Only minutes before Sherrill is to marry Carter, the man of her dreams, she discovers him in the arms of another woman. When Sherill finds that the other woman is desperately in love with Carter, she decides the wedding must go on, with the other woman as the bride! Later, as Sherill arrives at the church to witness the wedding that should have been hers, she stumbles into a car--and falls into the arms of a passing stranger. As Sherrill looks up to apologize, she sees a tall, handsome man whose piercing eyes seem to see deep within her. Shaken and distressed, Sherrill lets the man help her into the church. He stays close beside her through the ceremony and is her encouragement and support through the rest of that painful day. Soon he is no longer a stranger...and more than a friend.
"Debut novel about a wealthy man who has reached a crossroads after a lifetime of repression and denial, sending him--and his family--into a slow spiral towards a total breakdown"--
Dick and Lily have been married for fifty years, and Lily finally believes that marriage is like an old tune you take for granted but find yourself whistling when you're happy. Until the night she wakes to find her husband's pyjama'd bottom poking out from under the bed. He claims there's an intruder and he's got him in his sights. When she turns on the light he backs out, holding a shotgun. 'Bugger got away when you created a diversion' he says. The comic incident marks the start of Dick's terrifying plunge into insanity. He enters a world of imaginary enemies, fantastic opportunities, sexual rivals. For an old-fashioned wife who accepted her partner for better or worse, there is nowhere left to turn except to her only daughter. Ruth, who has turned her back on emotional commitment in favour of good sex with good friends is now forced to penetrate the conspiratorial and chaotic web of her parents' marriage. Part love story, part thriller, BELOVED STRANGER is also, an analysis of marriage - a changeless institution in a vastly altered world, a private dictatorship where love and fear, tenderness or tyranny remain hidden at its heart.
Clueless, naive, full of dreams... and unemployed. Fresh out of art school, our hero Dino is ready to start a new chapter in his life, but can't figure out how, and struggles to find his identity as an artist. With a little encouragement from a classmate, he sets out on a fantastic inner journey to wipe the dust off his teenage obsessions and reignite his passion. Blending fact and fiction, past and present, pencil and paint, debut author Dino Pai brings a wide range of voices and influences to bear on the most intimate story in his heart, in this Xeric Award-winning graphic novel.
A bright and brilliant new voice from Bangladesh 'Moving, lyrical and curious – this memoir effortlessly captures the disorientating feeling of growing up in a world that misunderstands you' Red On and on we dream, we wish, we love - no matter that the dreams come to an end, the wishes evolve or that love dissipates like dust in the wind. Perhaps, what matters only is that we have lived long enough to dream, hard enough to wish and indisputably enough to love. One of Maria's early memories growing up in Dhaka is of planning to run away with her friend Nadia. Even then, Maria couldn't quite figure out why she longed to escape. It is not that home is an unhappy place. It's just that in her family, joy is ephemeral. With a mother who yearns for the mountains, the solitude and freedom to pursue her own dreams and career, and a charismatic but distant father who finds it difficult to expresses emotion, they are never able to hold on to happiness for very long. Maria studies the Holy Book, says her daily prayers and wonders if God is watching her. She dreams, like her mother, of unstitching the seam of her life. It is her neighbour, Bablu, the Imitator of Frogs, who both excites and repulses Maria by showing her a yellowing pornographic magazine, but it is Mala, a girl her own age who comes to work in their house, whose wise eyes and wicked smile makes her dizzy with longing. When she moves to New England for university at eighteen Maria meets Yameen, a man who lives in a desperately squalid apartment in Jersey City, woos her with phone calls and a marathon night of drinking in New York bars, and is not what he seems... From Dhaka to New York, this is a candid and moving account of growing up and growing away, a meditation on why people leave their homes and why they sometimes find it difficult to return. Beloved Strangers is an unforgettable memoir marking the arrival of a brilliant new voice from Bangladesh.
