Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend


Book Description

From beloved New York Times bestselling author Jenny Colgan, a heartwarming and hilarious comedy about a pampered London socialite forced to live life among the common folk. Sophie Chesterton is London’s “It Girl”. She knows all the right people, goes to all the right parties, and wears all the right clothes…and her rich parents pay for everything. But deep down she suspects that her best “friends”—and her posh lifestyle--are nothing but shallow fakes. Then one evening Sophie’s life takes a shocking, drastic turn, and her father decides it’s high time for the party girl to make her own way in the world. Forced to earn a meager living as a lowly assistant to a “glamour” photographer, live in a shabby flat with four smelly boys, and eat baked beans from the can—Sophie is desperate to get her old life back, at any cost. But does a girl really need diamonds to be happy? Full of warmth and sparkle, Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend is a surprisingly winning tale about luxury, life lessons, and the surprisingly low cost of true happiness.




A Girl's Best Friend


Book Description

The prey becomes the predator. Love. That cursed four-letter word no longer belongs in Bryna’s vocabulary. The only four-letter word she knows now is gold. …and fuck. She’s well acquainted with that one. And that’s exactly what she plans to do. She’s no longer the golden girl, and when she meets a businessman who promises everything she could ever want from the arrangement, she intends to get her money’s worth. Follow the conclusion to Bryna’s golddigging story in this scandalizing, duplicitous second book to the USA Today bestselling author K.A. Linde’s All That Glitters series.




The Diamond Girls


Book Description

Dixie is the youngest Diamond girl. She and her sisters - dreamy Martine, glamorous Rochelle and tough Jude - could hardly be more different, but their mum has always tried to teach them the value of sticking together. Now Mum's expecting yet another baby, and she's convinced this one's a boy. She insists they move to a bigger place - but it's rough, dilapidated and filthy, and before they've even unpacked, Mum's gone into labour! Can the Diamond girls pull together in time for her to come home? And will anyone spot Mum's little secret but Dixie?




My Life as a Diamond


Book Description

A heartwarming, funny, fast-paced story about the bravery it takes to live as your true self, no matter the cost. Ten-year-old Caspar "Caz" Cadman loves baseball and has a great arm. He loves the sounds, the smells, the stats. When his family moves from Toronto to a suburb of Seattle, the first thing he does is try out for the local summer team, the Redburn Ravens. Even though Caz is thrilled when he makes the team, he worries because he has a big secret. No one in this city knows that before Caz told his parents he was a boy, he lived a very different life. It's nobody's business. Caz will tell his new friends when he's ready. But when a player on a rival team starts snooping around, Caz's past is revealed, and Caz worries it will be Toronto all over again. Will Caz's teammates rally behind their star pitcher? Or will Caz be betrayed once more? The epub edition of this title is fully accessible.




Diamond Willow


Book Description

There's more to me than most people see. Twelve-year-old Willow would rather blend in than stick out. But she still wants to be seen for who she is. She wants her parents to notice that she is growing up. She wants her best friend to like her better than she likes a certain boy. She wants, more than anything, to mush the dogs out to her grandparents' house, by herself, with Roxy in the lead. But sometimes when it's just you, one mistake can have frightening consequences . . . And when Willow stumbles, it takes a surprising group of friends to help her make things right again. Using diamond-shaped poems inspired by forms found in polished diamond willow sticks, Helen Frost tells the moving story of Willow and her family. Hidden messages within each diamond carry the reader further, into feelings Willow doesn't reveal even to herself. Diamond Willow is a 2009 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.




Precious Objects


Book Description

In the middle of New York City lies a neighborhood where all secrets are valuable, all assets are liquid, and all deals are sealed with a blessing rather than a contract. Welcome to the diamond district. Ninety percent of all diamonds that enter America pass through these few blocks, but the inner workings of this mysterious world are known only to the people who inhabit it. In Precious Objects, twenty-six-year-old journalist Alicia Oltuski, the daughter and granddaughter of diamond dealers, seamlessly blends family narrative with literary reportage to reveal the fascinating secrets of the diamond industry and its madcap characters: an Elvis-impersonating dealer, a duo of diamond-detective brothers, and her own eccentric father. With insight and drama, Oltuski limns her family’s diamond-paved move from communist Siberia to a displaced persons camp in post–World War II Germany to New York’s diamond district, exploring the connections among Jews and the industry, the gem and its lore, and the exotic citizens of this secluded world. Entertaining and illuminating, Precious Objects offers an insider’s look at the history, business, and society behind one of the world’s most coveted natural resources, providing an unforgettable backstage pass to an extraordinary and timeless show.




Best Friends


Book Description




Diamond Spirit


Book Description

A man Jess had never seen before stood holding the flyscreen door open. 'Do you own an Appaloosa pony?' he asked. 'Yes.' 'It's stuck in the cattle grid down near the old drovers' yards.' Jess's blood ran cold. At the start of the summer holidays, the unthinkable happens when Jess's beloved pony Diamond has a terrible accident. Why won't Shara, Jess's closest friend, tell her what happened down on the river flats that day? Jess suspects the worst, and feels as though she's lost not just one best friend, but two. But new friends and new horses come into Jess's life, along with the chance to compete in the Longwood campdraft. And there's one little filly who needs her help... Can Walkabout heal Jess's broken heart in return?




The Queen's Diamonds


Book Description

Published on the occasion of the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II, this book tells the story of the royal inheritance of diamonds from the time of Queen Adelaide in the 1830s to Elizabeth II.




The Lives of Diamond Bessie


Book Description

Diamonds aren’t always a girl’s best friend. Pregnant out of wedlock, sixteen-year-old Annie Moore is sent to live at a convent for fallen women. When the nuns take her baby, Annie escapes, determined to find a way to be reunited with her daughter. But few rights or opportunities are available to a woman in the 1860s, and after failing to find a respectable job, Annie resorts to prostitution in order to survive. As a highly sought-after demi-mondaine, Annie—now Bessie—garners many expensive gifts from her admirers, and eventually meets and marries the son of a wealthy jeweler. With her marriage, she believes her dream of returning to proper society has finally come true. She’s proven wrong when she suffers the ultimate betrayal at the hands of the man she thought would be her salvation. But Bessie doesn’t let her story end there. Inspired by a true story and set amid the burgeoning women’s rights movement, The Lives of Diamond Bessie is a haunting tale of betrayal and redemption that explores whether seeking revenge is worth the price you might pay. “Drawing on a true story, Hadlock uses authentic period detail and well-drawn characters to pull readers into Annie/Bessie’s precarious journey toward redemption, which comes to an unexpected ending. This affecting tale of a 19th-century American woman struggling to prove her worth other than as a marriage prospect leaves a lasting impression.” —Publishers Weekly