The Disappointment Room
The Disappointment Room

Author: Dee Phelps

Publisher:

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 441

ISBN-13: 9781579660932

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The tale centers on Madeline Knight's decision to abandon her disappointing [infant]son to the care of Munday, the nurturing "Big House" slave. Munday becomes Charles' surrogate mother, and her daughter, Helen, is Charles' only childhood companion. The author skillfully weaves in historical details about slavery, plantation life, national and regional politics as well as a little romance and intrigue. The Southern drawl and slaves' Gullah dialect add authenticity, as does the presence of witchcraft and other cultural details about slaves and their privileged owners. Some strategic twists and turns hold the reader's interest, and the characters--with the exception of the status-seeking, power-hungry Madeline--earn the reader's empathy. Charles, Munday and Helen leave South Carolina for Boston, via war-torn Washington, D.C., where Charles confronts his long-lost mother. This bold step releases him to pursue freedom with his true family. The trio rejoice at their arrival in Boston, but racial segregation and second-class status dim their hope for freedom. Despite his happy marriage to Helen, Charles remains enslaved by dreams of returning to Coffin Point. Their experience brings readers to a new understanding of freedom nudging us to examine our own forms of slavery--to possessions, power and status. (Kirkus Review, 2012). This exciting tale ends generations later when the only surviving heir of Coffin Point, a boy also named Charles, loses his biological parents and is adopted by yet another power-hungry woman who gets Charles' adoption record released and begins her journey to blackmail, lie and cheat to become sole owner of the old plantation house and land. There is excellent intricate weaving of deja vu and familial history repeating itself. A very pleasurable, satisfying read.

Room
Room

Author: Emma Donoghue

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2023-04-06

Total Pages: 97

ISBN-13: 1350419168

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In this deeply moving and life-affirming tale, a mother must nurture her five-year-old son through an unfathomable situation with only the power of their imagination and their boundless capacity to love. Written for the stage by Academy Award® nominee Emma Donoghue, this unique theatrical adaptation featuring songs and music by Kathryn Joseph and director Cora Bissett takes audiences on a richly emotional journey told through ingenious stagecraft, powerhouse performances, and heart-stopping storytelling. Room reaffirms our belief in humanity and the astounding resilience of the human spirit. This updated and revised edition was published to coincide with the Broadway premiere in Spring 2023.

The Nightmare Room #1: Don't Forget Me!
The Nightmare Room #1: Don't Forget Me!

Author: R.L. Stine

Publisher: Harper Collins

Published: 2009-10-06

Total Pages: 164

ISBN-13: 0061756954

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Danielle Warner was only pretending to hypnotize her brother Peter. So why is Peter acting so strange... so terrifying? Doesn't Peter realize it was all a joke? Danielle and her brother are about to learn a frightening lesson: It's not a good idea to kid around—in The Nightmare Room.

And Then We Grew Up
And Then We Grew Up

Author: Rachel Friedman

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2019-12-31

Total Pages: 258

ISBN-13: 0525503854

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One of Publishers Weekly’s Best Books of 2019 A journey through the many ways to live an artistic life—from the flashy and famous to the quiet and steady—full of unexpected insights about creativity and contentment, from the author of The Good Girl’s Guide to Getting Lost. Rachel Friedman was a serious violist as a kid. She quit music in college but never stopped fantasizing about what her life might be like if she had never put down her bow. Years later, a freelance writer in New York, she again finds herself struggling with her fantasy of an artist’s life versus its much more complicated reality. In search of answers, she decides to track down her childhood friends from Interlochen, a prestigious arts camp she attended, full of aspiring actors, artists, dancers, and musicians, to find out how their early creative ambitions have translated into adult careers, relationships, and identities. Rachel’s conversations with these men and women spark nuanced revelations about creativity and being an artist: that it doesn’t have to be all or nothing, that success isn’t always linear, that sometimes it’s okay to quit. And Then We Grew Up is for anyone who has given up a childhood dream and wondered “what-if?”, for those who have aspired to do what they love and had doubts along the way, and for all whose careers fall somewhere between emerging and established. Warm, whip-smart, and insightful, it offers inspiration for finding creative fulfillment wherever we end up in life.

The Lost Hours
The Lost Hours

Author: Karen White

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2009-04-07

Total Pages: 370

ISBN-13: 1101028823

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The New York Times bestselling author of the Tradd Street novels delivers a gripping tale of family, fate, and forgiveness. When Piper Mills was twelve, she helped her grandfather bury a box that belonged to her grandmother in the backyard. For twelve years, it remained untouched. Now a near fatal riding accident has shattered Piper’s dreams of Olympic glory. After her grandfather’s death, she inherits the house and all its secrets, including a key to a room that doesn’t exist—or does it? And after her grandmother is sent away to a nursing home, she remembers the box buried in the backyard. In it are torn pages from a scrapbook, a charm necklace—and a newspaper article from 1939 about the body of an infant found floating in the Savannah River. The necklace’s charms tell the story of three friends during the 1930s— each charm added during the three months each friend had the necklace and recorded her life in the scrapbook. Piper always dismissed her grandmother as not having had a story to tell. And now, too late, Piper finds she might have been wrong.

The Disappointment Artist
The Disappointment Artist

Author: Jonathan Lethem

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 2007-12-18

Total Pages: 162

ISBN-13: 0307428400

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In a volume he describes as "a series of covert and not-so-covert autobiographical pieces," Jonathan Lethem explores the nature of cultural obsession—from western films and comic books, to the music of Pink Floyd and the New York City subway. Along the way, he shows how each of these "voyages out from himself" has led him to the source of his beginnings as a writer. The Disappointment Artist is a series of windows onto the collisions of art, landscape, and personal history that formed Lethem’s richly imaginative, searingly honest perspective on life. A touching, deeply perceptive portrait of a writer in the making.

The Art of Gothic Living
The Art of Gothic Living

Author: Paul Gambino

Publisher: Union Square & Co.

Published: 2024-08-20

Total Pages: 229

ISBN-13: 1454951109

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From a spirit-haunted church in Western Ohio to an ancient Italian castle, from a freakish funhouse on the Jersey shore to a Connecticut cottage with a storybook façade that belies its spine-tingling contents: this collection of aspirational interiors will appeal to anyone who wishes to live in the luxury of Gothic darkness without sacrificing even an ounce of style. The Art of Gothic Living profiles 15 homes and their owners, chronicling their journeys to creating living spaces that reflect a philosophy steeped in the tenets of Gothic subculture--individuality, creativity, and a fascination with life's shadow side. The ways in which this manifests in bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchens, and living rooms is as diverse as the homeowners in author Paul Gambino's intriguing book. How does one showcase a collection of medical models and religious iconography in a way that emphasizes its beauty (and allows space for entertaining)? How can a homeowner make the ghosts that linger in the halls a feature, not a bug? This engaging, beautifully designed treasure trove of dark delights answers plenty of the most practical questions while inspiring readers to new heights of decorative expression as they envision a Gothic home for themselves, wherever they may reside.