For Tansy, however, the choice was never hers. On the eve of her seventeenth birthday, Tansy is caught in a sizzling kiss with Christophe Desmarais. The next night, Tansy’s mother introduces her to the life she has been raised for: as a beautiful quadroon in Old New Orleans, Tansy is meant to be a rich white man’s mistress. She is as she should be, biddable, loyal and submissive. But is this all there is? As Tansy matures, she wearies of telling herself that her narrow life is enough, yet she is terrified to leave behind security and plenty to become a self-reliant, independent woman.Christophe Desmarais was, like Tansy, born to a mixed-race mother and a rich white father, but as a shrewd card-player, a talented violinist, and a respected teacher, he creates his own life. The attraction between him and Tansy has never abated, only been pushed down and unacknowledged. When he sees Tansy discovering there is more to her than being pretty and pleasing, he allows himself to hope that she will become her own woman. Maybe then the two of them will have a chance at a life together.Multiple award-winning author Gretchen Craig returns with an unconventional novel about loyalty, independence, and love.

    It’s the Great Depression and jobs are scarce, but it seems to Veda that Raymond uses religion as an excuse for why he can’t find work. He can’t work on the Sabbath, he can’t work around crude or vulgar men, and he will not join a union. After years of financial hardship, four babies, and what Raymond calls "Veda's accident”, Veda defies her church and files for divorce. The mysterious loss of her second husband is devastating and in order to raise her kids, she does things she is not proud of. Over the years she has blamed the church, Raymond, fate, and herself for her troubles, but it is Charlie’s recklessness that swallows up every bit of pride she has left.

    Hidden amongst his cargo is a legendary treasure – its very existence known only to those deemed worthy.500 years later, esteemed history professor William Anson is found murdered in La Rochelle. Around his neck, an ancient medallion, one that has not been seen since 1307. He is the grandmaster of the Knights of Arcadia: a society of men deemed worthy. His killers, a ruthless brotherhood, whose existence is equally legendary. And they will not rest until they have reclaimed what was once theirs.For Anson’s son, navy outcast Matt Anson, his father’s death is just the start of a series of events that turn his life upside down. Meanwhile, in London, journalist Nicole Stocker is sent to look into a string of deaths, including the mysterious demise of Anson. But as progress starts to be made, she is dragged off the case, attacked, and soon running for her life.As the futures of Anson and Stocker become intertwined, it becomes clear there is more at stake than mere history. An explosive secret remains buried, one that threatens to bring half the world to its knees. And some want it exposed…

    Their idyllic, brief childhood together is short lived ending in hardship and heartbreak. Finding themselves alone in the world, both boys struggle to self-educate. Against the odds, Matthew Gray builds a global business empire and Luke Mbeki travels to England, in self-imposed exile, entangling himself in the anti-apartheid movement. With their paths crossing intermittently, it is only when Nelson Mandela is released from prison that Luke returns home continuing his fight for freedom alongside his comrades. Matt’s all-consuming business life continues but betrayal strikes. Leaving everything behind, he escapes to another world – an artist colony.This incredibly powerful and moving story tells how each man struggles to survive in a country deep in the throes of violent change, with friendship and families being torn apart. Matt and Luke's friendship is unimaginably tested so how does it survive in such terrifying and perilous times?

    Lured by her new playboy husband, the beautiful, trusting woman leaves her close-knit and caring family in Cuba to follow him to Spain. Once there, he reveals his true—and violent—nature, and Billie chooses the dangers of the street over the abuses of the man she once loved. Soon she finds herself with trouble to spare and nowhere to turn, but when her voice lands her a spot at the Havana Jazz Club, she discovers a new, unconventional family in a city far from the one she left behind. And with every high note and heartbreak, Billie skirts destiny to write her own song.

    Spanning from 1839 right through to 1894 the incorrigible Flashman fears all evil and when it comes to voluptuous queens and princesses he has be known to waver from his mission. Filled to the gunnels with escapades of unwavering excitement THE COMPLETE FLASHMAN PAPERS will quench even the most ravenous appetite for Flashman.

    Dan Callahan doesn’t know why he landed this coveted assignment or what to expect from 112-year-old Owen Trimbel, currently living with his daughter on a rural Minnesota farm even now beyond the reach of pervasive tech. But he sensed that it might be one of those rare opportunities to capture something singular: living memories from the last of a resilient, resourceful, and determined generation, a veteran from a war and a time encased in sepia tones in the minds of a distracted public. He finds his subject waning but still humored by life and surprisingly keen of mind. Dan spends the next three days riveted to Owen’s adventures as a young gunner with a night-flying crew, transported with him from New Guinea to the Mariana Islands on harrowing rescue missions to remote river outposts, and long flights over endless black seas broken only by sightings of enemy ships far below. And finally, the sweet homecoming, complicated by the challenges Owen faces while navigating a new life of unfamiliar circumstances and some very old secrets. Although fictionalized, The Last Word is an amalgam of stories and characters shaped and informed by filmed interviews with ten, real-life squadron members who served in the Pacific during World War II and who graced the author with their time, narratives, and importantly, their wisdom and good friendship.

