Erotica/Romance. 7675 words long. Views: 20
The new book from the author of In Bed with Jocasta and The Dag's Dictionary.Meet Richard, the original desperate husband, and his partner, the fabulous but formidable Jocasta. And say hello to their teenage offspring - the Teutonic Batboy and his irrepressible younger brother. Desperate Husbands lifts the lid on so-called normal family life, and reveals its soulful, hilarious absurdity. Welcome to a world where household appliances conspire against their owners, fathers practise ballet in the hallway and dead insects spell out an SOS on the kitchen floor.By turns sweet-natured yet perverse, familiar yet wildly original, Desperate Husbands may be the funniest book you read this year.'Desperate Husbands is desperately, wickedly funny. I devoured it in one sitting, greedily checking ahead to see that I still had pages left. Richard Glover has done the miraculous - he's made ordinary family life extraordinarily entertaining. This is a must-read for anybody... Views: 20
His ChildMichael Traynor was back—and sexier than ever. But Isabelle Gray was no longer the lovesick teenager who had once fallen foolishly into his bed. If Michael left her again, she wouldn't be the only one hurt this time. Now she had a daughter to think about—Michael's daughter.Her SecretSeeing Isabelle again convinced Michael she was the only woman for him. And though he saw the same hunger in her, Isabelle was hiding something that had her holding on to her defenses. Now Michael was determined to discover what the secret was…. Views: 20
Self-taught tinkerer Kali McAlister is determined to build an airship and escape the frigid Yukon forever. Unfortunately, she’s the heir to the secrets of flash gold, an alchemical energy source that tends to make her a popular target for bandits, gangsters, and pirates. Not to mention a mysterious new nemesis with an arsenal of deadly machines superior to Kali's own inventions... Views: 20
Take one recently fired woman, add to that two pesky daughters, one opera singing sister, two good-looking men, one murder investigation, and a boxful of Dove Ice Cream Bars. Then, generously stir with a seedy strip club, throw in a .45 Magnum and a dash of Bojangles' cajun seasoned fries and you have a Dish of Disaster! Views: 20
In an endeavor similar to his debut novel, The Kitchen Boy, Alexander couples extensive research and poetic license, this time turning his enthusiasm toward perhaps the most intriguing player in the collapse of the Russian dynasty: Rasputin. This eyebrow-raising account of the final week of the notorious mystic's life is set in Petrograd in December 1916 and narrated by Rasputin's fiery teenage daughter, Maria. The air in the newly renamed capital is thick with dangerous rumors, many concerning Maria's father, whose close relationship with the monarchy-he alone can stop the bleeding of the hemophiliac heir to the throne-invokes murderous rage among members of the royal family. Maria is determined to protect her father's life, but the further she delves into his affairs, the more she wonders: who, exactly, is Rasputin? Is he the holy man whose genuine ability to heal inspires a cult of awed penitents, or the libidinous drunkard who consumes 12 bottles of Madeira in a single night, the unrestrained animal she spies "[eagerly] holding [the] housekeeper by her soft parts"? Does this unruly behavior link him to an outlawed sect that believes sin overcomes sin? The combination of Alexander's research and his rich characterizations produces an engaging historical fiction that offers a Rasputin who is neither beast nor saint, but merely, compellingly human. Views: 20
Frank and Joe do their best to avoid a camping catastrophe in this Hardy Brothers Secret Files adventure.Frank and Joe are excited to go camping with their friends in Bayport State Park for the annual "Fun With Camping" event. They are ready for hiking, bonfires, and s'mores—and especially for the tent decorating competition, which the boys are determined to win. But just a few nights into the trip, decorations start to go missing. First Frank and Joe hear strange noises outside their tent. Then they see a set of unique footprints at the campsite. It seems like someone—or something—is out to sabotage the decorating contest. Can Joe and Frank figure out who the campsite culprit could be? Views: 20
This debut YA novel combines the wrong-side-of-the-tracks edginess of books like THE OUTSIDERS and FREAK THE MIGHTY and the searingly honest storytelling of authors like Chris Lynch and John Green.Micheal, Tommy, Mixer, and Bones aren't just from the wrong side of the tracks—they're from the wrong side of everything. Except for Mr. Haberman, their remedial English teacher, no one at their high school takes them seriously. Haberman calls them "gentlemen," but everyone else ignores them—or, in Bones's case, is dead afraid of them. When one of their close-knit group goes missing, the clues all seem to point in one direction: to Mr. Haberman.Gritty, fast-paced, and brutally real, this debut takes an unflinching look at what binds friends together—and what can tear them apart. Views: 20
