This child of an Indian village, from a Hindu family, heard one afternoon of a God who loved her, and she lived from then on under His influence. Read the remarkable true story of her life, overcoming every kind of opposition and trouble, as a soul charmed by God.
LONGLISTED FOR THE CWA HISTORICAL DAGGER 'Simply glorious. Every nook and cranny of 1930s Singapore is brought richly to life' CATRIONA MCPHERSON 'Charming' RHYS BOWEN 'One of the most likeable heroines in modern literature' SCOTSMAN _________ Mirza, a secretive neighbour of the Chens in Japanese Occupied Singapore, is a known collaborator and blackmailer. So when he is murdered in his garden, clutching a branch of mimosa, the suspects include local acquaintances, Japanese officials -- and his own daughters. Su Lin's Uncle Chen is among those rounded up by the Japanese as reprisal. Hideki Tagawa, a former spy expelled by police officer Le Froy and a power in the new regime, offers Su Lin her uncle's life in exchange for using her fluency in languages and knowledge of locals to find the real killer. Su Lin soon discovers Hideki has an ulterior motive. Friends, enemies and even the victim are not what they seem. There is more at stake here than one man's life. Su Lin must find out who killed Mirza and why, before Le Froy and other former colleagues detained or working with the resistance suffer the consequences of Mirza's last secret. _________ Praise for Ovidia Yu: 'One of Singapore's finest living authors' South China Morning Post 'Chen Su Lin is a true gem. Her slyly witty voice and her admirable, sometimes heartbreaking, practicality make her the most beguiling narrator heroine I've met in a long while' Catriona McPherson 'Charming and fascinating with great authentic feel. Ovidia Yu's teenage Chinese sleuth gives us an insight into a very different culture and time. This book is exactly why I love historical novels' Rhys Bowen 'A wonderful detective novel . . . a book that introduces one of the most likeable heroines in modern literature and should be on everyone's Must Read list' Scotsman 'Unassuming, brilliantly observant' SCMP
"Annabelle Marco and Michael Contelli are both only children of Italian-Americans. Next door neighbors since they were both five years old, they both receive their parents' constant attention and are regularly subjected to their meddlesome behavior. In high school and then in college, as their relationship moves from friendship to love, Annabelle finds herself battling her parents, his parents, and even Michael. She feels smothered by them all and seeks independence through an unplanned and unexpected decision that she comes to regret and that ultimately alters the course of her life, Michael's life, and the lives of both their parents. Set in Annapolis, Maryland, New York City, and London, England, in the 1980s and 1990s, Beneath the Mimosa Tree examines both Annabelle's and Michael's journeys over the span of ten years as we hear their alternating voices tell the story of self-discoveries, the nature of well-meaning families, and the sense of renewal that can take place when forgiveness is permitted"--Cover.
Southern housewife Linwood Breedlove Scott was happily content in her comfortable, complacent thirty-year marriage, but when her husband cleans out their bank accounts and runs off with a stripper, her life takes a hilarious, yet touching, right turn into reality. With no place to go but home, she's forced back to her insular hometown and the "eccentric" family she escaped by marrying at nineteen: her senile father, her loving-yet-controlling mother, her long-suffering aunt, her crazy uncle, and her good-for-nothing brother. But despite her newly dependent situation and her family's genteel insanity, Lin begins to stand on her own two feet and wake up to the joys-and perils-of life as a single woman. And she also learns surprising lessons about her family: that things aren't always what they seem, and that the power of love governs even the most dysfunctional of relationships. This joy-filled, moving, and wise-cracking novel delivers a portrait of Southern life, Southern families, and self-discovery that readers will never forget.
Thresholes is both a doorway and an absence, a roadmap and a remembering. In this almanac of place and memory, Lara Mimosa Montes writes of her family’s past, returning to the Bronx of the 70s and 80s and the artistry that flourished there. What is the threshold between now and then, and how can the poet be the bridge between the two?
