In 1799, the Federalist party has lost the election to the Democratic party, and, determined to reverse the situation, they enlist Aaron Burr in a scheme that ultimately fails. John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison and his wife Dolley are key players in this historical drama about the convoluted politics of a crucial period in American history.

The battle for succession of the Holy Roman Empire pits the Empress Theopahano against Otto II's cousin, Henry of Burgundy.

THE TROLL GARDEN contains classic early stories, many set against the harsh but spectacular American prairie, and rich with autobiographical elements from the Nebraska of Cather's childhood. O PIONEERS is the story of Alexandra Bergson, the daughter of a Swedish pioneering family, who takes over the management of the family farm upon her father's death, and of her forbidden love for a neighbor, Carl Lindstrom. THE SONG OF THE LARK is based on the career of Metropolitan Opera star Olive Femstad and traces the life of a singer from a rural town who goes to Chicago to study music and rises to the top of her profession. MY ANTONIA, which chronicles the relationship between two Nebraska children, Jim Burden and Antonia Shimerda, as they grow to maturity, is considered Cather's masterpiece. ONE OF OURS, a novel about a farm boy who comes into his own on the battlefields of France in World War I, where he dies heroically, won the Pulitzer Price in 1922.

Lucy Fly, a British translator working in Japan, is shocked by the disappearance of a fellow expatriate, Lily. The disappearance forces Lucy to confront her own dark past as she puts herself in danger in order to discover what happened to Lily.

Shortly after his 15th birthday, young miscreant Nicky Snape is found dead from hanging in the juvenile detention home where he is being held. Usually a petty thief, it seems that this time Nicky had gotten in way over his head.

Scandal and taboo surround the lusty but lovable Lucas Davenport as he tries to pin down the murderer of a young fashion model.

Ruth has a chaotic life--divorced parents who nevertheless live with her, newly unemployed husband, difficult children--from which she takes refuge by imagining herself in the middle of a cake, preferably a Bundt cake. And because this is a comic novel, it seems that, as the family situation gets worse, maybe Ruth's cake fantasies will be the saving of them all. Recipes are included.