Book picks similar to
A Random Act by Cindi Broaddus
memoirs
physical-disabilities
crime
Awake, but still dreaming
Kate Mathias - 2015
I wasn’t wearing an orange jumpsuit, but instead a flimsy hospital gown engulfed my frail body. As I looked into my husband’s eyes, I wondered if this would be the last time I saw him … the last time I hugged him … the last time I told him I loved him. I worried that my last few breaths would be taken as the wheels of the gurney squeaked down the brightly lit hallway, slowly making our way to the operating room. In the next few moments they would begin surgery to remove a brain tumor from my right frontal lobe. My life was about to change. This is my story, my true story, of my journey overcoming my brain tumor. One that I hope ends with a happy ending. That’s the thing about hope; even in my darkest days, that hope remained deep within my soul. I hoped that the person I used to be would fight their way back, out of the depths. And today, hope still fills my heart … hope that I will make the most of my second chance at life. Life doesn’t send out invitations — so today I choose to be bold. Be brave. Be unforgettable. And I choose to LIVE.
Reflections of Sunflowers (The Sunflowers Trilogy Series)
Ruth Silvestre - 2004
In 1976 their dream of owning a peaceful summer retreat came true when they stumbled across this derelict farmhouse surrounded by fields and orchards, and saw what it could become. Over the years there has been the inevitable sadness, but also the joys of new grandchildren, anniversaries, village fetes, and splendid meals taken with their neighbours. And whilst the family has seen many changes in its time, the warm and welcoming atmosphere they first fell in love with has remained the same. Now they face their own personal tragedy, but through all their sorrows Bel-Air continues to be a place of hope and happiness, as well as extraordinary beauty.
French Dreams, Dogs and a Dodgy Motor: Discovering our little home in Haute Provence and all that came next.
Jane Smyth - 2020
Hard work, study and a determination to fulfil a long-held dream eventually became a reality when a computer search led to the discovery and purchase of their much loved mountain property. Follow Jane and Rob on their journey through a mosaic of early memories, anecdotes, observations and funny stories. As they travelled back and forth from their home in the UK to the Alpes de Haute Provence, their journeys over the years have provided a rich source of material, from a weird encounter with strangers on a ferry to the trouble dogs can get you into. Jane brings to life these and other experiences, introduces residents and neighbours and peppers her tale with facts and vivid descriptions of the area, making you want to pack your bags and see it for yourself!
The Betrayed
Kate Kray - 2010
But their married life was far from what she had hoped it would be and was marred by drug abuse and violence. After Johnny was arrested and sentenced to 18 years, it became clear that their relationship was doomed to fail. Now, years later, and for the first time in a long time, life is finally looking up for Rosie Mullins. She has confronted her jealous husband and told him that she wants out, her acting career has taken off, and she has fallen into a new relationship with a top TV executive. All too quickly, however, she finds that Johnny’s influence extends far beyond the prison walls that contain him. To make matters worse, his intensely loyal twin brother, "Mad Dog" Eddie, is proving to be every bit as dangerous as her husband. Betrayed by those who had sworn to protect her and cornered by her past, Rosie has to fight with every breath to protect herself and her beloved daughter, Ruby. She finds herself forced to play a very, very dangerous game; setting her old family against her new one.
The Search
Vishal Anand - 2021
ACP Rathore is investigating the homicide. As the events begin to unleash Rathore digs upon secrets too dark and dangerous. As he proceeds, the question becomes more and more haunting - Who Killed Roger? Michael Rodriques, the Deputy Chief Minister of Goa? Shirley Fernandes, Roger's wife? One or more of the other artists? Or, an individual for whom Roger refused to perform? The Search is the most astonishingly impudent, ingenious and altogether a fast-paced murder mystery ever written by an Indian author.Note: This is an expanded version of the short story Who Killed Roger.
Betty Broderick, the mother the murderer
Charles Dennis - 2016
Names have been changed for the privacy of the family, however the telling of this story is long overdue.
Long Black Stockings: A turn-of-the-century memoir
Ethel Benson Soper - 2014
The details are exquisite and take one back to beloved books of childhood such as Little House on the Prairie while at the same time providing full grown-up fare for history buffs. Wry humor and insights are deftly woven throughout, making the reader smile precisely because the author is not trying to do anything but authentically tell her story. And a wonderful story it is.” Kate Turpin
Syn (The Merseyside Crime Series Book 2)
Malcolm Hollingdrake - 2021
A few too many drinks.A few harsh words said. No one was hurt.All easily forgotten.Both can healExcept he didn’t forget. Their threats. How they made him feel…They must pay - with their lives.But one will always leave a scar…A young woman goes missing. She’s done it before, but Detective Inspector April Decent senses this time it’s serious. Can she convince her colleagues she’s right before it’s too late?Decent and her DS Skeeter Warlock face their most deadly opponent yet in Syn, the second novel in Malcolm Hollingdrake’s superb Merseyside Crime Series.
Mosquito Point Road: Monroe County Murder & Mayhem
Michael Benson - 2020
There’s Killer of the Cloth, The Baby in the Convent, Mosquito Point Road, Death of a First Baseman, The Blue Gardenia, and Pure/Evil. Three of the killers are female.
Judas Pig
Horace Silver - 2004
But he becomes increasingly haunted by childhood ghosts and by the ever-growing influence of Danny, his psychopathic partner in crime. Billy finds himself starting to look beyond the violence and the scams, slowly descending into a drug-fuelled netherworld that affects his judgment and his perceptions. He is finally tipped over the edge when Danny commits an act even Billy cannot stomach. And that's when things really start to go wrong. This explosive first novel from a reformed career criminal comes with authenticity stamped throughout.
