Valerie Martin

"In 1872 the American merchant vessel Mary Celeste was discovered adrift off the coast of Spain. Her cargo was intact and there was no sign of struggle, but the crew was gone. They were never found. This maritime mystery lies at the center of an intricate narrative branching through the highest levels of late-nineteenth-century literary society. While on a voyage to Africa, a rather hard-up and unproven young writer named Arthur Conan Doyle hears...

When aspiring actor Edward Day is saved from drowning by Guy Margate, he becomes torn between his indebtness to his rescuer and his attraction to Madeleine, who is also desired by Guy.

Tuckered out from a journey across the Wild West, cat brothers Anton and Cecil are ready to head east for home-until a minor stop to change trains in Chicago turns into a major escapade. The brothers are recruited by a police bloodhound to help solve a case: puppies are disappearing right off their leashes! Anton and Cecil's search takes them deep into the heart of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, where they befriend exotic animals, ride the newly invented...

A swashbuckling story of two very different cat brothers and their adventures at sea.
Anton and Cecil are as different as port and starboard. Cecil, stocky and black with white patches, thirsts for seafaring adventure. Slim, gray Anton prefers listening to the sailors’ shanties at the town saloon. One day when Anton goes to the harbor, he’s taken as a ratter on a ship bound for the high seas. Cecil boards another ship in

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From the Publisher: In this multi-award-winning, bestselling novel, Margaret Atwood has created a stunning Orwellian vision of the near future. This is the story of Offred, one of the unfortunate "Handmaids" under the new social order who have only one purpose: to breed. In Gilead, where women are prohibited from holding jobs, reading, and forming friendships, Offred's persistent memories of life in the "time before" and her will to survive are acts...

Tuckered out from a journey across the Wild West, cat brothers Anton and Cecil are ready to head east for home--until a minor stop to change trains in Chicago turns into a major adventure. A bloodhound detective recruits the brothers to help solve a case: puppies are disappearing right off their leashes! Anton and Cecil's search takes them deep into the heart of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, where they befriend exotic animals, ride the newly...

Claire Messud joins Valerie Martin to discuss her book, The Emperor's Children. Hope Davis reads an excerpt from the book.