Buy from our bookstore and 25% of the cover price will be given to a school of your choice to buy more books. *15% of eBooks.
Audiobooks Narrated by Julia Fletcher
Browse audiobooks narrated by Julia Fletcher, listen to samples and when you're ready head over to Audiobooks.com where you can get 3 FREE audiobooks on us
Set fifteen years after the seismic events of Brilliance of the Moon, The Harsh Cry of the Heron is an elegiac and bittersweet successor to the bestselling series by Lian Hearn, Tales of the Otori.
Their realm is held in balance by their union . . . Break that union and the Three Countries will fall apart.
Otori Takeo and Kaede have ruled the Three Countries peacefully for over sixteen years, following the events laid out in the epic Tales of the Otori. They have three daughters: Shigeko, fifteen years old and heir to the Otori, and Maya and Miki, thirteen-year-old twins who have inherited the supernatural skills of their father. Kaede knows nothing of the prophecy that Takeo will die at the hands of his son and longs to give him a male child. Nor does she know of the boy he fathered sixteen years ago - a boy whose heart is filled with hatred and whose skills as a Ghostmaster give him the power to incite the dead.
Takeo is determined that clan conflicts will never again ravage the Three Countries, but warriors are born to fight: the warlord Arai Zenko has deadly ambitions, the Emperor himself has challenged Takeo's rule and, despite a delicate truce between the deadly Tribe and the Otori, revenge still eats at the heart of renegade leader Kikuta Akio . . .
Against these gathering threats Takeo draws strength from his love for Kaede, but even this is not beyond the reach of their enemies . . .
'A beautifully realized setting, action and romance played out across a couple of generations, a high-class voyage to the long ago and far away - Lian Hearn has written a saga that will continue to give pleasure to many.' - Ursula K. Le Guin
The Middle Country, home of the Otori clan is ruled by a benign but weak leader while in the East, the warrior-like Tohan are gathering power. On the plain of Yaegahara the clans clash in a bloody battle that leaves Otori Shigeru desperate for vengeance. Meanwhile, in a remote mountain village, a boy is born gifted with the supernatural skills of his father, once the deadliest assassin of the Tribe.
Set in the years before the beginning of Across the Nightingale Floor, Heaven's Net is Wide by Lian Hearn is the first and last Tale, which both closes the circle and introduces new readers to the fantastical, beautiful and thrilling world of the Otori. It is an epic story of betrayal, revenge, magic and love.
The spirits dance like fire in the sky. . . .
The three cubs'Kallik, Toklo, and Lusa'along with their shape-shifting companion, Ujurak, stand on the edge of the sea-ice under the blazing Northern Lights. The land has come to an end, but the bears' journey is far from over. Now they must put their trust in Kallik's paws, as she feels the ice pulling her out toward the ocean.
Life on the ice is more difficult than the bears imagined. While Kallik struggles to remember her polar bear roots, Toklo bristles in the unfamiliar territory and Lusa gets weaker by the day; black and brown bears don't belong on the ice. Meanwhile, Ujurak learns firsthand what lurks beneath the whorls and bubbles of the ice, and what he discovers will change everything.
Just when it seems like they'll never survive in the frozen wilderness, a mystical encounter with a bear spirit assures them that all will be well. But this strange vision leads to even more questions, and ultimately it might tear the bears apart'this time for good'as the next steps of their journey come into focus.
On the unforgiving Arctic Ice . . .
United once again, Toklo, Lusa, Kallik, and Ujurak continue across the ice. Conditions are harsh and especially treacherous for the black bear and grizzly bears who are not used to the brutal cold, never-ending snow, and limited food. But the bears are certain now that they're on the right course, and with the stars still guiding them, they push forward.
When they reach land at last, the group is overjoyed, but something is not right. The bears who live here are ill. What's wrong with them? What can the foursome do to help? Is aiding these strangers the ultimate goal of their quest? Ujurak just might hold the key to their mission in his paws, yet it's Lusa the new bears are especially interested in.
Three young cubs, each from different backgrounds, and their mysterious shape-shifting companion have grown up together in their long and dangerous journey to save the wild. Now, when their task appears more difficult than ever, the bears must make a critical decision . . . and for one bear the path ends here.
Is this journey's end . . .or just the beginning?
Toklo, Kallik, Lusa, and Ujurak have finally reached the Last Great Wilderness, the legendary bear paradise they've been searching for. But while his companions think they've come to the end of their long journey, Ujurak feels a deep unrest. Is this truly where they're meant to be?
In the Last Great Wilderness, one by one the bears begin to remember their true natures. Toklo feels the urge to hunt caribou and mark his territory as a brown bear should, and Kallik feels the pull of the ice within her. It's only Lusa, happy just to be in the wild, who fears the day when her friends will leave her to follow their own paths.
As the bears adjust to this new life, disaster strikes. The friends are forced to venture into the world of the flat-faces to save the life of one of their own. Once there, the end of their journey seems farther away than ever, as a new path spreads out before them.
The Last Great Wilderness . . .
There is a place where bears can live in peace, where there is sea-ice all year, where the forests are full of prey, where flat-faces never go. Polar bears Kallik and Taqqiq, black bear Lusa, grizzly Toklo, and the shape-shifting Ujurak believe that this fabled bear paradise must be the destination of their quest. But the path they follow is dangerous.
