Book picks similar to
Precarious Infatuations by Anthony Hulse


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The Nightengale Legacy Sampler Edition


Justin Dwayne Foxworth - 2010
    Once in a while, you come across someone who had the energy and determination to see it through and you are happy he did. Such is the case with Justin Dwayne Foxworth in his breakout novel, Valerie. I highly recommend you give a new talent a chance and read his work. I'm sure you'll want more of his character development and plots developed into more novels to enjoy... Andrew Neiderman, author of The Devil's Advocate

George Pearly Is A Miserable Old Sod


Steven Primrose-Smith - 2015
     Amazon UK reviews for Steven's first book, No Place Like Home, Thank God: "A superb book I devoured in two days." "This book made me laugh out loud." "Great read. Laugh out loud funny." "I really enjoyed this book!" "Steven's style of writing made me laugh out loud." "I couldn't put it down." "One of the best books I've read in a long time." "Found his one liners very funny." "A highly entertaining read." "So well written with brilliant humour." Seventy year-old British ex-pat miserymonger George Pearly lives on the Costa del Sol, all alone except for his ancient, three-legged dog, Ambrose. George hates his life and everybody in it. These feelings are mutual. Everyone hates George too. From this unhappy equilibrium the situation quickly deteriorates. First, George discovers he is dying of a mystery illness. Then his 35 year-old ape-child nephew, Kevin, moves into George's tiny and once tranquil home with a passion for Vimto, Coco Pops and slobbing around in his greying underpants. Worst of all, George's neighbours start to disappear and all accusing fingers point towards George. Pull up a sun lounger, grab yourself a piña colada and enjoy a murder-mystery romp on Spain's sunny southern coast.

The Cotton Blossom: A Novel


Dawn Gardner - 2020
    She’s an aspiring, young seamstress who is enchanted by a charming new suitor. His worldly ways and grandeur captivate her—until secrets, lies and unsavory behaviors bring her harm.Uncovering more than she ever imagined, Lillie is pushed to make decisions that she never expected. With the help of a close family friend and her brother Frank, Lillie tries to leave behind her mistakes.The discovery of a 1951 convertible dragged out of its watery grave leads reporters to the doorstep of Lillie Mae. The Cotton Blossom is a spellbinding journey about finding your power, learning from your mistakes and trusting your heart.

A Day Like Any Other


Isla Dewar - 2021
    You can only use the experiences you live through to make your future better, wiser. Anna and her best friend George meet every week to remember, to sigh, to laugh, to reminisce about their moments of glory, guilt and mischief and share their sorrows over a glass or three of wine. The things they've done still make them blush. Anna wanted to be a poet - a famous poet. George left home in a childish rage and years later returned with her baby.When Anna is asked to look after the boy across the road for a few hours each week, she isn't sure. She doesn't really do children. But she takes the job on and, gradually, a child's view of her world shows her a different place.George remembers a flat she stayed in when she ran away from home. It had the kitchen of all kitchens and, oh, how she'd love to see it again. Anna sets out to see if it still exists and discovers a cookbook full of recipes, intimates notes and drawings from George's life.Does all this mark an ending or the beginning of something new and marvelous for Anna and George?

Zetta's Dream: An Appalachian Coal Camp Novel (The Zetta Series Book 1)


Sandra Picklesimer Aldrich - 2015
    Determined to keep the family together, Zetta and their toddlers join Asa and her brothers at the Golden Gate coal camp just before Christmas 1922. She is eight months pregnant. During the first week in the dismal camp, Zetta suffers fearful nightmares of cut trees and fresh dirt--Appalachian signs of trouble. Asa dismisses his wife's pleas to return to their farm, insisting their three-month stay will provide the $400 they need to give their children better lives. Disappointed, Zetta draws strength from her plump red-haired neighbor, Dosha, and the strong willed granny woman, Clarie, who will deliver her baby. And each morning, she thanks the Lord they are one more day closer to home. Or are they?

