In this riveting and richly drawn novel from "one of the master storytellers of historical fiction" (New York Times bestselling author Beatriz Williams), a talented young artist flees New York for the South of France after one of her scandalous drawings reveals a dark secret--and triggers a terribly tragedy.In the wake of the Great War, the glamour of 1925 Manhattan shines like a beacon for high society, desperate to keep their gaze firmly fixed to the future. But Delphine Duplessi sees more than most. At a time in her career when she could easily be unknown and penniless, she has gained notoriety for her stunning shadow portraits that frequently expose her subjects' most scandalous secrets. Then, on a snowy night in a penthouse high above Fifth Avenue, Delphine's mystical talent leads to a tragedy between two brothers. Devastated and disconsolate, Delphine renounces her gift and returns to her old life in the South of France where Picasso, Matisse, and the Fitzgeralds are living. There, Delphine is thrust into recapturing the past. First by her charismatic twin brother and business manager, Sebastian, who attempts to cajole her back into work and into codependence, then by the world famous opera singer Emma Calv , who is obsessed with the writings of the fourteenth-century alchemist Nicolas Flamel. And finally by her ex-lover Mathieu, who is determined to lure her back into his arms, unaware of the danger that led Delphine to flee him five years before. Trapped in an ancient chateau where hidden knowledge lurks in the shadows, Delphine questions everything and everyone she loves the most--her art, her magick, her family, and Mathieu--in an effort to see them as the gifts they are. Only there can she shed her fear of loving and living with her eyes open.
*Includes pictures depicting important people, places, and events. *Includes ancient accounts about the two sites and their destruction. *Includes a bibliography for further reading. In the modern world, libraries are taken for granted by most people, perhaps because their presence is ubiquitous. Every school has a library, large libraries can be found in every major city, and even most small towns have public libraries. However, the omnipresent nature of libraries is a fairly recent historical phenomenon, because libraries were still few and far between before the 19th century. For centuries in the Western world, during what is known as the Middle Ages, written knowledge was guarded closely and hidden away in private repositories, usually by the religious classes, and hidden away in private repositories. The lack of libraries in the West helped contribute to the popular imagination of the ancient Library at Alexandria, and all the myths and legends that have come to be associated with it, but the Library of Alexandria deserves its reputation. While the exact nature of the Library remains murky, it functioned for at least several centuries and is believed to have housed hundreds of thousands of books, most written as scrolls on papyrus, and it essentially became the culmination of two ancient literary and cultural traditions converging: the Greek and Egyptian. Of course, the most controversial aspect of the Library of Alexandria is its destruction, which is still a topic of debate today. Over 2,000 years ago, two ancient writers named Antipater of Sidon and Philo of Byzantium authored antiquity's most well known tour guides. After the two Greeks had traveled around the Mediterranean, they wrote of what they considered to be the classical world's greatest construction projects. While there is still some question as to who actually authored the text attributed to Philo and when it was authored, their lists ended up comprising the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, igniting interest in the ones they chose and inspiring subsequent generations to identify their own era's Seven Wonders. The youngest of the Wonders also turned out to be the most practical and one of the longest-lived, surviving into the late Middle Ages. It was a lighthouse built on the northern coast of Egypt in Africa, at the Greek city founded in Alexander's name. It was the Pharos, the Great Lighthouse of Alexandria. Among antiquity's wonders, the Lighthouse of Alexandria was fairly unique both in terms of its purpose and its secular nature. While pyramids and statues served religious purposes in Egypt and Greece, and others were impressive works of art, the origins of the Lighthouse were not even as a lighthouse at all. Instead, the large formation on the island of Pharos in the harbor of Alexandria was originally meant to help sailors identify the location of the city during the day, and some speculate it was not until later that Alexandrians decided to make it a true lighthouse that would serve sailors at night. While there is still debate over its height, the Lighthouse of Alexandria was unquestionably one of the tallest man-made structures in the world at the time, if not the tallest. While ancient accounts often exaggerated its height, medieval Arab sources often claimed it was somewhere around 300-350 feet tall, with an incredibly wide base, and those sources wrote at a time where it had already required repairs due to earthquake damage. Efforts to repair it kept going until the 14th century, when the damage was so extensive that it was mostly left in ruins, the last of which were taken for other building projects and/or slipped underneath the Mediterranean. Fortunately, due to descriptions of the lighthouse and archaeological remains, modern scholars are able to understand this wonder better than most, and there may even be future attempts to build a replica and bring it back to life.
