Michelle Richmond

THE NEW RICHARD & JUDY BOOK CLUB THRILLER AND SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER. THE PERFECT HEART-STOPPING THRILLER . . . First comes love. Then comes marriage. Then comes your first big mistake. How far are you willing to go for the perfect relationship? Newlyweds Jake and Alice are offered a mysterious wedding gift - membership of a club which promises its couples will never divorce. Signing The Pact seems the start to a perfect marriage. Until one of them breaks the rules. The marriage of their dreams is about to become their worst nightmare. Because The Pact is for life. And its members will do anything to make sure no one leaves . . . 'A pacey page-turner of a novel' Richard & Judy Book Club 'A brilliant premise . . . tautly plotted and deftly written' J P Delaney 'Ranks with Gone Girl' Joseph Finder 'Beware. This will keep you up all night' Lisa Gardner 'You won't be able to turn the pages fast enough' Paula Daly

The bestselling thriller for fans of THE COUPLE NEXT DOOR

The Marriage Pact

Photographer Abby Mason's life is changed forever by the disappearance of the young girl with whom she had been walking on a cold and foggy beach, her desperate search for the truth behind the child's vanishing, and her unwavering faith in the redemptive power of love. By the author of Dream of the Blue Room. 40,000 first printing.

A Novel

The Year of Fog

A widowed FBI agent grows suspicious of her son’s new school in this thriller by the New York Times bestselling author of The Marriage Pact. Lina is on leave from her job in New York at the FBI in order to clean out her father’s home in Silicon Valley. As though letting go of her father isn’t hard enough, Lina has also recently lost her husband in a freak traffic accident. Still reeling, she and her teenage son Rory must make their way through this strange new town and the high school around which it all seems to revolve. Rory soon starts coming home with reports of the upcoming “Wonder Test,” a general aptitude assessment that appears increasingly inane, and Lina is shaken out of her grief by a sense that something is amiss in Hillsborough. When she discovers that a student disappeared last year and was found weeks later walking on a beach, shaved and traumatized, Lina can’t help but be sucked into an impromptu investigation. Another kidnapping hits closer to home and reveals a sinister link between the Wonder Test and the rampant wealth of Silicon Valley’s elite. A searing view of a culture that puts the wellbeing of children at risk for advancement and prestige, and a captivating story of the lengths a mother will go for her son, this is The Wonder Test. Praise for The Marriage Pact “A fun, can’t-stop-eating-the-potato-chips kind of premise.” —The New York Times “A smart, searing and frightening look at modern love.” —Today “A high-concept, fast-moving thriller . . . a gripping and intriguing read.” —Sunday Mirror

The Wonder Test

Alice and Jake are the perfect couple - sort of. On the day of their wedding, a stranger offers them the chance to join a mysterious group, known as The Pact. With its promise of a lifelong marriage of happiness, Jake and Alice are persuaded to accept. But then one of them breaks the rules. Alice and Jake are about to discover that, like marriage, The Pact is for life. The members will go to any lengths to ensure nobody leaves - until the marriage of their dreams becomes their worst nightmare. Under The Pact, 'Till death us do part' has a whole new meaning . . .

Twenty years after the unsolved murder of her sister Lila, Ellie's chance meeting with the man accused of the crime leads to the discovery of Lila's secret notebook, filled with mathematical equations that lead to other enigmas in her sister's life.

No One You Know

The Marriage Pact: A Novel

I ze cie nie opuszcze

Mark Salzman

Siobhan Dowd

Ron Carlson

Lin Enger

R. Clifton Spargo

Susan Burmeister-Brown

Brian Ames

Kurt Rheinheimer

Linda Swanson-Davies

Karenmary Penn

Matthew Doherty

Gu Linna

Glimmer Train Stories, #41

Pakten

Sometimes the hardest part about being a writer is committing the first words to paper. This workbook, created by a New York Times bestselling novelist and veteran writing teacher, will banish writer's block, spark your imagination, and provide endless opportunities to make stories out of thin air. Arranged in a daily progression to help you get the most out of your writing practice, the 50 exercises in this workbook are the result of more than a decade of teaching. Craft-based exercises, free-flow exercises, and ten-minute prompts lead up to a series of imaginative flash fiction assignments. A Halfway There Self-Assessment helps your recognize your strengths and identify your subject. Whether you want to punch up your dialogue, explore dramatic tension, mine your life for material, find your voice, or craft a story for publication, this workbook will help you meet your writing goals. Including roomy pages for writing and inspiring quotes on the writing life, Story Starters: A Workbook for Writers, is the perfect companion for Nanowrimo and beyond.

