(There's Power in the...) V


Takerra Allen - 2012
    On one end, it prided me. I was one of the most desired girls of the neighborhood, a piece to a strong family puzzle that many envied. On the more trying end, we were declared a trio, branded by the actions of one another. Our mother, the matriarch, always instilled in us that family was everything; we were our sisters and a representation of her. There was power in the V she would often say. So while one of us craved the bad boys, another became blinded by success and status, and last, the baby, let s just say she was addicted to love. And that was us and it was tolerable. Just like you, we had obstacles and though our worlds were rocked, they were never shattered, because family was always at the core. But one day that changed. A sequence of ugly events placed our lives into an unstopping whirlwind of desire, betrayal, corruption, infidelity, and even death. Little did we know, our story, the story of The Bell sisters, the story of our lives, was being written in the process. Within these pages holds our secrets disguised as a nostalgic and dark tale of reality. Our family will never be the same...

A Man Who is Not a Man


Thando Mgqolozana - 2009
    A Man Who Is Not A Man recounts the personal trauma of a young Xhosa initiate after a rite-of-passage circumcision has gone wrong. With frankness and courage, author Thando Mgqolozana's powerful novel details the pain and lifelong shame that is experienced as a result of not just the physical trauma, but the social ostracism of being labeled 'a failed man.' He decodes the values and mysteries of this deep-seated cultural tradition and calls to account the elders for the disintegrating support systems that allow such tragic outcomes to happen. But it is also through this life-changing experience that his protagonist is forced to find his strength and humanity, and reassess what it really means to be a man.

He That Will Not When He May


Mrs. Oliphant - 1880
    This Elibron Classics book is a facsimile reprint of a 1881 edition by Bernhard Tauchnitz, Leipzig.Originally serialized in MacMillan's Magazine, Volumes CLI and XLII, November 1879 to October 1880.

In the Chest of a Woman


Efo Kodjo Mawugbe - 2008
    A play set in the ancient Ashanti Kingdom about a woman who desires to see her daughter become ruler of the Empire and has her disguised as a boy from birth - a secret she strives to hide.

He Fell in Love with His Wife


Edward Payson Roe - 1886
    Alida marries a man only to find out he's already married. She's so undone when she finds out that she just wants to go somewhere where no one will judge her for her misfortune, where she can work and keep herself fed and clothed. James and Alida meet and arrange for a strictly business marriage, leaving loving and honoring out of the vows. The title of the book tells the rest of the story, but the way it gets there is worth the journey.

The Collection: The Outsiders / Rumble Fish / That Was Then, This Is Now


S.E. Hinton - 1982
    The Outsiders: Growing up in a rough city surrounded by violence, Ponyboy and his friends learn what it means to defend your turf and to stand up for each other. That Was Then, This Is Now: Mark and Bryon are practically brothers-they have no family to speak of-but they eventually come to a point in their lives where they have difficult choices to make; choices that might separate them forever.

Flight


John Steinbeck - 1938
    

The Declaration of Independence with Short Biographies of the Signers


Benson John Lossing - 1776
    

The Giver Quartet


Lois Lowry - 2013
    

The Native Commissioner


Shaun Johnson - 2004
    He prided himself on furthering relations between communities, speaking several tribal languages fluently and developing a reputation as a man to be trusted and sought after for help and advice. With a thriving young family, a devoted wife and a quick succession of promotions, George is proud of everything he has achieved so far, in particular the understanding he is fostering between whites and blacks. Then, in the wake of the 1948 elections, George feels a shift in the Native Affairs Department's agenda. As he is shunted from one outpost to another, his role becoming ever more hopeless, his place in South Africa's future increasingly hazy, he feels the weight of his powerlessness and finds himself fighting off a crippling depression. "The Native Commissioner" is a heart-wrenching portrayal of a kind and conscientious man who felt himself cast adrift under the weight of South African apartheid.

