Character-driven, introspective Books

Boy is an autobiographical book by British writer Roald Dahl. This book describes his life from birth until leaving school, focusing on living conditions in Britain in the 1920s and 1930s, the public school system at the time, and how his childhood experiences led him to writing as a career. It ends with his first job, working for Royal Dutch Shell. His autobiography continues in the book Going Solo. An expanded edition titled More About Boy was published in 2008, featuring the full original text and illustrations with additional stories, letters, and photographs. It presents humorous anecdotes from the author's childhood which includes summer vacations in Norway and an English boarding school.

There's a serial killer on the loose, bent on working his way though the alphabet. There seems little chance of the murderer being caught - until her makes the crucial and vain mistake of challenging Hercule Poirot to frustrate his plans . . .

When you read this book, you will make many assumptions. You will assume you are reading about a jealous wife. You will assume she is obsessed with her replacement - a woman who is about to enter a new marriage with the man she loves. You will assume you know the anatomy of the relationships. Assume nothing. Read between the lies. Twisted and deliciously chilling, The Wife Between Us deftly explores the hidden complexities of marriage and the dangerous truths we ignore in the name of love. The divorce has just become final, and Richard is already engaged to someone. One woman is determined to change that situation-- no matter what it takes. Soon a tangle of lies binds her life with those of Richard and his new fiancée. A tangle of lies-- that hide some dangerous truths.

In this novella from the world of Erin Hunter's #1 nationally bestselling Warriors series, discover the sinister past of one of the most treacherous cats in the Dark Forest. Long before she troubled the dreams of Crookedstar or Tigerclaw, Mapleshade was a warrior of ThunderClan. But then the Clans cast her out as a traitor—and she vowed to seek her revenge...

Metamorphosis (German: Die Verwandlung) is a novella written by Franz Kafka which was first published in 1915. One of Kafka's best-known works, Metamorphosis tells the story of salesman Gregor Samsa, who wakes one morning to find himself inexplicably transformed into a huge insect (German: ungeheueres Ungeziefer, lit. "monstrous vermin") and subsequently struggles to adjust to this new condition. The novella has been widely discussed among literary critics, with differing interpretations being offered. In popular culture and adaptations of the novella, the insect is commonly depicted as a cockroach. With a length of about 70 printed pages over three chapters, it is the longest of the stories Kafka considered complete and published during his lifetime. The text was first published in 1915 in the October issue of the journal Die weißen Blätter under the editorship of René Schickele. The first edition in book form appeared in December 1915 in the series Der jüngste Tag, edited by Kurt Wolff.

The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794) is the archetypal Gothic novel. A young woman, Emily St. Aubert, suffers the death of her father, followed by worsening physical and psychological death, mirrored in a landscape of crumbling castles and emotive Alps.

Who could imagine that a woman would kill her husband with a frozen leg of lamb--and then feed it to the police investigating the murder? Or that a greedy group of art dealers would stop at nothing to separate a poor man form a valuable picture--that's tattooed on his back? These thirteen tales will keep readers spellbound from the opening lines until the surprise-twist endings that are always immensely satisfying. Roald Dahl is one of the few authors ever to be so hugely successful as an author for both children and adults. He was a master of the adult short story, and his popular anthologies showcase his skill as a sleight-of-hand artist. The stories in this new collection have been specially selected as Ain introduction for teenagers to the adult writings of one of the greatest storytellers ever. --front flap Contains: [Skin](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL20504460W/Skin) [Lamb to the Slaughter](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL20504418W/Lamb_to_the_Slaughter) [Sound Machine](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL8318678W/The_Sound_Machine) [An African Story](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL20504280W/An_African_Story) [Galloping Foxley](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL20504444W/Galloping_Foxley) [Wish](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL20504494W/The_Wish) The surgeon -- [Dip in the Pool](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL20504442W/Dip_in_the_Pool) [Champion of the World](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL20504277W/Champion_of_the_World) Beware of the dog -- [My Lady Love, My Dove](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL20504441W/My_Lady_Love_My_Dove)

"Only two can keep a secret if one of them is dead. David and Adele seem like the ideal pair. He's a successful psychiatrist, she is his picture-perfect wife who adores him. But why is he so controlling? And why is she keeping things hidden? As Louise, David's new secretary, is drawn into their orbit, she uncovers more puzzling questions than answers. The only thing that is crystal clear is that something in this marriage is very, very wrong. But Louise can't guess how wrong--and how far a person might go to protect their marriage's secrets. "-- "Destined to the the blockbuster book of 2017, Behind Her Eyes is a psychological thriller with a to-die-for twist for fans of Luckiest Girl Alive and Stephen King"--

