I imagine the warm, butter-yellow glow of your house turn to a hot, crackling red.” Loss, envy and retribution play out in the scene. The narrator’s longing - and something more dangerous - is palpable, especially when the wife lights candles nestled among the fir boughs on the mantel: “I let myself imagine, for a moment, watching those boughs go up in flames while you all sleep tonight. Through the picture window, she tracks the husband’s dance moves, the wife’s loving touch, the teenaged daughter and the young son in matching plaids. In the opening pages of her debut novel, “ The Push,” Ashley Audrain indelibly implants her narrator in the reader’s mind as the woman sits in her car, watching a happy family at Christmastime. If you buy books linked on our site, The Times may earn a commission from, whose fees support independent bookstores.
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Maisie, immersing herself in Gibraltar life by staying in a rooming house rather than the posh tourist-oriented hotel, finds Babayoff's second camera near the crime scene and begins her own investigation. The dead man is identified as Sebastian Babayoff, a photographer and member of the local Sephardic Jewish community. As often happens, Maisie stumbles-this time literally-upon a corpse and isn't satisfied with the seemingly cursory police investigation. With nearby Spain on the brink of civil war, tensions run high, and support-both financial and in the form of ammunition-funnels steadily across the increasingly porous border. Though she initially feels strong enough, both mentally and physically, to face London again in the spring of 1937, Maisie has a change of heart midvoyage and decamps in Gibraltar, a military garrison and an international outpost for those on both ends of the political spectrum. Still reeling from personal tragedies, intrepid nurse-turned–private investigator Maisie Dobbs becomes embroiled in a murder case in Gibraltar on the eve of the Spanish Civil War.įollowing the death of her husband, Viscount James Compton, in a Canadian aviation accident and her ensuing miscarriage, Maisie traveled to India rather than return home to England, despite pleas from family and friends. And honestly, this whole life story thing is getting tiring. – On a similar note, there was hardly a plot because the entire book was Lestat’s victim telling his life story and then Memnoch telling his life story. You could take the vampires out, replace Lestat with any random person, and this would be the same. I mean, maybe something from this book will come up in a future book or something, but this was about Memnoch and the creation of the earth and the evolution of Man. Those are the characters I’ve come to know and love and be invested in. – I read these books because I like the vampires. “I hear Armand and I see him and I ignore him,” said. “Armand envies you and spies on you far more than you might think.” And I liked how this book combined Christianity and evolution. – I admittedly do not know much about the details of the history and mythology of Christianity, so I don’t know how much this book actually aligns with that, but Anne Rice’s take on things here with Heaven, Hell, Creationism, evolution, angels, and Satan was interesting in its own way. This wasn’t my favorite in the series, so I’ll keep this brief. In this 4th installment to this fun series Shadow Bend welcomes former resident, now the Cupcake Queen, Kizzy Cutler, and a weekend of fun as a contest is held to find her newest cupcake creation. Includes a sneak peak of the next Scumble River Mystery!ĭenise reeled me right in, she has been posted cupcakes on her Facebook page for weeks and had me drooling to read this book. With a list of not-so-sweet suspects, Dev’s in a race against the timer to solve the murder before someone else gets iced… Is the secret from her past so dark someone still wants to kill her for it? However after Kizzy escapes several near misses, Dev is convinced that someone in Shadow Bend has it in for the Cupcake Queen. While the medical examiner attempts to discover what killed Fallon, Kizzy declares that the show must go on. But before the first yummy cupcake is even baked, Kizzy's assistant Fallon dies from a mysterious ailment. For now, she’s excited to kick off her new line of cupcakes with a competition, which Dev has agreed to host in her shop. Kizzy Cutler finds it so delicious to be back in her hometown of Shadow Bend, Missouri, that she seems to have forgotten why she fled twenty years ago. When Devereaux “Dev” Sinclair hosts a cupcake contest at her five-and-dime store, she discovers that someone is just dying to win. McGahern ( The Dark The Pornographer ) has crafted a wise and tender novel whose brooding hero seems emblematic of an Ireland that drives away its sons and daughters. Moran also claims a renegade son in London who is ``turning himself into a sort of Englishman,'' and another son driven away by Moran's threats of beatings. Moran's second wife, Rose, much younger than he, displays saintly patience in her attempts to heal this splintering family. Yearning for approval but fearing his flare-ups, they periodically beat a path back to the farmhouse from London and Dublin, then take flight again, both proud and dependent. He kept a huge cupboard of drinks in the station house and loved to serve large measures to visiting relatives-especially those he disliked-about which there was a definite element of spreading bait for garden snails. Gruff, blustering Michael Moran, former guerrilla hero in the Irish War of Independence, is a man ``in permanent opposition.'' Now a farmer, he vents his compulsion to dominate, his cold fury and sense of betrayal on his three teenage daughters. McGaherns story centers on the life of Michael Moran, a widower in the Irish midlands in the mid20th century. John McGahern, Amongst Women 4 likes Like His abhorrence and fear of alcohol did not extend to his power as host. A lyric lament for Ireland, McGahern's lovingly observed family drama is dominated by an almost pathetic paterfamilias. To my mind, a really good historical, biographical novel deserves to take its place with serious nonfiction. Loyalties, to church, to queen, to country, are tested, and - in the wake of the king's volatile passions - can be an unpredictable matter of life and death.