From the USA TODAY bestselling author of Sweet Thing and Nowhere But Here comes a love story about a Craigslist “missed connection” post that gives two people a second chance at love fifteen years after they were separated in New York City. To the Green-eyed Lovebird: We met fifteen years ago, almost to the day, when I moved my stuff into the NYU dorm room next to yours at Senior House. You called us fast friends. I like to think it was more. We lived on nothing but the excitement of finding ourselves through music (you were obsessed with Jeff Buckley), photography (I couldn’t stop taking pictures of you), hanging out in Washington Square Park, and all the weird things we did to make money. I learned more about myself that year than any other. Yet, somehow, it all fell apart. We lost touch the summer after graduation when I went to South America to work for National Geographic. When I came back, you were gone. A part of me still wonders if I pushed you too hard after the wedding… I didn’t see you again until a month ago. It was a Wednesday. You were rocking back on your heels, balancing on that thick yellow line that runs along the subway platform, waiting for the F train. I didn’t know it was you until it was too late, and then you were gone. Again. You said my name; I saw it on your lips. I tried to will the train to stop, just so I could say hello. After seeing you, all of the youthful feelings and memories came flooding back to me, and now I’ve spent the better part of a month wondering what your life is like. I might be totally out of my mind, but would you like to get a drink with me and catch up on the last decade and a half? M
A wounded warrior and a beautiful English border thief battle treachery, betrayal, and their own warring hearts to satisfy a dangerous, passionate love As the battle at Flodden Field rages, Lachlan Maclean rides with King James IV of Scotland, sworn to vanquish their English enemies and find redemption for the past that haunts him. But as the battlefield runs red with blood, Lachlan realizes they’re fighting a losing battle. Thrown from his horse, he awakens to find a lovely angel of mercy tending him . . . and no memory of who he is. Once, Kimbra Charlton rode alongside her husband on daring border raids that targeted English and Scottish alike. Now the desperate widow combs battlefields for anything of value to make sure she and her young daughter survive. When she stumbles on a wounded soldier, she recognizes the armor and helmet of her people’s sworn enemy. A Scotsman killed her husband, yet she can’t let this man die—nor can the world know his true heritage. It is a secret on which both their lives depend. But as passion ignites between them, they must face the consequences of their impossible love. Beloved Stranger is the 2nd book in the Scottish Highland series, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.
Sherrill Cameron’s big day arrives to find her watching from the balcony as her fiancé’s secretary walks down the aisle in her place. Sherrill is convinced that nothing could heal her hurt, until the day’s gloom is brightened by a handsome stranger who offers constant and comforting help. But Graham Copeland’s welcomed presence turns sour when an heirloom emerald necklace goes missing. Is Graham the true beloved stranger Sherrill thought he was? Despite her reservations, Sherrill finds herself falling for Graham’s charm, but will her new love leave her stranded at the altar once again?
A woman with no name and no memory...The two men who claim her: one with love, the other with fear...A dazzling tale of secret passions—and a love tragically lost and miraculously reborn—by the incomparable storyteller. Mere days after Ashton Wingate's wedding to the enchanting Lierin, capricious Fate stole the Mississippi plantation owner's beloved from him. Now, three years later, his carriage has collided with a cloaked rider on horseback: a woman who bears an uncanny resemblance to the young bride who was swallowed up by the merciless river. She awakens from unconsciousness in his magnificent home with no memory of who she is. Yet the tenderness of this noble, caring stranger who lovingly calls her "Lierin" soon captures her heart and enflames her with wanting. Then another enters their lives, threatening to destroy the happiness they have rediscovered in each other's arms—the dark and dangerous Malcolm Sinclair, who claims the enigmatic beauty is, in fact, his own wife, Lenore. But Ashton has sworn that he will not lose his adored one a second time, and he will risk any peril to preserve their newfound joy—no matter what the unremembered secrets of his lady's past ultimately reveal.
