Much to her annoyance, she is accompanied by a thirty-six-year-old chaperone, who is neither mother nor friend. Cora Carlisle, a complicated but traditional woman with her own reasons for making the trip, has no idea what she’s in for. Young Louise, already stunningly beautiful and sporting her famous black bob with blunt bangs, is known for her arrogance and her lack of respect for convention. Ultimately, the five weeks they spend together will transform their lives forever. For Cora, the city holds the promise of discovery that might answer the question at the core of her being, and even as she does her best to watch over Louise in this strange and bustling place she embarks on a mission of her own. And while what she finds isn’t what she anticipated, she is liberated in a way she could not have imagined. Over the course of Cora’s relationship with Louise, her eyes are opened to the promise of the twentieth century and a new understanding of the possibilities for being fully alive. Drawing on the rich history of the 1920s,’30s, and beyond—from the orphan trains to Prohibition, flappers,  and the onset of the Great Depression to the burgeoning movement for equal rights and new opportunities for women—Laura Moriarty’s The Chaperone illustrates how rapidly everything, from fashion and hemlines to values and attitudes, was changing at this time and what a vast difference it all made for Louise Brooks, Cora Carlisle, and others like them.

    The author, himself a playwright, strives to bring out for the characters what actors designate as a -through line, - a consistent path of motivation. This approach and the accessible style make the book suitable for teachers and students of both literature and theater."

    The poison meant to kill her father leaves him in a degenerative state. When her eldest brother discovers she has survived, he orders her to stay in hiding. She must wait, concealed in the human world, until the danger of their father’s uncontrolled rages is contained.Grown and adapted to the human world, Katrina encounters one of her kind. The promise of home and first love leads her into a situation capable of starting war among the Veilede. Will a human upbringing, mistakes, and the loss of her abilities bar her from reclaiming her heritage? Will unraveling the mystery of her mother’s betrayal lead her family into even greater danger?

    His mother is a recovering alcoholic who one day meets a lovely young woman, Anna, in a nearby park. After a friendly chat, she invites Anna back home for tea and when Robbie comes back from work, he meets her. The two are instantly attracted to each other.Anna is a Swiss national and has been working as an au pair in London, but her contract is shortly to come to an end. The pair are distraught about having to part after only just having found one another, so it is agreed Robbie will visit Anna in Basel, her home town, where she lives with her sister Evelyn and Evelyn's boyfriend, the charming Frenchman, Marcel.After Robbie's first visit to Switzerland it becomes clear to the couple that they cannot bear to be apart and so Robbie arranges to get a job working at a major pharmaceutical company in Basel.But no one can foresee the consequences of this choice; and none of the happy family can know what will eventually happen.A gripping tale of love, companionship and commitment is set against a backdrop of jealous fixation as a colleague of Robbie's forms a dangerous obsession with him.Where will it all lead?

    Born to teenage parents in Mississippi, Starla is being raised by a strict paternal grandmother, Mamie, whose worst fear is that Starla will turn out like her mother. Starla hasn’t seen her momma since she was three, but is convinced that her mother will keep her promise to take Starla and her daddy to Nashville, where her mother hopes to become a famous singer—and that one day her family will be whole and perfect.When Starla is grounded on the Fourth of July, she sneaks out to see the parade. After getting caught, Starla’s fear that Mamie will make good on her threats and send her to reform school cause her to panic and run away from home. Once out in the country, Starla is offered a ride by a black woman, Eula, who is traveling with a white baby. She happily accepts a ride, with the ultimate goal of reaching her mother in Nashville.As the two unlikely companions make their long and sometimes dangerous journey, Starla’s eyes are opened to the harsh realities of 1963 southern segregation. Through talks with Eula, reconnecting with her parents, and encountering a series of surprising misadventures, Starla learns to let go of long-held dreams and realizes family is forged from those who will sacrifice all for you, no matter if bound by blood or by the heart.

    Six-year-old Birdie Adams wants to run away and join the circus but guesses she’ll have to go to the first grade and hang around with her new baby brother instead. Maybe her big sister needs a little help, too. The circus will have to wait.Twelve-year-old Melanie Adams wants her friend to stop bugging her to get her first kiss. Melanie’s already had her first kiss, but won’t spoil the special secret by talking about it. Norah Adams is a good mother and wife who wants to keep her family safe and happy, but tucking the order form for dogtags in her daughters’ lunch boxes is a big change from the everyday bologna sandwiches.Lola Carter wants the life her sister, Norah, has. Instead she has a factory job, an alcohol and prescription drug addiction, and an abusive boyfriend. Even if President Kennedy prevents World War III, these women’s lives will be changed forever.

