Vaclav and Lena seem destined for each other. They meet as children in an ESL class in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. Vaclav is precocious and verbal. Lena, struggling with English, takes comfort in the safety of his adoration, his noisy, loving home, and the care of Rasia, his big-hearted mother. Vaclav imagines their story unfolding like a fairy tale, or the perfect illusion from his treasured Magician's Almanac, but among the many truths to be discovered...

"Margaret Atwood has established herself as a beloved cultural icon and one of the most visionary and canonical authors of her generation. In this collection comprised of fifteen extraordinary stories-some of which have appeared in The New Yorker and The New York Times Magazine-Atwood speaks to our times with her characteristic wit and intellect. Of special significance are the seven works revolving around the long-term married couple Tig and Nell....

Arden Moore enjoyed an affluent life thanks to her husband's job. But after his death, she is a grieving single mother in debt with her three children. Then a call from an estate lawyer in New York offers a glimmer of hope. It is the beginning of a legal journey that could mean the difference between a life of poverty and wealth thanks to her father, a deceased billionaire.

"Seventeen-year-old Aysel's hobby--planning her own death--take a new path when she meets a boy who has similar plan of his own"-- Provided by publisher.

Out of nowhere, like a fresh breeze in a marketplace crowded with advice on what to believe, comes the author and what she calls "The Work". In the midst of a normal life, she became increasingly depressed, and over a ten-year period sank further into rage, despair, and thoughts of suicide. Then one morning, she woke up in a state of absolute joy, filled with the realization of how her own suffering had ended. The freedom of that realization has...

"Rory Ramos is a dutiful teenager with a love of photography who works as a ranch hand at the stable her stepfather manages in Topanga Canyon, a dry, dusty place reliant on horses and hierarchies. There she rides for the rich clientele, including twins June and Wade Fisk. June begins to take an interest in Rory-but she is more drawn to Vivian Price, the beautiful teenager with the movie-star father, who lives down the hill and, Rory can't help noticing,...

To Julie Metz, her mother, Eve, was the quintessential New Yorker. It was difficult to imagine her living anywhere else except the Upper West Side of Manhattan. In truth, Eve had endured a harrowing childhood in Nazi-occupied Vienna, though she rarely spoke about it. Yet after her passing, Julie discovered a keepsake box filled with farewell notes from friends and relatives addressed to a ten-year-old girl named Eva, her mother. This was the first...