. . reminding us of the fragility of childhood and the costs it exacts upon the adults we become.”—The Washington PostThe hardcover publication of this unflinching memoir resulted in the arrest of an alleged child molester and the following headline: “Author’s Writing on Abuse Brings New Victims Forward.” In a new afterword to this tenth-anniversary edition from New Rivers Press, Richard Hoffman writes about the events his book set in motion, the cries for help he received from men across the country, and the talk he had with an 11-year-old boy who thanked him “for making it stop.”But this autobiography, about a blue-collar family struggling to care for two terminally ill children as the third child, the author, is subjected at age 10 to sexual abuse by his coach, is also a moving work of literature and a testament to the healing power of truthtelling. It is a “spare, poignant” memoir (TIME) that “offers heartening evidence . . . of the human capacity to endure and prevail” (The Washington Post).Richard Hoffman’s work, both prose and verse, has appeared in numerous literary reviews and anthologies. Half the House was awarded the Boston Athenaeum Readers’ Prize in 1996. His most recent book is Without Paradise (Cedar Hill), a collection of poems. He is currently writer-in-residence in the Department of Writing, Literature, and Publishing at Emerson College; he also serves on the faculty of the Teachers as Scholars Program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and is currently a Massachusetts Cultural Council fellow in fiction.

    During that time, some of these poems appeared in various journals and on Web sites, including The Poetry Daily site, which ran thirty of Lehman's poems in as many days throughout the month of April 1998. For The Daily Mirror, Lehman has selected the best of these "daily poems" -- each tied to a specific occasion or situation -- and telescoped two years into one. Spontaneous and immediate, but always finely crafted and spiced with Lehman's signature irony and wit, the poems are akin to journal entries charting the passing of time, the deaths of great men and women, the news of the day. Jazz, Sinatra, the weather, love, poetry and poets, movies, and New York City are among their recurring themes. A departure from Lehman's previous work, this unique volume provides the intimacy of a diary, full of passion, sound, and fury, but with all the aesthetic pleasure of poetry. More a party of poems than a standard collection, The Daily Mirror presents an exciting new way to think about poetry.

    In neon-colored dresses, tights, and balaclavas, they performed a “punk prayer” beseeching the “Mother of God” to “get rid of Putin.” They were quickly shut down by security, and in the weeks and months that followed, three of the women were arrested and tried, and two were sentenced to a remote prison colony. But the incident captured international headlines, and footage of it went viral. People across the globe recognized not only a fierce act of political confrontation but also an inspired work of art that, in a time and place saturated with lies, found a new way to speak the truth. Masha Gessen’s riveting account tells how such a phenomenon came about. Drawing on her exclusive, extensive access to the members of Pussy Riot and their families and associates, she reconstructs the fascinating personal journeys that transformed a group of young women into artists with a shared vision, gave them the courage and imagination to express it unforgettably, and endowed them with the strength to endure the devastating loneliness and isolation that have been the price of their triumph.

    In The Chronology of Water, Lidia Yuknavitch expertly moves the reader through issues of gender, sexuality, violence, and the family from the point of view of a lifelong swimmer turned artist. In writing that explores the nature of memoir itself, her story traces the effect of extreme grief on a young woman’s developing sexuality that some define as untraditional because of her attraction to both men and women. Her emergence as a writer evolves at the same time and takes the narrator on a journey of addiction, self-destruction, and ultimately survival that finally comes in the shape of love and motherhood.

    Spanning his 50-year career and incorporating a rich and varied range of material, this second anthology is as wonderfully unmissable as the first. When Spike Milligan died in 2002, he left behind one of the most diverse legacies in British entertainment history – as well as a legion of devoted fans and admirers. His themes ranged from environmental issues to the war, from nostalgia to depression, and his prolific output covers some of the most evocative events of the twentieth century, in a style both twistedly comic and harrowingly honest.The huge success of the Spike Milligan anthology, ‘The Essential Spike Milligan’, has inspired a second raid on the original brilliant source. Milligan was arguably the most one of the prolific and mould-breaking comic writers of the twentieth century and this second anthology gives another opportunity to sample his finest writing. It includes more of the best from his war memoirs and novel Puckoon, his children's stories, poetry and drawings plus a wonderful collection from his voluminous correspondence from the 1960s onwards with such varied recipients as the House of Commons, the Director-General of the BBC, Private Eye and British Telecom. A compulsive read for all Milligan fans.

