Sex. Money. Murder. Drama. Housewives...And homeless animals! All run amok in the affluent suburb of New Wellington! Tish McLean has been left high and dry, both financially and emotionally, by Brian, her husband of over 20 years. To make matters worse, Brian is about to marry the social chameleon Susan, Tish's one close unattached friend. As Tish struggles to realize her dream of opening a shelter for homeless animals-and her love with a very married veterinarian who has big problems of his own-she strips away the cubic zirconium studded underbelly of country club society. What she finds may shock you-and make you laugh!
'He's a fool that marries, but he's a greater fool that does not marry a fool.' This bawdy, hilarious, subversive and wickedly satirical drama pokes fun at the humourless, the jealous, and the adulterous alike. It features a country wife, Margery, whose husband believes she is too naïve to cuckold him; and an anti-hero, Horner, who pretends to be impotent in order to have unrestrained access to the women keen on 'the sport'. A number of licentious and hypocritical women request Horner's services – the country wife among them. The Country Wife has provoked powerfully mixed reactions over the years. The seventeenth century libertine king Charles II saw it twice, and is said to have joined the 'dance of the cuckolds' at the end of one performance; the eighteenth century actor-playwright David Garrick declared it 'the most licentious play in the English language'; the Victorian Macaulay compared it to a skunk, because it was 'too filthy to handle and too noisome even to approach'. Twentieth century productions heralded it a Restoration masterpiece. Sexually frank, and as ready to criticise marriage as infidelity, the virtuosity, linguistic energy, brilliant wit, naughtiness and complexity of this ribald play have made it a staple of the modern stage. This student edition contains a lengthy, entirely new introduction, by leading scholar, Tiffany Stern, with a background on the author, structure, characters, genre, themes, original staging and performance history, as well as an updated bibliography and a fully annotated version of the playtext.
Even a good woman can be pushed too far...From bestselling author Tricia Stringer, this beautifully realised multi-generational family story looks at what happens when real-life betrayals and struggling relationships clash with outdated ideas of what a woman should be. Natalie King's life is full. Some might say too full. With her teaching job, a farm to run, three grown daughters who have not quite got a handle on things, a reserved husband and a demanding mother-in-law, most days she is too busy to think about whether she is happy. But her life has meaning, doesn't it? After all, she is the one person everyone depends upon. But when an odd gift from her mother-in-law - an old book in the form of stern and outdated advice for young wives - surfaces again, it brings with it memories she thought she had buried deep. Has this insidious little book exerted some kind of hold over her? Could it be that in her attempts to be a loving wife and mother, she no longer knows who she is? On a day when it seems everyone is taking her for granted, and as the ghost of a past betrayal rises, it becomes clear that even this good mother and model wife can be pushed too far ...
SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE INSTANT #1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER USA Today bestseller Edgar + ITW Thriller Award nominee for Best First Novel “Think: Dexter but sexier.”—theSkimm “A dark and irresistible debut.”—People “Will shock even the savviest suspense readers.”—Real Simple Dexter meets Mr. and Mrs. Smith in this wildly compulsive debut thriller about a couple whose fifteen-year marriage has finally gotten too interesting... Our love story is simple. I met a gorgeous woman. We fell in love. We had kids. We moved to the suburbs. We told each other our biggest dreams, and our darkest secrets. And then we got bored. We look like a normal couple. We're your neighbors, the parents of your kid's friend, the acquaintances you keep meaning to get dinner with. We all have our secrets to keeping a marriage alive. Ours just happens to be getting away with murder.
A Book of The Month Club pick In this beautiful dive into the world of J. M. Barrie’s classic, one woman must take on the infamous Peter Pan—who is not the innocent adventurer the fairy tales make him out to be—to save her daughter’s life. . . . Life is looking up for Holly Darling, granddaughter of Wendy—yes, that Wendy. That is, until she gets a call that her daughter, Eden, who has been in a coma for nearly a decade, has gone missing from the estate where she’s been long tucked away. And, worst of all, Holly knows who must be responsible: Peter Pan, who is not only very real, but very dangerous. Holly is desperate to find Eden and protect her son, Jack, from a terrible web of family secrets before she loses both her children. And yet she has no one to turn to—her mother, Jane, is the only other person in the world who knows that Peter is more than a story, but she refuses to accept that he is not the hero she’s always imagined. Darling Girl brings all the magic of the classic Peter Pan story to the present, while also exploring the dark underpinnings of fairy tales, grief, aging, sacrifice, motherhood, and just how far we will go to protect those we love.
A bestselling, groundbreaking author investigates wives who thrive, sharing their uncensored strategies for staying married. America’s high divorce rate is well known. But little attention has been paid to the flip side: couples who creatively manage to build marriages that are lasting longer than we ever thought possible. What’s the secret? To find out, bestselling journalist Iris Krasnow interviewed more than two hundred wives whose marriages have survived for fifteen to seventy years. In raw, candid, sometimes titillating stories, Krasnow’s cast of wise women give voice to the truth about marriage and the importance of maintaining a strong sense of self apart from the relationship. Some spend summers separately from their partners. Some make time for wine with the girls. One septuagenarian has a recurring date with an old flame from high school. In every case, the marriage operates on many tracks, giving both spouses license to pursue the question “Who am I apart from my marriage?” Krasnow’s goal is to give women permission to create their own marriages at any age. Marital bliss is possible, she says, if each partner is blissful apart from the other. For anyone who wants to stay married and stay sane, this is the book to read!
Navigating the social canvas of the exclusive Shore Haven Country Club, several elite couples struggle with what they will gain, lose, or maintain when scandal occurs. Much like a chess game, players have to ascertain what happens socially, sexually, financially, and morally in the sea of social gossip, envy, social seeking, eventual blackmail, scandal, and tests of moral constitution.
Spring Break! Seonghun has never looked forward to, nor needed those two words more than after enduring the whole winter ordeal with Casey. He is even more pumped to go on vacation with his Liah, and their friends for Spring Break. As they get closer to the end of the school year, Seong has to figure out how to make their love last through the upcoming distance. Seonghun is looking forward to planning a bright future with his girlfriend but try as he might, Shiwon can't seem to shake his crush on Maliah. Will Shiwon eventually steal Maliah away, leave their friend group altogether, or will he conquer his feelings? Liah is faced with a difficult task she’s avoided for a while; facing her parents and their neglect. Seong promises to be there for her every step of the way, but coming from a loving family, he is unsure how to support her. All of this with graduation looming ahead is a lot for our group of friends. But Seong is certain that with Maliah by his side, they can accomplish anything.
