Best Selling Books by Michael Hurley

''The new master of menace'' Sunday Times A blizzard a century ago has passed into fable in the Endlands. Trapped by the snow, the residents of the valley found themselves at the mercy of the Devil, who brought death and destruction before being driven back to the moors. Now, the three farming families of the Endlands face a new test. The patriarch of the community, the Gaffer, has died and his grandson, John Pentecost, must decide if he will return and work the land in his grandfather''s stead. He feels the pull of duty, loyalty and tradition: obligations that his pregnant wife, Kat, finds hard to understand as an outsider. And as the celebrations of the Devil''s exile draw near, she realises that there is a darkness in this place which cannot be repelled. BOOK OF THE YEAR IN THE TIMES, SUNDAY TIMES, FT, METRO AND MAIL ON SUNDAY ''A work of goose-flesh eeriness'' The Spectator

"Stirring, romantic, and evocative of the sea''s magic." -Kirkus ReviewsThis sweeping allegorical tale begins with the escape of a Gypsy princess and her young lover from her father''s camp in 1851, recalling the flight of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. The boy steals Prodigal, a sailing ship blessed with unnatural speed, and the lovers escape to sea, leaving the father to grieve for the loss and pine for the return of his child. More than 150 years later on Ocracoke Island we meet Aidan Sharpe, an aging lawyer, as he rises from the sand of a remote beach after a lost weekend. While struggling to rebuild his life in this lonely outpost of the Outer Banks, Aidan is caught up in a two-thousand-year-old mystery that unfolds with the sudden reappearance of Prodigal off the coast, adrift and unmanned. Its discovery will lead Aidan and those close to him into the deep, in a race between time and eternity. "[A]n intriguing, well-plotted, and multilayered novel. The supernatural elements-a religious relic, a gypsy woman out of legend-are thougtfully handled. Hurley writes beautifully, especially when depicting island and nautical life." -Kirkus Reviews

United States of America offers complete coverage of this fascinating country, including sections on history, geography, wildlife, infrastructure and government, and culture. It also includes a detailed fact file, maps and charts, and a traceable flag.

Introduces some of the greatest soccer players from around the world, including Pele, Zinedine Zidane, and David Beckham, who have participated in the World Cup championship.

An atmospheric and unsettling story of the depths of grief found in an ancient farm in northern England—now a major motion picture starring Matt Smith and Morfydd Clark. The worst thing possible has happened. Richard and Juliette Willoughby''s son, Ewan, has died suddenly at the age of five. Starve Acre, their house by the moors, was to be full of life, but is now a haunted place. Convinced Ewan still lives there in some form, Juliette seeks the help of the Beacons, a seemingly benevolent group of occultists. Richard, to try and keep the boy out of his mind, has turned his attention to the field opposite the house, where he patiently digs the barren dirt in search of a legendary oak tree. But as they delve further into their grief, both uncover more than they set out to. Starve Acre is a devastating novel by the author of the prize-winning bestseller The Loney. It is a novel about the way in which grief splits the world in two and how, in searching for hope, we can so easily unearth horror.

Michael Hurley watched his world unravel in the wake of infidelity, divorce and failure. In August 2009, he was short of money, out of a job, and seeking to salvage a life that had foundered. Deeply in need of perspective, he took to the open seas in a 32-foot sailboat, Gypsy Moon. The story of his 2-year outward odyssey, deterred by rough weather and mechanical troubles, combines keen observation, poignant thoughts, and deeper introspection with glorious prose. Once Upon a Gypsy Moon also presents a rare and much-needed point of view on the familiar spiritual-journey narrative. It offers a star-crossed love story wrapped inside a rollicking good sea tale, but it also has something important to say to the reader about relationships, faith and disbelief, life and death, love and marriage, and what really matters.

From the creators of The Haunting Season comes a spellbinding new collection of never-before-seen ghostly tales, authored by twelve of the biggest names in historical and gothic fiction[Bokinfo].

Profiles ten of the world''s most distinctive bridges.

