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That Summer
By David French. 2000
It's Memorial Day, 1990, and Margaret Ryan has returned from Vermont to the Ontario cottage country where, thirty-two years before,…
she had vacationed with her disintegrating family at a lakeside resort. For herself and her sister Daisy, it was a time of awakening, a time of discovery. Both of the girls fall in love with two of the local boys. Daisy, on the lookout for action, cruising the dances at the resort, can't deal with what she initiates, and falls victim to her own confusion and naiveté. Not even the neighbour, the eccentric, bourbon-drinking, cigar-smoking Mrs. Crump, who knows all the fairy-tale spells to capture the heart of a lover, can save Daisy from drowning in her own misadventure. At the same time, Margaret, bookish and withdrawn, inhabiting a universe defined by poets and novelists, is seduced in spite of herself. As Margaret, the narrator, watches Maggie, her younger self, relive the innocence and beauty of that summer, the play moves inexorably back to the heartbreak of a headlong surrender to experience, both won and lost in a single day. Cinematic in its feel and pacing, recalling the 1950s genre of Dirty Dancing and My American Cousin, That Summer is a meditation on what endures of fleeting moments over time. Cast of 5 women and 2 men.The Night, and the Rain, and the River
By Sage Cohen, Scott Sparling, Joanna Rose, Liz Prato, Clare Carpenter. 2014
A current of longing runs through twenty-two short stories by Oregon writers. As the characters strive for connection, they make…
mistakes, reach out to the wrong people, and recalibrate their lives based on what they desire, whether or not it's attainable-or even a good idea. Editor Liz Prato has curated a powerful collection of smart, funny, sad, and exquisite stories about the losses that shape our lives.Some Prefer Nettles
By Junichiro Tanizaki. 1955
The conflict between traditional and modern Japanese culture is at the heart of this compelling Japanese novel.Kaname is a smug,…
modern man living in a modern marriage. He gamely allows his wife to become the lover of another man, an act that does not cure the profound sadness at the heart of their relationship. So Kaname gradually retreats into the protection of traditional rituals, attitudes and tastes, eventually making love to Ohisa, his father-in-law's old-fashioned mistress, as he abandons the modern world entirely. The novel's other characters, including Kaname's wife, his lover, his father-in-law, and even the cities in which they live, all symbolize the modern and ancient ways of life in Japan. Tanizaki's characteristic irony, eroticism, and psychological undertones make Some Prefer Nettles an exceptional and compelling read.Bordertown Café
By Kelly Rebar. 2003
Seventeen-year-old Jimmy faces the archetypal Canadian dilemma: stay home in Canada, with all its obvious flaws, or go south (young…
man) to the Land of Opportunity. Should he stay with his mother at the Bordertown Café or haul off with his trucker father? Family history is the border's story writ large. Cast of 2 women and 2 men.The Child
By Tamsin Black, Pascale Kramer. 2013
"Intense and bravely uncompromising. An adult study of pain, thwarted affection, and guarded privacies in a world at the edge…
of violent public breakdown. An impressive achievement." -DAVID MALOUF, author of Ransom: A Novel and The Happy Life: The Search for Contentment in the Modern WorldSimone and Claude live in a house with a lush garden, surrounded by a hedge that barely protects them from the growing violence and unrest in their low-income neighborhood. Simone mourns the loss of youth and possibility as Claude, a gym teacher who has been diagnosed with cancer, edges toward death. This is an unflinching portrait of a couple ravaged by illness and locked into mutual isolation-that is, until the arrival of a young boy brings hope and upsets their delicate danse macabre to devastating effect.Pascale Kramer dissects romantic love's psychic carnage while unsentimentally revealing the unique beauty born of an adult's love for a child. As does Marguerite Duras, she wields spare language like a club and plumbs emotional depths rarely reached outside of poetry. A brilliant collision of hope and despair, The Child is a tour de force.Pascale Kramer is the author of The Living and the recipient of numerous awards, including the Prix Shiller (Switzerland) and the Prix du Roman de la Société des gens de lettres (France). The Child is her second novel to be translated into English. Born in Geneva, she lives in Paris, France.Rodney's Wife
By Richard Nelson. 2006