Texas Tragedy: The Story of Priscilla Davis: A True Story of Money, Murder and Survival
Greg Brown - 2016
Worth, Texas. Cullen Davis was one of the richest men in Texas and his second wife, Priscilla Davis, was shot in their mansion. Also shot and murdered were her twelve-year-old daughter and her thirty-year-old boyfriend, Stan Farr. Priscilla and two other people said it was Cullen. The culprit was wearing a wig so his identity was somewhat hidden but not completely. Cullen was arrested in the early morning hours of August 3, 1976, at his girlfriend's house. He later went on trial for the murder of Priscilla's daughter. He was found not guilty but the next year he was put on trial for a murder-for-hire plot to kill the judge overseeing his divorce from Priscilla. He got off from that charge, too. And somehow he finally skirted any murder charge for Stan Farr. Finally in 1979 he and Priscilla were divorced. Priscilla received 3.3 million dollars and Cullen was able to move back into his 19,000 square-foot mansion. Two books have been written and a movie was made describing these events and characters. But nothing has been written about what really happened in the decades after the trials of the 1970's. This book explains the facts of that fateful August night and what happened in the courtrooms of Texas. But the majority chronicles the path Priscilla took after the trials of the 1970's. Priscilla was not done with Cullen yet and she would try tirelessly to obtain some kind of justice. She also decided to have a little fun along the way. The press loved Priscilla but the general public were split. She had been painted as a low-rent gold-digger in the Texas courtrooms but everyone also knew that Cullen was probably guilty of murder. In the end, only the two of them really knew the truth. This is the story of how Priscilla learned to live with the fact that justice was denied her and Cullen would probably never pay. In 1995, a 26-year-old man named Greg Brown moved in with Priscilla, who was now 53. They became lovers and Greg tells how Priscilla learned to make the most of tragic situations which were both of her making and not of her making. It's a story of struggle, love and compromise even in the most dire of circumstances.
The Runaway Schoolgirl: This is the True Story of My Daughter's Abduction By Her Teacher Jeremy Forrest
Davina Williams - 2015
It was the start of a year-long nightmare that still haunts the entire family. Her fifteen-year-old daughter was missing and soon after was captured on CCTV boarding a ferry to France with her thirty-year-old school teacher Jeremy Forrest.The newspapers called her The Runaway Schoolgirl and some saw their romance as nothing more than a harmless love story. But Forrest had abused his position of responsibility and engaged his pupil in a sexual relationshipNow Davina Williams, the mother of the teenager referred to as Gemma Grant, tells the story of the abduction and subsequent capture of Forrest, its harrowing aftermath and the traumatic trial to make Forrest pay for his crimes.Told only as a mother knows how, Davina Williams hopes her heart wrenching story will silence the parasites who believed they should be together and allow 'Gemma' and her family to finally move on with their lives.
Family Secrets: The scandalous history of an extraordinary family
Derek Malcolm - 2017
The secret, though, that surrounded my parents’ unhappy life together, was divulged to me by accident . . .’ Hidden under some papers in his father’s bureau, the sixteen-year-old Derek Malcolm finds a book by the famous criminologist Edgar Lustgarten called The Judges and the Damned. Browsing through the Contents pages Derek reads, ‘Mr Justice McCardie tries Lieutenant Malcolm – page 33.’ But there is no page 33. The whole chapter has been ripped out of the book. Slowly but surely, the shocking truth emerges: that Derek’s father, shot his wife’s lover and was acquitted at a famous trial at the Old Bailey. The trial was unique in British legal history as the first case of a crime passionel, where a guilty man is set free, on the grounds of self-defence. Husband and wife lived together unhappily ever after, raising Derek in their wake. Then, in a dramatic twist, following his father’s death, Derek receives an open postcard from his Aunt Phyllis, informing him that his real father is the Italian Ambassador to London . . . By turns laconic and affectionate, Derek Malcolm has written a richly evocative memoir of a family sinking into hopeless disrepair. Derek Malcolm was chief film critic of the Guardian for thirty years and still writes for the paper. Educated at Eton and Merton College, Oxford, he became first a steeplechase rider and then an actor after leaving university. He worked as a journalist in the sixties, first in Cheltenham and then with the Guardian where he was a features sub-editor and writer, racing correspondent and finally film critic. He directed the London Film Festival for a spell in the 80s and is now President of both the International Film Critics Association and the British Federation of Film Societies. He lives with his wife Sarah Gristwood in London and Kent and has published two books – one on Robert Mitchum and another on his favourite 100 films. He is a frequent broadcaster on radio and television and a veteran of film festival juries all over the world.
Cold Fury: The Cannock Chase Murders
David J. Cooper - 2020
Why would a man, married to an attractive young woman, want to sexually assault and murder innocent little girls?In the late 1960s, Cannock Chase in Staffordshire became the centre of the biggest murder hunt in Britain.The bodies of five year old Diane Tift, six year old Margaret Reynolds, and seven year old Christine Darby were found dumped there.The killer thought he was cleverer than the police and slipped through the net four times.He would have continued with the killings but he made a big mistake.Find out what happened and how the police eventually caught up with him.
Shadow of My Father
John Gotti - 2015
But now in "Shadow of My Father," the real story of the King of the Volcano is revealed for the first time. John A. Gotti, who survived four trials and a parole violation hearing, in four years, without a guilty verdict, now takes up his pen to tell the story of his father’s unwavering dedication to the street, and how, as his son, he entered that life, and then, with his father’s permission, left the life of crime, and put the “Family” behind him to live a legitimate life with his real family. It is a saga of betrayal and redemption, and an insider’s view of how, at times, those who are tasked with upholding the law readily broke it to further their careers.