Book picks similar to
The Brandy of the Damned by J.M.R. Higgs
fiction
music
john-higgs
fantasy-magical
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.
Briefs Encountered
Julian Clary - 2012
Goldenhurst, his house in Kent, provides a place where he can be himself. And more importantly where he can be with his lover, Jack, without fear of arrest or judgement...But their romantic idyll is ruined, first by the arrival of Noel's demanding relatives and then by a mysterious death...Many years later, film star and Coward fan Richard Stent buys the house from its current owner. But Richard has problems of his own. Goldenhurst is supposed to be a respite from all his worries but this is a house with a very rich and not always pleasant history. And more than one thing is about to go bump in the night...
A haunting tale of love, obsession and a house full of spirits, not all of them blithe...
Lone Eagle
Alfred Dennis - 2008
William and his sister Virginia are found by a passing army patrol but Phillip is missing. Eighteen years later at the Fort Laramie Treaty Council a close family friend sees a warrior identical in looks to William. Follow the Lane's west as a courageous family seeks the missing twin, Phillip.
The Widow Ginger
Pip Granger - 2003
It is 1954, rationing is over, and Roger Bannister’s four-minute mile is the pride of England. But the Widow Ginger couldn’t care less. An ex-GI with an ice-cold stare and fresh out of military prison, the Widow has come to settle some unfinished business with Bert. The Widow’s looking for his share of the profits from a wartime scam—and a little vengeance for his years in the clink. Rosie soon learns that where there’s smoke, there’s fire, and it will take more than divine intervention to save the neighborhood—and Rosie’s family—from the Widow’s vengence. Charting the further misadventures of the characters from the acclaimed Not All Tarts Are Apple, Pip Granger’s newest story of London’s underworld shows her storytelling at its best.
Visions Before Midnight
Clive James - 1977
It needs flannel in lengthy widths, and it's here that Harry and Alan come through like a whole warehouse full of pyjamas) to the 1976 Olympics ('Jenkins has a lot to do' was a new way of saying that our man, of whom we had such high hopes, was not going to pull out the big one). In between we have 'War and Peace' (Tolstoy makes television history), the Royal Wedding (Dimbling suavely, Tom Fleming introduced the scene), the Winter Olympics (unintelligibuhl), the Eurovision Song Contest (The Hook of their song lasted a long time in the mind, like a kick in the knee. You could practically hear the Koreans singing it. 'Waterloo . . .' ), and much more.
Art's Cello (Kindle Single)
James N. McKean - 2014
Told in eloquent, honest prose, Art’s Cello is a story about coming to terms with the past and letting go of the failures we allow to define us — and, in the process, honoring the lives of those we’ve lost. Jim McKean is an international award-winning violinmaker, author, and corresponding editor of Strings Magazine. He is a graduate of the first violinmaking school in America and the former president of the American Federation of Violin and Bow Makers. His novel, Quattrocento, was published in 2002. Cover design by Evan Twohy.
The Bookshop on the Corner
Jenny Colgan - 2016
Pairing a reader with that perfect book is her passion… and also her job. Or at least it was. Until yesterday, she was a librarian in the hectic city. But now the job she loved is no more.Determined to make a new life for herself, Nina moves to a sleepy village many miles away. There she buys a van and transforms it into a bookmobile—a mobile bookshop that she drives from neighborhood to neighborhood, changing one life after another with the power of storytelling. From helping her grumpy landlord deliver a lamb, to sharing picnics with a charming train conductor who serenades her with poetry, Nina discovers there’s plenty of adventure, magic, and soul in a place that’s beginning to feel like home… a place where she just might be able to write her own happy ending.
Wicked and Weird: The Amazing Tales of Buck 65
Rich Terfry - 2015
Born in a small town in Nova Scotia to a mother who begins yelling at him the moment he is born and a father who keeps his own counsel, Buck imbibes fear and insecurity like other kids guzzle milk. Hobbled by his fears and demons, Buck almost disappears into the “evil in the woods” that lurks just beyond the town's border . . . until he is saved by three gifts: baseball, romantic love and music. His epic journey—full of diversions, coincidences, and larger-than-life characters—out of the darkness of his suicide-plagued childhood and into the bright wide world begins with a killer pitching arm (Buck almost makes it to the pros) and continues with his transformation into hip hop artist Buck 65. Along the way, Buck develops into a hopeless romantic and an obsessively creative, shape-shifting man who both fears life and dives into it with abandon. Wicked and Weird is a lively, sometimes shocking portrait of a life lived on the edge, by turns funny and heartbreaking.
Great Party!
D.B. Elrogg - 2018
The widow has a long-standing grudge. The son has gambling debts, and a couple of low life thugs are hanging around. Why? Is it the kid’s gambling debt or something more sinister? One-time cop turned private eye Milo Rathkey just had his life turned upside down. That’s why he was invited to the party. That’s why he talked with the soon to be corpse. And that’s why the cops want him in on the investigation. Mary Alice it was a great party…sorry about the murder.
There's Only Two David Beckhams
John O'Farrell - 2015
The unbeatable national team have reached the final of the Qatar World Cup. But one journalist is convinced there is a scandalous secret behind England’s incredible form. His lifetime’s dream is to see the Three Lions win the World Cup. But if he pursues and exposes the shocking truth, his beloved England could be sent home in disgrace.Suddenly this is much more than England vs Germany; it’s Love vs Duty, it’s Truth vs Happiness. The pressure of the penalty shoot-out is nothing compared to this.There’s Only Two David Beckhams is John O’Farrell’s love-letter to football; part-detective story, part-sports memoir, part-satire on the whole corrupt FIFA circus; it just made the final for the funniest football fiction ever written...
The Curse of the School Rabbit
Judith Kerr - 2019
Even if he is getting more pocket money for feeding it and might be able to afford a new bike after all…And with a sick sister left in bed, a snobby actor left with suspiciously damp trousers, and no rabbit anywhere to be seen, Tommy can see his hopes of a new bike disappearing as fast as Snowflake.Will Snowflake turn up, and turn out to be more good luck than bad? Or are Tommy and his family DOOMED by the curse of the school rabbit?A fantastically funny and exquisitely illustrated new young fiction title from the iconic Judith Kerr, this is the perfect story for boys and girls of six plus to read alone or with their family.