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Right as Rain by Bev Marshall


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Arabian Nights


Maple Press - 2016
    The values and morals present in these stories played an important role in the development of the young minds. SO, it is vital to impart moral values to children. We at Maple Press are determined to bring these stories back into the lives of the Gen Z. This book consists interesting & valuable tales of Arabian nights with beautiful illustrations.The little Hunchbacked Man.Strange Dreams,Sharherzade& Shararian are few of the selected stories the book consists. These tales have been read by children all over the world. .These tales were told to sultan Shaharian by princess shaherzade for 1001 nights.

Secondhand Smoke: A Wickedly Dark Comedy


Patty Friedmann - 2002
    Fortunately, poison is the very superfood of the satirist. Patty Friedmann, the reigning queen of black comedy, hits one out of the park with her family straight out of Tolstoy--unhappy in its own way, a uniquely twisted Southern way. Meet the Baileys. Born and bred in a working class New Orleans neighborhood, Zib and Wilson think the thick cloud of cigarette smoke enveloping their mother is what probably killed their father. Certainly the toxicity of Jerusha’s dark, cynical attitudes has driven her children far from the nest. Wilson has escaped to Chicago, married a woman who hates him, converted to Judaism, and become a decorated professor of Organic Evolution. Zib, almost forty, has made it only as far as the Florida Panhandle, where she's an assistant manager at the local Winn-Dixie, doomed to fending off a sleazy boss given to late night phone calls. Only one person, as isolated as she is, shows Jerusha any affection: Dustin Puglia, chubby, wise, and fearless, a ten-year-old living next door with a poisonous mother of his own. Although Wilson and Zib have forged independent lives away from their mother—as well as each other—their father's death brings them back together for a darkly droll, yet heart-wrenching round of domestic insanity. Does it remind you of AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY? Or THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS? Patty Friedmann got there first! And she’s just as funny and observant as the authors of those splendid screenplays. Who Will Like It: Fans of off-beat dark comedies like AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY, THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS, family dramas with a lot more humor than THE CORRECTIONS, the incomparable CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES, and another mistress of the twisted, Flannery O’Connor. Not to mention Patty Friedmann's other books: TOO JEWISH #1 TOO JEWISH: THE NEXT GENERATION (formerly The Exact Image of Mother) PICK-UP LINE (formerly Side Effects) ELEANOR RUSHING A LITTLE BIT RUINED ODDS “Secondhand Smoke does not seek life in fancy words and clever euphemisms. It tingles because it’s raw and true … The way [Friedmann] carves a sentence gives you the sense that she’s always known how to do it.” –Critique Magazine

A Sound Among the Trees


Susan Meissner - 2011
    A line of women with a heritage of loss.As a young bride, Susannah Page was rumored to be a Civil War spy for the North, a traitor to her Virginian roots. Her great-granddaughter Adelaide, the current matriarch of Holly Oak, doesn’t believe that Susannah’s ghost haunts the antebellum mansion looking for a pardon, but rather the house itself bears a grudge toward its tragic past.When Marielle Bishop marries into the family and is transplanted from the arid west to her husband’s home, it isn’t long before she is led to believe that the house she just settled into brings misfortune to the women who live there.With Adelaide’s richly peppered superstitions and deep family roots at stake, Marielle must sort out the truth about Susannah Page and Holly Oak— and make peace with the sacrifices she has made for love.

The Town That Came A-Courtin'


Ronda Rich - 2005
    Her mama, though, says: "Lucky in life means unlucky in love." Her mama must be right, because Abby's been getting her heart broken since sixth grade. Then one day she waltzes into the tiny town of Bliss, Mississippi. Abby's used to making up quirky, charming characters in her books, but here in Bliss it almost seems like those characters have sprung to life-and Abby is fantasizing about moving right in. The townspeople have set their matchmaking minds in motion-and they aren't about to let Abby leave without a little love in her heart.

Finding Caruso


Kim Barnes - 2003
    When a drink-fueled accident takes not only his life but that of the mother who tried so hard to shield her sons, the boys sell off what little remains of their daddy's tenant farm and leave Oklahoma. It is 1957, and work is still to be had in the logging camps of northern Idaho. But just outside Snake Junction, they stop at a roadhouse; and there, Lee's country-and-western talents get him a job. The two settle in, Lee to his music-and women and drink-and seventeen-year-old Buddy to roaming the landscape, at loose ends until a woman nearly twice his age turns up. Irene Sullivan is a smoky beauty, and Lee makes a play for her. But it is Buddy she wants. By turns darkly violent and heartbreakingly tender, Finding Caruso is a work of extraordinary emotional power from an astonishingly original writer.

