A Mirror to Kathleen's Face


Book Description

First published in 1975, Donald Akenson's book was at the forefront of a radically new approach to the study of Irish educational history. Instead of investigating the evolution of the schools as an isolated process, he explores the complex interrelations of Irish education, institutions and society, treating the schools as cultural litmus paper. By presenting Ireland's schools as a reflection of the society that produced them, Professor Akenson demonstrates that they are, in truth, "a mirror to the face of Kathleen ni Houlihan".




A Mirror to Kathleen's Face


Book Description

First published in 1975, Donald Akenson’s book was at the forefront of a radically new approach to the study of Irish educational history. Instead of investigating the evolution of the schools as an isolated process, he explores the complex interrelations of Irish education, institutions and society, treating the schools as cultural litmus paper. By presenting Ireland’s schools as a reflection of the society that produced them, Professor Akenson demonstrates that they are, in truth, "a mirror to the face of Kathleen ni Houlihan".










Moon Alley


Book Description

A fathers decision to undertake a do-it-yourself-project for his daughter is made not with love, but spite; a daughter returns to the home of her childhood not so much to attend her fathers funeral, as to carry out a long-planned revenge; once a month a professor leaves campus to look in on her senile mother, only to find herself caught in a test of will and wit, and unaware that it is a contest in which the winners always lose; a waitress who nightly pines for the one she had allowed to slip away, uncharacteristically reaches out for one intense moment of intimacy with a mysterious stranger. Those are the stories of just a few of the people whose lives are played out in Moon Alley. David Applebys carefully crafted stories are written in what the New England Review has termed, an easy, fluid style, and that, entwined with compassion, and an acute awareness of language, provides the reader of Moon Alley with a compelling look into the lives of those who live there. WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING Grady Harp, Los Angeles, CA United States David Appleby is no newcomer to the field of writing, having composed two monographs stimulated by his experience as a grant recipient in creative writing, history and literature. But none of this incidental information prepares the reader for the solidly unique voice contained in the pages of MOON ALLEY, his first novel. Appleby writes with lucidity yet at the same time requires of the reader full attention to the microweavings of his narrative, a fine, almost Joycean rambling of apparent stories that on first appearance seem to be a collection of short stories only to capture us in his ever expanding web of time and place and atmosphere and recognition into a true novel. MOON ALLEY is a dark book, a journey into the Irish American neighborhood of Philadelphia complete with all the detritus that the passage of time and industrial changes in America wreck on once tender ethnic havens of new immigrants. Moon Alley is a dead end dirty place where sundry characters live, drink, face failure, struggle for escape from the destiny that has befallen the neighborhood. The gathering places, in Applebys gifted hands become visual, complete with the stench of old beer, dank rooms, the neighborhood bar McFaddens Saloon containing The Ladies Room approached through the back entrance where the women gather to drink away their lives and gossip like a feminine mirror of the sots in the front bar, Charlies Diner, St Apollonias parish and highschool, the el (elevated train) which carries the noisy trains along The Avenue which dims the squalor and arguments to a muffled frustration, and the apartments and homes that house the down and out folks who live here. The characters, while similar in environmental shadows, are as varied as any fine novel: Irish Tom drinks his life away, Fiona tends the customers, Megan is a waitress in the Diner and confronts her lonely solitude in strange ways including attempting to befriend a flasher, Johnny One Ball and his thwarted dreams of having a son, Old Lady Ryan, and Soapbox Cathy Malloy and Kathleen OConnor who managed to advance to higher education only to be pulled back into the home they escaped due to a parent with senility or a father who died a strange death preburied in cement. Each character moves from a minor set decoration in one story to the focal figure in another and another, so that by the end of the novel we know all sides of these degraded people. As one character phrases the conditions of Moon Alley and The Avenue Kathleen had likened the emotionally impoverished lives lived on The Avenue to a disease - something like polio, or tuberculosis - something so severe that, if she didnt escape its gray and gloomy view of life, with its mute acceptance of poverty, and its blind obedience to St. Apollonias, that if she followed her mothers lead and contented herself wi




The Dream of the Decade (2006)


Book Description

A quartet following the lives and themes that dominated living in Britain and America in the 1980s, examining the growth of finance, property, media and terrorism.