"A full emotional geography of a family . . . Seemingly light conversation scrapes the skins of the characters in…
this sharply etched study of dislocation, loneliness and sexual betrayal."--Ben Brantley, The New York Times"Nelson is a master of the quiet detail, of the oblique rhythm that transforms emotional diffidence into fascinating character."--Linda Winer, Newsday"The early scenes proceed with the closely observed simplicity of Chekhov, whereas the later more wrenching moments evoke the eloquent bitterness of Albee."--David Cote, TimeOut New YorkA new work by leading American playwright Richard Nelson, who for more than 25 years has written prolifically, and with fine detail, on the perplexities of everyday living. In Rodney's Wife, a fading American actor in Rome for the filming of a 1960s spaghetti Western gathers with family and friends at a rented villa. Over the course of one booze-soaked summer night, jealousies and secrets are revealed that crumble the foundations of their relationships. Inspired by Euripides, the play is a tragedy of exiles who continue to need each other, even as they push away.Richard Nelson won Britain's Olivier Award for Best Play for Goodnight Children Everywhere, and the Tony Award for Best Book for his musical James Joyce's The Dead. His plays have been widely produced in the U.S. and Great Britain. He is an Honorary Associate Artist of the Royal Shakespeare Company, and Chair of the Playwriting Department at the Yale School of Drama.Junk: A Play
By Ayad Akhtar. 2017
*Now on Broadway at Lincoln Center starring Steven Pasquale* From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Disgraced, a fast-paced economic thriller…
that exposes the financial deal making behind the mergers and acquisitions boom of the 1980s.Set in 1985, Junk tells the story of Robert Merkin, resident genius of the upstart investment firm Sacker Lowell. Hailed as "America's Alchemist," his proclamation that "debt is an asset" has propelled him to a dizzying level of success. By orchestrating the takeover of a massive steel manufacturer, Merkin intends to do the "deal of the decade," the one that will rewrite all the rules. Working on his broadest canvas to date, Pulitzer Prize winner Ayad Akhtar chronicles the lives of men and women engaged in financial civil war: insatiable investors, threatened workers, killer lawyers, skeptical journalists, and ambitious federal prosecutors. Although it's set 40 years in the past, this is a play about the world we live in right now; a world in which money became the only thing of real value.The Meagre Tarmac
By Clark Blaise. 2011
Shortlisted for the 2011 Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize2011 Scotiabank Giller Prize NomineeLonglisted for the Frank O'Connor Short Story Award"Clark…
Blaise's brilliantly imagined The Meagre Tarmac is a novel in short-story form, warmly intimate, startling in its quick jumps and revelations, a portrait of individuals for whom we come to care deeply - and a portrait of an Indo-American way of life that shimmers before our eyes with the rich and compelling detail for which Clark Blaise's fiction is renowned .... The Meagre Tarmac is a remarkable accomplishment."-Joyce Carol OatesAn Indo-American Canterbury Tales, The Meagre Tarmac explores the places where tradition, innovation, culture, and power meet with explosive force. It begins with Vivek Waldekar, who refused to attend his father's funeral because he was "trying to please an American girl who thought starting a fire in his father's body too gross a sacrilege to contemplate." It ends with Pranab Dasgupta, the Rockefeller of India, who can only describe himself as "'a very lonely, very rich, very guilty immigrant.'" And in between is a cluster of remarkable characters, incensed by the conflict between personal desire and responsibility, who exhaust themselves in pursuit of the miraculous. Fearless and ferociously intelligent, these stories are vintage Blaise, whose outsider's view of the changing heart of America has always been ruthless and moving and tender.The Country House
By Donald Margulies. 2015
"Margulies is literate and intellectually stimulating. His ideas and language hold our attention and earn our respect."--New York"Donald Margulies has…
