In 1650s England, a young Puritan maiden is on a mission to save the baby of her newly widowed preacher--whether her assistance is wanted or not. Always ready to help those in need, Elizabeth ignores John's protests of her aid. She's even willing to risk her lone marriage prospect to help the little family. Yet Elizabeth's new role as nanny takes a dangerous turn when John's boldness from the pulpit makes him a target of political and religious leaders. As the preacher's enemies become desperate to silence him, they draw Elizabeth into a deadly web of deception. Finding herself in more danger than she ever bargained for, she's more determined than ever to save the child--and man--she's come to love.
Spur Award-Winning Author A story that could have come out of today’s headlines, this revised edition of the acclaimed novel explores a Mexican national’s desperate attempt to provide for his family. Ricardo has known only poverty in Mexico, but he dreams of a better life in the United States. He enlists a “coyote” to smuggle him across the Rio Grande, a river that separates not only one nation from another, but one world from another. The Illegal Man is also the story of Ann Rawlings, a recent widow struggling to preserve her West Texas ranch. There is a troubled Border Patrolman and her bigoted foreman, who considers Mexican ranch hands to be little more than animals. For Ricardo, it’s a world in which he will suffer hardship and indignity, but one he will gladly endure to support his family. The Illegal Man grew out of a newspaper series by Patrick Dearen, who interviewed Mexican and American officials and accompanied Border Patrolmen along the Rio Grande. He based his character Ricardo on an actual Mexican national he interviewed on a West Texas ranch. “A warm, gripping novel that explores a subject of intense interest to all Americans. Wonderfully told, this novel should endure.” —Norman Zollinger, two-time Spur Award winner. “A vivid description of what a common man goes through seeking work in a different country than his own. It is a powerful story filled with adventure, sadness, persecution, and loneliness.” —San Angelo (Texas) Standard-Times. “Dearen's writing is so perfect, so descriptive, so charged with emotion, it sucks the reader into the very marrow of the story. . . Stretches the mind and the heart as the good and the bad in life play out on its pages . . . It is a good story: a story of love, of justice, and of redemption.” —Permian Historical Annual. “A beautifully written story that speaks eloquently.” —Roundup Magazine.
In more heartwarming stories from Proud Spirit Horse Sanctuary, meet Jesse and her baby, Riley, the first of a whole barnful of foals! Learn the ways of horse friendships: Meet big old Ranger, who eases Rosie from her mourning for Cracker, though it is finally Rebel and Gambler who invite Rosie to make a threesome of their twosome. Then there's Indigo, a very wild Mustang who finally decides he can trust Melanie enough to greet her in the laundry room. See all of the books in this series
A young woman makes a shocking self-discovery when she visits a traveling carnival in this dark contemporary fantasy by a New York Times bestseller. When Delilah Marlow visits a famous traveling carnival, Metzger’s Menagerie, she is an ordinary woman in a not-quite-ordinary world. But under the macabre circus big-top, she discovers a fierce, sharp-clawed creature lurking just beneath her human veneer. Captured and put on exhibition, Delilah is stripped of her worldly possessions, including her own name, as she’s forced to “perform” in town after town. But there is breathtaking beauty behind the seamy and grotesque reality of the carnival. Gallagher, her handler, is as kind as he is cryptic and strong. The other “attractions” —mermaids, minotaurs, griffins and kelpies—are strange, yes, but they share a bond forged by the brutal realities of captivity. And as Delilah struggles for her freedom, and for her fellow menagerie, she’ll discover a strength and a purpose she never knew existed. Renowned author Rachel Vincent weaves an intoxicating blend of carnival magic and startling