Author: John Steinbeck Publisher: Penguin UK ISBN: 0141186348 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 319
Book Description
This collection of letters forms a day-by-day account of Steinbeck's writing of East of Eden. The letters range in subject but include textual discussion, trial flights of workmanship and family matters and provide an illuminating perspective on Steinbeck.
Author: Belinda Starling Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA ISBN: 1608196046 Category : Fiction Languages : en Pages : 466
Book Description
London, 1860: On the brink of destitution, Dora Damage illicitly takes over her ailing husband's bookbinding business, only to find herself lured into binding expensive volumes of pornography commissioned by aristocratic roués. Dora's charm and indefatigable spirit carry her through this rude awakening as she contends with violent debt collectors, an epileptic daughter, evil doctors, a rheumatic husband, errant workmen, nosy neighbors, and a constant stream of wealthy dilettantes. When she suddenly finds herself forced to offer an internship to a mysterious, fugitive American slave, Dora realizes she has been pulled into in an illegal trade of sex, money, and deceit. The Journal of Dora Damage conjures a vision of London when it was the largest city in the world, grappling with the filth produced by a swollen population. Against a backdrop of power and politics, work and idleness, conservatism and abolitionism, Belinda Starling explores the restrictions of gender, class, and race, the ties of family and love, and the price of freedom in this wholly engrossing debut novel. REVIEWS: "Unfortunately, Starling's debut novel will be her last; she died prematurely last year at the age of 34. Although the plot is a bit too crowded and overworked-a common novice mistake-this historical melodrama artfully evokes the contradictions inherent in Victorian society. When Dora Damage is forced by circumstances-an invalid husband and an epileptic daughter-to take over the family bookbinding business, she is inexorably drawn into a London netherworld she barely knew existed. As if binding pornographic books for a circle of aristocratic clients isn't bad enough, she is also compelled to harbor Din Nelson, a fugitive American slave. Unable to suppress her emotional and physical attraction for Din, she gives into desire and her real education begins."- Booklist
Author: Stacey Swann Publisher: Anchor ISBN: 0385545223 Category : Fiction Languages : en Pages : 336
Book Description
A Good Morning America Book Club Pick! • A bighearted novel with technicolor characters, plenty of Texas swagger, and a powder keg of a plot in which marriages struggle, rivalries flare, and secrets explode, all with a clever wink toward classical mythology. For fans of Madeline Miller's Circe: "The Iliad meets Friday Night Lights in this muscular, captivating debut" (Oprah Daily). The Briscoe family is once again the talk of their small town when March returns to East Texas two years after he was caught having an affair with his brother's wife. His mother, June, hardly welcomes him back with open arms. Her husband's own past affairs have made her tired of being the long-suffering spouse. Is it, perhaps, time for a change? Within days of March's arrival, someone is dead, marriages are upended, and even the strongest of alliances are shattered. In the end, the ties that hold them together might be exactly what drag them all down. An expansive tour de force, Olympus, Texas cleverly weaves elements of classical mythology into a thoroughly modern family saga, rich in drama and psychological complexity. After all, at some point, don't we all wonder: What good is this destructive force we call love?
Author: J. M. Coetzee Publisher: Penguin ISBN: 1524705462 Category : Fiction Languages : en Pages : 224
Book Description
J.M. Coetzee's latest novel, The Schooldays of Jesus, is now available from Viking. Late Essays: 2006-2016 will be available January 2018. Set in post-apartheid South Africa, J. M. Coetzee’s searing novel tells the story of David Lurie, a twice divorced, 52-year-old professor of communications and Romantic Poetry at Cape Technical University. Lurie believes he has created a comfortable, if somewhat passionless, life for himself. He lives within his financial and emotional means. Though his position at the university has been reduced, he teaches his classes dutifully; and while age has diminished his attractiveness, weekly visits to a prostitute satisfy his sexual needs. He considers himself happy. But when Lurie seduces one of his students, he sets in motion a chain of events that will shatter his complacency and leave him utterly disgraced. Lurie pursues his relationship with the young Melanie—whom he describes as having hips “as slim as a twelve-year-old’s”—obsessively and narcissistically, ignoring, on one occasion, her wish not to have sex. When Melanie and her father lodge a complaint against him, Lurie is brought before an academic committee where he admits he is guilty of all the charges but refuses to express any repentance for his acts. In the furor of the scandal, jeered at by students, threatened by Melanie’s boyfriend, ridiculed by his ex-wife, Lurie is forced to resign and flees Cape Town for his daughter Lucy’s smallholding in the country. There he struggles to rekindle his relationship with Lucy and to understand the changing relations of blacks and whites in the new South Africa. But when three black strangers appear at their house asking to make a phone call, a harrowing afternoon of violence follows which leaves both of them badly shaken and further estranged from one another. After a brief return to Cape Town, where Lurie discovers his home has also been vandalized, he decides to stay on with his daughter, who is pregnant with the child of one of her attackers. Now thoroughly humiliated, Lurie devotes himself to volunteering at the animal clinic, where he helps put down diseased and unwanted dogs. It is here, Coetzee seems to suggest, that Lurie gains a redeeming sense of compassion absent from his life up to this point. Written with the austere clarity that has made J. M. Coetzee the winner of two Booker Prizes, Disgrace explores the downfall of one man and dramatizes, with unforgettable, at times almost unbearable, vividness the plight of a country caught in the chaotic aftermath of centuries of racial oppression.
