Written from the mouth of the Willa Cather Memorial Prairie, THERE WAS NOTHING LEFT BUT GOLD wanders the grassland setting of Cather's imagination and Hagler's own upbringing. Following her decision to sever ties with her mother, Hagler drives toward her childhood home, detouring in the landscape of Cather's Nebraska fiction. These essays - composed of travel narrative, ghost theory, and bits of literary criticism found in gift shops and estate sales - dig into dispossession, unearthing the boundaries of forgiveness, the impact of inherited narratives, and the ways in which the living also haunt.
When the young Swedish-descended Alexandra Bergson inherits her father's farm in Nebraska, she must transform the land from a wind-swept prairie landscape into a thriving enterprise. She dedicates herself completely to the land—at the cost of great sacrifices. O Pioneers! [1913] is Willa Cather's great masterpiece about American pioneers, where the land is as important a character as the people who cultivate it. WILLA CATHER [1873-1947] was an American author. After studying at the University of Nebraska, she worked as a teacher and journalist. Cather's novels often focus on settlers in the USA with a particular emphasis on female pioneers. In 1923, she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for the novel One of Ours, and in 1943, she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Relates, in non-linear chronology, events of the twenty-four hours following sixteen-year-old Audrey's mandatory evacuation from the path of a wildfire, as she recalls her tempestuous relationship with troubled volunteer firefighter Brook.
This tell-all memoir reveals the details behind Sunday Times journalist Mzilikazi wa Afrika's exposure of the R1.7 billion lease scandal between police commissioner Bheki Cele and property tycoon Roux Shabangu, for which he was infamously arrested in 2010. It is also the riveting account of how a neglected boy in an unknown village became one of South Africa's most awarded investigative reporters and found himself at the receiving end of the corruption that had defeated those he helped put in power. Fearless in the face of corrupt authorities with sinister political motives, and fervent about justice, Wa Afrika's life was characterised by resistance to oppression and inequality from an early age. Destined to defend and uphold the principles of democracy, his story is the inspiring tale of an ordinary man, armed with a pen, who challenged the proverbial giant.
A Breakout NEW YORK TIMES Bestseller A USA Today Bestseller An Indie National Bestseller “Outstanding . . . The days when you had to choose between a great story and a great piece of writing? Gone.” —Esquire “The story unfolds brilliantly, always surprisingly . . . The magic of his prose equals the horror of Johnston’s story; each somehow enhances the other . . . Read this astonishing novel.” —The Washington Post “Tim Johnston’s high-wire literary thriller . . . will leave you gasping.” —Vanity Fair “A riveting literary thriller of the can’t-stop-turning-the-page, stay-up-all-night variety.” —Alice LaPlante, author of A Circle of Wives The Rocky Mountains have cast their spell over the Courtlands, a young family from the plains taking a last summer vacation before their daughter begins college. For eighteen-year-old Caitlin, the mountains loom as the ultimate test of her runner’s heart, while her parents hope that so much beauty, so much grandeur, will somehow repair a damaged marriage. But when Caitlin and her younger brother, Sean, go out for an early morning run and only Sean returns, the mountains become as terrifying as they are majestic, as suddenly this family find themselves living the kind of nightmare they’ve only read about in headlines or seen on TV. As their world comes undone, the Courtlands are drawn into a vortex of dread and recrimination. Why weren’t they more careful? What has happened to their daughter? Is she alive? Will they ever know? Caitlin’s disappearance, all the more devastating for its mystery, is the beginning of the family’s harrowing journey down increasingly divergent and solitary paths until all that continues to bind them together are the questions they can never bring themselves to ask: At what point does a family stop searching? At what point will a girl stop fighting for her life? Written with a precision that captures every emotion, every moment of fear, as each member of the family searches for answers, Descent is a perfectly crafted thriller that races like an avalanche toward its heart-pounding conclusion, and heralds the arrival of a master storyteller.
From Ron Rash, PEN / Faulkner Award finalist and New York Times bestselling author of Serena, comes a new collection of unforgettable stories set in Appalachia that focuses on the lives of those haunted by violence and tenderness, hope and fear—spanning the Civil War to the present day. The darkness of Ron Rash’s work contrasts with its unexpected sensitivity and stark beauty in a manner that could only be accomplished by this master of the short story form. Nothing Gold Can Stay includes 14 stories, including Rash’s “The Trusty,” which first appeared in The New Yorker.
This book contains a collection of fictional short stories and non-fiction articles compiled over a number of years. The fiction is light and frequently humorous, while the articles tend to be of a more serious nature. Subjects range from the used car salesman to a story on weight that segues into a short discussion on orbital mechanics. A couple of poems are even included. I hope that the large variety included will provide some entertainment for all.
Outnumbered, outgunned, and hell-bent on beating the odds. When the beautiful McGaffney twins hire Faro Wells to escort them to New Mexico to claim their inheritance, Faro thinks his luck has finally turned. But a world of trouble stands between him and the supposed fortune: a raging war, hostile Indians, and every raider on the wild frontier. Not to mention the South’s most famous villain, the Black Knight, is hard on Faro’s trail. And the twins may be the worst trouble of all…
