The Black Madonna
Doris Lessing - 1966
A short story collection originally published by Michael Joseph Ltd as part of the collection "African Stories 1964".Contains: The Black Madonna; The Trinket Box; The Pig; Traitors; The Old Chief Mshlanga; A Sunrise on the Veld; No Witchcraft for Sale.
Outlaw Riders MC: The Complete Underworld Champions Series
Ella Stone - 2015
It contains graphic sex, violence and, drug use. Please do not read if you are easily offended. Maddie never asked for the life she was given. She simply played the hand she was dealt. So when her sorry excuse for a father suddenly dies, she wants nothing more than to leave her old life behind. But, with no money to back her, her options are very limited. Her only option is to go to the one person who should have been taking care of her all along - her mother. She's married to the president of the MC Outlaws. That's a motorcycle club. Maddie's never really been into that shit, but she doesn't have a choice. And surprisingly, she's going to come to rely on the Outlaws more than she ever expected. Cole isn't the type of guy a girl should fall for. He's rough. He's demanding, and controlling, and he doesn't take no for an answer. But, Maddie finds she can't help herself. He's the club's VP, and so goddamned hot, he'd melt the panties off a nun. She knows she should get some money under her belt and run. The past has an uncanny ability to always catch up with you. But something keeps her running to that sexy biker, Cole. But Cole has a past as well, and when both of their pasts collide, nothing short of a catastrophe ensues. Can these two tortured souls find a way to heal each other. Will Cole be her Champion? UC2 - BLOOD WAR Cole's vendetta against the Demon Brothers could have very well cost him the one thing he treasures most - Maddie. Hot on the heels of his psycho mother, Cole needs to get to her before before it's too late. So much rides on this rescue going according to plan. The fate of the MC and the fate of his own soul. No matter what, Maddie must live. The exciting conclusion to the Underworld Champions series is about to start. Will everything work out for Cole and Maddie? Will they get their wedding? Will the MC finally be free of the Demon Brothers? After the conflict that devastated the Outlaw Rider compound, Cole and his men have sworn revenge on the Demon Brothers – and it won’t be over until the Demon’s club is no more. Most importantly, Cole needs to hunt down his half-brother, Cutter. He can’t rest knowing that the man who defiled his woman is still out there. Family or not, after what he did to Maddie, Cutter needs to die – painfully. Cole’s hatred of the Demon Brothers is so much greater than everyone else’s. You see, they took his mother and turned his blood against him. As far as he’s concerned, blood ties or none, they all need to die. But are they all as evil as he thinks? As Cole’s hatred consumes him, Maddie’s belly grows, along with her concern for him. His vendetta is taking over his life and she’s afraid that once he’s fulfilled his vow, there will be a mere shell of the man she loves, left behind. Will the love the Cole and Maddie share be enough to save Cole from the darkness he’s entrenched himself in, or will this BLOOD WAR be the thing that ruins them all? UC3 - BLOOD TIES
The Incest Diary
Anonymous - 2017
They do everything in their power to escape. But I didn't. A child can't escape. And later, when I could, it was too late."Throughout her childhood and adolescence, the anonymous author of The Incest Diary was raped by her father. Beneath a veneer of normal family life, she grew up in and around this all-encompassing secret. Her sexual relationship with her father lasted, off and on, into her twenties. It formed her world, and it formed her deepest fears and desires. Even after she broke away—even as she grew into an independent and adventurous young woman—she continued to seek out new versions of the violence, submission, and secrecy she had struggled to leave behind.In this graphic and harrowing memoir, the author revisits her early traumas and their aftermath—not from a clinical distance, but from deep within—to explore the ways in which her father's abuse shaped her, and still does. As a matter of psychic survival, she became both a sexual object and a detached observer, a dutiful daughter and the protector of a dirty secret. And then, years later, she made herself write it down.With lyric concision, in vignettes of almost unbearable intensity, this writer tells a story that is shocking but that will ring true to many other survivors of abuse. It has never been faced so directly on the page.
