Come Let Us Sing Anyway

Come Let Us Sing Anyway
Author: Leone Ross
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2017
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9781845233341

This is an adult collection of short stories that entertains with wit, shocks with frankness, and engages both intellect and emotion. Richly varied, it ranges from extended stories to intense pieces of flash fiction.

Orange Laughter

Orange Laughter
Author: Leone Ross
Publisher: Macmillan
Total Pages: 244
Release: 2001-10-16
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9780312420161

Tony Pellar, a man of former style and fading beauty, has fled to the subway tunnels beneath New York. There he makes an even more perilous interior journey convinced the key to his sanity lies in retracing the events of his North Carolina childhood. As Tony gradually remembers, the stories of both his childhood friend Mikey, and of Agatha, a complex woman with a disfigured face, interweave with his own. All three stories finally come together against the backdrop of the civil rights movement and a heartrending and haunting climax.

This One Sky Day

This One Sky Day
Author: Leone Ross
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Total Pages: 473
Release: 2021-04-13
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0571358039

SHORLISTED FOR THE DIVERSE BOOK AWARDS LONGLISTED FOR THE ONDAATJE PRIZE LONGLISTED FOR THE DIVERSE BOOK AWARDS 'Dazzling' Cosmopolitan 'I deeply admire This One Sky Day - and also, not so secretly, bitterly envy it...' MARLON JAMES 'Gorgeous' Financial Times 'Haunting' Independent 'Wonderfully fearless' New Statesman 'Stunning' KEI MILLER Dawn breaks across the archipelago of Popisho. The world is stirring awake again, each resident with their own list of things to do: A wedding feast to conjure and cook An infidelity to investigate A lost soul to set free As the sun rises two star-crossed lovers try to find their way back to one another across this single day. When night falls, all have been given a gift, and many are no longer the same. The sky is pink, and some wonder if it will ever be blue again. What readers are saying 'Brimming with and life and love and just absolutely gorgeous writing. a one-of-a-kind novel.' 'I couldn't put it down and I will be recommending it to everyone.' 'A story luxuriously and confidently told, which is sumptuous from sentence to sentence. There is both literal and literary magic here.' 'This book is bursting at the seams with beauty! Magic! Love! Imagination! It is a burst of colour and flame.' 'It's hard to explain, but if you love getting lost in a story, this could be one for you.'

Let Me Sing You Gentle Songs

Let Me Sing You Gentle Songs
Author: Linda Olsson
Publisher: Penguin Random House New Zealand Limited
Total Pages: 208
Release: 2005-08-26
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1742539262

A stunning first novel that was to become an international bestseller. Veronika, a writer in her early thirties, rents a house in the Swedish countryside to finish her novel. She is also cocooning herself from her past. She befriends Astrid, a reclusive older woman who has lived in the village all her life. Olsson leads us through the flowering of their unusual and tender friendship, as they slowly and carefully reveal their life histories and sometimes heart-rending pasts. The Swedish landscape is always a powerful presence and measures the progress of the women's relationship; as the icy winter and bare trees give way to spring and then summer, the women's friendship deepens. Also available as an eBook

Firefly Lane

Firefly Lane
Author: Kristin Hannah
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Total Pages: 532
Release: 2008-02-05
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1429927844