Bitter in the Mouth


Monique Truong - 2010
    Growing up in the small town of Boiling Springs, North Carolina, in the 70’s and 80’s, Linda believes that she is profoundly different from everyone else, including the members of her own family. “What I know about you, little girl, would break you in two” are the cruel, mysterious last words that Linda’s grandmother ever says to her.Now in her thirties, Linda looks back at her past when she navigated her way through life with the help of her great-uncle Harper, who loves her and loves to dance, and her best friend Kelly, with whom Linda exchanges almost daily letters. The truth about my family was that we disappointed one another. When I heard the word “disappoint,” I tasted toast, slightly burnt. For as long as she can remember, Linda has experienced a secret sense—she can “taste” words, which have the power to disrupt, dismay, or delight. She falls for names and what they evoke: Canned peaches. Dill. Orange sherbet. Parsnip (to her great regret). But with crushes comes awareness. As with all bodies, Linda’s is a mystery to her, in this and in other ways. Even as Linda makes her way north to Yale and New York City, she still does not know the truth about her past. Then, when a personal tragedy compels Linda to return to Boiling Springs, she gets to know a mother she never knew and uncovers a startling story of a life, a family. Revelation is when God tells us the truth. Confession is when we tell it to him.This astonishing novel questions many assumptions—about what it means to be a family and to be a friend, to be foreign and to be familiar, to be connected and to be disconnected—from others and from the past, our bodies, our histories, and ourselves.

Trumpet


Jackie Kay - 1998
    Besieged by the press, his widow Millie flees to a remote Scottish village, where she seeks solace in memories of their marriage. The reminiscences of those who knew Joss Moody render a moving portrait of a shared life founded on an intricate lie, one that preserved a rare, unconditional love.

Noble Norfleet


Reynolds Price - 2002
     A few days before Noble Norfleet's eighteenth birthday, his family suffers a violent catastrophe. The sole survivor, Noble throws himself into a reckless affair with his Spanish teacher, whose husband is fighting in Vietnam. When Noble graduates, he enlists as well and, while serving as an army medic, experiences a mysterious vision that seems tied to uncanny events in his recent past. Not until thirty years later -- after a life short on friends and troubled by a compulsion to worship women's bodies -- is Noble challenged to rethink the decades-old mystery of his family tragedy. Faced with an ominous choice, Noble finally comes to accept an enormous duty he's long tried to ignore. Soon, perhaps for the first time, his future seems hopeful.

The Hinterlands


Robert Morgan - 1999
    In the second part, Petal's grandson, Solomon, describes how he surveyed the best route down the mountain in preparation for building the region's first road. In the third part, Solomon's son David, tells of building the first turnpike through the wilderness.

Grits (Girls Raised in the South) Guide to Life


Deborah Ford - 2003
    They're called Sweet Potato Queens, Steel Magnolias, Ya-Ya Sisters, and Southern Belles, but at heart they're just plain Grits—Girls Raised in the South!Now, Deborah Ford, founder of Grits® Inc., reveals the code behind the distinctive -and irresistible-style of the Southern woman.  Equal parts sweet sincerity and sharp, sly humor, The Grits Guide to Life is chock-full of Southern charm: advice, true-life stories from honest-to-god "Grits," recipes, humor, quotable wisdom, and more.  Readers will learn vital lessons, including: how to eat a watermelon in a sundress; how to drink like a Southern lady (sip...a lot); and the real meaning of PMS (Precious Mood Southerner).This charming book is destined to become a bible for the Southern girl-whether born and bred, expatriated, or adoptive-and her many admirers.

Sunshine in the Delta


Erica M. Sandifer - 2017
     Money, Mississippi. Just beyond the Tallahatchie River, the town is a vast, flat land with fields of corn and cotton, split in half by the long and dusty Money Road. Right alongside the road in an old shack, lives Miss Neeyla Jean, along with her six younger siblings, a mean-spirited mother, and a blatantly belligerent father. Because of her parent’s tumultuous relationship, Neeyla is responsible for caring for her siblings. As a result, she leaves school at the age of fourteen to find a job. It is then that her beautiful—but mischievous—older cousin, Reena, finds her a job housecleaning at the Bakers. Neeyla begins working for Mrs. Baker and her handsome, blue-eyed son, Henry. When Neeyla loses her younger brother to a train accident, further dividing her family, her bond with Mrs. Baker allows her to cope—and the friendship they share teaches her important life-long lessons along the way. Miss Neeyla Jean becomes the very definition of the word triumph, overcoming obstacle after obstacle, and she eventually realizes an enduring fact of life: The sun will always shine brightly after the storm.