The burning Smoke Mountains are more treacherous than anything the bears have faced before, and tensions run high as they encounter obstacle after obstacle. A rushing river and hostile flat-faces separate them from their goal, and a bear is pushed to the brink of death. Signs and omens point in different directions, and the bears, though traveling together, must each follow his or her own star . . . causing one bear to leave the group forever.
But as the others travel on, they soon learn that it will take all their strength and determination to reach their destination. And, if they reach it at last, they may learn that what they thought was their quest's end is in fact a new beginning. . . .
Destiny has brought them together. . . .
Young black bear Lusa has left the comfort of the zoo, determined against all odds to make her way in the wild. It is there that she encounters grizzly cub Toklo and a mysterious changeling named Ujurak. Once united, the cubs find themselves on a journey toward a mystical place-if only they knew where.
Meanwhile, separated from her family, polar bear cub Kallik trusts her intuition to lead her on a path traveled by many bears before her. At last the four cubs meet at the sacred Great Bear Lake, a place of peace and healing where bears gather to cele-brate the longest day.
But all is not harmonious. Danger lurks beneath the calm surface of the lake, and only if they put aside their differences and truly come together will the young bears have any chance of surviving the harsh realities of the wild.
*From the Hardcover edition
Three bears . . . one destiny
From the author of the nationally bestselling Warriors books comes a brand-new animal fantasy series. Three young bears from different species black, polar, and grizzly are separated from their families when they are just young cubs. They find themselves brought together on a perilous journey. Fate is about to change all these bears lives forever, setting their paws on a path toward a future they cannot yet imagine . . .
The prequel to the beloved "Otori" tales both completes and introduces the series while standing firmly on its own, recounting a mythical, medieval world of ninjas and samurais.
As Tolkien's "The Silmarillion" is to "The Lord of the Rings," Lian Hearn's "Heaven's Net Is Wide" is the backstory fans have been yearning for.
Set before the "Tales of the Otori" begins, "Heaven's Net" recounts the life of Lord Otori Shigeru, the series' spiritual warrior-godfather and adoptive father of the "Tales'" Takeo. We learn about Shigeru's training in the ways of the warrior and feudal lord; his relationship with the Tribe of mysteriously powerful assassins; his fateful meeting with Lady Maruyama, who would become his secret lover; the battle of Yaegahara, where his father is killed; and other turning points that shaped the "Tales," The first four volumes gave us only glimpses. Now we are treated to rich detail and more of Hearn's fantastical Japanese world.
Gripping and bewitching, "Heaven's Net" is a new beginning and a grand finale; a story of monumental battles, supreme loyalty, triumphant love, and heartbreak. It ends just before "Across the Nightingale Floor" begins, bringing the "Otori" epic full circle.
The surprise fourth installment, the epic conclusion of Lian Hearn's beloved, bestselling Tales of the Otori.
The Harsh Cry of the Heron: The Last Tale of the Otori is a truly epic novel. It is the rich and satisfying conclusion to the Tales of the Otori series that both completes the characters' lives-prophesied and otherwise-and brilliantly illuminates unexpected aspects of the entire Otori saga. The Harsh Cry of the Heron is the only fitting end to such a stirring series: a book that takes the storytelling achievement of Lian Hearn's fantastic medieval Japanese world to startling new heights of drama and action.
Hearn's Otori series is the best (and only) literary expression of a cultural phenomenon that has swept through cinema (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), comics (manga), and popular culture at large. And, with this book, Hearn delivers in full ninja vs. samurai fashion the kinetic, simultaneously heartbreaking and uplifting resolution that the Otori's hundreds of thousands of fans richly deserve-whose epic satisfaction will surely draw even more readers into the fold.
When a young girl is murdered, the only witness is a severely autistic boy. This acclaimed novel plumbs two mysteries: an appalling crime and the inscrutable workings of a locked-in mind.
Two children wander off from their school playground during recess. Hours later, they are found in the woods: one murdered, the other hiding near the body. Adam, the survivor and the only witness, is a nine-year-old autistic boy who cannot describe what he saw or heard.
Barely verbal on the best of days, Adam has retreated into a silence that Cara, his mother, knows only too well. As a single mother, she has devoted her life to opening paths of communication between her son and the outside world. Now she must interpret the changes in Adam's behavior‐not only to help him through the trauma of his experience, but also to help the police catch a killer.
A powerful story of the emotional bond between mother and son, and a thrilling novel of psychological suspense, this is a fascinating journey into the mind of an autistic child.
What's so funny about the weddings, nannies, overscheduled children, sex (or the lack thereof), the cult of the "domestic goddess" and its manias for home decorating and gourmet cooking, and the endless tension between working moms and stay-at-home moms? Caitlin Flanagan knows, and she offers it up in a fresh, witheringly funny take on women's lives today.
Part social history, part social commentary, part personal account of the author's own relationship with her mother and her children, To Hell With All That is about the things that interest Flanagan the most: women and children, households and marriages. Presented as a series of essays, it follows the natural course of women's lives. Without offering a prescription for happiness, it defines where Flanagan wants to be: in a world where a woman is depended on, and considered irreplaceable, by people who love her.
