Bøger udgivet af Harper Perennial

"Kirk Farber has a style very similar to Chuck Palahniuk, with offbeat observations, a view of our world through a slightly distorted lens, and a tone that's ... hilarious and tragic at the same time." -- Garth Stein, author of The Art of Racing in the RainA touching, almost cinematic, debut novel featuring the eccentric, slightly disturbed, and unique character Sid, who finds himself--among various other darkly comic scenarios--obsessed by the mysterious European postcards that arrive in the mail from his ex-girlfriend.

"People who grow up like this tend to become agoraphobics, serial killers, or really funny writers. Mulgrew, I think - hope? - is the last of these three things. His stories of childhood made me laugh out loud." -- Rob McElhenney, star, creator, and producer of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia"The somewhat alarming, always interesting world inside Jason's brain has now been strewn across the pages of a book. Godspeed, reader." -- Steve Hely, author of How I Became a Famous NovelistJason Mulgrew's wildly popular blog "Everything Is Wrong With Me: 30, Bipolar and Hungry," gives rise to a memoir of startling insight, comedy, and irreversible, unconscionable stupidity.

"Suspenseful and gripping."--Sunday Telegraph (UK)A woman abandons her past--and the best friend with whom she was once inseparable--in Marion McGilvary's startling novel, A Lost Wife's Tale. A riveting story of love, betrayal, and living in a strange city under the shadow of an impossible choice, this provocative novel is certain to inspire strong emotions and heated discussions--not unlike The Memory Keeper's Daughter, We Need to Talk About Kevin, and other novels known for their "talkability." Already highly acclaimed in Great Britain, the American edition of A Lost Wife's Tale is set in New York City--and author McGilvary brilliant captures Manhattan's unique color and atmosphere for a U.S. audience.

"Pearlman's book develops a stark, unsparing picture of Clemens's life that surpasses anything that's come before." --Boston GlobeNew York Times bestselling author Jeff Pearlman reconstructs pitcher Roger Clemens's life--from his Ohio childhood to the mounds of Fenway Park and Yankee Stadium--to reveal a flawed and troubled man whose rage for baseball immortality took him to superhuman heights before he crashed down to earth.A fearless, hard-nosed Texan with a 98-mph fastball and a propensity to throw at the heads of opposing hitters, Roger "the Rocket" Clemens won 354 games, an unprecedented seven Cy Young Awards, and two World Series trophies over the course of twenty-four seasons. But the statistics and hoopla obscured a far darker story--one of playoff chokes, womanizing (including a long-term affair with a teenage country singer), violent explosions, steroid and human growth hormone use. . . and an especially dark secret that Clemens spent a lifetime trying to hide: a family tragedy involving drugs and, ultimately, death.

The music of the Smiths and their iconic frontman Morrissey is beautiful, witty, melancholic—music that makes outsiders feel as though they are part of something. Now an eclectic collection of acclaimed, up-and-coming writers lets their love of the band, its words and music, manifest itself in literary form with smart, emotion-filled, Smiths-inspired short fiction.In Please, edited by Peter Wild, love blooms by the cemetery gates and the death of a Miami disco dancer inspires a new TV show. Shoplifters of the world unite to tug a reluctant aardvark from a hole, while a naked birthday rendition of "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" is beamed across the globe. Here is fiction that melds the worlds of music and literature while celebrating the unique artistic contributions of one of the most beloved bands of the past two and a half decades.

Suzie Gilbert discovered her true calling when she began working at a local animal hospital. Eventually, she started bringing abused and unwanted parrots home, and volunteering at a local raptor rehabilitation center. From there it was a short flight to her ultimate commitment: Flyaway, Inc., the nonprofit wild bird rehabilitation center she ran out of her own home.With heart and delightful wit, Gilbert chronicles daily life in her household-cum-bird-hospital, and recounts the resulting chaos as she, her husband, and their two young children struggled to live in a home where parrots shrieked Motown songs and recuperating herons took over the spare bathroom. Flyaway is a remarkable story of compassion for and dedication to beautiful creatures--and the importance of pursuing even the most unlikely of dreams.

