The Ransom

In his first novel in more than a decade, award-winning author David Malouf reimagines the pivotal narrative of Homer’s Iliad—one of the most famous passages in all of literature. This is the story of the relationship between two grieving men at war: fierce Achilles, who has lost his beloved Patroclus in the siege of Troy; and woeful Priam, whose son Hector killed Patroclus and was in turn savaged by Achilles. A moving tale of suffering, sorrow, and redemption, Ransom is incandescent in its delicate and powerful lyricism and its unstated imperative that we imagine our lives in the glow of fellow feeling.

Edgar Award finalist: When the strange new bus driver passes the last stop, the five teens on board know something’s wrong: “[A] gripping thriller.” —Publishers Weekly Valley Gardens is the last stop on the bus route after school. The neighborhood is known for its wealthy families, perhaps the richest in town. Marianne, Bruce, Glenn, Dexter, and Jesse live in Valley Gardens, and have no trouble guiding the new bus driver to the last stop of the day—but the strange substitute driver keeps driving. Soon the five teenagers are hostages deep in the mountains. Their kidnappers demand stacks of money from their families, even though most of the students aren’t as well off as the abductors assume. Without hope of raising the ransom money, the five teens must find a way out or face terrifying consequences. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Lois Duncan including rare images and never-before-seen documents from the author’s personal collection.

A Choice Outstanding Academic Title of the Year A Tablet Book of the Year Marking a departure in our understanding of Christian views of the afterlife from 250 to 650 CE, The Ransom of the Soul explores a revolutionary shift in thinking about the fate of the soul that occurred around the time of Rome’s fall. Peter Brown describes how this shift transformed the Church’s institutional relationship to money and set the stage for its domination of medieval society in the West. “[An] extraordinary new book...Prodigiously original—an astonishing performance for a historian who has already been so prolific and influential...Peter Brown’s subtle and incisive tracking of the role of money in Christian attitudes toward the afterlife not only breaks down traditional geographical and chronological boundaries across more than four centuries. It provides wholly new perspectives on Christianity itself, its evolution, and, above all, its discontinuities. It demonstrates why the Middle Ages, when they finally arrived, were so very different from late antiquity.” —G. W. Bowersock, New York Review of Books “Peter Brown’s explorations of the mindsets of late antiquity have been educating us for nearly half a century...Brown shows brilliantly in this book how the future life of Christians beyond the grave was influenced in particular by money. —A. N. Wilson, The Spectator

Deerfield, Massachusetts is one of the most remote, and therefore dangerous, settlements in the English colonies. In 1704 an Indian tribe attacks the town, and Mercy Carter becomes separated from the rest of her family, some of whom do not survive. Mercy and hundreds of other settlers are herded together and ordered by the Indians to start walking. The grueling journey -- three hundred miles north to a Kahnawake Indian village in Canada -- takes more than 40 days. At first Mercy's only hope is that the English government in Boston will send ransom for her and the other white settlers. But days turn into months and Mercy, who has become a Kahnawake daughter, thinks less and less of ransom, of Deerfield, and even of her "English" family. She slowly discovers that the "savages" have traditions and family life that soon become her own, and Mercy begins to wonder: If ransom comes, will she take it?

A powerful story about a mother’s courage in the face of overwhelming odds. Fernanda Barnes’s life was once graced by security, success and stunning wealth. Now, widowed and with a mounting pile of debts, she is trying desperately to shield her three children from the rising panic within her. When a file of press clippings and photos of the Barnes family is found in the desk of a convicted criminal, police detective Ted Lee is sent to protect them. He is a man of unshakable integrity but even he cannot prevent the devastating events that follow. In a gripping race against time, Detective Lee is the only man who can save Fernanda and her children from a terrifying fate . . .

