When Edgar Degas visits his French Creole relatives in New Orleans from 1872 to ’73, Estelle, his cousin and sister-in-law, encourages the artist—who has not yet achieved recognition and struggles to find inspiration—to paint portraits of their family members. In 1970, Anne Gautier, a young artist, finds connections between her ancestors and Degas while renovating the New Orleans house she has inherited. When Anne finds two identical portraits of Estelle, she discovers disturbing truths that change her life as she searches for meaningful artistic expression—just as Degas did one hundred years earlier. A gripping historical novel told by two women living a century apart, Estelle combines mystery, family saga, art, and romance in its exploration of the man Degas was before he became the artist famous around the world today.
The uproar over "legitimate rape" during the 2012 U.S. elections confirms that rape remains a word in flux, subject to political power and social privilege. Redefining Rape describes the forces that have shaped the meaning of sexual violence in the U.S., through the experiences of accusers, assailants, and advocates for change.
**SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE, "10 BEST HISTORY BOOKS OF 2022"** **HISTORY TODAY, "BOOKS OF THE YEAR (2022)"** A brilliant and beautifully written deep dive into the complicated relationship between Elizabeth I and Catherine de Medici, two of the most powerful women in Renaissance Europe who shaped each other as profoundly as they shaped the course of history. Sixteenth-century Europe was a hostile world dominated by court politics and patriarchal structures, and yet against all odds, two women rose to power: Elizabeth I and Catherine de Medici. One a young Virgin Queen who ruled her kingdom alone, and the other a more experienced and clandestine leader who used her children to shape the dynasties of Europe, much has been written about these shrewd and strategic sovereigns. But though their individual legacies have been heavily scrutinized, nothing has been said of their complicated relationship—thirty years of camaraderie, competition, and conflict that forever changed the face of Europe. In Blood, Fire, and Gold, historian Estelle Paranque offers a new way of looking at two of history's most powerful women: through the eyes of the other. Drawing on their private correspondence and brand-new research, Paranque shows how Elizabeth and Catherine navigated through uncharted waters that both united and divided their kingdoms, maneuvering between opposing political, religious, and social objectives—all while maintaining unprecedented power over their respective domains. Though different in myriad ways, their fates and lives remained intertwined of the course of three decades, even as the European geo-politics repeatedly set them against one another. Whether engaged in bloody battles or peaceful accords, Elizabeth and Catherine admired the force and resilience of the other, while never forgetting that they were, first and foremost, each other's true rival. This is a story of two remarkable visionaries: a story of blood, fire, and gold. It is also a tale of ceaseless calculation, of love and rivalry, of war and wisdom, and—above all else—of the courage and sacrifice it takes to secure and sustain power as a woman in a male-dominated world. A Times' "Book of the Week"
“A funny, heartwrenching, and soulful” debut novel about family, friends, and first love from the acclaimed author of Mayhem and But Then I Came Back (Bustle). Lucille Bennett is pushed into adulthood after her mom decides to take a break from parenting, from responsibility, from Lucille and her little sister, Wren. Left to cover for her absentee parents, Lucille thinks, “Wren and Lucille. Lucille and Wren. I will do whatever I have to. No one will pull us apart.” Now is not the time for level-headed Lucille to fall in love. But love—messy, inconvenient love—is what she’s about to experience when she falls for Digby Jones, her best friend’s brother. With blazing longing that builds to a fever pitch, Estelle Laure’s soulful debut will keep readers hooked and hoping until the very last page. “I loved this book. I was torn between wanting to devour it in one breathless read and needing to stop and savor each gorgeous turn of phrase. This is a remarkable debut.”—Morgan Matson, New York Times-bestselling author of The Unexpected Everything “Estelle Laure’s This Raging Light might be YA, but it’s got plenty of grown-up appeal.”—Entertainment Weekly “A funny, poetic, big-hearted reminder that life can—and will—take us all by surprise.”—Jennifer E. Smith, bestselling author of Field Notes on Love “Lucille may not take down a beast or assassinate any super bads, but she’s what heroines look like and love like in real life.”—Justine Magazine “Heartbreakingly hopeful, lyrically told.”—Kirkus Reviews
Disney's Villains meet Gotham in this gritty fairy tale-inspired crime series. Mary Elizabeth Heart is a high school senior by day, but by night she's an intern at the Monarch City police department. She watches with envy from behind a desk as detectives come and go, trying to contain the city's growing crime rate. For years, tension has simmered between the city's wealthy elite, and their plans to gentrify the decaying neighborhood called the Scar - once upon a time the epicenter of all things magic. When the daughter of one of the city's most powerful businessmen goes missing, Mary Elizabeth is thrilled when the Chief actually puts her on the case. But what begins as one missing person's report soon multiplies, leading her down the rabbit hole of a city in turmoil. There she finds a girl with horns, a boyfriend with secrets, and what seems to be a sea monster lurking in a poison lake. As the mystery circles closer to home, Mary finds herself caught in the fight between those who once had magic, and those who will do anything to bring it back. This dark and edgy YA series explores the reimagined origins of Maleficent, Ursula, Captain Hook, and other infamous Disney Villains like you've never seen before.
