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Empty mansions : the mysterious life of Huguette Clark and the spending of a great American fortune / by Dedman, Bill.; Newell, Paul Clark,Jr.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."When Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Bill Dedman noticed a property listing for a grand estate that had been unoccupied for nearly sixty years, he stumbled into one of the most surprising American stories of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Empty Mansions is a rich tale of wealth and loss, complete with copper barons, Gilded Age opulence, and backdoor politics. At its heart is a reclusive 104-year-old heiress named Huguette Clark. Dedman has collaborated with Huguette's cousin, Paul Clark Newell, Jr., one of the few relatives to have had frequent conversations with her, to tell a fairy tale in reverse: the bright, talented daughter who is born into an almost royal family of amazing wealth and privilege, yet who secrets herself away from the outside world. Empty Mansions reveals a complete picture of the enigmatic Huguette Clark, heiress to one of the greatest fortunes in American history, a woman who had not been photographed in public since the 1920s. Though she owned three palatial homes in California, New York, and Connecticut, they sat vacant while she lived out her final two decades in a New York City hospital room, despite being in excellent health. Her father was self-made copper industrialist W. A. Clark, who at the dawn of the twentieth century was one of the richest men in America. Huguette's inheritance afforded her untold luxury: gorgeous paintings by Degas and Renoir, a world-renowned Stradivarius violin, a vast collection of antique dolls, lavish gifts for her friends, the freedom to pursue her own work as an artist, and, most important, the privacy she valued above all else. The Clark family story takes the reader nearly the entire span of American history in just three generations. The same Huguette who held a ticket for the return trip of the Titanic was touched by the terror attacks of 9/11. In this scrupulously detailed account, we meet Huguette's extravagant father, her publicity-shy mother, her star-crossed sister, her noble French boyfriend, the nurse who received more than $30 million in gifts, and the relatives seeking to inherit Huguette's $300 million fortune. Richly illustrated with more than seventy photographs, some never before seen, Empty Mansions is a touching story of an eccentric of the highest order, a last jewel of the Gilded Age who lived life on her own terms"--Provided by publisher.
Subjects: Clark, Huguette, 1906-2011; Clark, Huguette, 1906-2011; Clark, Huguette, 1906-2011.; Clark, William Andrews, 1839-1925; Collectors and collecting; Eccentrics; Heiresses; Mansions; Recluses;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The dry grass of August / by Mayhew, Anna Jean.;
LSC
Subjects: Segregation; Race relations; Household employees; Families; Nineteen fifties;
© c2011., Kensington Pub.
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The storms of war / by Williams, Kate.;
In the idyllic early summer of 1914, life is good for the de Witt family. Rudolf and Verena are planning the wedding of their daughter Emmeline, while their eldest son, Arthur, is studying in Paris and Michael is just back from his first term at Cambridge. Celia, the youngest of the de Witt children, is on the brink of adulthood, and secretly dreams of escaping her carefully mapped-out future and exploring the world. But the onslaught of war changes everything and soon the de Witts find themselves sidelined and in danger of losing everything they hold dear. As Celia struggles to make sense of the changing world around her, she lies about her age to join the war effort and finds herself embroiled in a complex plot that puts not only her but those she loves in danger.
Subjects: Historical fiction.; Families; World War, 1914-1918;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The story of a heart : two families, one heart, and the medical miracle that saved a child's life / by Clarke, Rachel(Physician),author.;
Includes bibliographical references."One summer day, nine-year-old Keira Ball was in a terrible car accident and suffered catastrophic brain injuries. As the rest of her body began to shut down, her heart continued to beat. In an act of extraordinary generosity, Keira's parents and siblings immediately agreed that she would have wanted to be an organ donor. Meanwhile nine-year-old Max Johnson had been in a hospital for nearly a year, valiantly fighting the virus that was causing his young heart to fail. When Max's parents received the call they had been hoping for, they knew it came at a terrible cost to another family--in what Clarke calls "the brutal arithmetic of transplant surgery." The act of Keira's heart resuming its rhythm inside Max's body was a medical miracle. But this was only part of the story. While waiting on the transplant list, Max had become the hopeful face of a campaign to change the UK's laws around organ donation. Following his successful surgery, Keira's mother saw the little boy beaming on the front page of the newspaper and knew it was the same boy whose parents had recently sent her an anonymous letter overflowing with gratitude for her daughter's heart. The two mothers began to exchange messages and eventually decided to meet"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Personal narratives.; Johnson, Max, 2008-; Ball, Keira, 2008-2017; Donation of organs, tissues, etc.; Donation of organs, tissues, etc.; Heart; Organ donors; Organ donors; Transplantation of organs, tissues, etc. in children;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Stalin's daughter : the extraordinary and tumultuous life of Svetlana Alliluyeva / by Sullivan, Rosemary,1947-;
Includes bibliographical references and index."The award-winning author of Villa Air-Bel returns with a painstakingly researched, revelatory biography of Svetlana Stalin, a woman fated to live her life in the shadow of one of history's most monstrous dictators--her father, Josef Stalin. Born in the early years of the Soviet Union, Svetlana Stalin spent her youth inside the walls of the Kremlin. Communist Party privilege protected her from the mass starvation and purges that haunted Russia, but she did not escape tragedy--the loss of everyone she loved, including her mother, two brothers, aunts and uncles, and a lover twice her age, deliberately exiled to Siberia by her father. As she gradually learned about the extent of her father's brutality after his death, Svetlana could no longer keep quiet and in 1967 shocked the world by defecting to the United States--leaving her two children behind. But although she was never a part of her father's regime, she could not escape his legacy. Her life in America was fractured; she moved frequently, married disastrously, shunned other Russian exiles, and ultimately died in poverty in Spring Green, Wisconsin. With access to KGB, CIA, and Soviet government archives, as well as the close cooperation of Svetlana's daughter, Rosemary Sullivan pieces together Svetlana's incredible life in a masterful account of unprecedented intimacy. Epic in scope, it's a revolutionary biography of a woman doomed to be a political prisoner of her father's name. Sullivan explores a complicated character in her broader context without ever losing sight of her powerfully human story, in the process opening a closed, brutal world that continues to fascinate us. Illustrated with photographs"--Provided by publisher.
