Fearing she carries her mother’s curse of marriage, nineteen-year-old Eleanor Mackenna swore never to vow herself into matrimonial bondage. Nuptials aren’t needed where true love is concerned. A concept she is sure a man like McCrea Coldiron would agree with. The town gossip has him pegged as a heart breaker, but Eleanor knows a different side to McCrea. Views: 28
"How can I tell him that he will never find her, after he has been searching for her all his life? If I could talk to him without breaking his heart, there is something I would tell him, in hopes it would stop his sleepless nights and wrongheaded search for a shadow. I would repeat this to him: 'Your Matilde Lina is in limbo, the dwelling place of those who are neither dead nor alive.' But that would be like severing the roots of the tree that supports him. Besides, why do it if he is not going to believe me."In the midst of war, the protagonists of A Tale of the Dispossessed are continuously searching: for a promised land, a destiny, the face of a woman who has disappeared -- searching for an impossible love and, conversely, for a love that is possible.A way station for refugees from violence is the setting for an intense love triangle in which an uprooted and wandering people lead the reader to experience the collective drama of forced relocation. A Tale of the Dispossessed speaks to us about the inexorable law that has led man, expelled from paradise since the days of Adam through to modern times, in his search for a way back home.From Publishers WeeklyThis slim volume offers Spanish and English versions of a novella about an encounter between strangers amid political chaos. Set in Tora, Colombia (where Restrepo's The Dark Bride was set), during a war, the work has a timeless, open quality that could situate it almost anywhere in time and place. Readers learn, through the perspective of a nameless narrator who works at a convent sheltering "the displaced," about the mysterious man Three Sevens, a new arrival at the refuge. Three Sevens is desperate to locate Matilde Lina, the laundress who rescued and raised him, from whom he was forcibly separated as a teenager during the Little War. The narrator, offering him room and board, falls in love with him, but must compete with his Oedipal attachment to Matilde Lina ("The world tastes of her," he says). Thus begins a spare but symbolic love story, a modern-day fairy tale with Freudian trimmings. Restrepo, a journalist, activist and academic, employs a singular, accessible voice that melds her political sensibilities with hints of magical realism. The author has been lauded by Gabriel García Márquez, and this book will fit snugly into the canon of modern Latin American literature. Even as it describes violence and fear, it shimmers with an almost innocent charm and a quiet lyricism. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. About the AuthorLaura Restrepo is the bestselling author of six novels, including The Dark Bride, A Tale of the Dispossessed, and Delirio, which received Spain's prestigious Alfaguara Prize. She lives in Colombia.Laura Restrepo fue profesora de literatura en la Universidad de Colombia, editora política en la revista Semana y miembro de la Comisión Nacional para la Paz. Ha escrito destacadas novelas tales como Leopardo al sol; Dulce Compañía, que obtuvo el premio Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz en México y el premio France Culture en Francia; y Delirio, que obtuvo el premio Alfaguara. Actualmente vive en Bogotá, Colombia. Views: 28
Concluding volume in the Keys of Power fantasy trilogy.Prince Lynan was
ignored by his family until he inherited the magical Key of Union. Betrayed
and driven from his rightful position at court, he was forced into exile.
