Showing results for "Novelle" in Contemporary Fiction

Arthur MacDonald, 85, is having an end-of-life crisis. His beloved, dying wife of over 60 years no longer knows who he is. His older brother still has all his hair and a wife almost half his age. The man his middle-aged daughter is dating has a ponytail. His teenaged grandson wants to cook desserts for a living. And his daughter wants him to move into Silvermine retirement home. Then Arthur meets the gorgeous, radical, 80-something-year-old Robbie and learns that nobody is ever too old to fall in love all over again.

The rhythms of this novel are the rhythms of the land. A Place on Earth resonates with variations played on themes of change; looping transitions from war into peace, winter into spring, browning flood destruction into greening fields, absence into presence, lost into found.

In I Almost Forgot About You, Dr. Georgia Young's wonderful life--great friends, family, and successful career--aren't enough to keep her from feeling stuck and restless. When she decides to make some major changes in her life, including quitting her job as an optometrist and moving house, she finds herself on a wild journey that may or may not include a second chance at love. Georgia’s bravery reminds us that it’s never too late to become the person you want to be, and that taking chances, with your life and your heart, are always worthwhile.

In the second novel in the Pop Larkin series, the Larkin family descends upon Brittany in France. Like fish out of water, they find that things don't quite turn out their way: The weather is less than ideal, the food is awful, and the hotel is in a bad state of repair. But things slowly improve as Pop manages to sweet-talk Mlle Dupont, Angela Snow and her sister, Iris; and Charley and Mariette celebrate their first wedding anniversary. A Breath of French Air is a delightful book full of nostalgia, fun, and frivolity.

Doug Gardner is witty, sensitive and a man whose life is falling apart. A combatant in the battle of the sexes, he must cope with the problems of joint custody, sharing his son and daughter with his liberated ex-wife. By the author of Kramer vs Kramer and Prized Possessions.

Bestselling author Torey Hayden's novel is a fascinating study of a fractured family, a troubled child, and a psychiatrist's attempts to rescue them. Conor, aged nine, arrives in the play therapy room of child psychiatrist James Innes with the diagnosis "autistic". His mother Laura, an aloof, enigmatic novelist, can't handle him. His rancher father, embroiled in divorcing Laura, does not feel there is anything wrong with Conor. His six-year-old sister Morgana insists he really does see ghosts.

A novel from the director of the film Country Life. A young actor struggles to make his way in the theatre, experiencing the quick, intense relationships that flare within the closed world of the theatre as he acts out small, solid roles with a famous classical company outside of London.

The continuing adventures from Isabel Dalhousie, Edinburgh philosopher and curious observer of the behaviour of her fellow man.

For Joanna and Ted Kramer, building a life in New York City is tough but full of joy thanks to their lovely little boy, Billy. Or so it seems, until one day Joanna walks out, unable to manage the burdens of family life and her own unfulfilled ambitions. Alone with Billy, Ted begins to navigate the challenges of single parenthood and forms a bond with his son that no one can break - except the courts.

On a brisk fall night in a New York apartment, 35-year-old Billie West hears terrified screams. It's her lifelong best friend Cassie Barnwell, one floor above, and she's just realized her infant daughter has gone missing. Billie is shaken as she looks down into her own arms to see the baby, remembering—with a jolt of fear—that she is responsible for the kidnapping that has instantly shattered Cassie’s world.

For a God whom philosophers have proclaimed dead, there’s only one thing to do: drum up a little publicity. “God grants you an interview. Go to 600 Madison Ave., room 3700, Monday, at 11 a.m.” When a struggling writer receives this typed note in the mail one morning, curiosity wins out and he finds himself keeping this mysterious appointment. Soon he’s in an ordinary conference room with an intercom on the floor, furiously scribbling shorthand notes as he interviews God.

Twenty years have passed since Mary Ann Singleton left her husband and child in San Francisco to pursue her dream of a career in New York. Now a pair of personal calamities has driven her back to the city of her youth and into the arms of her friend, Michael "Mouse" Tolliver, a gardener happily ensconced with his much-younger husband. Mary Ann finds refuge in the couple's backyard cottage, where, at the unnerving age of 57, she licks her wounds and takes stock of her mistakes.

While growing up, Joe Farroni almost never saw his Uncle Rocco, and when Joe asked his parents about the man, they’d kept their lips zipped. Only when Joe is an adult - a writer struggling with a mortgage and two kids - does he discover his uncle’s identity as the sneakiest, slipperiest, most successful conman to ever grace the streets of New York City. Now Rocco has passed away, and left it to Joe, his only heir, to write the story of his master schemes.

Suspenseful, comic, and profoundly moving, the latest novel in Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City series follows one of literature's most beloved and indelible characters as she embarks on a road trip that will take her deep into her complicated past. Now 92, and committed to the notion of "leaving like a lady", Mrs. Madrigal has seemingly found peace with her "logical family" in San Francisco: her devoted caretaker, Jake Greenleaf; her former tenant Brian Hawkins and his daughter, Shawna; and Michael Tolliver and Mary Ann Singleton, who have known Anna for nearly four decades.

A beleaguered young editor at a famous girly magazine swears off sex, only to find himself more deeply mired in lust and love than ever before. There are perks to working at a men's magazine that unabashedly celebrates the unclothed female form. However, the constant parade of exquisitely beautiful women strolling in and out of Oliver Bacon's office can prove most distracting. Oliver opts to treat his situation with extreme measures: he resolves to try celibacy. But being chaste is easier said than done when one is toiling in a garden of earthly delights, with temptation blooming all around.

They were born on the same day, in the same small New Hampshire hospital, into families that could hardly have been less alike. Ruth Plank is an artist and a romantic with a rich, passionate, imaginative life. The last of five girls born to a gentle, caring farmer and his stolid wife, she yearns to soar beyond the confines of the land that has been her family's birthright for generations. Dana Dickerson is a scientist and realist whose faith is firmly planted in the natural world.

Denise Hilton, a young single mother, is driving through Edenton, North Carolina, when her car skids off the road during a storm. With her is her four-year-old son, Kyle, a boy with severe learning disabilities for whom she has sacrificed everything. When volunteer fireman Taylor McAden finds her she is unconscious and bleeding, but when she wakes an even more chilling truth becomes clear: Kyle is gone.

It’s seven years after the events of Sideways. Miles has written a novel that has been made into a wildly successful movie, and the movie has changed his life. Jack, contrarily, is divorced, has a kid, and is on the skids. Phyllis, Miles’ mom, has suffered a stroke that’s left her wheelchair-bound and wasting away in assisted living. She desperately wants to live with her sister in Wisconsin. When Miles gets invited to be master of ceremonies at the International Pinot Festival in Oregon, he hatches a harebrained road trip.

During the day, the heat of June clashes with the start of the rainy season, while at night, the fragrance of damp leaves flows through the open window. But the coming of summer does little to warm Lily’s spirits. As the world turns slower than it did yesterday, a new emptiness appears which the vibrant colours fail to fill.

In the world of interconnected novels by Louise Erdrich, Four Souls is most closely linked to Tracks. All these works continue and elaborate on the intricate story of life on a reservation peopled by saints and false saints, heroes and sinners, clever fools and tenacious women. Louise Erdrich reminds us of the deep spirituality and the ordinary humanity of this world, and these works are as beautiful and lyrical as anything she has written.