"This allegorical novel tells of a young woman's journey through the need, after God became sick, to kill the God she knew to make space for a God beyond the cherished notions through which she had imprisoned God." "[summary]"--
Though the terms “queer” and “Mennonite” rarely come into theoretical or cultural contact, over the last several decades writers and scholars in the United States and Canada have built a body of queer Mennonite literature that shifts these identities into conversation. In this volume, Daniel Shank Cruz brings this growing genre into a critical focus, bridging the gaps between queer theory, literary criticism, and Mennonite literature. Cruz focuses his analysis on recent Mennonite-authored literary texts that espouse queer theoretical principles, including Christina Penner’s Widows of Hamilton House, Wes Funk’s Wes Side Story, and Sofia Samatar’s Tender. These works argue for the existence of a “queer Mennonite” identity on the basis of shared values: a commitment to social justice, a rejection of binaries, the importance of creative approaches to conflict resolution, and the practice of mutual aid, especially in resisting oppression. Through his analysis, Cruz encourages those engaging with both Mennonite and queer literary criticism to explore the opportunity for conversation and overlap between the two fields. By arguing for engagement between these two identities and highlighting the aspects of Mennonitism that are inherently “queer,” Cruz gives much-needed attention to an emerging subfield of Mennonite literature. This volume makes a new and important intervention into the fields of queer theory, literary studies, Mennonite studies, and religious studies.
In 1983 the author, a Christian Businessman, arrived home from a sales trip to discover that his wife and three children had been brutally murdered. A year later he was convicted and sent to prison. He was innocent. In prison he met Henry Hillenbrand, known as the card man because he sold homemade greeting cards. Henry told David an incredible story. In 1970, after murdering the woman he loved and the man he found her in bed with, he had executed a daring escape from jail by cutting through his cellblock's iron cage and the bars of a window and rappelling from the third floor with a rope he braided from a sheet. During 13 fugitive years in Missouri, he had remarried and fathered two boys, defended himself in court, attempted suicide, converted to Christianity, and been recaptured by the FBI. In this book, the two imprisoned convicts endure riots, shakedowns, and gang extortion attempts while the formerly godless murderer-now a believer-dictates his story to the formerly Christian family man-now a skeptic. One is trying to get his story out; the other is trying to get himself out. Throughout, the goodwill and humor of both men emerges. Early on, when David wants to write this book, Henry advises him: "Be careful what you wish for, Hendricks. When I was a child, I wanted bunk beds."
Too young to prosecute, Charlie Zubryd was adopted after his confession and a brief stay in a mental ward. A childless couple gave Zubryd a new name and identity. It would be twenty years before Charlie Zubryd - now going by the name Chuck Duffy - would have any contact with his blood family. When Zubyrd/Duffy made an effort to get his real family back, he was rejected because his relatives still believed he had murdered his mother. Until Fisher began to investigate the case in 1989, Chuck Duffy was not sure he had not killed his mother during some kind of mental blackout.
A serial killer is roaming the streets of Milwaukee. He hides in plain sight. He could be your neighbor or your co-worker. Why does he kill? Is it for twisted love or from moral depravity? A fiery detective is on his trail. Will she catch him in time or will she become another victim? Live the path of destruction as seen through the eyes of the serial killer and experience the thrilling conclusion that ends with a wicked twist.
A monk’s journey of amends leads to murder in this “thoroughly entertaining medieval mystery” in the Silver Dagger Award–winning series (Publishers Weekly). Winter arrived early in 1142, bringing with it a heavy snowfall. The safety of the guest-hall roof at the Benedictine Abbey of St. Peter and St. Paul comes into jeopardy, and the brothers are called upon to effect repairs. But the icy and treacherous conditions are to prove near fatal for Brother Haluin. He slips from the roof and crashes to the ground, sustaining terrible injuries—grave enough for him to want to make his deathbed confession. The confession is heard by the abbot and Brother Cadfael; a wicked story, of trespasses hard for God or man to forgive. But Haluin does not die. On his recovery, he determines to make a journey of expiation, with Cadfael as his sole companion. It is an arduous journey, physically and emotionally, and one that leads to some shocking discoveries.
A gripping legal thriller from the no.1 Sunday Times bestselling author and creator of Sooley and The Judge's List. _______________________________________ An innocent man is days from execution. Only a guilty man can save him. Travis Boyette is a murderer. Nine years ago, he strangled a high-school cheerleader and buried her body so it could never be found. Then, he watched and waited as police arrested Donte Drumm, a local football star with no connection to the crime. Tried, convicted, and sentenced, Drumm was sent to death row whilst Boyette walked free. Now, Donte Drumm is four days from execution. And as Boyette faces his own mortality, hehas finally decided to do what is right. He has decided to confess. But how can he convince the state that they are about to execute the wrong man? _______________________________________ 'A master at the art of deft characterisation and the skilful delivery of hair-raising crescendos' Irish Independent 'John Grisham is the master of legal fiction' Jodi Picoult 'The best thriller writer alive!' Ken Follett 'John Grisham has perfected the art of cooking up convincing and fast-paced thrillers' Telegraph 'Grisham is a superb and instinctive storyteller' The Times 'Grisham's storytelling genius reminds us that when it comes to legal drama, the master is in a league of his own.' Daily Record 'Masterful - when Grisham gets in the courtroom he lets rip, drawing scenes so real they are not just alive, they are pulsating' Mirror 'A giant of the thriller genre!' TimeOut
Published anonymously in 1824, this gothic mystery novel was written by Scottish author James Hogg. The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner was published as if it were the presentation of a century-old document. The unnamed editor offers the reader a long introduction before presenting the document written by the sinner himself.
In 1940s Los Angeles, an unidentified murder victim is found bisected in a shadowy lot. A catchy nickname is given her in jest—"The Virgin Tramp"—and suddenly a "nice little homicide that would have drifted off the front pages in a couple of days" becomes a storm center. Two brothers, Tom and Des Spellacy, are at the heart of this powerful novel of Irish-Catholic life in Southern California just after World War II. Played in the film version by Robert Duvall and Robert De Niro respectively, Tom is a homicide detective and Des is a priest on the rise within the Church. The murder investigation provides the background against which are played the ever changing loyalties of the two brothers. Theirs is a world of favors and fixes, power and promises, inhabited by priests and pimps, cops and contractors, boxers and jockeys and lesbian fight promoters and lawyers who know how to put the fix in. A fast-paced and often hilarious classic of contemporary fiction, True Confessions is about a crime that has no solutions, only victims. More important, it is about the complex relationship between Tom and Des Spellacy, each tainted with the guilt and hostility that separate brothers.