The three daughters of the Field family, aged 17 to 19 are bound together by the love and protection of their fragile alcoholic mother and fear of their abusive father. In a family on the brink of madness, they learn to survive in a dangerously psychotic environment. First published in 1990, FALLING ANGELS is a gripping portrait of a family in trouble, by the author of the highly acclaimed MISTER SANDMAN.From Publishers WeeklyAfter opening on the 1969 funeral of a woman who fell or leaped from a rooftop, this narrative shifts to the 1950s; through her three daughters, we learn that she is an alcoholic who once dropped or threw an infant son over Niagara Falls. "Scrupulously and evocatively wrought, with fully formed characters, it poses but does not quite resolve a mystery rooted in character and fate," said PW. Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library JournalDisenchanted eccentrics wending their way through eerie situations seem to be the dominant theme in most of the postmodern "new fiction." Troublesome as these forays into nihilism's gloomy landscapes are, an effective work of new fiction is as bracing as a dive into a chilly pond, offering more than a few surprises with its odd meld of quirky characters and wickedly audacious scenes. Gowdy's is one such dark gem of a novel. Through a series of vignettes it charts the lives of the Field family, recounting bouts of alcoholism, neglect, and verbal abuse. A story otherwise laden with sad escapades, Fallen Angels remains lively throughout because of the inventiveness and strength of its main characters: Lou, Norma, and Sandy. These three unfortunate sisters will amaze readers with their ability to endure the many traumas of childhood and adolescence, despite the antics of their even more unfortunate parents. This coming-of-age novel is not likely to appeal to those who wear a shield of optimism.-Lauren Bielski,"Printing News"Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. Views: 41
From the inimitable and bestselling author Thomas Cahill, another popular history, focusing on the Renaissance and Reformation and how this innovative period changed the Western world. In Volume VI of his acclaimed Hinges of History series, Thomas Cahill guides us through the thrilling period of Renaissance and Reformation (late fourteenth to early seventeenth centuries), so full of innovation and cultural change that the Western world would not experience its like again until the twentieth century. Beginning with the continent-wide disaster of the Black Plague, Cahill traces the many innovations in European thought and experience that served both the new humanism of the Renaissance and the seemingly abrupt religious alterations of the increasingly radical Reformation. This is an age of the most sublime artistic and scientific adventure, but also of newly powerful princes and armies, and of newly found courage, as many thousands refuse to bow their heads to the... Views: 40
A gripping adventure in an exciting new series: Voices, Now or Never brings a young soldier, Private Fazal Khan, from his home in India to the battlefields of the Second World War.Fazal's world is now focused on Company 32 and the animals he cares for in the midst of one of the most frightening times in history. And as he and his friends make their way to the beaches of Dunkirk, Fazal must deal with even more than the terrors of a dangerous trek to reach the evacuation zone.The Company's captain defends his troops in the face of a terrible betrayal at the point of rescue: not everyone has welcomed the help brought by the Royal Indian Army Service Corps. Now Fazal is forced to question why he is even there and why he is expected to be loyal to a king whose people don't all see him as their equal. Views: 40
Simon and Samuel—the two-headed man—are as different as night and day. But with one body between them, they just have to put up with each other. Or is there another way out?Hailed as “remarkable and uplifting” by The Globe and Mail and published to equally glowing acclaim around the world, Barbara Gowdy’s groundbreaking collection of stories, We So Seldom Look on Love, pushes past the limits of convention into lives that are fantastic and heartbreakingly real.HarperCollins brings great works of literature to life in digital format, upholding the highest standards in ebook production and celebrating reading in all its forms. Look for more titles in the HarperCollins short-stories collection to build your digital library. Views: 40
The Man Booker Prize 2008 Winner. Born in a village in heartland India, the son of a rickshaw puller, Balram is taken out of school by his family and put to work in a teashop. As he crushes coals and wipes tables, he nurses a dream of escape – of breaking away from the banks of Mother Ganga, into whose depths have seeped the remains of a hundred generations. The White Tiger is a tale of two Indias. Balram’s journey from darkness of village life to the light of entrepreneurial success is utterly amoral, brilliantly irreverent, deeply endearing and altogether unforgettable. *** From Publishers Weekly Starred Review. A brutal view of India 's class struggles is cunningly presented in Adiga's debut about a racist, homicidal chauffer. Balram Halwai is from the Darkness, born where India 's downtrodden and unlucky are destined to rot. Balram manages to escape his village and move to Delhi after being hired as a driver for a rich landlord. Telling his story in retrospect, the novel is a piecemeal correspondence from Balram to the premier of China, who is expected to visit India and whom Balram believes could learn a lesson or two about India 's entrepreneurial underbelly. Adiga's existential and crude prose animates the battle between India 's wealthy and poor as Balram suffers degrading treatment at the hands of his employers (or, more appropriately, masters). His personal fortunes and luck improve dramatically after he kills his boss and decamps for Bangalore. Balram is a clever and resourceful narrator with a witty and sarcastic edge that endears him to readers, even as he rails about corruption, allows himself to be defiled by his bosses, spews coarse invective and eventually profits from moral ambiguity and outright criminality. It's the perfect antidote to lyrical India. *** From The New Yorker In this darkly comic début novel set in India, Balram, a chauffeur, murders his employer, justifying his crime as the act of a "social entrepreneur." In a series of letters to the Premier of China, in anticipation of the leader’s upcoming visit to Balram’s homeland, the chauffeur recounts his transformation from an honest, hardworking boy growing up in "the Darkness"-those areas of rural India where education and electricity are equally scarce, and where villagers banter about local elections "like eunuchs discussing the Kama Sutra"-to a determined killer. He places the blame for his rage squarely on the avarice of the Indian élite, among whom bribes are commonplace, and who perpetuate a system in which many are sacrificed to the whims of a few. Adiga’s message isn’t subtle or novel, but Balram’s appealingly sardonic voice and acute observations of the social order are both winning and unsettling. Views: 40
'We walk in the footprints of great women,women who lived through hard times on farms,in villages, towns and cities.The lives of these women are an untold story.This book is a celebration of the often forgotten"ordinary" women who gave so much to our society.' Alice Taylor In her eagerly-awaited new book, Alice salutes the women whose energy and generositymade such a valuable contribution to all our lives. '[It] warmed my heart and reminded me of the value of family, friendship and community... I was enthralled... wonderful.' Irish Independent on And Time Stood Still Views: 40
Tracy Ellison, the star of Omar Tyree's Flyy Girl and For the Love of Money, returns in this bestselling novel, Boss Lady. Everybody's favorite flyy girl is a little bit older, a whole lot wiser, and just as sassy as ever. After a series of triumphs in the world of letters and acting, Tracy takes on the dazzling world of Hollywood's A-list players to film a project close to her heart. Told from the point of view of Tracy's cousin and personal assistant, Vanessa, Boss Lady chronicles the trials and tribulations of adapting the story of Tracy Ellison's life. In this novel, Flyy Girl is becoming a major motion picture and Tracy is prepared to do anything and everything to tell her story and to make sure it's done right, from screenwriting to producing to designing. In the meantime, she's also juggling the highs and lows of her famously turbulent love life. Is it better to remain single and committed to her career? Or is she ready to... Views: 39