įirst published in 1963 and adored by readers for generations, Lofts' lush and moving portrayal of the ambitious and doomed Anne Boleyn will continue to reign as a classic retelling of this epic chapter of history vividly brought to life. The consequences of Anne's rise to power and eventual demise are felt well beyond the inner circle of the court. Anne's ascent to the throne elevates her from lady-in-waiting to the highest position a woman could attain, but her life spirals out of control when Henry is driven to desperate acts of betrayal and violence. Against common sense and the urgings of his most trusted advisors, Henry defied all, blindly following his passion for Anne, using the power he held over the bodies and souls of all who reside in his realm and beyond. "All eyes and hair," a courtier had said disparagingly of her, but when King Henry VIII fell for young Anne, nothing could keep him from what he desired. The king first noticed Anne Boleyn as a heartbroken sixteen-year-old, sullen and beautiful after a thwarted romance with the son of the Earl of Northumberland. Acclaimed and beloved historical novelist Norah Lofts brings to life the danger, romance, and intrigue of the Tudor court that forever altered the course of English history. The heroes are soon caught in a whirlwind of chase scenes, underground laboratories, secret cults, and more as they race to foil the creature. They soon find out that it can shape shift into other things, including women that it can control minds and use hypnosis and that it wonât stop at anything to get the revenge it seeks. The creature, in the guise of an Egyptian man, appears in London seeking revenge against a popular member of Parliament. The story is told through the sequential points of view of a group of middle-class Victorians who find themselves enmeshed in the creatureâs plot. Like Dracula, the novel is steeped in the evil mysteries of an ancient horror: in this case, a mysterious ancient Egyptian creature bent on revenge. The Beetle was published in 1897, the same year as Draculaâand outsold it six to one that year. Standard Ebooksġ14,418 words (6 hours 57 minutes) with a reading ease of 81.43 (easy) The Beetle, by Richard Marsh - Free ebook download - Standard Ebooks: Free and liberated ebooks, carefully produced for the true book lover. Enough that he can finally afford to buy the pleasure palace of his dreams-and where better than in the capital’s sinful heart, Covent Garden? The only fly in his ointment is the perfect building he’s just bought to put it in also happens to be right next door to the orphanage run by his cousin’s wife’s youngest sister. He’s spent five years making a success out of his gaming hell in the sleazy docks of the East End. But when fate took all that away and dragged him across the sea to London, it made sense to set up shop here. He grew up and learned the trade at his grandfather’s knee in a tavern on the far away banks of the Hudson in New York. Miss Venus Merriwell has been waiting for her prince to come since the tender. An orphanage that desperately needs to expand into the empty building next door.įor Galahad Sinclair, gambling isn’t just his life, it’s in his blood. Never Wager with a Wallflower A Novel The Merriwell Sisters (Volume 3) Author: Virginia Heath About This Book The third and final delightful installment in the Merriwell Sister's Regency rom-com series. Unfortunately, after a slew of romantic disappointments, there is still no sign of that prince at twenty-three and the only one true love of her life is the bursting-at-the-seams orphanage in Covent Garden that she works tirelessly for. She wants a man who is selfless, academic like her, and free from all the wretched vices her gambler father enjoyed far too much before he left the Merriwell sisters practically destitute. Miss Venus Merriwell has been waiting for her prince to come since the tender age of fourteen. Miss Venus Merriwell has been waiting for her prince to come since the tender age of fourteen. The third and final delightful installment in the Merriwell Sister's Regency rom-com series. The truth is this book was originally written in alternating chapters, first Charlotte then Emily. If my story is about two sisters, what’s up with that title? Always Emily? I’ve had lots of people ask me (especially my husband who gets this book mixed up with my last one about Emily Dickinson). The sisters get involved in a mystery on their very own moors – a mystery that threatens their peace of mind, their brother and father and even their lives. Charlotte Bronte (who would write Jane Eyre) is 18 and her sister Emily (of Wuthering Heights fame) is 17. It’s the next novel in my series of literary mysteries – this one is about the Bronte sisters. This week my new book Always Emily comes out. What’s Up with That Title? by Michaela MacColl The girls have a lot of knots to untangle-before someone else gets killed. First, they have to figure out if there is a connection between a string of local burglaries, rumors that a neighbor’s death may not have been accidental, and the appearance on the moors of a mysterious and handsome stranger. This shared passion will lead them to be two of the first published female novelists and authors of several enduring works of classic literature. But they do have one thing in common: a love of writing. Charlotte is practical and cautious Emily is headstrong and imaginative. Emily and Charlotte Brontë are about as opposite as two sisters can be. of violence and chases 50% Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives 30% Feelings, relationships, character bio/development 10% How society works & physical descript. Four gripping dramatisations starring Maurice Denham as Maigret and Michael Gough as his creator Georges Simenon. Click on a plot link to find similar books! Plot & Themes Composition of Book descript. |