Sandrine's Letter to Tomorrow


Book Description

Despite being a straight-A student and voracious reader, eight-year-old Sandrine is treated as little more than a servant by her mother, who forces her to clean, do chores and take care of her sister. On top of this, she must confront growing up in 1970s New Orleans, where men follow her home from school and she is ostracised because she is a light-skinned black girl. Her only refuge is with her beloved grandmother, but after her death, Sandrine realises that she must escape from her mother - and New Orleans - if she is to have any kind of future.




Tomorrow's Economy


Book Description

How we can achieve healthy growth--more regenerative than destructive, restoring equity rather than exacerbating inequalities. In Tomorrow's Economy, Per Espen Stoknes reframes the hot-button issue of economic growth. Going beyond the usual dialectic of pro-growth versus anti-growth, Stoknes calls for healthy growth. Healthy economic growth is more regenerative than destructive, repairs problems rather than greenwashing them, and restores equity rather than exacerbating global inequalities. Stoknes--a psychologist, economist, climate strategy researcher, and green-tech entrepreneur--argues that we have the tools to achieve healthy growth, but our success depends on transformations in government practices and individual behavior. Stoknes provides a compass to guide us toward the mindset, mechanisms, and possibilities of healthy growth.




The Diving Bell and the Butterfly


Book Description

A triumphant memoir by the former editor-in-chief of French Elle that reveals an indomitable spirit and celebrates the liberating power of consciousness. In 1995, Jean-Dominique Bauby was the editor-in-chief of French Elle, the father of two young children, a 44-year-old man known and loved for his wit, his style, and his impassioned approach to life. By the end of the year he was also the victim of a rare kind of stroke to the brainstem. After 20 days in a coma, Bauby awoke into a body which had all but stopped working: only his left eye functioned, allowing him to see and, by blinking it, to make clear that his mind was unimpaired. Almost miraculously, he was soon able to express himself in the richest detail: dictating a word at a time, blinking to select each letter as the alphabet was recited to him slowly, over and over again. In the same way, he was able eventually to compose this extraordinary book. By turns wistful, mischievous, angry, and witty, Bauby bears witness to his determination to live as fully in his mind as he had been able to do in his body. He explains the joy, and deep sadness, of seeing his children and of hearing his aged father's voice on the phone. In magical sequences, he imagines traveling to other places and times and of lying next to the woman he loves. Fed only intravenously, he imagines preparing and tasting the full flavor of delectable dishes. Again and again he returns to an "inexhaustible reservoir of sensations," keeping in touch with himself and the life around him. Jean-Dominique Bauby died two days after the French publication of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. This book is a lasting testament to his life.




The Witch of Painted Sorrows


Book Description

Possession. Power. Passion. New York Times bestselling novelist M.J. Rose creates her most provocative spellbinder to date in this gothic novel set against the lavish backdrop of Belle Époque Paris. Indie Next Pick • Library Reads Pick • People Magazine Pick • Boston Globe Pick of the Week Called an “elegant tale of rare depth and beauty, as brilliantly crafted as it is wondrously told” by the Providence Journal, The Witch of Painted Sorrows “melds the normal and paranormal in the kind of seamless fashion reserved for such classic ghost stories as Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw.” New York socialite Sandrine Salome flees an abusive husband for her grandmother’s Paris mansion, despite warnings that the lavish family home is undergoing renovation and too dangerous to enter. There Sandrine meets Julien Duplessi, a mesmerizing architect who introduces her to the City of Lights—its art world, forbidden occult underground, nightclubs—and to her own untapped desires. Soon Sandrine’s husband tracks her down and an insidious spirit takes hold: La Lune, a witch and a legendary sixteenth-century courtesan who exposes Sandrine to a deadly darkness. “M.J. Rose has a talent for compelling writing, and this time she has outdone herself. Fear, desire, lust, and raw emotion ooze off the page,” says the Associated Press. In her instantly absorbing tour de force, Rose imagines Sandrine’s “wild night of the soul” dramatically underwritten by a tragic love story and a family curse that illuminates the fine line between explosive passion and complete ruination.