**The first book in a brand new romance series from USA Today bestselling author Rachel Schurig.**Daisy Harris has no reason to suspect that her day will be any different than usual. She'll get through it the way she always does—alone. She won't speak or make eye contact. She'll do her best to go completely unnoticed. That's what life is like for Daisy now—an endless cycle of loneliness and fear. A life lived hiding behind the walls she so faithfully maintains.Then she sees it. A magazine, left behind on a table. A simple picture—just his face. And it changes everything.It's been a year since she's seen Daltrey Ransome. A year since he and his brothers left town to pursue their dreams of rock and roll superstardom. A year since he left Daisy behind—left her to watch as everything she knew crumbled around her. She's been running from Daltrey ever since, desperate to keep her secret.But she can't run anymore. And now that Daltrey has found her—the girl he's loved his entire life, the girl he'd give up everything for—he's determined never to let her go again.

This medieval historical romance from a #1 New York Times bestseller is a “rip-roaring romp, full of humor, romance, sword fights, and crisp dialogue” (The Cedar Rapids Gazette). In the dark days after the death of Richard the Lionheart, lives and lands fell into upheaval at the hands of the power-hungry King John and his violent minions. One victim was innocent Gillian, who was just a child when the cruel and ambitious Baron Alford, determined to recover for the despotic king a jeweled box that slipped through his fingers, slaughtered her father and tore her family apart. A decade later, Gillian once again crosses paths with the nefarious baron, but instead of losing everything like she had as a child, she finds the key to resolving her past. But first the English beauty must enlist handsome Scottish chieftain Brodick Buchanan to help her in her quest. But accepting the rugged Scotman’s protection is complicated by the passion simmering between them. Praise for Julie Garwood: “[Garwood] attracts readers like beautiful heroines attract dashing heroes.” —USA Today “Julie Garwood has become a trusted brand name in romantic fiction.” —People

When an oil tanker is hijacked by a novice band of Somali pirates, It's a near impossible problem to solve in one of the most remote and dangerous places on earth. A team of experts are called in with one job to do, save the lives of the crew. Can this 'A-team' do so? Can they prevent a massive environmental disaster, rescue the ship and its hundred million dollar cargo? There are reputations to be made, or lost... Winner of the AudioBookReviewer.Com 'Reviewers Choice' award and 'Best New Author 2021' Indies Today 5 star recommended! Multiple professional 5 star reviews from Readers Favourite, Prairies Book Review and BookView The Ransom Drop, a true to real life, military suspense thriller, that reveals the secrets behind the resolution of Somali piracy. It's factually correct, fictionally fantastic, and written by the guy who delivered some of the largest ransoms ever paid at sea.

Kidnap for ransom is a lucrative but tricky business. Millions of people live, travel, and work in areas with significant kidnap risks, yet kidnaps of foreign workers, local VIPs, and tourists are surprisingly rare and the vast majority of abductions are peacefully resolved - often for remarkably low ransoms. In fact, the market for hostages is so well ordered that the crime is insurable. This is a puzzle: ransoming a hostage is the world's most precarious trade. What would be the "right" price for your loved one - and can you avoid putting others at risk by paying it? What prevents criminals from maltreating hostages? How do you (safely) pay a ransom? And why would kidnappers release a potential future witness after receiving their money? Kidnap: Inside the Ransom Business uncovers how a group of insurers at Lloyd's of London have solved these thorny problems for their customers. Based on interviews with industry insiders (from both sides), as well as hostage stakeholders, it uncovers an intricate and powerful private governance system ordering transactions between the legal and the criminal economies.

Benny Cooperman is slowly going crazy. It’s winter in Grantham, Ontario, and he has nothing better to do than watch the frost creeping in under his door. Nothing, that is, until blue-eyed, long-legged Muriel Falkirk enters his office because her boyfriend, the notorious Johnny Rosa, has gone missing. It’s been ten years since Johnny pulled off a sensational kidnapping, and he’s served his time. But now he’s skipped parole—or been murdered—and Muriel wants to know where he is. But a lot of other people do, too, most of them interested in the unrecovered half-million-dollar ransom. Benny joins The Ransom Game in this witty and intriguing thriller only to discover that nobody plays by the rules. Book 2 in the Benny Cooperman Mystery series.