With an extraordinary gift for suspense, McKissack brings us ten original, spine-tingling tales inspired by African American history and the mystery of that eerie half hour before nightfall—the dark-thirty.
Recounts a family's attempts to solve the murder of one of their kin, a Memphis woman named Deborah Watts, in a case stretching over twenty years, from 1977 to 1997.
In this study of space and place, Sally Bayley examines the meaning of 'home' in American literature and culture. Moving from the nineteenth-century homestead of Emily Dickinson to the present-day reality of Bob Dylan, Bayley investigates the relationship of the domestic frontier to the wide-open spaces of the American outdoors. In contemporary America, she argues, the experience of home is increasingly isolated, leading to unsettling moments of domestic fallout. At the centre of the book is the exposed and often shifting domain of the domestic threshold: Emily Dickinson's doorstep, Edward Hopper's doors and windows, and Harper Lee's front porch. Bayley tracks these historically fragile territories through contemporary literature and film, including Cormac McCarthy's No Country For Old Men, Lars Von Trier's Dogville, and Andrew Dominik's The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford - works that explore local, domestic territories as emblems of nation. The culturally potent sites of the american home - the hearth, porch, backyard, front lawn, bathroom, and basement - are positioned in relation to the more conflicted sites of the American motel and hotel.
When tragedy strikes a family in Lancaster County, can two young Amish people find the hope that lies on the other side? “This story of profound loss and deep friendship will leave readers with the certain knowledge that hope exists and love grows through faith in our God of second chances.” —Kelly Irvin, author of the Every Amish Season series Laura Riehl is no stranger to heartache. Less than a year after her mother’s death, Laura finds herself burying another loved one: her best friend, Savilla, who has died after a brief and sudden illness. Laura feels heartbroken and alone, but her pain is nothing compared to that of Allen, the husband Savilla has left behind. He now faces a life so different from the one he imagined—plus a baby to care for on his own. When Laura offers to help Allen with baby Mollie, he jumps at the opportunity until a permanent solution can be found. She’d do anything to lend a hand to Allen and to honor her best friend’s memory. Rudy, Laura’s boyfriend, is initially supportive of her plan, but the more time Laura spends with Allen, the more jealous and frustrated Rudy seems to become. As Laura and Allen face hardships together, their friendship takes a surprising yet comforting turn—and she discovers an attraction she’s never felt with Rudy. Would falling for Allen betray the people she cares about most, or would denying those feelings betray her heart? This latest installment in the Amish Homestead series returns us to Lancaster County, home of the beloved Riehls, where a family’s strength—and advice from a new friend—may help Laura find God’s direction. This sweet read is the second book in Amy Clipston’s Amish Homestead series, but it can also be enjoyed as a standalone novel. “Readers . . . will appreciate the author’s realistic portrayal of coming to terms with loss in order to continue living with hope and happiness.” —RT Book Reviews, four stars
Meet fourteen-year-old Gary. A self-described "tree-toad,"a sly and endearing geek, Gary has many unwieldy passions, chief among them his cousin Kate, his Underwood typewriter and the soft-porn masterpiece, High School Orgies. The folks of Lake Wobegon don't have much patience for a kid's ungodly obsessions, and so Gary manages to filter the hormonal earthquake that is puberty and his hopeless devotion to glamorous, rebellious Kate through his fantastic yarns. With every marvellous story he moves a few steps closer to becoming a writer. And when Kate gets herself into trouble with the local baseball star, Gary also experiences the first pangs of a broken heart. With his trademark gift for treading "a line delicate as a cobweb between satire and sentiment"(Cleveland Plain Dealer), Garrison Keillor brilliantly captures a newly minted post-war America and delivers an unforgettable comedy about a writer coming of age in the rural Midwest.