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Dogs and Monsters Stories [electronic resource] : by Haddon, Mark.aut; cloudLibrary;
From the "terrifyingly talented" (The Times, [London]) author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and The Porpoise, eight mesmerizingly imaginative, deeply-humane stories that use Greek myths and contemporary dystopian narratives to examine mortality, moral choices and the many variants of love For millenia Greek myths have fascinated people, who have seen in them lessons about fate and hubris and the contingency of existence. Mark Haddon digs into the heart of these ancient fables and imagines them anew. The dawn goddess Eos asks Zeus to give her lover Tithonus eternal life but forgets to ask for eternal youth. In "The Quiet Limit of the World" Haddon imagines Tithonus' life as he slowly ages over thousands of years, turning the cautionary tale of tempting the gods into a spellbinding meditation on witnessing death from the outside, and ultimately, how carnal love evolves into something richer and more poignant with time. In "The Mother’s Story," Haddon takes the myth of the minotaur in his labyrinth, in which the beast is the spawn of the monstrous lust of the king's wife Pasiphaë, and turns it into a wrenching parable of maternal love for a damaged child, and the more real monstrosities of patriarchy. In "D.O.G.Z.," the story of Actaeon, who was turned into a stag after glimpsing the naked goddess Diana and torn to pieces by his hunting dogs, becomes a visceral metaphor about the continuum of human and animal behavior. Other stories play with contemporary mythic tropes—genetic engineering, trying to escape the future, the viciousness of adolescent ostracism—to showcase how modern humans are subject to the same capriciousness that obsessed the Greeks. Haddon's tales cover a vast range, from the mythic to the domestic, from ancient Greece to the present day, from stories about love to stories about cruelty, from battlefields to bed and breakfasts, from dogs in space to doors between worlds, all of them bound together by a profound sympathy and an understanding of how human beings act and think and feel when pushed to the very edge. Throughout, Haddon's supple prose showcases his astonishing powers of observation, of both the physical world and the workings of the psyche. His vision is clear-eyed, but always resolutely empathetic.
Subjects: Electronic books.; Literary; Magical Realism; Historical;
© 2024., Doubleday Canada,
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The golden hour : a story of family and power in Hollywood / by Specktor, Matthew,author.;
An exploration of the struggles between art and business in modern Hollywood. Matthew Specktor grew up in the film industry: the son of CAA superagent Fred Specktor, his childhood was one where Beau Bridges came over for dinner, Martin Sheen's daughter was his close friend, and Marlon Brando left long messages on the family answering machine. He would eventually work in Hollywood himself, first as a studio executive and later as a screenwriter. Now, Specktor blends memoir, cultural criticism, and narrative history to tell the story of the modern motion picture industry-illuminating the conflict between art and business over the last seventy-five years in Hollywood. Interweaving his own story with that of his father, mother (a talented screenwriter whose career was cut short), and figures ranging from Jack Nicholson to CAA's Michael Ovitz, Specktor reveals how Hollywood became a laboratory for the eternal struggle between art, labor, and capital. Beginning with the rise of Music Corporation of America in the 1950s, The Golden Hour lays out a series of clashes between fathers and sons, talent agents and studio heads, artists, activists, unions, and corporations. With vivid prose and immersive scenes, Specktor shows how Hollywood grew from the epicenter of American cultural life to a full-fledged multinational concern--and what this shift has meant for the nation's place in the world. At once a book about the movie business and an intimate family drama, The Golden Hour is a sweeping portrait of the American Century.