A IS FOR AVENGER. A tough-talking former cop, private investigator Kinsey Millhone has set up a modest detective agency in a quiet corner of Santa Teresa, California. She's a twice-divorced loner with few personal possessions and fewer personal attachments but with a soft spot for underdogs and lost causes. A IS FOR ACCUSED. That's why she draws desperate clients like Nikki Fife. Eight years ago, she was convicted of killing her philandering husband. Now she's out on parole and needs Kinsey's help to find the real killer. But after all this time, clearing Nikki's bad name won't be easy. A IS FOR ALIBI. If there's one thing that makes Kinsey Millhone feel alive, it's playing on the edge. When her investigation turns up a second corpse, more suspects, and a new reason to kill, Kinsey discovers that the edge is closer--and sharper--than she imagined.

Nancy Harmon had fled the evil of her first marriage, the macabre deaths of her two little children, the hideous charges against her. She changed her name and moved across the country. Now she was married again, had two more lovely children, and her life was filled with happiness.... until the morning when she looked for her children and found only one tattered red mitten and knew that the nightmare was beginning again...

A few weeks after marrying an attractive young widow, Gordon Cloade is tragically killed by a bomb blast in the London blitz. Overnight, the former Mrs. Underhay finds herself in sole possession of the Cloade family fortune. Shortly afterwards, Hercule Poirot receives a visit from the dead man's sister-in-law who claims she has been warned by 'spirits' that Mrs. Underhay's first husband is still alive. Poirot has his suspicions when he is asked to find a missing person guided only by the spirit world. Yet what mystifies Poirot most is the woman's true motive for approaching him...

Notes on Grief is an exquisite work of meditation, remembrance, and hope, written in the wake of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's beloved father's death in the summer of 2020. As the COVID-19 pandemic raged around the world, and kept Adichie and her family members separated from one another, her father succumbed unexpectedly to complications of kidney failure. Expanding on her original New Yorker piece, Adichie shares how this loss shook her to her core. She writes about being one of the millions of people grieving this year; about the familial and cultural dimensions of grief and also about the loneliness and anger that are unavoidable in it. With signature precision of language, and glittering, devastating detail on the page--and never without touches of rich, honest humor--Adichie weaves together her own experience of her father's death with threads of his life story, from his remarkable survival during the Biafran war, through a long career as a statistics professor, into the days of the pandemic in which he'd stay connected with his children and grandchildren over video chat from the family home in Abba, Nigeria. In the compact format of We Should All Be Feminists and Dear Ijeawele, Adichie delivers a gem of a book--a book that fundamentally connects us to one another as it probes one of the most universal human experiences. Notes on Grief is a book for this moment--a work readers will treasure and share now more than ever--and yet will prove durable and timeless, an indispensable addition to Adichie's canon.

Here is a novel, glamorous, ironical, compassionate – a marvelous fusion into unity of the curious incongruities of the life of the period – which reveals a hero like no other – one who could live at no other time and in no other place. But he will live as a character, we surmise, as long as the memory of any reader lasts. "There was something gorgeous about him, some heightened sensitivity to the promises of life.... It was an extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness such as I have never found in any other person and which it is not likely I shall ever find again." It is the story of this Jay Gatsby who came so mysteriously to West Egg, of his sumptuous entertainments, and of his love for Daisy Buchanan – a story that ranges from pure lyrical beauty to sheer brutal realism, and is infused with a sense of the strangeness of human circumstance in a heedless universe. It is a magical, living book, blended of irony, romance, and mysticism. --first edition jacket ---------- Also contained in: - [The Fitzgerald Reader](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL468551W/The_Fitzgerald_Reader) - [Three Novels of F. Scott Fitzgerald ](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL468557W)

Tells story of a young boy and his life on his father's ranch. Ownership of a red pony teaches ten-year-old Jody about life and death.

With these words, the reader is ushered into an isolated gray stone mansion on the windswept Cornish coast, as the second Mrs. Maxim de Winter recalls the chilling events that transpired as she began her new life as the young bride of a husband she barely knew. For in every corner of every room were phantoms of a time dead but not forgotten—a past devotedly preserved by the sinister housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers: a suite immaculate and untouched, clothing laid out and ready to be worn, but not by any of the great house's current occupants. With an eerie presentiment of evil tightening her heart, the second Mrs. de Winter walked in the shadow of her mysterious predecessor, determined to uncover the darkest secrets and shattering truths about Maxim's first wife—the late and hauntingly beautiful Rebecca.

