Oliver's father's suicide, committed when she was only five years old, has haunted her all her life. In "Assembling My Father," she offers the extraordinary chronicle of her journey of discovery to learn who he was and why he died.
An enthralling, moving, and true story of the Nazi occupation of Greece, this edition reads with the speed of a compelling novel as it sweeps vividly through the war with unflagging narrative pace. It delivers suspense, endless surprises and twists, sharp characterizations, insights into human nature and the indestructibility of family ties, and a fascinating historical education along the way.
The multi-award-winning, widely-acclaimed mystery master Donald E. Westlake delivers a masterpiece with this brilliant, laser-sharp tale of the deadly consequences of corporate downsizing. Burke Devore is a middle-aged manager at a paper company when the cost-cutting ax falls, and he is laid off. Eighteen months later and still unemployed, he puts a new spin on his job search -- with agonizing care, Devore finds the seven men in the surrounding area who could take the job that rightfully should be his, and systematically kills them. Transforming himself from mild-mannered middle manager to ruthless murderer, he discovers skills ne never knew ne had -- and that come to him far too easily.
The Mungellos (pronounced mun-JEL-os) were Italian-American children of Vesuvius. Raffaele was a builder, Marianna was a businesswoman, Filippo died in a gang murder in Pittsburgh. They fled the threats of the Black Hand, going to a booming coal-mining town and opening movie theaters. Dominic graduated from college during the Great Depression. The shadow of the gang pursued them, leading to labor disputes and arson which destroyed their new theater. On the East and West coasts, Evelyn and Marianne had simultaneous backstreet affairs with powerful and wealthy men. There was a murder trial for the questionable death of an adopted son from El Salvador. At Berkeley, David had an adulterous same-sex love affair with Carl Wittman, a national leader in SDS and Gay Liberation. Their love affairs projected them up the ladder of American success as they damned one another to their deaths. This is a true story.
William McInnes, one of Australia's best-known storytellers and actors, has turned to a subject that is close to his heart. Fatherhood is about family, about memories of his father and the memories he's creating as a dad himself, with his own son and daughter. Warm, witty and nostalgic, these tales are just like a friendly chat over the back fence, or the banter of a backyard BBQ. They will stir your own memories: of hot summer days and cooling off under the sprinkler while Dad works in the garden with the radio tuned to the sports results; that time Dad tried to teach you to drive - and then got out of the car and kissed the ground; or taking your own kids on a family road trip. Fatherhood is full of memories: the happy, the hilarious, the sad, bad, and the unexpectedly poignant moments. You will laugh, you may even cry - but you will recognise yourself and those you love somewhere in these pages.
The twenty-nine year-round inhabitants of Fawn Island located off the coast of Cape Cod shrink to twenty-eight as a local handyman is found dead in mid-winter off season. Murdered? Maybe. But the area DA goes out of his way to keep the Cape Cod and island reputation as clean as possible, especially since it is the home of the famous Kennedy family. He hires a local reporter to interview all the remaining residents and prove that the death was an accident.
This is a fascinating window on the life and times of a banker in a bygone age. It is a mosaic of privilege, adventure, romance and dedication against a background of the rarefied world of international finance. A de facto conquest of Mt Everest, throwing a General across a room, a Hong Kong typhoon and civil unrest, are just some of the authors experiences. HSBC is singled out for the highest praise as a financial institution, yet the Bank is also exposed as a long service pension confiscator, attracting widespread condemnation. Generously illustrated, the apt juxtaposition of Shakespearean quotes adds a theatrical dimension to the story.
"Strangers on a Train has lost none of its power to disturb…We will likely be reading Patricia Highsmith for the next one hundred years." —Paula Hawkins Just in time for the centennial celebration of groundbreaking noir fiction writer Patricia Highsmith comes a reissue of her propulsive, engrossing debut, Strangers on a Train, with a new introduction by best-selling author Paula Hawkins. Guy Haines and Charles Anthony Bruno are passengers on the same train. Haines is a successful architect in the midst of a divorce, Bruno a mysterious smooth-talker with a sadistic proposal: he’ll murder Haines’s wife if Haines will murder Bruno’s father. As Bruno carries out his twisted plan, Guy finds himself trapped in Highsmith’s perilous world, where, under the right circumstances, ordinary people are capable of extraordinary crimes. The inspiration for Alfred Hitchcock’s classic 1951 film, Strangers on a Train launched Highsmith’s prolific career, proving her a master at depicting the unsettling forces that tremble beneath the surface of everyday life.
A successful man’s midlife crisis may just provide a twisted path to happiness in this New York Times–bestselling novel by the author of The Last Gentleman. Now in his late forties, Will Barrett lives a life other men only dream of. Wealthy from a successful career on Wall Street and from the inheritance of his deceased wife’s estate, Will is universally admired at the club where he spends his days golfing in the North Carolina sun. But everything begins to unravel when, without warning, Will’s golf shots begin landing in the rough, and he is struck with bouts of losing his balance and falling over. Just when Will appears doomed to share the fate of his father—whose suicide has haunted him his whole life—a mental hospital escapee named Allison might prove to be the only one who can save him. Original and profound, The Second Coming is a moving love story of two damaged souls who find peace with each other.
Diversity and "perspective by incongruity" dene the approach to changing times in this fourth volume of the First of the Year series. Insights come from interesting minds in unobvious juxtapositions. First's roster of irreverent and holy! regulars includes Amiri Baraka, Bernard Avishai, Uri Avnery, Chuck D, Diane di Prima, Fr. Rick Frechette, Donna Gaines, Lawrence Goodwyn, Roxane Johnson, W.T. Lhamon Jr., Philip Levine, Kanan Makiya, Bongani Madondo, Greil Marcus, Charles O'Brien, Judy Oppenheimer, Tom Smucker, Fredric Smoler, A.B. Spellman, Scott Spencer, Robert Farris Thompson, Richard Torres, David Waldstreicher, and Armond White.Their angles on history and history in the making are enhanced by contributions from new members of First's family of defamiliarizers such as Peter Brown, Wesley Brown, Mark Dudzic, Robert Hullot-Kentor, and Aram Saroyan.Perspectives by Incongruity touches down in Kashmir, Haiti, South Africa, and Indonesia. There's a vital section devoted to the Arab Spring. But the volume homes in on the U.S.A. as well, digging into race and class structures of feeling (and fantasy). It means to comprehend the Obama era in real time. Music is key to Perspectives by Incongruity's offbeat truth-telling. Contributors sound off on Jay Z and Kanye West, mambo and Afropop, Dylan and Coltrane, Sun Ra and Arcade Fire. First's meaning is (as ever) in the mix.