But after war and hardship, Lynan is no longer that callow prince-he will
allow nothing to stand between him and his return to the capital...and the
throne. Views: 28
Amanda and Lena have been soccer stars and best friends for years, but now, when Amanda makes the junior varsity team and Lena makes the varsity, Amanda finds herself increasingly shut out of her friend’s life. Suddenly, everything Amanda took for granted is changing--but she's about to discover that might not be bad. Brendan Halpin’s new novel is about friendship, family, soccer, and the confusing time when everything that used to feel simple suddenly feels complicated. Views: 28
Destined for Heaven or Hell? The saga continues from THE FALLEN 1.Aaron's senior year has been anything but typical. Half-angel and half-human, he has been charged to reunite the Fallen with Heaven. But the leader of the Dark Powers is determined to destroy Aaron--and all hope of angelic reconciliation. Struggling to harness the incredible force within him, Aaron trains for the ultimate battle. With the Dark Powers building in strength and numbers, their clash may come sooner than he expects. And everyone who's ever mattered to Aaron is now in grave danger. Aaron must protect the girl he loves and rescue the only family he's ever known. Because if he can't save them from the Dark Powers, how can he hope to save the Fallen? Views: 28
Ha Jin’s masterful new novel casts a searchlight into a forgotten corner of modern history, the experience of Chinese soldiers held in U.S. POW camps during the Korean War. In 1951 Yu Yuan, a scholarly and self-effacing clerical officer in Mao’s “volunteer” army, is taken prisoner south of the 38th Parallel. Because he speaks English, he soon becomes an intermediary between his compatriots and their American captors.With Yuan as guide, we are ushered into the secret world behind the barbed wire, a world where kindness alternates with blinding cruelty and one has infinitely more to fear from one’s fellow prisoners than from the guards. Vivid in its historical detail, profound in its imaginative empathy, War Trash is Ha Jin’s most ambitious book to date.From the Trade Paperback edition.From Publishers WeeklyJin (Waiting; The Crazed; etc.) applies his steady gaze and stripped-bare storytelling to the violence and horrifying political uncertainty of the Korean War in this brave, complex and politically timely work, the story of a reluctant soldier trying to survive a POW camp and reunite with his family. Armed with reams of research, the National Book Award winner aims to give readers a tale that is as much historical record as examination of personal struggle. After his division is decimated by superior American forces, Chinese "volunteer" Yu Yuan, an English-speaking clerical officer with a largely pragmatic loyalty to the Communists, rejects revolutionary martyrdom and submits to capture. In the POW camp, his ability to communicate with the Americans thrusts him to the center of a disturbingly bloody power struggle between two factions of Chinese prisoners: the pro-Nationalists, led in part by the sadistic Liu Tai-an, who publicly guts and dissects one of his enemies; and the pro-Communists, commanded by the coldly manipulative Pei Shan, who wants to use Yu to save his own political skin. An unofficial fighter in a foreign war, shameful in the eyes of his own government for his failure to die, Yu can only stand and watch as his dreams of seeing his mother and fiancée again are eviscerated in what increasingly looks like a meaningless conflict. The parallels with America's current war on terrorism are obvious, but Jin, himself an ex-soldier, is not trying to make a political statement. His gaze is unfiltered, camera-like, and the images he records are all the more powerful for their simple honesty. It is one of the enduring frustrations of Jin's work that powerful passages of description are interspersed with somewhat wooden dialogue, but the force of this story, painted with starkly melancholy longing, pulls the reader inexorably along. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From The New YorkerHa Jin's new novel is the fictional memoir of a Chinese People's Volunteer, dispatched by his government to fight for the Communist cause in the Korean War. Yu Yuan describes his ordeal after capture, when P.O.W.s in the prison camp have to make a wrenching choice: return to the mainland as disgraced captives, or leave their families and begin new lives in Taiwan. The subject is fascinating, but in execution the novel often seems burdened by voluminous research, and it strains dutifully to illustrate political truisms. In a prologue, Yuan claims to be telling his story in English because it is "the only gift a poor man like me can bequeath his American grandchildren." Ha Jin accurately reproduces the voice of a non-native speaker, but the labored prose is disappointing from an author whose previous work—"Waiting" and "Ocean of Words"—is notable for its vividness and its emotional precision. Copyright © 2005 The New Yorker Views: 28
Detective Catherine Chandler is on a mission to unveil the truth behind her past and discover the secrets surrounding her family. Yet, things become more complicated when she becomes romantically involved with the handsome doctor Vincent Keller, who harbors a dark secret of his own - he turns into a terrifying beast when angered. Together, they struggle to maintain their relationship whilst being pursued by the mysterious organization known as Muirfield. Views: 28
Dark Fantasy/Romance. 81040 words long. Views: 28
Revisit a fan favorite novella by USA TODAY bestselling author Laurie Page—on its own for the first time! After enduring unimaginable tragedy, prickly Dr. Eric Thompson has built walls to rival Fort Know around his emotions. But he has a soft spot for pregnant women and when he sees nurse Jenna Cooper in a moment of distress, he rushes to help. The next thing he knows, he's driving her to doctor's appointments and helping to plan a shower. But Jenna wants all of him, not just his time, but his heart. And unless Eric can open up, she'll be having her baby—without him! Originally published in 2004 as part of Mother by Design Views: 28