humanity in this intricately woven and powerful tale. Praise for Menagerie “Well-paced, readable, and imaginative.” —New York Times Book Review “Delilah is magnificent in her defiance of injustice, and the well-wrought background for her world sets the stage for her future adventures in this captivating new fantasy series.” —Publishers Weekly “A dark tale of exploited and abused others, expertly told by Vincent.” —Library Journal, starred review “Vincent summons bold and vivid imagery with her writing, especially with the otherworld aspects of the carnival.” —Kirkus Reviews “Vincent creates a fantastic world that is destined to pique your curiosity . . . As Delilah Marlow slowly uncovers a side of herself that she never knew existed, you’ll sympathize with her . . . desperate to see her succeed.” —RT Book Reviews, Top Pick
Winner of the Mississippi Historical Society Book of the Year Award In this “courageous and compelling … essential and critically important” book (Bryan Stevenson), an award-winning scholar of white supremacy tackles her toughest research assignment yet: the unsolved murder of a Black man in rural Mississippi while her grandfather was the local sheriff—a cold case that sheds new light on the hidden legacy of racial terror in America. A Washington Post Noteworthy Book | An Amazon Best Book of the Month Grace Hale was home from college when she first heard the family legend. In 1947, while her beloved grandfather had been serving as a sheriff in the Piney Woods of south-central Mississippi, he prevented a lynch mob from killing a Black man who was in his jail on suspicion of raping a white woman—only for the suspect to die the next day during an escape attempt. It was a tale straight out of To Kill a Mockingbird, with her grandfather as the tragic hero. This story, however, hid a dark truth. Years later, as a rising scholar of white supremacy, Hale revisited the story about her grandfather and Versie Johnson, the man who died in his custody. The more she learned about what had happened that day, the less sense she could make of her family's version of events. With the support of a Carnegie fellowship, she immersed herself in the investigation. What she discovered would upend everything she thought she knew about her family, the tragedy, and this haunted strip of the South—because Johnson's death, she found, was actually a lynching. But guilt did not lie with a faceless mob. A story of obsession, injustice, and the ties that bind, In the Pines casts an unsparing eye over this intimate terrain, driven by a deep desire to set straight the historical record and to understand and subvert white racism, along with its structures, costs, and consequences—and the lies that sustain it.
“I can imagine both Jane Austen and Raymond Carver pouring over this masterly novel” of a girl’s coming-of-age in 1970s New York (Frank McCourt). From the National Endowment for the Arts Award–winning author of the New York Times Notable Book, The Sea of Trees, comes the “shockingly funny” (Vanity Fair), “wholly unsentimental but peculiarly hopeful portrait of family love and growing up scarred but sturdy” (LA Weekly). Splitting time between her off-kilter family in a garbage-strewn apartment and a lonely hot dog vendor who trades Hershey bars for questionable favors, the pragmatic and absolutely fearless thirteen-year-old Smitty stands firmly grounded in a city that is stifling, violent, unpredictable, and full of life. It’s not easy to stay balanced. Not with two precocious sisters, a pothead brother, a depressed but steel-willed mother, an infirm grandmother, and an idler dad who’s vanished with his appallingly stupid mistress. Now, with dark humor, deadpan resilience, and a quiet sense of the surreal, Smitty recounts a remarkable chain of events that will make this the most transcendent year of her young life. In Here They Come, the PEN New England Award–winning Yannick Murphy “flawlessly captures a child’s-eye view of a battered society and a battered family” (Los Angeles Times), “creating a world as magical and harrowing as the struggle to come to grips with maturity” (Publishers Weekly, starred review).
