Smiling in the Darkness

Smiling in the Darkness
Author: Adelaide Freitas
Publisher: Bellis Azorica
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2020
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9781933227931

Many people of Portuguese descent take pride in claiming that the word saudade is untranslatable. In reality, we come close with a melding of bittersweet nostalgia, bone--deep longing, and an endless yearning for what one can never have again--or indeed may never have had. Adelaide Freitas dipped her pen in saudade to tell of family separation and bonds that never loosen. In her authentic Azorean voice, she recounts the immigrant experience and centrifugal impulses that force people apart in spite of their desperation to cling to one another. In their sensitive rendering, the translators have captured the nuances of Freitas's novel Smiling in the Darkness, with special care for those who have her native language in their heritage and heartfelt saudade for its loss.

The Smiling Darkness

The Smiling Darkness
Author: Clare Aririahu
Publisher: Independently Published
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2023-10-04
Genre:
ISBN:

Bukky sets out to fall in love and builds a family like her mates. She meets Jeff who possesses her and colours her world dark while providing all her needs. Even though she knows their relationship isn't ideal, she decides to stay and endure the cheating and abuse because, according to Jeff, it rains everywhere. One day, she meets Sophia who opens her eyes and she starts fighting for her freedom. Then, she discovers she is pregnant. That same period, she meets Pete, with his weirdness. Another entanglement starts. Will she ever enjoy the breakfast in bed she dreams her man will serve her?

This Brilliant Darkness: A Book of Strangers

This Brilliant Darkness: A Book of Strangers
Author: Jeff Sharlet
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Total Pages: 324
Release: 2020-02-11
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1324003219

“A luminous, moving and visual record of fleeting moments of connection.” —New York Times Book Review, Editors’ Choice A visionary work of radical empathy. Known for immersion journalism that is more immersed than most people are willing to go, and for a prose style that is somehow both fierce and soulful, Jeff Sharlet dives deep into the darkness around us and awaiting us. This work began when his father had a heart attack; two years later, Jeff, still in his forties, had a heart attack of his own. In the grip of writerly self-doubt, Jeff turned to images, taking snapshots and posting them on Instagram, writing short, true stories that bloomed into documentary. During those two years, he spent a lot of time on the road: meeting strangers working night shifts as he drove through the mountains to see his father; exploring the life and death of Charley Keunang, a once-aspiring actor shot by the police on LA’s Skid Row; documenting gay pride amidst the violent homophobia of Putin’s Russia; passing time with homeless teen addicts in Dublin; and accompanying a lonely woman, whose only friend was a houseplant, on shopping trips. Early readers have called this book “incantatory,” the voice “prophetic,” in “James Agee’s tradition of looking at the reality of American lives.” Defined by insomnia and late-night driving and the companionship of other darkness-dwellers—night bakers and last-call drinkers, frightened people and frightening people, the homeless, the lost (or merely disoriented), and other people on the margins—This Brilliant Darkness erases the boundaries between author, subject, and reader to ask: how do people live with suffering?

Darkness to Light

Darkness to Light
Author: Lamar Odom
Publisher: BenBella Books
Total Pages: 198
Release: 2019-05-28
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1948836203

New York Times Bestseller Fame. Sex. Pain. Drugs. Death. Booze. Money. Addiction. Redemption. Dizzying heights. Rock-bottom depths. Desperation and elation—sometimes in the same hour. Not to mention power . . . and the struggle for it. The world knows Lamar Odom as a two-time NBA world champion who rocketed to uncharted heights of fame thanks to being a member of both the storied Los Angeles Lakers and the ubiquitous Kardashian empire. But who is Lamar, really? Fans have long praised his accessibility and genuine everyman quality—he is a blinding talent who has suffered a series of heartaches, setback, and loss. But until now, his most candid moments have remained behind closed doors . . . sometimes face-down on the floor. In Darkness to Light, Lamar gives readers an intimate look into his life like never before. His exclusive and revealing memoir recounts the highs and lows of fame and his struggle with his demons along the way to self-discovery and redemption. From the pain of his unraveled marriage to Khloé Kardashian to the harmful vices he used to cope—and the near-death experience that made him rethink everything about his life—this is Lamar as you have never before seen him. Lamar brings basketball fans directly into the action of a game during the Lakers championship years. He shares his personal account of the lifelong passion that started as one shining light in a childhood marked by loss and led to his international fame as one of the most extraordinary athletes of all time. In this profoundly honest book, Lamar invites you to walk with him through the good times and bad, while looking ahead to a brighter future.

