Rain Breaks No Bones: A Novel

Rain Breaks No Bones: A Novel
Author: Barbara J. Taylor
Publisher: Akashic Books
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2024-05-07
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1636141803

Set in 1955, this final installment in Taylor's best-selling Scranton Trilogy explores a family's legacy of loss and a sometimes mystical vision of a better tomorrow EVERYBODY HAS SECRETS. EVEN THE DEAD. Fifty-year-old Violet has had a good life. The love of an honest man. The joys of motherhood. Yet, even in 1955, her heart still aches over the death of her sister more than four decades earlier. Lately, Violet can't help thinking about the little girl, picturing her in the moments before the accident, wearing that pleated white dress and a hair bow to match. Maybe if her big sister were here now, she could tell Violet what to do about the secret she's been keeping from her daughter Daisy. Daisy has a secret of her own. When she first moved back home to Scranton, she wasn't ready to give up her dreams of performing in Atlantic City. Then she met Johnny, a man who needs music as much as she does. Her first real chance at love. If only they can find the courage to buck small-town thinking when it comes to interracial dating. Small-town thinking. Zethray had seen her fair share of it. That's why she advertised a room to rent in The Negro Motorist Green Book. Give folks a safe place to stay away from home. That's how Johnny ended up at her door. Now he's sweet on some young woman. Not that he told Zethray, but she knows. The dead like to talk, and she listens. If only her mother would tell the secret behind her shocking death. Instead, she stands silent, while that little girl with the bow in her hair runs wild. Rain Breaks No Bones is the final novel in Barbara J. Taylor's Scranton Trilogy, starting with Sing in the Morning, Cry at Night, followed by All Waiting Is Long. Though the novels are connected, they each stand alone.

Rain Breaks No Bones

Rain Breaks No Bones
Author: Barbara J Taylor
Publisher: Kaylie Jones Books
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2024-05-07
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9781636142128

Fifty-year-old Violet has had a good life. The love of an honest man. The joys of motherhood. Yet, even in 1955, her heart still aches over the death of her sister more than four decades earlier. Lately, Violet can't help thinking about the little girl, picturing her in the moments before the accident, wearing that pleated white dress and a hair bow to match. Maybe if her big sister were here now, she could tell Violet what to do about the secret she's been keeping from her daughter Daisy. Daisy has a secret of her own. When she first moved back home to Scranton, she wasn't ready to give up her dreams of performing in Atlantic City. Then she met Johnny, a man who needs music as much as she does. Her first real chance at love. If only they can find the courage to buck small-town thinking when it comes to interracial dating. Small-town thinking. Zethray had seen her fair share of it. That's why she advertised a room to rent in The Negro Motorist Green Book. Give folks a safe place to stay away from home. That's how Johnny ended up at her door. Now he's sweet on some young woman. Not that he told Zethray, but she knows. The dead like to talk, and she listens. If only her mother would tell the secret behind her shocking death. Instead, she stands silent, while that little girl with the bow in her hair runs wild. Rain Breaks No Bones is the final novel in Barbara J. Taylor's Scranton Trilogy, starting with Sing in the Morning, Cry at Night, followed by All Waiting Is Long. Though the novels are connected, they each stand alone.

All Waiting Is Long

All Waiting Is Long
Author: Barbara J. Taylor
Publisher: Akashic Books
Total Pages: 320
Release: 2016-06-13
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1617754668