Bea Frazier hoped she'd rediscover her incredible self after divorcing Jimmy. But being home alone with three daughters brings her demons back with a vengeance. The only solution is to reunite her family. The trouble is, her ex is about to marry someone else.Tessa King has finally found true love, but her knight in shining armor comes with three sullen daughters and an ex who doesn't seem nearly "ex" enough. After years of singledom, what does Tessa have to do to finally live happily ever after?As the two women negotiate carpools, puberty, and family loyalties, each finds it almost impossible not to fall into the old cliché of the bitter first wife and the wicked stepmother. But if Bea and Tessa are brave enough, they just may find a friend where they once saw an enemy. . . .Absorbing and touching, humorous and honest, The Stepmother reminds us that there is always another side to the story.

"Gottlieb captures both the divine and human, offering an elegant, sharp, and sophisticated take on the choreographer's life." --Publishers Weekly (starred review)Written by the gifted author, editor, and dance critic Robert Gottlieb, George Balanchine describes the life and art of the celebrated, revolutionary ballet choreographer and founder of The New York City Ballet.The foremost contemporary choreographer in the history of ballet, George Balanchine extended the art form into radical new paths that came to seem inevitable under his direction. He transformed movement and dance in classical and modern ballet, on the Broadway stage, and in the cinema.George Balanchine chronicles the life and achievements of this visionary artist from his early, almost accidental career in Russia, where his lifelong collaboration with Igor Stravinsky was forged, to his extraordinary accomplishments in America. Gottlieb, one of the most knowledgeable dance critics in America, offers a superb and loving portrait of a genius who, though married many times to many ballerinas, remained truest to his greatest love, Terpischore, the Greek Muse of dance.Here is a necessary and singular look at the life of one of the great figures of the 20th Century who was an inspiration to countless fans over the course of his long and storied career.

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) was a composer of universal genius whose popularity, extraordinary even during his lifetime, has never ceased to grow and now encircles the globe. His most famous works are as beloved in Beijing as they are in Boston. A lifelong devotee, Edmund Morris, the author of three bestselling presidential biographies, brings the great composer to life as a man of astonishing complexity and overpowering intelligence—a gigantic, compulsively creative personality unable to tolerate constraints. But Beethoven's achievement rests in his immortal music, whose grandeur and beauty were conceived "on the other side of silence."

"Chilling. . . . There is a gritty honesty to her cautionary confession that will alert others to listen for and respond to wake-up calls of their own." -- New York Times Book ReviewSlow Motion is the critically-lauded bestselling memoir from acclaimed novelist Dani Shapiro (Black & White, Family History) -- a "riveting" and "breathtaking" look (San Francisco Chronicle), free of self-pity or regret, at a life that was rescued by an unspeakable tragedy.At twenty-three, Dani Shapiro was in the midst of a major rebellion against her religious upbringing. She had dropped out of college, was halfheartedly acting in television commercials, and was carrying on with an older married man when her life was changed, in an instant, by a phone call. Her parents had been in a devastating car accident. Neither was expected to survive. In her first memoir, Shapiro offers this powerful true story of a life turned around--not by miracles or happy endings, but by unexpected personal catastrophe.

Francine Prose's life of Michelangelo Merisi (da Caravaggio) evokes the genius of this incomparable artist through a brilliant reading of his paintings. Caravaggio's use of ordinary people, realistically portrayed—street boys, prostitutes, the poor, the aged—was a profound and revolutionary innovation that left its mark on generations of artists. Revered and successful, Caravaggio was protected by powerful patrons, yet he was also a man of the street who couldn't free himself from its brawls and vendettas. In Caravaggio, bestselling author Francine Prose presents the brief but tumultuous life of one of the greatest of all painters with passion and acute sensitivity.

"[Ahern] gives us full permission to believe in magic." --Redbook Magazine One of the world's most popular writers of women's fiction--author of the beloved international bestseller, P.S. I Love You, basis for the popular film starring Hilary Swank--Cecelia Ahern now gives us Thanks for the Memories, a heartwarming tale of déjà vu and second chances. Reminiscent of The Time Traveler's Wife, Thanks for the Memories is a love story brimming with hope and feeling and enlivened with an enchanting touch of magic.

