Confessions of a Falling Woman

Confessions of a Falling Woman
Author: Debra Dean
Publisher: HarperCollins UK
Total Pages: 252
Release: 2008
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 000721667X

This collection of short stories by Debra Dean, author of the critically acclaimed novel 'The Madonnas of Leningrad', explores turning points in lives on the brink of change. Each of the characters she brings to vivid life in these pages is either facing up to, or coming to terms with, a significant moment in their lives.

Confessions of an Angry Girl

Confessions of an Angry Girl
Author: Louise Rozett
Publisher: Harlequin
Total Pages: 271
Release: 2012-08-28
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0373210485

After the death of her father, Rose Zarelli struggles to contol her feelings and manage her life as a freshman in high school.

Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady

Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady
Author: Florence King
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
Total Pages: 289
Release: 1990-09-15
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1466816260

Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady is Florence King's classic memoir of her upbringing in an eccentric Southern family, told with all the uproarious wit and gusto that has made her one of the most admired writers in the country. Florence may have been a disappointment to her Granny, whose dream of rearing a Perfect Southern Lady would never be quite fulfilled. But after all, as Florence reminds us, "no matter which sex I went to bed with, I never smoked on the street."

The Madonnas of Leningrad

The Madonnas of Leningrad
Author: Debra Dean
Publisher: Harper Collins
Total Pages: 232
Release: 2009-10-13
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0061747181

“An extraordinary debut, a deeply lovely novel that evokes with uncommon deftness the terrible, heartbreaking beauty that is life in wartime. Like the glorious ghosts of the paintings in the Hermitage that lie at the heart of the story, Dean’s exquisite prose shimmers with a haunting glow, illuminating us to the notion that art itself is perhaps our most necessary nourishment. A superbly graceful novel.” — Chang-Rae Lee, New York Times Bestselling author of Aloft and Native Speaker Bit by bit, the ravages of age are eroding Marina's grip on the everyday. An elderly Russian woman now living in America, she cannot hold on to fresh memories—the details of her grown children's lives, the approaching wedding of her grandchild—yet her distant past is miraculously preserved in her mind's eye. Vivid images of her youth in war-torn Leningrad arise unbidden, carrying her back to the terrible fall of 1941, when she was a tour guide at the Hermitage Museum and the German army's approach signaled the beginning of what would be a long, torturous siege on the city. As the people braved starvation, bitter cold, and a relentless German onslaught, Marina joined other staff members in removing the museum's priceless masterpieces for safekeeping, leaving the frames hanging empty on the walls to symbolize the artworks' eventual return. As the Luftwaffe's bombs pounded the proud, stricken city, Marina built a personal Hermitage in her mind—a refuge that would stay buried deep within her, until she needed it once more. . . .

Falling Women and Other Stories

Falling Women and Other Stories
Author: Ellen Herbert
Publisher:
Total Pages: 152
Release: 2012-01-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9781619720008

Award-winning short stories about families in turmoil and children in peril, from a homeless mother forced to put her son in foster care to a suburban mother afraid of passing her water phobia to her son. Braxton, North Carolina is the where in these stories, an imaginary coastal town adjacent to Camp Corregidor, a stopover for recruits on their way to Vietnam and later to Iraq. Braxton is the home front, where citizens battle alcoholism, marital breakups, and scandal. In Braxton, when a sister or father does wrong, the whole family shares the blame. Even Braxton's babysitters are dangerous, snooping, stealing secrets - and husbands. But love abounds. Sisters driven apart by scandal reunite when their father remarries. The babysitter who ran off with the mayor is welcomed back into her family when she returns to Braxton pregnant. A woman on the verge of being committed to an asylum for alcoholism is pulled back from the brink by a devoted friend. "The World As I Know It" won a PEN Syndicate Fiction Prize; "The Yellow Sneakers" won a Dexter Review Short Story Prize; "Jazzland" won the Lip Service Prose Prize; and an earlier version of "Falling Women" won a Virginia Fiction Fellowship for Ms. Herbert.

