%{search_type} search results

The frightening underbelly of Russian or Slav Society - from the brutalised underclass of Tsarist times through to Stalinist era Gulags - in this story has been transposed to our own times. Brought bang up to date in terms of circumstances and atmosphere and with modern attitudes toward personal relationships, the perennial mental conflict of the intellectual forced to descend to lower depths is depicted with immediacy. It imparts the frisson of a life alien to almost all of us in direct, comprehensible, and therefore scarifying, terms. The mental and physical world as delineated by this prize-winning author is recognisable both to devotees of Gorky or Soltzenhitzyn as well as to general readers. It is gritty realism writ large. We see labour camp inmates, nominally at liberty, scrounge for their dollar under the heel of capitalist jackboots, both literal and metaphorical. Their lives are basic. Malevolence is smouldering even when the wenches come. These conditions are relieved by intermittent sparkles of humanity that a trained eye, that of the sensitive lecturer driven to such desperate shifts so as to fund an eye operation for his child, can detect. He has 3000 Roubles to earn, a road to build in the middle of nowhere, and cold, cruelty, hunger, and solitude to combat. He is as fascinated as he is repelled by human nature in the raw. He observes, even as he is unwillingly drawn into, the dangerous flare-ups of relationships with such low types at close quarters. The setting is in a harsh natural environment that the author is a master at describing. Our protagonist does not give in. He draws his cold hell in vivid detail. The pet dog, flayed and then eaten by the worst type of guttersnipe, is a potent image in the context of this novel. Readers do not react casually to The Flayed Dog; it can and it has caused nightmares. Aidan Rankin has written a masterly, extremely readable, introduction to this work placing it in its historical and political context. A high class, accessible, sobering, and powerful read.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

"Following years of catastrophic hurricanes, the Gulf Coast--stretching from the Florida panhandle to the western Louisiana border--has been brought to its knees. The region is so punished and depleted that the government has drawn a new boundary ninety miles north of the coastline. Life below the Line offers no services, no electricity, and no resources, and those who stay behind live by their own rules. Cohen is one who stayed"--Dust jacket flap.
In a hurricane-ravaged Mississippi of the near future, a man who elects to remain behind when most people have fled the area is brutally attacked by two hitchhikers who steal his supplies, a crime that prompts him to pursue justice.

After the death of his father, ten-year-old Moon leaves their forest shelter home and is sent to an Alabama institution, becoming entangled in the outside world he has never known and making good friends, a relentless enemy, and finally a new life.

"Far in Earth's future, in a post-utopian hell-hole, Hanson works ten solid back-breaking hours a day, shoveling endless mountains of coal, within sight of the iridescent wall that separates what's left of humanity from their gods. One day, after a tragedy of his own making, Hanson leaves the city, not knowing what he will do, or how he will survive in the wilderness without work. He finds himself drawn to the wall, to the elusive promise of God. And when the impossible happens, he steps through, into the city beyond. The impossible was only the beginning."--Provided by publisher

A "debut novel that cross cuts between a competitive college swimmer's harrowing days in the Rocky Mountains after a major airline disaster and her recovery supported by the two men who love her--only one of whom knows what really happened in the wilderness"--Amazon.com.
Avery Delacorte, a sophomore on her university's nationally ranked team, struggles under the weight of new expectations but life is otherwise pretty good. That all changes when Avery's red-eye home for Thanksgiving makes a ditch landing in a mountain lake in the Colorado Rockies. She is one of only five survivors, which includes three little boys and her teammate, Colin Shea. Faced with sub-zero temperatures, minimal supplies, and the dangers of a forbidding nowhere, Avery and Colin must rely on each other in ways they never could have imagined.

Deep in the mountains of British Columbia, across an unforgiving landscape, one man's pursuit of a fabled mountain lion leads him into the furthest reaches of himself. As he struggles to confront the wilderness surrounding him--from the baying hounds to the relentless northern snows--he journeys into his own haunted memories: a life of wild horses and ballet, fishing skiffs and blizzards, tropical seas and dolphins. Through wind, snow, and the depths of grief, he asks what price he is willing to exact on a world that ravages what we love, and whether redemption awaits those who learn to forgive

In 1871, nineteen men, women, and children, voyaging on the Arctic explorer USS Polaris found themselves cast adrift on an ice floe as their ship began to founder. Based on one of the most remarkable events in polar history, Afterlands tells the haunting story of this small society of castaways -- a white and a black American, five Germans, a Dane, a Swede, an Englishman, and two Inuit families -- and the harrowing six months they spend marooned in the Arctic, struggling to survive both the harsh elements and one another. As the group splinters into factions along ethnic and national lines, rivalries -- complicated by sexual desire, unrequited love, extreme hunger, and suspicion -- begin to turn violent. Steven Heighton's provocative novel fills in the blanks of the Polaris's documented history and explores the shattering emotional and psychological consequences faced by those who survive.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

"A gripping novel about a survival reality show gone wrong that leaves a group of strangers stranded in the northern wilds"-- Provided by publisher.
Four strangers and six weeks: this is all that separates Mara from one life-changing payday. She was surprised when reality TV producers came knocking at Primal Instinct--the survival school where she teaches rich clients not to die during a night outdoors--and even more shocked to be cast in their new show, Civilization. Now she just has to live off the land with her fellow survivors for long enough to get the prize money. Whisked by helicopter to an undisclosed location, Mara meets her teammates: The grizzled outdoorsman. The Eagle Scout. The white-collar professional. And Ashley, the beautiful but inexperienced one who just wants to be famous. Mara's unusual, rugged childhood has prepared her for the discomforts and hard work ahead. But trusting her fellow survivors? Not part of Mara's skill set. When the cast wakes one morning to find something has gone horribly wrong, fear ripples through the group. Are the producers giving them an extra challenge? Or are they wrapped up in something more dangerous? Soon Mara and the others face terrifying decisions as "survival" becomes more than a game.

