Born in Dundee in 1938, Maureen Reynolds grew up in wartime Scotland, a young girl surrounded by adult concerns and as she came of age, a whole generation seemed to suddenly do the same, with the rise of the Teddy Boy and rock'n'roll.

    40 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more – everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of Eleven Minutes. This detailed literature summary also contains Topics for Discussion and a Free Quiz on Eleven Minutes by Paulo Coelho.

    Raped by her father from age six and pregnant at eleven and again at thirteen, he kidnapped her and went on the run as the net eventually closed in around him. Shannon's story is not an easy read; she goes into graphic detail about her sexual, physical and mental abuse, which included being burned with an iron, hit with a hammer and even stabbed. Her father told her "it was something all fathers do with their daughters," and for a time she believed him. Shannon wrote this book to start making sense of her childhood and is currently studying towards a degree in Forensic Psychology to help understand what makes people evil. "It was a painful journey," she explains, “but it was worth it because I want to help others who have been through similar experiences."

    A community rich with diverse cultures, humour and warmth; but behind closed doors, mopping up her Mother’s blood became a gruesome task all too familiar in a world of domestic violence, oppression and neglect. A story of alcohol fuelled domestic abuse, of secret lives beyond the windows veiled by the pristine white net curtains; which proudly proclaimed a women’s worth as much as a black eye marked her not as a victim, but as a man’s property. Though amidst the stark reality of a bygone era, there is also an affectionate account of love and family bonds on a street that often echoed with the sounds of children’s laughter.

    But the Gestapo needs a man-hunter to apprehend an Allied agent who has killed three men, and worse, absconded with Top Secret Luftwaffe documents which detail a secret plan that could alter the course of the war. The Reich cannot let the information, and the man who stole it, make it back to Allied territory. The deal? Catch the killer and the Gestapo will free his family from the death camp where they are jailed. Fail...

    She has survived brutality and discrimination with astonishing resilience and optimism. "Horrifying, heartbreaking, informative and inspiring." "A story from the heart...a riveting memoir." "An eye-opening view of life on the streets and beyond." "Cry Purple chronicles a shattered life, rebuilt through sheer determination, courage and faith." "The most inspiring story I've ever read. A must-read filled with hope."

    Richard Shelton was a young English professor in 1970 when a convict named Charles Schmid—a serial killer dubbed the “Pied Piper of Tucson” in national magazines—shared his brooding verse. But for Shelton, the novelty of meeting a death-row monster became a thirty-year commitment to helping prisoners express themselves. Shelton began organizing creative writing workshops behind bars, and in this gritty memoir he offers up a chronicle of reaching out to forgotten men and women—and of creativity blossoming in a repressive environment. He tells of published students such as Paul Ashley, Greg Forker, Ken Lamberton, and Jimmy Santiago Baca who have made names for themselves through their writing instead of their crimes. Shelton also recounts the bittersweet triumph of seeing work published by men who later met with agonizing deaths, and the despair of seeing the creative strides of inmates broken by politically motivated transfers to private prisons. And his memoir bristles with hard-edged experiences, ranging from inside knowledge of prison breaks to a workshop conducted while a riot raged outside a barricaded door. Reflecting on his decision to tutor Schmid, Shelton sees that the choice “has led me through bloody tragedies and terrible disappointments to a better understanding of what it means to be human.”Crossing the Yard is a rare story of professional fulfillment—and a testament to the transformative power of writing.

    For the first time, Suzanne will expose the inner workings of her marriage: a winning combination of love, business, and family. Starting from the very beginning, when a big-city guy from Toronto met a small-town girl from San Bruno, California, readers will get a behind-the-scenes perspective on Suzanne's groundbreaking success as a TV star and Las Vegas diva, multiple-bestselling author, and successful entrepreneur and businesswoman, along with her more personal life as a mother, partner, and ultimately self-fulfilled woman. Through fame, fortune, sickness and blended families, Suzanne and Alan have kept the vitality of their marriage alive-- together 24/7 (and haven't spent a night apart in 37 years), and combining business savvy in their constantly evolving relationship. Now, Suzanne reveals hard-won advice on how to rely on another person without sacrificing individual strengths.In this mixture of love story, memoir, and practical guide, readers, too, will discover how to forge and maintain a true partnership that's built to last.

    He’s a normal Italian teenager—obsessed with music, food, and girls—but his days of innocence are numbered. When his family home in Milan is destroyed by Allied bombs, Pino joins an underground railroad helping Jews escape over the Alps, and falls for Anna, a beautiful widow six years his senior.In an attempt to protect him, Pino’s parents force him to enlist as a German soldier—a move they think will keep him out of combat. But after Pino is injured, he is recruited at the tender age of eighteen to become the personal driver for Adolf Hitler’s left hand in Italy, General Hans Leyers, one of the Third Reich’s most mysterious and powerful commanders.Now, with the opportunity to spy for the Allies inside the German High Command, Pino endures the horrors of the war and the Nazi occupation by fighting in secret, his courage bolstered by his love for Anna and for the life he dreams they will one day share.Fans of All the Light We Cannot See, The Nightingale, and Unbroken will enjoy this riveting saga of history, suspense, and love.

    

    This is about what kind of world we want to live in now, and the joy we can take in finding our dignity again. ‘If I had to choose just one book that I want everybody of any age to read at this moment in time, this would be it’ Brian Eno‘Delightful’ Yanis VaroufakisIn 2020 protest movements across the world revealed the inequalities sewn into the fabric of society. The wildfires that ravaged Australia and California made it clear we are in the middle of a climate catastrophe. The pandemic showed us all just how precarious our economies really are, and the conspiracy theories surrounding the US election proved the same of our democracies. Those in charge do not have the answers. In fact, those in charge, more often that not, are the problem.So, what do we do? In Together: 10 Choices for a Better Now, award-winning political commentator Ece Temelkuran puts forward a compelling new narrative for our current moment, not for some idealised future but for right now, and asks us to make a choice. To choose determination over hope; to embrace fear rather the cold comfort of ignorance; to save our energy for an unwavering attention on those in power and the destructive systems they uphold, rather than wasting time spewing out anger and outrage online.Above all, this book asks you to choose to have faith in the other human beings we share this planet with.‘I am giving Temelkuran’s Together to everyone I know. So clear-eyed, frank, wise and joyous! An obligatory book for any human on earth today’ Andrew Sean Greer, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Less

    It tells what happened next in Valerie Poore's life in South Africa's rural Kwa-Zulu Natal in the 1980s. More bittersweet than the first book, Val and her family move down the mountain from the farm where they spent the three happy years described in African Ways. In this second book, life changes dramatically for the author and her small daughters, but the anecdotes she shares are still filled with colour, humour and everything that she loves about Africa and its people.

    A vivid account of a year in Paris, written in a personal and engaging style, this title focuses on the style, glamour and romance to be found in this most seductive of cities.

    The talk around the family Seder table is of new babies and budding romance, not of the increasing hardships threatening Jews in their hometown of Radom, Poland. But soon the horrors overtaking Europe will become inescapable and the Kurcs will be flung to the far corners of the world, each desperately trying to navigate his or her own path to safety. As one sibling is forced into exile, another attempts to flee the continent, while others struggle to escape certain death, either by working grueling hours on empty stomachs in the factories of the ghetto or by hiding as gentiles in plain sight. Driven by an unwavering will to survive and by the fear that they may never see one another again, the Kurcs must rely on hope, ingenuity, and inner strength to persevere. An extraordinary, propulsive novel, We Were the Lucky Ones demonstrates how in the face of the twentieth century’s darkest moment, the human spirit can endure and even thrive.