Best friends Lilla and Claudia grow up on neighboring farms in rural Prince Edward Island, Canada during the fifties and sixties. They spend their free time roaming the countryside on their beloved horses. A tragic accident changed their lives. They guard the secret of the accident which affects each girl in a different manner. Although they follow very different paths into adulthood, their friendship remains. For one of them, working with the special Island brick clay becomes a journey of recovery while the other falls into a self-destructive means of escape.
Film noir is more than a cinematic genre. It is an essential aspect of American culture. Along with the cowboy of the Wild West, the denizen of the film noir city is at the very center of our mythological iconography. Described as the style of an anxious victor, film noir began during the post-war period, a strange time of hope and optimism mixed with fear and even paranoia. The shadow of this rich and powerful cinematic style can now be seen in virtually every artistic medium. The spectacular success of recent neo-film noirs is only the tip of an iceberg. In the dead-on, nocturnal jazz of Charlie Parker and Miles Davis, the chilled urban landscapes of Edward Hopper, and postwar literary fiction from Nelson Algren and William S. Burroughs to pulp masters like Horace McCoy, we find an unsettling recognition of the dark hollowness beneath the surface of the American Dream. Acclaimed novelist and poet Nicholas Christopher explores the cultural identity of film noir in a seamless, elegant, and enchanting work of literary prose. Examining virtually the entire catalogue of film noir, Christopher identifies the central motif as the urban labyrinth, a place infested with psychosis, anxiety, and existential dread in which the noir hero embarks on a dangerously illuminating quest. With acute sensitivity, he shows how technical devices such as lighting, voice over, and editing tempo are deployed to create the film noir world. Somewhere in the Night guides us through the architecture of this imaginary world, be it shot in New York or Los Angeles, relating its elements to the ancient cultural archetypes that prefigure it. Finally, Christopher builds an explanation of why film noir not only lives on but is currently enjoying a renaissance. Somewhere in the Night can be appreciated as a lucid introduction to a fundamental style of American culture, and also as a guide to film noir's heyday. Ultimately, though, as the work of a bold talent adeptly manipulating poetic cadence and metaphor, it is itself a superb aesthetic artifact.
1999 Best Children's Books of the Year, Bank Street College 2002 CCBC Children's Choices Somewhere in the world each day, people just like you are acting in kind, peaceful, loving ways. Perhaps they are visiting someone who is old, teaching a little sister to ride a bike, or sharing an experience with a friend from a different culture. With its poetic text and appealing, vibrant photographs, this book shows some of the simple ways in which any child or grownup can make the world a better place.
I'm screwed. I watched my family’s vineyard fall under the auction hammer, holding back tears of grief and rage. What should be mine went to a stranger. I want to hate Kane McCallum and his dark blue eyes. He has everything: looks, money, even a big, lovable dog. Now he’s offered me a job managing the vineyard—my vineyard. I can stay in my family’s home, but only if I work for him. I’m just a billionaire looking for something more. I don’t want to care what happens to prickly Meg Villier, but I see hard work and courage in her calloused hands. Passion in the curve of her mouth. Tenderness in the way she treats my dog. I want it all: my future billions, the vineyard... and Meg. Wonderful characters, setting, and story. Toby Jane is a magical writer. I love the Somewhere Series books, and never want to leave their world! ~ Reviewer
Ellie Frias disappeared long before she vanished. Tormented throughout middle school, Ellie begins her freshman year with a new look: she doesn’t need to be popular; she just needs to blend in with the wallpaper. But when the unthinkable happens, Ellie finds herself trapped after a brutal assault. She wasn't the first victim, and now she watches it happen again and again. She tries to hold on to her happier memories in order to get past the cold days, waiting for someone to find her. The problem is, no one searches for a girl they never noticed in the first place. TE Carter’s stirring and visceral debut not only discusses and dismantles rape culture, but it also reminds us what it is to be human.
They chanted. ‘Release Mandela’. But for three young individuals, their motives are their own… During a London Anti-Apartheid march, the Daily Mirror reporter Harry meets the impassioned Petronella, a communist activist. Alongside her is Josiah Makoni, a man spearheading his own cause to free his people from colonial Rhodesia. A country threatening to declare unilateral independence from Britain… Enamoured after his brief encounter, Harry wants more. Why is this woman so intriguing when her political agenda is in direct contrast to her family background? The granddaughter of an English magnate and daughter of a privileged white Rhodesian farmer. Playing with Harry, it becomes clear that Petronella and Josiah are lovers, driving Harry ever more to win her over. But for Josiah, his desire and passion are for his land. To break free of white oppression. To recruit freedom fighters and take back the power of his country, Zimbabwe. No matter the unthinkable… The Best of Times is the ninth episode in the Brigandshaw Chronicles. It’s the best of times for some, but the start of a bitter war to come.
