Becoming Belle
Becoming Belle

Author: Nuala O'Connor

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2018-08-07

Total Pages: 380

ISBN-13: 0735214425

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A witty and inherently feminist novel about passion and marriage, based on a true story of an unstoppable woman ahead of her time in Victorian London. In 1887, Isabel Bilton is the eldest of three daughters of a middle-class military family, growing up in a small garrison town. By 1891 she is the Countess of Clancarty, dubbed "the peasant countess" by the press, and a member of the Irish aristocracy. Becoming Belle is the story of the four years in between, of Belle's rapid ascent and the people that tried to tear her down. With only her talent, charm, and determination, Isabel moves to London alone at age nineteen, changes her name to Belle, and takes the city by storm, facing unthinkable hardships as she rises to fame. A true bohemian and the star of a dancing double act she performs with her sister, she reigns over The Empire Theatre and The Corinthian Club, where only select society entertains. It is there she falls passionately in love with William, Viscount Dunlo, a young aristocrat. For Belle, her marriage to William is a dream come true, but his ruthless father makes clear he'll stop at nothing to keep her in her place. Reimagined by a novelist at the height of her powers, Belle is an unforgettable woman. Set against an absorbing portrait of Victorian London, hers is a timeless rags-to-riches story a la Becky Sharpe.

High Maintenance
High Maintenance

Author: Jennifer Belle

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2002-07-02

Total Pages: 369

ISBN-13: 1101549661

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National Bestseller The story of an obsessive love affair between a woman and an apartment. The publication of her sexy, offbeat, riotous first novel, Going Down, won Jennifer Belle comparisons from everyone from Dorothy Parker and Lorrie Moore to J. D. Salinger and Liz Phair. In High Maintenance, Belle is back with another brilliantly twisted New York story that is as funny, sad, painful, ridiculous, wild, daring, and lovable as its predecessor. Set in the manic world of New York real estate, High Maintenance is the story of Liv Kellerman, a young woman who's just left her husband and, more important, their fabulous penthouse apartment with its Empire State Building view. On her own for the first time in her life, she relocates to a crumbling Greenwich Village hovel and contemplates her next move. Before long she finds her true calling: selling real estate. With her native eye for prime properties and an ability to lie with a straight face, Liv finds success and soon is swimming with the sharks-the hardcore, cutthroat brokers who'll do anything to close a deal. Along the way she picks up a maniacally ardent architect who likes to bite her, a few hilarious bosses, strange and exasperating clients, and a gun, and brings them with her on her search for the one thing she's really after: a home. Belle's gift for creating strange and winning characters and her acute observations of both the absurd and the poignant in everyday life are the hallmarks of her fiction. High Maintenance is generous and unsparing, tough and exciting and terrifically smart—a hot new property on the market.

The Belle of Amherst
The Belle of Amherst

Author: William Luce

Publisher: Dramatists Play Service, Inc.

Published: 2016-05-13

Total Pages: 52

ISBN-13: 0822233738

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THE STORY: In her Amherst, Massachusetts home, the reclusive nineteenth-century poet Emily Dickinson recollects her past through her work, her diaries and letters, and a few encounters with significant people in her life. William Luce’s classic play shows us both the pain and the joy of Dickinson’s secluded life.

Rebel Belle
Rebel Belle

Author: Rachel Hawkins

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2014-04-08

Total Pages: 354

ISBN-13: 110160333X

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Harper Price, peerless Southern belle, was born ready for a Homecoming tiara. But after a strange run-in at the dance imbues her with incredible abilities, Harper's destiny takes a turn for the seriously weird. She becomes a Paladin, one of an ancient line of guardians with agility, super strength and lethal fighting instincts. Just when life can't get any more disastrously crazy, Harper finds out who she's charged to protect: David Stark, school reporter, subject of a mysterious prophecy and possibly Harper's least favorite person. But things get complicated when Harper starts falling for him--and discovers that David's own fate could very well be to destroy Earth. With snappy banter, cotillion dresses, non-stop action and a touch of magic, this new young adult series from bestseller Rachel Hawkins is going to make y'all beg for more. “As surprising as it is delicious.”—BCCB, starred review “Fun with a twist of supernatural and Southern charm.” —VOYA “The romance, coming-of-age aspects, and a well-drawn heroine with a crackling wit will lure in readers.” —Booklist

I Want to be a Bennett Belle
I Want to be a Bennett Belle

Author: Deirdre Pecchioni Cummings

Publisher: Lulu.com

Published: 2016-03-10

Total Pages: 30

ISBN-13: 1483446980

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A smart and curious little girl asks her grandmother what she hoped to be when she was growing up. From there, another little future Bennett Belle is born. After her grandma begins sharing the story of how she became the woman she was meant to be, the young girl learns all about the mission of Bennett College in Greensboro, North Carolina: to instill self-respect, confidence, compassion, pride, and preparation to compete as a professional in an ever-changing world, in every single one of its female students. As the little girl falls in love with the spirit, sisterhood, and legacy of Bennett College, she discovers it is never too early to think about higher education or becoming the best woman she can be. In this endearing children's story, a young girl learns all about Bennett College and its mission from her grandmother, a proud Bennett Belle.

