Showing results by narrator "Joyce" in All Categories

A Child of the Jago is both thriller and condemnation of social conditions in the East End slums at the turn of the century. Boy hero Dicky Perrott is at heart full of humane instinct but his environment ensures his down fall. "It was my fate to encounter a place in Shoreditch where children were born and reared in circumstances which gave them no reasonable chance of living decent lives: where they were born fore-damned to a criminal or semi criminal career.

Sonnet Romano’s life is almost perfect. She has the ideal career, the ideal boyfriend, and has just been offered a prestigious fellowship. There’s nothing more a woman wants - except maybe a baby…sister? When Sonnet finds out her mother is unexpectedly expecting, and that the pregnancy is high-risk, she puts everything on hold - the job, the fellowship, the boyfriend - and heads home to Avalon. Once her mom is out of danger, Sonnet intends to pick up her life where she left off.

At the end of the 19th Century W.H.Davies hustled his way across America, working when he could, begging and stealing when he couldn't. He saw life on the breadline. He was beaten up in New Orleans, thrown into prison in Michigan and was present at lynching’s in Tennessee, truly a diarist of the nether side of the American dream. After travelling with some of the most interesting and adventurous characters, an accident forced him to return to a similar poverty filled world back in England.

Living in the small town of Heavenly, Pennsylvania, Claire Weatherly has come to admire the Amish for their wholesome, honest way of life. But she also knows that nothing is as simple as it seems - especially when murder disturbs the peace.

Inspired by an actual terrorist attack on Greenwich Laboratory in 1894 ‘The Secret Agent’ is arguably Conrad’s greatest work. Mr. Verloc, the spy, is roused to action by his masters. He is to instigate an act ‘of destructive ferocity so absurd as to be incomprehensible, inexplicable, and almost unthinkable; in fact, mad’. All does not run smoothly however and leads to Mr Verloc’s wife, Winnie, demonstrating how quickly rational equilibrium can change to frenzied destruction.

Unlike other biographies, the Making of America series goes beyond individual narratives, linking influential figures to create an overarching story of America's growth that will deepen understanding of the country we live in today.

“Discharged from a hospital just means you’re not dead.” These words of Ralph B. Lilly, M.D., describe his early struggle to recover from a traumatic brain injury. Lilly was a forty-four-year-old practicing neurologist sitting on his motorcycle at a red light when a drunk driver rear-ended him in 1980. In the ICU, after regaining consciousness and being told what happened, he asked, “What’s a hospital? What’s a motorcycle?” This tragic experience transformed his life and his approach to his neurology practice: doctors treat those with brain injury; but loved ones heal them.

The next volume in the series of exciting stories about A. J. Raffles, first class slow bowler and gentleman thief. The author must have been delighted when his fictional character was such a success. Raffles would have said ‘timing is everything’ and the advice should have been delivered to his creator. Hornung made a grave error in finishing the master burglar’s life and career so soon, realised his mistake and brought him back to the printed page.

Something strange is happening in the small mountain town of Serenity, Tennessee. People going on routine errands never reach their destination. It's as if they simply disappear. Over the past few weeks, it's happened to five men and women - and now a child. The local police chief calls the FBI, and a team from the Special Crimes Unit is immediately sent in. Agents Lucas and Samantha Jordan, partners in work and in life, have very different abilities.

When Jack Roberts walks into the James & James Detective Agency, co-owner Alice James can hardly believe her luck. The body of Roberts’s daughter, Laura, a Las Vegas cocktail waitress, was found just days before, bashed over the head and set ablaze in the Nevada desert. It is a horrific crime - and cracking it could mean big business for James & James. There’s no shortage of suspects to keep them busy; everyone, from the victim’s obsessive ex-boyfriend, her mentally unbalanced tenant, her temperamental roommate, her shady fiancé, and even her volatile father, is under suspicion. But can the partners do what the police couldn’t?

In 1843 the material that Dickins had gathered on his trip to America was published with the title American Notes [also produced by Assembled Stories]. The book was viewed with disdain from both sides of the Atlantic and in some quarters, strong disapproval, his criticism having done little for Anglo-American relations.

When a high-society call girl is murdered in her Georgetown home, investigators find two cameras hidden in the walls of her bedroom. One has its memory erased, presumably by the murderer. The second is connected to the Internet through an encrypted connection...and no one knows who's on the other end. Special Agent Allison McNeil is asked by beleaguered FBI Director Clarence Mason to run an off-the-record investigation of the murder because of the murder's similarity to a case she worked a year earlier.

Author Ken Brandt presents a gloriously positive view of life’s challenges while riding his roller coaster of vision setbacks and improvements. An adventure- and humor-filled journey that includes: being dragged by galloping horses in Montana, helping firefighters combat an arson blaze, captaining his university parachuting team, and a long, convoluted successful chase of a thief in New York City.

If Pierra Calasanz-Labrador’s debut poetry collection The Heartbreak Diaries was equivalent to an “ugly cry”, this second volume is an introspective journey, a quiet voice longing to be heard. Like stumbling upon an introvert’s secret diary, these 50 poems chronicle fervent wishes, hidden fears, and everyday acts of bravery that may sound uncannily familiar.

Sir John Falstaff, the lovable rogue, is brought back from his death in Henry V to set this farce in motion. Falstaff (Anthony Quayle), finding himself in need of funds, attempts to seduce 2 wealthy young ladies, Mistress Ford (Joyce Redman) and Mistress Page (June Jago). Alas, the scoundrel's money-making scheme goes awry when he sends the ladies - who are friends - identical love letters. The 2 women retaliate by plotting his downfall - with hilarious results.

For Nicki Cole, it's been five years since her last date. Besides her eight-to-five job, the only company she keeps is with her friends Angela, Sissy, and Turner Classic Movies. There must be more to life than this, and she's determined to find it.

A peaceful Minnesota town, where crime is something that just doesn't happen, is about to face its worst nightmare. A young boy disappears. There are no witnesses, no clues - only a note, cleverly taunting, casually cruel. Has a cold-blooded kidnapper struck? Or is this a reawakening of a long-quiet serial killer?

Writer Sabrina Stone had married wealthily and unwisely. Her husband's refusal to love their handicapped son added more strain to an already failing relationship. Yet Sabrina feels a commitment to her marriage - one that she has vowed to honor. Then one day, she encounters an investigative reporter named Derek McGill....

The phrase 'this book will change your life' has become one of the clichés of the publishing world, but Martin Eden is certainly a novel that merits that observation. Set in turn-of-the-century San Francisco, Jack London's semiautobiographical narrative tells of working class sailor Eden's struggle to elevate himself to a level of society wherein, he believes, reside the intellect and culture he craves. One of the reasons for this endeavour is Ruth Morse, with whom he has fallen in love.

With four young daughters and a miserably failed marriage, Debra Gwartney moves halfway across the country, to Eugene, Oregon, for a new job and what she hopes will be a new life for herself and her daughters. The two oldest, Amanda, 14, and Stephanie, 13, have a symbiotic relationship so intense they barely know where one begins and the other leaves off. They