Set in Savannah, Georgia, in the early 1970s, this is a novel of the anarchic joy of youth and encounters with the concerns of early adulthood. Francis Doyle, Tim Sullivan, and their three closest friends are altar boys at Blessed Heart Catholic Church and eighth-grade classmates at the parish school. They are also inveterate pranksters, artistic, and unimpressed by adult authority. When Sodom vs. Gomorrah '74, their collaborative comic book depicting Blessed Heart's nuns and priests gleefully breaking the seventh commandment, falls into the hands of the principal, the boys, certain that their parents will be informed, conspire to create an audacious diversion. Woven into the details of the boys' preparations for the stunt are touching, hilarious renderings of the school day routine and the initiatory rites of male adolescence, from the first serious kiss to the first serious hangover.From Publishers WeeklyHeartbreaking yet hilarious, this posthumous novel set in Savannah, Ga., in the 1970s chronicles a school year in the life of narrator Francis Doyle, an eighth-grader at the parish school of the Blessed Heart. Though the plot turns on the youthful pranks of Francis's gang, Fuhrman brings to his characters a near-adult consciousness as rites of passage like the first kiss are interwoven with imaginative acts of adolescent revolt and moments of terrible family life. Francis, soulful and suffering from a hernia, is beaten regularly by his father and turns to drink. He falls in love with Margie--a delicate, off-balance girl with a "wrist fragile as a swan's throat," who attempted suicide the year before--and longs for her with a sensual need that is captivating. When Francis first sees her, in church, the touching, love-at-first-sight moment is juxtaposed with the slapstick antics of a dog, with "tags clinking," who urinates against the altar. By marrying the earnest to the ridiculous, Fuhrman captures the sublime intensity of adolescence. But the novel expands beyond first-rate character studies as Francis and his friends struggle against the racial prejudice that saturates their school and neighborhood and threatens to explode into a race riot when a black schoolmate breaks a duck's wing with a baseball bat. Fuhrman (1960-1991) died of cancer while working on the final revision of this book--his first and last, which can be compared to many of the classic coming-of-age novels. Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. From BooklistOn the cusp of adolescence, some 13-year-old boys band together, swigging the Sacrament wine behind their priests' backs and drawing illicit comic books depicting nuns and priests engaged in--you guessed it--sex. This fictional memoir of a Catholic boyhood concentrates on the coming-of-age of its narrator, Francis, who a year before the book begins, at 12, attempted suicide. No wonder, considering the dark underside of punitive Catholicism that Francis' story puts generously on display, not least in the figure of the boy's father, who literally beats his son bloody for not eating scorched corned beef. Francis' mother looks on horror-struck and cowed; afterward she is helpless except for the salve she administers. As Francis blunders through his first sexual encounter with a much more experienced girl, gets himself muddy and bloody in school-yard fights with his buddies, and eventually faces the frailty of human life, this darkly comic work by an author who died young well before its publication takes on an increasingly savage tone full of foreboding, grief, and very Catholic reparation. Whitney Scott Views: 20
A comprehensive account of London's celebrated East End killer, revised and updated. The murders in London between 1888-91 attributed to Jack the Ripper constitute one of the most mysterious unsolved criminal cases. This story is the result of many years meticulous research. The author reassesses all the evidence and challenges everything we thought we knew about the Victorian serial killer and the vanished East End he terrorized.
### From Publishers Weekly
British historian-researcher Sugden here presents an exhaustive study of the Whitechapel murders of 1888 (some would say 1888-91) and examines the books by other "Ripperologists" to show that many have been derivative or have succumbed to the mythology surrounding the case. He makes it clear that, given the state of forensic medicine at the time, the police did good work but had almost no clues. Sugden concludes that none of the prime suspects was the Ripper, except perhaps George Chapman. Born in Poland as Severin Klosowski, he apprenticed as a surgeon; in London, where he was a hairdresser, he was suspected of several slashings but was never arrested. Included are photos and sketches of the murder locations and the women who were butchered.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
### From Booklist
The series of murders in London in 1888 attributed to someone called Jack the Ripper constitute one of the most famous and mysterious unsolved criminal cases. Time has not diminished the gruesomeness of the killings: all the victims' throats were cut (some were almost beheaded), some victims were disemboweled, and from a few the killer took organs. When fear of the Ripper peaked, the killings stopped, and a century of speculation ensued. Sugden does not resist adding to the inquiry a chapter on his theory of Jack's identity, yet his book isn't intended to solve the puzzle. Rather, he painstakingly sifts through press clippings and police records to dispel misinformation, much of it stemming from police refusal to release information to the newspapers, as a result of which the press published rumors as facts, which were subsequently used by researchers as the basis of their books. Sugden is exhaustive, and his book is for the serious student, not light reading. Future writers on Jack the Ripper will use this text as the basis of their research. *Jon Kartman* Views: 20
In 1963, London was on the brink of becoming one of the world's most vibrant cities. Angela Patrick was 19 years old, enjoying her first job working in the City when her life turned upside down. A brief fling with a charismatic charmer left her pregnant, unmarried and facing a stark future. Being under 21, she was still under the governance of her parents, strict Catholics who insisted she have the baby in secret and then put it up for adoption.Shunned by her family and forced to leave her job, Angela was sent to an imposing-looking convent for unmarried mothers in north-east London. Run like a Victorian workhouse, conditions in the convent were decidedly Spartan. Vilified and degraded by the nuns for her 'wickedness', her only comfort came from the other pregnant girls, all knowing they too would have to give up their babies. After a terrifying labour with no pain relief, Angela gave birth to a beautiful son, Paul, with whom she fell instantly in love. At eight weeks he wa... Views: 20