Human Rights and the Care of the Self


Book Description

When we think of human rights we assume that they are meant to protect people from serious social, legal, and political abuses and to advance global justice. In Human Rights and the Care of the Self Alexandre Lefebvre turns this assumption on its head, showing how the value of human rights also lies in enabling ethical practices of self-transformation. Drawing on Foucault's notion of "care of the self," Lefebvre turns to some of the most celebrated authors and activists in the history of human rights–such as Mary Wollstonecraft, Henri Bergson, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Charles Malik–to discover a vision of human rights as a tool for individuals to work on, improve, and transform themselves for their own sake. This new perspective allows us to appreciate a crucial dimension of human rights, one that can help us to care for ourselves in light of pressing social and psychological problems, such as loneliness, fear, hatred, patriarchy, meaninglessness, boredom, and indignity.




Oh, the Places You'll Go!


Book Description

Dr. Seuss’s wonderfully wise Oh, the Places You’ll Go! celebrates all of our special milestones—from graduations to birthdays and beyond! “[A] book that has proved to be popular for graduates of all ages since it was first published.”—The New York Times From soaring to high heights and seeing great sights to being left in a Lurch on a prickle-ly perch, Dr. Seuss addresses life’s ups and downs with his trademark humorous verse and whimsical illustrations. The inspiring and timeless message encourages readers to find the success that lies within, no matter what challenges they face. A perennial favorite for anyone starting a new phase in their life!




The Dark


Book Description

ONE DEAD BODY. TWELVE SUSPECTS. TWENTY-FOUR-HOUR DARKNESS. 'Outstanding ... Haughton writes vividly about a claustrophobic community ... her novel really is a superlative locked-room mystery' Sunday Times (Crime Book of the Month) 'Haughton has created a fantastically atmospheric setting ... it's a chilling race to the finish to discover whodunnit' Observer In the most inhospitable environment - cut off from the rest of the world - there's a killer on the loose. A&E doctor Kate North has been knocked out of her orbit by a personal tragedy. So when she's offered the opportunity to be an emergency replacement at the UN research station in Antarctica, she jumps at the chance. The previous doctor, Jean-Luc, died in a tragic accident while out on the ice. The move seems an ideal solution for Kate: no one knows about her past; no one is checking up on her. But as total darkness descends for the winter, she begins to suspect that Jean-Luc's death wasn't accidental at all. And the more questions she asks, the more dangerous it becomes . . . 'A sense of growing menace pervades ... the freezing wasteland and claustrophobic workings of the research station are finely rendered' Financial Times 'The kind of heart-pounding, sleep-stealing read that you want to recommend to everyone you meet. An absolutely thrilling book' CASS GREEN 'Chilling and atmospheric . . . had me turning the pages late into the night' MARK EDWARDS 'Tense, thrilling and unpredictable, with one of the most unique and dangerous settings imaginable' ALLIE REYNOLDS 'Set against the dangerous sub-zero temperatures end endless night of the Antarctic... Brilliantly atmospheric and terrifying' CATHERINE COOPER 'Tense, twisted and quite literally chilling - a locked room mystery in a unique setting where no one can be trusted' SUSI HOLLIDAY 'Atmospheric, original and full of tension' AMANDA JENNINGS 'A real edge-of-the-seat plot. I loved it. Original and accomplished' J.A. CORRIGAN




The Routledge Guidebook to Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Woman


Book Description

Mary Wollstonecraft was one of the greatest philosophers and writers of the Eighteenth century. During her brief career, she wrote novels, treatises, a travel narrative, a history of the French Revolution, a conduct book, and a children's book. Her most celebrated and widely-read work is A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. This Guidebook introduces: Wollstonecraft’s life and the background to A Vindication of the Rights of Woman The ideas and text of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman Wollstonecraft’s enduring influence in philosophy and our contemporary intellectual life It is ideal for anyone coming to Wollstonecraft’s classic text for the first time and anyone interested in the origins of feminist thought.







The Equality Illusion


Book Description

In The Equality Illusion, 'the most influential young feminist in the country' ( Guardian) and UK Feminista founder Kat Banyard argues passionately and articulately that feminism continues to be one of the most urgent and relevant social justice campaigns today. Women have made huge strides in equality over the last century. And yet: Women working full-time in the UK are paid on average 17% less an hour than men 1 in 3 women worldwide has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused because of her gender Of parliamentary seats across the globe only 15% are held by women and fewer than 20% of UK MPs are women 96% of executive directors of the UK's top hundred companies are men Structuring the book around a normal day, Banyard sets out the major issues for twenty-first century feminism, from work and education to sex, relationships and having children. She draws on her own campaigning experience as well as academic research and dozens of her own interviews. The book also includes information on how to get involved in grassroots action.