Amanda is a successful book editor at a prominent publishing house in New York City. Thea is a stay-at-home mother of three who has never really left the community in which she grew up. Amanda, eight months' pregnant with her first child, and her husband move in next door to Thea and her family, and the two women find themselves both drawn to and repelled by each other and their opposing choices in the constant struggle to balance career and family life.When a disaster forces Amanda and her family to take refuge in Thea's home, the underlying tensions simmering between them are forced to the surface-and even more so when Thea fills in as Amanda's temporary nanny. But once dead animals start appearing on Thea's front porch-surely a macabre gift from Amanda?-the battle with "the other mother" begins in earnest.With a keen eye for what pulls us apart and what brings us together, Gwendolen Gross has created a stunning, dark, suspenseful novel that is as brave as it... Views: 16
The Critter Club has baby bunnies to care for--but is Ellie too busy aiming for showstopper status to help out her friends?The Critter Club is up and running, and so are the girls--especially Ellie! She's wanted to perform her entire life, so when she lands the lead role in Santa Vista Elementary School's Spring Spectacular, it's her big chance to show her stuff! But as Ellie's big performance draws near, will she let the play and her determination to succeed get in the way of being a good friend? What about caring for the baby rabbits that were just brought to The Critter Club? Some very helpful advice from an unexpected source reminds Ellie that being a good friend is just as important as doing what you love.With easy-to-read language and illustrations on almost every page, The Critter Club chapter books are perfect for beginning readers. Views: 16
Mike's lies are spinning out of control and now he's the prime suspect in a murder. He can't explain his bruised and skinned knuckles, and he can't explain why he was seen near the park where Robbie was killed. But he insists he's not a murderer. Still, if Mike really is innocent, why doesn't his alibi check out, and why are the police so sure that he's guilty? Views: 16
Mags and Julie are partners at Dream Weddings, catering for the over-the-top and sometimes downright bizarre requirements of Belfast's brides and grooms to be. They rub along well but are as different as chalk and cheese. Mags is married to the love of her life, has four kids and a complicated extended family. Julie is impossibly glamorous, and doesn't remotely believe in love or marriage.When Julie embarks on a life crisis, running away from her live-in lover and throwing herself in to a hair-raisingly sexy fling with Jay, it is Mags who is left to pick up the pieces. When Julie eventually comes back, she brings Jay with her, and that is where the real trouble starts. Add to the mix Dream Weddings' most high-profile celebrity clients yet, and the biggest, most ambitious wedding they have ever organised, and the fireworks really begin. Views: 16
Dr James Darke has expelled himself from the world. He writes compulsively in his 'coming of old age' journal; he eats little, drinks and smokes a lot. Meditating on what he has lost - the loves of his life, both dead and alive - he tries to console himself with the wisdom of the great thinkers and poets, yet finds nothing but disappointment. But cracks of light appear in his carefully managed darkness; he begins to emerge from his self-imposed exile, drawn by the tender, bruised filaments of love for his daughter and grandson. Rich in ideas and feeling, Rick Gekoski's debut novel is provocative and timely. With scalding prose, ruthless intelligence and an unforgettably vivid protagonist, it faces some of the greatest, most uncomfortable questions about how we choose to live, and how to die. Views: 16
In this gritty, true-to-life story a cop does his best to keep New York City safe amid end-of-summer street parties and festivals. It'll be a busy weekend, but Tuesday is coming and he hasn't seen anything yet. Views: 16
A controversial new novel from critically acclaimed Essence bestseller Reginald L. Hall explores the attraction of dating a "bad boy" - from an entirely new angle.During college, Juan Jiles fell in love with Darrell, who convinced Juan to help him rob one of Philadelphia's largest banks. During the heist, Darnell is killed, and Juan escapes with more than $175,000. After mourning the loss of his lover, Juan begins rebuilding his life and uses the money to open a popular celebrity hair salon.Then along comes Bryant Thompson, a street thug with drugs, drama, and deception in tow. Juan falls in love with the hustling, muscle-bound Bryant and soon succumbs to Bryant's addictive world. Juan's life starts to spin out of control and he realizes that his meeting Bryant didn't happen by chance.A story of a man doomed by passion, In Love with a Thug is by turns a humorous, tragic and hard-hitting look at the cost of destructive love and the price some pay for ... Views: 16
