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A Million Heavens


John Brandon - 2012
    Outside the clinic, a motley vigil assembles beneath a reluctant New Mexico winter—strangers in search of answers, a brush with the mystical, or just an escape. To some the boy is a novelty, to others a religion. Just beyond this ragtag circle roams a disconsolate wolf on his nightly rounds, protecting and threatening, learning too much. And above them all, a would-be angel sits captive in a holding cell of the afterlife, finishing the work he began on earth, writing the songs that could free him. This unlikely assortment—a small-town mayor, a vengeful guitarist, all the unseen desert lives—unites to weave a persistently hopeful story of improbable communion.

My Name Was Judas


C.K. Stead - 2006
    Judas’s name became synonymous with betrayer, but is that how Judas saw it? In this witty and teasingly controversial novel, set against a richly painted backdrop of ancient Palestine forty years after the death of Jesus, Judas tells his version of events.

The Lieutenant of Inishmore


Martin McDonagh - 2001
    The cat is reported dead when Padriac is away bombing civilian targets in Northern Ireland as a one-man splinter group and his family and friends on Inishmore desperately try to conceal the cat's death and what caused it before he returns.

The Gap of Time


Jeanette Winterson - 2015
    His daughter is found and brought up by a shepherd on the Bohemian coast, but through a series of extraordinary events, father and daughter, and eventually mother too, are reunited.In The Gap of Time, Jeanette Winterson’s cover version of The Winter’s Tale, we move from London, a city reeling after the 2008 financial crisis, to a storm-ravaged American city called New Bohemia. Her story is one of childhood friendship, money, status, technology and the elliptical nature of time. Written with energy and wit, this is a story of the consuming power of jealousy on the one hand, and redemption and the enduring love of a lost child on the other.

Hidden Wives


Claire Avery - 2010
    Having long since reached the age of preparedness, they will soon be married off to much older men chosen by the hidden sects revered Prophet. As Sara, chosen to become her uncle's fifth wife, grows more distraught over her impending incestuous marriage, she begins to scrutinize the faith she has followed blindly her entire life. But for Rachel, who will be married to one of the many powerful community leaders vying for her hand, disobeying the Prophet means eternal damnation. Her friendship with the newest member of the community, the young and handsome Luke, starts as an attempt to save his agnostic soul, but ends with the pair falling helplessly in love. When Rachel is forbidden to see him, her absolute faith in the Prophet is severely tested.  When Rachel's future husband is finally announced, violence erupts, and the girls must find the strength to escape the only life they have ever know before it's too late.  Claire Avery has woven a stunning tale that could be ripped from today's headlines. Shocking and empowering, Hidden Wives is a page-turning debut that will stay with the reader.

Mad Forest: A Play from Romania


Caryl Churchill - 1990
    evoke[s] the mood of a country through snapshot images." -Guardian"An act of moral commitment as well as theatrical virtuosity." -London Sunday TimesMad Forest explores the reactions of ordinary people to confused events, focusing in particular on two families. What emerges is the dreadful damage done to people's lives by repression and the painful difficulties of lasting change.Caryl Churchill's play about the Romanian revolution was written after she, the director and a group of students from London's Central School of Speech and Drama went to Romania to work with acting students there. The play was first performed in 1990, only three months after their return.Caryl Churchill has written for the stage, television and radio. A renowned and prolific playwright, her plays include Cloud Nine, Top Girls, Far Away, Drunk Enough to Say I Love You?, Bliss, Love and Information, Mad Forest and A Number. In 2002, she received the Obie Lifetime Achievement Award and 2010, she was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame.

Chewing Gum Dreams


Michaela Coel - 2013
    Friendship. Aaron, Candice, sex and Connor Jones. Chewing Gum Dreams is a one-woman play that recalls those last days of innocence before adulthood.Written and performed by Michaela Coel who spent her childhood in Hackney, London, Chewing Gum Dreams won the 2012 Alfred Fagon Award."Coel is by turns casually cruel, hilariously funny, naïve, wise and vulnerable. Her play tackles some difficult themes, including sexual assault, violence, and underachievement across generations…a serious new talent." Londonist"An engrossing, engaging and compelling one-woman show... nothing short of virtuosic." What's On Stage"A promising, resilient artist." Ché Walker

Carry Me Down


M.J. Hyland - 2006
    With an obsession for the Guinness Book of Records, a keenly inquisitive mind, and a kind of faith, John remains hopeful despite the unfavorable cards life deals him.This is one year in a boy's life. On the cusp of adolescence, from his changing voice and body, through to his parents’ difficult travails and the near collapse of his sanity, John is like a tuning fork sensitive to the vibrations within himself and the trouble that this creates for he and his family.Carry Me Down is a restrained, emotionally taut, and sometimes outrageously funny portrait whose drama drives toward, but narrowly averts, an unthinkable disaster.