Day of Atonement


Jay Rayner - 1998
    Down the side of a dilapidated synagogue in North-west London, a great partnership is born. Apart, Mal Jones and Solly Princeton are two teenage no-hopers scrabbling about in the dirt. Together they are dynamite: a world-beating team who turn a company selling chicken-soup machines to the Jewish mothers of Edgware into an international hotel and leisure empire.But success is never simple. Before long pressures draw them away from the comforts of their roots. They find themselves cutting corners, taking risks and breaking the law. Finally Mal has to confront his life, his friendship with Solly and where their very different ambitions have led them.Thirty-five years later as sunset ushers in the beginning of Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of atonement, Mal, his fortune gone, picks over the ruins of his past with his niece, Natasha. He tells her the story of the Sinai Corporation, of his best friend and business partner, Solly, and at last begins to ask himself: how far must you go before you lose faith in yourself?

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan


Lambert M. Surhone - 2010
    In her introduction to the novel, See writes that Lily, the narrator, was born in 1823 -- "the third year of Emperor Daoguangs reign."The novel begins in 1903, when Lily is 80 years old. During her lifetime, Lily lives through the reigns of four emperors: Emperor Daoguang (1820-1850); Emperor Xianfeng (1850-1861); Emperor Tongzhi (1861-1875); and Emperor Guangxu (1875-1908).

Everything I Never Told You: A Novel by Celeste Ng | Debrief


J. Morgan - 2016
    It was released on June 2014. Ng’s novel managed to beat the likes of Stephen King and Hilary Mantel for the 2014 Amazon Book of the Year Award. Her debut novel has also won the 2014-2015 Asian/ Pacific American Award for Literature in Adult Fiction and the 2014 Alex Award. Currently, Everything I Never Told You is sold in 15 territories worldwide. Celeste Ng’s family thriller is a highly recommended and critically acclaimed work of fiction. Read more.... Download your copy today! for a limited time discount of only $2.99! Available on PC, Mac, smart phone, tablet or Kindle device. © 2015 All Rights Reserved by Unlimited Press Works, LLC

The Haunting of Goldville Cemetery


Carrie Bates - 2020
    The cemetery caretaker mysteriously vanished, never to be seen again.Becca, her husband and sons are thrilled to move into their new house. But the shack at the edge of their property leaves Becca feeling unsettled. When she investigates, voices are heard but no one is there. A cold hand grips hers, leaving Becca running in fear.When her sons defy orders to stay away from the shack, the evil is unleashed. For Becca's youngest son has taken something that belongs only to the dead; and they want it back. When a man haunts their dreams, all too soon, Becca's family realizes that he's not in their dreams at all. Can the family fight back against the evil before it's too late? Or, will they spiral into a nightmare that they can never escape from?

I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb Summary & Study Guide


BookRags - 2011
    166 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more – everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of I Know This Much Is True. This detailed literature summary also contains Topics for Discussion and a Free Quiz on I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb.

The Enlightenment of Angeline (Enlightenment, #1)


Joshua Berkov - 2020
    She’s tough, opinionated, bossy, and she’s got a bone to pick with nearly everyone in her life.Set in the fictitious Eastern North Carolina small town of Shelbington, Angeline has been given a terminal diagnosis, with mere months left to live. Upon learning of this news, her adult children and grandchildren come home for one last visit. There is no love lost between any of the family members, and they all have secrets that they voluntarily or involuntarily reveal throughout the course of the novel, culminating in an explosive family dinner at which the biggest bombshells are dropped.Told in first-person narratives by the main protagonist and other characters, the story uses humor to touch on a number of hot-button issues, from race relations and racial profiling to LGBTQ issues, to the #MeToo movement, and to the subjugation of religion for profit.As Bette Davis once said in the 1950 movie All About Eve, “Fasten your seat belts. It’s going to be a bumpy night!”

Reflections


Marcia Willett - 2019
    On impulse, she sells it and goes to stay with her brother in Salcombe, Devon, while she plans her next move. There, she begins to look back at her life and reflect on the choices that have led her to this moment.Cosmo has also escaped – temporarily – from his life in the city, finding the south-west a relaxing and appealing fit, especially when he meets local girl, Amy. But is he being entirely truthful about what he’s left behind? Just out of uni, Sam has passed the Admiralty Interview Board and is set to follow in his naval father’s footsteps. His future is secure – but he feels cast adrift. With doubts and loosening family connections worrying him, an impartial new friend could be just the thing he needs. Forging a bond across the generations, can he and Cara help each other find the way to a new, happy chapter?Reflections ebb and flow as the estuary meets the sea . . . and Cara, Cosmo and Sam learn that for everything lost, there is something to be gained. Praise for Marcia Willett:'A beautifully woven tale of families and their secrets...' Liz Fenwick, bestselling author of The Cornish House'Riveting, moving and utterly feel-good' Daily Mail'Sweeping powers of description transport her readers to another time and place' Rosanna Ley

