Book picks similar to
Delicate Prey and a Distant Episode by Paul Bowles


counter-culture
fiction
modern-literature
1favorite

SUMMER OF THE PLAGUE (Molly Titchen Book 2)


Gordon John Thomson - 2015
    In the spring of 1665, England is recovering from a terrible winter, yet the country has other severe problems to face as the sun finally returns. The King, Charles II, had been welcomed back as a saviour on his restoration five years before, but is now resented by increasing numbers of his own people. And in March, the King declares war on the Dutch, England’s great seagoing trade rivals… Worse news comes to Restoration London, though, when there is an outbreak of the plague in April. This is terrible news in particular for the wealthy young physician and merchant Henry Raven, who believes that the outbreak is not natural but has been caused by an old enemy plotting his revenge against the city of London. Henry Raven, together with his friends from the Royal Society, Dr William Croone and Robert Hooke, organize the city’s fight against the spread of the disease. Raven’s delectable young mistress, Molly Titchen, is a precocious seventeen-year-old actress at the new King’s theatre in Drury Lane who is torn between her devotion to Henry Raven, and her love of strutting the stage in breeches parts. When Molly gives a bed for the night to one sick young actor, her kind action is misunderstood by Raven who believes that she has been unfaithful to him. Then Molly falls on hard times herself, and is aided not by her jealous lover, but by a strange Moorish apothecary, and a mysterious Frenchman, Philippe Desargues, Comte de Mésanger... Henry Raven has other problems to trouble his mind too, apart from his fight against the plague and his wish to save his relationship with Molly. Firstly, a close childhood friend, Esther Linney, has disappeared from her cottage on the estate of Raven’s family home in Dorset, Salwayash Manor, and gone to London. Raven’s sister Catherine asks her brother to find Esther in London, and discover why she left Dorset in such mysterious circumstances. Raven also has to deal with the fact that his sister has clearly fallen in love with their wealthy neighbour, the recently widowed Ralph Warboys, who is a handsome man yet one with a haunted past. And then strange events unfold in the quiet Dorset countryside when two young girls are found dead in suspicious circumstances... As the plague rages through London, Raven finds himself having to defend Esther Linney against a charge of witchcraft, while also trying to save Molly from an implacable enemy. But his greatest challenge is to discover the secrets of an old family curse, and to unmask a cruel murderer…

Outlaw Brand : Book Two: Hell to Pay


Tracy T. Thurman - 2018
     A loose lipped, opportunistic, man from the past, seeks to profit from his knowledge of a ruthless gang of outlaws. He ignites a firestorm of events that lead to death and destruction. Ride along with Deke and the Ferguson gang as they face bounty hunters, and the threat of a rogue company of vigilantes calling themselves ‘Rangers’. A new enemy emerges, bent on revenge, challenging their strength, and testing the mettle of an ally. They fight to overcome the odds against them, as well as those within themselves. The gang considers turning over a new leaf, but will the circumstances let them? Deke is faced with the love of a pretty girl, and a past event that could chase her away. He learns that not every question is answered by how you pull your guns. New ways, and even new life, enters the Ferguson Ranch. Deke even learns the meaning of standing behind a lawman’s badge.

My Sister Sarah


Victor Pemberton - 1999
    Beattie, raucous and fun-loving, sees her sister Sarah's quiet reserve as snobbery, and Sarah cannot understand why Beattie appears to upset their parents' comfortable Islington household at every opportunity. When Sarah discovers her younger sister's spiteful affair with the naval officer she'd hoped to marry, she is devastated, whilst the defiant Beattie's reputation lies in tatters. As London recovers from the trauma of the Great War the girls are forced into very different lives. But, through the child they both love, it seems there might be a chance that the tragedy that drove them apart might one day compel their paths to cross again...

Rain Of Gold Part 1 Of 2


Victor Villaseñor - 1991
    And Rain of Gold is possibly his finest work -- a sweeping tableau of family ties and cultural traditions.pA pair of strong families, two proud but embattled lineages, find themselves bound together by time and circumstance. Through political upheavals, loves gained and lives lost, the families struggle to keep what is precious to them. This premise would make a mesmerizing novel -- but this story is all true.p"A great love story...magnificent." (Albuquerque Journal)

The Glitch Guardians – Firestorm: (an unofficial Minecraft book) (Tales of the Glitch Guardians Book 3)


Dr. Block - 2021
    

Sarah & Zoey


Linda Watkins - 2017
    Trapped in a marriage to an abusive alcoholic, her only pleasure was in tossing a ball to a skinny dog she’d adopted from the local shelter.Sarah & Zoey is the tale of these two women and the one remarkable dog who saved them both.It is a story of the power of unconditional love.

The Unwanted : The Adventures Of Lucas Morgan


C. Wayne Winkle - 2018
    They’re accused of using witchcraft to cause an ongoing drought in the area. After several incidents they agree among themselves to move West. Through many incidents, both man-made and natural, they make their way to Kansas. Once they near Oregon, Indians attack the wagons. Following this, they make it to Oregon.