Best of
Contemporary

1990

Public Secrets


Nora Roberts - 1990
    Emma. Beautiful, intelligent, radiantly talented, she lives in a star-studded world of wealth and privilege. But she is about to discover that fame is no protection at all when someone wants you dead.... All she has to do is close her eyes and she remembers the magical day her father came into her life. She was a frightened, lonely toddler, hiding, always hiding, from her mother's wrath, when Brian McAvoy swept in and took her away. She didn't know then that she was his illegitimate daughter or that she had just been rescued by pop music's rising new star. All she knew was that suddenly she felt safe. And there wasn't only Brian...his new wife became Emma's loving stepmother, his band members became her surrogate uncles, and soon Emma even had a new baby brother to care for. Then just when everything seemed perfect, a horrifying event shattered all their lives: a botched kidnapping attempt, shocking theworld, traumatizing Emma, leaving her bereft of her newfound happiness. Yet now, after so many years of pain and guilt, of being overprotected and hounded by the press, Emma finally feels as if she's put the tragedy behind her. A determined, self-sufficient young woman, she has carved out a thrilling career, and even dared to fall rapturously in love. But the man who will become her husband isn't all that he seems. And Emma is about to awaken to the chilling knowledge that the darkest secret of all is the one buried inher mind--a secret that someone may kill to keep. With Public Secrets, Nora Roberts has woven an absorbing tale of a woman you can't help but care for, trapped in a terrifying web of suspense that willkeep you reading long into the night.

Animal Dreams


Barbara Kingsolver - 1990
    If you want sweet dreams, you've got to live a sweet life." So says Loyd Peregrina, a handsome Apache trainman and latter-day philosopher. But when Codi Noline returns to her hometown, Loyd's advice is painfully out of her reach. Dreamless and at the end of her rope, Codi comes back to Grace, Arizona to confront her past and face her ailing, distant father. What she finds is a town threatened by a silent environmental catastrophe, some startling clues to her own identity, and a man whose view of the world could change the course of her life. Blending flashbacks, dreams, and Native American legends, Animal Dreams is a suspenseful love story and a moving exploration of life's largest commitments. With this work, the acclaimed author of The Bean Trees and Homeland and Other Stories sustains her familiar voice while giving readers her most remarkable book yet.

Bitter Sweet


LaVyrle Spencer - 1990
    To be there for her teenaged daughter. And to face life again. When she returned to her Wisconsin hometown, she never expected to feel a spark of longing-for her old high school sweetheart ...ERICHis marriage to a driven career woman had left him childless and unhappy-he knew there had to be more to life than always wanting what you couldn't have. Seeing Maggie again filled him with hope. Maybe the answer to his dreams had just come to town....Their memory of young love blossomed into an affair that would shake both their lives-and would challenge everything; they believed about loving each other. Could they follow a dream from the past? Or had they missed the chance of a lifetime?

Impulse


Catherine Coulter - 1990
    When a journalist learns that her real father is a powerful arms dealer, she travels to his private Caribbean island?where her attraction to a resort manager spirals out of control.

Mirror Image


Sandra Brown - 1990
    But it also makes her the crucial player in a drama of violent passions and deadly desires. After plastic surgery transforms her face, Avery is mistaken for the glamorous, selfish wife of Tate Rutledge, the famous senatorial candidate and member of a powerful Texas dynasty. As she lays helpless in the hospital, Avery makes a shattering discovery: someone close to Tate planned to assassinate him. Now, to save him, she must live another woman's life -- and risk her own.

Somewhere Between Life and Death


Lurlene McDaniel - 1990
    The night of their high-school drama group's cast party starts out as fun for sisters Amy and Erin.Their lives come crashing down when Amy takes the car to get more food and has a horrible accident. Erin and her family pray for Amy to awaken from her coma. But as the monitor bleeps and the respirator hisses, Amy lies somewhere between life and death.Erin and her parents must find the courage to accept the fact that Amy's life-support system will never bring her back. When she dies, can the family give some meaning to her senseless death? Can Amy's dying become the hope for someone else's living?From the Paperback edition.

The Cowboy's Lady


Debbie Macomber - 1990
      Fresh off a breakup, Taylor Manning accepts a yearlong teaching position in Cougar Point, Montana, and plans to focus on herself, avoid men, and return home a changed woman. That’s before she meets Russ Palmer, a local rancher who’s as stubborn as he is handsome. With his old-fashioned attitudes about women, Russ is the last man Taylor could imagine dating, and the feeling seems to be mutual. So why can’t she seem to get him off her mind?   Russ is raising his teenage sister all by his lonesome, and he doesn’t appreciate Cougar Point’s pretty new teacher second-guessing his decisions as a surrogate parent. In fact, every time they cross paths, Taylor seems to have a bone to pick. But no matter how much they disagree, their chemistry is off the charts. And if Taylor would stop arguing long enough to notice, Russ will give her a very good reason to stick around.   Praise for Debbie Macomber   “No one tugs at readers’ heartstrings quite as effectively as Macomber.”—Chicago Tribune   “The reigning queen of women’s fiction.”—The Sacramento Bee   “It’s impossible not to cheer for Macomber’s characters. . . . When it comes to creating a special place and memorable, honorable characters, nobody does it better than Macomber.”—BookPage   Published by Debbie Macomber Books

