When a trading company visits Serendia Academy to deliver materials, Monica goes with Elliott to greet them, but a small mistake in the company emblem tips her off to the fact that these men are up to no good. Her suspicion prompts the intruders to attack—and just as things start spinning out of control, a new friend swoops in to save the day! Monica can’t breathe a sigh of relief just yet, though. Not when even more daunting challenges—ballroom dancing and tea party lessons—lurk just arou...

When Monica is invited by Caroline, the girl who caused her to fall down the stairs, to a tea party, she has her doubts but can’t find it in her to refuse. Sure enough, Caroline reveals her true motives at the tea party, demanding that Monica tell Cyril that the incident the other day was an accident! Monica stands firm, but when she drinks the tea Caroline offers her, she starts to feel something strange…and the person who rushes to her rescue is none other than—Claudia?!

Monica Everett is the Silent Witch, the only mage in the world who has mastered the art of unchanted mage craft. But Monica hides a secret: There a son she learned to use magic without speaking is merely because of her extreme shyness. Until now, she’s been content living a peaceful life hidden away in the mountains, but an unexpected visit from a colleague brings her a task more daunting than any other. Now, it’s up to the world’s shiest mage to infiltrate an academy and protect the secon...

Now that Cyril is saved, Monica Everett finally confronts the criminal she’s been seeking—the accomplice who helped Aaron O’Brien embezzle the student council funds. Her opponent wields a dangerous and forbidden magecraft that appears to be “perfect,” but even that stands no chance against the mathematical genius of the Silent Witch.However, bringing the perpetrator to justice proves to be just the beginning of Monica’s troubles, as a dragon and a quirky new classmate burst onto the scene…...

Taichi Arima's life takes a fur-raising turn when his heroic efforts to save a cat in his previous life send him to another world. Blessed with advanced Tamer skills, Taichi soon earns the trust of many new animal companions, and with their help, he turns his dream of owning a cafe into a reality. Things can get a little wild when some beasts aren't as congenial than others, but overall, Taichi's days at the cafe are tranquil ones. That is, until a rare Ore Hedgehog collapses in front of t...

JAMES BEARD AWARD WINNER • Offering a foundational approach to cocktails, this manual from a James Beard Award-winning trailblazer will have you understanding and creating original drinks like a seasoned barkeep.Take a raucous romp through the essential stages of fashioning cocktails and learn the hows and whys of bartending with acclaimed mixologist Toby Maloney and the team from The Violet Hour. When the pioneering cocktail bar opened in Chicago in 2007, it set a...

WINNER OF THE ORWELL PRIZE 2012.This is the gripping story of the men of the Welsh Guards and their bloody battle for survival in Afghanistan in 2009. Underequipped and overstretched, they found themselves in the most intense fighting the British had experienced in a generation. They were led into battle by Lieutenant Colonel Rupert Thorneloe, a passionate believer in the justness of the war who was deeply dismayed by the way it was being resourced and conducted. Thorneloe was kill...

What are we to learn from the narratives in the Torah? A walking, talking snake. A tree that bears mysterious knowledge of Good and Evil. A mark upon Cain for all to see. The early narratives in the Book of Genesis are familiar to us from childhood, yet the meaning of these stories often seem maddeningly elusive. For example: By forbidding Adam and Eve to eat from the Tree of Knowledge, did God really not want mankind to be able to distinguish right from wrong? This book examines the early...

In this classic work of Jewish mystical thought, Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz explores the major questions asked by modern Jews about the nature of existence. The Thirteen Petalled Rose addresses profound topics like Good and Evil, Divine Revelation, The Human Soul and the Search for Self, as it translates ancient kabbalistic concepts into an intelligible language for a new generation.

In this companion volume to his celebrated series Covenant & Conversation, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks mines the weekly Torah portions for insights into the nature of power, authority, and leadership. Based on the understanding that no man is born a leader, the book explores the principles, and perils, of becoming one. Profound, eloquent, and deeply inspiring, Lessons in Leadership reveals the biblical secrets of influence, as relevant now as they were three thousand years ago.

Is there an Exodus story that we almost passed over? Every year we read the story of the Israelites’ Exodus from Egypt. It seems like something we already know. But do we? Questions haunt the careful reader. Among them: Doesn’t the name “Passover” seem a bit strange? Why not just call it Freedom Day, or Independence Day? And did the Exodus have to be so complicated? Couldn’t an all-powerful deity have teleported the Israelites out of Egypt and spared everyone the arduous process of the Ten...

Monica Everett, the powerful but incredibly shy mage, just wants to carry out her mission to guard the second prince in secret. Yet her dreams are shattered when the prince takes notice of her talent with numbers…and appoints her to be the student council’s accountant! Now she must not only deal with envious students but also receive instruction from the icy Cyril. However, behind her instructor’s cold exterior lies a secret—one that only the Silent Witch can resolve…