SUMMARY: In 'the stifling heat of equatorial Newark', a terrifying epidemic is raging, threatening the children of the New Jersey city with maiming, paralysis, life-long disability, even death. This is the startling and surprising theme of Roth's wrenching new book: a wartime polio epidemic in the summer of 1944 and the effect it has on a closely-knit, family-oriented Newark community and its children. At the center of NEMESIS is a vigorous, dutiful, twenty-three-year old playground director, Bucky Cantor, a javelin thrower and a weightlifter, who is devoted to his charges and disappointed with himself because his weak eyes have excluded him from serving in the war alongside his contemporaries. Focusing on Cantor's dilemmas as polio begins to ravage his playground -- and on the everyday realities he faces -- Roth leads us through every inch of emotion such a pestilence can breed: the fear, the panic, the anger, the bewilderment, the suffering, and the pain. Moving between the smouldering, malodorous streets of besieged Newark and Indian Hill, a pristine children's summer camp high in the Poconos -- whose 'mountain air was purified of all contaminants' -- Roth depicts a decent, energetic man with the best intentions struggling in his own private war against the epidemic. Roth is tenderly exact at every point about Cantor's passage into personal disaster and no less exact about the condition of childhood. Through this story runs the dark question that haunts all four of Roth's late short novels, EVERYMAN, INDIGNATION, THE HUMBLING, and now, NEMESIS: what choices fatally shape a life? How powerless is each of us up against the force of circumstances? Views: 53
It Was Always You, a Gaming The System short Friends discover their feelings are more than that but timing has never been on their side. When Jeremy, her brother’s best friend, came back into her life, Michaela cursed the fact that she was in a relationship with someone else. But now that she’s free, he’s dating her roommate. This is a contemporary romance novella with a happy ending. The characters exist in the same world as Brenna Aubrey’s bestselling Gaming The System series, but you don’t need to have read any of those books to enjoy this story. ** Views: 53
SynopsisThe compelling new saga fromThe Sunday Times best selling author.When Helen Redwood is tragically widowed, she and her daughter, Chloe, move to Liverpool to be closer to her family. But it is tending her beautiful garden with her handsome young gardener, Rex Kenwright, that ultimately saves Helen from grief. No stranger to bereavement himself, Rex finds comfort in Helen's company but it is seventeen-year-old Chloe who steals his heart.It is the swinging sixties, however, and Chloe has dreams of her own. When she announces that she is pregnant and moving in with her boyfriend, Adam Livingstone, she has no idea of the effect this will have on those she loves. Nor does she anticipate the rocky road to happiness that lies ahead... Views: 53
'Brilliantly funny, emotional and uplifting' Miranda Dickinson A funny and heartwarming debut for fans of Celia Imrie and Dawn French. Evie Gallagher is regretting her hasty move into a care home. She may be seventy-five and recently widowed, but she's absolutely not dead yet. And so, one morning, Evie walks out of Sheldon Lodge and sets off on a Great Adventure across Europe. But not everyone thinks Great Adventures are appropriate for women of Evie's age, least of all her son Brendan and his wife Maura, who follow a trail of puzzling text messages to bring her home. When they finally catch up with her, there are shocks in store . . . because while Brendan may have given up on life and love, Evie certainly has not. 'Lovely . . . a book that assures that life is far from over at seventy' Cathy Hopkins, bestselling author of The Kicking the Bucket List Views: 53
The Adventure of the Illustrious Client The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone The Adventure of the Three Gables The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire The Adventure of the Three Garridebs The Problem of Thor Bridge The Adventure of the Creeping Man The Adventure of the Lion's Mane The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place The Adventure of the Retired Colorman Views: 53
The Yeerks aren't playing around anymore. They're no longer hiding behind a silent invasion. And one of the first steps in their new plan is to take over the National Guard, to prepare for all-out war against humanity.Marco and the other Animorphs couldn't be less prepared for this news. The Yeerks know who they are, forcing them to hide to protect their families. Things are falling apart, and for once Jake may not be able to make the decision that will save them... Views: 53
Richly imagined and as irresistible as its magical setting, Carnevale evokes the three great loves of the painter Cecilia Cornaro: Casanova, Byron and La Serenissima herself. Views: 53