    Once the Elder races ruled all the northern lands and their knowledge and power were legend. What calamity befell them, none now know. Centuries on and the north is a land where fell beasts and evil creatures roam unchecked, save in one place, the Wildlands of Darylor. Here mankind has slowly begun to explore and settle where once the Elder ruled, and within those lands, built amidst the ruins of a lost Elder city, lies the College of Magic. Inside, mankind seeks to rediscover the lost magics of old, but in secret one man desires the power to rule all and will stop at nothing to achieve his dream. Meanwhile, in the city of Shandrilos, in the shadow of the College of Magic, a groups of friends come together. Jon 'Bear' Madraig, fighter and mage, and his best friend the roguish swordsman and knight, Darin of Kenarth come to meet old friends and relive past adventures. The master mage, Arkadi Talcost and the beautiful druid, Rebba Korran, seek only to relax and enjoy some time away from the demands of their work and the College. For these friends, this is merely a reunion. However, for Zara Halven, the notorious Whore of Ostia, and for the monk, Garon Vale, the visit to Shandrilos is more; for one it is a chance for redemption and for the other it is a test of faith. Yet for the last of the friends, the visit to Shandrilos is the most important of all. For the huntress, Nat Bero it is a chance for forgiveness... and for revenge. These friends will be caught up in events that will change their lives forever, for the secret behind the destruction of the Elder is about to come to light... "The fate of all can be decided by the actions of one who the gods guide to the right place at the right time. Do not underestimate the power of even the lowest to affect the paths of the mighty..." The words of the seeress, Ry'Ina White Eyes If you are a reader of epic fantasy this is what you are looking for. If you liked Terry Brook's Shanara novels, Raymond E. Feist's Midkemia books, Harry Potter, Game of Thrones or Lord of the Rings then this is a book for you. In the same vein as the Wheel of Time and akin to the gaming fantasy of the Dragonlance books, Dark Horde Rising will propel you into a detailed new world of magic and mystery while introducing you to a whole range of new and interesting characters.

    Rob and Renee's life together - they wed after graduate school, both became music journalists, and were married only five years when Renee died suddenly on Mother's Day, 1997 - is shared through the window of the mix tapes they obsessively compiled. There are mixes to court each other, mixes for road trips, mixes for doing the dishes, mixes for sleeping - and, eventually, mixes to mourn Rob's greatest loss. The tunes were among the great musical output of the early 1990s - Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Pavement, Yo La Tengo, REM, Weezer - as well as classics by The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Aretha Franklin and more. Mixing the skilful, tragic punch of Dave Eggers and the romantic honesty of Nick Hornby, LOVE IS A MIX TAPE is a story of lost love and the kick-you-in-the-gut energy of great pop music.

    After a childhood moving from one academic outpost to another with her father (a man prone to aphorisms and meteoric affairs), Blue is clever, deadpan, and possessed of a vast lexicon of literary, political, philosophical, and scientific knowledge—and is quite the cineaste to boot. In her final year of high school at the elite (and unusual) St. Gallway School in Stockton, North Carolina, Blue falls in with a charismatic group of friends and their captivating teacher, Hannah Schneider. But when the drowning of one of Hannah's friends and the shocking death of Hannah herself lead to a confluence of mysteries, Blue is left to make sense of it all with only her gimlet-eyed instincts and cultural references to guide—or misguide—her.

    Orphaned while onboard ship from Ireland, seven-year-old Lavinia arrives on the steps of a tobacco plantation where she is to live and work with the slaves of the kitchen house. Under the care of Belle, the master's illegitimate daughter, Lavinia becomes deeply bonded to her adopted family, though she is set apart from them by her white skin. Eventually, Lavinia is accepted into the world of the big house, where the master is absent and the mistress battles opium addiction. Lavinia finds herself perilously straddling two very different worlds. When she is forced to make a choice, loyalties are brought into question, dangerous truths are laid bare, and lives are put at risk.