"DON'T believe the naysayers. The American Dream--the fable that says if you work hard and follow the rules, you'll make it--is alive and well."--New York PostAdam W. Shepard's Scratch Beginnings is the fascinating and eye-opening account of the grand social experiment the author undertook in response to Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel and Dimed. Subtitled "Me, $25, and the Search for the American Dream," Scratch Beginnings chronicles Shepard's successful efforts to raise himself up from self-imposed rock bottom in one year's time--a personal odyssey that is sure to inspire anyone who reads about it, instilling new faith in the solid principles on which our democracy was built.

Inspired by Machiavelli's classic The Prince, Leslie H. Gelb offers illuminating guidelines on how American power actually works and should be wielded in today's tumultuous world. Writing with the perspective of four decades of extraordinary access and influence in government, think tanks, and journalism, Gelb provides an incisive look at the major U.S. foreign-policy triumphs and tragedies of the past half century, and offers practical rules on how to effectively exercise power today. Power Rules is an impassioned challenge to both liberals and conservatives and a plea to reclaim the true meaning of power and the essential role of common sense in solving global problems.

How big is your vocabulary?How heavy is your house?Do the dead outnumber the living?What are the best words to use in a personal ad?We humans are a curious species, prone to think, ruminate, reflect, cogitate, mull over, and philosophize. We long to explain away the world around us, to answer all those seeming unanswerables: Why are we here? Is there a God? Is there life after death? And, above all, how many houseflies does it take to pull a car?A confirmed and superior geek, Dr. Graham Tattersall has rescued math from the prison of the classroom and put it to use in novel and unexpected ways to explain some oft-pondered mysteries of the world. Geekspeak is an essential tool that will help you exercise your brain and solve the unsolvable, make you sound intelligent so you can impress your friends, and enable you to better understand the fascinating world in which we live in ways never possible before.Math has a new champion, and the geeks a new king.

"Listening Below the Noise offers readers the possibility of finding grace and peace in the natural world and in ourselves. Elegant and honest... one of those rare books that finds its way into our hearts, and stays there." -- Ann Hood, author of The Knitting CircleA meditation on silence, the art of being present, and simple spirituality from critically acclaimed novelist Anne D. LeClaire (Entering Normal, The Lavender Hour), Listening Below the Noise offers a practical path to achieving calm, peaceful solitude in hectic lives. Practitioners of yoga and meditation of various traditions have long known the curative powers of stillness; in Listening Below the Noise, LeClaire offers her own unique, compelling version of this ancient wisdom tradition.

"A terrific biography....The dramatic story of how the American army that beat the British was forged has never been better told than in this remarkable book."--Doris Kearns Goodwin, New York Times bestselling author of Team of Rivals The true story of the Baron de Steuben and the making of the American Army, The Drillmaster of Valley Forge is the first biography in half a century of the immigrant Prussian soldier who molded George Washington's ragged, demoralized troops into the fighting force that eventually triumphed in America's War of Independence. Praised by renowned historian Thomas Fleming as "an important book for anyone interested in the American Revolution," The Drillmaster of Valley Forge rights a historical wrong by finally giving a forgotten hero his well-deserved due.

You Are Here is a dazzling exploration of the universe and our relationship to it, as seen through the lens of today's most cutting-edge scientific thinking. Here, for the first time in a single span, is the life of the universe, from quarks to galaxy superclusters and from slime to Homo sapiens. Christopher Potter brilliantly tells the story of how something evolved from nothing and how something became everything; how the universe was once a moment of perfect symmetry and is now 13.7 billion years of history. With wisdom and wonder, Potter traverses the cosmos from its conception to its eventual end—while exploring everything in between.

In the heart of a civil war–torn African nation, primate researcher Hope Clearwater made a shocking discovery about apes and man. . . .Young, alone, and far from her family in Britain, Hope Clearwater contemplates the extraordinary events that left her washed up like driftwood on Brazzaville Beach. It is here, on the distant, lonely outskirts of Africa, where she must come to terms with the perplexing and troubling circumstances of her recent past. For Hope is a survivor of the devastating cruelties of apes and humans alike. And to move forward, she must first grasp some hard and elusive truths: about marriage and madness, about the greed and savagery of charlatan science, and about what compels seemingly benign creatures to kill for pleasure alone.