Author: David Halperin Publisher: Penguin ISBN: 110147565X Category : Fiction Languages : en Pages : 304
Book Description
A sparkling debut novel set in the sixties about a boy's emotional and fantastical journey through alien worlds and family pain. Against the backdrop of the troubled 1960s, this coming-of-age novel weaves together a compelling psychological drama and vivid outer-space fantasy. Danny Shapiro is an isolated teenager, living with a dying mother and a hostile father and without friends. To cope with these circumstances, Danny forges a reality of his own, which includes the sinister "Three Men in Black", mysterious lake creatures with insectlike carapaces, a beautiful young seductress and thief with whom Danny falls in love, and an alien/human love child who-if only Danny can keep her alive-will redeem the planet. Danny's fictional world blends so seamlessly with his day-to-day life that profound questions about what is real and what is not, what is possible and what is imagined begin to arise. As the hero in his alien landscape, he finds the strength to deal with his own life and to stand up to demons both real and imagined. Told with heart and intellect, Journal of a UFO Investigator will remind readers of the works of Michael Chabon and Jonathan Lethem.
Author: Dana Canedy Publisher: Crown ISBN: 0307396002 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 290
Book Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “A hauntingly beautiful account of a family fractured by war . . . filled with vivid and heartbreaking details.”—The New York Times Book Review NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE • “Full of wonderful treasures offered by a unique and spirited father . . . written with serene grace: part memoir, part love story, all heart.”—James McBride, author of The Color of Water In 2005, Dana Canedy’s fiancé, First Sergeant Charles Monroe King, began to write what would become a two-hundred-page journal for his son in case he did not make it home from the war in Iraq. He was killed by a roadside bomb on October 14, 2006. His son, Jordan, was seven months old. Inspired by his example, Dana was determined to preserve his memory for their son. A Journal for Jordan is a mother’s fiercely honest letter to her child about the parent he lost before he could even speak. It is also a father’s advice and prayers for the son he will never know. A father figure to the soldiers under his command, Charles moved naturally into writing to his son. In neat block letters, he counseled him on everything from how to withstand disappointment and deal with adversaries to how to behfrave on a date. And he also wrote of recovering a young soldier’s body, piece by piece, from a tank—and the importance of honoring that young man’s life. He finished the journal two months before his death while home on a two-week leave, so intoxicated with love for his infant son that he barely slept. This is also the story of Dana and Charles together—two seemingly mismatched souls who loved each other deeply and lost each other too soon. A Journal for Jordan is a tender introduction, a loving good-bye, a reporter’s inquiry into her soldier’s life, and a heartrending reminder of the human cost of war.
Author: Lucy Maud Montgomery Publisher: Canterbury Classics ISBN: 9781626866003 Category : Fiction Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
Be inspired by Anne’s musings, such as “Isn’t it nice to think tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?” Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables has delighted readers for over 100 years. The award-winning book, which relates the story of an adopted orphan on Prince Edward Island, spawned an eight-book series popular with children and adults alike. Throughout, the beloved Anne exudes undying optimism and enthusiasm that proves to be thoroughly contagious. A Novel Journal: Anne of Green Gables infuses new life into this classic novel by inviting writers to pen their own thoughts and ideas between the lines of this time-honored story. Printed in tiny type, the entire text of the novel makes up the lines of this journal, so the words of a celebrated author are always right at your fingertips. Packaged with a deluxe Svepa cover, brilliant endpapers, colored edges, and matching elastic band, this journal will appeal to all readers, whether they’re rehashing daily events or penning dialogue as thoughtful as Anne’s. And the compact size makes this journal easy to slip into a purse, briefcase, or backpack so you can record and revisit your thoughts on the go.
Author: H. G. Wells Publisher: Canterbury Classics ISBN: 9781626869974 Category : Self-Help Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
If you're stranded on an island, you'll want this journal with you! If you're looking for a new book in which to record your thoughts, lists, and more, you're in luck! Canterbury Classics, known for publishing fine works of literature, has released their next set of writing journals for your story recording pleasure! Tiny print encompassing the entire text of three stories by H. G. Wells creates the lines throughout this notebook, so you can pen your words right next to those of one of the greatest authors of all time. With heat-burnished Svepa covers featuring a clever quote, illustrated endpapers, foil stamping, colored edges, and an elastic band to hold it all together, you'll want to collect the whole Novel Journal series.
Author: John Steinbeck Publisher: Penguin ISBN: 1440631328 Category : Fiction Languages : en Pages : 612
Book Description
A masterpiece of Biblical scope, and the magnum opus of one of America’s most enduring authors, in a commemorative hardcover edition In his journal, Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck called East of Eden "the first book," and indeed it has the primordial power and simplicity of myth. Set in the rich farmland of California's Salinas Valley, this sprawling and often brutal novel follows the intertwined destinies of two families—the Trasks and the Hamiltons—whose generations helplessly reenact the fall of Adam and Eve and the poisonous rivalry of Cain and Abel. The masterpiece of Steinbeck’s later years, East of Eden is a work in which Steinbeck created his most mesmerizing characters and explored his most enduring themes: the mystery of identity, the inexplicability of love, and the murderous consequences of love's absence. Adapted for the 1955 film directed by Elia Kazan introducing James Dean, and read by thousands as the book that brought Oprah’s Book Club back, East of Eden has remained vitally present in American culture for over half a century.
Author: John Steinbeck
Author: Belinda Starling
Author: Stacey Swann
Author: J. M. Coetzee
Author: David Halperin
Author: Dana Canedy
Author: Lucy Maud Montgomery
Author: Wendy Laura Belcher
Author: H. G. Wells
Author: John Steinbeck