December 6th, 2024
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December's delights are here! Thrilling tales, romance, and magic await you.

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Family secrets aren't just dangerous, they are deadly.


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A headstrong heiress and a noble gambler: wagers, intrigue, and irresistible romance.


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An immortal vampire, a relentless agent, and a past that refuses to stay buried.


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A PI protecting a determined daughter, a killer ready to strike again.


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Three homeless puppies, two lonely hearts, and a massive snowstorm.


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Two restless souls, one wild Christmas on the ranch�where sparks fly, and dreams ride free.


On Beauty by Zadie Smith

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Also by Zadie Smith:

The Fraud, September 2023
Hardcover / e-Book
Grand Union, October 2019
Trade Size / e-Book
Nw, September 2012
Hardcover / e-Book
Changing My Mind, November 2009
Hardcover
On Beauty, August 2006
Paperback (reprint)
On Beauty, September 2005
Hardcover
The Autograph Man, June 2003
Paperback (reprint)
White Teeth, June 2001
Paperback (reprint)

On Beauty
Zadie Smith

Penguin
August 2006
On Sale: August 15, 2006
464 pages
ISBN: 0143037749
EAN: 9780143037743
Paperback (reprint)
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Contemporary

Howard Belsey, a Rembrandt scholar who doesn't like Rembrandt, is an Englishman abroad and a long-suffering professor at Wellington, a liberal New England arts college. He has been married for thirty years to Kiki, an American woman who no longer resembles the sexy activist she once was. Their three children passionately pursue their own paths: Levi quests after authentic blackness, Zora believes that intellectuals can redeem everybody, and Jerome struggles to be a believer in a family of strict atheists. Faced with the oppressive enthusiasms of his children, Howard feels that the first two acts of his life are over and he has no clear plans for the finale. Or the encore.

Then Jerome, Howard's older son, falls for Victoria, the stunning daughter of the right-wing icon Monty Kipps, and the two families find themselves thrown together in a beautiful corner of America, enacting a cultural and personal war against the background of real wars that they barely register. An infidelity, a death, and a legacy set in motion a chain of events that sees all parties forced to examine the unarticulated assumptions which underpin their lives. How do you choose the work on which to spend your life? Why do you love the people you love? Do you really believe what you claim to? And what is the beautiful thing, and how far will you go to get it?

Set on both sides of the Atlantic, Zadie Smith's third novel is a brilliant analysis of family life, the institution of marriage, intersections of the personal and political, and an honest look at people's deceptions. It is also, as you might expect, very funny indeed.

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