An eerie, suspenseful, gothic debut novel. Winner of the Costa First Novel Award “An amazing piece of fiction.”—Stephen King When Smith was a boy, he and his family went on an Easter pilgrimage with their local parish to the Loney, a bleak stretch of the English coastline, to visit an ancient shrine in search of healing for Smith’s disabled brother. But the locals were none too pleased to welcome them, and the two brothers soon became entangled in a troubling morass of dangerous rituals. For years after, Smith carries the burden of what happened that spring. And when he hears that the body of a young child has been found during a storm at the Loney, he’s forced to finally reckon with his darkest secrets—and the terror they carry with them. “A palpable pall of menace hangs over British author Hurley’s thrilling first novel, narrated by a London boy, “Tonto” Smith, whose affectionate nickname was bestowed by a parish priest who likened himself to the Lone Ranger. Tonto and his family undertake an Easter pilgrimage to the Moorings, a house overlooking a treacherous swath of tide-swept Cumbrian coast known as the Loney. Smith’s devoutly Catholic mother hopes that taking the waters at the nearby shrine will cure his older brother, Hanny, of his lifelong muteness. But the Cumbrian landscape seems anything but godly: nature frequently manifests in its rawest state and the secretive locals seem beholden to primitive rites and traditions that mock the religious piety of the visitors. Adding to the mystery is Coldbarrow, a spit of land turned twice daily by the tides into an island, where a man, a woman, and a pregnant teenage girl have taken refuge in a gloomy house named Thessaly. Hurley (Cages and Other Stories) tantalizes the reader by keeping explanations for what is happening just out of reach, and depicting a natural world beyond understanding. His sensitive portrayal of Tonto and Hanny’s relationship and his insights into religious belief and faith give this eerie tale depth and gravity.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review “Completely terrifying.”—Paula Hawkins “Vibrantly written.” —Entertainment Weekly “Stunning” —Jeff VanderMeer “The masterpiece by which Hurley will enter the Guild of the Gothic”—Guardian “Fans of Shirley Jackson are sure to savor . . . Tight, suspenseful writing makes this masterful novel unsettling in the most compelling way.”—Washington Post

Eight bestselling, award-winning writers return to the time-honoured tradition of the seasonal ghost story in this spellbinding collection of new and original haunted tales. Long before Charles Dickens and Henry James popularized the tradition of supernatural horror, the shadowy nights of winter have been a time for people to gather together by the flicker of candlelight and experience the intoxicating thrill of a spooky tale. Now nine bestselling, award-winning authors—all of them master storytellers of the sinister and the macabre—bring the tradition to vivid life in a spellbinding new collection of original spine-tingling tales. Taking you from the frosty fens of the English countryside, to the snow-covered grounds of a haunted estate, to a bustling London Christmas market, these mesmerizing stories will capture your imagination and serve as your indispensable companion to cold, dark nights. So curl up, light a candle, and fall under the ghostly spell of winters past . . .

Canada offers complete coverage of this fascinating country, including sections on history, geography, wildlife, infrastructure and government, and culture. It also includes a detailed fact file, maps and charts, and a traceable flag.

Wheel Sports shows readers different extreme wheel sports from around the world.

Board Sports shows readers some of the world''s most extreme board sports!

''Barrowbeck casts a real spell - or is it a curse?'' Mail on Sunday ''Thrilling, unsettling, ominous . . . like a knock at the door on a dark evening'' Irish Times ''Impeccable and beautifully drawn . . . Hurley has been rightly lauded in British folk-horror circles'' Big Issue For centuries, the inhabitants of Barrowbeck, a remote valley on the Yorkshire-Lancashire border, have lived uneasily with forces beyond their reckoning. They raise their families, work the land, and do their best to welcome those who come seeking respite. But there is a darkness that runs through the village as persistently as the river. A father fears that his daughter has become possessed by something unholy. A childless couple must make an agonising decision. A widower awaits the return of his wife. A troubled man is haunted by visions of end times. As one generation gives way to the next and ancient land is carved up in the name of progress, darkness gathers. The people of Barrowbeck have forgotten that they are but guests in the valley. Now there is a price to pay. Two thousand years of history is coming to an end. ''Hurley''s achievement is, like American craftsman of the weird H.P. Lovecraft before him, to put humanity in its place'' Northern Soul ''Hurley is the master of contemporary British folk horror'' Dazed **COMING SOON** SALTWASH, the disturbing new novel from Andrew Michael Hurley. Pre-order now!

Discusses the professional history of the sport and the World Cup championship, including soccer''s most famous players and their fans.