The Girl Who Fell

The Girl Who Fell
Author: S.M. Parker
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 384
Release: 2017-02-28
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1481437240

"When new boy in school, Alec, sweeps Zephyr off her feet, their passionate romance takes a dangerous and possessive turn when Alec begins manipulating Zephyr"--

Confessions of a Serial Songwriter

Confessions of a Serial Songwriter
Author: Shelly Peiken
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 306
Release: 2016-03-01
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1495063623

Confessions of a Serial Songwriter is an amusing and poignant memoir about songwriter Shelly Peiken's journey from young girl falling under the spell of magical songs to working professional songwriter writing hits of her own. It's about growing up, the creative process – the highs and the lows, the conflicts that arise between motherhood and career success, the divas and schemers, but also the talented and remarkable people she's found along the way. It's filled with stories and step-by-step advice about the songwriting process, especially collaboration. And it's about the challenge of staying relevant in a rapidly changing and youth-driven world. As Shelly so eloquently states in Confessions of a Serial Songwriter: “If I had to come up with one X factor that I could cite as a characteristic most hit songs have in common (and this excludes hit songs that are put forth by an already well-oiled machine...that is, a recording artist who has so much notoriety and momentum that just about anything he or she releases, as long as it's 'pretty good ' will have a decent shot at succeeding), I would say it would be: A universal sentiment in a unique frame.” Peiken has tapped the universal sentiment again and again; her songs have been recorded by such artists as Christina Aguilera, Natalie Cole, Selena Gomez, Celine Dion, the Pretenders, and others. In Confessions of a Serial Songwriter, she pulls the curtain back on the music business from the perspective of a behind-the-scenes hit creator and shares invaluable insight into the craft of songwriting.

Hidden Tapestry

Hidden Tapestry
Author: Debra Dean
Publisher: Northwestern University Press
Total Pages: 322
Release: 2018-04-15
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0810136848

Hidden Tapestry reveals the unforgettable story of Flemish American artist Jan Yoors—childhood vagabond, wartime Resistance fighter, and polyamorous New York bohemian. At the peak of his fame in the 1970s, Yoors’s photographs and vast tapestries inspired a dedicated following in his adopted Manhattan and earned him international acclaim. Though his intimate friends guessed the rough outline of his colorful life, Hidden Tapestry is first to detail his astonishing secrets. At twelve, Jan’s life took an extraordinary and unexpected turn when, lured by stories of Gypsies, he wandered off with a group of Roma and continued to live on-and-off with them and with his own family for several years. As an adult in German-occupied France, Yoors joined the Resistance and persuaded his adoptive Roma family to fight alongside him. Defying repeated arrests and torture by the Gestapo, he worked first as a saboteur and later escorted Allied soldiers trapped behind German lines across the Pyrenees to freedom. After the war, he married childhood friend Annabert van Wettum and embarked on his career as an artist. When a friend of Annabert’s, Marianne Citroen, modeled for Yoors, the two began an affair, which led the three to form a polyamorous family that would last for the rest of their lives. Moving to New York, the trio became part of the bohemian life of Greenwich Village in the 1950s. Told in arresting detail by Debra Dean, best-selling author of The Madonnas of Leningrad, Yoors’s story is a luminous and inspiring account of resilience, resourcefulness, and love.

Have Him at Hello

Have Him at Hello
Author: Rachel Greenwald
Publisher: Harmony
Total Pages: 306
Release: 2010-03-30
Genre: Family & Relationships
ISBN: 0307720632

There’s a reason the media has dubbed matchmaker Rachel Greenwald as “The Wife Maker.” Yes, she’s responsible for over 750 marriages, but more importantly, she has solved perhaps the biggest dating mystery of all time: when you finally meet Mr. Right (or even Mr. Potential), what really compels him to call back (or not) after a date? Armed with her Harvard MBA, Rachel embarked on a fascinating ten-year research project to decipher this puzzle. In Have Him at Hello, she applies her business savvy to the dating world by conducting in-depth “exit interviews” with 1,000 single men, asking why they called back one woman, but not another. By refusing to accept the post-date brush-off like “There wasn’t any chemistry…” or the excited, but equally vague evening recap, “We hit it off!” Rachel extracted unabashedly honest and raw details. It turns out there are clear, tangible, consistent reasons why marriage-minded men either fall for you or disappear. The surprising “Top 5 Date Makers” and “Top 10 Date Breakers” revealed in this book can actually change your fate when Mr. Right finally comes along. Rachel’s goal isn’t for you to pretend to be someone you’re not, but rather to keep the ball in your court. By using her innovative research and tips as a guide, more men will ask to see you again ; then you can do the selecting, rather than wondering if they’ll call. Because information is power, this book will make your first hello a lasting one.