E. R. Braithwaite, the acclaimed author of To Sir, With Love, poignantly recounts his time as a social worker dedicated to London's abandoned minority childrenDespite his Cambridge education and a sterling record with the British Royal Air Force during World War II, E. R. Braithwaite, a black man, was unable to find employment as an engineer in post-war London. Instead he accepted a position as a teacher in a tough East End school and wrote of his experiences in his classic bestseller To Sir, With Love. Nine years later, Braithwaite once again found himself assuming an unfamiliar professional role as a social worker charged with finding homes for London's orphaned, abused, or abandoned "coloured" children. While he lacked formal training, Braithwaite possessed qualities essential for the job: compassion, determination, and a deep, abiding understanding and love for the helpless, lost, and disregarded.In Paid Servant, E. R. Braithwaite... Views: 115
A novella set in the world of New York Times Bestselling Author Monica McCarty's Highland Guard Series. The year is 1311, and the battle for Scotland’s independence rages on… Stripped of his lands by the English king who killed his father, James Douglas will do whatever it takes to see his clan’s honor and fortune restored. The ambitious young knight, whose dark visage, powerful stature, and ferocity in battle has earned him the epithet “the Black,” knows he must use fear, force, and intimidation to defeat the English, put Robert the Bruce on Scotland’s throne, and restore the honor of the Douglas name. Nothing and no one will get in his way. Not even the lass who captured his heart in childhood and still holds it in her delicate hands. Joanna Dicson has loved James Douglas for as long as she can remember. That she is “only” the daughter of the marshal of Douglas Castle has never concerned her. Yet even as James’s ruthless reputation grows, and despite the warnings of others to guard her heart—and her virtue—against him, Joanna never dreams he will turn on her. He loves her and would never hurt her. But when James returns to Douglas to force the English garrison from his castle, Joanna learns that their love is nothing against his ambition. His marriage—like everything else—will be a means of bettering his clan. Heartbroken and humiliated, Joanna is left alone with a secret that may destroy them both. This is a novella of approximately 45,000 words.) Views: 115
The new novel from Hamish Clayton, award-winning author of Wulf, The Pale North is a disarming, exquisitely written work with a haunting love story at its heart. 1998, Wellington. A series of catastrophic earthquakes has left the city destroyed. Returning to the ruin from London, a New Zealand writer explores the devastation, compelled to find out for himself what has become of the city he left years ago. As he drifts through the desolate streets, home now to the shell-shocked and dispossessed, he finds among the survivors a woman and a child. And although they are haunted, hostile and broken, the strangers feel eerily familiar to him: as if they promise the answers to the mysteries he once swore to leave behind. A layered meditation on love, history, creativity and loss, The Pale North is an audacious and disarming novel, a forensic journey into one writer's short but singularly brilliant body of work. Invoking W. G. Sebald, Julian Barnes and Lloyd... Views: 115
This greathearted novel is the finale of Ivan Doig's passionate and authentic trilogy about the McCaskill family and their alluring Two Medicine country along the hem of the northern Rockies.Jick McCaskill, the illustrious narrator of English Creek, returns as the witty and moving voice in this classic encounter with the American road and all the rewards and travails it can bring. Jick faces his family's -- and his state's -- legacy of loss and perseverance from the vantage point of Montana's centennial in 1989 when his daughter Mariah enlists him as Winnebago chauffeur to her and her ex-husband, the magnificently ornery and eloquent columnist Riley Wright, when their news-paper dispatches them to dig up stories of the "real Montana." Just as the centennial is a cause for reflection as well as jubilation, the exuberant travels of this trio bring on encounters with the past in "memory storms" that become occasions for reassessment and necessary accommodations of the heart. Views: 115
