What We All Long For - A Novel

Dionne Brand

Summary

Gripping at times, heartrending at others, What We All Long For is an ode to a generation of longing and identity, and to the rhythms and pulses of a city and its burgeoning, questioning youth. Dionne Brand's multicultural infusion follows the stories of a close circle of twenty-something second-generations living in downtown Toronto—and the secrets they hide from their families.Tuyen is a lesbian avant-garde artist and the daughter of Vietnamese parents who've never recovered from losing one of their children while in the rush to flee Vietnam in the 1970s. She rejects her immigrant family's hard-won lifestyle, and instead lives in a rundown apartment with friends—each of whom is grappling with their own familial complexities and heartache. Tuyen is love with her best friend Carla, a biracial bicycle courier. Oku is a jazz-loving poet who, unbeknowst to his Jamaican-born parents, has dropped out of college. He is tormented by his unrequited love for Jackie, a gorgeous black woman who runs a hiphop clothing store.Meanwhile, Tuyen's lost brother, Quy—now a criminal in the Thai underworld—sets out for Toronto to find his long-lost family. Gripping at times, heart-wrenching at others, Dionne Brand's What We All Long For is a story of identity, love and loss—the universal experience of being human, and discovering the nature of our longing.

Available since: 03/26/2024.

Print length: 337 pages.

Other books that might interest you

Lethal Lace

Mildred Abbott

Snow-covered mountains, luminous glass ornaments, and ethereal wedding gowns . . . 
 
 
 
When Winifred Page attends the Christmas-themed bridal show for a preeminent designer—solely to fulfill her role as best friend and maid of honor, mind you—she is stunned to find herself relishing the details of soft lace and the spectacular blown-glass display dangling overhead. Her delight doesn't last long, though, as Fred's aversion to everything fashion makes her jealous of her corgi, Watson, no doubt napping at home under the cozy Christmas tree. 
 
 
 
The romance and elegance of haute couture doesn't fade to a sublime end, however, as the show comes to a dead stop—literally, for one Estes Park merchant—with a cry of murder as a body is discovered in a lace-strewn dressing room. 
 
 
 
Untangling relationships wrapped in secrets and lies is anything but a simple sashay down a runway. But Fred and Watson are determined to fashion the truth from the scraps they uncover to ensure justice and to return their cozy town to silent nights and white Christmas dreams for the holidays. 
 
 
 
(This culinary cozy mystery includes a recipe for heavenly espresso chocolate babka.)

Show book

The Law of the Sea

Dov Preminger (writing as Dave...

Young lawyer Jack Carver meets a new client, Ashley Marcum, whose brother has died under mysterious circumstances. The last thing he left her was a set of gold coins, of unknown origin and hundreds of years old. As Jack and Ashley scramble to discover how her brother died, they find themselves pitted against giant corporations and their powerful lawyers in a legal saga that spans the globe. Ultimately, Jack and Ashley must unearth a dark secret, long lost to history, and prevail in a case that ignites a firestorm around the world.

Show book

Reckoning

Joel Austin

They stole the drone tech and burned the refugee camp. He plans to return the favor.West Africa is already a tinderbox when Captain Frank Sherman touches down. A refugee camp lies in ruins. Experimental U.S. drone tech is missing. And someone's doing everything they can to make sure Sherman's team never comes home. 
But Sherman doesn't rattle.From jihadist hideouts in Mali to the blood-slick back rooms of Accra, he hunts the truth behind a conspiracy that spans warlords, corrupt officials, and mercenary ghosts. The body count rises. The lies get thicker.And Sherman? He only moves one way—forward, with a rifle and a reason.Reckoning is the second hard-hitting installment in the Frank Sherman Thrillers Series—where covert ops meet conspiracy, and justice always has a cost. Fans of Jack Reacher, Mitch Rapp, and Jack Ryan will find a new obsession in Sherman's relentless warpath.

Show book

Leopard Skies (Tailwind...

A. T. Grant

As David and Marcus travel from Morogoro in Tanzania into the remote Uluguru Mountains, they are immersed in a community facing threats from both the natural and the spirit world. 
Apollo, a local game reservist, is tasked to protect Marcus’ group. No longer the ranger he once was, he is haunted by strange leopard encounters on Kilimanjaro and in the Selous. 
As some of their fellow travellers get lost in the jungle, an unexpected arrival from the past brings a surprising twist.

Show book

War Child

Kevin Karella

Lincoln James Legacy: War Child is the long awaited sequel to Olivia's Hope released in 2018. War Child is not so much about war itself, in fact, there is very little actual war within the pages, but it is about surviving after the war. Even years and decades later. It's about good soldiers and innocent civilians, especially children recovering from the unseen wounds and deep scars left behind after witnessing the brutality of war. The insults of your mind and heart, seen and experienced, especially from the perspective of an innocent little girl.
It’s about wolves and sheep and the quiet, unassuming sheepdogs of the world that try to keep the wolves at bay.
It's about Love and Joy and the kind of Friendship that we all dream about and desperately desire. It's about loss and grief that no one is immune to. Some of us bear more of that burden than others. It’s about tradition and honoring those that have gone before you. It's about being completely content in your misery. Then, Life comes along and drags you kicking and screaming back into the sunshine. When the wonderful light first hits your eyes, you blink a couple of times because you aren't used to it. Then you smile and suddenly wonder, "Why did I wait so long?"
Murder, Romance, Weddings and War
Seth and Jenny ride the roller coaster of uncertainty and joy between having the twins, discovering their babies were already named and finally, finding out who the real mothers are?
Long ago, on a snatch and grab mission, Link and his elite Dagger unit stumbled across a starving, ragged little girl. Now, years later and living in America, Celia still can't shake the nightmares of the war. Empty and broken inside, she trusts no one.
Then, along comes Jesse, Link’s son. He is different from anyone Celia has ever met. Infuriating yet… interesting. Does she know that Jesse is the son of the man that saved her? When Jesse gets arrested for murder, can she ever trust him?

Show book

Strong Conviction

Trevor Scott

Trent Strong is back home in his northern Minnesota lake community after spending ten years working on a Chicago daily newspaper as an investigative journalist covering heinous crimes and traveling to war-torn countries. Sick of all the deaths, and content with returning to a slower pace, Trent buys the local weekly newspaper. But Trent is in town for only one week when an old friend asks him to investigate the Mammoth Paper Mill, which he suspects is polluting a small trout stream. Since the mill employs over half the town, the friend hasn't made many friends with his claim. The next day, a woman is found stabbed to death in town. Trent is compelled to investigate her death, as well as the paper mill. As Trent investigates, he runs across many people from his past. Some are potential suspects, and others make him question if his move back home was the right one. He starts a relationship with the motel manager, but even wonders if she is somehow involved with the murder. Trent must investigate around a small town sheriff and county attorney running for re-election, out-of-state thugs who want to shut him up, and an entire town that would like the whole thing to go away. What he finds will change his life forever . . .

Show book