Beverly Danziger looked like an expensive, carefully wrapped package from a good but conservative shop. Only her compulsive chatter hinted at the nervousness beneath her cool surface. It was a nervousness out of all proportion to the problem she placed before Kinsey Millhone. Still business was slow, and even a private investigator has bills to pay. Millhone took the job. It looked routine. Elaine Boldt's wrappings were a good deal flashier than her sister's, but they signaled the same thing: The lady had money. According to the manager of her California building, the wealthy widow was last seen draped in her $12,000 lynx coat heading for Boca Raton. According to the manager of her Florida building, she never got there. But someone else had, and she was camping out illegally in Mrs. Boldt's apartment. The job was beginning to seem a bit less routine. It turned tricky when Beverly Danziger ordered Millhone to drop the case, and it took on an ominous quality when Aubrey Danziger surfaced, making all kinds of wild accusations about his wife. But it only became sinister when Millhone learned that just days before Elaine Boldt went missing, her next-door neighbor and bridge partner had been murdered, and the killer was still at large. As Millhone digs deeper into the case, she finds herself in a nightmarish hall of mirrors in which reality is distorted by illusion and nothing--except danger--is quite what it seems.

Uncle Vanya is one of Anton Checkov's four major plays. It was first performed in 1900, the year after its publication, under direction by the celebrated Konstantin Stanislavski. The text reworks an earlier play by Checkov, The Wood Demon. Critics have attempted to follow Checkov's method and artistic development by tracking the changes he made to the earlier text. The cast of Uncle Vanya is significantly pared back and the ending left less happily resolved.

The dentist was found with a blackened hole below his right temple. A pistol lay on the floor near his outflung right hand. Later, one of his patients was found dead from a lethal dose of local anaesthetic. A clear case of murder and suicide. But why would a dentist commit a crime in the middle of a busy day of appointments? A shoe buckle holds the key to the mystery. Now – in the words of the rhyme – can Poirot pick up the sticks and lay them straight?

You have no family, no home and no prospect of marrying. That might be true, but Venetia Forbes didn't see her situation as any reason to accept Professor Duert ter Laan-Luitinga's prosaic proposal! But after tasting champagne for the first time in her life, Venetia was astounded to hear herself saying yes. My ward needs an example of a contented, harmonious marriage. Without love Venetia was convinced their marriage might be anything but harmonious by the time young Anneta went to her aunt in America! And what would happen to their marriage then?

The true story of the last known survivor of the Atlantic slave trade, illegally smuggled from Africa on the last "black cargo" ship to arrive in the United States.

On the night before Christmas, cruel, tyrannical, filthy rich Simeon Lee is found in his locked bedroom with his throat cut. Now Hercule Poirot must put his deductive powers to the test to solve one of his most chilling cases - and to prevent a clever killer from spilling more blood. Also published as Hercule Poirot's Christmas and Murder for Christmas

*"My name is Kinsey Millhone. I'm a private investigator... Female, single and self-employed, with a constitutional inability to work for anyone else. I'm a purist when it comes to justice, but I'll lie at the drop of a hat. Inconsistency has never troubled me..."* It was late October, the day before Halloween. He introduced himself as Alvin Limardo. The job he hired Kinsey to do seemed easy enough... until his cheque bounced. His real name was Dagett. John Dagett. Ex-con. Inveterate liar. Chronic drunk. And dead. The cops called it an accident – death by drowning. Kinsey wasn't so sure. The man, it seemed, had a lot of enemies...

*Starred Review* Readers who haven’t discovered Louise Penny and her Armand Gamache series yet are in for a treat. In the latest entry, Chief Inspector Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec has traveled to the luxurious and remote Manoir Bellechasse with his wife, Reine-Marie. Each year they return to the manor to celebrate their wedding anniversary on July 1, Canada Day. This year they are fellow guests with the Finney family. Two of the members of that family are old friends Peter and Clara Morrow from the village of Three Pines on the Rivière Bella Bella, where the first three books in this series took place. Not only are we treated to Penny’s usual rich characterizations, but the atmospheric and beautiful language will make you want to take your next vacation at the manoir. Of course, a crime does occur, and Gamache ends up on a busman’s holiday. One of the eccentric Finney family members dies in a very grotesque manner, and Gamache calls in his team to help solve the mystery. First, Armand has to figure out why the victim was killed, and, in fact, it wouldn’t hurt to determine how the deed was done. Suspects abound, naturally, and Gamache sorts through them with aplomb.