Archaeologist Dr. Nina Gould swears she is making a new start away from the toils of the past few years and decides to purchase an old house in her former hometown of Oban, Scottland. But little does she know that the house comes with an unsavory history, one that is a bit too close to comfort; especially when an old university friend looks her up and introduces her to a mysterious and odd American lecturer with a family history connected to her house.When Sam Cleave assists the agents of MI6 to gather intelligence on a corrupt Dutch financier, he finds out that the embezzler is in fact a member of the council, the veteran society managing the Order of the Black Sun. With his investigation of the man, Jaap Roodt, Sam finds out that Nina's life is in danger. She stands in the way of the completion of the Longinus, a fierce and deadly biological weapon set to destroy the world and facilitate the Nazi ritual to bring back the Old Gods by means of the manipulation of advanced physics. Sam needs to find her before the council's assassins do.To obtain the arcane information needed to complete the Longinus, the Black Sun sends Dave Purdue to retrieve it from a place that might or might not even exist-The Library of Forbidden Books. While looking for the deadly codes he needs to collect, Purdue is reunited with Sam and Nina, who are fleeing from the assassins of the council while accompanied by Nina's old university friend and the strange American lecturer.But when they all team up to find the knowledge held in the legendary library, they realize that not all of them have the same intentions for the information contained therein. Which of them have nefarious agendas? And which of them are honestly trying to avert the release of the dreaded biological agent?It is a question that can only be answered within The Library of Forbidden Books ...A word from the author: Hello and thank you for your interest in my book. It has come to my attention that some people have been mistaking my books for those written by the famous author duo Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. This is not the case. I wish to clarify that I am not, by any means, related to Douglas Preston or Lincoln Child, Lee Child or any other author called Preston Child. I hope this clears up the confusion. The Library of Forbidden Books leads the reader on a roller-coaster ride in search of a legend. Packed with breathtaking suspense and nerve-shredding action, The Library of Forbidden Books is a thrilling read for all fans of action, suspense, and intrigue.
When its librarian keeper mysteriously dies, two former classmates must race to locate a rare book from their college years that can foretell your future if you confess a secret from your past--but someone is intent on protecting what's hidden inside.It can write the story of your future... and hide the secrets of your pastThe Library of Fates was designed to show you who you are--and who you could become. Its rarest book, The Book of Dark Nights, holds a secret: when you write an intimate confession on its pages, you'll receive a prediction for your future, penned in your own handwriting.For Eleanor, whose childhood was defined by a senseless tragedy, the library offers a world where everything makes sense. She's spent most of her life there as an apprentice to the brilliant librarian, showing other people how to find the meaning of their lives in stories.But when her mentor dies in a freak accident and The Book of Dark Nights goes missing--along with the secrets written inside--Eleanor is pulled out of the library and into a quest to locate it with the last person she expects: the librarian's estranged son, Daniel, who Eleanor once loved.Together, as they hunt down clues from Harvard to Paris, Eleanor and Daniel grow closer again, regaining each other's trust. But little do they know that they're entangled in a much larger web. Someone else wants the book, and they'll go to dark lengths to get it...
'A magnificent book that sings of the romance and mystery that only old maps possess' EDWARD BROOKE-HITCHING'Astonishingly fresh and insightful ... A triumph' ALICE ROBERTSThe remarkable story of an overlooked map archive that reveals how maps have helped inspire some of the greatest scientific discoveries, but also led to terrible atrocities.At the heart of University College London, nestled in the centre of Bloomsbury, lies a long-forgotten map library packed with thousands of maps and atlases. After Professor James Cheshire stumbled upon it, he spent three years sifting through hundreds of dusty drawers to see what was there. He was stunned to uncover some of the most significant maps and atlases from the last two centuries - many of which had not seen the light of day for decades.In The Library of Lost Maps we discover atlases for the masses that expanded nineteenth-century horizons and maps that were wielded by those in power to wage war and negotiate peace; charts that trace the icy peaks of the Himalayas and the deepest depths of the ocean; and pioneering maps produced to settle borders in central Europe or the wealth of those in inner-city London. Maps have played a vital role in shaping our scientific knowledge of the world, showing the impact of climate change and inspiring the theory of plate tectonics. They have also guided politicians, encouraging both beneficial reforms and horrific conquests, the consequences of which we continue to live with today.Beautifully illustrated throughout and brimming with astonishing discoveries, The Library of Lost Maps reveals why cartography really matters and how map-making has helped transform our understanding of the world around us.