From the author of the critically acclaimed The Imaginary comes a powerful story about friendship in the vein of Roald Dahl and Neil Gaiman. A School Library Journal Best Book of 2017 A Wall Street Journal Best Book of 2017 Frank thought her summer couldn't get any worse--until big, weird, smelly Nick Underbridge rescues her from a bully, and she winds up at his house. Frank quickly realizes there's more to Nick than meets the eye. When she's at his house, she hears the strangest, most beautiful music, music which leads her to a mysterious, hidden door. Beyond the door are amazing creatures that she never even dreamed could be real. For the first time in forever, Frank feels happy . . . and she and Nick start to become friends. But Nick's incredible secrets are also accompanied by great danger. Frank must figure out how to help her new friend, the same way that he has helped her. Paired with gorgeous black-and-white illustrations from Levi Pinfold, acclaimed author A. F. Harrold weaves a powerful story about unlikely friendship, strange magic, and keeping the shadows at bay.
Lion, bear, and wolf shifters and their mates heat up the pages in these swoonworthy romances. From crime bosses with hidden agendas to evil doers with plans for a shifter types and brave and curvy women who are ready for their mates, the stories in this series will melt your heart. JACE A lion shifter. In a clan of shifters, the lions are considered most powerful and respected. Jace is headstrong, willful, has fun with women but doesn’t see the big rush to find a mate. His father lays it on the line: If he’s to head the clan one day, he needs to find his bride. He resents being told what to do. A desperate hottie. Gemma’s got her own set of problems, and saving Jace from a group that collects shifters for sport and research shouldn’t be one of those problems. So what made it her problem? A mutual problem and raging hormones. LEVI A tiger shifter. Levi just wanted to have a good time. Or so he thought. A sex club for shifters. What could go wrong? A frantic hottie. Becca shouldn’t have taken the job. Never let desperation guide your decisions, right? Wrong. Sometimes one wrong move can lead to all the right things. Or can it? Now she’s frantic to escape the sex club she never should have taken a job at. Except that she’s considered property, and her owner isn’t eager to have his property stolen. CORD A bear shifter. Being protective isn’t something Cord does, it’s who Cord is. That’s his greatest quality, and his most devastating flaw. An inquisitive hottie. Lucy can’t resist a good story. So she asks her editor if she could look into the shifters, maybe do a story or a series. Against hired assassins, against territorial clan leaders, against all odds… Lucy won’t be kept from her bear. Her bear shifter Cord won’t be denied his mate. Can a war between rival clans keep them apart? TREK A wolf shifter. Tucker doesn’t do rules. He should have. Nearly being killed put him in the lust crosshairs of a very sexy nurse that he can’t stop thinking about. A healing hottie. Nurse Rachel’s got a fine life—okay, maybe a boring life is a better description. Until she nearly kills a wolf shifter. A clan war gives rise a very unlikely union. Rachel can’t deny her nightly dreams about the wolf shifter she saved. Tucker can’t deny that Rachel makes his blood travel south. This shouldn’t happen. It shouldn’t. But God, it is. And oh man, is it ever. DEMON A wolf shifter. Damien’s always followed rules. He’s nothing like his twin, Tucker, the rule-breaker. Until he breaks one rule. And damned if it isn’t a big one. A rogue hottie. Fox shifter Sierra had this great social life—drinking, partying, shopping. Until she had a rude awakening, one that shoved her out the door and into the swamps. The Paris Hilton of shifters went from manis and pedis to scavenging and practically dumpster diving. An explosive unearthed secret forges an unlikely union. When Damien and Sierra learn of the secret which could bring the clans’ hierarchies to their knees, they find themselves in a unique position. Not to mention, the positions they find themselves in when they yield to their mutual desires. PATRIARCH A lion shifter. Vincent’s oldest enemy is his brother. And now he’s brought before the Council of Elders to determine his fate and Vincent is called as the solitary witness. A lioness shifter. Veronica’s first love is back. That was a lifetime ago, before he left his clan and her behind. She’s built a new life, and clearly so has he. Why can’t she convince herself of that? Sometimes the past refuses to stay in the past. Once upon a time, these two shifters were fated mates. Then circumstances parted them. Has it brought them back together just to keep them apart again?
