A Peculiar Curiosity

Intrigue, danger, chess, and a real-life hoax combine in this historical novel from the author of *The Shakespeare Stealer* Philadelphia, PA, 1835. Rufus, a twelve-year-old chess prodigy, is recruited by a shady showman named Maelzel to secretly operate a mechanical chess player called the Tu

**One stolen prophecy, four sexy princes to protect her.** As if being sent to a magical world she has no knowledge of wasn't bad enough for Litha, she finds out that her parents have gone into hiding and that all the documents about her prophecy have been stolen. The four princes, Bane, Kit, Rune

An epic about three friends on a quest to protect the world from a threat as unknowable as it is terrifying. Jonathan Lambshead stands to inherit his deceased grandfather’s overstuffed mansion—a veritable cabinet of curiosities—once he and two schoolmates catalog its contents. But the three soon

**Joyce Carol Oates, Ann Beattie, Diane Ackerman, and more explore the double-edged sword of curiosity . . .** Curiosity is as central to life as breathing. And like breath itself, when it ceases, the vibrancy of life fades and disappears. Curiosity leads to discoveries both beneficent and, at ti