The periodic table of the elements is a crowning scientific achievement, but it's also a treasure trove of passion, adventure, obsession, and betrayal. These tales follow carbon, neon, silicon, gold, and all the elements in the table as they play out their parts in human history. The usual suspects are here, like Marie Curie (and her radioactive journey to the discovery of polonium and radium) and William Shockley (who is credited, not exactly justly,...

During the French Revolution a young English lawyer goes to the guillotine to save a French aristocrat, husband of the woman he loves. "It was the best of times; it was the worst of times ..." With these famous words, Charles Dickens plunges the reader into the French Revolution. From the storming of the Bastille to the relentless drop of the guillotine, Dickens vividly captures the terror and upheaval of that tumultuous period. At the center is the...

Two high school seniors believe their love to be so strong that it will last forever.

The Greek goddess Aphrodite recounts two tales of tragic love during WWI to her husband, Hephaestus, and her lover, Ares, in a luxe Manhattan hotel room at the height of World War II. She seeks to answer the age-old question: "Why are Love and War eternally drawn to one another?" but her quest for a conclusion that will satisfy her jealous husband uncovers a multi-threaded tale of prejudice, trauma, and music revealing that War is no match for the...

"Set against the backdrop of 1920s post-World War I Europe, this iconic novel takes you on a journey through the lives of a group of expatriates as they grapple with the complexities of love, friendship, and the search for meaning in a world forever changed. Join the charismatic and enigmatic Jake Barnes, a war veteran grappling with a life-altering injury, as he navigates the bohemian nightlife of Paris and the exhilarating bullfighting culture of...

An American learns the true value of life while fighting with a guerrilla band during the Spanish Civil War. In 1937 Ernest Hemingway traveled to Spain to cover the civil war there for the North American Newspaper Alliance. Three years later he completed the greatest novel to emerge from "the good fight," For Whom the Bell Tolls. The story of Robert Jordan, a young American in the International Brigades attached to an antifascist guerilla unit in...

A Russian epic, "Doctor Zhivago" traces the life of surgeon-poet Yuri Zhivago before and during the Russian Revolution. Married to an upper-class girl who is devoted to him, yet in love with an unfortunate woman who becomes his muse, Zhivago is torn between fidelity and passion.

"A swashbuckling epic of chivalry, honor, and derring-do, it is set in France during the 1620s and richly populated with romantic heroes, unattainable heroines, kings, queens, cavaliers, and criminals in a whirl of adventure, espionage, conspiracy, murder, vengeance, love, scandal, and suspense. Dumas transforms major and minor historical figures into larger-than-life characters: the brave d'Artagnan, an impetuous young man in pursuit of glory; the...

Secrets are revealed as OCD-afflicted Griffin grieves for his first love, Theo, who died in a drowning accident. Even though Theo had moved to California for college and started seeing Jackson, Griffin never doubted Theo would come back to him when the time was right. But when Theo dies in a drowning accident, the future he's been imagining for himself is gone. To make things worse, the only person who truly understands his heartache is Jackson....

"Her name is Dinah. In the Bible, her life is only hinted at in a brief and violent detour within the more familiar chapters of the Book of Genesis. In The Red Tent, Anita Diamant brings this fascinating biblical character to vivid life. Told in Dinah's voice, the novel reveals the traditions and turmoils of ancient womanhood--the world of the red tent. It begins with the story of Dinah's mothers--Leah, Rachel, Zilpah, and Bilhah--the four wives of...