In the aftermath of WWI, Grace Abernathy is determined to reunite with her family, crossing an ocean to convince her widowed sister to return home to England. Yet Toronto holds more tragedy and her nephew Christian is now in the custody of his paternal relatives, the formidable Easton family, who rejected Grace's sister because of her low social status. Unconvinced the Eastons can be fitting caretakers, Grace jumps at the chance to be Christian's nanny and observe the family up close under an assumed name. In the course of her new position, she is shocked to discover herself falling for Andrew Easton, the boy's guardian. Unfortunately, Andrew is promised to a spoiled socialite who will make a terrible stepmother for Christian. Will Grace be able to protect her nephew . . . and her heart?
On the surface, Riverview High School looks like the post-racial ideal. Serving an enviably affluent, diverse, and liberal district, the school is well-funded, its teachers are well-trained, and many of its students are high achieving. Yet Riverview has not escaped the same unrelenting question that plagues schools throughout America: why is it that even when all of the circumstances seem right, black and Latino students continue to lag behind their peers? Through five years' worth of interviews and data-gathering at Riverview, John Diamond and Amanda Lewis have created a rich and disturbing portrait of the achievement gap that persists more than fifty years after the formal dismantling of segregation. As students progress from elementary school to middle school to high school, their level of academic achievement increasingly tracks along racial lines, with white and Asian students maintaining higher GPAs and standardized testing scores, taking more advanced classes, and attaining better college admission results than their black and Latino counterparts. Most research to date has focused on the role of poverty, family stability, and other external influences in explaining poor performance at school, especially in urban contexts. Diamond and Lewis instead situate their research in a suburban school, and look at what factors within the school itself could be causing the disparity. Most crucially, they challenge many common explanations of the 'racial achievement gap,' exploring what race actually means in this situation, and why it matters. An in-depth study with far-reaching consequences, Despite the Best Intentions revolutionizes our understanding of both the knotty problem of academic disparities and the larger question of the color line in American society.
“Best Intentions is that rare novel that grows more gripping and emotionally rich with every turn of the page.” —Carla Buckley Marti Trailor—social worker on hold, mother of three, wife of a successful obstetrician, daughter of a Congressman—is ready to go back to work. She’s thrilled when the perfect opportunity falls in her lap. The catch? The job is at her husband's hospital and he seems not to share her enthusiasm. Undeterred, she takes the position counseling vulnerable young women as they prepare to give birth. Marti quickly begins to feel like she is making a difference in the lives of her clients. Soon, though, she finds herself caught up in the dark side of the medical center—with its long hours, overworked doctors and entrenched practices. When she witnesses something she can't unsee, Marti, who has always done her best to keep a low-profile, finds herself thrust under a dangerous spotlight with all of Richmond, Virginia watching. In her captivating domestic suspense novel Best Intentions, Erika Raskin weaves together high stakes hospital politics, the pressures of family life, and the consequences of trying to do the right thing, particularly in a city with a history as fraught as Richmond's.
'Lawyer-turned-author Simran Dhir's debut novel is the exciting airport read we often need in our lives.' -- The Telegraph 'This sharp, acute and accomplished debut novel ... carries deep insights into human relationships and the social schisms and fault lines that surround us.' -- Namita Gokhale Gayatri Mehra is tired of her parents trying to find her a suitable husband. She would much rather focus on the history journal she edits and leave the happily-ever-after to Nandini and Amar, her newly married sister and brother-in-law. But when the journal faces pressure to fall in line from the right-wing SSP, headed by a corrupt godman, Gayatri is forced to seek help from Akshay Grewal, Amar's brother and elder son of lawyer-turned-politician Gyan Singh Grewal. Gayatri finds Akshay arrogant and unprincipled; he thinks she is naive and self-righteous. Enter Vikram Gera, a self-made banker willing to go to any lengths to break into Delhi's elite circles, even if it means stringing Gayatri along. As Gayatri and Akshay come together to salvage the situation at the journal, they realize that their siblings' marriage is coming undone. Politics, ambition and hard truths collide, and familial bonds are tested. But as they navigate this complex world, Akshay and Gayatri learn that while some things can't be fixed, love often finds a way. Best Intentions is a sharply observed and compulsively readable novel of manners marking the arrival of an accomplished new voice.