Set against the dramatic backdrop of America's second war for independence, Beverly Swerling's gripping and intricately plotted sequel to the much-loved City of Dreams plunges deep into the crowded streets of old New York. Poised between the Manhattan woods and the sea that is her gateway to the world, the city of 1812 is vibrant but raw, a cauldron where the French accents of Creole pirates mingle with the brogues of Irish seamen, and shipments of rare teas and silks from Canton are sold at raucous Pearl Street auctions. Allegiances are more changeable than the tides, love and lust often indistinguishable, the bonds of country weak compared to the temptation of fabulous riches from the East, and only a few farseeing patriots recognize the need not only to protect the city from the redcoats, but to preserve the fragile Constitutional union forged in 1787. Joyful Patrick Turner, dashing war hero and brilliant surgeon, loses his hand to a British shell, retreats to private life, and hopes to make his fortune in the China trade. To succeed he must run the British blockade; if he fails, he will lose not only a livelihood, but the beautiful Manon, daughter of a Huguenot jeweler who will not accept a pauper as a son-in-law. When stories of a lost treasure and a mysterious diamond draw him into a treacherous maze of deceit and double-cross, and the British set Washington ablaze, Joyful realizes that more than his personal future is at stake. His adversary, Gornt Blakeman, has a lust for power that will not be sated until he claims Joyful's fiancée as his wife and half a nation as his personal fiefdom. Like the Turners before him, Joyful must choose: his dreams or his country. Swerling's vividly drawn characters illuminate every aspect of the teeming metropolis: John Jacob Astor, the wealthiest man in America, brings the city's first Chinese to staff his palatial Broadway mansion; Lucretia Carter, wife of a respectable craftsman, makes ends meet as an abortionist serving New York's brothels; Thumbless Wu, a mysterious Cantonese stowaway, slinks about on a secret mission; and the bewitching Delight Higgins, proprietress of the town's finest gambling club, lives in terror of the blackbirding gangs who prey on runaway slaves. They are all here, the butchers and shipwrights, the doctors and scriv-eners, the slum dwellers of Five Points and the money men of the infant stock exchange...conspiring by day and carousing by night, while the women must hide their loyalties and ambitions, their very wills, behind pretty sighs and silken skirts.From Publishers WeeklySwerling sets her enthralling follow-up to City of Dreams against the backdrop of the War of 1812, when New Yorkers are suffering the dire economic effects of a British blockade of American ports, and talk of secession is rife. In Manhattan, the wealthy and unscrupulous trader Gornt Blakeman is the leader of the secessionist schemers. Blakeman's nemesis, and Swerling's larger-than-life hero, is surgeon and patriot Joyful Patrick Turner. Having lost a hand to a British cannonball earlier in the war, Joyful returns to Manhattan to start over as a "Canton trader." When Blakeman tries to rally New Yorkers to secede and kidnaps Joyful's sweetheart, the comely and headstrong Manon Vionne, Joyful races to expose Blakeman's treachery and rescue Manon from his clutches. Swerling's swashbuckling tale brings old Manhattan vividly to life, throbbing with restless energy and populated with a diverse and intriguing cast of characters: both real (John Jacob Astor) and richly imagined. Fans of historical fiction and those interested in the early history of Manhattan will enjoy this evocative and entertaining saga. (Jan.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From BooklistIn this smartly executed, highly entertaining sequel to City of Dreams (2001), Swerling continues tracing the physical, social, and moral development of Manhattan through the stories of the fictional Turner and Devrey families. Nearly all the action occurs over 10 days in mid-August 1814, a critical period during America's "second war of independence." The numerous characters, all fascinating and distinct, include a mulatto brothel owner, a sly merchant prince, an Irish ship's captain, and a devious young widow, not to mention John Jacob Astor himself. At their center is Joyful Patrick Turner, a multilingual trader, businessman, and ex-surgeon who sets out to preserve the family shipping company, save his country from secessionists, and win the hand of Manon Vionne, a jeweler's lovely daughter, in the bargain. As the characters scheme among themselves, hoping to leave their mark on the growing city, the plot fairly gallops along, and historical-novel fans will relish the bountiful period details of old New York. The perfect antidote for readers who mistakenly believe American history is either boring or unromantic. Sarah JohnsonCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Views: 16
