John Rechy's first novel, City of Night, an international bestseller, is considered a modern classic. Subsequent work asserts his place among America's most important writers. The author's most daring work, After the Blue Hour is narrated by a twenty-four-year-old writer named John Rechy. Fleeing a turbulent life in Los Angeles, he accepts an invitation to a private island from an admirer of his work. There, he joins Paul, his imposing host in his late thirties, his beautiful mistress, and his precocious teenage son. Browsing Paul's library and conversing together on the deck about literature and film during the spell of evening's blue hour," John feels surcease, until, with unabashed candor, Paul shares intimate details of his life. Through cunning seductive charm, he married and divorced an ambassador's daughter and the heiress to a vast fortune. Avoiding identifying his son's mother, he reveals an affinity for erotic dangerous games." With... Views: 143
A collection of personal essays and writing from David Malouf to celebrate his 80th birthday. Topography, geography, history. Multiculturalism, referendums, the constitution and national occasions. Parental and grandparental romances, the sensual and bountiful beauty of Brisbane, the mysterious offerings of Queenslander houses, and leaving home. The idea of a nation and the heart of its people. Being Australian and Australia's relationship to the world. Putting ourselves on the map. All these subjects, and more, are explored from the generous, questioning and original perspective of David Malouf. At the heart of these pieces is the idea of home, where and what it is. What they illustrate is the formation of a man, an Australian and one of the best writers this country has produced. Views: 143
For Napoleon's stepdaughter, nothing is simple - especially love.Paris, 1798. Hortense de Beauharnais is engrossed in her studies at a boarding school for aristocratic girls, most of whom have suffered tragic losses during the tumultuous days of the French Revolution. She loves to play and compose music, read and paint, and daydream about Christophe, her brother's dashing fellow officer. But Hortense is not an ordinary girl. Her beautiful, charming mother, Josephine, has married Napoleon Bonaparte, soon to become the most powerful man in France, but viewed by Hortense at the outset as a coarse, unworthy successor to her elegant father, who was guillotined during the Terror.Where will Hortense's future lie? it may not be in her power to decide.Inspired by Hortense's real-life autobiography with charming glimpses of life long ago, this is the story of a girl destined by fate to play a role she didn't choose. Views: 143
Perfect for fans of Sally Rooney's Beautiful World, Where Are You?Sometimes it's hard to find the right words. This poetry anthology provides the antidote, offering calm, hope and peace to all. Focusing on positivity, this is the perfect collection to dip into whenever you need a boost. Containing a selection of classic poems from Langston Hughes, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson and Christina Rossetti, as well as contemporary poems chosen by Sarah Crossan – the go-to verse novelist in the UK – this beautiful book will lift your spirits time and time again. An essential read and the perfect gift for anyone in need of comfort, joy and hope.For fans of The Poetry Pharmacy and Poems to Live Your Life By Views: 143
From BooklistMadrid novelist Somoza's latest thriller to appear in the U.S. (it was originally published in Spain in 2001) concerns a young girl who is found murdered and two police detectives who must find the killer before he strikes again. But it's the world of the novel that captures our interest, not the whodunit aspect. The action takes place in the bizarre subculture of hyperdramatic art, in which the works of art are actual, living people, painted and posed like living mannequins. It is a world in which 14-year-old girls (like the murder victim) can be sold to collectors, not as people but as artworks. And sold for a lot of money, too. It's a fascinating and certainly disquieting underworld, and readers are drawn deep into it by Somoza's stylish prose (nicely translated by Caistor). Fans of mysteries in which the setting takes precedence over the story should be steered toward this one. David PittCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reservedReview“Fans of mysteries in which the setting takes precedence over the story should be steered toward this one.” -- Booklist “It’s a fascinating and certainly disquieting underworld, and readers are drawn deep into it by Somoza’s stylish prose.” -- Booklist Views: 143
In At Paradise Gate, Pulitzer Prize-winner and bestselling author Jane Smiley paints with searing accuracy a portrait of a marriage at breaking point and one family's struggle for survival.While seventy-seven-year-old Ike Robison is dying in his bedroom upstairs, his wife, Anna, must defend all that they have built together through-out their lengthy marriage as their house is invaded by their three interfering - albeit loving - middle-aged daughters and their twenty-three year old grand-daughter, Christine.Set over a three-day period of family crisis, Anna reflects over all that has happened, and all that is still left to come, in this compelling and gracefully wrought depiction of a marriage. Views: 143
Family secrets and hidden lives come to haunt Madison Castelli, the sexy, vivacious, and talented writer last seen in Jackie Collins's Lethal Seduction. As she digs into her father's past, trying to resolve the mystery that surrounds her mother's death many years before, Madison finds herself falling into a vortex of lust, greed, and deception, as eventually her quest of discovery turns into a race for her life. Fast-paced, sexy, and full of the glamour that pervades Jackie Collins's novels, Deadly Embrace is sure to please her fans and earn her many more. Views: 142
By the author of Tulip Fever, a historical drama bursting with secrets and passions.1916: Pretty young Eithne Clay runs a shabby-genteel South London boarding house while her husband is off at the War. There's Ralph, her fourteen-year old son, and Winnie the young maid, a homely, goodhearted country girl, and the lodgers, of course, a curious but necessary burden. They include blind Alwyne Flyte, communist and cynic, victim of a gas attack in the trenches. When the dreaded telegram arrives at the house, things turn from difficult to desperate for the two young women. Then along comes the butcher, Neville Turk, big handsome ladies' man, irresistible for his meat, money and brutish confidence, who throws flighty Eithne into a turmoil but has sinister plans of his own. Winnie and the blind lodger, meanwhile, conduct a strange, erotic liaison of their own. And young Ralph, ignored by his mother, looks on, feeling the undercurrents of desire, seeing more than he should. All the... Views: 142
This eleventh memoir and latest title from the internationally bestselling author and foster carer Cathy Glass can either be read as a full eBook or in 3 serialised eBook-only parts. Will You Love Me tells the true story of Cathy's adopted daughter Lucy. Lucy was born to a single mother who had been abused and neglected for most of her own childhood. Right from the beginning Lucy's mother couldn't cope, but it wasn't until Lucy reached eight years old that she was finally taken into permanent foster care. By the time Lucy is brought to live with Cathy she is eleven years old and severely distressed after being moved from one foster home to another. Withdrawn, refusing to eat and three years behind in her schooling, it is thought that the damage Lucy has suffered is irreversible. But Cathy and her two children bond with Lucy quickly, and break through to Lucy in a way no-one else has been able to, finally showing her the... Views: 142