Thabo Mbeki: The Dream Deferred


Mark Gevisser - 2007
    It is a story, too, of political intrigue; of a revolutionary movement struggling first to defeat and then to seduce a powerful and callous enemy, of the battle between unity and discord, and the dogged rise to power of a quiet, clever, diligent but unpopular man who seemed to take little joy in power but have much need for it. By the time he retires in 2009, Thabo Mbeki will have ruled South Africa, in effect, for the full fifteen years of its post-apartheid democracy: the first five as Nelson Mandela's 'prime minister' and the next ten as Mandela's successor. No African leader since the uhuru generation of Nkrumah and Nyerere has been as influential. The author's long-awaited biography is a profound psycho-political examination of this brilliant but deeply-flawed leader, who has attempted to forge an identity for himself as the symbol of modern Africa in the long shadow of Mandela. It is also a gripping journey into the turbulent history and troubled contemporary soul of the country; one that tries to make sense of the violence of the past and confusion of the present. As Mbeki battles, in the current day, with demons ranging from AIDS to Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe and finds his legacy challenged by the ever-growing candidacy of his would-be successor Jacob Zuma, The Dream Deferred tracks us back along the path that brought him here, and helps us understand the meaning of South Africa, post-apartheid and post-Mandela.

Black Widow Society


Angela Makholwa - 2013
    Will Talullah’s controlling streak or Nkosazana’s unfettered material aspirations jeopardise the future of the Black Widow Society? Or perhaps one of the new recruits, unsettled by the reality of the elimination of her former husband, will lose her nerve and expose the workings of the group after all this time?As the tension mounts, Black Widow Society builds to a chilling and bloody climax that will keep you guessing and riveted until the very last page.

Peter Pan: The Complete Adventures


J.M. Barrie - 1904
    Barrie, starring such timeless characters as Peter Pan, Tinker Bell, Captain Hook, Wendy, and the Lost Boys. Included in Peter Pan: The Complete Adventures are: • All three Peter Pan books written by J.M. Barrie. • Both Peter Pan and Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens are illustrated with the classic artwork by F.D. Bedford and Arthur Rackham. • Links to free, full-length audio recordings of the Peter Pan books in this collection, as well as other childhood favorites. • An individual, active Table of Contents for each book accessible from the Kindle "go to" feature. • Perfect formatting in rich text compatible with Kindle's Text-to-Speech features. • A low, can't-say-no price! The Complete Adventures All three of J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan books, complete and unabridged. Books included: • Peter Pan (also known as Peter and Wendy) [1911]* Includes original illustrations by F. D. Bedford! • Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens [1906]* Includes original illustrations by Arthur Rackham! • The Little White Bird [1902] A Little Bit of Pixie Dust Also included are special features for any Peter Pan enthusiast, including: • A comprehensive list of the many film, television, and media adaptations of the Boy Who Would Not Grow Up. • Links to free, full-length audio recordings of the books included in this collection, as well as other childhood favorites.

A Conspiracy of Mothers


Colleen van Niekerk - 2021
    Against a backdrop of apartheid and racial violence, traumatized artist Yolanda Petersen returns from the Appalachian foothills to the land of her youth at the behest of her mother. While there Yolanda longs to reconnect with her estranged daughter, Ingrid, the product of an illegal mixed-race affair with a white man.But Ingrid is missing, and as Yolanda quickly discovers, she isn’t the only woman in Cape Town desperate to protect her own. Ingrid’s very existence is proof of a white man’s crime, and that man’s mother will do anything―even kill―to ensure the truth remains buried.An evocative debut novel set during a defining period in history, A Conspiracy of Mothers tells a gripping story of love and betrayal from multiple perspectives while deftly balancing the painful legacy of apartheid with the trials of motherhood.

A Slant of Light


Jeffrey Lent - 2015
    These two men are surrounded by a varied host of others, many damaged but stronger for it: a veteran profoundly changed by war, a father tormented by the loss of his daughter, a Seneca man more powerful than others realize, a boy forced too early to become a man. And in this male world, women, too, are assuming new strength—through the roles they take on, and the loves they allow themselves.A Slant of Light is a novel of lust and love, of loss and war, of prophets and followers, of theft and revenge, in an American moment where a seemingly golden age has been shattered. It is a novel about how people make sense of such things, and how they remake their lives.