Best of
Contemporary

1991

Paradise


Judith McNaught - 1991
    A long way from the country club where, feeling like an outsider, he had dared to fall in love with a beautiful blonde named Meredith Bancroft, and known a once-in-a-lifetime passion and betrayal that still haunted his memory... Now world leaders courted him, the media watched his every move, and he was ready to move in on the Bancroft empire.A cool, poised executive in her family's legendary department store chain, Meredith had once defied her father for the sexually magnetic, intense Matt Farrell -- and their brief, ill-fated marriage was the disastrous outcome. Now, as the Bancroft firm is threatened by a hostile takeover, Meredith is forced to confront Matt. As tensions build between them, bittersweet memories rise to the surface, leaving them suspicious, restless, and uncertain. Will they be able to believe in each other -- and grasp the tender miracle that is before them?

Texas! Trilogy


Sandra Brown - 1991
    Brown's fans, who have made these adventures national bestsellers, will welcome the chance to own the complete series in a single hardcover volume.

What's Eating Gilbert Grape


Peter Hedges - 1991
    1,091 and dwindling) is eating Gilbert Grape, a twenty-four-year-old grocery clerk who dreams only of leaving. His enormous mother, once the town sweetheart, has been eating nonstop ever since her husband's suicide, and the floor beneath her TV chair is threatening to cave in. Gilbert's long-suffering older sister, Amy, still mourns the death of Elvis, and his knockout younger sister has become hooked on makeup, boys, and Jesus--in that order, but the biggest event on the horizon for all the Grapes is the eighteenth birthday of Gilbert's younger brother, Arnie, who is a living miracle just for having survived so long. As the Grapes gather in Endora, a mysterious beauty glides through town on a bicycle and rides circles around Gilbert, until he begins to see a new vision of his family and himself.

My Funny Valentine


Debbie Macomber - 1991
    Dianne Williams needs a man . . . but only for a night. The night of the Port Blossom Community Center’s Valentine’s dinner, to be precise. As the dinner approaches, she grows more and more exasperated by her children’s relentless efforts to set her up on a blind date. But one day, when a kind stranger helps her with car troubles, Dianne decides to take matters into her own hands. Steve Creighton fits the bill perfectly: He’s handsome, he’s charming, and he owns a decent suit. When Dianne asks him to accompany her to a Valentine’s dinner after only just having met him, he can’t help but find the offer amusing. As he and Dianne grow closer, however, his feelings for her only intensify—and, to Dianne’s surprise, so do hers.

Breath of Scandal


Sandra BrownSandra Brown - 1991
    Robbed of her youthful ideals and at the center of scandal and tragedy, Jade ran as far and as fast as she could. But she never forgot the sleepy "company town" where every man, woman, and child was dependent on one wealthy family. And she never forgot their spoiled son, who, with his two friends, changed her life forever. Someday, somehow, she'd return, exact a just revenge -- and free herself from fear, and the powerful family that could destroy her.

Kalinda


Evan Green - 1991
    The book starts with Adam living openly with his voluptuous half-caste lover on his desert station in the outback, and gradually the fates of succeeding generations intertwine in this Australian family saga.

Secret Lives


Diane Chamberlain - 1991
    An Oscar-winning actress returns to her native Virginia to script the story of the famous mother she barely knew, but she gets more than she bargained for when her uncle presents her with her mother's private journals.

Jernigan


David Gates - 1991
    To this lineage add Peter Jernigan, who views the world with ferocious intelligence, grim rapture, and a chainsaw wit that he turns, with disastrous consequences, on his wife, his teenaged son, his dangerously vulnerable mistress—and, not least of all, on himself. This novel is a bravura performance: a funny, scary, mesmerizing study of a man walking off the edge with his eyes wide open—wisecracking all the way.

Genuine Lies


Nora Roberts - 1991
    There is no secret, no scandal she doesn't know. Now Eve has decided to write her memoirs--no holds barred. All Hollywood begs her not to. But Eve has her reasons....Julia Summers is the biographer Eve has handpicked to tell her story. Transported from her quiet life in Connecticut to glitzy Beverly Hills, Julia hates the limelight but loves her work--and the home it built for the ten-year-old son she's raising alone. How can she refuse this chance of a lifetime?But Eve's elegantly sexy stepson, Paul Winthrop, will challenge Eve's determination to tell her story--and Julia's resolve to guard her heart. And as Julia learns just how far Eve's enemies will go to keep her book from publication, she also discovers that Eve has one last, dark secret to share. It is one that will change Julia's life--and could cut it brutally short.

Desire for a Beginning Dread of One Single End


Edmond Jabès - 1991
    In a series of short aphorisms, Jabès continues his lifelong interrogation of "The Book" both within the Jewish cultural tradition and twentieth-century modernism. Jabès' life work is driven in part by Mallarmè's concept of the limit, of the space beyond limits, and the space defined by such a limit. His work is pervaded by a sense of melancholy and loss, and never so much as in Desire for a Beginning/Dread of One Single End, as its title would suggest. Even in his last work, Jabès continues to struggle admirably with questions of being and not-being, of life and art, displaying the intelligence and passion of a great writer.

The Collected Poetry of Robinson Jeffers: Volume Three: 1939-1962


Robinson Jeffers - 1991
    Now, for the first time, all of Jeffers' completed poems, both published and unpublished, are presented in a single, comprehensive, and textually authoritative edition.The first three volumes of this four-volume work, will present chronologically all of Jeffers' published work from 1920 to 1963. The present volume consists of poems written from 1939 to Jeffers' death in 1963, including the dramatic poems The Bowl of Blood, Medea, and The Double Axe byt were eventually omitted for reasons that are unclear; and those poems from his last years, which appeared posthumously in The Beginning and the End, that seem to be completed drafts.

Courting Catherine


Nora Roberts - 1991
    Mechanic Catherine "C.C." Calhoun and hotel magnate Trenton St. James mix like axle grease and mineral water - until they kiss. Efficient Amanda Calhoun finds easygoing Sloan O'Riley insufferable - and irresistible. And they both must race to solve the generations old mystery surrounding a hidden emerald necklace.

A Rose for Maggie


Kathleen Korbel - 1991
    But it seemed her dream of having a family wasn't meant to be. Deserted by her husband, Allison was left to raise a child with special needs--alone. She could never hope to have another child, and she certainly couldn't risk ever falling in love again ....Until she met Joe Burgett. The sexy writer of children's books was the perfect companion--handsome, compassionate and strong. But more than anything, he wanted to have kids of his own--a gift that Allison couldn't give him. How could she ask Joe to accept her and her special child without offering him the one thing he really wanted?

Sophie


Judith Saxton - 1991
    Particularly by Stephen, one of the directors.But despite her newfound confidence, when things start to go wrong, Sophie can’t help wondering whether she’s lost a bit of herself along the way.

A Fine Madness


Kathleen Korbel - 1991
    ENGLAND Name: Ian Matthews, secret agent man.Assignment: To secure stately Hartley Hall for a visit from the Prince of You-Know-Where.Distraction: Quinn Rutledge, the prettiest thing to come over from "the colonies" in years.Dangerous, debonair Ian Matthews thought his latest mission was a crashing bore, but he was under orders. So he'd visit bucolic Hartley Hall, make his report... then dash off to more exciting places. But Ian never expected to find stunning, irresistible Quinn Rutledge playing lady of the manor, and he certainly never dreamed he'd have to confront a resident spirit and a crazed band of terrorists. Ian was having a hard time keeping his mind off Quinn and on the job. He tried to keep a stiff upper lip, but his legendary British cool was melting--fast!

Radio Sky: Poems


Norman Dubie - 1991
    invasion of Panama, and modern life.

Living Wills: New and Selected Poems


Cynthia Macdonald - 1991
    Chosen as one of The New York Times Book Review's Notable Poetry Books of the Year for 1991, Living Wills is at once an arresting collection of Cynthia Macdonald's new poems and a substantial selection from her four earlier books.From the Trade Paperback edition.

True Colors


Susan Kyle - 1991
    Now, stronger and wiser, she's back, but this time as the poised, powerful head of a multinational corporation--and she's planning a hostile takeover of Harden Properties.Cy doesn't know the secrets Meredith is hiding, and she has no intention of telling him. She plans to let him think she's the same shy girl he abandoned years ago..but she hasn't counted on the way her body still thrills to his touch. And when Meredith begins to fall for Cy all over again...even her carefully made plans can't protect her.

Mollie Pride


Beverly Swerling - 1991
    They're the Fabulous Pride Family, featuring six-year-old Mollie and her acrobatic Charleston – who cares if it's slightly off the beat, the kid's adorable. "Don't worry," Mollie's dad promises, "Easy Street is just a whistle-stop away." Seventeen years on, Mollie hasn't found Easy Street, only bit parts on popular radio shows like Tom Mix and The Lone Ranger, and One Man's Family. And a marriage that breaks her heart, but propels her across the Atlantic where the opening bars of the Charleston will introduce her intrepid broadcasts from blitz-battered London. In a world where the news is considered strictly a male preserve and a woman needs a man's signature to open a bank account, Mollie proves that "human interest" is not to be despised, that instead it's the key to ultimate victory. But while her broadcasts fascinate two continents, there's a secret no one suspects, terror and treason shadow Mollie's every word.The widely acclaimed author of Bristol House and the City of Dreams series offers here the riveting story of the role radio played in the great and terrible drama of WWII, and the individual bravery and devotion that in the end prevailed. Smart, savvy, and enriched with Swerling’s trademark historical accuracy as well as an intricately constructed plot, this is a page-turning romantic thriller sure to delight her many fans.Mollie Pride is a Beverly Swerling Encore Edition, and is appearing for the first time as an E-book.Praise for Mollie Pride"Sweeping from 1898 and the American brides who exchanged their fortunes for an English title to the Allied alliance that ultimately saw off Hitler, this is a page-turning saga sure to delight fans of the genre." —Journal and Times"Early 20th century America (and England) have never been more vivid…" —West Country"Pacy, Racy romantic thriller, mightily deserving of success…" —Mail

Empty Places: A Performance


Laurie Anderson - 1991