    The next morning, he notices something strange is going on – a terrified kid is being pursued by his father, and a girl, Sally, pleads with Nathan to hide her from her parents. There is no internet, no television, no phone coverage. Nathan, Lara and Sally flee along the East Coast, encountering madmen, terrorists, the armed forces, and other children frightened for their lives. The only thing Nathan knows for sure is that he must not fall asleep...“A fantastic and original premise…flashes of Stephen King and MR Carey.” Tom Witcomb“A nicely taut thriller, with a Lee Child feel to its staccato writing and strong action sequences, and a high concept stretching the novel into true science fiction territory.” Amanda Rutter “Not just a page-turner – all in all a fabulous novel, which I was sad to finish.” Loulou Brown

    Bedazzled by tales of gold and movie stardom, she tricks them into buying tickets for America. Yet no sooner do they land on the squalid Lower East Side of Manhattan, than Malka is crippled and abandoned in the street.Taken in by a tough-loving Italian ices peddler, she manages to survive through cunning and inventiveness. As she learns the secrets of his trade, she begins to shape her own destiny. She falls in love with a gorgeous, illiterate radical named Albert, and they set off across America in an ice cream truck. Slowly, she transforms herself into Lillian Dunkle, "The Ice Cream Queen" -- doyenne of an empire of ice cream franchises and a celebrated television personality.Lillian's rise to fame and fortune spans seventy years and is inextricably linked to the course of American history itself, from Prohibition to the disco days of Studio 54. Yet Lillian Dunkle is nothing like the whimsical motherly persona she crafts for herself in the media. Conniving, profane, and irreverent, she is a supremely complex woman who prefers a good stiff drink to an ice cream cone. And when her past begins to catch up with her, everything she has spent her life building is at stake.

    Well, not really.Okay, so he's only attracted to guys. And he's had sex with several. But he knows it's just a phase.He always figured that, along the road to becoming an adult, he'd mutate into someone who preferred Keira Knightley to Chris Hemsworth. It would just happen, like puberty. But as adulthood approaches and his transformation has yet to begin, he panics.Taking desperate measures to change his sexual orientation, Nate finds himself mired in surreal situations populated by, among others, his overbearing mom, current-and former-best friends, a dominatrix, and a muumuu-wearing psychic. Eventually, he's not sure who's trying to help and who's doing more harm than good. But he's determined to find himself-his true self.After all, where there's a will, there's a way... right?

    On the anniversary of the most tragic event of his life, Randall “The Rocket” Reese must face down paparazzi outside his house, a big sister who won’t stay out of his personal life, and a coffee date with an “old classmate” from high school whom he barely remembers. His plan is to wallow in solitude, but Fate has plans of its own. 'Just Lunch' Randall “The Rocket” Reese is beginning to reclaim his life both professionally and personally, with a new outlook, and a new woman, Dani Erlinger, by his side. Rand and Dani are in a comfortable groove that suits them both, but an unexpected invitation ‘just for lunch’ and a calamitous weekend excursion have them questioning whether they’ve become much too comfortable, much too soon. 'Table for Two' After taking a high-profile position, Rand Reese’s visibility is once again on the rise; but returning to the public eye also means revisiting some of the uglier parts of his past. That past has Dani questioning whether anyone can make a relationship work under the glare of fame and notoriety. Even two people committed to making it work. 'À la Carte' A ‘Coffee Date’ BONUS Drop-In An unexpected visitor up-ends the rhythm of the new life Rand and Dani are building together, reminding them of the consequences of Rand’s difficult past, and raising even tougher questions about their future.

    From the civil rights struggle in the United States to the Nazi crimes against humanity in Europe, there are more stories than people passing one another every day on the bustling streets of every crowded city. Only some stories survive to become history.Recently released from prison, Lamont Williams, an African American probationary janitor in a Manhattan hospital and father of a little girl he can’t locate, strikes up an unlikely friendship with an elderly patient, a Holocaust survivor who was a prisoner in Auschwitz-Birkenau.A few blocks uptown, historian Adam Zignelik, an untenured Columbia professor, finds both his career and his long-term romantic relationship falling apart. Emerging from the depths of his own personal history, Adam sees, in a promising research topic suggested by an American World War II veteran, the beginnings of something that might just save him professionally, and perhaps even personally.As these men try to survive in early-twenty-first-century New York, history comes to life in ways neither of them could have foreseen. Two very different paths—Lamont’s and Adam’s—lead to one greater story as The Street Sweeper, in dealing with memory, love, guilt, heroism, the extremes of racism and unexpected kindness, spans the twentieth century to the present, and spans the globe from New York to Chicago to Auschwitz.Epic in scope, this is a remarkable feat of storytelling.