"In this high-interest accessible novel for teen readers, trans teen Bass and his girlfriend, Rosie, have to battle the elements to survive."-- Provided by publisher
Shy trans teen Bass reluctantly skips school and goes on a boat trip with his adventurous girlfriend, Rosie. When a sudden storm smashes their boat on the rocky shore of a deserted island, Bass and Rosie struggle to make it to safety. Bruised and battling hypothermia, the pair have to work together to survive. Rosie, an experienced climber, decides to scale a steep cliff to find help, but she falls and injures herself badly. Now Bass has to find the strength and courage to swim for help before it's too late

Lenora Allbright is 13 when her father convinces her mother, Cora, to forgo their inauspicious existence in Seattle and move to Kaneq, AK. It's 1974, and the former Vietnam POW sees a better future away from the noise and nightmares that plague him. Having been left a homestead by a buddy who died in the war, Ernt is secure in his beliefs, but never was a family less prepared for the reality of Alaska, the long, cold winters and isolation. Locals want to help out, especially classmate Matthew Walker, who likes everything about Leni. Yet the harsh conditions bring out the worst in Ernt, whose paranoia takes over their lives and exacerbates what Leni sees as the toxic relationship between her parents. The Allbrights are as green as greenhorns can be, and even first love must endure unimaginable hardship and tragedy as the wilderness tries to claim more victims.

"When the young William Wyeth leaves St. Louis for a fur-trapping expedition, he nearly loses his life and quickly discovers the depth of loyalty among the men who must depend on one another to survive. While convalescing, he falls in love with proud Alene, a young widow who may or may not wait for him. And on a wildly risky expedition into Crow territory, Wyeth finds himself unwittingly at the center of a deadly boundary dispute among Native American tribes, the British government, and American trapping brigades"--Dust jacket flap.

"An instant classic, for fans of Huckleberry Finn, Peace Like a River, and Jim the Boy: when two hardscrabble young boys think they've committed a crime, they flee into the Northwoods of Wisconsin. Will the adults trying to find and protect them reach them before it's too late?"-- Provided by publisher
Summer, 1994, Claypot, Wisconsin. Tired of seeing his best friend, Dale "Bread" Breadwin, bruised and terrorized by his no-good dad, ten-year-old Fischer "Fish" Branson takes action. A gunshot rings out and the two boys flee the scene, believing themselves murderers. They head for the woods, where they find their way onto a raft, but the natural terrors of Ironsforge gorge threaten to overwhelm them. Four adults track them into the forest, each one on a journey of his or her own.-- adapted from jacket

Two years ago, Brian Robeson was stranded alone in the wilderness for fifty-four days with nothing but a small hatchet.... Now the government wants him to do it again....This time, he won't be alone: Derek Holtzer, a government psychologist, will accompany him. But during a freak storm, Derek is hit by lightning and falls into a coma. Their radio transmitter is dead. Brian's only hope is to build a raft and try to transport Derek a hundred miles down the river where there is a trading post -- if the map he has is accurate. -- Publisher's summary.

'The kind of book that keeps you reading past midnight, holding on for dear life. There's a sense of menace on every page. An incredible debut by a brilliant new talent.' Rohan Wilson, author of To Name Those Lost Van Diemen's Land, 1826. When Bridget Crack arrives in the colony, she is just grateful to be on dry land. But finding the life of an indentured domestic servant intolerable, she pushes back and is punished for her insubordination-sent from one place to another, each significantly worse than the last. Too late, she realises the place she has ended up is the worst of all: the 'Interior, ' where the hard cases are sent-a brutally hard life with a cruel master, miles from civilisation. She runs from there and finds herself imprisoned by the impenetrable Tasmanian wilderness. What she finds there-what finds her-is Matt Sheedy, a man on the run, who saves her from certain death. Her precarious existence among volatile and murderous bushrangers is a different kind of hell and, surrounded by roaring rivers and towering columns of rock, hunted by soldiers and at the mercy of killers, Bridget finds herself in an impossible situation. In the face of terrible darkness, what will she have to do to survive? A gripping and moving story of a woman's struggle for survival in a beautiful and brutal landscape, Bridget Crack is a unique and deeply accomplished novel by a rare talent. 'A compelling story and terrifically told. Leary's voice is supremely confident and perfectly balances a fine lyricism with tough, sinewy sentences that hit hard and true.' Lenny Bartulin, author of Infamy.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)