"Please admire my docile and obedient nature. I will not thank you for providing us with a home, nor will I even breathe a word of gratitude for your provision of such funds as will feed us each quarter. I will not even write such platitudes as 'You are very good,' given that you have also provided us with respectability in the form of Mrs. Ingles. There. I am quite done now with not expressing my gratitude - I should not at all wish to prove tiresome." From the author of Tact, Dear Nameless Stranger is a heartwarming tale inspired by Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice and Jean Webster's Daddy Long Legs. Tragedy has struck the Bennet sisters but they are greatly relieved when the anonymous kindness of a stranger means that they can remain together. In exchange for such charity, a monthly letter is required from each sister. It is a fortunate thing that Miss Elizabeth Bennet rather likes letter-writing, for she relishes the opportunity to relate to this unknown gentleman all her impressions and opinions regarding her changed circumstances. With each passing month Elizabeth confides more in the nameless stranger, and by the time Netherfield Park is once again occupied by the amiable Mr. Bingley and his friend Mr. Darcy, she is quite frank in writing of her dismay.

"I must not speak for my sister, even to you who have been all goodness and kindness throughout this awkward situation. Only know," and here she broke off, suddenly shy, "that even though I must deny myself the privilege of being your wife for love of my sister, I should very dearly like to have you for a brother!" Elizabeth Bennet does not set out to manipulate people; it is merely that the correct choice of words, accompanied by an engaging smile or a beseeching look, yields the most satisfactory results. The morning after the Netherfield ball, Lizzy dispenses with one unwelcome suitor to her hand so amicably and successfully that she sees no reason why she should not make use of her talent for tactful speeches and deal with other unwelcome suitors in the same deft manner.Unfortunately, not all young men are quite so obligingly obtuse as her poor foolish cousin, and Elizabeth finds that one particular gentleman from Derbyshire proves annoyingly impervious to her cunning.

WINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE© IN LITERATURE 2013 A New York Times Notable Book A Washington Post Notable Work of Fiction A Best Book of the Year: The Atlantic, NPR, San Francisco Chronicle, Vogue, AV Club In story after story in this brilliant new collection, Alice Munro pinpoints the moment a person is forever altered by a chance encounter, an action not taken, or a simple twist of fate. Her characters are flawed and fully human: a soldier returning from war and avoiding his fiancée, a wealthy woman deciding whether to confront a blackmailer, an adulterous mother and her neglected children, a guilt-ridden father, a young teacher jilted by her employer. Illumined by Munro’s unflinching insight, these lives draw us in with their quiet depth and surprise us with unexpected turns. And while most are set in her signature territory around Lake Huron, some strike even closer to home: an astonishing suite of four autobiographical tales offers an unprecedented glimpse into Munro’s own childhood. Exalted by her clarity of vision and her unparalleled gift for storytelling, Dear Life shows how strange, perilous, and extraordinary ordinary life can be.

From the multi-award-winning and bestselling author of The Night Watch and Fingersmith comes an astonishing novel about love, loss, and the sometimes unbearable weight of the past. In a dusty post-war summer in rural Warwickshire, a doctor is called to see a patient at lonely Hundreds Hall. Home to the Ayres family for over two centuries, the once grand house is now in decline, its masonry crumbling, its garden choked with weeds. All around, the world is changing, and the family is struggling to adjust to a society with new values and rules. Roddie Ayres, who returned from World War II physically and emotionally wounded, is desperate to keep the house and what remains of the estate together for the sake of his mother and his sister, Caroline. Mrs. Ayres is doing her best to hold on to the gracious habits of a gentler era and Caroline seems cheerfully prepared to continue doing the work a team of servants once handled, even if it means having little chance for a life of her own beyond Hundreds. But as Dr. Faraday becomes increasingly entwined in the Ayreses’ lives, signs of a more disturbing nature start to emerge, both within the family and in Hundreds Hall itself. And Faraday begins to wonder if they are all threatened by something more sinister than a dying way of life, something that could subsume them completely. Both a nuanced evocation of 1940s England and the most chill-inducing novel of psychological suspense in years, The Little Stranger confirms Sarah Waters as one of the finest and most exciting novelists writing today.

"My nephew does not deserve to grow up fatherless and my sister is too happy with her husband to be widowed. I do not doubt that you are precisely the kind of horrid creature that would shoot to kill in a duel, and so I have remained silent. If... if... if you will leave Miss Darcy alone and not try to interfere with her and not try to abduct her again, I will keep quiet, but if you try anything I will tell all." Following on from Tact and Elizabeth Bennet's marriage, the short stories in Turned Out Well cover the London debuts of the remaining Miss Bennets, the happenings at Rosings Park, and the marriage of the practical-minded Charlotte Lucas. There are seven tales in all, dealing with the adventures of five distinctly different heroines. Tactful Lydia Bennet observes her sister's introduction to the ton.Undercurrents Miss Catherine Bennet arrived in London expecting to have a marvellous time. She is disappointed to discover that she does not have a taste for society.The Grange Catherine is curious to see the house and the inhabitants that she has heard so much of. Intact Lady Catherine de Bourgh is a resilient woman but some trials are hard to bear.Tactless Miss Lydia Bennet makes her debut and becomes all the rage. She anticipated balls and ballgowns and dancing and flirtation - she did not anticipate foiling an attempted abduction.The Countess and the Highwayman Lydia rarely behaves as she is expected to, and sees little reason to change her ways after her marriage.Not Romantic Miss Charlotte Lucas, whilst appreciating the romance of Pemberley, has too much sense to think of love.

Between 1982 and 1989, Pelafina H. Lièvre sent her son, Johnny Truant, a series of letters from The Three Attic Whalestoe Institute, a psychiatric facility in Ohio where she spent the final years of her life. Beautiful, heartfelt, and tragic, this correspondence reveals the powerful and deeply moving relationship between a brilliant though mentally ill mother and the precocious, gifted young son she never ceases to love. Originally contained within the monumental House of Leaves, this collection stands alone as a stunning portrait of mother and child. It is presented here along with a foreword by Walden D. Wyhrta and eleven previously unavailable letters.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The remarkable true story of a man who lived alone in the woods of Maine for 27 years, making this dream a reality—not out of anger at the world, but simply because he preferred to live on his own. “A meditation on solitude, wildness and survival.” —The Wall Street Journal In 1986, a shy and intelligent twenty-year-old named Christopher Knight left his home in Massachusetts, drove to Maine, and disappeared into the forest. He would not have a conversation with another human being until nearly three decades later, when he was arrested for stealing food. Living in a tent even through brutal winters, he had survived by his wits and courage, developing ingenious ways to store edibles and water, and to avoid freezing to death. He broke into nearby cottages for food, clothing, reading material, and other provisions, taking only what he needed but terrifying a community never able to solve the mysterious burglaries. Based on extensive interviews with Knight himself, this is a vividly detailed account of his secluded life—why did he leave? what did he learn?—as well as the challenges he has faced since returning to the world. It is a gripping story of survival that asks fundamental questions about solitude, community, and what makes a good life, and a deeply moving portrait of a man who was determined to live his own way, and succeeded.