Subjects: Biographies.; Autobiographies.; Personal narratives.; Specktor, Matthew; Executives; Motion picture industry; Screenwriters;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The island of lost girls : a novel / by Marwood, Alex,author.;
1985. For twelve-year-old Mercedes, La Kastellana is the place she calls home. It is an island untouched by the modern world, with deep-rooted traditions - though that is all about to change with the arrival of multimillionaire Matthew Meade and his spoiled young daughter, Tatiana. The Meades bring with them unimaginable wealth, but the price they will all pay is far darker than Mercedes and the islanders could ever have imagined. 2016. Robin is desperately searching for her 17-year-old daughter Gemma, who has been missing for over a year. Finding herself on La Kastellana, the island playground of the international jet set, Robin is out of her depth. Nobody wants to help and Robin fears she is running out of time to find her child. But someone has been watching, silently waiting for their moment to expose the dark truth and reveal to the world what really happens on the island of lost girls.
Subjects: Thrillers (Fiction); Psychological fiction.; Novels.; Billionaires; Girls; Islands; Millionaires; Missing persons; Missing persons; Mothers and daughters; Secrecy;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The other mother / by Goodman, Carol,author.;
"From the author of the internationally bestselling The Lake of Dead Languages comes a gripping novel about madness, motherhood, love, and trust. When Daphne Marist and her infant daughter, Chloe, pull up the gravel drive to the home of Daphne's new employer, it feels like they've entered a whole new world. Tucked in the Catskills, the stone mansion looks like something out of a fairy tale, its lush landscaping hiding the view of the mental asylum just beyond its border. Daphne secured the live-in position using an assumed name and fake credentials, telling no one that she's on the run from a controlling husband who has threatened to take her daughter away. Daphne's new life is a far cry from the one she had in Westchester where, just months before, she and her husband welcomed little Chloe. From the start, Daphne tries to be a good mother, but she's plagued by dark moods and intrusive thoughts that convince her she's capable of harming her own daughter. When Daphne is diagnosed with Post Partum Mood Disorder, her downward spiral feels unstoppable--until she meets Laurel Hobbes. Laurel, who also has a daughter named Chloe, is everything Daphne isn't: charismatic, sophisticated, fearless. They immediately form an intense friendship, revealing secrets to one another they thought they'd never share. Soon, they start to look alike, dress alike, and talk alike, their lives mirroring one another in strange and disturbing ways. But Daphne realizes only too late that being friends with Laurel will come at a very shocking price--one that will ultimately lead her to that towering mansion in the Catskills where terrifying, long-hidden truths will finally be revealed ... "--
Subjects: Thrillers (Fiction); Psychological fiction.; Motherhood; Mothers and daughters;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The Manor of Dreams [electronic resource] : by Li, Christina.aut; CloudLibrary;
“A true modern classic. The Manor of Dreams is beautiful, eerie, and woven with enough intrigue to hold all who enter captive. Christina Li remains unmatched in breathing characters to life—and the hauntings thereafter.” —Chloe Gong, New York Times bestselling author of Immortal Longings Mexican Gothic meets The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo in Christina Li’s haunting novel about the secrets that lie in wait in the crumbling mansion of a former Hollywood starlet, and the intertwined fates of the two Chinese American families fighting to inherit it. Vivian Yin is dead. The first Chinese actress to win an Oscar, the trailblazing ingénue rose to fame in the eighties, only to disappear from the spotlight at the height of her career to live out the rest of her life as a recluse. Now her remaining family members are gathered for the reading of her will, and her daughters expect to inherit their childhood home: Vivian’s grand, sprawling, Southern California garden estate. But due to a last-minute change to the will, the house is passed on to another family instead—one that has suddenly returned after decades of estrangement. In hopes of staking their claim, both families move into the mansion. As Vivian’s daughters race to piece together what happened in the last weeks of their mother’s life, disturbing visions and bizarre behaviors start to take hold of everyone in the house, forcing them to realize they are being haunted by something far more sinister and vengeful than their regrets. After so many years of silence, will the families finally confront the painful truth behind the house’s origins and the last, tragic summer they spent there—or will they cling to their secrets until it’s too late? Told in dual timelines, spanning three generations, and brimming with romance, betrayal, ambition, and sacrifice, The Manor of Dreams is a thrilling family gothic that examines the true cost of the American Dream—and what happens when the roots we set down in this country turn to rot.