Traub recounts the dramatically entwined history of Kofi Annan and the U.N. from 1992 to the present. In Annan he sees a conscientious idealist given too little credit for advancing causes like humanitarian intervention, an honest broker crushed between American conservatives and Third World opponents, and a U.N. careerist who has absorbed that culture and cannot, in the end, escape its limitations.
From the acclaimed author of Waiting to Surface comes a page-turning novel about four college friends whose reunion reawakens old desires and grudges—with fatal results. What happens when you think you know the person you love—and you’re dead wrong? Thirty-nine-year-old Lisa Barkley looks over at her sleeping husband, Sam, and can’t help but feel that their fifteen-year marriage is in a funk that she isn’t able to place. She tells herself that the strain must be due to their mounting financial pressures. With two daughters about to start another year at an elite Upper East Side private school and her own career hitting a wall, the effort of trying to stay afloat in their privileged world is increasingly difficult. But when she listens to Sam’s voicemail and hears a whispered phone call from a woman he is to meet that night, she begins to suspect he is having an affair. Lisa’s best friend, Deirdre, claims it can’t be true. But how can Lisa fully trust her opinion when Deirdre is mired in her own obsessive affair? When Deirdre’s former college flame, Jack, comes to town and the two couples meet to celebrate his fortieth birthday, the stage is set for an explosive series of discoveries with devastating results. Filled with suspense and provocative questions about the relationships we value most, Best Intentions is a tightly woven drama of love, friendship and betrayal.
A complex, poignant exploration of racial attitudes in America, as illumined by the case of Edmund Perry. Perry, a seventeen-year-old black honors student from Harlem, was fatally shot by a young white plainclothes policeman in 1985 in an alleged mugging attempt. Perry had recently graduated from Philips Exeter Academy and was to attend Stanford University that fall. The shooting and the subsequent case, in which Edmund's elder brother Jonah, an undergraduate at Cornell University, was accused, tried, and found not guilty, drew national headlines and was the subject of heated debate among black and white communities alike. Using interviews with Perry's parents, friends, and former teachers in Harlem and at Exeter, journalist Robert Sam Anson has written a compelling account of a boy caught between two worlds and a profound portrait of the state of race in America.
From Pulitzer prize-winning writer, Irwin Unger, and Debi Unger comes this history of the people and politics behind the Great Society reforms considers how the programs shaped the political scene and began to go awry and describes Lyndon Johnson's aggressive efforts to promote its success.
TEN DAYS... TEN DAYS... that was all the slip of paper tucked under his windshield had read. At first, it appeared to be a misunderstanding. A simple prank meant for someone else. Corey Loflin has been dealing with his PTSD ever since his final deployment with the United States Army. His nightmares are touch and go; only flaring up when he is under stress from his day job as the Supervisor for a security company. Little did he know, a typical morning of sipping coffee and having his morning cigarette would be the starting point for his descent. His workload becomes a problem, and his nightmares begin to slowly unravel his mind. His abuse of alcohol doesn't make matters any better and his grip on reality begins to falter when another note arrives- this one reading EIGHT DAYS... He is convinced that someone aims to do him and his family harm. How far would you go to protect the ones you love?
"A moving story of second chances that left me with a huge smile on my face." -Mary, USA Today HEA The summer before my senior year of high school I had only one goal: to make Alden Warner see me as more than his best friend's annoying little sister.Finally, my wish came true and he noticed me. In a big way. Too bad that the next morning he had no memory of our night together, leaving me heartbroken, and as I later discovered...pregnant.For the last four years, I've been rocking the single mom thing, making sure my daughter comes first. In fact, everything is going fine--until Alden storms back into my life, as my new boss.His reappearance wasn't something I planned for. Add my nosy, meddlesome three-year-old and an overprotective brother, and I'm obviously in way over my head.My only hope now is that I can sway Alden to see things my way...but you know what they say about the best laid plans...
