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Ltd., 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England Excerpt from The Doctor and the Diva © Adrienne McDonnell, 2011 Excerpt from Fall of Giants © Ken Follett, 2010 Excerpt from The Gendarme © Mark T. Mustain, 2010 Excerpt from The Lake of Dreams © Kim Edwards, 2011 Excerpt from The Weird Sisters © Eleanor Brown, 2010 Excerpt from The House at Tyneford © Natasha Solomons, 2011 Excerpt from A Discovery of Witches © Deborah Harkness, 2011 Excerpt from You Know When the Men Are Gone © Siobhan Fallon, 2011 Excerpt from The Death Instinct © Jed Rubenfeld, 2011 Excerpt from Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother © Amy Chua, 2011 All rights reserved First published by Penguin, Berkley, Riverhead, Plume, and NAL, divisions of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. First Printing, 2011 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Copyright 2011 All rights reserved PENGUIN NEW BERKLEY RIVERHEAD PLUME BOOKS american BOOKS REGISTERED TRADEMARKS—MARCA REGISTRADA Library Printed in the United States of America Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book. PUBLISHER’S NOTE The Doctor and the Diva, Fall of Giants, The Gendarme, The Lake of Dreams, The Weird Sisters, The House at Tyneford, A Discovery of Witches, You Know When the Men Are Gone, The Death Instinct, and Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother are works of fiction. 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The Doctor and the Diva ......................................5 Fall of Giants: Book One of the Century Trilogy ............37 The Gendarme .....................................................63 The Lake of Dreams ............................................79 The Weird Sisters ...............................................117 A Discovery of Witches .....................................145 Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother .....................173 The House at Tyneford ......................................197 The Death Instinct .............................................227 You Know When the Men are Gone ................243 from The Doctor and the Diva by Adrienne McDonnell “Some novels just naturally enslave you, and this is one of them. Serious and gripping . [a] brilliant debut novel.” —The Washington Post It is 1903, and Erika von Kessler has struggled for years to become pregnant. Resigned to childlessness, Erika—a talented opera singer and the wife of a prominent Bostonian—secretly plans to move to Italy to pursue her musical career. When the charismatic Doctor Ravell takes Erika on as a patient, he is mesmerized by her. Impetuously, he takes a shocking risk that could ruin them both. Inspired by the author’s family history, the novel moves from snowy Boston to the gilded balconies of Florence in a stunning tale of opera, longing, and the indomitable power of romantic obsession. 5 1 h BOSTON 1903 octor Ravell had already missed the funeral. The body was being Dcarried from the church as he arrived. Many of Boston’s most prominent physicians descended the granite steps in a parade of canes and black silk hats, the modest old man in the casket the most esteemed of them all. Six or seven members of the von Kessler family—all of them doctors—served as pallbearers, and they shouldered the gleaming casket suitable for a king. Ravell wondered how many others, like him, must have deserted patients at their bedsides in order to join the procession. He heard his name called, a black top hat raised and waved in his di- rection like a celebratory shout. “Ravell!” It was Doctor Gerald von Kessler, a homeopath, who greeted him— the nephew of the man they’d come to mourn. His short wife stood beside him, with violets blooming in her hat. The couple insisted that Ravell ride with them to the cemetery. In the privacy of their carriage, Doctor von Kessler leaned closer to confi de. “Can you help my sister?” von Kessler said. “This is what I am asking.” “We are afraid,” his wife added, “that she has grown desperate.” Doctor von Kessler removed his top hat and placed it on the seat. “My sister’s husband has become obsessed. He’s dragged her to physician after physician, put her through every procedure and humiliation so that she can have a child. He won’t relent.” “I’d be honored to help your sister,” Ravell said, “in any way I can.” 3 7 1-422_PGI_Doctor_Diva.indd 3 4/6/10 10:45:29 AM Adrienne McDonnell 4 e Adrienne McDonnell “We heard about your recent triumph in the Hallowell case.” Gerald von Kessler gave Ravell a sharp, congratulatory nod. “After nineteen years in a barren marriage,” Mrs. von Kessler said, “thanks to you, they had twins!” The violets jiggled in her hat and her eyes shone at Ravell. “My sister and her husband have wasted too much time consulting the old guard,” Doctor von Kessler said. “They need a younger man—a pioneer in modern techniques, like you.” At the gravesite Ravell stood next to them, one hand clasped over his opposite wrist. He would never have guessed that before his thirtieth birthday, the von Kessler family would be relying on him. In the distance of a valley below, he noticed skaters skimming along a frozen pond. Cold air fi lled his lungs and he felt an odd elation—so peculiar to sense at a funeral—the buoyancy of knowing that his reputation was on the rise. Lately his practice had expanded at such a rate that he had been forced to turn patients away. The last time he had seen the legendary physician they would bury today was at a professional dinner just two months previously. It had been the sort of event where eminent men toasted one another, half in jest; they had planted a crown of laurel leaves on Ravell’s head to wel- come him into their midst. That evening the revered old man had turned to Ravell and said, “You’ll be appointed professor of obstetrics at that famous school across the river before we know it. Remember that I made that prediction.” Now the grand old man in the casket was being borne up and carried above their heads to his grave. Mourners settled into respectful poses— heads bowed, feet slightly apart—yet the minister seemed to be delaying for some reason. While they waited, snow fl urries began. Finally a black motorcar drove into the cemetery grounds. A shining black door opened, and a slender woman in a white ermine fur cape stepped out. Two violinists accompanied her. As she clutched her fur and headed for the gravesite, the crush of onlookers parted, making a wide aisle for her. 8 1-422_PGI_Doctor_Diva.indd 4 4/6/10 10:45:29 AM The Doctor and the Diva 4 e Adrienne McDonnell The Doctor and the Diva e 5 “We heard about your recent triumph in the Hallowell case.” Gerald The woman in the white cape climbed onto a small platform. Above von Kessler gave Ravell a sharp, congratulatory nod. the congregation, she stood dressed entirely in white, and as she raised “After nineteen years in a barren marriage,” Mrs. von Kessler said, her oval face to speak, snow fell faster. Flakes dusted her hat and clung “thanks to you, they had twins!” The violets jiggled in her hat and her to her dark ringlets. eyes shone at Ravell. The deceased had been her uncle, she explained to the mourners. “My sister and her husband have wasted too much time consulting “The aria I am about to sing is not religious,” she said. “But when my the old guard,” Doctor von Kessler said. “They need a younger man—a uncle heard me sing Paisiello’s ‘Il mio ben quando verrà,’ he said: ‘When pioneer in modern techniques, like you.” they bury me, I want you to send me up to heaven with that song.’” At the gravesite Ravell stood next to them, one hand clasped over his She loosened the white fur from her throat.