Join us on a literary world trip!
Add this book to bookshelf
Grey
Write a new comment Default profile 50px
Grey
Subscribe to read the full book or read the first pages for free!
All characters reduced
The Old Jest - A Novel - cover

The Old Jest - A Novel

Jennifer Johnston

Publisher: Open Road Media

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

Summary

Winner of the Whitbread Literary Award for Best Novel: In the wake of the Great War, a young woman’s life is turned upside down when she befriends a soldier of the grisly struggle on Ireland’s horizonNancy lives with her aunt and ailing grandfather in a seaside town not far from Dublin. Eighteen and about to go to university, Nancy has spent her summer consumed in part by unrequited thoughts of her first love, Harry, a man eight years her senior. Nancy’s one haven is the beach, where she has discovered an abandoned hut and claimed it as her personal sanctuary. One day, she arrives there to find that her inner sanctum has been invaded by a grizzled and desperate-looking man whom she names Cassius. An IRA foot soldier on the run, Cassius becomes something of a father figure to Nancy, and in a pivotal moment she agrees to deliver a message for him—a decision that will change her life forever. A beautiful coming-of-age novel set against the nascent Irish Troubles, The Old Jest is an award-winning portrait of loyalty, loss, and of one fateful encounter that propels a young woman into adulthood.  
Available since: 06/24/2014.
Print length: 166 pages.

Other books that might interest you

  • Scoundrel of Dunborough - cover

    Scoundrel of Dunborough

    Margaret Moore

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    USA Today–Bestselling Author: She swore to resist temptation—but on one last quest before she takes her vows, she finds that love may be her true calling . . .  
     
    Journeying to Dunborough to learn the truth about her sister’s murder, novice Celeste D’Orleau dons a nun’s habit for safety. But seeing her childhood hero Gerrard of Dunborough makes her dream of pleasures that will be forbidden once she takes her final vows.  
     
    Gerrard wrestles with his desire for the innocent beauty. After striving to redeem his wicked reputation, he won’t seduce a nun. Yet as Celeste’s mission draws them closer together, it soon becomes clear their passion is stronger than any vow . . .
    Show book
  • Windsor Castle Book 2 - cover

    Windsor Castle Book 2

    William Harrison Ainsworth

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    Book 2 - Herne the Hunter.  The focus of the novels is on the events surrounding Henry VIII's replacing Catherine of Aragon with Anne Boleyn as his wife. During Henry's pursuit of Boleyn, the novel describes other couples, including the Earl of Surrey and Lady Elizabeth Fitzgerald, a match Henry does not support. However, some of the individuals oppose Henry and his desires for Boleyn, including Thomas Wyat who wants her for himself and Cardinal Wolsey, who uses a maiden of mysterious birth, Mabel Lyndwood, to lure Henry away from Boleyn. [...] Intertwined with the Court is the story of Herne the Hunter, a spirit of Windsor Forest. He is an evil force that seeks to take the souls of various individuals, and Henry tries to stop him, but is never able to do so. (Summary adapted from Wikipedia)  Other books in the series:Book 1 Book 3 Book 4Book 5Book 6
    Show book
  • The Outsider - A Novel - cover