In this award-winning, coming-of-age novel, ten-year-old Gracie Lee struggles to make sense out of her life as an Arkansas farm girl in the early 1970s. Wise beyond her age yet imbued with child-like innocence, Gracie focuses on the three things that keep her awake at night: Solving the mystery of the man in the gray house; Surviving another school year at Savage Crossing Elementary; and, Saving her alcoholic Daddy from himself (and thereby saving the whole family and wider world). Gracie feels certain there is more to life beyond school and dull church sermons. She worries about the soldiers in Vietnam and wonders what it must be like to have been born Lisa Marie Presley from Tennessee instead of Gracie Lee Abbott from Arkansas. Mostly, she wishes her Daddy wasn't so mean. Gracie's unchecked imagination leads to Nancy Drew-type adventure. Adventure leads to trouble. She confides in unexpected characters and seeks solace in a mysterious gray house beyond the cotton field. When Gracie faces a difficult family situation, she must make a life-altering decision, one that will test the very essence of her character. "At best, most first novels indicate potential. It would be wrong to say that, when reading Talya Tate Boerner's The Accidental Salvation of Gracie Lee, I was pleasantly surprised. Actually, I was amazed. There's magic here, in a wonderfully-told story that will find a special place in any reader's heart." Jeff Guinn, New York Times bestselling author. "Boerner's prose is a wonderful medium for unspooling Gracie's story, imbued with all the snark, wonder, and colorful details that characterize childhood... The author addresses real, high-stakes issues without slathering them in melodrama or saccharine sentimentality, and her book hearkens back to an older YA tradition of stories of plucky preteen girls, spooky houses, and inevitable tragedies that help mark the turning point from childhood to adolescence. A stirring novel with a distinctive young narrator." Kirkus Reviews
"It's 1937 in Mimosa, Mississippi, and fourteen-year-old Max Brinkmann is an active, happy kid in the lively railroad town: he and his buddies keep their eyes on the cute girls at school, he and his little brothers make and fly kites, and he dreams of running track and playing baseball at Mimosa High School. But when Max's father, Josef (a devout Roman Catholic), announces that the small Catholic school in Mimosa is closing, Max's world is turned upside down. Not only is Josef moving the family to a farm in the middle of nowhere. The only option for a Catholic education is enrollment at nearby St. Agnes Academy. An all-girls school."--Taken from front flap of book cover.
Vintage cocktail recipes for the modern bartending enthusiast!Compiled by the mysterious and mightily talented Frank Meier, who could be found behind the bar at the Paris Ritz in his trademark white jacket from 1921 to 1947, The Artistry of Mixing Drinks is a one-of-a-kind drink book. Nearly as famous for his sharp wit as he was for his delicious and well-balanced cocktails, Meier honed his skills working for Harry Craddock in New York before moving to the Paris Ritz where he mixed drinks for such icons as Franklin Roosevelt, Noël Coward, Hemingway, and Cole Porter.Filled with decades of hard-earned mixological wisdom, The Artistry of Mixing Drinks reflects the seriousness with which Frank Meier executed his craft. It contains over 300 cocktail and mixed drink recipes, many of which were concocted by the author himself, as well as a chapter with sandwich recipes (and drink pairings), a chapter on wines and how to serve them, useful measurement conversion charts, and a chapter on how to properly clean and maintain bar supplies.In Meier's own words, to be a bartender is to be "a chemist, a physiologist, and a psychologist" all at once. To this end, he addresses several topics of interest to any respectable, globe-trotting polymath. These areas include prescriptions for illnesses, first aid instructions in case of drowning, sunstroke, poisonous snake bites, and other calamities; wind pressure charts; basic physics and geometry formulas; and a brief history of horse racing.A truly comprehensive guide for the sophisticated drinker, this high-quality reprint of The Artistry of Mixing Drinks is a refreshing dose of Golden-age wisdom for the modern cocktail lover.