I cannot believe I am standing in the exact spot where I was standing when I killed my mother...When she was ten Liza Barton shot her mother dead, trying to protect her from her violent stepfather. The court ruled the death a tragic accident. Many believed it to be deliberate murder. Twenty-four years later, Liza is known as Celia. Now a successful interior designer, living in Manhattan, she is happily married for the second time, with a young son, Jack, by her first marriage. Nothing can disturb their peace. But when her new husband surprises her with a gift, her world is suddenly shattered - for it is the very same house where her mother met her death. It soon becomes clear that someone in the community knows Celia's true identity. And when the estate agent who sold the house is brutally murdered, Celia instantly becomes a suspect. As Celia fights to prove her innocence, she has no idea that she and Jack could be the next targets of a ruthless killer.

A Clan's future lies in a promise from the past. Graystripe served ThunderClan for many moons before retiring to the elders' den, and was Firestar's most trusted friend and deputy. He promised Firestar that he would never abandon his home. But as new tensions strain ThunderClan, Graystripe will need to call on all of his long history, leaving ThunderClan behind in hopes of finding an answer that might save it. ---------- **Books in this arc** 1. [Firestar's Quest][1] 2. [Bluestar's Prophecy][2] 3. [SkyClan's Destiny][3] 4. [Crookedstar's Promise][4] 5. [Yellowfang's Secret][5] 6. [Tallstar's Revenge][6] 7. [Bramblestar's Storm][7] 8. [Moth Flight's Vision][8] 9. [Hawkwing's Journey][9] 10. [Tigerheart's Shadow][10] 11. [Crowfeather's Trial][11] 12. [Squirrelflight's Hope][12] 13. Graystripe's Vow 14. [Leopardstar's Honor][14] [1]: https://openlibrary.org/works/OL5714316W/ [2]: https://openlibrary.org/works/OL5714268W/ [3]: https://openlibrary.org/works/OL14906956W/ [4]: https://openlibrary.org/works/OL20395912W/ [5]: https://openlibrary.org/works/OL16694520W/ [6]: https://openlibrary.org/works/OL17787860W/ [7]: https://openlibrary.org/works/OL17306942W/ [8]: https://openlibrary.org/works/OL20248227W/ [9]: https://openlibrary.org/works/OL20039241W/ [10]: https://openlibrary.org/works/OL19652737W/ [11]: https://openlibrary.org/works/OL19749509W/ [12]: https://openlibrary.org/works/OL20658579W/ [13]: https://openlibrary.org/works/OL20658580W/ [14]: https://openlibrary.org/works/OL24320842W/ ---------- **Arcs in this series** 1. [The Prophecies Begin][a] 2. [The New Prophecy][b] 3. [The Power of Three][c] 4. [Omen of the Stars][d] 5. [Dawn of the Clans][e] 6. [A Vision of Shadows][f] 7. [The Broken Code][g] 8. [A Starless Clan][h] S. Super Editions [a]: https://openlibrary.org/books/OL9228970M/INTO [b]: https://openlibrary.org/books/OL9235572M/Midnight_(Warriors_The_New_Prophecy_Book_1) [c]: https://openlibrary.org/books/OL7283723M/The_Sight_(Warriors_Power_of_Three_Book_1) [d]: https://openlibrary.org/books/OL24084711M/Warriors_Omen_of_the_Stars_1 [e]: https://openlibrary.org/books/OL25995097M/Dawn_of_the_Clans [f]: https://openlibrary.org/books/OL26884472M/The_apprentice's_quest [g]: https://openlibrary.org/books/OL27958224M/Warriors_The_Broken_Code_1 [h]: https://openlibrary.org/books/OL32444897M/River/ [s]: https://openlibrary.org/books/OL7288445M/Firestar's_Quest

The very-respectable Colonel and Mrs Bantry have awakened to discover the body of a young woman in their library. She is wearing evening dress and heavy make-up, which is now smeared across her cold cheeks. But who is she? How did she get there? And what is her connection with another dead girl, whose charred remains are later discovered in an abandoned quarry? The Bantrys turn to Miss Marple to solve the mystery.