Painfully average and introverted Will finally has a bird. Her name is Alice. She's smart, sexy, and much to Will's surprise, she is in love with him. But the course of love never did run smooth, and soon devotion—and its uglier manifestations—lead Will to a dark place within himself.Elsewhere in the city, Helen is an actress—or she will be some day. For now, she finds work as a "model"—or whatever her online acquaintances need her to be. Her real name is Clair, but she desperately wants to be someone new, someone glamorous and real—someone worth something.A love story with a twist, this exuberant and funny debut novel brings Will and Helen's lives together in a tale as tight as a rope and as black as tar. Sharp, playful, and brimming over with wicked comedy, The Bird Room heralds the arrival of a major new literary talent.

"A treat to be savored." --Houston ChronicleA classic from New York Times bestselling author Anne Rivers Siddons, Nora, Nora tells the story of free-thinking Cousin Nora Findlay who turns tiny Lytton, Georgia, on its ear in the summer of 1961. Pat Conroy (The Prince of Tides) says the author of Low Country, Up Island, Peachtree Street, and King's Oak "ranks among the best of us," and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution praises Nora, Nora as "Anne Rivers Siddons writing at the top of her form. This lively, sparkling coming-of-age novel is superbly written and wholly engaging."

In semiautobiographical stories set largely in David Vann's native Alaska, Legend of a Suicide follows Roy Fenn from his birth on an island at the edge of the Bering Sea to his return thirty years later to confront the turbulent emotions and complex legacy of his father's suicide.

The Secret Lives of People in Love is the first short story collection by award-winning writer Simon Van Booy. These stories, set in Kentucky, New York, Paris, Rome, and Greece, are a perfect synthesis of intensity and atmosphere. Love, loss, human contact, and isolation are Van Booy's themes. In radiant prose he writes about the difficult choices we make in order to retain our humanity and about the redemptive power of love in a violent world. Included in this updated P.S. edition is the new story "The Mute Ventriloquist."

New York Times BestsellerBernard Cornwell, the New York Times bestselling "reigning king of historical fiction" (USA Today), tackles his most thrilling, rich, and enthralling subject yet--the heroic tale of Agincourt. The epic battle immortalized by William Shakespeare in his classic Henry V is the background for this breathtaking tale of heroism, love, devotion, and duty from the legendary author of the Richard Sharpe novels and the Saxon Tales. This extraordinary adventure will captivate from page one, proving once again and most powerfully, as author Lee Child attests, that "nobody in the world does this stuff better than Cornwell."

"[Zoe Heller] is an extraordinarily entertaining writer, and this novel showcases her copious gifts, including a scathing, Waugh-like wit."--New York Times Best-selling author Zoe Heller has followed up the critical and commercial success of What Was She Thinking? Notes on a Scandal with another tour-de-force on the meaning of faith, belief, and trust: The Believers. Tragic and comic, witty and intense, The Believers is the story of a dysfunctional family forced by tragedy to confront their own personal demons. In the vein of Claire Messud and Zadie Smith, Zoe Heller has written that rare novel that tackles the big ideas without sacrificing page-turning readability.

New York Times BestsellerReading List Selection by American Library AssociationLifetime original movie, starring Jacqueline Bissett and Kelen Coleman"Sex and the City meets Moonstruck...this first in a new trilogy from Trigiani is sly, sensual and dripping in style." -- PeoplePoignant, funny, warm, and red hot, Very Valentine is a wonderful treat for Adriana Trigiani fans--a "delightful" (Boston Globe), "romance-soaked novel" (Marie Claire) from much adored playwright, screenwriter, documentary filmmaker, and New York Times bestselling author of The Shoemaker's Wife, All the Stars in the Heavens and The Supreme Macaroni Company. The adventures of an extraordinary and unforgettable woman as she attempts to rescue her family's struggling shoe business and find love at the same time, Very Valentine sweeps the reader from the streets of Manhattan to the picturesque hills of Italy. Here is yet another novel from the incomparable Trigiani that will steal your heart.

Abraham Lincoln is the most revered president in American history, but the woman at the center of his life—his wife, Mary—has remained a historical enigma. One of the most tragic and mysterious of nineteenth-century figures, Mary Lincoln and her story symbolize the pain and loss of Civil War America. Authoritative and utterly engrossing, Mrs. Lincoln is the long-awaited portrait of the woman who so richly contributed to Lincoln's life and legacy.