Story Starters: A Workbook for Writers

Heartbreaking, uplifting, and beautifully told, this riveting story relates how life can change in an instant and how one woman's faith in the redemptive power of love is strengthened.

O pacto

The state of California votes on secession in the wake of a divisive presidential election in this gripping, prescient novel of marriage, family, and the profound moments that shape our lives. Doctor Julie Walker has just signed her divorce papers when she receives news that her younger sister, Heather, has gone into labor. Though theirs is a strained relationship, Julie sets out for the hospital to be at her sister’s side—no easy task since the streets of San Francisco are filled with tension and strife. Today is also the day that Julie will find herself at the epicenter of a violent standoff in which she is forced to examine both the promising and the painful parts of her past—her Southern childhood; her romance with her husband, Tom; her estrangement from Heather; and the shattering incident that led to her greatest heartbreak. Infused with emotional depth and poignancy, Golden State takes readers on a journey over the course of a single, unforgettable day—through an extraordinary landscape of love, loss, and hope. Praise for Golden State “A stirring look at the ties that bind husband-wife, mother-child and even sisters, and what happens when they’re torn asunder. Set in a San Francisco chafing with unrest both political and personal, the world Richmond creates is exquisitely charged with regret and hope.”—Family Circle “[A] riveting read that can be recommended to fans of Jodi Picoult and Jacquelyn Mitchard . . . Mesmerizing and intricate, Richmond’s dissection of a California on the violent brink of secession from the nation provides the backdrop to her deeper inspection of the uneasy, fragile relationship between siblings.”—Booklist (starred review) “[An] amazing, turbulent novel woven of disparate threads . . . Nearly every feature of this mesmerizing novel is provocative, as Richmond explores the fragmented, hopeful lives of complex characters. This is gripping, multilayered must-read fiction.”—Library Journal (starred review) “An exciting premise . . . skillfully written . . . Julie’s past and her relationship with the other characters are scrutinized as the clock ticks. It’s an interesting and sometimes-disturbing study.”—Kirkus Reviews “Richmond takes readers through a bittersweet, heartwarming tale of a woman on the cusp of life-changing events in both her personal and professional lives. . . . Once invested, the reader is carried away by this action-packed, poignant story, making this a tale that will live in the heart of the reader once the last page is read.”—RT Book Reviews “This is a thoughtful book about how past circumstances change us into the people we are today, for the good or bad. Julie is a sympathetic and relatable character, and readers will definitely feel for her as she goes through her life-changing day.”—The Parkersburg News and Sentinel “Richmond . . . delivers a page-turner.”—San Jose Mercury News “A breathtaking read and one I’ll not soon forget.”—Melanie Benjamin, author of The Aviator’s Wife Look for special features inside. Join the Random House Reader’s Circle for author chats and more.

Golden State

Life changes in an instant. On a foggy beach. In the seconds when Abby Mason—photographer, fiancée soon-to-be-stepmother—looks into her camera and commits her greatest error. Heartbreaking, uplifting, and beautifully told, here is the riveting tale of a family torn apart, of the search for the truth behind a child’s disappearance, and of one woman’s unwavering faith in the redemptive power of love—all made startlingly fresh through Michelle Richmond’s incandescent sensitivity and extraordinary insight. Six-year-old Emma vanished into the thick San Francisco fog. Or into the heaving Pacific. Or somewhere just beyond: to a parking lot, a stranger’s van, or a road with traffic flashing by. Devastated by guilt, haunted by her fears about becoming a stepmother, Abby refuses to believe that Emma is dead. And so she searches for clues about what happened that morning—and cannot stop the flood of memories reaching from her own childhood to illuminate that irreversible moment on the beach. Now, as the days drag into weeks, as the police lose interest and fliers fade on telephone poles, Emma’s father finds solace in religion and scientific probability—but Abby can only wander the beaches and city streets, attempting to recover the past and the little girl she lost. With her life at a crossroads, she will leave San Francisco for a country thousands of miles away. And there, by the side of another sea, on a journey that has led her to another man and into a strange subculture of wanderers and surfers, Abby will make the most astounding discovery of all—as the truth of Emma’s disappearance unravels with stunning force. A profoundly original novel of family, loss, and hope—of the choices we make and the choices made for us—The Year of Fog beguiles with the mysteries of time and memory even as it lays bare the deep and wondrous workings of the human heart. The result is a mesmerizing tour de force that will touch anyone who knows what it means to love a child. BONUS: This edition includes an excerpt from Michelle Richmond's Golden State.

