Jemma Macera is a poet, author, and social activist living in Ithaca, New York. Her story reflects a first half of life with challenges that contributed to physical and emotional pain, and resulting symptoms of dementia in the second half of her life. Living in Ithaca provided her with ample alternative therapists and a supportive community that enabled her to find a healing path. Jemma attributes her high level of functionality to following the shaman's journey to wellness through singing, dancing, and storytelling, as well as to the generosity of many friends and healers. Her journey to wellness is the result of trusting the superior wisdom of the body and the unconscious mind over a disabled brain. Jemma lives with her life partner Walter, in her family home, and continues to enjoy square dancing, music, and singing with friends.
Things have changed for Samantha. She leaves quiet Mount Bedford for the bustle of New York City and the company of Aunt Cornelia's ten-year-old twin sisters, Agnes and Agatha. This pair is good at getting into mischief, and at bringing Samantha with them. When the three of them visit Grandmary's summer home, their adventure leads to danger on Goose Lake — the same lake where Samantha's parents drowned! Then word comes that Samantha’s neighbor Nellie and her sisters are in serious trouble. It's up to Samantha to save her friends before it's too late. This book is richly illustrated in full color and includes a peek into Samantha’s 1904 world.
The remarkable story of one of the great pioneering women adventures of the 19th century. Intrepid journalist Nellie Bly raced through a ‘man’s world’ — alone and literally with just the clothes on her back — to beat the fictional record set by Jules Verne’s Phileas Fogg in Around the World in 80 Days. She won the race on 25 January 1890, covering 21,740 miles by ocean liner and train in 72 days, and became a global celebrity. Although best known for her record-breaking journey, even more importantly Nellie Bly pioneered investigative journalism and paved the way for women in the newsroom. Her undercover reporting, advocacy for women's rights, crusades for vulnerable children, campaigns against oppression and steadfast conviction that 'nothing is impossible' makes the world that she circled a better place. Adventurer, journalist and author, Rosemary J Brown, set off 125 years later to retrace Nellie Bly’s footsteps in an expedition registered with the Royal Geographical Society. Through her recreation of that epic global journey, she brings to life Nellie Bly’s remarkable achievements and shines a light on one of the world's greatest female adventurers and a forgotten heroine of history.
From the author of When Audrey Met Alice comes a sweeping middle grade novel about a city girl forced to spend her summer in North Carolina, where she becomes involved in a centuries-old mystery, turning her once boring vacation into an adventure she never could have imagined. Nell Dare expected to spend her summer vacation hanging out with her friends in New York City. That is, until her botanist mom dragged her all the way to Roanoke Island for a research trip. To make matters worse, her father suddenly and mysteriously leaves town, leaving no explanation or clues as to where he went—or why. While Nell misses the city—and her dad—a ton, it doesn’t take long for her to become enthralled with the mysteries of Roanoke and its lost colony. And when Nell meets Ambrose, a quirky historical reenactor, they start exploring for clues as to what really happened to the lost colonists. As Nell and Ambrose’s discoveries of tantalizing evidence mount, mysterious things begin to happen. And someone—or something—is keeping watch over their quest for answers. It looks like Nell will get the adventurous summer she was hoping for, and she will discover secrets not only about Roanoke, but about herself.
Nellie Wallace is a young widow with two children. In post civil-war New York, the men are scarce and none want the burden of a wife with children. Her dead husband's family is wealthy, and cruel. Desperate to escape their influence, and eager for a home, a husband, and a stable life for her children, Nellie decides to make a new life in San Francisco as a mail order bride. Saloon owner Blake Malone is a bachelor and likes it that way. He worked hard for everything he has, but the San Francisco City Council won’t approve his plans to build a family emporium unless he is a family man himself. The solution? A mail order bride from New York who will bring him a ready-made family, stability, and the council's approval. Blake expects his future wife to care for his home and, other than helping him impress the city council, to stay out of his business. He expects life as usual. What he gets is an unexpected desire to win Nellie's heart, a dangerous threat to his new bride, and a rich benefactor determined to steal his new family out from under him. Blake believed his battle for success a hard one. But he will discover that the battle to win Nellie's heart and keep his family safe is going to take everything he's got.
