Widow, Virgin, Whore


Book Description

Three very different women−one house−one devastating diagnosis.When recently widowed Katherine Samuals purchases a home to share with her son, Christopher, and best friend, Denise Richards, the last thing she expects is to include Denise's outrageous sister, Darla Richards, into the household. But Katherine agrees because she adores Darla's daughter, Chelsea, and feels this is a good opportunity to give the young teen a real home. Living with Darla is not easy. She parties too much, sleeps around, and speaks her mind without apology. To conservative Katherine and shy Denise, Darla's behavior is intolerable. Then, Darla is diagnosed with AIDS, and the household is turned upside-down. Katherine finds herself thrown into Darla's life, first as her caregiver, then as her companion as she explores the devastating lives of AIDS sufferers. Katherine's fledgling writing career flourishes as she shares the experiences of Darla's AIDS group in newspaper articles across the country. And Denise finds true love for the first time, but struggles with the inappropriate timing of her personal happiness. Surprisingly, Darla also finds love−real love−in a time when she needs it the most. As the household struggles with the stress of living with a terminal illness, Katherine, Denise, and Darla learn just how strong their bond of friendship, and sisterhood, is.If you are a sister or best friend, you will love this story.




Poet, Mystic, Widow, Wife


Book Description

An invaluable reassessment of what we think we know about the daily lives of women in medieval Europe. Poet, Mystic, Widow, Wife charts the life and times of four medieval women--Marie de France, a poet; Julian of Norwich, a mystic and anchoress; Christine de Pizan, a widow and court writer; and Margery Kempe, a no-good wife--who all bucked convention and forged their own path. Largely forgotten by modern readers, these women have an astonishing amount to teach us about love, marriage, motherhood, friendship, and earning a living. Through these four writers, Hetta Howes engagingly reveals how everyday women lived, survived, and thrived in medieval times. Who did they marry and why? Were they expected to have children? Did they ever have extramarital affairs? Could they earn money and become self-sufficient? How did they make friends? Could they be leaders? What did they think about death--and what about life and their place in it? While in many ways the Middle Ages was a terrible time to be a woman, there were areas of life that were surprisingly progressive. Poet, Mystic, Widow, Wife paints a vibrant portrait of these women, their world, and the ways they speak to us today.




Memories


Book Description

Michael DeCara came home from the Vietnam War a wounded man, both physically and emotionally. He tried putting his life back together, but found civilian life difficult after all he'd experienced in Nam. Raising his young daughter, Vanessa, by himself after his wife left, he found it difficult to commit to one job or one woman for any length of time. Then he met a young woman who made him feel good about himself again and who fell in love with Vanessa as well. But then a life-changing event occurred and he had to choose between his past and the present. He chose to leave without a word to the young woman, believing he was doing what was best for her. Now, years later, she has walked back into his life and he believes they may have a second chance at love–except she hates him and he doesn't understand why. Danielle Westerly fell in love when she was only eighteen and her heart was broken when he left her without a word. Her heartache was increased when she made a fateful decision that would alter her future, and she blamed him for her loss. Years later, she is single and has built up a successful career when she accidently runs into the man who was responsible for her past pain. Yet, their chemistry is undeniable. Can Dani give up her anger and let go of the pain of the past and fall in love again with the man she has hated all these years? Dani and Michael share a journey of heartache, loss and painful memories that threaten to keep them apart. Can they break past these and finally find love again?




The Glass Virgin


Book Description

From bestselling author Catherine Cookson comes a compelling riches-to-rags story featuring secrets, scandal, and emotional drama set in Victorian England. Annabella Lagrange had the kind of childhood that most can only dream about. The only child of an aristocratic couple, raised on their magnificent estate in the English countryside, she was loved by her parents and coddled by servants who acquiesced to her every whim. She was allowed to do anything she wanted, except, of course, to stray too far from her wing of the house. But her seclusion didn't concern her too much, because when she grew up, she planned to marry her handsome cousin Stephen and live happily ever after. However, on the morning of her tenth birthday, Annabella ventured farther than she'd ever gone before. Overcome with curiosity, she opened a forbidden door that led into her father's private quarters, and what she found there showed her with shocking clarity that her father was not the man she thought he was. And though she couldn't know it at the time, the events of that day set in motion the uncovering of a secret that had been kept for many years. So begins the remarkable story of Annabella Lagrange, a sensitive, beautiful young woman who was raised as a lady. But when she turns eighteen, she learns the surprising circumstances of her birth, and her entire world quietly crashes around her. Suddenly she's forced from the genteel surroundings of her youth into the rough, lower-class society of Victorian England, where only her quick wit and determination can save her from starvation. Catherine Cookson was one of the world's most beloved writers, and in The Glass Virgin her powers are at their height. Rarely has a heroine been portrayed more sensitively or a situation more compellingly. Filled with passion and drama, The Glass Virgin is a rare treat for lovers of romantic fiction.




