Although her vast inheritance seemed a blessing, it has become a curse now that Susanna Laven's mother is determined to marry her against her will to the impoverished Duke of Southampton. What's worse that as her mother repeatedly and cruelly tells her, she is the family's "ugly duckling" her only attraction is her fortune! Desperate to escape a loveless marriage, she responds to an advertisement for a reader in French and Italian for a temporarily blind gentleman. Meeting the gentleman, a Mr. Dunblane, who is swathed head to toe in bandages after a terrible motor car accident, she finds him rude and short-tempered, but still accepts and soon finds herself on a luxury train speeding across France on its journey to Florence.There Susanna's eyes are opened to the glories of Florence – and love! to She had prayed to God to give her love, and in the blossoming relationship with her blind employer, who himself seems entranced by her, she may have found it. But it's an agony, not a joy... Views: 11
Zen-infused meditations on the limitations of memory, mortality, and the boundaries of human existence.In A Memory of the Future, critically acclaimed poet Elizabeth Spires reflects on selfhood and the search for a core identity. Inspired by the tradition of poetic interest in Zen, Spires explores the noisy space of the mind, interrogating the necessary divide between the social persona that navigates the world and the artist's secret self. With vivid, careful attention to the minute details of everyday moments, A Memory of the Future observes, questions, and meditates on the ordinary, attempting to make sense of the boundaries of existence.As the poems move from Zen reflections outward into the identifiable worlds of Manhattan, Maine, and Maryland's Eastern shore, houses, both real and imagined, become metaphorical extensions of the self and psyche. These poems ask the unanswerable questions that become more pressing in the second half of life. How are we... Views: 11
The first definitive, unauthorized, behind-the-scenes cultural history of the Bachelor franchise, America's favorite guilty pleasureFor fifteen years and thirty-five seasons, the Bachelor franchise has been a mainstay in American TV viewers' lives. Since it premiered in 2002, the show's popularity and relevance has only grown—more than eight million viewers tuned in to see the conclusion of the most recent season of The Bachelor.The iconic reality television show's reach and influence into the cultural zeitgeist is undeniable. Bestselling writers and famous actors live tweet about it. Die-hard fans—dubbed "Bachelor Nation"—come together every week during each season to participate in fantasy leagues and viewing parties. Bachelor Nation is the first behind-the-scenes, unauthorized look into the reality television phenomenon. Los Angeles Times journalist Amy Kaufman is a proud member of Bachelor Nation and has a long... Views: 11