“Suspenseful . . . startling plot twists and incisive commentary on the social unrest of a coal-mining town during the Great Depression . . . a breathtaking ending.” —Publishers Weekly In 1930, twenty-five-year-old Violet travels with her sixteen-year-old sister, Lily, from Scranton, Pennsylvania, to the Good Shepherd Infant Asylum in Philadelphia, so Lily can deliver her illegitimate child in secret. In doing so, Violet jeopardizes her engagement to her sweetheart, Stanley Adamski. Meanwhile, Mother Mary Joseph, who runs the Good Shepherd, has no idea the asylum’s physician is involved in eugenics and experimenting on girls with various sterilization techniques. Five years later, Lily and Violet are back in Scranton, one married, one about to be, each finding her own way in a place where a woman’s worth is tied to her virtue. Against the backdrop of the sweeping eugenics movement and rogue coal mine strikes, the Morgan sisters must choose between duty and desire. Either way, they risk losing their marriages and each other. The follow-up to Barbara J. Taylor’s debut, Sing in the Morning, Cry at Night—named one of the Best Summer Books of 2014 by Publishers Weekly—All Waiting is Long continues her Dickensian exploration of the Morgan family. “Taylor’s characters—a cast of nuns and prostitutes, mobsters and miners, social activists and church busybodies—reflect the varying pressures and expectations of small-town life with rich, insightful prose and dialogue that rings true to each character’s voice. Will the web of lies the two sisters weave around themselves survive? You’ll have to read it yourself to find out. Recommended.” —Historical Novel Review “Powerful . . . Every page is saturated with the 1930s milieu as the sisters navigate the adversities of their reality . . . The overall result is a thought-provoking book club discussion cornucopia.” —Booklist (starred review)

Break No Bones

Break No Bones
Author: Kathy Reichs
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 314
Release: 2006-07-11
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1416535217

From bestselling author Kathy Reichs comes a book set in Charleston, South Carolina, the center of a lucrative, clandestine, sophisticated trade in body parts—the kind that leaves the donor dead. Summoned to South Carolina to fill in for a negligent colleague, Tempe is stuck teaching a lackluster archaeology field school in the ruins of a Native American burial ground on the Charleston shore. But when Tempe stumbles upon a fresh skeleton among the ancient bones, her old friend Emma Rousseau, the local coroner, persuades her to stay on and help with the investigation. When Emma reveals a disturbing secret, it becomes more important than ever for Tempe to help her friend close the case. The body count begins to climb. An unidentified man is found hanging from a tree deep in the woods. Another corpse shows up in a barrel. There are mysterious nicks on bones in several bodies, and signs of strangulation. Tempe follows the trail to a free street clinic with a belligerent staff, a suspicious doctor, and a donor who is a charismatic televangelist. Clues abound in the most unlikely places as Tempe uses her unique knowledge and skills to build her case, even as the local sheriff remains dubious and her own life is threatened. Tempe’s love life is also complicated. Ryan, her current flame, has come down to visit her from Montreal, and Pete, her former husband, is investigating the disappearance of a local woman—and he and Tempe are staying in the same borrowed beach house. Ryan and Pete compete for her attentions, and Tempe finds herself more distracted by her feelings for both men than she expected. Break No Bones is a smart, taut thriller featuring the kind of high-stakes crime that makes the headlines every week. Reichs, the inspiration for the hit Fox TV show Bones, is writing at the top of her form, and Tempe has never been more compelling.

Sing in the Morning, Cry at Night

Sing in the Morning, Cry at Night
Author: Barbara J. Taylor
Publisher: Akashic Books
Total Pages: 320
Release: 2014-06-16
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1617752851