The Maclarens
C.L. Skelton - 1978
War, secrets and betrayal cast a shadow over the Maclarens from the battlefield to the drawing-room. Young Andrew Maclaren, a brave yet sensitive soldier, faces the danger of conflicts in India and China. He must choose between the regiment he serves and the woman he loves. Willie Bruce, Andrew's childhood friend and fellow soldier, discovers loyalty is not always rewarded. Maud Westburn, beautiful but damaged, is the woman who loves them both. Will this love tear a family, and a regiment, apart? A sweeping saga about passion and honour, and the senseless brutality of war.
A Small Madness
Dianne Touchell - 2015
She wondered if it showed. She looked at herself in the mirror and turned this way and then that way. She stood as close to the mirror as she could, leaning over the bathroom basin, looking into her own eyes until they disappeared behind the fog of her breath. Looking for something. Some evidence that she was different now. Something had shifted inside her, a gear being ratcheted over a clunky cog, gaining torque, starting her up. But it didn't show. How could all of these feelings not show? She was a woman now but it didn't show and she couldn't tell anyone.A devastating, compelling novel that will get everyone talking, from the author of Creepy and Maud.
The Women of Deh Koh: Lives in an Iranian Village
Erika Friedl - 1989
. . absorbing. This finely written book gives us a whole new sense of Iran."--The Washington Post Book WorldWhile doing research in the Iranian village of Deh Koh, Erika Friedl was able to quietly observe and record the cloistered lives of women in one of the strictest of all Muslim societies. In this fascinating book, Friedl recounts these women's personal stories as they relate the strain of their daily activities, their intricate relationships with men, and their hopes, dreams, and fears. Women of Deh Koh is a rare and vivid look at what life is really like for the women of Iran."Her intimate understanding of the life and customs of the village has made her confident about conveying her view from the inside. To share this view with us, and to comment quietly and wisely on the scene, is the striking and illuminating achievement of Women of Deh Koh."--The New York Times Book Review
Sappho's Leap
Erica Jong - 2003
At the age of fourteen, Sappho is seduced by the beautiful poet Alcaeus, plots with him to overthrow the dictator of their island, and is caught and married off to a repellent older man in hopes that matrimony will keep her out of trouble. Instead, it starts her off on a series of amorous adventures with both men and women, taking her from Delphi to Egypt, and even to the Land of the Amazons and the shadowy realm of Hades.Erica Jong—always our keenest-eyed chronicler of the wonders and vagaries of sex and love—has found the perfect subject for a witty and sensuous tale of a passionate woman ahead of her time. A generation of readers who have been moved to laughter and recognition by Jong's heroines will be enchanted anew by her re-creation of the immortal poet.
Rape: From Lucretia to #MeToo
Mithu M. Sanyal - 2016
Cultural critic Mithu Sanyal is picking up where Susan Brownmiller left off in her influential 1975 book Against Our Will. In fact, she argues that the way we understand rape hasn't changed since then, even as the world has changed beyond recognition. She contends that it is high time for a new and informed debate about rape, sexual boundaries and consent.Sanyal argues that the way we as a society understand rape tells us not just how we understand sexual violence, but how we understand sex, sexuality, and gender itself. For instance, why is it so hard to imagine men as victims of rape? Why do we expect victims to be irreparably damaged? When we think of rapists, why do we still think of strangers in dark alleys, rather than uncles, husbands, priests, or boyfriends?The book examines the role of race and the trope of the black rapist, the omission of male victims, and what we mean when we talk about rape culture. She provocatively takes every received opinion we have about rape, and turns it inside out - arguing with liberals, conservatives, feminists and sexists alike.
The Houdini Girl
Martyn Bedford - 1998
But when Rosa is killed, Red is pitched into a new world where betrayal, exploitation and violence are no act. The deeper Red delves into the life and death of the woman with who he shared one sexy, freewheeling year, the closer he comes to a painful realization: even the trickster can be tricked.