Subjects: Electronic books.; Gothic; Asian American; Family Life;
© 2025., Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster,
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The sweetness of water / by Harris, Nathan,author.;
A profound debut about the unlikely bond between two freedmen who are brothers and the Georgia farmer whose alliance will alter their lives, and his, forever. In the waning days of the Civil War, brothers Prentiss and Landry--freed by the Emancipation Proclamation--seek refuge on the homestead of George Walker and his wife, Isabelle. The Walkers, wracked by the loss of their only son to the war, hire the brothers to work their farm, hoping through an unexpected friendship to stanch their grief. Prentiss and Landry, meanwhile, plan to save money for the journey north and a chance to reunite with their mother, who was sold away when they were boys. Parallel to their story runs a forbidden romance between two Confederate soldiers. The young men, recently returned from the war to the town of Old Ox, hold their trysts in the woods. But when their secret is discovered, the resulting chaos, including a murder, unleashes convulsive repercussions on the entire community. In the aftermath of so much turmoil, it is Isabelle who emerges as an unlikely leader, proffering a healing vision for the land and for the newly free citizens of Old Ox. With candor and sympathy, debut novelist Nathan Harris creates an unforgettable cast of characters, depicting Georgia in the violent crucible of Reconstruction. Equal parts beauty and terror, as gripping as it is moving, The Sweetness of Water is an epic whose grandeur locates humanity and love amid the most harrowing circumstances.
Subjects: Historical fiction.; Freedmen; Brothers; Farmers; Gay military personnel;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Darling girls [sound recording] / by Hepworth, Sally,author.; Clarke, Jessica,1978-narrator.; Macmillan Audio (Firm),publisher.;
Read by Jessica Clarke."Get ready for another twisty domestic thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of THE SOULMATE. From the outside, Alicia, Jessica and Norah might seem like ordinary women you'd meet on the street any day of the week. Sure, Jessica has a little OCD and Norah has some anger issues. And Alicia has low self-esteem that manifests itself in surprising ways. But these three have a bond that no one can fully understand. It's a bond that takes them back decades, to when they were girls, and they lived on a farm with a foster mother named Miss Fairchild. Miss Fairchild had rules. Miss Fairchild could be unpredictable. And Miss Fairchild was never, ever to be crossed. In a moment of desperation, the three broke away from Miss Fairchild, and they thought they were free. But the reach of someone with such power is long, and even though they never saw her again, she was always somewhere in the shadows of their minds. When bones are discovered buried under the farmhouse of their childhood, they are called in by the police to tell what they know. Against their will, they are brought back to the past, and to Miss Fairchild herself. DARLING GIRLS asks the questions: what are we capable of when in a desperate place? How much can we hide the demons inside us? And can the past ever truly be buried?"--
Subjects: Audiobooks.; Novels.; Thrillers (Fiction); Abusive mothers; Abusive parents; Adult child abuse victims; Family secrets; Foster children; Foster mothers; Foster parents; Girls; Murder; Murder; Secrecy; Sisters; Suspects (Criminal investigation);
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Invisible boy : a memoir of self-discovery / by Mooney, Harrison,author.;
Includes bibliographical references."A narrative that amplifies a voice rarely heard--that of the child at the centre of a transracial adoption--and a searing account of being raised by religious fundamentalists. Harrison Mooney was born to a West African mother and adopted as an infant by a white evangelical family. Growing up as a Black child, Harry's racial identity is mocked and derided, while at the same time he is made to participate in the fervour of his family's revivalist church. Confused and crushed by fundamentalist dogma and consistently abused for his colour, Harry must transition from child to young adult while navigating and surviving zealotry, paranoia and prejudice. After years of internalized anti-Blackness, Harry begins to redefine his terms and reconsider his history. His journey from white cult to Black consciousness culminates in a moving reunion with his biological mother, who waited twenty-five years for the chance to tell her son the truth: she wanted to keep him. This powerful memoir considers the controversial practice of transracial adoption from the perspective of families that are torn apart and children who are stripped of their culture, all in order to fill evangelical communities' demand for babies. Throughout this most timely tale of race, religion and displacement, Harrison Mooney's wry, evocative prose renders his deeply personal tale of identity accessible and light, giving us a Black coming-of-age narrative set in a world with little love for Black children."--
