The Barbarian and the Geisha

Dramatic retelling of the fateful last voyage of the Nantucket whaleship Essex. When the Essex is attacked and sunk by a sperm whale in November 1820, her crew take to three fragile whalers. Alone in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, the men must decide whether to head for the nearest islands - a thousand miles downwind to the west - or set out on an epic journey of almost three thousand miles to reach the South American mainland. Fear of cannibals forces them to choose South America. Almost three months later, the first whaler is rescued by another whaleship. Only three men are still alive. A week later the captain's whaler is also rescued, with just two men aboard. The third whaler is never found. This is a story of human endurance and what men in extremis will do to survive.

Japan, 1860. The men of the Mito clan, victims of the Ansei purge, anxiously prowl around the Sakurada Gate of Edo Castle with the intention of assassinating Naosuke Ii of Hikone, tairō of the Tokugawa shogunate and responsible for their misfortune.

Our story begins at the end of Sharpe's Challenge. Sharpe and Harper are en route to Madras when they encounter a baggage train from the East India Company traveling through hostile territory. Chitu, a legendary bandit leader in control of the area, strikes fear in the members of the party. When an attack occurs Sharpe takes control of the situation, leading the group 300 miles through enemy territory and training the disorganized, rag-tag group to be proper soldiers. Despite all these responsibilities, Sharpe still manages to find time for a little romance...

Ai is a student at an all-girls' art high school. She is known to be extremely gifted in the arts, but the adults around her try to use her and her classmates are jealous of her. Ai suffers because of her situation, but doesn't have anywhere to escape. Her daily life becomes like a war and she begins to collapse.

Kayoko is a young girl in 1940, just starting first grade. Nothing can prepare her for 1945, and the bleak times that are soon to come.

Chisato and Mahiro are two high school girls who are about to graduate. They also happen to both be highly skilled assassins. When the organization they work for orders them to share a room, the relationship between the pair quickly turns sour. However, when they find themselves targeted by the yakuza, the girls quickly realise that they will have to find a way to work together.

Three sisters grow up on a chicken farm in a small town in Gifu. The oldest sister, Yukie Sawada, is engaged to be married, the middle sister, Sachiko works at a beauty salon and the youngest, Mayu, is on the track team in high school. Their happy, carefree lives are changed forever when Yukie's ex-boyfriend Suzuki commits an atrocious crime. Half-crazed and bent on revenge against the Sawada family, Suzuki mistakes Mayu for Yukie and pours acid all over her face. Overwhelmed by physical and psychological trauma, Mayu sinks deeper into depression and isolation, unresponsive to her sisters encouragement. Meanwhile, chilling news of a serial murderer, who preys on the alumni of Mayu's high school, sends shockwaves through their small town...

On March 22, four days after returning to his home in Andalusia, Luis de Vargas writes the first of his letters to his uncle and favorite professor at the seminary. He reports that his father intends to fatten him up during his vacation, to have him ready to return in the fall to finish his training for the priesthood. He mentions in passing that his father is courting a twenty-year-old, attractive widow, Pepita Jiménez; his father is fifty-five years old. Pepita had been married for only a short time to an eighty-year-old moneylender named Gumersindo. Luis is not eager to see his father marry again, but he promises his uncle not to judge Pepita before he knows her.

Kairo Aoi, a young teacher with striking good looks, has just learned that his new student, Sora Amakami, is the alluring teen prostitute he once hired. Here the nightmare begins. As the walls of the prestigious academy become a percolating hotbed of sexual intrigue, prostitution and blackmail, other students, including Sora's nerdy roommate and the sinister campus bully, are pulled down the same torrid path of unquenchable desire toward the inevitable moment when obsession turns deadly.

Ine Onoda, the eldest daughter of a poor family of farmers, raises a colt from birth and comes to love the horse dearly. When the horse is grown, the government orders it auctioned and sold to the army. Ine struggles to prevent the sale.

British MP Sir Robert Chiltern is known for his honesty and integrity. To match his wife, Lady Chiltern, who is an example of high morality. However, the past of Sir Robert, as it turned out, is not at all perfect. Famous socialite adventurer Laura Cheveley, with evidence of his long-standing dishonorable act, is trying to blackmail Chiltern. Not only Sir Robert's reputation and career are at stake, but also family happiness. His best friend comes to the rescue — Lord Goring.