From the New York Times bestselling author Kristin Hannah comes a powerful novel of love, loss, and the magic of friendship. . . . now a #1 Netflix series! In the turbulent summer of 1974, Kate Mularkey has accepted her place at the bottom of the eighth-grade social food chain. Then, to her amazement, the "coolest girl in the world" moves in across the street and wants to be her friend. Tully Hart seems to have it all—beauty, brains, ambition. On the surface they are as opposite as two people can be: Kate, doomed to be forever uncool, with a loving family who mortifies her at every turn. Tully, steeped in glamour and mystery, but with a secret that is destroying her. They make a pact to be best friends forever; by summer's end they've become TullyandKate. Inseparable. So begins Kristin Hannah's magnificent new novel. Spanning more than three decades and playing out across the ever-changing face of the Pacific Northwest, Firefly Lane is the poignant, powerful story of two women and the friendship that becomes the bulkhead of their lives. From the beginning, Tully is desperate to prove her worth to the world. Abandoned by her mother at an early age, she longs to be loved unconditionally. In the glittering, big-hair era of the eighties, she looks to men to fill the void in her soul. But in the buttoned-down nineties, it is television news that captivates her. She will follow her own blind ambition to New York and around the globe, finding fame and success . . . and loneliness. Kate knows early on that her life will be nothing special. Throughout college, she pretends to be driven by a need for success, but all she really wants is to fall in love and have children and live an ordinary life. In her own quiet way, Kate is as driven as Tully. What she doesn't know is how being a wife and mother will change her . . . how she'll lose sight of who she once was, and what she once wanted. And how much she'll envy her famous best friend. . . . For thirty years, Tully and Kate buoy each other through life, weathering the storms of friendship—jealousy, anger, hurt, resentment. They think they've survived it all until a single act of betrayal tears them apart . . . and puts their courage and friendship to the ultimate test. Firefly Lane is for anyone who ever drank Boone's Farm apple wine while listening to Abba or Fleetwood Mac. More than a coming-of-age novel, it's the story of a generation of women who were both blessed and cursed by choices. It's about promises and secrets and betrayals. And ultimately, about the one person who really, truly knows you—and knows what has the power to hurt you . . . and heal you. Firefly Lane is a story you'll never forget . . . one you'll want to pass on to your best friend.

All the Blood is Red

All the Blood is Red
Author: Leone Ross
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2024-11-19
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0571391680

They beat like drums, the fists. I could hear them from inside the courtroom. I remember so many things about that day, but in quiet moments it is the fists that come back to haunt me, pull at me. 1996, London. Nicola, tall and gorgeous, has re-birthed herself. She has landed a breakthrough role and her star is rising - she can feel herself blossoming, can see it in the melting eyes of the men, and the jealous eyes of the women. If Nicola is a flower, Alexandra is a closed bud. Crushed by heartache from a recent breakup, she just wants to succeed as a journalist. Jeanette has just landed from Manchester. She refuses to let her mother's warnings about London or her Doc Martens weigh her down: she's ready for uni - for life - to start. This is the story of three women - and the mysterious Mavis. With laughter in their hearts, power in their spirits and beauty in their souls, they reach for dreams the whole world seems to want to destroy. But soon they discover that those who wear the cloak of friendship - family, community, lovers, peers - often cause the greatest pain, the pain of rejection and violation.

Sing for Me

Sing for Me
Author: Karen Halvorsen Schreck
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 336
Release: 2014-04-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1476705526

When a good church girl starts singing in a jazz club and falls for the music—as well as a handsome, African-American man—she struggles to reconcile her childhood faith with her newfound passions. When a good church girl starts singing in a jazz club and falls for the music—as well as a handsome African American man—she struggles to reconcile her childhood faith with her newfound passions. Raised in the Danish Baptist Church, Rose Sorensen knows it’s wrong to sing worldly songs. But Rose still yearns for those she hears on the radio—“Cheek to Cheek,” “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes”—and sings them when no one is around. One day, Rose’s cousin takes her to Calliope’s, a jazz club, where she dis­covers an exciting world she never knew existed. Here, blacks and whites mingle, brought together by their shared love of music. And though Rose wor­ries it’s wrong—her parents already have a stable husband in mind for her—she can’t stop thinking about the African American pianist of the Chess Men, Theo Chastain. When Rose returns to the jazz club, she is offered the role of singer for the Chess Men. The job would provide money to care for her sister, Sophy, who has cerebral palsy—but at what cost? As Rose gets to know Theo, their fledgling relationship faces prejudices she never imagined. And as she struggles to balance the dream world of Calliope’s with her cold, hard reality, she also wrestles with God’s call for her life. Can she be a jazz singer? Or will her faith suffer because of her worldly ways? Set in Depression-era Chicago and rich in historical detail, Sing for Me is a beautiful, evocative story about finding real, unflinching love and embracing—at all costs—your calling.