Field of Dead Horses


Nick Allen Brown - 2012
    Georgetown, Kentucky, 1939...soon after dawn on a February morning, Elliott Chapel discovers an unconscious, bloodied, young woman lying face up in the cold waters of Penny Creek. Days later, awakening from her hypothermic coma, Ellie Evans finds herself on the Chapel Farm. Once she explains her plight as the abused wife of a powerful man, Elliott offers her and her son a place to stay and vows to keep them from harm. For both Ellie and Elliott, life under the same roof is a challenge--with the cantankerous Paul Chapel, Elliott's father who spends his retirement days drinking whiskey with his aging coonhound by his side. Elliott has taken over the daily operations of the horse farm with his assistant, Booley. Unusual for the time--when blacks were subservient to whites--Booley manages a small staff and helps Elliott attempt the impossible with the newly-acquired horse of a high-profile client. Ellie pitches in and helps out when she can and helps change the mood of the busy farm with her sweet charm and culinary skills, even getting on the good side of the bad-tempered Paul Chapel. Just when daily life settles into an enjoyable rhythm, a violent struggle erupts when the malicious Mayor Evans descends on the farm with the county sheriff and two deputies. Armed with shotguns, they remove Ellie and her son from the farm, against her will. Narrated by Elliott five decades later, he recalls the incident on the Chapel Farm and subsequent events which ultimately reveal the long-kept secret...hidden in a small town since 1939.

Consecrated Dust: A Novel of the Civil War North


Mary Frailey Calland - 2011
    News of the catastrophe is buried, however, beneath the horrendous casualty reports from the Battle of Antietam, fought on the very same day. Inspired by these two real-life tragedies, Consecrated Dust tells the story of four young northerners - feminist, Clara Ambrose; soldier, Garrett Cameron; industrialist, Edgar Gliddon; and immigrant, Annie Burke - friends, lovers, and bitter rivals. In the teeming streets and factories of Pittsburgh, and on the battlefields of the Army of the Potomac, they struggle to survive, forced to choose between love and duty, sacrifice and greed. Their choices ultimately lead to their presence at both the Arsenal and the Antietam battlefield on that fateful September day, a day that reveals the true meaning of courage - a day not all of them will survive. "Mary Frailey Calland bridges the gap between historian and storyteller, adeptly using characters to walk the reader through the times and events in 1862 Pittsburgh where life and the consequences of war collide. Rich in historic detail, Consecrated Dust is a narrative window to the past." MICHAEL KRAUS, Curator of Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall & Museum, Pittsburgh, PA, and military consultant to the films Gettysburg and Cold Mountain. "The Civil War is seared into American memory for the horrors of the battlefields, North and South. Mary Calland's Consecrated Dust brings the tragedy to the northern home front and Pittsburgh - the Arsenal of the Union - which experienced in a single day the greatest death of civilians during the four year conflict." ANDREW E. MASICH, President & CEO of the Senator John Heinz History Center, Pittsburgh, PA.

The Talk of Pram Town


Joanna Nadin - 2020
    . .It’s 1981. Eleven-year-old Sadie adores her beautiful and vibrant mother, Connie, whose dreams of making it big as a singer fill their tiny house in Leeds. It’s always been just the two of them. Until the unthinkable happens.Jean hasn’t seen her good-for-nothing daughter Connie since she ran away from the family home in Harlow – or Pram Town as its inhabitants affectionately call it – aged seventeen and pregnant.But in the wake of the Royal Wedding, Jean gets a life-changing call: could she please come and collect the granddaughter she’s never met?We all know how Charles and Diana turned out, and Jean and Sadie are hardly a match made in heaven – but is there hope of a happy ending for them?Written in Joanna Nadin’s trademark dazzling prose, The Talk of Pram Town tells the story of three generations of Earnshaws and asks whether it always has to be like mother, like daughter . .