Subjects: Allilueva, Svetlana, 1926-2011.; Stalin, Joseph, 1879-1953; Stalin, Joseph, 1879-1953; Children of heads of state; Defectors; Immigrants;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Save Our Souls : The True Story of a Castaway Family, Treachery, and Murder. by Pearl, Matthew.;
Library Bound Incorporated
Subjects: BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Aviation & Nautical; BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Survival; HISTORY / Maritime History & Piracy; HISTORY / United States / 19th Century; TRUE CRIME / Historical;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
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Daughters of the occupation : a novel / by Sanders, Shelly,1964-author.;
"Based on a true story, this is a powerful novel about a Jewish family who were victims of Nazi genocide in Latvia, one of the Baltic states. It is based on the little known, horrific Rumbula Massacre when 30,000 Jews were slaughtered in two days in 1941. In 1941, Miriam, the matriarch of the family, is the sole survivor of this horrendous massacre. She has had to make a 'Sophie's Choice' - and abandon her children to the care of a Gentile friend who hides them. She and her parents are rounded up and made to live in the Jewish Ghetto in Riga, the capital of Latvia. Miriam, along with thousands of other Jews, is forced marched to the execution pits. Incredibly, she manages to escape the carnage when night falls. Through a series of dramatic events, she finds sanctuary in the countryside - and manages to hide for three years to survive the war. Consumed by guilt, she is reunited finally with her daughter - but has lost her son. Thirty-five years later, living in Chicago with her family, Miriam's grand-daughter Sarah tries desperately to ferret out Miriam's family secret to find out what happened. Miriam does not want to revisit the past. But Sarah persists and eventually finds out enough to impel her to travel to Riga, then under Soviet control and at the height of the Cold War, to try to find her uncle, Miriam's lost son. But her search for the truth may threaten her freedom, when she comes face to face with the KGB. Told in alternating chapters between 1941 and 1976, this gripping novel delves into the trauma that survivors of genocide face down through the generations"--
Subjects: Domestic fiction.; Historical fiction.; Novels.; Jewish families; Rumbula Massacre, Rumbula, Latvia, 1941; World War, 1939-1945;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Family values : reset trust, boundaries, and connection with your child / by Sophy, Charles,author.; Raphael, Rebecca,author.;
A psychiatrist and former medical director helps parents rebuild their relationships with their children through four essential areas--trust, shared beliefs, family history and forgiveness--and shows how to overcome generational wounds and create safety and stability.
Subjects: Conflict management.; Parent and child.; Parenting.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The white hare / by Johnson, Jane,1960-author.;
Includes bibliographical references.In the far west of Cornwall lies a valley that cuts deeply through bluebell woods down to the sea at White Cove. The house above the beach has lain neglected since the war. It comes with a reputation and a strange atmosphere, which is why Magdalena and Mila manage to acquire it so cheaply in the fateful summer of 1954. Magda has grand plans for the place: to restore it to its former glory as the venue for glittering parties, where the rich and celebrated gathered for cocktails and for bracing walks along the coast. Her daughter Mila just wants to escape the scandal in her past and make a safe and happy home for her little girl, Janey, a solitary, precocious child blessed with a vivid imagination, much of which she pours into her plush toy, Rabbit. The White Valley comes with a long, eventful and often bloody history, laced with tall tales and local legends. Locals say that a white hare may be seen running through the woods there. Some say it is a phantasm, or superstitious nonsense; others say the hare is as real as you or me. It may be a sign of ill omen; or a blessing. Feeling fragile and broken-hearted, cast out of her old life, Mila is in great need of a new start and all the luck she can get.
Subjects: Domestic fiction.; Historical fiction.; Novels.; Dwellings; Families; Folklore; Secrecy;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The hunt for the Mad Wolf's daughter / by Magras, Diane.;
LSC
Subjects: Adventure fiction.; Historical fiction.; Heroes; Knights and knighthood; Families; Sex role; Middle Ages;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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