The Haunting of Hip Hop


Bertice Berry - 2001
    The magic of the drum remains alive in Africa today, and with her magnificent second novel, Berry brings those powerful beats to the streets of Harlem.Harry "Freedom" Hudson is the hottest hip-hop producer in New York City, earning unbelievable fees for his tunes and the innovative sound that puts his artists on the top of the charts. Harry is used to getting what he wants, so when he's irresistibly drawn to a house in Harlem, he assumes he'll be moving in as soon as the papers can be drawn up. The house, after all, has been abandoned for years. Or has it? Rumors are rife in the neighborhood that the house is haunted; that mysterious music, shouts, and sobbing can be heard late at night. Ava, Harry's strong-willed, no-nonsense agent, dismisses it all as "old folks" tales-until she opens the door and finds an eerie, silent group of black people, young and old, all gathered around a man holding an ancient African drum. They are waiting for Harry and bear a warning that touches his very soul: "We gave the drum back to your generation in the form of rap, but it's being used to send the wrong message." The Haunting of Hip Hop is a reminder of the importance of honoring the past as a means of moving safely and firmly into the future. It is sure to raise eyebrows and stir up controversy about the impact, good and bad, of rap culture.

Almost Innocent


Sheila Bosworth - 1984
    Like the old master Henry James, Sheila Bosworth uses the chilling device of using the mirror of innocence to reflect evil. It is a lovely achievement, a superior one."-Walker Percy Clay-Lee Calvert is the love child of two people who are as beautiful as models in a magazine but whose similarity ends there. Her father, Rand, is an artist-easygoing, dreamy, principled, and chronically jobless. Her mother, Constance, is the blue-blooded, pampered, delicate but determined daughter of a state supreme court justice. How their intense passion for each other plays out against the sumptuousness and decay of 1950s New Orleans is something to which no innocent should be privy. In Sheila Bosworth's mesmerizing first novel, the era, the place, the people, of Clay-Lee's childhood all form an air as real as our own pasts, alternately dim and indelible, where everyone bears some guilt, and all are almost innocent.

Those Who Favor Fire


Lauren Wolk - 1999
    But what sets Belle Haven apart is its especially strong sense of community, which is both strengthened and tested by the uncontrollable mine fire that burns below the town.  Sometimes it breaks through the earth's surface to swallow somebody's garden or a garbage can, even a beloved pet, or to threaten a house.        Those Who Favor Fire is the love story of Rachel Hearn, who has lived in Belle Haven all her life, and the man everyone calls Just Joe, who has arrived only recently--and the story of their love for the town that has brought them together. But as the fire intensi-fies, endangering Belle Haven and its people, it also threatens what Joe and Rachel have found together. Though some reluctantly consider relocating, Rachel refuses to leave the only place she's ever called home, the place that holds her richest memories. But Joe knows the danger of becoming too firmly rooted in a place. Ultimately, Rachel and Joe must decide whether to abandon their beloved town.        In her wonderful debut novel, Lauren Wolk has created a town every bit as real as the Mitford of Jan Karon's novels and populated it with characters as quirky, lively, and endearing as Fannie Flagg's.From the Hardcover edition.

The Silver Star


Jeannette Walls - 2013
    “Bean” Holladay is twelve and her sister, Liz, is fifteen when their artistic mother, Charlotte, takes off to find herself, leaving her girls enough money to last a month or two. When Bean returns from school one day and sees a police car outside the house, she and Liz decide to take the bus to Virginia, where their widowed Uncle Tinsley lives in the decaying mansion that’s been in Charlotte’s family for generations. An impetuous optimist, Bean soon discovers who her father was, and hears stories about why their mother left Virginia in the first place. Money is tight, and the sisters start babysitting and doing office work for Jerry Maddox, foreman of the mill in town, who bullies his workers, his tenants, his children, and his wife. Liz is whip-smart--an inventor of word games, reader of Edgar Allan Poe, nonconformist, but when school starts in the fall, it’s Bean who easily adjusts, and Liz who becomes increasingly withdrawn. And then something happens to Liz in the car with Maddox.Jeannette Walls has written a deeply moving novel about triumph over adversity and about people who find a way to love each other and the world, despite its flaws and injustices.