    In these timeless and witty essays George Orwell explores the English love of reading about a good murder in the papers (and lament the passing of the heyday of the 'perfect' murder involving class, sex and poisoning), as well as unfolding his trenchant views on everything from boys' weeklies and naughty seaside postcards to being arrested in East End.

    Mikhail extensively interviews these women—who’ve lost their families and loved ones, who’ve been sexually abused, psychologically tortured, and forced to manufacture chemical weapons—and as their tales unfold, an unlikely hero emerges: a beekeeper, who uses his knowledge of the local terrain, along with a wide network of transporters, helpers, and former cigarette smugglers, to bring these women, one by one, through the war-torn landscapes of Iraq, Syria, and Turkey, back into safety.In the face of inhuman suffering, this powerful work of nonfiction offers a counterpoint to Daesh’s genocidal extremism: hope, as ordinary people risk their own lives to save those of others.

    Finally, he was being acknowledged as a worldwide sensation in his role as the irrepressible ‘Mammy’ Agnes Brown.Over the last few years, Brendan has spread his wings to taste success as an author, a playwright, a comedian, an actor, a television star and more, picking up major awards along the way. But it hasn’t always been a bed of roses for the Dubliner, who started off life working as a waiter before evolving into the hardest working man in showbiz.Born in 1955 as the youngest of 11 children, he grew up in a two-bedroom corporation house in the rough-and-tumble working class area of Finglas in north Dublin. After his father Gerard died, when Brendan was just seven years old, his formidable mother Maureen – who influenced Brendan’s future career – raised him on his own.Life truly didn’t begin until 40 for Brendan, who left school aged just 12 and tried his hand at anything to earn a living, including jobs as a milkman, DJ, bar manager and painter and decorator. But after being persuaded to have a go on the comedy circuit it was the the beginning of a new dawn in Brendan’s life that would see him become the man with the Midas touch.In the years since, his work rate has become phenomenal as his earthy comedy has become a global hit, he found love again with his second wife and co-star Jennifer Gibney and he has become rich beyond his wildest dreams thanks to his foul-mouthed matriarch Mrs Brown.In this first ever biography of the star, David O’Dornan reveals the extraordinary rags to riches journey Brendan O’Carroll has made to become a comedy genius loved by millions of devoted fans. This is a must-read book for any fan and includes exclusive interviews with those nearest and dearest to the star.

    They knew that it was a massive gamble. Their friends called them brave. Their families thought that they had either gone completely mad or were dreaming of a delusional easy life in the sun. In the event none of these assumptions were completely accurate. Moving and funny, this is the story of the trials and tribulations involved in buying and converting their new house. The challenges of starting a new business in a foreign land, speaking a language they had struggled to learn thirty years previously and had since forgotten. But ultimately of fulfilling their ambition to work, laugh and play in the beautiful town of Sarlat.

     Despite leaving the courtroom with her reputation intact, Kat's inner life was in turmoil, and it was only due to the loyal support and steadfast encouragement of her ever-increasing fan-base that she managed to complete the sixth volume so soon. Following on from the fifth book, in which she lost her identity but somehow found herself a husband, Karin now finds herself in the precarious position of having to move in with her partner's family - a move known to strain even the tightest of marital bonds. But tight bonds are seldom established by those who grew up learning not to trust, and the status of being the only black sheep in a house full of sacred cows eventually takes an irreparable toll on the marriage; forcing the young Karin out of the house and onto the streets. In what might be described as the first truly "grown up" volume in the series, Kat, now in her twenties, is left with no choice but to face the world completely alone. Homeless, penniless, and holding the (not just proverbial) baby, she resorts to begging by the roadside in order to get by. Her desperate search for protection leads her down some dark alleys, and before long she realises the uncomfortable truth: that shelter is a commodity to be bargained for. And with little more than her dignity to bargain with, it is perhaps not surprising that the arms she ends up in are not all tender and loving. In fact, she soon finds she needs protection from the protection itself - a theme all too familiar for readers of the prior books. The woman who was abused her entire childhood now recounts her terror at being subjected as an adult to violent alcoholic rages, false accusations, and even rape at the hands of her sadistic tormentor, who insists on holding her captive. Once again in need of an escape route, she makes a daring bid for freedom. Yet despite coming so close, she falls short and ends up swapping one set of bars for another. 
DISCLAIMER: This book series deals with themes of both child abuse and domestic abuse, and as such reader discretion is advised. Names have been changed to protect the innocent.