In 1933, Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany. A year later, all parties but the Nazis had been outlawed, freedom of the press was but a memory, and Hitler's dominance seemed complete. Yet over the next few years, an unlikely clutch of conspirators emerged – soldiers, schoolteachers, politicians, diplomats, theologians, even a carpenter – who would try repeatedly to end the Fuhrer's genocidal reign. This dramatic and deeply researched book tells the full story of those noble, ingenious, and doomed efforts. This is history at its most suspenseful, as we witness secret midnight meetings, crises of conscience, fierce debates among old friends about whether and how to dismantle Nazism, and the various plots themselves being devised and executed. Orbach's fresh research takes advantage of his singular skills as linguist and historian to offer profound insight into the conspirators' methods, motivations, fears, and hopes. Though we know how this story ends,... Views: 16
Former homicide detective Brad Lyon has happily settled into retirement with his wife, Ashleigh, and their new business: crafting artisan teddy bears. They even take their 'Lyon's Tigers and Bears' on the road to Baltimore, site of a big-time bear show. But ex-cop Brad senses something sinister when he witnesses a domestic dispute between the couple behind the hugely popular line of 'Cheery Cherub Bears.' And a second scuffle soon has the bear aficionados talking: Another designer has accused the award-winning couple of stealing ideas for their furry angel bears. The tension is enough to give one of the designers an asthma attack, but after using her inhaler, she clutches at her throat—and dies. Baltimore brass deems it a death by natural causes. But Brad and Ash's suspicions have already taken wing... Views: 16
"THE GOOD SON is the most exciting, and gripping, Scottish crime fiction debut of recent years. Stylish and atmospheric, it marks the arrival of a exceptional talent." —John Connolly "McLean has all the merits of this brilliant writer [Jean-Patrick Manchette] with the added bonus of a Scottish sense of wit that is like no other." —Ken Bruen "Scottish crime fiction is entering a new era and Russel McLean is at the vanguard. A thrilling new writer, a brilliant debut...The Good Son is very good indeed." —Tony BlackRecipient of widespread praise for his award-winning crime short stories, Russel McLean's full-length debut has been characterized by key crime authors and critics alike as the emergence of a major talent. There is something rotten behind the apparent sucide of Daniel Robertson and it's about to come bursting into the life of J. McNee, a Scottish private investigator with a near-crushing level of personal baggage. James... Views: 16
It is a very short list of 20th-century American plays that continue to have the same power and impact as when they first appeared—57 years after its Broadway premiere, Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire is one of those plays. The story famously recounts how the faded and promiscuous Blanche DuBois is pushed over the edge by her sexy and brutal brother-in-law, Stanley Kowalski. Streetcar launched the careers of Marlon Brando, Jessica Tandy, Kim Hunter and Karl Malden, and solidified the position of Tennessee Williams as one of the most important young playwrights of his generation, as well as that of Elia Kazan as the greatest American stage director of the '40s and '50s. Who better than America's elder statesman of the theater, Williams' contemporary Arthur Miller, to write as a witness to the lightning that struck American culture in the form of A Streetcar Named Desire? Miller's rich perspective on Williams' singular style of poetic dialogue, sensitive characters, and dramatic violence makes this a unique and valuable new edition of A Streetcar Named Desire. This definitive new edition will also include Williams' essay "The World I Live In," and a brief chronology of the author's life. Views: 16
Kirsten Meredith is a successful, rich and beautiful woman who seems to have it all. But she is also a woman haunted by her past which threatens to ruin her life - a lingering past of loneliness and rejection. And most dangerous of all, of burning vengeance. Lawrence McAllister is the man who walked out on her and broke her heart. Yet he is the only man who can help her fight her worst enemy - Dyllis Fisher, a woman who has vowed to destroy Kirsten's life at all costs. And in a world where bitter vengeance will know no limit, Kirsten needs all the help she can get... Views: 16