Fortune Smiles

Fortune Smiles
Author: Adam Johnson
Publisher: Random House
Total Pages: 338
Release: 2015-08-18
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0812997484

The National Book Award–winning story collection from the author of The Orphan Master’s Son offers something rare in fiction: a new way of looking at the world. “MASTERFUL.”—The Washington Post “ENTRANCING.”—O: The Oprah Magazine “PERCEPTIVE AND BRAVE.”—The New York Times Throughout these six stories, Pulitzer Prize winner Adam Johnson delves deep into love and loss, natural disasters, the influence of technology, and how the political shapes the personal, giving voice to the perspectives we don’t often hear. In “Nirvana,” a programmer whose wife has a rare disease finds solace in a digital simulacrum of the president of the United States. In “Hurricanes Anonymous,” a young man searches for the mother of his son in a Louisiana devastated by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. “George Orwell Was a Friend of Mine” follows a former warden of a Stasi prison in East Germany who vehemently denies his past, even as pieces of it are delivered in packages to his door. And in the unforgettable title story, Johnson returns to his signature subject, North Korea, depicting two defectors from Pyongyang who are trying to adapt to their new lives in Seoul, while one cannot forget the woman he left behind. WINNER OF THE STORY PRIZE • A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Miami Herald • San Francisco Chronicle • USA Today AND ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Washington Post • NPR • Marie Claire • St. Louis Post-Dispatch • BuzzFeed • The Daily Beast • Los Angeles Magazine • The Independent • BookPage • Kirkus Reviews “Remarkable . . . Adam Johnson is one of America’s greatest living writers.”—The Huffington Post “Haunting, harrowing . . . Johnson’s writing is as rich in compassion as it is in invention, and that rare combination makes Fortune Smiles worth treasuring.”—USA Today “Fortune Smiles [blends] exotic scenarios, morally compromised characters, high-wire action, rigorously limber prose, dense thickets of emotion, and, most critically, our current techno-moment.”—The Boston Globe “Johnson’s boundary-pushing stories make for exhilarating reading.”—San Francisco Chronicle

Light in the Darkness

Light in the Darkness
Author: Heino Falcke
Publisher: HarperCollins
Total Pages: 405
Release: 2021-05-04
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0063020076

The International Bestseller On April 10, 2019, award-winning astrophysicist Heino Falcke presented the first image ever captured of a black hole at an international press conference—a turning point in astronomy that Science magazine called the scientific breakthrough of the year. That photo was captured with the unthinkable commitment of an intercontinental team of astronomers who transformed the world into a global telescope. While this image achieved Falcke’s goal in making a black hole “visible” for the first time, he recognizes that the photo itself asks more questions for humanity than it answers. Light in the Darkness takes us on Falcke’s extraordinary journey to the darkest corners of the universe. From the first humans looking up at the night sky to modern astrophysics, from the study of black holes to the still-unsolved mysteries of the universe, Falcke asks, in even the greatest triumphs of science, is there room for doubts, faith, and a God? A plea for curiosity and humility, Light in the Darkness sees one of the great minds shaping the world today as he ponders the big, pressing questions that present themselves when we look up at the stars.

Walk Through Darkness

Walk Through Darkness
Author: David Anthony Durham
Publisher: Anchor
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2009-08-19
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0307561046

When he learns that his pregnant wife has been spirited off to a distant city, William responds as any man might—he drops everything to pursue her. But as a fugitive slave in Antebellum America, he must run a terrifying gauntlet, eluding the many who would re-enslave him while learning to trust the few who dare to aid him on his quest. Among those hunting William is Morrison, a Scot who as a young man fled the miseries of his homeland only to discover even more brutal realities in the New World. Bearing many scars, including the loss of his beloved brother, Morrison tracks William for reasons of his own, a personal agenda rooted in tragic events that have haunted him for decades. Following up on his award-winning debut, Gabriel’s Story, David Anthony Durham presents another riveting tale, a brilliantly drawn portrait of America before the Civil War, and a provocative meditation on racial identity, freedom and equality.