Nominated for a 2014 Lime Award for Excellence in Fiction Named a Best Book of Summer 2014 by Publishers Weekly Named a Pick of the Week for the week of June 30th by Publishers Weekly "An earnest, well-done historical novel that skillfully blends fact and fiction." --Publishers Weekly "A profound story of how one unforeseen event may tear a family apart, but another can just as unexpectedly bring them back together again." --Publishers Weekly, Best Book of Summer 2014 Pick "Solomon enticingly described the novel Sing in the Morning, Cry at Night by Barbara J. Taylor (Akashic), set in a coal-mining town in 1913, as 'one of those sit on the couch and don't bother me' reads." --Shelf Awareness, NCIBA Spring Rep Picks "An absolute gem of a book filled with beautiful characters and classical writing techniques rarely seen in modern literature." --The Christian Manifesto, Top Fiction Pick of 2014 "This story is at once poignant and hopeful, spiced up by such characters as Billy Sunday, the revivalist, and Grief, the specter who haunts Grace to the very edge of sanity. A rich debut." --Historical Novel Society "Like Dickens, the novel faces family tragedy, in this case the town blaming 8-year-old Violet Morgan for her older sister's death. As her parents fall victim to their own vices, Violet learns how to form her own friendships to survive." --Arts.Mic "A fantastic novel worthy of the greatest accolades. Writing a book about a historical event can be difficult, as is crafting a bestseller, but Barbara J. Taylor is successful at both." --Downtown Magazine "Taylor's careful attention to detail and her deep knowledge of the community and its people give the novel a welcome gravity." --The Columbus Dispatch "One of the most compelling books I've ever read...a haunting story that will stay with the reader long after reading this novel." --Story Circle Book Reviews "Rave reviews are pouring in for this historical novel of a family tragedy." --The Halifax Reader, "6 New Books to Look for in July" "This well-written book is peopled with characters the reader can really care about and captures the feeling of a gritty twentieth century coal mining community." --Breakthrough, newsletter of the Osteogenesis Imperfecta Foundation "Like all good historical fiction, I learned from this novel." --Time 2 Read "This book has...prizewinner written all over it....Worth the read!" --I've Read This "This haunting story of tragedy and hope in an early twentieth century mining town is...an expertly crafted arrow that shoots straight for the heart. Reminiscent of classics such as How Green Was My Valley...this book is a must-read for fans of character-driven, authentic historical fiction." --Amy Drown Blog Almost everyone in town blames eight-year-old Violet Morgan for the death of her nine-year-old sister, Daisy. Sing in the Morning, Cry at Night opens on September 4, 1913, two months after the Fourth of July tragedy. Owen, the girls' father, "turns to drink" and abandons his family. Their mother Grace falls victim to the seductive powers of Grief, an imagined figure who has seduced her off-and-on since childhood. Violet forms an unlikely friendship with Stanley Adamski, a motherless outcast who works in the mines as a breaker boy. During an unexpected blizzard, Grace goes into premature labor at home and is forced to rely on Violet, while Owen is "off being saved" at a Billy Sunday Revival. Inspired by a haunting family story, Sing in the Morning, Cry at Night blends real life incidents with fiction to show how grace can be found in the midst of tragedy.

Good Bones

Good Bones
Author: Maggie Smith
Publisher: Tupelo Press
Total Pages: 96
Release: 2020-07-15
Genre: Poetry
ISBN: 1946482420

Featuring “Good Bones”—called “Official Poem of 2016” by the BBC/Public Radio International. Maggie Smith writes out of the experience of motherhood, inspired by watching her own children read the world like a book they've just opened, knowing nothing of the characters or plot. These are poems that stare down darkness while cultivating and sustaining possibility, poems that have a sense of moral gravitas, personal urgency, and the ability to address a larger world. Maggie Smith's previous books are The Well Speaks of Its Own Poison (Tupelo, 2015), Lamp of the Body (Red Hen, 2005), and three prize-winning chapbooks: Disasterology (Dream Horse, 2016), The List of Dangers (Kent State, 2010), and Nesting Dolls (Pudding House, 2005). Her poem “Good Bones” has gone viral—tweeted and translated across the world, featured on the TV drama Madam Secretary, and called the “Official Poem of 2016” by the BBC/Public Radio International, earning news coverage in the New York Times, Washington Post, Slate, the Guardian, and beyond. Maggie Smith was named the 2016 Ohio Poet of the Year. “Smith's voice is clear and unmistakable as she unravels the universe, pulls at a loose thread and lets the whole thing tumble around us, sometimes beautiful, sometimes achingly hard. Truthful, tender, and unafraid of the dark....”—Ada Limón “As if lost in the soft, bewitching world of fairy tale, Maggie Smith conceives and brings forth this metaphysical Baedeker, a guidebook for mother and child to lead each other into a hopeful present. Smith's poems affirm the virtues of humanity: compassion, empathy, and the ability to comfort one another when darkness falls. 'There is a light,' she tells us, 'and the light is good.'”—D. A. Powell “Good Bones is an extraordinary book. Maggie Smith demonstrates what happens when an abundance of heart and intelligence meets the hands of a master craftsperson, reminding us again that the world, for a true poet, is blessedly inexhaustible.”—Erin Belieu