    The Outsider - A Novel

    Howard Fast

    • 0
    • 1
    • 0
    The New York Times–bestselling author of Spartacus evokes the postwar Jewish-American experience through the story of a compassionate but conflicted rabbi.   After witnessing the inhumanity and devastating suffering of Dachau, chaplain David Hartman returns to post–World War II America seeking meaning and purpose. As a young rabbi, he accepts a post in the sleepy, WASPy Connecticut suburb of Leighton Ridge, where a handful of Jewish families want to build a religious community. Accompanied by his lively wife, Lucy, a self-proclaimed “Jewish atheist,” and aided by a kindred spirit in the local Congregational minister, David meets skepticism with sincerity, and poverty with humility and humor—and faces anti-Semitism with quiet courage.   Over the next quarter century, David and his family and congregation weather the social upheavals of McCarthyism, the establishment of Israel’s statehood, the trial and execution of the “atom spies,” civil rights marches, and Vietnam War protests. David finds both his faith and his marriage tested as he continues to struggle with feeling marginalized as a rabbi and a Jew in American society, haunted by the Holocaust and challenged to respond to the prejudice, inequality, and warmongering he sees locally and nationally.   Capturing a tumultuous time when humanity was rapidly figuring out how to destroy itself and eager to declare God if not dead, then irrelevant, Howard Fast’s sweeping historical novel offers an intimately personal portrayal of a rabbi’s life—and fearlessly probes questions of personal morality, spiritual identity, and social responsibility that continue to resonate in the twenty-first century.  This ebook features an illustrated biography of Howard Fast including rare photos from the author’s estate.
    Show book
  • The Cage-maker - A Novel - cover

    The Cage-maker - A Novel

    Nicole Seitz

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    A cache of secret documents unfolds a fascinating tale of fin de siècle New Orleans in this timeslip Southern gothic novel inspired by true events. 
     
    When Trish, a contemporary blogger, inherits an antique birdcage, she discovers a secret compartment full of letters, journals, and newspaper clippings. As she peruses the documents, Trish finds herself irresistibly drawn into the history of her family—a tale that is, as one letter puts it, “part love story and part horror and madness.” 
     
    In 1906 Dr. René Le Monnier is ready to retire as the coroner and physician of the New Orleans insane asylum. Still mourning his wife’s death, the Civil War veteran wants nothing more than to write his account of the Battle of Shiloh. But when a sixteen-year-old girl, Carmelite Kurucar, enlists his aid in saving her brother from a death sentence, the good doctor must reckon with old ghosts—including the case of a patient he may have tragically neglected. 
     
    Le Monnier’s efforts lead him to Bertrand Saloy, one of the richest men in New Orleans; to the Le Monnier mansion, which still haunts him; and down a dark family lineage “cursed” by a succession of wealth. Amid the mysteries and suspenseful intrigue, a French birdcage maker’s obsessive love for Madame Saloy emerges at the heart of the story.
    Show book
  • Diana - cover

    Diana

    Susan Warner

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    Diana Starling is the beautiful and quiet daughter of a cold and mentally abusive mother. She falls in love with Evan Nolton, but her mother wishes her to marry someone else. Yet, despite her mother's strong objections, she chooses her own husband. However, she can be truly happy only if she forgets her first love. Will she find the strength do do that? (Introduction by Stav Nisser)
    Show book
  • Fascist as Author The - A Short Story Collection - Celebrated war era authors who had questionable political leanings… - cover

    Fascist as Author The - A Short...

    Knut Hamsun, Luigi Pirandello,...

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    Authors are authors and we are drawn to their works because of their style, their narrative, and their characters and how each part is assembled into the arc of the whole. 
     
    But are we?  Do social conventions, or fashion or other influences decide what we read or what we listen to? 
     
    Its famously said that everyone has a story, everyone should be heard. 
     
    So, when we discover a particular author has a dark past, a difficult character, what do we do?   
     
    Europe was in the last century riven by two catastrophic world wars and a myriad of other local ones.  And like good citizens everywhere our thoughts are stilled by the word ‘Fascist’.  This word which originally meant many strands held together to make a stronger whole is now a one word response to evil and work done in its name. 
     
    In this volume our approach has been to take authors of then great renown, two of whom won the Nobel Prize, and compile a work from each which is seen in a literary context rather than in the heinous shadow of their political and social beliefs.   
     
    We are taught that authors write of their own experiences, but is that really true?  Can an author be separated from their nihilistic approach to politics and actually be a good writer who adds to our knowledge and experience rather than taint us with their reprehensible beliefs on their fellow man. 
     
    Its an ongoing argument.  Perhaps both sides are right.  Perhaps both sides are wrong.
    Show book