John David Morley

For Daniel Serraz, born on a ferry in the Straits of Malacca, orphaned two years later when his parents are lost at sea, the world beneath the waves holds an irresistible fascination. Raised in Geneva by his hydrophobic grandmother, his boyish imagination stirred by the local pet-shop's aquaria, Daniel free-floats with life's currents into a career in insurance and marriage to Japanese interpreter Kozue. But, ominous truths are re-surfacing, bound up with the legend of his whale-hunter great-grandfather and his parents' disappearance off the Indonesian coast. When calamity scars his marriage and devastates his health, at the risk of his own survival, Daniel pursues his sea-borne destiny to the far-flung island of Lefo, where whales are still hunted by century-old methods and native superstition tells of a mythical makhluk istimewa, an 'extraordinary creature' still inhabiting the surrounding seas.

The author defines festivity as the capacity for genuine revelry and joyous celebration and fantasy as the faculty for envisioning radically alternative life situations. He proposes that a revival of both feast and fantasy will rejuvenate modern spirtuality by imitating the medieval Feast of Fools, where spirtual life was celebrated while political church traditions were socially mocked and evaluated.

This is an introductory book to opposites with a difference. The wonderful world of Sarah Dyer is laid out in organized chaos for the joy of young readers. Each page is scattered with objects that little ones will love pointing out and naming, including 'Animal Opposites' (fast and slow, tall and short) and 'Building Opposites' (small and big, upstairs and downstairs). Sarah's fun illustrations and playful sense of humour will see The Book of Opposites becoming an instant hit for toddlers and parents alike.

An ancient order tied to today's Vatican...A blood fortune buried in the caves of France...A conspiracy of power, greed and darkest evil... Archaeologist and explorer Annja Creed's fascination with the myths and mysteries of the past leads her to a crypt in the caves of France, where the terrifying legend of the Beast of Gevaudan hints at the unimaginable. What she discovers is shattering: an artifact that will seal her destiny; a brotherhood of monks willing to murder to protect their secret; and a powerful black-market occultist desperate to put his own claim to centuries-old blood money. Annja embarks on a high-tension race across Europe and history itself, intent on linking the unholy treachery of the ages with the staggering revelations of the present. But she must survive the shadow figures determined to silence her threat to their existence.

Taking its inspiration (and its title) from the famous Rembrandt masterpiece that depicts a seventeenth-century public autopsy, The Anatomy Lesson follows Kiddo, a streetwise ingenuous American teenager who has exiled himself by choice in modern Amsterdam. Sponging off the Dutch welfare system and trading dole for drugs, Kiddo is fighting for his life to come to terms with the premature death of his older brother Morton. A bona fide genius with his halo of flame-red hair shining like a beacon of intelligence, Morton, even in death, was always the patron saint and guru for his younger sibling. But gradually Kiddo begins to unveil the chilling, dark side of his brother that he never knew. Honoring his last request, Kiddo must bear witness to Morton's autopsy. The anatomy lesson proves to be only the beginning of a painful journey of emotional and sexual awakening that is at once both devastating and liberating.