The Only Girl in the World


Book Description

For readers of Room and The Glass Castle, an astonishing memoir of one woman's rise above an unimaginable childhood. Maude Julien's parents were fanatics who believed it was their sacred duty to turn her into the ultimate survivor -- raising her in isolation, tyrannizing her childhood and subjecting her to endless drills designed to "eliminate weakness." Maude learned to hold an electric fence for minutes without flinching, and to sit perfectly still in a rat-infested cellar all night long (her mother sewed bells onto her clothes that would give her away if she moved). She endured a life without heat, hot water, adequate food, friendship, or any kind of affectionate treatment. But Maude's parents could not rule her inner life. Befriending the animals on the lonely estate as well as the characters in the novels she read in secret, young Maude nurtured in herself the compassion and love that her parents forbid as weak. And when, after more than a decade, an outsider managed to penetrate her family's paranoid world, Maude seized her opportunity. By turns horrifying and magical, The Only Girl in the World is a story that will grip you from the first page and leave you spellbound, a chilling exploration of psychological control that ends with a glorious escape.




Soldiers of Song


Book Description

The seeds of irreverent humour that inspired the likes of Wayne and Shuster and Monty Python were sown in the trenches of the First World War, and The Dumbells—concert parties made up of fighting soldiers—were central to this process. Soldiers of Song tells their story. Lucky soldiers who could sing a song, perform a skit, or pass as a “lady,” were taken from the line and put onstage for the benefit of their soldier-audiences. The intent was to bolster morale and thereby help soldiers survive the war. The Dumbells’ popularity was not limited to troop shows along the trenches. The group also managed a run in London’s West End and became the first ever Canadian production to score a hit on Broadway. Touring Canada for some twelve years after the war, the Dumbells became a household name and made more than twenty-five audio recordings. If nationhood was won on the crest of Vimy Ridge, it was the Dumbells who provided the country with its earliest soundtrack. Pioneers of sketch comedy, the Dumbells are as important to the history of Canadian theatre as they are to the cultural history of early-twentieth-century Canada.




Edinburgh Companion to the First World War and the Arts


Book Description

A new exploration of literary and artistic responses to WW1 from 1914 to the presentThis authoritative reference work examines literary and artistic responses to the wars upheavals across a wide range of media and genres, from poetry to pamphlets, sculpture to television documentary, and requiems to war reporting. Rather than looking at particular forms of artistic expression in isolation and focusing only on the war and inter-war period, the 26 essays collected in this volume approach artistic responses to the war from a wide variety of angles and, where appropriate, pursue their inquiry into the present day. In 6 sections, covering Literature, the Visual Arts, Music, Periodicals and Journalism, Film and Broadcasting, and Publishing and Material Culture, a wide range of original chapters from experts across literature and the arts examine what means and approaches were employed to respond to the shock of war as well as asking such key questions as how and why literary and artistic responses to the war have changed over time, and how far later works of art are responses not only to the war itself, but to earlier cultural production.Key FeaturesOffers new insights into the breadth and depth of artistic responses to WWIEstablishes links and parallels across a wide range of different media and genresEmphasises the development of responses in different fields from 1914 to the present




After the Ball


Book Description

First published in 1972, Ian Whitcomb's After the Ball is an exuberant account of the origins and explosion of popular music, informed by the author's store of experience in the field as a pop sensation of The Sixties. 'Brash, learned, funny and perspicacious.... The author of this free-wheeling, diverting history was a student at Trinity College, Dublin, when he created a rock hit 'You Turn Me On,' and experienced a brief, bewildering season as a touring rock celebrity. This book... is his effort to explain that experience to himself, and, well-educated man that he is, he goes all the way back to the first pop bestseller (in sheet music, of course), 'After The Ball,' and all the way forward to the 1960s.' New Yorker 'One of the best books on popular music to come along in the last few years.... Whitcomb's own involvement with music constantly surfaces to make the book both revealing and highly enjoyable.' Seattle Times




The Secret Life of Evie Hamilton


Book Description

From the bestselling author of Behind Closed Doors and A Cornish Summer comes a funny and heart-warming look at what happens when your whole world is turned upside-down . . . 'Like a breath of fresh air. Warm, funny and has a lovely storyline' 5***** Reader Review 'Giggle out loud funny. Well written and very entertaining' 5***** Reader Review 'Funny and unpredictable. Like listening to a friend tell a good story' 5***** Reader Review ___________ Evie Hamilton's biggest worry in life is whether or not she can fit in a manicure on her way to fetch her daughter from clarinet lessons. Little does she know that her charmed and happy life is about to be turned upside-down . . . For one sunny morning a letter lands on Evie's immaculate doormat. It's a bombshell, knocking her carefully arranged and managed world completely askew as it threatens to sabotage all she holds dear. What will be left and what will change forever? Is Evie strong enough to fight for what she loves? And can her entire world really be as fragile as her best china? . . . ___________ Praise for Catherine Alliott: 'Classy, wonderfully gossipy and breathless' Red 'We defy you not to get caught up in Alliott's life-changing tale' Heat 'Alliott at her best' Daily Telegraph