Adultery, incest, and questions of racial identity simmer beneath the tranquil surface of suburban life in this novel, set in a small New Jersey town of the early 1900s. Lovely young Laurentine is obsessed with her "bad blood," inherited from a common-law interracial union. Proud and independent, she longs for the respectability of a conventional marriage. Laurentine's vivacious and self-confident cousin, Melissa, also aspires to "marry up." But a family secret shadows Melissa's dreams and ambitions as she approaches an explosive revelation.African-American editor, poet, essayist, and novelist Jessie Redmon Fauset (1882–1961) was a prominent figure of the Harlem Renaissance. An editor of the NAACP magazine The Crisis, she was also an editor and co-author of the African-American children's magazine, The Brownies' Book. Her third novel, The Chinaberry Tree, draws upon elements of Greek tragedy in its powerful depiction of interracial love and... Views: 115
"Hornblower and the Atropos" skippering the flagship for Nelson's funeral on the Thames is not Hornblower's idea of thrilling action. But soon his orders come, and he sets sail for the Mediterranean in the Atropos. 'Battle, storm, shipwreck, disease - what were the chances that he would never come back again?' "The happy return" Hornblower sails the South American waters and comes face to face with a mad, messianic revolutionary in a novel that ripples with risk and gripping adventure. "a ship of the line" commando raids, hurricanes at sea, the glowering menace of Napoleon's onshore gun batteries - Hornblower must deal with them all as he sails his ship to the Spanish station. Throughout his escapades Forester remains gallant, resourceful and courageous - the embodiment of all the most vivid in a great naval tradition. Views: 114
Chilling and taut, NAMELESS, introduces a fresh and exciting twist on the deadly game of cat and mouse. By virtue of one impulsive and deeply human, but all too grave mistake, a good and decent man finds himself pitted against the embodiment of evil and threatened with losing everything and everyone he loves and values; including the pristine reputation he has endeavored all his adult life to establish. FBI Special Agent in Charge Daniel Falcone unwittingly steps onto course for a head-on collision with a frighteningly brilliant psychotic serial killer, whose harrowing childhood abuse and neglect left him devoid of humanity and salivating for revenge. Framed for a brutal murder on a commercial cruise ship, and fighting for the right to raise his sons and clear his name, Falcone races against the clock and struggles to keep his eyes on the prize, even while his profound guilt and self-loathing threaten to destroy him faster than his maniacal adversary. Views: 114
Set in 1706 during Queen Anne Stuart's reign, Far Beyond Rubies begins when William, Baron Kemp, Juliana's half-brother claims she and her young sister, Henrietta, are bastards. Spirited Juliana is determined to prove the allegation is false, and that she is the rightful heiress to Riverside, a great estate. On his way to deliver a letter to William, Gervaise Seymour sees Juliana for the first time in the grounds of her family estate. The sight of her draws him back to India. When "her form changed to one he knew intimately – but not in this lifetime," Gervaise knows he would do everything in his power to protect her. Although Juliana and Gervaise are attracted to each other, they have not been formally introduced and assume they will never meet again. However, when Juliana flees from home, and is on her way to London, she encounters quixotic Gervaise at an inn. Circumstances force her to accept his kind help. After Juliana's life becomes irrevocably tangled... Views: 114
Mira Acharya's life in suburban Toronto sometimes feels like an aberration. After the death of her father, the only family left to her are Ravi, her autistic older brother, and their mother, who is deeply caring but flawed in her parental responsibilities. Only as she grows and changes does Mira begin to understand that her mother and brother face the same challenges she does. Together, the family experiences quiet moments of sorrow, and tenuous moments of hope. Written with humour, grace, and heartbreaking honesty, The Family Took Shape is Shashi Bhat's stunning debut novel about finding one's place in the world, and discovering the rare beauty of those one cannot live without. Views: 114