New York Times bestselling author Michelle Richmond introduces a tough and spirited new protagonist, FBI Agent Lina Connerly, in this exhilarating race to save Silicon Valley teens from their own parents' ambition and greed. Escaping New York City and the espionage case that made her question everything, recently widowed FBI Agent Lina Connerly returns home to sell the house she has inherited in tony Greenfield, California. With her teenage son Rory, Lina hopes to reassemble her life, reevaluate her career, and find a clear way forward. Adrift and battling insomnia, she discovers that her father's sleepy hometown has been transformed into a Silicon Valley suburb on steroids, obsessed with an annual exam called The Wonder Test. When students at her son's high school go missing, reappearing under mysterious circumstances on abandoned beaches, Lina must summon her strength and her investigative instincts, pushing her own ethical boundaries to the limits in order to solve the crimes. Meanwhile, an old espionage case called Red Vine keeps calling her back into the fold. While Lina struggles to balance her new role as a single mother and the complex counterintelligence puzzles she is so adept at solving, Greenfield's shadowy dangers creep closer to her own home. A searing view of a culture that puts the well-being of children at risk for advancement and prestige, and a captivating story of the lengths a mother will go for her son.

Novomanželé Alice a Jake. Dokonalý pár, před kterým se rozkládají nekonečné možnosti a šance. Snad i proto dostali od přátel jako svatební dar členství v exkluzivním a poněkud záhadném spolku nazvaném jednoduše Pakt. Cíl Paktu je velmi jednoduchý: učinit vše pro to, aby manželské svazky všech členů zůstaly pevné a šťastné. Prostředky k dosažení tohoto cíle se také zdají být velmi rozumné: Vždy zvedni telefon, když ti volá partner či partnerka. Každý měsíc si navzájem dejte dárek. Každé tři měsíce si někam společně vyjeďte... A nikdy nikomu neříkejte o Paktu. Alice a Jake jsou zpočátku okouzleni skvělými večírky, nebývalou pospolitostí a rozšiřujícím se okruhem přátel. Pak se ale objeví první pochyby a zanedlouho už oba tuší, že uvízli v pasti. Pakt se svými praktikami podobá sektě – členství je podle jeho představitelů nezrušitelné, stejně jako manželství. Jake a Alice nyní už vědí, že to, co jim mělo pomoci udržet manželství snů, se pozvolna stává největší noční můrou jejich života.

Manželský pakt

A new collection of stories by bestselling author Michelle Richmond, Hum presents a cautionary political fable, a celebration of the complexities of marriage, and a meditation on modern-day alienation. Thirteen years after the publication of her first story collection, The Girl in the Fall-Away Dress, New York Times bestselling author Michelle Richmond returns with Hum, a collection of ten stories that examine love, lust, and loyalty from surprising angles. In “Hum,” a young couple that is paid to live in a house filled with surveillance equipment becomes “quietly lost to each other,” as the wife’s infatuation with the subject of their surveillance turns to obsession. In “Medicine,” a woman grieving over the death of her sister finds her calling as a manual medical caregiver. In “Boulevard,” a couple who has been trying to have a child for seven years finds themselves in an unnamed country at the height of a revolution, summoned there by the enigmatic H. “Scales,” the story of a woman who falls in love with a man whose body is covered with scales, parses the intersection of pain and pleasure. The narrator of “Lake” must choose whether to walk in the footsteps of her famous grandfather, The Great Amphibian, who disappeared while performing a feat of daring in Lake Michigan. What does it mean to be heroic? How much should one sacrifice in the name of love? These questions and more are explored with tenderness, wit, and unerring precision in Hum.

Michelle Richmond

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