The Edge Of Darkness

The Edge Of Darkness
Author: Tom Vater
Publisher: Next Chapter
Total Pages: 879
Release: 2023-04-18
Genre: Fiction
ISBN:

A collection of three thrillers by Tom Vater, now available in one volume! The Cambodian Book Of The Dead: German detective Maier travels to Cambodia in search of the heir to a Hamburg coffee empire, but his investigation takes him on a dark and dangerous journey through the country's troubled past. Along the way, Maier encounters a cast of characters, including a mysterious scarred woman with a frightening past, a Khmer Rouge general, an expat gangster, and a group of teenage girl assassins. As he delves deeper into the investigation, Maier is led to the White Spider, a Nazi war criminal who has taken refuge in an ancient Khmer temple deep in the Cambodian jungle. Captured and imprisoned by the White Spider, Maier must confront the horrors of the past and write the biography of a mass murderer, or face his own death. The Devil's Road To Kathmandu: In 1976, Dan, Fred, Tim, and Thierry embarked on a journey along the hippie trail from London to Kathmandu. But after a drug deal gone wrong, they barely escaped with their lives. Years later, the remaining three friends receive mysterious emails inviting them to Kathmandu to collect their share of the money. They reunite, but soon find themselves entangled in a web of kidnapping and murder, spanning across the Himalayas. With the help of Dan's backpacking son, a tattooed lady, and a Buddhist angel, the ageing hippies confront their past and try to solve a 25-year-old mystery. As they venture amongst the Himalayan peaks, they are led towards a climactic showdown with their dark and dangerous history. The Green Panthers: The Green Panthers are a multi-national underground army sponsored by private entities, whose mission is to hold corporate polluters accountable. During the attempted rescue of a snow leopard in Siberia, they stumble upon Project SILEO, a plot by millionaires to abandon a dying planet due to climate change and pollution. However, the Panthers soon realize that SILEO hides an even greater threat to humanity. As they race against time to stop the Slow King's apocalyptic ambitions, which span from Britain to Thailand and the private space station Stella Blue, riots and unrest take hold worldwide. In a future world where everything is for sale, The Green Panthers explores themes of systemic corruption, capitalism, space exploration, and climate change, as well as the courage and nature of friendship.

A Bright Ray of Darkness

A Bright Ray of Darkness
Author: Ethan Hawke
Publisher: Vintage
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2021-02-02
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0385352395

The blistering story of a young man making his Broadway debut in Henry IV just as his marriage implodes—a "witty, wise, and heartfelt novel" (Washington Post) about art and love, fame and heartbreak from the acclaimed actor/writer/director. A bracing meditation on fame and celebrity, and the redemptive, healing power of art; a portrait of the ravages of disappointment and divorce; a poignant consideration of the rites of fatherhood and manhood; a novel soaked in rage and sex, longing and despair; and a passionate love letter to the world of theater, A Bright Ray of Darkness showcases Ethan Hawke's gifts as a novelist as never before. Hawke's narrator is a young man in torment, disgusted with himself after the collapse of his marriage, still half hoping for a reconciliation that would allow him to forgive himself and move on as he clumsily, and sometimes hilariously, tries to manage the wreckage of his personal life with whiskey and sex. What saves him is theater: in particular, the challenge of performing the role of Hotspur in a production of Henry IV under the leadership of a brilliant director, helmed by one of the most electrifying—and narcissistic—Falstaff's of all time. Searing, raw, and utterly transfixing, A Bright Ray of Darkness is a novel about shame and beauty and faith, and the moral power of art.

Abiding Darkness

Abiding Darkness
Author: John Aubrey Anderson
Publisher: FaithWords
Total Pages: 270
Release: 2009-09-26
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 044656530X

This sweeping saga weaves a riveting tale about a young girl's battle with one of hell's minions determined to destroy her and those closest to her. This is the first volume in the Black or White Chronicles series relating stories of life in the Deep South during its most tumultuous times.