Kate Atkinson's earlier novel "Life after life" explored the possibility of infinite chances and the power of choices, following Ursula Todd as she lived through the turbulent events of the last century over and over again. The sequel "A god in ruins" tells the story of the 20th century through Ursula's beloved younger brother Teddy--a would-be poet, heroic pilot, husband, father, and grandfather--as he navigates the perils and progress of a rapidly...

"When U.S. troops occupy Germany, friends Jakob and Emmanuelle are saved from the terrible fate of so many in the camps. With the help of sponsors, they make their way to New York. In order not to be separated, they allow their friendship to blossom into love and marriage, and start a new life on the Lower East Side, working at grueling, poorly paid jobs. Decades later, through talent, faith, fortune, and relentless hard work, Jakob has achieved success...

"In 1946, Eva leaves behind the rubble of Berlin for the streets of New York City, stepping from the fiery aftermath of one war into another, far colder one, where power is more important than principles, and lies are more plentiful than the truth. Eva holds the key to a deadly secret: Project Bluebird -- a horrific experiment of the concentration camps, capable of tipping the balance of world power. Both the Americans and the Soviets want Bluebird,...

In this tale of a Polish family desperately trying to put itself back together after WWII, Silvana and Janusz travel to England where they attempt to put the past behind them. But the secrets they carry pull at the threads of their fragile peace.

Violinist Maddie elopes with Lane Moritomo, the ambitious son of Japanese immigrants, but after Pearl Harbor is bombed, Lane is seen as the enemy and she must sacrifice her Juilliard ambitions when he is interned at a war relocation camp.

"J.D. Salinger, the mysterious author of The Catcher in the Rye, is remembered today as a litigious misanthrope who disowned his daughter. Jerome Charyn's Sergeant Salinger is a young WWII draftee assigned to the Counter Intelligence Corps, a band of secret soldiers who trained with the British. A rifleman and an interrogator, he witnessed all the horrors of the war--from the landing on D-Day to the relentless hand-to-hand combat in the hedgerows...

"It's January 1941, and the Blitz is devastating England. Food supplies are low, Tube stations in London have become bomb shelters, and U-boats have hampered any hope of easy victory. Though the United States maintains its isolationist position, Churchill knows that England is finished without the aid of its powerful ally. Harry Hopkins, President Roosevelt's most trusted adviser, is sent to London as his emissary, and there he falls under the spell...

"December 1959: A furious anticolonial war rages in Algeria. Captain Jacques le Garrec, a former detective and French Resistance hero, returns to France in disgrace. Traumatized after two years of working in the army intelligence services, he's now accused of a brutal crime. As le Garrec awaits trial in the tiny Breton town where he grew up, he is asked to look into a disturbing and unsolved murder committed the previous winter. A local teenage girl...

"The English-language debut of celebrated Israeli novelist Yishai Sarid is a fierce and harrowing tale of reckoning with the horror of the Holocaust, and how memory and the effort to preserve it can become an all-consuming monster. The narrator of Yishai Sarid's powerful novel is a young, initially reluctant Holocaust scholar working at Yad Vashem, Israel's memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. A diligent historian, he soon becomes a leading expert...

Beowulf: In the age of heroes comes the mightiest warrior of them all, Beowulf. After destroying the overpowering demon Grendel, he incurs the undying wrath of the beast's ruthlessly seductive mother, who will use any means possible to ensure revenge. The ensuing epic battle resonates throughout the ages. The lovely bones: When 14-year-old Susie Salmon was murdered, she left her unfinished life behind. Now from her place in a strange but beautiful...