Publisher: e-artnow
Set in the bohemian milieu of pre-war Paris, Tarr shows two artists, the Englishman Tarr and the German Kreisler, and their struggles with money, women and social situations.
For Dick and Jane, Dallas after World War II is a place of promise and prosperity: the first home air conditioners are making summertime bearable and Dick's position at his father's business, the Cadillac dealership, is assured. Jane has help with the house and the children, and garden parties and holiday celebrations are spirited social affairs. For the oldest of their three daughters, however, life is full of frustrating mysteries. The stories the adults tell her don't make sense. Too curious for comfort, she finds her questions only seem to annoy them. Why won't they tell the truth about Santa? What is that Holy Spirit business, and what is the difference between an angel and a ghost? Why is her mother often so tense and sad? And why does her father keep flying into violent rages? Hap and Hazard and the End of the World is an intimate, finely crafted novel about the innocence and vulnerability of childhood and the dangers posed by adults who cannot cope with life's complexities. It is also about the ingenuity born of loneliness and neglect, and the surprising, strange beauty of the world.Show book
Maria just gave birth to her first child, a beautiful daughter, but the event is shrouded in sorrow. A month earlier, Maria’s husband, Lord Kersey, was killed in a duel under compromising circumstances. Worse, Maria’s failure to provide a male heir has stripped her of any hope of an inheritance. Scorned by the ton, one of her few allies is her late husband’s steward, Hugh Granger. Hugh is everything her husband was not—warm, charming...and penniless. Hugh has fallen desperately in love with Maria but has little to offer but comfort. As their attraction becomes impossible to resist, Maria flees to London to spend Christmas with her dearest friends, a group of widows who lost their own husbands in the Battle of Waterloo. Little does she know that the holidays will reveal a twist of fate she never expected—proving that the greatest Christmas gift is the magic of true love.Show book
Persuasion" is a novel by Jane Austen, published posthumously in 1818. The story centers around Anne Elliot, a woman in her late twenties who once broke off her engagement to Captain Frederick Wentworth under the influence of her family and friends who deemed him unworthy. Years later, Wentworth returns, now wealthy and successful, and Anne must navigate complex emotions, societal pressures, and the intricacies of second chances. The novel is often praised for its mature and nuanced exploration of love, regret, and the passing of time, and it's considered one of Austen's most sophisticated works.Show book
From the author of the Not The Booker Prize shortlisted Not Thomas I once had a forbidden friend. He was funny and brave, had scabbed knees and grubby shorts, a gleeful grin and fathomless eyes. My co-conspirator and hero. He called himself Emmet. Summer 1966. Claire and her brothers are packed off to Granny Connemara when their mother runs away. Granny's rural Irish cottage is very different to their Cardiff city home, the peaty air thick with unspoken secrets. With no sign of Uncle Jack picking them up at the end of the holidays, there is school to be survived. Granny is formidable and the children unsettled by the conversations they're excluded from. Will Mother ever return? Will they ever get home? Why does their father hate everything to do with Ireland? The only light on Claire's horizon is an out-of-bounds friendship... and it will change her life forever. 'Very special, very powerful... a captivating novel that will leave its mark on every reader.' Mairéad Hearne, Swirl and Thread 'This book is deeply affecting and haunting... I read it twice to see if I would blub as much the second time. I did.' Marie Gameson '...beautiful, perfectly set in time and place...beneath [the] sweetness was a darkness that was heartbreaking' Sandy Taylor 'The blossoming friendship between would-be writer Claire and orphan Emmet is crisply and touchingly told, the warmth between them competing with the cold-hearted regimes of the industrial schools, Magdalene laundries and the septic priests and Brothers of 1960s Ireland.' Jon GowerShow book
1940. It’s been a month since rector’s daughter Billie Harkness left her rural village to make a fresh start in the northern city of Hull. Now she has a new home and an exciting new job as one of only two female police constables in the whole city. But Hull still feels like a foreign country, and some people are less than impressed by the idea of a woman doing a ‘man’s job’.Facing disrespect from her colleagues and suspicion from the public, Billie throws herself into her work. The tasks she’s assigned might be menial, but she’s determined to do her bit for the war effort. The chance to prove her worth comes during a search for a missing air raid shelter inspector, when Billie makes a shocking discovery: his dead body, in a shelter that’s been stripped of all its valuables. The officers summoned to investigate the scene believe it’s an open and shut case, but Billie’s not so sure. Asking questions means making enemies though—and little does she know that vile rumors about her are spreading, with the power to erase everything she’s tried so hard to achieve …Show book
Nineteen forty-four, Nazi-controlled Austria: For 13-year-old Ursula, life in her village remains almost as it was. But when Russian prisoners escape from the local concentration camp, her friend goes missing and her brother's allegiance to the Hitler Youth emerges in shocking ways, Ursula finds herself alone and surrounded by threat. Ursula is forced to recognise that danger comes not only from the enemy at the door but from the enemy within....Show book