an unerring sense of language and the ability to penetrate deeply into the darkness of tangled human emotions."--VarietyGathering in their Berkshire home, a family of actors wrestles with fame, art, and (as always) each other. Brought back together for a melancholy purpose, the solemnity is quickly undercut by restless egos and inflamed temperaments. When the events of the weekend go off-script, secrets are spilled and bonds are broken. Inspired by--and often directly referencing -Chekhov's pastoral comedies, this witty and compelling new comedy unfolds in a fragile old home brimming with memories, new love, and discarded dreams.A funny and poignant comedy about a family of actors, from Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Donald Margulies.Donald Margulies has won a Lucille Lortel Award, an American Theatre Critics Award, two Los Angeles Drama Critics Awards, two Obie Awards, two Dramatists Guild Hull-Warriner Awards, one Tony Award nomination, six Drama Desk Award nominations, two Pulitzer Prize nominations, and one Pulitzer Prize. His works have been performed on and off Broadway, and at major theaters across the United States, as well as a host of international cities.The Doctor's Wife
By Luis Jaramillo. 2012
In stylish, intimate, and devastating short flashes, The Doctor's Wifetells the story of three generations of a family in the…
Pacific Northwest.Winner of the Dzanc Short Story Contest, Luis Jaramillo's The Doctor's Wife pushes the limits of what a short story collection can be. In stylish, intimate, and devastating short flashes, Jaramillo chronicles the small domestic moments, tragic losses, and cultural upheavals faced by three generations of a family in the Pacific Northwest, creating a moving portrait of an American family and the remarkable woman at its center.August: Osage County
By Tracy Letts. 2008
Winner of the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Drama"A tremendous achievement in American playwriting: a tragicomic populist portrait of a tough…
land and a tougher people."--Time Out New York"Tracy Letts' August: Osage County is what O'Neill would be writing in 2007. Letts has recaptured the nobility of American drama's mid-century heyday while still creating something entirely original."--New York magazineOne of the most bracing and critically acclaimed plays in recent Broadway history, August: Osage County is a portrait of the dysfunctional American family at its finest--and absolute worst. When the patriarch of the Weston clan disappears one hot summer night, the family reunites at the Oklahoma homestead, where long-held secrets are unflinchingly and uproariously revealed. The three-act, three-and-a-half-hour mammoth of a play combines epic tragedy with black comedy, dramatizing three generations of unfulfilled dreams and leaving not one of its thirteen characters unscathed. After its sold-out Chicago premiere, the play has electrified audiences in New York since its opening in November 2007.Tracy Letts is the author of Killer Joe, Bug, and Man from Nebraska, which was a finalist for the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. His plays have been performed throughout the country and internationally. A performer as well as a playwright, Letts is a member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, where August: Osage County premiered.Flowers in the Attic: A Stage Play (Dollanganger)
By V. C. Andrews. 2014
The only official stage play of V.C. Andrews's enduring classic of forbidden love--adapted by Andrew Neiderman (The Devil's Advocate). Experience…
in this new format the original story that captured the world's imagination and earned V.C. Andrews a fiercely devoted readership.At the top of the stairs there are four secrets hidden. Blond, beautiful, innocent, and struggling to stay alive . . . They were a perfect family, golden and carefree--until a heartbreaking tragedy shattered their happiness. Now, for the sake of an inheritance that will ensure their future, the children must be hidden away out of sight, as if they never existed. Kept on the top floor of their grandmotherds vast mansion, their loving mother assures them it will be just for a little while. But as brutal days swell into agonizing months and years, Cathy, Chris, and twins Cory and Carrie, realize their survival is at the mercy of their cruel and superstitious grandmother . . . and this cramped and helpless world may be the only one they ever know.Book One of the Dollanganger series, the sequels include Petals in the Wind, If There Be Thorns, Seeds of Yesterday, and Garden of Shadows. Then experience the attic from Christopher's point of view in Christopher's Diary: Secrets of Foxworth and Christopher's Diary: Echoes of Dollanganger.The Summer It Begins: A 2-in-1 Collection
By Susan Wiggs, Sheila Roberts. 2019
THE GOODBYE QUILT by Susan WiggsLinda Davis is driving her daughter, Molly, across the country to start college. As her…
