Showing results by narrator "Anne Flosnik" in All Categories

After the death of his brother, Warren Lewis lived at The Kilns in Oxford, edited his famous brother's letters, and did a little writing of his own. Then he got a letter from a stranger on the far side of the world. Over the years that followed, he and Blanche Biggs, a missionary in Papua New Guinea, shared a vibrant correspondence. These conversations encompassed their views on faith, their politics, their humor, the legacy of C. S. Lewis, and their own trials and longings.

Award-winning, internationally acclaimed author Anita Desai ruminates on art and memory, illusion and disillusion, and the sharp divide between life's expectations and its realities in three perfectly etched novellas. Set in India in the not-too-distant past, the dramas illuminate the ways in which Indian culture can nourish or suffocate. All are served up with Desai's characteristic perspicuity, subtle humor, and sensitive writing.

The North Wales market town of Llanelen is abuzz when a Vietnamese family moves into Ty Brith Hall. It isn't long before the family's business dealings have the townsfolk wondering what's really going on up at the big house on the hill. Things take a sinister turn when Penny Brannigan discovers the body of the new family's teenage daughter. When an elderly woman returns to Llanelen to care for her ailing brother, Penny discovers the truth about another death at Ty Brith Hall, one that hits very close to home.

Fourteenth-century Europe. The Black Death has killed half the known world, and in an isolated convent, a small group of nuns spends their days in work, austerity, and devotion, chanting the Liturgy of the Hours. But their community is threatened. Rumors of heresy and a scandalous Book of Ursula, based on the teachings of the charismatic former abbess and founder of the order, have prompted the male church hierarchy to launch an investigation. Disrespect and rebellion infect some novices, and the youngest among them pines for the bishop's chief inquisitor.

The Paxtons are shipbuilders in Baltimore. Alec Carrick is an English nobleman who wants to buy them out. Genny Paxton isn’t at all what she seems. She dresses like “Eugene” and wants to build her own sailing ships without male interference. Alec, a man of great insight, knows exactly what lies beneath those britches. He gets Genny’s goat more times than she can count. This is a love story filled with wit, humor, and outrageous circumstance. It’s got more unexpected spins than a roulette wheel.

Princess Wisdom, known as Dizzy, longs for a life of excitement beyond the staid old kingdom of Montagne. Tips, a soldier, longs to keep his true identity a secret. Fortitude, an orphaned maid, longs only for Tips. These three souls might possibly attain their dreams while preserving their empire from ruin - if only they can bear one another’s company long enough to devise a plan. Romance and adventure join forces in this hilarious tale told in diaries, letters, an encyclopedia, and even a play, all seamlessly stitched together by Catherine Gilbert Murdock.

A vibrant portrait of a lost world, A History of Ancient Rome in 100 Lives reveals the mightiest civilization of antiquity through the eyes of one hundred of its citizens. The book gives a voice not just to Rome's most famous generals and rulers, such as Caesar and Caligula, but also to its builders, sculptors, poets, historians, gladiators, shepherds, enslaved people, and courtesans.

It is 1813 in London. The Earl of Saint Leven, Lyonel Ashton, doesn't like women, and he's got every reason not to. But fate, in the guise of Aunt Lucia, intervenes. She presents him with Diana Savarol, a young lady newly arrived from her family's Caribbean island and very unhappy at being forced into frigid England and tossed headlong into the marriage market. These two very strong willed individuals eye each other, then go for the gold in an insult competition.

The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame, tells the story of Mole, Water Rat, Badger, and Toad. The story takes place along a peaceful riverbank surrounded by lush meadows. Mole is originally from a neighboring meadow, but one fine spring day he ventures away from his home and finds the magical life of the river awaiting him. Mole quickly becomes fast friends with Water Rat, a polite and civilized creature who invites Mole to live with him while he teaches Mole the secrets of river life.

Rafael Carstairs is a civilian now and traveling to see his twin brother, Damien Carstairs, Baron Drago, in Cornwell. In the middle of a moonless night, Rafael rescues a young girl, Victoria Abermarle, from smugglers, only to find that she's trying to escape his twin, Baron Drago, who tried to rape her. What's a retired spy to do with a young girl whose nubile body and sizable fortune are threatened by his own brother? He does the noble thing, finally. He marries her. And that's just the beginning of their adventures....