What Child Is This?: A Christmas Story


Caroline B. Cooney - 1990
    Some people would call 16-year-old Liz Kitchell and her family truly fortunate, but it doesn't feel that way to her. It seems that only a miracle can give 8-year-old Katie her holiday wish. She wants a family, something she does not have as a foster child. As for 17-year-old Matt, he too is in a foster home and is finally letting himself feel a sense of belonging. When he allows himself to do a good deed for Katie, he doesn't realize what would happen. Is the spirit of Christmas strong enough to grant the impossible?

Night Flight


Eileen Nauman - 1990
    For Megan, coming home to Edwards Air Force Base meant facing up to her childhood with a risk-taking father an an alcoholic mother, and finding her own path in a world of handsome test pilots, Officer Club groupies, and Air Force wives. Yet there was something about the tall, confident fighter in cowboy boots and jeans that said he was a breed apart. Coming up the hard way, honing his flying skills, and pushing himself to his limits, Sam Holt was fighting a bitter rivalry and desperately trying to escape the memory of a tragedy. When Sam urged Megan to follow her heart's instincts, a dangerous intrigue of jealousy and scandal started to swirl about them like a hot desert storm, threatening his career and her peace of mind. But Megan knew she was facing her best chance for the most daring act of all--to love...

A Christmas Longing


Joni Eareckson Tada - 1990
    But the story isn't finished. "Peace on earth and goodwill toward men" will only be a wish and a vision until the Prince of Peace finally rules our world. The lights, the singing, the gift giving, and the joy foreshadow an eternal morning together in His presence. Through her artwork, her creative retelling of the Nativity, and her tender reflections of the Christmas season, Joni Eareckson Tada invites the reader to consider anew the Son of God, who is the wellspring of every joy, the fulfillment of every longing.Take time this Christmas season to step outside the clamor and excitement. Visit the stable and ask God to speak to you in the quiet and serenity and stillness... Never stop believing that He will fulfill His promise to live among us in unveiled majesty and splendor.

The Land God Made in Anger


John Gordon Davis - 1990
    But German influence has remained strong. So when, a month after the Second World War ends, two German officers erupt from the sea along the infamous Skeleton Coast, escaping from a crippled U-boat, they are arriving on friendly territory. But who are they? Why have they come? Why do only two men escape from the submarine? And why does one of them immediately murder the other one on the shore?

Valley of Fire


Peggy Webb - 1990
    Martha Ann was the perfect partner for a sizzling night in a cave or a wicked romp at a high-stakes casino table, but she refused to be the playmate for another two-timing rogue. Could Rick persuade her she was the music that stirred his soul?

A Little Bit Country


Debbie Macomber - 1990
    Then, while she’s on vacation, her car breaks down on an Oregon country road, and horse rancher Clay Franklin comes to her rescue. Rorie soon discovers that a city girl can fall in love with a country man. And the other way around… But Clay has no right to return her feelings because he’s engaged to another woman! Is he willing to change that situation for Rorie—and himself? Originally published in 1990

Haydn And The Valve Trumpet


Craig Raine - 1990
    It addresses in detail, the work of Dickens, Donne, T.S.Eliot, Wallace Stevens, Coleridge, Dr Johnson, Betjeman, Elizabeth Bishop, Andrew Marvell, Saul Bellow, and James Joyce.

Lord Of The Desert


Barbara Faith - 1990
    She was everything he detested in a woman, yet the thought of possessing the golden-haired beauty sent excitement racing through his body, and Ali vowed to make her his....Caught up in a dangerous world centuries removed from her own, Genevieve knew it would be wise to leave. Ali's stone-age opinions continually infuriated her, but the smolderingly handsome desert lord was unlike any man she'd ever met. The power of his touch set her on fire, and soon, the burning sands of Kashkiri began to feel like home.

Holocaust Island


Graeme Dixon - 1990
    Graeme Dixon's ballards speak out on comtemporary and controversial issues, from Black deaths in custody to the struggles of single mothers. Contrasted with these are poems of spirited humour and sharp satire. In "Holocaust Island" a powerful new voice emerges from a history of displacement.

Leave the Cooking to Me


Judie Angell - 1990
    Shirley plans to run a catering business as a summer money-making enterprise, but her determination to keep it a secret from her mother causes some complicated situations.

The Review of Contemporary Fiction Vol. 10, No. 1: Joseph McElroy


John O'Brien - 1990