The Moon and Sixpence (1919) is a novel by W. Somerset Maugham. Inspired by the life of French painter Paul Gauguin, Maugham set out to capture, the disconnect between an artist's desire, to create and their obligations to their loved ones and society. Praised for its multifaceted portrayal of tortured genius and wasted talent, The Moon and Sixpence explores the distance between expectation and desire in a man whose decisions, however, hastily made,...

"Hi my name is Rowley Jefferson and this is my book. Now I have a dairy just like my friend Greg. I called my book “Diary of an awesome friendly kid” because that’s what my dad always says about me. Even though this book is about me, it has a whole lot of Greg in it because he is my best friend. Sometimes my parents say things that make me think they don’t feel the same way about Greg as I do. Anyway I hope you like my book because I worked...

For readers who can’t get enough of the hit Broadway musical Hamilton,Gore Vidal’s stunning novel about Aaron Burr, the man who killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel—and who served as a successful, if often feared, statesman of our fledgling nation.   
Here is an extraordinary portrait of one of the most complicated—and misunderstood—figures among the Founding Fathers. In 1804, while serving...

Eight linked stories tracing the history of a painting by the 17th century Dutch artist, Vermeer. In one, he paints his daughter to pay off debts, a second story describes the loss of the ownership papers, a third takes place on the eve of its theft by the Nazis. By the author of What Love Sees.

"Maria von Trapp. You know the name and the iconic songs, but do you know her real story? This dramatic novel, based on the woman glamorized in The Sound of Music, brings Maria to life as never before. In the 1950s, Oscar Hammerstein is asked to write the lyrics to a musical based on the life of a woman named Maria von Trapp. He's fascinated to learn about this Catholic novice who was living quietly as an Austrian nun until her abbey sent her away...

In 1920s London, pickpocket Alice Diamond scrambles to survive in her gritty neighborhood. With her father in prison and her brother in debt to a crime syndicate, she struggles to protect her father's territory. Recruited by Mary Carr, Alice joins a female gang, the Forty Elephants, and tastes success. But it's not long before she wants more--no matter the cost.

Marie Antoinette was a child of fourteen when her mother, the Empress of Austria, arranged for her to leave her family and her country to become the wife of the fifteen-year-old Dauphin, the future King of France. Coming of age in the most public of arenas-eager to be a good wife and strong queen-she warmly embraces her adopted nation and its citizens. She shows her new husband nothing but love and encouragement, though he repeatedly fails to consummate...

During the Prohibition Rum Wars, which created a booming smuggling economy, two women masterminds Elizebeth Friedman, the inventor of cryptanalysis working for the government, and Marie Waite (aka Spanish Marie), on the rise to rumrunner royalty to save her family will go to any lengths to rule the Gulf Coast. "1926, Washington, D. C. In the Prohibition Rum Wars, the Coast Guard is losing. Eleven million gallons of illegal liquor a year have created...

A Brazilian man and a Dutch woman embark on an extraordinary journey of self-discovery as they travel by bus from Amsterdam to Kathmandu against a backdrop of the protests and sexual-liberation experiments of the 1960s. Drawing on the rich experience of his own life, best-selling author Paulo Coelho takes us back in time to relive the dreams of a generation that longed for peace and dared to challenge the established social order. In Hippie, he tells...

"New York Times bestselling author Daisy Goodwin returns with a story of the scandalous love affair between the most celebrated opera singer of all time and one of the richest men in the world. In the glittering and ruthlessly competitive world of opera, Maria Callas was known simply as la divina: the divine one. With her glorious voice, instinctive flair for the dramatic and striking beauty, she was the toast of the grandest opera houses in the world....