Any Way the Wind Blows

Any Way the Wind Blows
Author: Rainbow Rowell
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Total Pages: 450
Release: 2021-07-06
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 1250254345

New York Times bestselling author Rainbow Rowell's epic fantasy, the Simon Snow trilogy, concludes with Any Way the Wind Blows. In Carry On, Simon Snow and his friends realized that everything they thought they understood about the world might be wrong. And in Wayward Son, they wondered whether everything they understood about themselves might be wrong. Now, Simon and Baz and Penelope and Agatha must decide how to move forward. For Simon, that means choosing whether he still wants to be part of the World of Mages — and if he doesn't, what does that mean for his relationship with Baz? Meanwhile Baz is bouncing between two family crises and not finding any time to talk to anyone about his newfound vampire knowledge. Penelope would love to help, but she's smuggled an American Normal into London, and now she isn't sure what to do with him. And Agatha? Well, Agatha Wellbelove has had enough. Any Way the Wind Blows takes the gang back to England, back to Watford, and back to their families for their longest and most emotionally wrenching adventure yet. This book is a finale. It tells secrets and answers questions and lays ghosts to rest. The Simon Snow Trilogy was conceived as a book about Chosen One stories; Any Way the Wind Blows is an ending about endings—about catharsis and closure, and how we choose to move on from the traumas and triumphs that try to define us.

So, Anyway...

So, Anyway...
Author: John Cleese
Publisher: Crown Archetype
Total Pages: 397
Release: 2014-11-04
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0385348258

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “John Cleese’s memoir is just about everything one would expect of its author—smart, thoughtful, provocative and above all funny. . . . A picture, if you will, of the artist as a young man.”—The Washington Post The legendary writer and performer of Monty Python and Fawlty Towers fame takes readers on a grand tour of his ascent in the entertainment world John Cleese’s huge comedic influence has stretched across generations; his sharp irreverent eye and the unique brand of physical comedy he perfected now seem written into comedy’s DNA. In this rollicking memoir, Cleese recalls his humble beginnings in a sleepy English town, his early comedic days at Cambridge University (with future Python partner Graham Chapman), and the founding of the landmark comedy troupe that would propel him to worldwide renown. Cleese was just days away from graduating Cambridge and setting off on a law career when he was visited by two BBC executives, who offered him a job writing comedy for radio. That fateful moment—and a near-simultaneous offer to take his university humor revue to London’s famed West End—propelled him down a different path, cutting his teeth writing for stars like David Frost and Peter Sellers, and eventually joining the five other Pythons to pioneer a new kind of comedy that prized invention, silliness, and absurdity. Along the way, he found his first true love with the actress Connie Booth and transformed himself from a reluctant performer to a world class actor and back again. Twisting and turning through surprising stories and hilarious digressions—with some brief pauses along the way that comprise a fascinating primer on what’s funny and why—this story of a young man’s journey to the pinnacle of comedy is a masterly performance by a master performer.

Sing Anyway

Sing Anyway
Author: Anita Kelly
Publisher:
Total Pages: 138
Release: 2021-05-31
Genre:
ISBN: 9781737229803

After a lifetime of failed relationships, non-binary history professor Sam Bell is committed to a new (non)romantic strategy: Thirst Only. It's the actual drinking where things get too complicated, where Sam inevitably gets hurt. Sam is good at being thirsty, though, especially when it's karaoke night at The Moonlight Cafe, otherwise known as Moonie's to its largely queer regulars. Moonie's is fun. Comfortable. Safe. Except for tonight, when one by one, all of Sam's friends abandon them. Disappointed, they prepare to leave. Until their #1 karaoke crush catches their eye... For Lily Fischer, karaoke at Moonie's is the only time she can step outside of her quiet shell. When there's a mic in her hand, she's no longer merely a receptionist harboring big dreams. At Moonie's, Lily can pretend to be someone else: someone bold, who takes what she wants. And tonight, what Lily wants is the way Sam looks at her across the room as she sings her signature opening song, like they see her exactly as she wants to be seen. Like Moonie's Lily is real. As the night progresses, both Sam's and Lily's personal boundaries are tested, and the real world outside of Moonie's looms. But maybe sometimes, the real world should be a little more like karaoke. It's not always about knowing all the right words or having the perfect voice. Maybe all Sam and Lily need is a little courage to pick up the mic, and sing anyway.