Books published by publisher Unabridged Library Edition

Novalee Nation is seventeen, seven months pregnant, and on her way to California with her no-good boyfriend when he abandons her at a shopping mall in Oklahoma. In this contemporary fairy tale with no fairy godmother in sight, Novalee depends on herself to build a new life. Living inside a Wal-Mart at night and on the streets during the day, Novalee patches together a family from the caring people she meets. Capturing each one on Polaroid film, she sees the goodness of each soul and finds a way to help others as they help her.

The Poisonwood Bible is a story told by the wife and four daughters of Nathan Price, a fierce evangelical Baptist who takes his family and mission to the Belgian Congo in 1959. They carry with them all they believe they will need from home, but soon find that all of it - from garden seeds to Scripture - is calamitously transformed on African soil. This tale of one family's tragic undoing and remarkable reconstruction, over the course of three decades in postcolonial Africa, is set against history's most dramatic political parables. The Poisonwood Bible dances between the darkly comic human failings and inspiring poetic justices of our times. In a compelling exploration of religion, conscience, imperialist arrogance, and the many paths to redemption, Barbara Kingsolver has brought forth her most ambitious work ever.

World War II. On the island of Mindanao, the Philippines, a man calling himself "General" Fertig has set himself up as a guerrilla leader to harass the Japanese. Army records show that the only officer named Fertig in the Philippines is a reserve lieutenant colonel of the Corps of Engineers, reported MIA on Luzon. Still, the reports filtering out are interesting, and it's Marine lieutenant Ken McCoy's mission to sneak behind the lines and find out if he's for real. With him is a motley group put together as a compromise between the warring factions of Douglas MacArthur and the OSS chief Bill Donovan. Together, these men will steal into the heart of enemy territory and there, amid firefights and jungle camps, encounter more than they had bargained for. Before they're done, each will undergo a test of his own personal mettle - with results that will surprise even the most hardened of them.

The Last of the Mohicans is a story of romance and adventure on the American frontier. It is a story of love and loyalty, and of America's coming of age. While the French and Indians besiege Fort William Henry, Cora and Alice Munro, daughters of the English commander, are on their way to join him. They are accompanied by Major Duncan Heyward, Alice's fiance, and by the treacherous Indian Magua, who secretly serves the French. Magua plans to betray the party to the Iroquois, and to claim Cora as his squaw, but he is foiled by the scout Hawkeye and his companions, Chingachgook and his son Uncas, who deliver the girls to their father. After the fall of the fort, the girls are given safe passage by the French, but Magua captures them and they become prisoners of the Indians. To rescue Alice and Cora, Hawkeye and Uncas lead the Mohicans against the Hurons, an action filled with unforeseen consequences for all of them.

The sudden and surprising assassination of three American officials in Colombia. Many people in many places, moving off on missions they all mistakenly thought they understood. The future was too fearful for contemplation, and beyond the expected finish lines were things that, once decided, were better left unseen. Tom Clancy's thriller is based on America's war on drugs . . . and the covert - and shocking - U. S. response. "The issues raised are real ones, and a jump ahead of the headlines." The New York Times "Rousing adventure...A crackling good yarn." The Washington Post

Maybe it was a grandparent, or a teacher. Someone older who understood you when you were young and searching, who helped you see the world as a more profound place, and gave you advice to help you make your way through it. For Mitch Albom, that person was Morrie Schwartz, his college professor from nearly twenty years ago. Maybe, like Mitch, you lost track of your mentor as you made your way, and the insights faded, and the world seemed colder. Wouldn't you like to see that person again, ask the bigger questions that still haunt you? Mitch Albom had that second chance. He rediscovered Morrie in the last months of the older man's life. Knowing he was dying, Morrie visited with Mitch in his study every Tuesday, just as they used to back in college. "Tuesdays With Morrie" is a magical chronicle of their time together, through which Mitch shares Morrie's lasting gift to the world.

When we first met "the pariah of the village . . .the son of the drunkard" in "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer", Tom was "under strict orders not to play with him", so he played with him every time he got the chance. Twain took his most outrageous and outcast character (and perhaps the one he loved the most), Huckleberry Finn, from the book and wrote his own Adventures. This giant work, in addition to entertaining boys and girls for generations, has defined the first-person novel in America, and continues to demand study, inspire reverence and stir controversy in our time.

Young Harvey Cheyne is rich, spoiled, prejudiced, and totally lacking in the real experiences of life. When the fifteen-year-old is accidentally washed overboard a great ocean liner headed for Europe, he is picked up by a fisherman and brought aboard the fishing schooner We're Here. Harvey's stories of privilege and wealth mean nothing aboard this hard-working vessel, and the boy receives many lessons in self-reliance, values, and hard-bitten reality - "things every man must know, blind, drunk, or asleep" - in the words of Long Jack. Harvey, Long Jack, Tom Platt, Manuel, and many more great characters come alive in this rich retelling of life aboard the We're Here.

My Ántonia chronicles the life of Ántonia, a Bohemian immigrant woman, as seen through the eyes of Jim, the man unable to forget her. Jim, now a successful New York lawyer, recollects his upbringing on a Nebraska farm. Even after twenty years, Ántonia continues to live a romantic life in his imagination. When he returns to Nebraska, he finds Ántonia has lived a battered life. Although the man to whom she dedicated her life abandons her, she remains strong and full of courage.