Eight linked stories tracing the history of a painting by the 17th century Dutch artist, Vermeer. In one, he paints his daughter to pay off debts, a second story describes the loss of the ownership papers, a third takes place on the eve of its theft by the Nazis. By the author of What Love Sees.

One of the New York Times’s 100 Best Books of the 21st Century • A Kirkus Reviews Best Fiction Book of the Century
Winner of the 2006 Orange Prize for Fiction, another bestselling masterwork from the celebrated author of Swing Time and White Teeth
"In this sharp, engaging satire, beauty's only skin-deep, but funny cuts to the bone." —Kirkus Reviews
Having hit bestseller lists...

Anne's job prevents her from accompanying her husband on his sabbatical and necessitates engaging live-in help for the children. Anne's discovery of the sitter's unstable condition results in learning a lesson about love.

“An inquiry into the nature of civilization, of man’s impulse to civilize and create,” from the beloved author of O Pioneers! (The New Criterion).

After completing his masterwork and garnering a great deal of money for it, history professor Godfrey St. Paul has purchased a new house. But when the time comes to move, he cannot bring himself to do so. Sitting in his comfortable study in his current house

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"It's 2017 at the University of Arkansas. Millie Cousins, a senior resident assistant, wants to graduate, get a job, and buy a house. So when Agatha Paul, a visiting professor and writer, offers Millie an easy yet unusual opportunity, she jumps at the chance. But Millie's starry-eyed hustle becomes jeopardized by odd new friends, vengeful dorm pranks, and illicit intrigue."-- Provided by publisher.

Russell Stone, a Chicago writing instructor, discovers in his Berber Algerian student,Thassadit Amzwar, a preternatural happiness that has earned her the nickname "Miss Generosity." Stone soon learns that Thassadit may possess a rare euphoric trait called hyperthymia, and that Thomas Kurton, the charismatic entrepreneur behind genetics lab,Truecyte, wants to use her alleles to deliberately "adjust" the genome to produce happier, longer-living people...

When a man finds a beautiful woman asleep in his bed, he has only one choice: To seduce her with a night of lovemaking she'll never forget. Trouble is, Donovan Steele's sultry new housekeeper is just as determined not to become the legendary playboy's latest conquest. Trading the Ivy League for down South, Natalie Ford is helping with her aunt's housecleaning service. But Steele's chemistry is unlike any this science professor ever learned.

Professor Jeremy Logan is brought onto famed explorer Porter Stone's archaeological team to investigate a series of harrowing and inexplicable occurrences that are causing people on the expedition to fear a centuries-old curse behind Pharoah Narmer's elusive "double" crown of the two Egypts. As paranoia and fear run rampant, Logan must delve into the mysteries of ancient Egyptology and near death experience in order to understand what might be plaguing...

"Tom Putnam, an English professor at a Virginia women's college, has resigned himself to a quiet and half-fulfilled life. For more than ten years, his wife Marjory has been a shut-in, a fragile and frigid woman whose neuroses have left her fully dependent on Tom and his formidable mother-in-law, Agnes Tattle. Tom considers his unhappy condition self-inflicted, since Marjory's condition was exacerbated by her discovery of Tom's brief and misguided...

Andrew P. Cohen, a professor of comparative culture at New York University, is at the zenith of his life. Adored by his classes and published in prestigious literary magazines, he is about to receive a coveted promotion--the crowning achievement of an enviable career. He is on excellent terms with Linda, his ex-wife, and his two grown children admire and adore him. His girlfriend, Ann Lee, a former student half his age, offers lively companionship....