false 4762404 8 Ivor Tesham is a handsome, single, young member of Parliament whose political star is on the rise. When he meets a woman in a chance encounter–a beautiful, leggy, married woman named Hebe–the two become lovers obsessed with their trysts, spiced up by what the newspapers like to call “adventure sex.” <br><br>It’s the dress-up and role-play that inspire Ivor to create a surprise birthday present for his beloved that involves a curbside kidnapping. It’s all intended as mock-dangerous foreplay, but then things take a dark turn.<br><br>After things go horribly wrong, Ivor begins to receive anonymous letters that reveal astonishingly specific details about the affair and its aftermath. Somehow he must keep his role from being uncovered–and his political future from being destroyed by scandal.<br><br>Like a heretic on the inquisitor’s rack, Ivor is not to be spared the exquisitely slow and tortuous unfolding of events, as hints, nuances, and small revelations lay his darkest secrets hideously bare for all the world to see. <br><br><i>The Birthday Present</i> is a deft, insightful, and compulsively readable exploration of obsessive desire–and the dark twists of fate that can shake the lives of even those most insulated by privilege, sophistication, and power. 4827203 2008 The Birthday Present: A Novel total:193|5:17|4:66|3:72|2:28|1:10| 193 631 309 61 4 3 false false Sun Mar 22 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Mar 22 17:23:44 -0700 2009 Sun Mar 22 17:25:59 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Wed Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 25 16:39:34 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 25 16:40:20 -0700 2009
This is the story of the rise and fall of one of Thatcher’s conservative government officials in parliament. He involved himsel...more...]]> 3 1 false false Fri Mar 27 19:53:06 -0700 2009 Tue Mar 31 10:39:21 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Mon Jun 01 07:39:33 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 01 07:57:06 -0700 2009 In her newest Barbara Vine novel, Rendell has crafted a subtly sordid tale studded with imaginative plot twists and black humor. Though she reveals Tesham's eventual downfall within the first few pages, Rendell builds a great deal of tension into her complex, tightly constructed plot, and her descri...

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The Birt...more...]]> 3 0 false false Fri Mar 20 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Mar 15 13:29:25 -0700 2009 Fri Mar 20 14:05:09 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false true Mon Jun 15 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Jun 13 07:03:09 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 15 18:52:20 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Oct 09 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Oct 04 17:19:25 -0700 2009 Sun Oct 11 16:59:35 -0700 2009 ...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Wed Feb 04 01:50:58 -0800 2009 Sat Feb 14 23:11:23 -0800 2009 more...]]> 1 0 false false Sun Jun 07 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Apr 20 13:59:53 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 07 13:42:54 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed May 06 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed May 06 08:47:22 -0700 2009 Wed May 06 08:52:43 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Mar 12 14:35:42 -0700 2009 Fri Jun 19 06:45:05 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Fri Nov 07 19:57:40 -0800 2008 Sun Mar 01 14:01:34 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Apr 10 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Mar 28 17:53:05 -0700 2009 Sat Apr 11 14:18:31 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Mar 22 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Mar 21 22:08:15 -0700 2009 Sat Mar 21 22:14:25 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Apr 12 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Apr 12 13:43:15 -0700 2009 Mon Apr 13 09:47:20 -0700 2009 1 more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Jun 04 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Jun 04 19:14:12 -0700 2009 Thu Jun 04 19:20:29 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Tue Oct 06 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Oct 05 04:47:27 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 08 07:43:17 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Thu May 21 06:55:24 -0700 2009 Thu May 21 06:55:52 -0700 2009 ...more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Jun 25 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Apr 13 09:22:28 -0700 2009 Thu Jun 25 09:37:33 -0700 2009 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=4762404