Literature
A Conspiracy of Friends
CORDUROY MANSIONS - Book 3
In the Corduroy Mansions series of novels, set in London's hip Pimlico neighborhood, we meet a cast of charming eccentrics, including perhaps the world's most clever terrier, who make their home in a handsome, though slightly dilapidated, apartment block.
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A Day in the Life of a Smiling Woman
Margaret Drabble's novels have illuminated the past fifty years, especially the changing lives of women, like no others. Yet her short fiction has its own unique brilliance. Her penetrating evocations of character and place, her wide-ranging curiosity, her sense of irony--all are on display here, in stories that explore marriage, female friendships, the English tourist abroad, love affairs with houses, peace demonstrations, gin and tonics, cultural TV programs, in stories that are perceptive, sharp, and funny. With an introduction by the Spanish academic Jose Fernandez that places the stories in the context of her life and her novels, this collection is a wonderful recapitulation of a masterly career.
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A THREAD OF TRUTH
--Susan Wiggs By the time you finish this book, the women in A Single Thread will feel like your own girlfriends--emotional, funny, creative and deeply caring. It's a story filled with wit and wisdom. Sit back and enjoy this big-hearted novel, and then pass it on to your best friend.
--Susan Wiggs, New York Times bestselling author Marie Bostwick beautifully captures the very essence of women's friendships--the love, the pain, the trust, the forgiveness--and crafts a seamless and heartfelt novel from them. Evelyn, Abigail, Margot, and Liza are as real and endearing as my own closest friends, and as I turned the last page I felt that sweet, satisfying sorrow in having to say goodbye that marks the work of a writer at the top of her game. --Kristy Kiernan, author of Catching Genius and Matters of Faith Bostwick makes a seamless transition from historical fiction to the contemporary scene in this buoyant novel about the value of friendship among women. . ..Bostwick's polished style and command of plot make this story of bonding and sisterhood a tantalizing book club contender. --Publishers Weekly
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After Party
From the bestselling author of The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls comes a story of lifelong female friendship - in all its intimate agony and joy - set within a world of wealth, beauty, and expectation. Joan Fortier is the epitome of Texas glamour and the center of the 1950s Houston social scene. Tall, blonde, beautiful, and strong, she dominates the room and the gossip columns. Every man wants her; every woman wants to be her. Devoted to Joan since childhood, Cece Buchanan is either her chaperone or her partner in crime, depending on whom you ask. But when Joan's radical behavior escalates the summer they are twenty-five, Cece considers it her responsibility to bring her back to the fold, ultimately forcing one provocative choice to appear the only one there is. A thrilling glimpse into the sphere of the rich and beautiful at a memorable moment in history, The After Party unfurls a story of friendship as obsessive, euphoric, consuming, and complicated as any romance.
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ALCHEMIST
A special 25th anniversary edition of the extraordinary international bestseller, including a new Foreword by Paulo Coelho.
Combining magic, mysticism, wisdom and wonder into an inspiring tale of self-discovery, The Alchemist has become a modern classic, selling millions of copies around the world and transforming the lives of countless readers across generations.
Paulo Coelho's masterpiece tells the mystical story of Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who yearns to travel in search of a worldly treasure. His quest will lead him to riches far different--and far more satisfying--than he ever imagined. Santiago's journey teaches us about the essential wisdom of listening to our hearts, of recognizing opportunity and learning to read the omens strewn along life's path, and, most importantly, to follow our dreams.
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All Adults Here
In a time when all we want is hope, it's a beautiful book to reach for. -Jenna Bush Hager
"Literary sunshine."--New York Times "The queen of the summer novel."--Entertainment Weekly Brimming with kindness, forgiveness, humor and love and yet (magically) also a page turner that held me captive until it was finished. This is Emma Straub's absolute best and the world will love it. I love it. --Ann Patchett
"An immensely charming and warmhearted book. It's a vacation for the soul."--Vox
A warm, funny, and keenly perceptive novel about the life cycle of one family--as the kids become parents, grandchildren become teenagers, and a matriarch confronts the legacy of her mistakes. From the New York Times bestselling author of Modern Lovers and The Vacationers. When Astrid Strick witnesses a school bus accident in the center of town, it jostles loose a repressed memory from her young parenting days decades earlier. Suddenly, Astrid realizes she was not quite the parent she thought she'd been to her three, now-grown children. But to what consequence? Astrid's youngest son is drifting and unfocused, making parenting mistakes of his own. Her daughter is pregnant yet struggling to give up her own adolescence. And her eldest seems to measure his adult life according to standards no one else shares. But who gets to decide, so many years later, which long-ago lapses were the ones that mattered? Who decides which apologies really count? It might be that only Astrid's thirteen-year-old granddaughter and her new friend really understand the courage it takes to tell the truth to the people you love the most. In All Adults Here, Emma Straub's unique alchemy of wisdom, humor, and insight come together in a deeply satisfying story about adult siblings, aging parents, high school boyfriends, middle school mean girls, the lifelong effects of birth order, and all the other things that follow us into adulthood, whether we like them to or not.
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All My Friends Are Going to Be Strangers
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All That Is Left Is All That Matters: Stories
In fifteen beautifully wrought stories--ranging from occupied Czechoslovakia to California's Central Valley to the rainforests of the Pacific Northwest--Mark Slouka explores moments in life when our back is to the wall. One of the most forceful American writers of his generation, Slouka captures the depth and emotional range of an array of characters--from a young boy attempting to shield his father from painful memories in "The Hare's Mask" to a lonely man whose beloved dog inexplicably begins to sprout razor blades from her skin in "Dog."
Whether battling the end of desire, the fact of injustice, or death itself, the men and women in these stories are doing everything possible to tighten their grip on life. In "Crossing," a father hoping to compensate for his failures finds himself facing his past while fording a river with his young son on his back; in "Conception," a young couple frozen by the possible end of their marriage is offered an unexpected way back; in "Half-Life," a proud, aging shut-in finds her resolve tested by an extraordinary visitor determined to shatter her solitude.
Like its title, All That Is Left Is All That Matters consoles us with life's tender humor and unexpected moments of redemption in the face of heartbreak, tragedy, and dislocation.
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ALOFT
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Always Close to Home
Are Two Miracles Too Much to Ask For?
Twins Laura and Lydia Mast keep few secrets from each other, but even Laura doesn't sense the great ache Lydia has held in her heart since Laura started dating the charming John Yoder. When will it be Lydia's turn for love?
Despite having a willing suitor in Wendell Kaufman, who once unsuccessfully pursued her sister, Lydia's attention is fixed on Milton Beiler. Milton hasn't paid Lydia the least bit of attention, and worse still, he's on rumspringa and conflicted about permanently joining the church. Meanwhile, Laura's world is turned upside down when a tragic accident threatens her dreams of becoming John's frau. Despite the obstacles in her path, Laura remains steadfast in her faith. Will Lydia's love for Milton win out over his love for the world, and is Laura strong enough to face an uncertain future with John? Only the Lord has the answers the Mast sisters so desperately search for.- Please log in to review this product