In the spirit of Loving Frank and The Paris Wife, acclaimed novelist Melanie Benjamin pulls back the curtain on the marriage of one of America’s most extraordinary couples: Charles Lindbergh and Anne Morrow Lindbergh.For much of her life, Anne Morrow, the shy daughter of the U.S. ambassador to Mexico, has stood in the shadows of those around her, including her millionaire father and vibrant older sister, who often steals the spotlight. Then Anne, a college senior with hidden literary aspirations, travels to Mexico City to spend Christmas with her family. There she meets Colonel Charles Lindbergh, fresh off his celebrated 1927 solo flight across the Atlantic. Enthralled by Charles’s assurance and fame, Anne is certain the celebrated aviator has scarcely noticed her. But she is wrong.Charles sees in Anne a kindred spirit, a fellow adventurer, and her world will be changed forever. The two marry in a headline-making wedding. Hounded by adoring crowds and hunted by an insatiable press, Charles shields himself and his new bride from prying eyes, leaving Anne to feel her life falling back into the shadows. In the years that follow, despite her own major achievements—she becomes the first licensed female glider pilot in the United States—Anne is viewed merely as the aviator’s wife. The fairy-tale life she once longed for will bring heartbreak and hardships, ultimately pushing her to reconcile her need for love and her desire for independence, and to embrace, at last, life’s infinite possibilities for change and happiness.Drawing on the rich history of the twentieth century—from the late twenties to the mid-sixties—and featuring cameos from such notable characters as Joseph Kennedy and Amelia Earhart, The Aviator’s Wife is a vividly imagined novel of a complicated marriage—revealing both its dizzying highs and its devastating lows. With stunning power and grace, Melanie Benjamin provides new insight into what made this remarkable relationship endure.BONUS: This edition includes a The Aviator's Wife discussion guide.PRAISE FOR MELANIE BENJAMIN The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb “By turns heartrending and thrilling, this bighearted novel recounts a fictionalized life of this most extraordinary of women in prose that is lush and details that are meticulously researched. I loved this book.”—Sara GruenAlice I Have Been “This is magic! Childhood, sensuality, love, sorrow, and wonder, all bright and complex as the shifting patterns of a kaleidoscope.”—Diana Gabaldon Views: 114
A Darkly Sweet, Fun, Twisted Love Story.Welcome to the world of The Grid. Where heroic bad-asses looking for a second chance to get into Heaven are fighting a war among us.Reno Sundown's been fighting that war for over 150 years. But just like the war, no one knows it. That's because he's the dark split personality of one of the Grid's baddest heroes. The only things he is ever allowed to have are the bad, the pain and the violence. Never the good. A dark secret to be hidden away. And he thought that's all he would ever be. Until her.Emma Devenmore has always focused on one thing, family. The eldest of her sisters, she has made life centered on protection. Protecting her family and doing her job of protecting others. A love story was never in her plans, until she met him. And then, didn't know he even existed. Watching and longing for something he was not allowed to have. Her.Can love make a life? Can it be so strong that despite the darkness that has staked its claim, can it make the impossible possible?Can the Beauty always save the Beast?Even when she doesn't even know he's waiting to be saved?Shadow-Keepers Series Reading order:Before the Madness: Reno Sundown (Novella)Madness: Book One of the Shadow-Keepers SeriesBOUNCE (Novella) Views: 114
In 9 Days, 9 Days and Counting, And Then He Saved Me, Play With Me at Noon Views: 114
Meadow Woodson has been trained to survive. This is a prequel to The Murder Complex, by Lindsay Cummings, and it is set in a blood-soaked world where the murder rate is higher than the birth rate. For fans of Moira Young's Dust Lands series, La Femme Nikita, and the movie Hanna.Meadow Woodson's father calls it The Fear Trials, and it is a rite of passage in their family. Meadow is up against her brother Koi. The Fear Trials will both harden her and make her brave. If Meadow wins, she will get a weapon of her own and the right to leave the Woodsons' houseboat without her father or mother at her side. Set in the violent, complex, and mysterious world of The Murder Complex, and introducing Meadow Woodson--a teenage girl trained to survive no matter what the cost--and her family, who are together for the last time on their houseboat in the Florida Everglades. Views: 114