You never know where a life of purpose may lead... Master storyteller Sharon Lathan explores a fascinating and unique aspects of the Regency period, when the British Empire offered the young noblemen of the day promising adventures all over the world. While Fitzwilliam Darcy is enjoying an idyllic childhood at Pemberley, his vibrant and beloved uncle, Dr. George Darcy, becomes one of the most renowned young physicians of the day. Determined to do something more with his life than cater to a spoiled aristocracy. George accepts a post with the British East India Company and travels in search of a life of meaning and purpose. When George Darcy returns to Pemberley after many years abroad, the drama and heartbreak of his travels offer a fascinating glimpse into a gentleman's journey of self-discovery and romance. Praise for Sharon Lathan's Darcy Saga: "Exquisitely told with a brilliant flourish of language and so rich in detail."—Rundpinne.com "Romantic...engaging...It's easy to see why Lathan's Darcy Saga is so successful. This is one sequel you won't want to miss."—Austenprose "Lathan proves she is indeed a master at writing both Regency romance and Austen continuations."—Read All Over Reviews
Big Trifles and Little People is a remarkable collection of reminiscences about a fascinating time in Russia—a time of Tsar Nicolas II, head of the great Romanov family, and of the Bolshevik revolution. But it was the view of the author that “little people, trifles and personal memories have the right to be heard, just as the feats of the great.” With that in mind, he unfolds a narrative of joy, terror and ultimately, of his triumph of will over the forces which drove him from the homeland of his noble forefathers. The description of the fancy dress balls at Elizabethgrad Cavalry College, where he trained to become an officer with the Cossack Cavalry, is lilting and full of color. The surprisingly luxurious life of the Russian officers in the wilds of China is unfolded in wonderful detail. The description of the instant he was shot and crippled for life in the Russo-Japanese war is gripping and unforgettable. The book focuses on encounters with the “little” people such as Shick, the Jewish scribe; Kaloev, the Muslim tea salesman; Zhao, proprietor of the Fudzian stock market; and Kate, an American prostitute. However, encounters with the “great” people are not ignored. These include personal meetings with the Empress Dowager of China, with Tsar Nicolas II and even with Rasputin. Big Trifles and Little People provides a rare opportunity to experience the “real” Russia of the early twentieth century as recalled by an astute observer of the times.
Filled with images of the beauty of nature – the colors of the sunset, the feel of the wind with the approach of winter, the tastes of food in a cabin or from a campfire, the sound of quail and coyotes on a Texas ranch – the short stories and novellas of J. Kent Gregory explore the basic human yearning for the peace and healing found in the natural world. “A Place Apart” is a lyrical description of finding an untouched, separate, liminal dell. “Scouting with My Daddy”, told from the perspective of a young boy, describes his introduction to the beauties and thrills of the woods by his protective father. In the title short story, “Sanctuary”, two friends meet on a river near Canada to fish and find peace in the waning days of summer. “On the Gulf” follows one of the two friends as he escapes the Northern cold and a failing relationship to fish the surf and the Gulf Stream where he finds connection and shared loss with a trophy sailfish. In “The Forge” the two friends come together to fight a dangerous fire in the Valley of Virginia. The narrator of “Free and Happy, Wherever Home Is” discovers, to his surprise, a love for the land and animals on a dry Texas ranch. “A Café Scene” is a short vignette where the narrator looks ahead from the waning of winter to summer amid a feast of the senses. In “Solitude” an older man, alone with his dog, gets in one last pheasant hunt before a winter storm and the unwanted arrival of visitors. In the final story, “Healing Waters”, the narrator flies out West after a devastating loss to meet a young woman who introduces him to the rivers and waters of the Cascades and the Coastal Range.
"Sarai Zitter was born in 1926 in the Bronx, the daughter of prominent pediatrician Joseph Golomb and his suffragist wife, Rose Sigal Golomb. Educated in public schools, including the High School of Music and Art (where she was its first harpist), she obtained degrees from Wellesley College, University of Michigan and Simmons College School of Social Work. In addition to her professional career as clinical social worker, Ms. Zitter has been active in liberal social causes throughout her life. As a civil rights worker, she integrated her community of Cedar Grove, NJ. As a reproductive rights activist, she served for twenty years as president of NJ Right to Choose, worked as a pregnancy options volunteer for Planned Parenthood, and spoke in schools, at meetings and before the State legislature Ms. Zitter was married for fifty years to the late Samuel Zitter, whom she met, appropriately enough, at a political workshop run by the liberal Americans for Democratic Action. They had three children, ("each of whom", she writes, "is working to build a better world") and three grandchildren. She currently resides in Cabot Park Village, a senior facility in Newton, Massachusetts, where she edits her community's newsmagazine."