    Was it suicide or homicide?Standing up to her father, heir to the Broadway/Hale Department Store fortune, Linda is disinherited, then ostracized from the family she loves. When her father marries his mistress, Denise Minnelli, stepmother to Liza Minnelli, the family unravels.Once a child of privilege, Linda recounts, in vivid detail, her extraordinary life—summers on the family's 10,000 acre ranch in Northern California, hunting trips to Africa and Alaska, high society vignettes of a fourth-generation San Francisco family, and her father's final decision: to leave the entire family fortune to Minnelli.But amid the ashes, Linda finds a new strength: the strength to forgive the one who started it all.REVIEWS:"...a jolting memoir." ~The New York Post"...a book you won't be able to put down." ~David Patrick Columbia, New York Social DiaryMEET LINDA HALE BUCKLIN:Linda feels blessed to be surrounded by her three grown sons, two daughters-in-law and two grandchildren. A fourth-generation San Franciscan, she now lives with her husband in Mill Valley, CA.

    young Larry later learns she is married to the vicious gangster Greg Scarpa known as "The Grim Reaper." Greg takes a liking to Larry and makes him his protegé. He likes him so much that he gives his blessing for the affair to continue and brings Larry deep into the "family."

    'An exemplary biography of its kind - detailed, meticulous and sympathetic.' Peter Ackroyd, The Times'Larkin lived a quietly noble and exemplary version of the writer's life; Motion - affectionate but undeceived about the man's frailties, a diligent researcher and a deft reader of poetry - has written an equally exemplary 'Life' of him.' Peter Conrad, Observer'Honest but not prurient, critical but also compassionate, Motion's book could not be bettered.' Alan Bennett, London Review of Books'There will be other lives of Larkin, but Motion's, like Forster's of Dickens, will always have a special place.' John Carey, Sunday Times

    H. LAWRENCE • F. SCOTT FITZGERALD • ERNEST HEMINGWAY • ROBERT FROST They are icons of the literary world whose soaring works have been discussed and analyzed in countless classrooms, homes, and pubs. Yet for most readers, the living, breathing human beings behind the classics have remained unknown...until now! In this utterly captivating book, Dr. Elliot Engel, a foremost authority on the lives of great authors, illuminates the fascinating and flawed men and women of literature's elite. In lieu of stuffy biographical sketches A Dab of Dickens & A Touch of Twain reveals dozens of fascinating anecdotes: • Why Sir Arthur Conan Doyle blamed his wife's death on Sherlock Holmes • How Charles Dickens' pet launched Edgar Allan Poe on his way to literary immortality • The strange connection between Jane Austen and Ernest Hemingway • How Louisa May Alcott's attempt to get Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn banned backfired...and more! You'll never look at these literary giants the same way again.

    Is it the covers? Is it because the audience and authors are largely comprised of women? Or is it something else? Perhaps the bad reputation of romance has to do with surprising dictionary definitions, women, window taxes, the poor, the cost of a ream of paper in the nineteenth century, the rise of the love match marriage, the social status quo, the industrial revolution, and the ongoing tension between high and low art. Discover the origins of the stigma against popular romance novels, those who read it and those who wrote it. It has nothing to do with the covers. These books were scorned because they were dangerous.