For as long as anyone could remember, the Schallers and the Newmans had been enemies. When the skeletal remains of a victim of foul play are discovered at the Schaller estate, a decades-old feud between the rival winemaking families is reignited and dark secrets begin to see the light of day. Set against the lush backdrop of the rolling hills of California's Central Coast, The New York Times best-selling author Barbara Wood's thirtieth novel is a generation-spanning saga of love, treachery, and bitterly held grudges.
Daniel, a black man who is well educated and free, supervises Foundhaven, a rice plantation on the upper reaches of the Pee Dee River in South Carolina in 1776. Pox has decimated his Negro workforce, compelling the purchase of a rebellious lot from Barbados. He and his overseer leave for Charles Town to get them just as a South Carolina provincial congress delegation arrives to engage Foundhaven’s owner in the Sons of Liberty conference in the state capital about a united front against George III’s tyrannies. The master and mistress of the plantation are feting the military men when word arrives about a battle in Lexington, Massachusetts, and the harsh British punishment. As the delegation departs for their conference, Daniel buys the lot from Barbados and marries the black woman with them. The purchased men enable the rice harvest, and he turns to his plan to lead Foundhaven slaves and others from the Carolinas to freedom beyond the Mississippi. He calls representatives of Indian nations and slaves at other plantations. The nearer the meeting comes, the more doubts Daniel has about his role. The Barbados woman he has married forces him to decide his role. When he declines to lead the exodus, she has the blacks kill him.
A River Too Far trakes one of the most important features of the western USA - water - and explores its past, present, and future. In the West's fifth year of drought, river, stream and reservoir levels are at an all-time low. Cities in California, Nevada, Arizona are grappling with water shortages that are becoming more critical every day. many desert cities created an oasis within their communities when water was plentiful, but conditions have now changed significantly. From the wagon trains to the modern subdivision, US westerners have tried to control rather than adapt to their environment A River Too Far offers students of resource and environmental management an authoritative account of resource management in a major area of advanced economic and urban development containing some of the world's most spectacular and fragile wilderness.
For as long as anyone could remember, the Schallers and the Newmans had been enemies. When the skeletal remains of a victim of foul play are discovered at the Schaller estate, a decades-old feud between the rival winemaking families is reignited and dark secrets begin to see the light of day. Set against the lush backdrop of the rolling hills of California's Central Coast, The New York Times best-selling author Barbara Wood's thirtieth novel is a generation-spanning saga of love, treachery, and bitterly held grudges.--from dust jacket.
A NATIONAL BESTSELLER "A fiery tour de force... I could not put this book down. It truly was terrifying and unutterably beautiful." -Alison Borden, The Denver Post From the best-selling author of The Dog Stars, the story of two college students on a wilderness canoe trip--a gripping tale of a friendship tested by fire, white water, and violence Wynn and Jack have been best friends since freshman orientation, bonded by their shared love of mountains, books, and fishing. Wynn is a gentle giant, a Vermont kid never happier than when his feet are in the water. Jack is more rugged, raised on a ranch in Colorado where sleeping under the stars and cooking on a fire came as naturally to him as breathing. When they decide to canoe the Maskwa River in northern Canada, they anticipate long days of leisurely paddling and picking blueberries, and nights of stargazing and reading paperback Westerns. But a wildfire making its way across the forest adds unexpected urgency to the journey. When they hear a man and woman arguing on the fog-shrouded riverbank and decide to warn them about the fire, their search for the pair turns up nothing and no one. But: The next day a man appears on the river, paddling alone. Is this the man they heard? And, if he is, where is the woman? From this charged beginning, master storyteller Peter Heller unspools a headlong, heart-pounding story of desperate wilderness survival.
All the Gears' previous titles in the First North American series have been national bestsellers. Now, People of the River is finally available in mass-market. This gripping saga tells of the Mound Builders of the Mississippi Valley. In a time of many troubles, a warchief and his people have lost all hope. But hope is revived with a young girl learning to Dream of Power.
As he braves rills, rivers, and ocean waters in search of his elusive quarry, Paul Quarrington’s casts are as likely to call up thoughts of his troubled marriage, his father’s death, or one of midlife’s existential questions as they are to yield a fish, big or small. But whatever his trials and triumphs, he is never without his wickedly perverse sense of humor. Whether you’re a dedicated river wader or an armchair angler, you’ll find him an irresistible companion.
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • In a powerful debut about modern-day motherhood, immigration, and identity, a pregnant Chinese woman stakes a claim to the American dream in California. “Utterly absorbing.”—Celeste Ng • “A marvel of a first novel.”—O: The Oprah Magazine • “The most eye-opening literary adventure of the year.”—Entertainment Weekly NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Washington Post • NPR • Real Simple Holed up with other mothers-to-be in a secret maternity home in Los Angeles, Scarlett Chen is far from her native China, where she worked in a factory and fell in love with the married owner, Boss Yeung. Now she’s carrying his baby. To ensure that his child—his first son—has every advantage, Boss Yeung has shipped Scarlett off to give birth on American soil. As Scarlett awaits the baby’s arrival, she spars with her imperious housemates. The only one who fits in even less is Daisy, a spirited, pregnant teenager who is being kept apart from her American boyfriend. Then a new sonogram of Scarlett’s baby reveals the unexpected. Panicked, she goes on the run by hijacking a van—only to discover that she has a stowaway: Daisy, who intends to track down the father of her child. The two flee to San Francisco’s bustling Chinatown, where Scarlett will join countless immigrants desperately trying to seize their piece of the American dream. What Scarlett doesn’t know is that her baby’s father is not far behind her. A River of Stars is a vivid examination of home and belonging and a moving portrayal of a woman determined to build her own future. Praise for A River of Stars “Vanessa Hua’s story spins with wild fervor, with charming protagonists fiercely motivated by maternal and survival instincts.”—USA Today “A River of Stars is the best of all worlds: part buddy cop adventure, part coming-of-age story and part ode to female friendship.”—NPR “Hua’s epic A River of Stars follows a pair of pregnant Chinese immigrant women—two of the more vibrant characters I’ve come across in a while—on the lam from Los Angeles to San Francisco’s Chinatown.”—R. O. Kwon, author of The Incendiaries, in Esquire “A delightful novel of motherhood and Chinese immigration . . . Without wading into policy debates, Ms Hua dramatises the stories and contributions of immigrants who believe in grand ideals and strive to live up to them.”—The Economist
Gradual change has been a hallmark of the Chinese reform experience, and China's success in its sequential approach makes it unique among the former command economies. Since 1979, with the inception of the continuing era of reform, the Chinese economy has flourished. Growth has averaged nine percent a year, and China is now a trillion dollar economy. China has become a major trading power and the predominant target among developing countries for foreign direct investment. Despite all this, China remains poor and the reform process unfinished. This book takes its defining theme from Deng Xiaopeng's famous metaphor for gradual reform: “feeling the stones to cross the river.” How far has China progressed in fording the river? The experts who contributed to this volume tackle many aspects of that question, assessing Chinese progress in policy reform, priorities for further reform, and the research still needed to inform policymakers’ decisions.