    Despite the exceptional qualities and his obvious interest in her, things are moving too slow between them. Unlike most men who can’t wait to get in her pants, this particular man refuses to take things to the next level.DARYL JACKSON has grown tired of the nightclub scene and wants to settle down, but he has a secret that always seems to interrupt any potential love connection once he reveals it. He believes Michelle is the ideal woman, but can she handle the truth?After six weeks of dating, and still no attempt from him to get her “horizontal,” Michelle grows sex-starved. She is driving herself crazy trying to figure out Daryl’s problem! During a weekend getaway in Palm Springs, Michelle finally puts an end to the what’s-wrong-with-Daryl guessing game and demands to know what’s up. Not only does Daryl answer all her questions, Michelle learns first hand that you really need to be careful with what you wish for!

    So this edition is currently unavailable. You can find this story in a newer edition combined into one story. Look for a Tucker's Way edition that includes this (about 350 pages).Our heroine returns in book two to face new crises.Her daughter, Maisy, decides to try and extort money from the father of her daughter, April. Maisy miscalculates how he will react to her demands. When she threatens a paternity suit against him, he murders Maisy and unwittingly disposes of her body in the same area that Tucker disposed of her murdered father over thirty years ago.Tucker’s limited life skills are put to the test as she experiences grief for the very first time and tries to help her grandchildren deal with the death of their mother. The only friend Tucker has ever had, Ella, reaches out to comfort Tucker in her grief.While Tucker is searching through Maisy's effects, she finds an envelope with the words "For Tucker" on the outside. Inside she finds a letter naming the fathers of Maisy’s children.But the murderer seems to have an airtight alibi.

    Her real-life journal recounts two years of homesteading, history hints at the next six decades, and the novel explores the truth. We meet Rosette in 1888 as she revises the wedding-day page of her journal. In lush detail, in the voices of Rosette and others, the novel traces how we both choose and suffer our destiny, how hopes come to naught and sometimes rise from the wreckage. In a style reminiscent of Willa Cather, in a family saga that recalls the work of Marilynne Robinson, this novel brings us enduring themes of human life as Rosette and her friends and family make the most of the American pioneer life first detailed for most of us by Laura Ingalls Wilder. One reviewer says this story "makes an anonymous woman equal to the most celebrated hero of legend." Note that the Kindle version includes only the text of the novel. The paperback version includes 24 charcoal illustrations and highlights in a font created from Rosette's own handwriting. Now available: a companion short story - "Blizzard: A Story of Dakota Territory."

    Amanda is about to play the most important match of her career which, if won, will confirm her status as one of the greatest competitors in the history of women's tennis. Little does she suspect that her opponent-Sophie Moffat, an unassuming farm girl from the middle of Nowhere, U.S.A.-will change Amanda's life forever.Do you know the difference between a tennis racquet and a baseball bat? If so, that's all that's required to enjoy Game Of Edges! In this delightful, engaging novel, author Kent Allen draws you into the fascinating world of women's professional tennis, and provides an intimate look at the intriguing life of a world-class athlete.

    is considered one of the greatest American authors ever. He wrote about 30 novels, an uncounted number of short-stories and a few essays and plays. His most successful novel, Slaughterhouse-Five or The Childrens′ Crusade, a Duty Dance with Death, was his sixth book and published in 1969.This research paper will focus on the connection between Billy Pilgrim, the main character of Slaughterhouse-Five, and the life of Kurt Vonnegut. Furthermore, it will make use of this connection in order to suggest why Kurt Vonnegut wrote this book.Pilgrim, who is an American World War II veteran and survived the allied air raid on Dresden in early 1945, strikes the reader as a very eccentric person. He believes that he "has come unstuck in time" (Vonnegut, 1991, p.23) and time travels to his childhood, to his wedding, to the Battle of the Bulge and to the air raid. But not only that he has lost control over the temporal aspects of his life, he furthermore believes that he has been kidnapped by aliens from the planet Tralfamadore and taken to their world as an exhibit in a terrarium.In order to point out the close relationship between the author and the main character I will subdivide this paper into several sections, shortly giving information about the author′s biography and providing a quick summary of Slaughterhouse-Five.This information has to be considered and related in order to understand Vonnegut′s motivation for writing this novel. It is vital to realize that Pilgrim is Vonnegut and that whatever Pilgrim feels is what Vonnegut experienced in his life.

    Make way for Charlie Smithers.The time is the nineteenth century. The place, the Serengeti Plain, where one Charlie Smithers – faithful manservant to the arrogant bone-head, Lord Brampton (with five lines in Debrett, and a hopeless shot to boot) – becomes separated from his master during an unfortunate episode with an angry rhinoceros, thereby launching Charlie on an odyssey into Deepest Darkest Africa, and subsequently into the arms of the beautiful Loiyan…and that’s where the trouble really begins.Maasai warriors, xenophobic locals, or evil Arab slavers, the two forbidden lovers encounter everything that the unforgiving jungle can throw at them."A truly engaging read that will keep anyone’s attention from the hilarious beginning until the last word. I highly recommend this 5 star novel." ~ Chapters & Chats

    From her mother's diary, Etta Jean will learn to love the mother she never knew. And from the same diary, a mother will finally give of herself.

    The Warming is coming. The ocean ice they have lived and hunted on for generations is melting, and they must flee to the safety of an unknown land before they all drown. In this powerful tale of survival at the end of an Ice Age, the young hunter, Attu, must choose between saving his clan or saving Rika, the golden-eyed healer he is forbidden to love.Show more Show less --------------------------------------------------------------------------------