Sexism in Narnia? Or Screwtape? Or amongst the Inklings? Many critics have labelled C.S. Lewis a sexist, even a misogynist. The younger Lewis was criticized for a mysterious living arrangement with a woman, but his later marriage to an American poet, Joy Davidman, became a celebrated love story. As a writer he, along with J.R.R. Tolkien, formed a legendary literary group, the Inklings - but without women. In this collection of short essays, opinion pieces, and interviews, academics and writers come together to investigate these accusations.

Georgina Whitmore, not accustomed to any man being unaffected by her charms, is plagued with the disappearance and rejection of Simon Fancourt. Twelve years later, Mr. Fancourt returns to British society with two children and a mad hunger for justice. Racing against time, Simon works to uncover the men responsible for his wife's horrific murder, protect his children, and fulfill his father's unexpected will by marrying Georgina—the last thing in the world he wants to do. Though her heart throbs to accept, she would rather lose him again than have his name without his love.

Diana Vertue, known in an earlier life as the terrifying esper Jenny Psycho, had been a hardcore terrorist and a saint of the uber-esper Mater Mundi, but she'd outgrown both those roles. Now it’s time for a psychic showdown with the Mater Mundi herself.

Knight Winthrop, Viscount Castlerosse - you met him in Night Storm - is very happy with his life just the way it is. Then Lily Tremaine shows up on his doorstep claiming she was betrothed to his murdered cousin. With her are his cousin’s three children. She has no money, nowhere to go. She has no money, nowhere to go. What’s even worse - Ugly Arnold is hard on her heels. Ah, so what’s Knight supposed to do now? He takes them in and kisses his former life goodbye.

Vineart student Jerzy and his new companions Ao and Mahault take to the sea, to gain time in which to figure out what to do after the disastrous events they left behind in the city-state of Aleppan. While at sea, a storm drives their ship to falter - only to be rescued by a surprising ally. Called home and under close watch by the sternly pious Washers, Jerzy tries to let go of what he has learned and return to his formerly satisfying life. But the shadows on the Lands Vin continue to darken....

Could you successfully be a Georgian? Find yourself immersed in the pivotal world of Georgian England, exciting times to live in. Everything was booming—the Industrial Revolution, the Enlightenment, and the nascent Empire—in an era inhabited by Mary Shelley, the Romantic poets, and their contemporaries. Find everything you need to know in order to survive as a time traveler from today, undetected among the ordinary people: how to dress, behave yourself in public, earn a living, and find somewhere to live.

Catherine Morland goes to Bath for the season as the guest of Mr. and Mrs. Allen, and there she meets the eccentric General Tilney, his son Henry Tilney and his daughter Elanor Tilney. Catherine is invited to the Tilney's home, Northanger Abbey, where she imagines numerous gruesome secrets surrounding the General and his house. Henry proves that her suspicions have no substance, and while she is still recovering from the humiliation, she finds herself ordered out of the house by the General.

Having escaped to Hollywood after catching her boyfriend in bed with her best friend, London stage actress Kate McPhee is offered a gig on the popular daytime television series Live for Tomorrow. As Devon Merrick - police detective, car crash victim, and love interest for at least two men - she knows all the secrets and sins pulsating in fictional Hope Canyon. But the real drama is off the set, where the soap is indeed slippery.

We are surrounded by feedback—whether we're being asked to like, rate, or otherwise comment on products, services, or even people. At work, the right kind of feedback delivered at the right time and in the right way can help us all to learn and improve. In reality, though, that's easier said than done. Help is at hand. Margaret Cheng's six golden rules and Giving Good Feedback Framework offer a clear guide to what feedback is, how we can master the things that get in the way, and deploy some simple techniques to make feedback a more routine part of our routine work communications.

Frances Hodgson Burnett's favorite theme in her fiction was the reversal of fortune, and she herself knew extremes of poverty and wealth. Born in Manchester in 1849, she emigrated with her family to Tennessee because of the financial problems caused by the cotton famine. From a young age she published her stories to help the family make ends meet. Only after she married did she publish Little Lord Fauntleroy that shot her into literary stardom.