Dogwood Afternoons is the story of Andrew Mavis, a young race-car driver. Mavis is testing his car on a new superspeedway, running practice laps against his boyhood friend and rival, Wynn Tatum, as they vie with each other for a job with a factory racing team. It soon becomes clear that it is Mavis himself who is being tested: by his car, to be sure, but also by the twists and shadings of his memory. Dogwood Afternoons is a novel about memory, fate, and obsession. There are two narratives in the book: the first takes place in the present and is, for the most part, Andrew's interior monologue as he drives. The second part of the novel is his life--his memories of the small-town Southern world in which he grew up, of his stern silent father Wylie, of the world of boot-leggers and moonshiners, of his women, and, above all else, of his remorseless infatuation with cars.
A Christy Award winner from the best-selling author of War Room! In the small town of Dogwood, West Virginia, Karin has buried her shattered dreams by settling for a faithful husband whose emotional distance from her deep passions and conflicts leaves her isolated. Loaded with guilt, she tries to raise three small children and “do life” the best she can. Will returns to Dogwood intent on pursuing the only woman he has ever loved—only to find there is far more standing in his way than lost years in prison. The secrets of Will and Karin’s past begin to emerge through Danny Boyd, a young boy who wishes he hadn’t survived the tragedy that knit those two together as well as tore them apart. The trigger that will lay their pain bare and force them to face it rather than flee is the unlikely figure of Ruthie Bowles, a withered, wiry old woman who leads Karin so deep into her anger against God that it forces unexpected consequences.
In this photograph-driven field guide to California’s spectacular wildflowers, Laird R. Blackwell expertly provides several ways to find them in bloom: by month, by place, and by flower. The month-by-month descriptions—found in no other statewide guide—suggest what to see and where to go throughout the state during the blooming season. The author also supplies more than 300 locations arranged in 10 geographical regions, highlighting 67 of his favorite places with detailed driving and walking directions and difficulty, blooming times, and lists of predominant wildflowers as well as a featured flower. The guide contains more than 650 color photographs by the author, including 600 species arranged by flower, with natural history notes and places and months to find the flower in bloom. Throughout, experienced wildflower guide Blackwell shares his love of the beautiful places and flowers he has visited throughout California.
Teenage drinking diverted Cot Campbell onto the perilous slope of alcoholism. This invidious enemy stymied the talents of young Campbell, who lurched from job to job and from jail to jail. Finally disgusted by his personal failures, Cot grasped the aid of Alcoholics Anonymous. Thereafter, he forged a rising career curve with passion, imagination, and integrity, taking his cherished wife and family along on the ride. Campbell founded one of the South's leading advertising agencies, then found a way to turn his love of horse racing into a sporting career, and his success completed a remarkable transformation. Memoirs of a Longshot is a sprightly telling of that unique tale. It is indeed the story of a "Riproarious Life." Praise for Cot Campbell's "Memoirs of a Longshot" "Leave it to a world-class storyteller like Cot Campbell to weave the vague, stumbling beginnings of a lad on a Tennessee horse farm with the raucous highs and desperate lows of big-time horse racing. Sprinkle the tale with such characters as Featherlip Trabue, Rhumba Pete and a one-armed barber named Baker Lane, and come out the other end with an indelible memoir of a life lived in grand and gracious style." Jay Hovdey, Daily Racing Form "Cot Campbell and I have had a strong working relationship for more than a decade. Reading Memoirs of a Longshot gave me a front row seat in the movie of his life all the highs and lows and everything in between. This book is so much more than one man's autobiography, it's an entertaining "how to" manual for an unusual life. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the history of a man I have counted as my friend for many years." Todd Pletcher, North America's Leading Trainer for 3 years Cot Campbell ́s love of horses is matched by his love for writing. He knows the low side and the high side of life, and in "Memoirs", he doesn ́t spare himself. From membership in AA to the winner ́s circle in the Triple Crown and the Breeders Cup, from prep school brat to Saratoga, he has run the gamut, and you can run it with him in this, his third book. Furman Bisher, Senior Columnist, Atlanta Journal-Constitution Cot Campbell's Dogwood Stable has been a mainstay in the world of horse racing for many years. The rollicking tale of how this came to be, and the personal travails overcome to make it so, is at times harrowing and sad, but ultimately uplifting and joyous. Ed Bowen, President Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation Other Books by Cot Campbell: Lightning in a Jar A how-to guide for owning racehorses based on many of the author's own experiences. Rascals & Racehorses Runyonesque stories about racing interspersed with some of the author's candid tales. For more information on Cot Campbell, click here
Jonathan Meredith's life is a disaster, all because of a Greek holiday and Iris, the girl who has brought his world - parents, education, society - tumbling down. So Jonathan seeks refuge with Peter, his jockey friend with ambitions to win the National. Jonathan's life quickly becomes focused on the race, and chances of a very challenging horse . . .
On the clearest nights in the darkest places you can see as many as two thousand stars. On what scaffolding are they hung? Jan DeBlieu began to wonder. Her husband had become enveloped in a depression of his own, and both he and DeBlieu were struggling to find points of light out of that darkness. DeBlieu discovers it in the sky above, a firmament of order and beauty that prompts her to consider the worlds inside our minds, the delicate framework of neurons and synapses that support our fragile selves. Year of the Comets is her record of the journey she and her husband take from pain to healing.
Two small girls are admitted to the ICU with severe burns and child abuse is suspected. Though the father denies the charges, he is taken into custody with impications of race included.