Subjects: Biographies.; Autobiographies.; Mooney, Harrison; Adoptees; Adoption; Black people; Black people;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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In Putin's footsteps : searching for the soul of an empire across Russia's eleven time zones / by Khrushcheva, Nina L.,1962-author.; Tayler, Jeffrey,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."In Putin's Footsteps is Nina Khrushcheva and Jeffrey Tayler's unique combination of travelogue, current affairs, and history, showing how Russia's dimensions have shaped its identity and culture through the decades. With exclusive insider status as Nikita Khrushchev's great grand-daughter, and an ex-pat living and reporting on Russia and the Soviet Union since 1983, Nina Khrushcheva and Jeffrey Tayler offer a poignant exploration of the largest country on earth through their recreation of Vladimir Putin's fabled New Year's Eve speech planned across all eleven time zones. After taking over from Yeltsin in 1999, and then being elected president in a landslide, Putin traveled to almost two dozen countries and a quarter of Russia's eighty-nine regions to connect with ordinary Russians. His travels inspired the idea of a rousing New Year's Eve address delivered every hour at midnight throughout Russia's eleven time zones. The idea was beautiful, but quickly abandoned as an impossible feat. He correctly intuited, however, that the success of his presidency would rest on how the country's outback citizens viewed their place on the world stage. Today more than ever, Putin is even more determined to present Russia as a formidable nation. We need to understand why Russia has for centuries been an adversary of the West. Its size, nuclear arsenal, arms industry, and scientific community (including cyber-experts), guarantees its influence"--
Subjects: Khrushcheva, Nina L., 1962-; Tayler, Jeffrey; Putin, Vladimir Vladimirovich, 1952-; Regionalism;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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What I Know About You [electronic resource] : by Chacour, Éric.aut; Strauss, Pablo.; cloudLibrary;
SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2024 ATWOOD GIBSON WRITERS' TRUST PRIZE  SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2024 GILLER PRIZE SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2024 DAYNE OGILVIE PRIZE FOR LGBTQ2S+ EMERGING WRITERS STARRED REVIEWS IN KIRKUS, BOOKLIST AND QUILL & QUIRE A heartbreaking tale of a family and an impossible love, torn apart by secrets and traditions in late-twentieth-century Cairo. As a boy in 1960s Cairo, Tarek knows that his entire life is written in advance. He’ll be a doctor like his father, marry, and have children. Under the watchful eyes of his mother and his sister, he starts to do just that – until Ali enters his life and turns it upside down. The two men, from very different worlds, embark on an unsayable relationship that threatens to tear apart Tarek’s family. Years later, as Tarek is living a solitary life in Montreal, someone starts writing about him and to him, piecing together a past he wants only to forget. But who is the writer of this tale? And will he figure it out in time? A bestseller in its original Quebec edition, and the recipient of several awards, including the Prix Femina des Lycéens, What I Know About You is poised to be an international sensation. "This novel is a searing love story that moves between Egypt and Montréal, that shifts between hearts, highlighting the sacrifices the characters feel they have to make for the ones they love. Romantic, surprising, mesmerizing, and so devastating, What I Know About You examines the terrible costs of family secrets and toxic shame." – Suzette Mayr, author of The Sleeping Car Porter
Subjects: Electronic books.; Cultural Heritage; Gay;
© 2024., Coach House Books,
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Results 941 to 950 of 2,445 | « previous |