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Sugar, a young prostitute arrives in Bigelow, Arkansas, to start her life over, far from her haunting past. She moves in next door to Pearl, who is still grieving for her daughter, murdered 15 years before. Over sweet-potato pie, an unlikely friendship begins.
Even people who don't know football know who 'Gazza' is. The man born as Paul John Gascoigne to a working-class family in the North-East has found headlines on the front pages almost as often as the back pages throughout his life, thanks in great part to his more than colourful lifestyle. But it is for his time as a footballer of the very highest order that Gazza's name will forever live in sporting history. During a career that spanned more than ten different clubs, among them Newcastle United, Tottenham, Lazio and Rangers, and which included countless unforgettable England performances, Gazza established himself as one of the sport's all-time greats: a master of skill, flair and invention like none that his country had produced before nor perhaps ever will again. Told in Gazza's own unique voice and fully illustrated with hundreds of photos from the moments that he feels defined his career,Glorious: My World, Football and Meis a celebration, offering an unrivalled insight into the mind of this greatest of footballers.
This powerful sequel to Bernice L. McFadden’s bestselling debut Sugar follows a young African-American woman back to her Arkansas hometown, where she must confront difficult truths about her parentage and a curse in her family’s past. When Sugar Lacey returns to Short Junction to find the aunts who raised her, she hopes they will be able to tell her the truth about her parents. What she discovers is not just a terrible story of unrequited love, but also a tale of black magic that has cursed generations of Lacey women. Armed with newfound knowledge and strength in the face of adversity, Sugar must push through the pain to find her absent father and discover the truth about the curse that has befallen her family line in hopes of breaking it before she passes it on to her own child. A powerfully realized novel that brings back the unforgettable characters from Sugar, This Bitter Earth is a testament to the ultimate triumph of the human spirit.
“Nowhere Is a Place is a powerful portrait of family secrets, damage, and healing, probing deep below the surface of an African American family’s history to mend present day relationships . . . Ms. McFadden has a beautiful writing style that is simultaneously lyrical and transparent. In parts of the narrative, time seems to stand still as she describes an event in riveting minute to minute detail. Other times she employs a kind of poetic shorthand that condenses long periods of time, years even, into a few sentences.” --New York Journal of Books "An engrossing multigenerational saga . . . With her deep engagement in the material and her brisk but lyrical prose, McFadden creates a poign...
"McFadden's reissued second novel takes an unflinching look at the corrosive nature of alcoholism . . . This is not a story of easy redemption . . . McFadden writes candidly about the treacherous hold of addiction." --Publishers Weekly "Riveting. . . . So nicely avoids the sentimentality that swirls around the subject matter. I am as impressed by its structural strength as by the searing and expertly imagined scenes." --Toni Morrison, author of Beloved "The sharpness of the prose and power of the story make it hard to stop reading even the most brutal scenes . . . The story feels real perhaps because it's familiar . . . Or maybe, as Frey points out, the story is too vivid to be read purely a...
A reissue of a hidden gem from the award-winning author of Sugar, this novel tells the story of a woman who uncovers the fragility of life and the enduring strength of family love. Camilla’s childhood was immersed in love and chaos, and steeped in perfection. As an adult she hasn’t looked back, refusing to acknowledge the people and places that scarred her so many years ago. But a cancer diagnosis forces Camilla to turn to the past, and all its pain, to save her daughter. As Camilla discovers the bittersweet limitations of motherhood and reconciliation, she also awakens an inspiring message about the mortality issues we all must face. Unfolding in a progression of powerful chapters, Camilla’s Roses portrays a life haunted by the past, and the choices we all make to fight for a future.
An ex-convict returns to his Chicago community a changed man—but maybe not for the better—in this “vivid, suspenseful, funny, and compassionate novel” (Booklist). One of Booklist’s Top 10 First Novels of the Year One of Roxane Gay’s Top 10 Books of the Year After fourteen years in prison, Gerald “Stew Pot” Reeves, age thirty-one, returns home to live with his mom in Parkland, a black middle-class neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side. The residents are in a tailspin, dreading the arrival of the man they remember as a frightening delinquent. The anxiety only grows when Stew Pot announces that he experienced a religious awakening in prison. Most folks are skeptical, with one n...
A timely collection of deeply personal, uplifting, and powerful essays that celebrate the redemptive strength of Black joy--in the vein of Black Girls Rock, You Are Your Best Thing, and I Really Needed This Today. When Tracey M. Lewis-Giggetts wrote an essay on Black joy for The Washington Post, she had no idea just how deeply it would resonate. But the outpouring of responses affirmed her own lived experience: that Black joy is not just a weapon of resistance, it is a tool for resilience. With this book, Tracey aims to gift her community with a collection of lyrical essays about the way joy has evolved, even in the midst of trauma, in her own life. Detailing these instances of joy in the context of Black culture allows us to recognize the power of Black joy as a resource to draw upon, and to challenge the one-note narratives of Black life as solely comprised of trauma and hardship. Black Joy is a collection that will recharge you. It is the kind of book that is passed between friends and offers both challenge and comfort at the end of a long day. It is an answer for anyone who needs confirmation that they are not alone and a brave place to quiet their mind and heal their soul.
'Drowning, stabbing, shooting, beheading: the fun is endless' The Times, Best Crime Fiction for November 'Murder, mystery and mayhem wreak havoc in these 15 twisty tales which transform victim into victor' Daily Mail 'It would make an ideal present for a wicked aunt, but bear in mind giving it might be seen as incitement to murder' Sunday Times In the old days, all werewolves were men. Margaret Atwood In this slyly subversive noir anthology, Joyce Carol Oates has invited some of the world's most celebrated authors to take their shot at the patriarchy. Featuring stories and poems from Margaret Atwood, Joyce Carol Oates, Valerie Martin, Aimee Bender, Edwidge Danticat, Sheila Kohler, S.A. Solomon, S.J. Rozan, Lucy Taylor, Cassandra Khaw, Bernice L. McFadden, Jennifer Morales, Elizabeth McCracken, Livia Llewellyn, Lisa Lim, and Steph Cha.
Full of suspense, courage, and love, A Beautiful Spy is a stunningly written story about resisting the norm and following your dreams, even if they come with sacrifices. Minnie Gray is an ordinary young woman. She is also a spy for the British government. It all began in the summer of 1928... Minnie is supposed to find a nice man, get married, and have children. The problem is that it doesn’t appeal to her at all. She is working as a secretary, but longs to make a difference. Then, one day, she gets her chance. She is recruited by the British government as a spy. Under strict instructions not to tell anyone, not even her family, she moves to London and begins her mission—to infiltrate the Communist movement. She soon gains the trust of important leaders. But as she grows more and more entangled in the workings of the movement, her job becomes increasingly dangerous. Leading a double life starts to take its toll on her relationships and, feeling more isolated than ever, she begins to wonder how this is all going to end. The Russians are notorious for ruthlessly disposing of people, given the slightest suspicion. What if they find out?