"Keahey's exploration of this misunderstood island offers a much-needed look at a much-maligned land."—Paul Paolicelli, author of Under the Southern SunSicily is the Mediterranean's largest and most mysterious island. Its people, for three thousand years under the thumb of one invader after another, hold tightly onto a culture so unique that they remain emotionally and culturally distinct, viewing themselves first as Sicilians, not Italians. Many of these islanders, carryin...

NATIONAL BESTSELLERA travel narrative following three ancient roads and looking at more than two thousand years of history of Ancient Rome through the modern eye.In 66 b.c., young, ambitious Julius Caesar, seeking recognition and authority, became the curator of the Via Appia, a road stretching from Rome to Brindisi. To gain popularity with Roman citizens along the way, he borrowed significant sums to restore the ancient highway. He eventual...

"A wondrously joyous account of travel as it should be." – Publishers WeeklyA travel narrative that focuses on Sicily's little-known regions, from the author of Seeking Sicily and Hidden Tuscany.From Palermo to Castiglione di Sicilia to Alimena, Sicily holds great secrets from the past and unspoken promises. Tradition, in the form of festivals, the written word, photographs, and song, reverberates through village wa...

In Hidden Tuscany, acclaimed author John Keahey takes the reader into a part of Tuscany beyond the usual tourist destinations of Chianti, Florence, and Siena. The often overlooked western portion of Tuscany is rich with history, cuisine, and scenery begging to be explored, and Keahey encourages travelers to abandon itineraries and let the grooves in the road and the curves of the coast guide your journey instead.Follow Keahey as he turns off the autostrada and take...

In the winter of 1897-1898, Victorian writer George Gissing made a well-chronicled journey throughout southern Italy. The result was a book, By the Ionian Sea, in which he detailed the influence of ancient Greece on the peninsula and contrasted the glory of Greece and its magnificent cities to the southern Italy of the late 1800s. The book was published in 1901 and has since become a classic in travel literature.A hundred years later, award-winning newspaper journalist John...

"A wondrously joyous account of travel as it should be." – Publishers WeeklyA travel narrative that focuses on Sicily's little-known regions, from the author of Seeking Sicily and Hidden Tuscany.From Palermo to Castiglione di Sicilia to Alimena, Sicily holds great secrets from the past and unspoken promises. Tradition, in the form of festivals, the written word, photographs, and song, reverberates through village wa...

In 66 BC, young, ambitious Julius Caesar, seeking recognition and authority, became the curator of the Via Appia. He borrowed significant sums to restore the ancient highway. It was a way to curry favor from Roman citizens in villages along the route, built from Rome to Brindisi between 312-191 BC. After achieving greatness in Rome and the far reaches of Gaul, he led armies along this road to battle enemies in Roman civil wars. And then, across the Adriatic Sea, he joined Via Appia's siste...

From Palermo to Castiglione di Sicilia to Alimena, Sicily holds great secrets from the past and unspoken promises. Tradition, in the form of festivals, the written word, photographs, and song, reverberates through village walls. Now, slowly shaking itself free of the Mafia, Sicily is opening itself up to visitors in ways it never has before.Sicilian Splendors explores the history, politics, food, Mafia, and people which John Keahey encounters throughout his travels during ...

The riveting history of a beautiful queen, a shocking murder, a papal trial -- and a reign as triumphant as any in the Middle Ages.On March 15, 1348, twenty-two-year-old Joanna I, Queen of Naples, stood trial for the murder of her husband before the Pope and his court in Avignon. Determined to defend herself, Joanna won her acquittal against overwhelming odds. Victorious, she returned to Naples and ruled over one of Europe's most prestigious courts for the next thr...

A young New Yorker grieving his mother's death is pulled into a gritty underworld of art and wealth in this “extraordinary” and beloved novel that "connects with the heart as well as the mind" (Stephen King, New York Times Book Review), named a New York Times Best Book of the 21st Century.Theo Decker, a 13-year-old New Yorker, miraculously survives an accident that kills his mother. Abandoned by his father, Theo is taken in by the family of a weal...

Justin Vovks In Destinys Hands is the heartbreaking story of five children of Austrias iconic empress, Maria Theresa, who watched as their royal worlds were ripped apart by tragedy and epic misfortunes. These are the stories of Joseph, whose disastrous reign forced Austria to the brink of civil war; Amalia, the brazen and scandalous duchess who married a boy-prince and died exiled and forgotten; Leopold, Maria Theresas unassuming second son, who was the envy of Europe until his tu...

*NOW A NETFLIX LIMITED SERIES—from producer and director Shawn Levy (Stranger Things) starring Mark Ruffalo, Hugh Laurie, and newcomer Aria Mia Loberti*Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist, the beloved instant New York Times bestseller and New York Times Book Review Top 10 Book about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World ...