Man From The South

Man from the South is a short, sharp, chilling story from Roald Dahl, the master of the shocking tale. In Man from the South, Roald Dahl, one of the world's favourite authors, tells a sinister story about the darker side of human nature. Here, a man takes part in a very unusual bet, one with appalling consequences . . . Man from the South is taken from the short story collection Someone Like You, which includes seventeen other devious and shocking stories, featuring the wife who serves a dish that baffles the police; a curious machine that reveals the horrifying truth about plants; the man waiting to be bitten by the venomous snake asleep on his stomach; and others. 'The absolute master of the twist in the tale.' (Observer ) This story is also available as a Penguin digital audio download read by Stephen Mangan. Roald Dahl, the brilliant and worldwide acclaimed author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, Matilda, and many more classics for children, also wrote scores of short stories for adults. These delightfully disturbing tales have often been filmed and were most recently the inspiration for the West End play, Roald Dahl's Twisted Tales by Jeremy Dyson. Roald Dahl's stories continue to make readers shiver today.

"The little-known story of a British diplomat who serves as a spy in South Carolina at the dawn of the Civil War, posing as a friend to slave-owning aristocrats when he was actually telling Britain not to support the Confederacy"--

In 1887 a Boston physician comes to Texas for some bird hunting for ornithological purposes. He finds the perfect guide in John M. Priour, who leads his Yankee friend on a 400-mile trek through bramble, bog, forest, mud, and more mud. When he returns to Boston, Dr. Peirce details his misadventures in Texas.

An Edgar Award finalist for Best Fact Crime, this “impressive…open-eyed investigative inquiry wrapped within a cultural history of rural America” (The Wall Street Journal) shows legendary statistician and baseball writer Bill James applying his analytical acumen to crack an unsolved century-old mystery surrounding one of the deadliest serial killers in American history. Between 1898 and 1912, families across the country were bludgeoned in their sleep with the blunt side of an axe. Some of these cases—like the infamous Villisca, Iowa, murders—received national attention. But most incidents went almost unnoticed outside the communities in which they occurred. Few people believed the crimes were related. And fewer still would realize that all of these families lived within walking distance to a train station. When celebrated true crime expert Bill James first learned about these horrors, he began to investigate others that might fit the same pattern. Applying the same know-how he brings to his legendary baseball analysis, he empirically determined which crimes were committed by the same person. Then after sifting through thousands of local newspapers, court transcripts, and public records, he and his daughter Rachel made an astonishing discovery: they learned the true identity of this monstrous criminal and uncovered one of the deadliest serial killers in America. “A suspenseful historical account” (Publishers Weekly, starred review), The Man from the Train paints a vivid, psychologically perceptive portrait of America at the dawn of the twentieth century, when crime was regarded as a local problem, and opportunistic private detectives exploited a dysfunctional judicial system. James shows how these cultural factors enabled such an unspeakable series of crimes to occur, and his groundbreaking approach to true crime will convince skeptics, amaze aficionados, and change the way we view criminal history. “A beautifully written and extraordinarily researched narrative…This is no pure whodunit, but rather a how-many-did-he-do” (Buffalo News).

William Moberg was a mountain of a man who had a dark secret. He had a farm outside the village, a place not a lot of people had seen and lived to tell about. He grew his plants with care, using his personal secret as a soil. Young blonde women. Moberg was the worst serial killer the South of Sweden had seen in a lifetime but Göran Danielsson from the police in Lund was on his trail. It didn't get easier when his girlfriend got involved, but was she an accomplish or a victim? It all leads up to an explosive ending at the Moberg farm outside Veberöd. One dose sadistic killer, one dose clumsy police, several doses sex and you get a Southern Swedish tale. An explicit and graphic tale of murder, deception and adultery.

They Love a Man in the Country is a piquant chronicle of politics in the South in the days when a politician had to entertain to be elected. Seasoned journalists Billy Bowles and Remer Tyson interviewed the powerful and the obscure: state leaders in the Deep South and feuding, trigger-happy bootleggers in the Cumberland Gap. While many figures are familiar beyond their consituency -- George Wallace, Orval Faubus, Happy Chandler -- the authors have included others less widely known whose recollections and anecdotes are equally entertaining. What emerges from these interviews is the sense of an era in which any ruse could be used to grease the cogs of power as long as it worked. Part social history, part political closeup of many of the South's most outrageous figures, They Love a Man in the Country takes us from the populist '30s through the civil rights struggles of the '60s and '70s. Bowles and Tyson have embraced the comedy and poignancy of their material in this rich distillation of Southern life.

“He’s a gambler at best. A con artist at worst,” her aunt had said of the handlebar-mustached man who snatched Ella Wallace away from her dreams of studying art in France. Eighteen years later, that man has disappeared, leaving Ella alone and struggling to support her three sons. While the world is embroiled in World War I, Ella fights her own personal battle to keep the mystical Florida land that has been in her family for generations from the hands of an unscrupulous banker. When a mysterious man arrives at Ella’s door in an unconventional way, he convinces her he can help her avoid foreclosure, and a tenuous trust begins. But as the fight for Ella’s land intensifies, it becomes evident that things are not as they appear. Hypocrisy and murder soon shake the coastal town of Apalachicola and jeopardize Ella’s family.

Seven superb short stories from the bestselling author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The BFG! The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar is coming soon to Netflix! Meet the boy who can talk to animals and the man who can see with his eyes closed. And find out about the treasure buried deep underground. A clever mix of fact and fiction, this collection also includes how master storyteller Roald Dahl became a writer. With Roald Dahl, you can never be sure where reality ends and fantasy begins. "All the tales are entrancing inventions." —Publishers Weekly

A fascinating novel about three men out from three worlds. Mfundo the musician and dad, Mzi - gay, but married, and Tinyae – a displaced Zimbabwean in South Africa. Modern chick-lit from an author named one of South Africa’s ‘Phenomenal Women’.

Can Danny and his father outsmart the villainous Mr. Hazell? Danny has a life any boy would love—his home is a gypsy caravan, he's the youngest master car mechanic around, and his best friend is his dad, who never runs out of wonderful stories to tell. But one night Danny discovers a shocking secret that his father has kept hidden for years. Soon Danny finds himself the mastermind behind the most incredible plot ever attempted against nasty Victor Hazell, a wealthy landowner with a bad attitude. Can they pull it off? If so, Danny will truly be the champion of the world.