In The Easter Parade, first published in 1976, we meet sisters Sarah and Emily Grimes when they are still the children of divorced parents. We observe the sisters over four decades, watching them grow into two very different women. Sarah is stable and stalwart, settling into an unhappy marriage. Emily is precocious and independent, struggling with one unsatisfactory love affair after another. Richard Yates's classic novel is about how both women struggle to overcome their tarnished family's past, and how both finally reach for some semblance of renewal.Reviews:"Yates writes powerfully and enters completely and effortlessly into the lives of his characters . . . A spare yet wrenching tale."—The New York Times Book Review"An elegant, moving novel, quietly poignant."—Larry McMurtry, The Washington Post "Invigorating and even gripping. The dialogue is artful enough to sound natural. In his descriptive prose every word works quietly to inspire the illusion that things are happening by themselves . . . A literary achievement."—Paul Gray, Time "Exact, indisputable, and moving."—Richard Todd, The Atlantic "Extraordinarily good . . . Written with the force and simplicity of absolute truth."—The San Francisco Sunday Examiner & Chronicle "The effect is at once cruel and sweet, heartbreaking and brutal . . . The Easter Parade has an astonishing sweep and weight."—Stuart O'Nan, The Boston Book Review Views: 36
NOMINEE 2011 – Toronto Book AwardsWhen Edal Jones wakes to the sound of a mouse on the hardwood floor by her bed, she doesn’t quite know why she says softly, “Hello.” But then, a lot of things have stopped making sense for Edal. As a federal wildlife officer at Pearson International Airport she’s seen everything from goliath bird-eating tarantulas crammed in a briefcase to a California condor “folded up like a sports coat.” So why has the sight of juvenile star tortoises crushed and broken in a grandmother’s luggage suddenly made it impossible for her to go on?That same morning, riding her bike in the empty downtown core, Edal spots a young homeless girl rescuing birds that have knocked themselves out against the glassy office towers. Edal tracks Lily through the city to Howell Auto Wreckers in Toronto’s east end and discovers a new world where the links between people and animals can heal rather than hurt. Handsome wrecking-yard owner Guy Howell employs Stephen, a young soldier on medical release whose duties include veterinary as well as mechanical tasks. Guy is rehabilitating a weakened red-tailed hawk, while Stephen raises a litter of orphaned raccoons, and Lily comes and goes with her birds and her constant companion, a massive black dog named Billy. All the characters in Fauna are animal lovers in search of something that human cruelty has denied them. As the narrative develops, we learn more about each of them, until they begin to feel like our intimate friends. The circle expands to include a young veterinary technician mourning her lover’s death, then expands again with dramatic consequences for all concerned when a disturbed young man starts taking out his anger and sorrow on the coyotes that live in the Don Valley. Gently, meditatively, this unique novel delivers a profoundly immersive experience. A new kind of urban writing,* Fauna *encourages us to look again at the margins and undercurrents of the cities we inhabit, and consider how we treat the other beings who call those spaces home. What’s more, the persuasive beauty of York’s writing, the tenderness of her approach to her characters, and the connections she draws between them invite us to look inward and re-evaluate both the human and the animal within.From the Hardcover edition.ReviewNATIONAL BESTSELLER“Rich and strange and deeply satisfying. Whether she’s adopting the voice of a homeless teen, a yuppy vet, or a famished coyote, York writes with a spare, unsentimental fluency that connects strangers, enemies, species. Fauna reminds us of the life that swoops and slithers and lopes and pounces all around us, even in the most urban of worlds; a wild life we share and ignore at our peril.” —Annabel Lyon, author of The Golden Mean“Fauna is the sort of rare novel that can change the way you see your world. Its cast of misfits and dreamers is united by their visceral connection to the forgotten animals surviving in the green patches of our big cities. This book is beautiful, unusual and memorable. And Alissa York is a daring and original talent.” —Jim Lynch, author of Border Songs“Layered with astonishing detail, with every location vividly evoked and every action a visceral experience.” — The Globe and Mail “One of the novel’s strengths is the way York turns her gaze from the human world to the world of Toronto’s skunks, coyotes, raccoons and squirrels. . . . Even as she brings animals to life with her writing, she is clear about the terrible toll taken by everything from cars, to skyscraper windows, to live electrical wires.” — Winnipeg Free Press“Lyrical. . . . Fauna is well crafted, morally serious and even noble in its sensitivity.” — Toronto Star“An extraordinary novel. . . . daring and exceptional.”— Quill & Quire (starred review)“A tender and beautiful novel.” — NOW (Toronto)From the Hardcover edition.About the AuthorAlissa York’s fiction has won the Journey Prize and the Bronwen Wallace Award, and has been published in Canada, the U.S., France, Holland and Italy. Her most recent novel, Effigy, was shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and longlisted for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. York has lived all over Canada and now makes her home in Toronto with her husband, artist Clive Holden.From the Hardcover edition. Views: 36
The 20th Century is over and done with and nothing can be changed. Or is it? Felice Picano's two short novels take delicious what- if peeks at outwitting Time's (seemingly) unbending Arrow.In Ingoldsby, a handsome graduate student finds himself caretaking a Midwestern architectural treasure in which not everything or everyone is what they seem—or when they seem either! But a sexy newcomer challenges him to change all that, for himself, and for a gay youth way out of his own time.In Wonder City of the West, a man too young in spirit to be at retirement age takes a leap back to Golden Age Hollywood. He encounters youth, friendship, a movie star lover, and talents he never knew he possessed. But as he succeeds beyond his dreams, he must ask—is he merely a tool for a shadowy group with a far larger purpose?Provocative, mind-bending, sensual, and entertaining, 20th Century Un-limited is an unexpected addition to an established body of work by an... Views: 36