The Lost Boys meets Wilder Girls in this supernatural feminist YA novel. It's 1987 and unfortunately it's not all Madonna and cherry lip balm. Mayhem Brayburn has always known there was something off about her and her mother, Roxy. Maybe it has to do with Roxy's constant physical pain, or maybe with Mayhem's own irresistible pull to water. Either way, she knows they aren't like everyone else. But when May's stepfather finally goes too far, Roxy and Mayhem flee to Santa Maria, California, the coastal beach town that holds the answers to all of Mayhem's questions about who her mother is, her estranged family, and the mysteries of her own self. There she meets the kids who live with her aunt, and it opens the door to the magic that runs through the female lineage in her family, the very magic Mayhem is next in line to inherit and which will change her life for good. But when she gets wrapped up in the search for the man who has been kidnapping girls from the beach, her life takes another dangerous turn and she is forced to face the price of vigilante justice and to ask herself whether revenge is worth the cost. From the acclaimed author of This Raging Light and But Then I Came Back, Estelle Laure offers a riveting and complex story with magical elements about a family of women contending with what appears to be an irreversible destiny, taking control and saying when enough is enough.
A brand new book from the internationally bestselling author of Did I Mention I Love You The higher the stakes, the greater the fall. MacKenzie Rivers knows the kind of impact death can have on those it leaves behind. She's felt that grief firsthand. So when Jaden, her crush and almost-boyfriend, loses his parents in a car accident, MacKenzie steps back. It might not be the right thing to do, but with an alcoholic mother and a father who deals with their family problems by not dealing at all, self-preservation is her only option. Then the pair meet by chance one night, reunited for the first time in months. Before MacKenzie can throw up her walls again, old feelings resurface and new memories are made. MacKenzie has missed Jaden more than anything. But can she dare to fall for the one person she's so afraid of growing close to? Praise for Did I Mention I Love You: "A solid romance with a tantalizing helping of forbidden love." —Booklist on Did I Mention I Love You?
From Estelle Maskame, Wattpad sensation, comes the first installment in the addicting Did I Mention I Love You series that follows three unforgettable summers of secrets, heartbreak, and forbidden stepbrother romance. This trilogy is perfect for readers of teen romance books! Love is everything but expected. Eden Munro came to California for a summer of sun, sand and celebrities – what better way to be a regular girl and forget about the drama back home? Until she meets her new family of strangers: a dad she hasn't seen in three years, a stepmonster and three stepbrothers. Eden gets her own room in her dad's fancy house in Santa Monica. A room right next door to her oldest stepbrother, Tyler Bruce. Whom she cannot stand. He's got angry green eyes and ego bigger than a Beverly Hills mansion. She's never felt such intense dislike for someone. But the two are constantly thrown together as his group of friends pull her into their world of rule-breaking, partying and pier-hanging. And the more she tries to understand what makes Tyler burn hotter than the California sun, the more Eden finds herself falling for the one person she shouldn't... Books in the Did I Mention I Love You series: Did I Mention I Love You? Did I Mention I Need You? Did I Mention I Miss You? Just Don't Mention It—The companion novel that tells Tyler's story!
‘Fascinating...I’ll never look at a rose in quite the same way again.’ Adrian Tinniswood The rose is bursting with meaning. Over the centuries it has come to represent love and sensuality, deceit, death and the mystical unknown. Today the rose enjoys unrivalled popularity across the globe, ever present at life’s seminal moments. Grown in the Middle East two thousand years ago for its pleasing scent and medicinal properties, it has become one of the most adored flowers across cultures, no longer selected by nature, but by us. The rose is well-versed at enchanting human hearts. From Shakespeare’s sonnets to Bulgaria’s Rose Valley to the thriving rose trade in Africa and the Far East, via museums, high fashion, Victorian England and Belle Epoque France, we meet an astonishing array of species and hybrids of remarkably different provenance. This is the story of a hardy, thorny flower and how, by beauty and charm, it came to seduce the world.