only child readies for this big change, Linda is torn between excitement for Molly and heartache for herself. Who will she be when she is no longer needed in her role as mom? On the trip, Linda pieces together the scraps that make up Molly’s young life—the hem of a christening gown, a snippet from a costume. But in stitching the quilt, Linda realizes that making new memories is as important as cherishing those from the past.A WEDDING ON PRIMROSE STREET by Sheila RobertsAs a wedding planner, Anne Richardson has seen mothers of the bride turn into Momzillas, and she’s determined not to do that when it’s her daughter’s turn to get married. But once Laney gets engaged, all bets are off. Anne becomes obsessed with giving Laney the perfect wedding she herself never had. And that wedding needs to be held in Icicle Falls at Primrose Haus, the perfect setting, with owner Roberta Gilbert at the helm. Linda is the best at event planning but no expert on mother-daughter relationships, especially her own. Can these mothers and daughters put aside their differences to pull off the perfect wedding?Bogotá 39: New Voices from Latin America
By Various. 2016
&‘This new generation of Latin American writers has exchanged history for memory, dictators for narcos and political engagement for gender…
and class consciousness.&’ El País Ten years on from the first Bogotá 39 selection, which brought writers such as Juan Gabriel Vásquez, Alejandro Zambra and Junot Díaz to fame, comes this story collection showcasing thirty-nine exceptional new talents. Chosen by some of the biggest names in Latin American literature, together with publishers, writers and literary critics and a panel of expert judges, this exciting anthology paves the way for a new generation of household names. These stories have been brought into English by some of the finest translators around, including familiar names such as Daniel Hahn, Christina MacSweeney and Megan McDowell, as well as many new and exciting translators who are just launching their careers. With authors from fifteen different countries, this diverse collection of stories transports readers to a host of new worlds, and represents the very best writing coming out of Latin America today.Us Against Alzheimer's: Stories of Family, Love, and Faith
By Marita Golden. 2019
This groundbreaking multicultural anthology shares moving personal stories about the impacts of Alzheimer’s and dementia. An estimated 5.7 million Americans…
are afflicted by Alzheimer’s disease, including 10 percent of those over sixty-five, and it is the sixth leading cause of death. But its effects are more pervasive: for the nearly 6 million sufferers, there are more than 16 million family caregivers and many more family members. Alzheimer’s wreaks havoc not only on brain cells; it is a disease of the spirit and heart for those who suffer from it but also for their families. This groundbreaking anthology presents forty narratives, both nonfiction and fiction, that together capture the impact and complexity of Alzheimer’s and other dementias on patients as well as their caregivers and family. Deeply personal, recounting the wrenching course of a disease that kills a loved one twice—first they forget who they are, and then the body succumbs—these stories also show how witnessing the disease and caring for someone with it can be powerfully transformative, calling forth amazing strength and grace. The contributors, who have all generously donated their work, include Edwidge Danticat, Julie Otsuka, Elizabeth Nunez, Meryl Comer, Greg O’Brien, Dr. Daniel Potts, Sallie Tisdale, and Nihal Satyadev. Reflecting the diversity and global nature of the dementia crisis, this anthology is published in collaboration with UsAgainstAlzheimer’s.Fu Ping: A Novel (Weatherhead Books on Asia)
By Anyi Wang. 2019
Nainai has lived in Shanghai for many years, and the time has come to find a wife for her adopted…
grandson. But when the bride she has chosen arrives from the countryside, it soon becomes clear that the orphaned girl has ideas of her own. Her name is Fu Ping, and the more she explores the residential lanes and courtyards behind Shanghai’s busy shopping streets, the less she wants to return to the country as a dutiful wife. As Fu Ping wavers over her future, she learns the city through the stories of the nannies, handymen, and garbage collectors whose labor is bringing life and bustle back to postwar Shanghai.Fu Ping is a keenly observed portrait of the lives of lower-class women in Shanghai in the early years of the People’s Republic of China. Wang Anyi, one of contemporary China’s most acclaimed authors, explores the daily lives of migrants from rural areas and other people on the margins of urban life. In shifting perspectives rich in detail and psychological insight, she sketches their aspirations, their fears, and the subtle ties that bind them together. In Howard Goldblatt’s masterful translation, Fu Ping reveals Wang Anyi’s precise renderings of history, class, and the human heart.A Dozen Truths: 12 Works of Fiction