Whether you love her, hate her, or love to hate her, Nellie Oleson is one of most recognizable literary figures of the 20th century. But Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of the Little House on the Prairie series in which Nellie appears, had a secret. . .Nellie wasn't a real person! Instead, she was a composite character created from three girls Laura knew from childhood: Nellie Owens, Genevieve Masters, and Estella Gilbert.The Little House character of Nellie Oleson is one-dimensional: snobbish, selfish, and thoroughly unpleasant. But the real women behind Laura's creation? An intriguing mix of the not-so-nice and the unexpectedly redeemable. In short, they were human.Discovering the true stories behind Nellie, Genevieve, and Estella has been a fascinating journey. All three ended up on the West Coast at one point. . .true westward movement! One was widowed twice, one ended up divorced, and one died way too young. Two only had one child, and one had three, though she outlived her youngest by a very long time. There's even some "Nellie-like" drama in there: Embezzlement. Lying on censuses. Shady land deals.But there are some beautiful things, too. . .like the enduring love of a husband after his bride died. Or the rare closeness of a mother and daughter who shared their lives as adults. Or the strength of a young widowed mother who not only cared for her son, but headed out west, in true pioneer fashion, while she did so.Laura Ingalls Wilder did a masterful job of creating the character of Nellie Oleson. But the three real-life women behind that iconic character are, in my opinion, infinitely more intriguing.
An astonishing discovery! Available for the first time in 125 years, the Lost Novels Of Nellie Bly! Pioneering undercover journalist Nellie Bly is rightly famous for exposing society's ills. From brutal insane asylums to corrupt politicians, she exposed all manner of frauds and charlatans. She was also a skilled interviewer and reporter. What no one has known was that she was also a novelist. This is because, of the twelve novels Bly wrote between 1889 and 1895, eleven of have been lost. Until now. Newly discovered by author David Blixt (What Girls Are Good For, The Master Of Verona), Nellie Bly's lost works of fiction are now available for the first time! Complete with the original artwork! These are The Lost Novels of Nellie Bly! Bly's wildest novel! An accidental meeting with a stranger on a street car has Kit Harrington head-over-heels in love. She only has one trouble—she doesn’t know who he is! Now, abandoned by her foster-sister and bereft by the loss of her mother, Kit sets out on a quest to discover the mystery man’s identity and win his love—by whatever means necessary! What ensues is a series of ever-escalating escapades, as Kit poses as a ghost, a reporter, a fortune-teller, an actress, a train engineer, a messenger boy, a poker player, a maid, and an opium fiend, all to gain access to her beloved Howell Humphrey, millionaire man-about-town. Yet Kit never imagined her rival for Howell’s affections would be her own foster-sister, Vida! Meanwhile Howell’s best friend has in turn fallen for Kit, as much in love with a stranger as Kit herself! A novel filled with desperate acts, kidnapping, drowning, disease, train derailments, even a hurricane, Kit braves it all, determined to walk through fire and water to win him. All because she is . . . In Love With A Stranger! Bonus: Includes the articles that inspired the novel!
The #1 New York Times bestseller from “one of America’s most hilarious and provocative writers . . . a volatile brew of one-liners and vitriol” (Time). Renowned for his cranky conservative humor, P. J. O’Rourke runs hilariously amok in this book, tackling the death of communism; his frustration with sanctimonious liberals; and Saddam Hussein in a series of classic dispatches from his coverage of the 1991 Gulf War. On Kuwait City after the war, he comments, “It looked like all the worst rock bands in the world had stayed there at the same time.” On Saddam Hussein, O’Rourke muses: “He’s got chemical weapons filled with . . . with . . . chemicals. Maybe he’s got The Bomb. And missiles that can reach Riyadh, Tel Aviv, Spokane. Stock up on nonperishable foodstuffs. Grab those Diet Coke cans you were supposed to take to the recycling center and fill them with home heating oil. Bury the Hummel figurines in the yard. We’re all going to die. Details at eleven.” And on the plague of celebrity culture, he notes: “You can’t shame or humiliate modern celebrities. What used to be called shame and humiliation is now called publicity.” Mordant and utterly irreverent, this is a modern classic from one of our great political satirists, described by Christopher Buckley as being “like S. J. Perelman on acid.” “Mocking on the surface but serious beneath . . . When it comes to scouting the world for world-class absurdities, O’Rourke is the right man for the job.” —Los Angeles Times Book Review “The funniest writer in America.” —The Wall Street Journal
