Showing results for "Clay" in Family Life

Random House presents the audiobook edition of Bridge of Clay by Markus Zusak. From the internationally acclaimed, prize-winning, best-selling author of The Book Thief, here is a story told backwards and inside out. The five Dunbar brothers are living - fighting, dreaming, loving - in the perfect squalor of a house without grownups. Today, the father who abandoned them is about to walk back in. But why has he returned, and who have the boys become since he left?

In 1943, when a frail old white woman shows up in Red Clay, Alabama, at the home of a Black former slave—on the morning following his funeral—his family hardly knows what to expect after she utters the words “… a lifetime ago, my family owned yours.” Adelaide Parker has a story to tell—one of ambition, betrayal, violence, and redemption—that shaped both the fate of her family and that of the late Felix H. Parker. But there are gaps in her knowledge, and she’s come to Red Clay seeking answers from a family with whom she shares a name and a history that neither knows in full.

Vincent Appleton smiles at his daughters, raises a gun, and blows off his head. For the Appleton sisters, life had unraveled many times before. This time it explodes. Eight-year-old Hariet, known to all as Ari, is dispatched to Cape Breton and her Aunt Mary, who is purported to eat little girls. With Ari on the journey is her steadfast companion, Jasper, an imaginary seahorse. But when they arrive in Pleasant Cove, they instead find refuge with Mary and her partner Nia.

When Morwen Tremayne read her vows to Ben Killigrew, now master of the greatest clay works in Cornwall, she swore to stay by his side until death parted them. Had she known how closely she would have to hold to those words, she would still have sworn them a thousand times and with all her heart....

Deep down she knew she was only dreaming, knew that whatever feelings she cherished for him could never be fully returned. After all, he was the heir to the biggest clay works in all of Cornwall, and she was but the daughter of one of their workmen. For just as an unexpected passion began to blossom between Morwen Tremayne and Ben Killigrew, the fates seemed determined to stifle its growth. A long, bitter struggle between owner and workforce brought about Charles Killigrew’s sudden illness, and with it Ben’s summons to the head of the family firm.

Anna, Bett and Carrie Quinlan were childhood singing stars, the Alphabet Sisters. Years later, Lola, their larger-than-life grandmother, summons them home for her 80th birthday extravaganza and a surprise announcement - she wants them to revive their singing careers and stage a musical she has written. Rehearsals get underway, and family secrets begin to be shared and revealed. But just as the rifts begin to close, the Alphabet Sisters face a test they never imagined.

Vincent Appleton smiles at his daughters, raises a gun, and blows off his head. For the Appleton sisters, life had unravelled many times before. This time it explodes. Eight-year-old Hariet, known to all as Ari, is dispatched to Cape Breton and her aunt Mary, who offers an unexpected refuge to Ari and her steadfast companion, Jasper, an imaginary seahorse. Yet the respite does not last, and Ari is forced back to her twisted mother and her brutal boyfriend, Dick Irwin.

After Sara’s father, famous sculptor Thomas “TR” Harlow, is badly injured in a fire, she’s suddenly forced to care for a man who is more of a stranger than a parent. Once known as his muse, Sara long ago lost her father to his desire to live the celebrity life. Now TR’s abrasive and unpredictable presence in her home is reopening old wounds - and causing the rift in her already-strained marriage to deepen. As her young son begins bonding with the grandfather he never knew, Sara must decide if she can find it within herself to forgive the man who broke her heart all those years ago.

If Nick has learned anything since that day, it's that you don't always get what you want out of life. He certainly doesn't want to get beat up every day because of the choices his parents have made, but trying to explain the unfairness of it all to the black-haired bully following him around wouldn't be very helpful. Something has to change, and if the adults around him aren't willing to take steps to bring about that change, perhaps Nick just might.

Colt Ballard is a professional team roper with the talent to go all the way, but the loss of his parents from a car accident during his childhood has him fighting an emotional obstacle that keeps him from reaching the pinnacle of success. After being pushed out by the PRCA, Colt realizes his dilemma and accepts the advice of his late father's friend to take a summer job helping out at a rodeo camp in New Mexico.