Going Down
Going Down

Author: Jennifer Belle

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 1996-07-01

Total Pages: 230

ISBN-13: 1101551186

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National Bestseller “A funny, sad, nasty little gem of a novel.”—Jay McInerney In bestselling author Jennifer Belle’s debut novel, Going Down, Belle introduces readers to Bennington Bloom, a coed working her way through college. As a call girl. With a sharp eye for satire and a keen comic sense, Belle chronicles nineteen-year-old Bennington’s high-pressure adventures. Stuck with an ulcer, a father who loves his dog like a daughter, a shrink who is hard of hearing, and New York University tuition to worry about, she's working overtime to keep it all together and doing what she can to survive. Spending the night in an abandoned hotel pool, punching pushy old women on the subway, Bennington is at an all-time low, and things are only going down from there. A witty take on making it in the city, Going Down showcases Jennifer Belle’s unerring gift for capturing the absurdities of day-to-day life. Funny and intelligent with an endearingly skewed take on life, Belle is the real thing.

Blue Belle
Blue Belle

Author: Andrew Vachss

Publisher: Vintage Crime/Black Lizard

Published: 2001-09-25

Total Pages: 353

ISBN-13: 0375719032

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Burke is one of the most cold-blooded yet strangely honorable heroes in the history of crime fiction, an outlaw who makes his living by preying on the most vicious of New York City’s bottom-feeders, those who thrive on the suffering of children. In Andrew Vachss’s tautly engrossing novel Burke is given a purse full of dirty money to find the infamous Ghost Van that is cutting a lethal swath among the teenage prostitutes in the ‘hood. He also gets help in the form of a stripper named Belle, whose moves on the runway are outclassed only by what she can do in a getaway car. But not even Burke is prepared for the evil that is behind the Ghost Van or for the sheer menace of its guardian, a cadaverous karate expert who enjoys killing so much that he has named himself after death.

After the Rain
After the Rain

Author: Jane Lorenzini

Publisher: Nest Press

Published: 2018-10-02

Total Pages: 252

ISBN-13: 9781732324817

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It's 1888. Can Belle Carson reinvent her life by moving next door to Thomas Edison's winter estate? From New York Times bestselling author Jane Lorenzini comes a story of heartbreak and healing set against the backdrop of exotic southwest Florida. It's January 1888. The small town of Fort Myers is buzzing about a possible visit from famous winter residents Mina and Thomas Edison. When the local newspaper reports that the couple needs a gardener for their riverside estate, nearly everyone lines up to apply. For twenty-five-year-old Belle Carson, a painful childhood secret has kept her world -- and her hopes for the future -- small. But with lush gardens already sprouting in her imagination, Belle decides to fight for the job and the opportunity to move from a cramped storage room to a charming cottage next door to the Edison homes and laboratory. Yet, when her dark past threatens to destroy everything she has so carefully cultivated, she must battle harder than ever for her best life -- and the chance to live it. After the Rain features both a historical setting and timeless issues of yearning, forgiveness, and personal growth.

The Personal Librarian
The Personal Librarian

Author: Marie Benedict

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2022-06-07

Total Pages: 369

ISBN-13: 0593101545

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The Instant New York Times Bestseller! A Good Morning America* Book Club Pick! Named a Best Book of the Year by NPR! Named a Notable Book of the Year by the Washington Post! “Historical fiction at its best!”* A remarkable novel about J. P. Morgan’s personal librarian, Belle da Costa Greene, the Black American woman who was forced to hide her true identity and pass as white in order to leave a lasting legacy that enriched our nation, from New York Times bestselling authors Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray. In her twenties, Belle da Costa Greene is hired by J. P. Morgan to curate a collection of rare manuscripts, books, and artwork for his newly built Pierpont Morgan Library. Belle becomes a fixture in New York City society and one of the most powerful people in the art and book world, known for her impeccable taste and shrewd negotiating for critical works as she helps create a world-class collection. But Belle has a secret, one she must protect at all costs. She was born not Belle da Costa Greene but Belle Marion Greener. She is the daughter of Richard Greener, the first Black graduate of Harvard and a well-known advocate for equality. Belle’s complexion isn’t dark because of her alleged Portuguese heritage that lets her pass as white—her complexion is dark because she is African American. The Personal Librarian tells the story of an extraordinary woman, famous for her intellect, style, and wit, and shares the lengths she must go to—for the protection of her family and her legacy—to preserve her carefully crafted white identity in the racist world in which she lives.