Three sisters and a baby equal family drama... Bridgette, Ivy and Savannah have always been close, and as with any sisterhood, it hasn't been without its challenges, but they always manage to come together in times of need. When the youngest, Savannah is faced with a life altering illness which threatens her lifelong desire to have children, one of her sisters offer to give her the ultimate gift—to become her surrogate. While Savannah is overwhelmed with happiness and gratitude about motherhood, not everyone in the family shares her sentiments. The upcoming addition to their family seems to cause discord rather than joy. Views: 50
A fresh (in more than one sense) and honest new voice in fiction is extravagantly displayed in this first novel that candidly dissects modern romance.Plagued with weird parents, an underdeveloped body, and a mind on the verge of self-deconstruction, Phoebe Fine feels ill-equipped for a journey through the hardening chambers of the late twentieth-century heart. But from fifth grade and Roger Mancuso, equal parts baby Brando and court jester, through her early adult life with New Media executive Neil Schmertz, a babytalker who prefers spooning to sex, Phoebe trudges defiantly through guyland, armed with a tart tongue, and propelled by an insatiable desire to be loved.From the Trade Paperback edition. Views: 49
The five heartbreaking and radiant stories in John Fulton's The Animal Girl explore the awkwardness of situations in which grief and erotic love collide. Here are people in extremis, struggling mightily, and often failing, to keep it together. In the Pushcart Prize-winning Hunters, Fulton contrasts the humorous clumsiness of dating with the grim realities of death in the tale of a middle-aged woman who keeps her cancer a secret when she starts a relationship with an avid hunter. In the novella-length title story, a lonely adolescent girl deals with the recent loss of her mother and the alien presence of her father's new girlfriend by taking out her aggression on her boss and on the animals she cares for in her summer job at a research laboratory. The final story in the collection, The Sleeping Woman, delves into the inner life of Evelyn, a divorced professional woman who falls in love with Russell, a man whose wife is permanently brain damaged and has been... Views: 49
The tempestuous, bloody, and splendid reign of Henry VIII of England (1509-1547) is one of the most fascinating in all history, not least for his marriage to six extraordinary women. In this accessible work of brilliant scholarship, Alison Weir draws on early biographies, letters, memoirs, account books, and diplomatic reports to bring these women to life. Catherine of Aragon emerges as a staunch though misguided woman of principle; Anne Boleyn, an ambitious adventuress with a penchant for vengeance; Jane Seymour, a strong-minded matriarch in the making; Anne of Cleves, a good-natured and innocent woman naively unaware of the court intrigues that determined her fate; Catherine Howard, an empty-headed wanton; and Catherine Parr, a warm-blooded bluestocking who survived King Henry to marry a fourth time. Views: 49
Lacunae, Daniel Nadler's debut collection, is an exercise in poetics of vital import. In it, Nadler imagines himself into those moments of unintelligibility—that blank space in between things—where constraint and expansion coincide. These poems, translations of work that does not otherwise exist, are intended to fill the invented or actual lacunae in manuscripts of classical Indian poetry. When faced with such ellipses, like where a few decisive hieroglyphs have worn off a wall, he infers and reconstructs the flora, fauna, and pleasures of an ancient world. "Like the wind that gusts coastal pines toward the water / sleep bends me toward my lover / and I cannot drink from her": Nadler's is a project of constant negotiation. He attends to impulses of restoration and conservation, in turns. From this tension arises verse of simplicity and clarity of vision, imbued with that trembling quality of new life "luminous and half-naked." Lacunae, deeply... Views: 49
Six of Marco Fontana's early cases show some of the forces that helped shape the young P.I. In high school, Fontana discovers that he has a knack for crime solving. Not only that, he likes it. When his English teacher is accused of murdesring the school disciplinarian, Marco investigate. Some years later, after Marco has explored his options, we find him in his first office on Latimer and Twelfth. Views: 49
When the alien Tarsalans mount a light-blocking sphere around Earth to further their aims of conquest, two scientists race against time to destroy it, even as crops die in the endless night of the phytosphere, and famine and anarchy tighten their hold on civilization. Matters go from bad to worse when Earth’s over-zealous military, seeking to defeat the Tarsalans, inadvertently destroy the phytosphere’s control mechanism, turning it into a train without brakes. One of the scientists fails to destroy the light-blocking sphere. This leaves it up to the remaining scientist. But he is on an isolated moon community without resources or weapons, and must use only his wits and cunning to defeat the twin-brained super-intelligent Tarsalans. Alien-based post-apocalyptic fiction at its best! Views: 49
This is the incredible true story of a wartime sisterhood of women pilots: a group of courageous pioneers who took exceptional risks to fly Spitfires, Hurricanes and Lancasters to the frontlines of World War II. The women pilots of Air Transport Auxiliary came from all countries and backgrounds. Although not allowed into combat, they demonstrated astonishing bravery in their supporting role: flying unarmed, without radios or instruments, and at the mercy of the weather and enemy aircraft, they delivered battle-ready planes to their male counterparts, the fighter pilots of the RAF. The story of these remarkable women pilots - among them Amy Johnson and Lettice Curtis - is a riveting account of women in wartime, and a fitting tribute to their spirit and valour. Giles Whittell is a leader- and feature-writer for 'The Times' and was previously the paper's correspondent in Los Angeles and Moscow. His other books include 'Lambada Country' and 'Extreme Continental', describing his travels by bike and motorbike through Eastern Europe and Central Asia during the collapse of the Soviet Union. He lives in London with his wife and three sons. Views: 49
Two years ago, Isabella Harrington defied her parents and society, and ran off with her lover to Milan. They thought they’d conquer the world at the gaming tables. But her dream of happily-ever-after led to nothing but debts and a shattered heart. Isabella needed a way back into the society she shunned and what better way than through a proper, aristocratic marriage? Views: 49
Exotic dancer Amanda Nelson escaped poverty and had left behind a trail of painful memories. But soon she would retire her stilettos for a new life. Then Rick Calloway sauntered into the club and took her breath away. The new bartender had a connection to her past...and a girlfriend. He was wrong for Amanda in every way. Only Rick wasn't a bartender. And he didn't have a girlfriend. Working under-cover to investigate the disappearances of several dancers, Calloway should have remained focused on the case, not Amanda. Or so he told himself. Their mutual attraction was dangerously inconvenient. But maybe it was what they both needed to live through another night.... Views: 49