Oxford Dictionary of Modern Quotations


Book Description

This new collection offers a vivid picture of the world in the 21st century, against a backdrop of the landmark events leading up to it. From Catherine Tate and the Simpsons to Mother Teresa and Winston Churchill, Modern Quotations charts the ebbs and flows of popular culture as well as marking the key voices and watersheds for our time. An authoritative look-up reference, and an enjoyable source for browsing: the perfect gift. New quotations include: 'You tried your best, and you failed miserably. The lesson is, never try.' [Homer Simpson] Matt Groening 'I ain't a communist necessarily, but I been in the red all my life.' Woody Guthrie 'I don't eat anything with a face.' Linda McCartney 'Never stop because you are afraid — you are never so likely to be wrong.' Fridtjof Nansen 'I watch where the cosmetics industry is going and then walk in the opposite direction.' Anita Roddick 'I wish I had invented blue jeans.' Yves Saint Laurent 'Fame vaporizes, money goes with the wind, and all that's left is character.' O. J. Simpson




The Collected Stories


Book Description

A collection of short stories from celebrated author William Trevor in which he shines a light on the day-to-day life of Ireland and its citizens. From his debut collection, “The Day We Got Drunk on Cake,” published in 1968, to “Family Sins” (1990), William Trevor has crafted the short story to perfection, giving us brilliant and subtle stories full of the reversals, surprises, and shadowy truths we discover in life itself. To read this volume is not just to encounter an extraordinary literary stylist, but to understand life as surely as though we were looking through the eyes of his protagonists and—deeper still—into their hearts. William Trevor: The Collected Stories includes the tales from his seven previous books, as well as four stories that have never appeared in book form in America. They depict the comforts and frustrations of life in rural Ireland, the complexities of family relationships, and the elusive grace of love. They portray the almost invisible strands that bind people to each other as well as the chains that imprison them in solitary yearning.




All I Ever Wrote: The Complete Works


Book Description

Ronnie Barker has long been known as one of Britain’s greatest comedy performers. But he was also responsible for writing much of the material he performed, often hiding the fact from the public by using a number of pen names. Showcasing the complete work of a true comic icon, All I Ever Wrote is a laugh-out-loud collection of sketches, monologues, songs, poems and scripts from every strand of Ronnie’s long and brilliant career. With gems like ‘Fork Handle’s,’ Three Classes’ and ‘Pismonouncers Unanimous', Ronnie’s clever writing, double entendres and spoonerisms will bring a smile to your face, as you rediscover some of the twentieth century’s finest comedy moments.




I'll Remember April


Book Description

"I'll Remember April" is a love story that spans seventy years and three generations of a family. Louise Ferris is an elderly woman whose adored granddaughter comes to her with a problem of the heart. The girl's story prompts Louise to reflect on her life and loves, and those of her family, told from several perspectives, beginning at the outset of the Great War.




Employee Ambassadorship


Book Description

There have been a number of professional and academic studies, in multiple industries, linking employee attitudes and behaviors with the value customers perceive in their experiences. Through targeted research, and resultant training, communication, process, and reward and recognition programs, what we define as ambassadorship formalizes the direction in which employee engagement has been trending toward for years. Simply, the trend is optimizing employee commitment to the organization and its goals, to the company’s unique value proposition, and to the customer. This is employee ambassadorship, a state beyond satisfaction and engagement where all employees are focused on, and tasked with, delivering customer value as part of their job description, irrespective of location, function or level. There is growing general agreement that both developing employee ambassadors and customer advocates should receive high priority and emphasis if an enterprise is going to be successful. What building ambassadorship does mandate, however, is that having employees focus on the customer will definitely drive more positive experiences and stronger loyalty behavior (for both stakeholder groups). Because antecedent approaches to employee engagement (through research and application) are principally about productivity and alignment, and offer an organization only modest insight about level or degree of customer-centricity, more connection between employee behavior and customer behavior builds focus, effectiveness, and profitability. That is what the content/scope of Employee Ambassadorship will help provide.