The people of a Japanese village fight to maintain their humanity and tradition in the radioactive "rain" after Hiroshima

From Graham Brown, co-author of the New York Times bestselling thriller Devil’s Gate with Clive Cussler, comes Black Rain . . . Covert government operative Danielle Laidlaw leads an expedition into the deepest reaches of the Amazon in search of a legendary Mayan city. Assisted by a renowned university professor and protected by a mercenary named Hawker, her team journeys into the tangled rain forest—unaware that they are replacements for a group that vanished weeks before, and that the treasure they are seeking is no mere artifact but a breakthrough discovery that could transform the world. Shadowed by a ruthless billionaire, threatened by a violent indigenous tribe, and stalked by an unseen enemy that leaves battered corpses in its wake, the group desperately seeks the connection between the deadly reality of the Mayan legend, the nomadic tribe that haunts them, and the chilling secret buried beneath the ancient ruins.

Black Rain is a work of historical fiction that takes place in the recent past, before the Civil War lead to the abolition of chattel slavery. The story centers around a young black woman, Amira, that was taken from her home in Cameroon at age ten and forced into slavery, and a young Azteco man named Rain that lives with his tribe on the same lands as the white colonizers. However, the native tribes and the nearby white settlers had no idea of each others' existence. Not until Rain happens to stumble upon them. A daring rescue would see Amira delivered safely to Rain's tribe. Despite their differences and a clear language barrier, the two manage to find common ground. But dark forces are at play that threaten to send them all into darkness when Amira cursed and the entire village begins to experience terrible omens. Caught between war, spirits, and the threat of colonization, Amira and the Aztecos must set aside their differences and come together, or suffer the consequences of division.

Japanese novelist Ibuse Masuji (1898-1993) is best known for his 1966 novel Kuroi Ame (published in English as Black Rain), which detailed the tragic aftermath of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima. With Ibuse Masuji, Anthony Liman, Ibuse's lifelong friend and a noted scholar of Japanese literature and history, has written a lively and creative critical biography of the author. Liman's highly personal style delivers a vivid insider's picture of Ibuse's life, while also situating his writings and his career in the larger context of Japanese culture of the period. Featuring incisive readings of Ibuse's major works, Ibuse Masuji will be indispensable to scholars of twentieth-century Japanese literature and culture.

Rain of the Ghosts is the first in Greg Weisman's series about an adventurous young girl, Rain Cacique, who discovers she has a mystery to solve, a mission to complete and, oh, yes, the ability to see ghosts. Welcome to the Prospero Keys (or as the locals call them: the Ghost Keys), a beautiful chain of tropical islands on the edge of the Bermuda Triangle. Rain Cacique is water-skiing with her two best friends Charlie and Miranda when Rain sees her father waiting for her at the dock. Sebastian Bohique, her maternal grandfather, has passed away. He was the only person who ever made Rain feel special. The only one who believed she could do something important with her life. The only thing she has left to remember him by is the armband he used to wear: two gold snakes intertwined, clasping each other's tails in their mouths. Only the armband . . . and the gift it brings: Rain can see dead people. Starting with the Dark Man: a ghost determined to reveal the Ghost Keys' hidden world of mystery and mysticism, intrigue and adventure.

A Good Morning America Book Club Pick and New York Times Bestseller! From debut author Asha Lemmie, “a lovely, heartrending story about love and loss, prejudice and pain, and the sometimes dangerous, always durable ties that link a family together.” —Kristin Hannah, #1 New York Times–bestselling author of The Nightingale Kyoto, Japan, 1948. “Do not question. Do not fight. Do not resist.” Such is eight-year-old Noriko “Nori” Kamiza’s first lesson. She will not question why her mother abandoned her with only these final words. She will not fight her confinement to the attic of her grandparents’ imperial estate. And she will not resist the scalding chemical baths she receives daily to lighten her skin. The child of a married Japanese aristocrat and her African American GI lover, Nori is an outsider from birth. Her grandparents take her in, only to conceal her, fearful of a stain on the royal pedigree that they are desperate to uphold in a changing Japan. Obedient to a fault, Nori accepts her solitary life, despite her natural intellect and curiosity. But when chance brings her older half-brother, Akira, to the estate that is his inheritance and destiny, Nori finds in him an unlikely ally with whom she forms a powerful bond—a bond their formidable grandparents cannot allow and that will irrevocably change the lives they were always meant to lead. Because now that Nori has glimpsed a world in which perhaps there is a place for her after all, she is ready to fight to be a part of it—a battle that just might cost her everything. Spanning decades and continents, Fifty Words for Rain is a dazzling epic about the ties that bind, the ties that give you strength, and what it means to be free.