immersion journalism that is more immersed than most people are willing to go, and for a prose style that is somehow both fierce and soulful, Jeff Sharlet dives deep into the darkness around us and awaiting us. This work began when his father had a heart attack; two years later, Jeff, still in his forties, had a heart attack of his own. In the grip of writerly self-doubt, Jeff turned to images, taking snapshots and posting them on Instagram, writing short, true stories that bloomed into documentary. During those two years, he spent a lot of time on the road: meeting strangers working night shifts as he drove through the mountains to see his father; exploring the life and death of Charley Keunang, a once-aspiring actor shot by the police on LA’s Skid Row; documenting gay pride amidst the violent homophobia of Putin’s Russia; passing time with homeless teen addicts in Dublin; and accompanying a lonely woman, whose only friend was a houseplant, on shopping trips. Early readers have called this book “incantatory,” the voice “prophetic,” in “James Agee’s tradition of looking at the reality of American lives.” Defined by insomnia and late-night driving and the companionship of other darkness-dwellers—night bakers and last-call drinkers, frightened people and frightening people, the homeless, the lost (or merely disoriented), and other people on the margins—This Brilliant Darkness erases the boundaries between author, subject, and reader to ask: how do people live with suffering?

From the #1 bestselling author of The Historian comes a mesmerizing novel that spans the past and the present—and unearths the troubled history of a gorgeous but haunted country. A young American woman, Alexandra Boyd, has traveled to Sofia, Bulgaria, hoping that life abroad will salve the wounds left by the loss of her beloved brother. Soon after arriving in this elegant East European city, however, she helps an elderly couple into a taxi—and realizes too late that she has accidentally kept one of their bags. Inside she finds an ornately carved wooden box engraved with a name: Stoyan Lazarov. Raising the hinged lid, she discovers that she is holding an urn filled with human ashes. As Alexandra sets out to locate the family and return this precious item, she will first have to uncover the secrets of a talented musician who was shattered by political oppression—and she will find out all too quickly that this knowledge is fraught with its own danger. Elizabeth Kostova’s new novel is a tale of immense scope that delves into the horrors of a century and traverses the culture and landscape of this mysterious country. Suspenseful and beautifully written, it explores the power of stories, the pull of the past, and the hope and meaning that can sometimes be found in the aftermath of loss. Praise for The Shadow Land “A compelling and complex mystery, strong storytelling, and lyrical writing combine for an engrossing read.”—Publishers Weekly “In The Shadow Land, Elizabeth Kostova, a master storyteller, brings vividly to life an unfamiliar country—Bulgaria—and a painful history that feels particularly relevant now. You won’t want to put down this remarkable book.”—Claire Messud, author of The Woman Upstairs “In this brilliant work, what appears at first a minor mystery quickly becomes emblematic of a whole country’s hidden history. Lyrical and compelling, The Shadow Land proves a profound meditation on how evil is inflicted, endured, and, through courage and compassion, defeated. Elizabeth Kostova’s third novel clearly establishes her as one of America’s finest writers.”—Ron Rash, author of The Risen

Every night, Shahrazad begins a story. And every morning, the Sultan lets her live another day -- providing the story is interesting enough to capture his attention. After almost one thousand nights, Shahrazad is running out of tales. And that is how Marjan's story begins.... It falls to Marjan to help Shahrazad find new stories -- ones the Sultan has never heard before. To do that, the girl is forced to undertake a dangerous and forbidden mission: sneak from the harem and travel the city, pulling tales from strangers and bringing them back to Shahrazad. But as she searches the city, a wonderful thing happens. From a quiet spinner of tales, Marjan suddenly becomes the center of a more surprising story than she ever could have imagined.