Flash and Bones

Flash and Bones
Author: Kathy Reichs
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 386
Release: 2011-08-23
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1439112800

Kathy Reichs—#1 New York Times bestselling author and producer of the FOX television hit Bones—returns with a riveting new novel set in Charlotte, North Carolina, featuring America’s favorite forensic anthropologist, Dr. Temperance Brennan. Just as 200,000 fans are pouring into town for Race Week, a body is found in a barrel of asphalt next to the Charlotte Motor Speedway. The next day, a NASCAR crew member comes to Temperance Brennan’s office at the Mecklenburg County Medical Examiner to share a devastating story. Twelve years earlier, Wayne Gamble’s sister, Cindi, then a high school senior and aspiring racer, disappeared along with her boyfriend, Cale Lovette. Lovette kept company with a group of right-wing extremists known as the Patriot Posse. Could the body be Cindi’s? Or Cale’s? At the time of their disappearance, the FBI joined the investigation, only to terminate it weeks later. Was there a cover-up? As Tempe juggles multiple theories, the discovery of a strange, deadly substance in the barrel alongside the body throws everything into question. Then an employee of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention goes missing during Race Week. Tempe can’t overlook the coincidence. Was this man using his lab chemicals for murder? Or is the explanation even more sinister? What other secrets lurk behind the festive veneer of Race Week? A turbocharged story of secrets and murder unfolds in this, the fourteenth thrilling novel in Reichs’s “cleverly plotted and expertly maintained series” (The New York Times Book Review). With the smash hit Bones about to enter its seventh season and in full syndication—and her most recent novel, Spider Bones, an instant New York Times bestseller—Kathy Reichs is at the top of her game.

The Third Mrs. Galway

The Third Mrs. Galway
Author: Deirdre Sinnott
Publisher: Akashic Books
Total Pages: 296
Release: 2021-07-06
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1617759392

Antislavery agitation is rocking Utica in 1835 when a young bride discovers an enslaved family hiding in her shed, setting in motion the exhumation of long-buried family secrets. “In this eloquent debut, a diverse cast of characters embodies the political, class, and racial upheavals of its time and milieu, and does it all in living local color . . . [A] powerful look at the prologue to Emancipation.” —Kirkus Reviews It’s 1835 in Utica, New York, and newlywed Helen Galway discovers a secret: two people who have escaped enslavement are hiding in the shack behind her husband’s house. Suddenly, she is at the center of the era’s greatest moral dilemma: Should she be a “good wife” and report the fugitives? Or will she defy convention and come to their aid? Within her home, Helen is haunted by the previous Mrs. Galway, recently deceased but still an oppressive presence. Her husband, injured by a drunken tumble off his horse, is assisted by a doctor of questionable ambitions who keeps a close eye on Helen. In charge of all things domestic is Maggie—formerly enslaved by the Galway family and freed when emancipation came to New York eight years earlier. Abolitionists arriving in Utica to found the New York State Anti-Slavery Society are accused by the local papers of being traitors to the Constitution. Everyone faces dangerous choices as they navigate this intensely heated personal and political landscape.

Temple Bar

Temple Bar
Author: George Augustus Sala
Publisher:
Total Pages: 600
Release: 1894
Genre: English periodicals
ISBN: