Summer at Tiffany


Marjorie Hart - 2007
    Marjorie Jacobson and her best friend, Marty Garrett, arrive fresh from the Kappa house at the University of Iowa hoping to find summer positions as shopgirls. Turned away from the top department stores, they miraculously find jobs as pages at Tiffany & Co., becoming the first women to ever work on the sales floor--a diamond-filled day job replete with Tiffany blue shirtwaist dresses from Bonwit Teller's--and the envy of all their friends.Hart takes us back to the magical time when she and Marty rubbed elbows with the rich and famous; pinched pennies to eat at the Automat; experienced nightlife at La Martinique; and danced away their weekends with dashing midshipmen. Between being dazzled by Judy Garland's honeymoon visit to Tiffany, celebrating VJ Day in Times Square, and mingling with Cafe society, she fell in love, learned unforgettable lessons, made important decisions that would change her future, and created the remarkable memories she now shares with all of us.

Journey to Hope


Grace Fisher - 2016
    But at what cost… Joshua and Martha Jones decide to accept an offer from a friend to leave their home in Kansas and take a wagon train to follow their dreams in hopes of a better future for their family. New and unexpected trials come up while on their journey. Martha finds shortly into their trek that she is to have another child. Will she be able to endure the trail and will the family stick together when those trials come? Join the Jones family as they brave the worst that any family can endure and come out even stronger than before. Hope will overcome…and the promise of love will ring true… *****BONUS CONTENT INCLUDED*****

Forsaken by Love (His Heart's Long Journey Book 1)


Jeanne Hardt - 2019
    . . Eight-year-old, Vern Harpole, wakes up on the front porch of a bakery he's never seen before. The frightened boy is discovered by the kind baker who returns him to the hotel where he'd been staying with his mother and young sister, only to learn they've left and have no intention of returning. With no trace of where they’ve gone or by what means they’re traveling, a search is impossible. Even the authorities have little help to offer. Being childless, the baker and his wife decide to give Vern a home. Initially, they see him as a means of cheap labor. But over time, a bond of love grows between them, and they find joy as a family. Yet Vern can't dismiss the hurtful feelings of abandonment, as well as many unanswered questions about his mother. Margaret Jordan has recently immigrated from Ireland to America. Like Vern, she's troubled by painful reminders of traumatic experiences that have irrevocably altered her life. She settles in Kansas City, where she finds employment at a local restaurant. When she and Vern cross paths, he immediately recognizes her pain and wants to help her, but it will take more than kindness to break through the protective walls she's built around herself. Determination pushes him to be persistent, needing to believe that love can be something more than forsaken.

Healing the Highlander (Tales of the Maxwell Lasses, #2)


Fiona Faris - 2020
    Through her research, she dreamed of revolutionizing medicinal practices. With her step-mother’s guidance, Ava worked tirelessly to achieve her goal.But everything changed when her father announced that it was her duty to wed. In fact, there were two potential matches for her coming to meet her.Betrayal never tasted so bitter…Niall MacNeill and Ian MacThomas are the two men fighting for Ava’s hand. While both of them are heirs of lairds, they couldn’t be more different. Niall is ambitious, with an eagerness for leadership and a wish to start his own family. Iain, on the other hand, values the simpler things in life. Riches and political conspiracies weren’t his cup of tea.Ava is called to choose but before she does, a family secret surfaces.Heartbroken, she feels lost and alone.Only one man can truly help her heal, but even he is not to be trusted…What family secret has been buried over the years? And who is the one who’s holding Ava’s fate?Only she can heal him, only he can set her free…

A Captivating Lady's Love Storm


Bridget Barton - 2020
    After her first dance with a charming gentleman, her instinct tells her that he might be the one. While she can't stop daydreaming about her life by his side, everything is about to change when she discovers that his family is her father's lifelong feud. When her father announces that he will never allow her to see him again, Marianne's life falls into pieces. Desperate to escape her grim future, she tries to find the cause of her father's hate and soothe his resentful heart. Will she manage to put an end to an endless clash? Will she finally have the happy ending she has always been dreaming of?Edmund Stapleton is a kind gentleman with an intrepid mind. Even though he has never enjoyed balls and such social events, he has no choice but to fulfil society's expectations. When he first sees Marianne, he cannot help being smitten by her beauty. But a storm is brewing when he learns that the woman who is about to haunt his dreams would be the daughter of his father's most obnoxious enemy. Will Edmund stick to his father's demand to forget about Marianne, or will he start a relentless pursuit of claiming the woman he loves?Against all odds, Marianne and Edmund do everything in their power to spend a few moments together. But when her father finds out about their secret meetings, furious as he is, he forces her back to the countryside. To make matters worse, he finds an eligible man to betroth her at the earliest opportunity. In the end, will the two romantic souls escape from a terrible fate? Will their love withstand the obstacles that keep them apart?"A Captivating Lady's Love Storm" is a historical romance novel of approximately 80,000 words. No cheating, no cliffhangers, and a guaranteed happily ever after.

The Ashford Affair


Lauren Willig - 2013
    Her long hours have led to a broken engagement and, suddenly single at thirty-four, she feels her messy life crumbling around her. But when the family gathers for her grandmother Addie’s ninety-ninth birthday, a relative lets slip hints about a long-buried family secret, leading Clemmie on a journey into the past that could change everything. . . .What follows is a potent story that spans generations and continents, bringing an Out of Africa feel to a Downton Abbey cast of unforgettable characters. From the inner circles of WWI-era British society to the skyscrapers of Manhattan and the red-dirt hills of Kenya, the never-told secrets of a woman and a family unfurl.

Freight Train Graffiti


Roger Gastman - 2006
    Until now there was almost no written insight into this vast subculture, which inspires fascination across America and around the world. As dazzling as the art it celebrates, the book is packed with 1,000 full-color illustrations and features in-depth interviews with more than 125 train artists and "writers." Hundreds of never-before-seen photographs span the style's evolution, while the authoritative text from an all-star team of authors provides unprecedented perspective, including the first-ever written history of "monikers," the precursors of graffiti, developed by hobos and rail workers to communicate en route. Bound to surprise graffiti artists, graphic designers, and urban culture buffs alike, this book will inspire anyone who has ever been interested in graffiti.

Notes From the Sofa


Raymond Briggs - 2015
         From the beloved and best-selling author of The Snowman comes his first book in ten years: a charming and beautifully illustrated work for adults. In Notes from the Sofa, Raymond Briggs traces the course of his life in a series of wonderfully observed vignettes that take him from the awkwardness and embarrassment of growing up to the vicissitudes and frustrations of growing old.      This collection features the best pieces from Briggs' regular column -- 'Notes from the Sofa' -- in The Oldie, Richard Ingrams' humorous monthly magazine. Amusing and touching by turn, these include his unwavering dedication to the arts and why he takes pleasure in being labelled a 'creative sociopath'; amusing anecdotes, such as how he became an accidental Winnie the Pooh tour guide to Japanese tourists; and general musings on life, including his confusion as a young child as to exactly where babies come from.      This is Briggs like you've never read him before, with a newfound freedom to write and draw about whatever he wants, without the restrictions of children's books and sometimes without the happy endings.

The Central Park Five: A Chronicle of a City Wilding


Sarah Burns - 2011
    Within days, five black and Latino teenagers confess to her rape and beating. In a city where urban crime is at a high and violence is frequent, the ensuing media frenzy and hysterical public reaction is extraordinary. The young men are tried as adults and convicted of rape, despite the fact that the teens quickly recant their inconsistent and inaccurate confessions and that no DNA tests or eyewitness accounts tie any of them to the victim. They serve their complete sentences before another man, serial rapist Matias Reyes, confesses to the crime and is connected to it by DNA testing.Intertwining the stories of these five young men, the police officers, the district attorneys, the victim, and Matias Reyes, Sarah Burns unravels the forces that made both the crime and its prosecution possible. Most dramatically, she gives us a portrait of a city already beset by violence and deepening rifts between races and classes, whose law enforcement, government, social institutions, and media were undermining the very rights of the individuals they were designed to safeguard and protect.

Everything a Lady Craves


Meghan Sloan - 2020
    However, when a charming man asks for her hand in marriage, she is hesitant to turn a new page in her life. Having heard the whispers about the man's missing fiancée, she can't help but wonder whether she could ever be anything but second best for him. Once they finally meet, the desire that sparks between them is undeniable, but there will soon be clouds on the horizon... Will Alice be able to finally satisfy the burning passion she holds for him, or will this romance be doomed forever?The last thing Silas Wilmington expected after the unforeseen disappearance of his fiancée, was another tempting woman by his side. Tired of being haunted by his tormented past, he chooses to accept his inevitable fate with a heavy heart. But little did he know that the beautiful and seductive Alice was about to start a fire inside him... After having mourned his great love for a long time, he could have never imagined that romance could be on the cards for him again. Will Silas eventually let his wounds heal and surrender to Alice's charm?Just when they start unfolding their growing feelings, someone who holds the key to Sila's broken heart appears and everything is about to crash down. Will their newly fledged passion endure a quick death, as the wounds from the past are still bleeding? Or will they survive to meet the passionate future they could have together?"Everything a Lady Craves" is a historical romance novel of approximately 80,000 words. No cheating, no cliffhangers, and a guaranteed happily ever after.

The Life and Death of Classical Music


Norman Lebrecht - 2007
    Lebrecht compellingly demonstrates that classical recording has reached its end point, but this is not simply an expos? of decline and fall. It is, for the first time, the full story of a minor art form, analyzing the cultural revolution wrought by Schnabel, Toscanini, Callas, Rattle, the Three Tenors, and Charlotte Church. It is the story of how stars were made and broken by the record business; how a war criminal conspired with a concentration-camp victim to create a record empire; and how advancing technology, boardroom wars, public credulity and unscrupulous exploitation shaped the musical backdrop to our modern lives. The book ends with a suitable shrine to classical recording: the author's critical selection of the 100 most important recordings, and the 20 most appalling.Filled with memorable incidents and unforgettable personalities, from Goddard Lieberson, legendary head of CBS Masterworks who signed his letters as God; to Georg Solti, who turned the Chicago Symphony into the loudest symphony on earth - this is at once the captivating story of the life and death of classical recording and an opinionated, insider's guide to appreciating the genre, now and for years to come.

Manhattan Beach


Jennifer Egan - 2017
    She is mesmerized by the sea beyond the house and by some charged mystery between the two men.‎Years later, her father has disappeared and the country is at war. Anna works at the Brooklyn Naval Yard, where women are allowed to hold jobs that once belonged to men, now soldiers abroad. She becomes the first female diver, the most dangerous and exclusive of occupations, repairing the ships that will help America win the war. One evening at a nightclub, she meets Dexter Styles again, and begins to understand the complexity of her father’s life, the reasons he might have vanished.With the atmosphere of a noir thriller, Egan’s first historical novel follows Anna and Styles into a world populated by gangsters, sailors, divers, bankers, and union men. Manhattan Beach is a deft, dazzling, propulsive exploration of a transformative moment in the lives and identities of women and men, of America and the world.

Pain, Parties, Work: Sylvia Plath in New York, Summer 1953


Elizabeth Winder - 2013
    She lived at the Barbizon Hotel, attended the ballet, went to a Yankee game, and danced at the West Side Tennis Club. She was supposed to be having the time of her life. But what would follow was, in Plath’s words, twenty-six days of pain, parties, and work, that ultimately changed the course of her life.Thoughtful and illuminating, featuring line drawings and black-and-white photographs, Pain, Parties, Work: Sylvia Plath in New York, Summer 1953 offers well-researched insights as it introduces us to Sylvia Plath—before she became one of the greatest and most influential poets of the twentieth century.