The Ones We Leave Behind


Book Description

Diane picked up her mother's phone. "How do you feel about your mother being let out of prison today after sixty-five years?" the reporter asked. Diane stared at her mother. "My grandmother is alive?" That one phone call hurled shock waves throughout the entire family.1955 - Anna Bergman Craine's life changes in an instant when she commits a crime of passion and is sentenced to life in prison. Leaving behind two young children, she is left alone in the world, never to hear from family or friends again. Decades later, she is set free and finds she has a family that has chosen to forget her. What caused this beautiful, intelligent, young woman to commit such a drastic deed that would pull her away from everyone she loved?2020 - Diane Martin is shocked to learn that not only is her maternal grandmother alive, but she's just been released after decades in prison. Against her aging mother's wishes, she visits the older woman and soon hears a tale of the events that led up to that tragic day in 1955. Diane realizes that her own life has mirrored that of her grandmother's and, had circumstances gone differently that fateful day, she might have experienced the same fate.A heart-wrenching story of a family torn apart because of a moment in time and trying to put the pieces back together after being separated for decades.




Churchill


Book Description

First Published in 1989, Churchill: The Playwright is an illuminating and comprehensive guide to Caryl Churchill’s stage, television, and radio plays. Alongside Top Girls, Fen and Serious Money, plays that have established Churchill as one of the most notable writers of the decade, Geraldine Cousin examines some of Churchill's major themes-the nature of time and the revolutionary possibilities for change- in earlier plays such as Light Shining in Buckinghamshire, Traps and Cloud Nine. Through detailed analysis Geraldine Cousin shows Churchill's development towards the challenging, innovative style and combination of pungent satire and compassion, that have made her such a successful chronicler and critic of our time. This is a must read for scholars and researchers of theatre studies.




Shakespeare's Widows


Book Description

Shakespeare s Widows moves thirty-one characters appearing in twenty plays to center stage. Through nuanced analyses, grounded in the widows material circumstances, Kehler uncovers the plays negotiations between the opposed poles of residual Catholic precept and Protestant practice - between celibacy and remarriage. Reading from a feminist materialist perspective, this book argues that Shakespeare s insights into the political and economic pressures the widows face allow them to elude mechanistic ideology. Kehler s book provides extensive historical background into the various religious and cultural attitudes towards widows in early modern England.




Medieval Single Women


Book Description

In a culture in which marriage was the desirable norm, and virginity was particularly prized in females, the categories 'virgin' and 'widow' held particular significance. This book investigates the uses of the category 'single woman'. The law gave unmarried women legal rights and responsibilities that were generally withheld from married women. The pervasiveness of religion and the law in people's day-to-day lives led to a complex interplay between moral and economic concerns in how medieval women were seen. As a result they were marked out as 'single women' in very different contexts, and his study reveals the multiplicity of ways in which dominant cultural ideas impacted on them.




Dante's Two Beloveds


Book Description

Re-examining key passages in Dante’s oeuvre in the light of the crucial issue of moral choice, this book provides a new thematic framework for interpreting the Divine Comedy. Olivia Holmes shows how Dante articulated the relationship between the human and the divine as an erotic choice between two attractive women—Beatrice and the “other woman.” Investigating the traditions and archetypes that contributed to the formation of Dante’s two beloveds, Holmes shows how Dante brilliantly overlaid and combined these paradigms in his poem. In doing so he re-imagined the two women as not merely oppositional condensations of apparently conflicting cultural traditions but also complementary versions of the same. This visionary insight sheds new light on Dante’s corpus and on the essential paradox at the poem’s heart: the unabashed eroticism of Dante’s turn away from the earthly in favor of the divine.




Sara's Promise


Book Description

Do you believe in soul mates?William Grafton had the perfect life with his lovely wife, Sara, and two wonderful children. But one day his perfect forever was shattered when Sara died suddenly, leaving him alone to raise his children and wonder how he would ever get through life without his soul mate. Five years later, he finds himself looking into a familiar pair of blue-green eyes that remind him of Sara. The woman is the exact opposite of his late wife, yet he finds he is drawn to her. But after a few strange occurrences, he begins to wonder–are these just coincidences or has his Sara come back to him as she once promised in the form of this new woman? Annie Paxton doesn't believe in soul mates or fate. She had watched her father die of a broken heart after her mother passed away and has since cast away any fairy tale ideas of love. Then she meets the man who has been haunting her dreams and she begins to see love in a whole new light. But her dream man is still tied to his deceased wife, and Annie doesn't know if he will ever be able to break away from his past. As strange occurrences unfold, Annie wonders if William could ever truly love her for herself and not for the traits that remind him of Sara.Were William and Annie brought together by fate, coincidence or by Sara keeping her promise?




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