Vintage Readers are a perfect introduction to some of the greatest modern writers presented in attractive, accessible paperback editions."In Munro's hands, as in Chekhov's, a short story is more than big enough to hold the world--and to astonish us again and again." --Chicago TribuneIn an unbroken procession of brilliant, revelatory short stories, Alice Munro has unfolded the wordless secrets that lie at the heart of all human experience. She has won three Governor General's Literary Awards in her native Canada, as well as the National Book Critics Circle Award. Vintage Munro includes stories from throughout her career: The title stories from her collections The Moons of Jupiter; The Progress of Love; Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage; "Differently," from Selected Stories, and "Carried Away," from Open Secrets.From the Trade Paperback edition. Views: 36
For the bicentennial of its original publication—the first full-length book from the father of the American short storyIn 1809, New Yorkers were buzzing about a series of classified ads concerning the whereabouts of Dutch historian Diedrich Knickerbocker. They were unaware that Washington Irving had invented the man entirely and placed the ads himself. Knickerbocker's purported manuscript, A History of New York, was Irving's own. Told from Knickerbocker's point of view, A History of New York is a chronicle of New York's fifty years under Dutch rule in the 1600s that plays fast and loose with the facts, to uproarious effect. Irving's good-humored spoofing had staying power, and his satire provided the city with its first self-portrait. A History of New York propelled Irving to the heights of literary stardom and even made a little history of its own: New Yorkers are called Knickerbockers to this day. Views: 36
Kate is a young widow, left alone, having no children of her own, and would do anything to see that her youngest sister, Alison, gets a chance at a happy life. When Alison is taken hostage by an evil warlord who intends to wed her, Kate offers to trade herself to the warlord in place of her sister. Ethan MacGregor has spent his life fighting among the clans of the Scottish Highlands, trying desperately to bring peace to his territory. Finally ready to settle down and establish a household, he only needs a beautiful young highland lass to share his bed. When he takes the youngest sister of the woman he truly desires, Kate, she falls right into his hands by offering herself in exchange for her sister's freedom.And though Ethan has promised to release Kate's sister in exchange for a night of passion, he has no intention of letting Kate go. Views: 36
Even the deadliest gangs in Chicagoland fear the Cross Crew, and carefully avoid their cinderblock bunker headquarters: Red 71 is well known as the last place you'd want to go . . . unless you're willing to risk it being the last place you ever go. The Crew is notorious for its ruthless efficiency and cold-blooded cunning. Why, then, would anyone be foolhardy enough to threaten them–and even more dangerously, their loved ones? As Cross catches the scent of a far-reaching conspiracy, he realizes that it all connects to an unexplained event in his past: a massacre from which he emerged inexplicably unscathed, save for the blue mark on his face that pulses when danger is near. That scar has been throbbing more frequently of late.... If he's reading the signs accurately, Cross might find himself again facing a terrible menace that is not altogether human.*MEMOFROM: Captain Nathan Lancaster, Chief, Gang Surveillance UnitTO: All... Views: 35
The saga continues in this installment of the best selling series, The Marechal Chronicles.VOLUME IV, THE CHASEMelisse and the Marechal de Barristide have survived a demonic battle only to find themselves at odds with one another.A
noble yet lonely man, the Marechal would have her stay at his side
while he searches for the evil behind hideous murders throughout the
realm. Yet Melisse believes her destiny lies over the mountains, far
from her past.However that same past finds its way back to her
and Melisse learns of another murder at House Perene. Only she is too
late as she discovers that the blood running in Helene Perene's veins is
no more noble than her own.Meanwhile, Silas has learned to play
the game of intrigue and deception at the Estril court while he remains
captive and consort to a High General's wife. Jealousy threatens his
very existence but nothing will stop him as he strives for his own
freedom.Behind them all lies the broken tower of the Alchemist.
It is a curse to anyone who falls under its shadow. In bitter chagrin,
Melisse discovers she is no exception as she makes the attempt to
unravel its terrifying mysteries.This is Volume Four in a multi-part series and begins just after the events recounted in The Marechal Chronicles: Volumes I, II and III. Views: 35
Naguib Mahfouz is Egypt's most famous novelist and his leading role in Arabic literature remains assured. He is now the author of no fewer than thirty novels and more than a hundred short stories; in Egypt each new publication is regarded as a major cultural event and his name is inevitably among the first mentioned in any literary discussion from Gibraltar to the Gulf. If only because of his impact on the Arab world, Mahfouz must be considered an author of international importance. "This is a psychological novel, impressionist rather than realist; it moves with the speed and economy of a detective story. Here Mahfouz uses the "stream of consciousness" technique for the first time to show the mental anguish of the central figure consumed by bitterness and a desire for revenge against the individuals and the society who have corrupted and betrayed him and brought about his inevitable damnation. It is a masterly work, swiftly giving the reader a keenly accurate vision of the workings of a sick and embittered mind doomed to self-destruction." From the Introduction by Trevor Le Gassick Views: 35
A fiercely exciting story of cat-and-mouse tactics, played out against the drama of a suicide attempt by a beautiful girl. As far as the river police are concerned, the attempted suicide is a routine matter. Nothing too special, just a girl throwing herself off Hammersmith Bridge in a fit of desperate remorse. But when she is admitted to the West Kensington Hospital, she finds herself coming under the scrutiny of Tim Long, the surgical registrar. Out of kindness of heart, then out of grim necessity Tim and the rest of the hospital staff find themselves caught up in the pitiful life of a girl for whom there seems to be ultimately no escape except death. Views: 35