By Earl Javorsky, Steven Manchester, Mary Marcus, Marcia Gloster, Lynn Voedisch, Roger Bagg, Christopher Slater, Eric Andersson, Carmen Siegers, Craig Ham, Kj Steele, Robert Herzog. 2017
This fiction anthology presents twelve short stories that illuminate universal truths about the human condition. Legendary publisher and editor…
Lou Aronica and author Aaron Brown have compiled a unique fiction anthology that combines the work of acclaimed novelists like Mary Marcus and Earl Javorsky with award-winning new voices. The eternal complexities of sibling relationships are explored in Steven Manchester&’s &“Lost.&” Marcia Gloster&’s &“Losing Will&” illuminates the heady mixture of hope and betrayal that so often underlies love. The reality behind a con man's illusions emerge in Craig Ham&’s &“Tonic and Spirits.&” These and the nine other tales collected in this volume demonstrate that the greatest truths are revealed in fiction. Contributors include Eric Andersson, Steven Manchester, Carmen Siegers, Marcia Gloster, Craig Ham, Lynn Voedisch, Mary Marcus, Christopher Slater, KJ Steele, Earl Javorsky, Roger Bagg, Robert Herzog.Novel 11, Book 18
By Dag Solstad. 2001
A brilliant novel by the Norwegian master Dag Solstad Bjorn Hansen, a respectable town treasurer, has just turned fifty and…
is horrified by the thought that chance has ruled his life. Eighteen years ago he left his wife and their two-year-old son for his mistress, who persuaded him to start afresh in a small, provincial town and to devote himself to an amateur theater.In time that relationship also faded, and after four years of living alone Bjorn contemplates an extraordinary course of action that will change his life forever. He finds a fellow conspirator in Dr. Schiotz, who has a secret of his own and offers to help Bjorn carry his preposterous plan through to its logical conclusion. But the sudden reappearance of his son both fills Bjorn with new hope and complicates matters. The desire to gamble with his comfortable existence proves irresistible, however, taking him to Vilnius in Lithuania, where very soon he cannot tell whether he’s tangled up in a game or reality. Dag Solstad won the Norwegian Critics Prize for Literature for Novel 11, Book 18, a concentrated uncompromising existential novel that puts on full display the author’s remarkable gifts and wit.True Love and Other Disasters
By Rachel Gibson. 2009
True Love and Other Disasters is a deliciously romantic rom-com from New York Times bestseller Rachel Gibson - perfect for…
fans of Jill Shalvis, Jo Watson and Christina Lauren.Heartache, hockey and heavenly bodies - get ready for another red-hot read from Rachel Gibson When money-bags Virgil Duffy leaves his widow a stash of cash and his beloved ice-hockey team in his will, team captain Ty 'Saint' Savage is furious. The Chinooks are set to win the biggest prize of the season, and a beautiful young ex-stripper taking over the reins is the last thing he needs. Even if Faith, former playmate of the year, is the sexiest woman he's ever laid on. Soon tensions are mounting between the Saint and the Sinner from Vegas - but maybe Ty's forgotten the first rule of play: never underestimate your opponent...M for Mammy
By Eleanor O’Reilly. 2019
THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER'Heart-breaking, heart-warming, and hilarious: a glorious debut' Ruth Hogan'Strong and taut' Anne Griffin 'Fresh, thoughtful and original' Irish…
Times'I really enjoyed this, Eleanor is a lovely writer' Sheila O'FlanaganMeet the Augustts: Ma and Da, Jenny and Jacob, and their no-nonsense Granny Mae-Anne. Complicated as only families can be, they are bound together by their love for one another, and for a piping hot bag of chips. When misfortune strikes and Granny moves in, they learn to understand each other anew through new stories and old memories. Sometimes, in a family as complicated as the Augustts, it's not always what is spoken that makes the most sense.M for Mammy is an uplifting story about the unique comfort of home, the language we can find when the words aren't there, and the power of a family to heal itself.'A heartfelt debut about love, understanding and the complicated ties of family' Prima'Lovely, sharp, compassionate, well-observed writing' Felicity Hayes-McCoy'Channelling the warm heart and good cheer of Marian Keyes . . . very amusing' Irish Independent'Exuberant. A brilliant, bubbly new voice' Irish Examiner'A gloriously funny, bittersweet debut' Ireland of the Welcomes