Kathleen's Surrender


Book Description

DIVA Southern debutante falls in love with a headstrong gambler/divDIV In the unforgiving heat of the Deep South, the cotton barons of Mississippi have created an idyllic playground for their wives and daughters—a playground that Kathleen Beauregard is dying to escape. Trapped in her father’s mansion, she spends her days dreaming of being rescued by a handsome Southern gentleman. Unbeknownst to her, there is a striking young man who has long worshipped her from afar. But though he may be charming, Dawson Blakely is far from a prince./divDIV /divDIVKathleen meets the well-traveled gambler at one of her father’s interminable parties. Blakely has rough manners and a hot temper; and though she knows he is wrong for her, Kathleen cannot resist him. When these two star-crossed Southerners connect, Dixie will burn before it keeps them apart./div




The Cream of the Jest


Book Description

High quality reprint of The Cream of the Jest by James Branch Cabell.




Delphi Complete Works of James Branch Cabell (Illustrated)


Book Description

The mid-twentieth century American author James Branch Cabell made a significant contribution to the development of fantasy fiction. Famous exponents of the genre such as ‘Jurgen’ and ‘The Silver Stallion’ are noted for their satirical and mannered style, sexual symbolism and for exploring a unique philosophy of life. His landmark series of books, entitled ‘Biography of the Life of Manuel’, are set in the imaginary medieval province of Poictesme, offering the reader an escape from real life, while employing a sceptical view of human experience. For the first time in publishing history, this eBook presents Cabell’s complete fictional works, with numerous illustrations, many rare texts, informative introductions and the usual Delphi bonus material. (Version 1) * Beautifully illustrated with images relating to Cabell’s life and works * Concise introductions to the major texts * The complete ‘Biography of the Life of Manuel’, with individual contents tables * Special ‘Storisende Index’ page, with hyperlinks to the series in narrative order * Features many rare books appearing for the first time in digital publishing * Images of how the books were first published, giving your eReader a taste of the original texts * Excellent formatting of the texts * Famous works are fully illustrated with their original artwork * The complete ‘Heirs and Assigns’ trilogy * The complete ‘The Nightmare Has Triplets’ trilogy * Rare poetry, stories and essays available in no other collection * Cabell’s autobiography, digitised here for the first time * Features the important collection of essays ‘Quiet, Please’ * Ordering of texts into chronological order and genres Please note: ‘The St Johns’ (1943), a non-fiction book and the first part of the ‘It Happened in Florida’ trilogy, was co-written with Alfred J. Hanna and so cannot appear in this eBook, due to copyright restrictions (release date 2029). CONTENTS: Storisende Index to ‘Biography of the Life of Manuel’ Biography of the Life of Manuel Series: The Eagle’s Shadow (1904) The Line of Love (1905) Gallantry (1907) The Cords of Vanity (1909) Chivalry (1909) The Soul of Melicent (1913) The Rivet in Grandfather’s Neck (1915) The Certain Hour (1916) From the Hidden Way (1916) The Cream of the Jest (1917) Some Ladies and Jurgen (1918) Beyond Life (1919) Jurgen (1919) The Judging of Jurgen (1920) Figures of Earth (1921) Taboo (1921) The Jewel Merchants (1921) The Lineage of Lichfield (1922) The High Place (1923) Straws and Prayer-Books (1924) The Music From Behind the Moon (1926) The Silver Stallion (1926) Something about Eve (1927) The White Robe (1928) The Way of Ecben (1929) Sonnets from Antan (1929) Preface to the Past (1936) ‘The Nightmare Has Triplets’ Trilogy Smirt (1934) Smith (1935) Smire (1937) ‘It Happened in Florida’ Trilogy There Were Two Pirates (1946) The Devil’s Own Dear Son (1949) ‘Heirs and Assigns’ Trilogy The King Was in His Counting House (1938) Hamlet Had an Uncle (1940) The First Gentleman of America (1942) The Non-Fiction Quiet, Please (1952) The Autobiography As I Remember It (1955) Please visit www.delphiclassics.com to browse through our range of exciting titles or to purchase this eBook as a Parts Edition of individual eBooks




The Family Friend


Book Description