Near Perfect Attraction: Donovan's Story


D.W. Cee - 2014
    As a twenty-one-year-old, he dated a woman who looked like a Victoria Secret’s model and had the investment brains of Warren Buffet. As a twenty-five-year-old, he began working for one of the biggest and most powerful law firms, and has worked himself to the top of the food chain ever since.With everything in life going his way, Donovan never expected to be so confused and upended by a girl, ten years his junior; a girl he once considered his fifth sister. Spunky, beautiful, and smart Delaney Reid loves life, loves her family, and has loved Donovan Taylor ever since she could remember. Delaney has had her say in her novel, Unlikely Attraction – Delaney’s Story. Now, it’s time to hear from Donovan.

Essential Self-Defense: A Play


Adam Rapp - 2007
    Meanwhile, all's not well on the unassuming Midwestern streets of Bloggs: with local children vanishing at an alarming rate, our hero, his lady friend, and a motley assortment of poets, butchers, and punk librarians prepare to battle the darkness on the edge of town.

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee


William Finn - 2006
    Vocal selections from the popular Broadway musical, including: 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee * My Friend, the Dictionary * Pandemonium * I'm Not That Smart * Magic Foot * Prayer of the Comfort Counselor * My Unfortunate Erection * Woe Is Me * I Speak Six Languages * The I Love You Song.

The Vertical Hour


David Hare - 2006
    With her faith in academia beginning to erode and memories from her time in the Balkans and the Middle East haunting her, Nadia travels with her boyfriend, Philip Lucas, to rural England to visit her father, Oliver, who has his own past to reckon with. The challenge of Nadia's encounter with Oliver forces decisions on her that will affect her for the rest of her life.   For thirty-five years, David Hare has written plays that capture the flavor of our times and address the interconnection between our secret motives and our public politics. In The Vertical Hour, he continues his investigation of the morality of international intervention, and of how the war in Iraq impacts the lives of British and American citizens.

The Haunting of Highcliff Hall


Cat Knight - 2017
    She didn’t know what waited for her or why the village folk avoided her, or why the live in help moved out when she arrived. She should have believed the Hag. When foreign correspondent Catherine Davis inherits her grand aunt’s castle, it’s enough to convince her to leave her globe-trotting life behind and write her novel. But before she ever steps one foot out of London, a Hag, warns her that she is cursed. The always sceptical, Catherine disregards the Hag’s warnings. But when she arrives at Highcliff Hall and discovers that most of the villagers are afraid of her, she begins to wonder. What do the caretaker and the housekeeper know about Highcliff? What aren’t they telling her? Why is the house strewn with herbs? And why is the tower locked? Can Catherine survive the lethal confrontation with paranormal forces long enough to discover the answers, or is she doomed like those before her.If you love ghosts and Haunted houses, you really should be reading Cat Knight’s other books. List of Books The Haunting of Elleric LodgeThe Haunting of Grayson HouseThe Haunting of Weaver HouseThe Haunting of Fairview HouseThe Haunting of Keira O’ConnellThe Haunting of Ferncoombe HouseThe Haunting of Stone Street CemeteryThe Haunting of Knoll HouseIf you read stories in the occult, occultism, horror, supernatural and paranormal genres then add these to your reading list.

Miracle on Wolf Hollow Lane


Blake O'Connor - 2015
    One snowy night, exhausted parents Evelyn and Gabe Mitchell have just put their colicky four month old baby, Abigail, to sleep in the nursery of their farmhouse. Afraid their large mixed breed dog, Girl, will wake the baby, they unsuccessfully try to coax her out from under the crib where she has slept since the baby was born. Girl refuses to budge, because Girl senses what nobody else knows: something is catastrophically wrong. Told in lean, luminous prose, and inspired by a real life rescue, Miracle on Wolf Hollow Lane is a riveting story about one dog’s power of fortitude and gritty determination to live, to beat the odds, to return home, and maybe, just maybe, save the family from impending tragedy.OTHER BEST SELLING AND AWARD-WINNING BOOKS BY BLAKE O'CONNOR:Trust MeUnspoken Bond

Bitchery 4: Secrets We've Kept


Karmel Divine - 2014
    As she’s bending it his eyes pop open and I move towards the bed, watching as he struggles to take a breath. Zoe smiles while tears roll down her face. I look on watching him fight for his life. He reaches out, trying to grab for Zoe and I grab a pillow from off the couch behind me and place it over his face. I press down hard. Zoe releases the tube and begins pressing down on the pillow with me too. We both press with all our might.