MACHO! Has been chosen by the New York Public Library for its distinguished list of Books for the Teen Age. Victor Villasenor is the author of several works, most notably the national-bestseller RAIN OF GOLD and many screenplays, including the award-winning The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez. In his first novel, seventeen-year-old Roberto Garcia has big hopes for a future different from that of his compatriots in the highlands of Michoacan. Inspired by his thirst for a prosperous life he dreams lies beyond the border, Roberto steps onto the dangerous trail many immigrants have taken before him. "Macho! Is poetic in its devotion to realistic detail and classic spareness of style . . . At the same time, humor of a truly native sort contagiously informs the narrative. It is as if a misery and laughter were twins in Villasenor's vision of the human condition"--Los Angeles Times. "It rings true. His sentences and his characters have the smell of rich earth and honest sweat about them. His stor

    But having covered her childhood as a Russian princess, her exile in Paris, and the discovery of her phenomenal voice, the prima donna reached her first husband s death

    Mary, a small village in the English countryside filled with rolling hills, thatched cottages, and a cast of characters both hilariously original and as familiar as the members of your own family. Among them is Major Ernest Pettigrew (retired), the unlikely hero of Helen Simonson's wondrous debut. Wry, courtly, opinionated, and completely endearing, Major Pettigrew is one of the most indelible characters in contemporary fiction, and from the very first page of this remarkable novel he will steal your heart.The Major leads a quiet life valuing the proper things that Englishmen have lived by for generations: honor, duty, decorum, and a properly brewed cup of tea. But then his brother's death sparks an unexpected friendship with Mrs. Jasmina Ali, the Pakistani shopkeeper from the village. Drawn together by their shared love of literature and the loss of their respective spouses, the Major and Mrs. Ali soon find their friendship blossoming into something more. But village society insists on embracing him as the quintessential local and her as the permanent foreigner. Can their relationship survive the risks one takes when pursuing happiness in the face of culture and tradition?

    Lawrence's frank portrayal of an extramarital affair and the explicit sexual explorations of its central characters caused this controversial book, now considered a masterpiece, to be banned as pornography until 1960.