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The Boy in the Moon: A Father's Journey to Understand His Extraordinary Son
by Ian Brown“The truth Brown learns from his severely disabled child is a rare one: The life that seems to destroy you is the one you long to embrace.” —New York Times Book ReviewIan Brown’s son Walker is one of only about 300 people worldwide diagnosed with cardiofaciocutaneous (CFC) syndrome—an extremely rare genetic mutation that results in unusual facial appearance, the inability to speak, and a compulsion to hit himself constantly. At age thirteen, he is mentally and developmentally between one and three years old and will need constant care for the rest of his life.Brown travels the globe, meeting with genetic scientists and neurologists as well as parents, to solve the questions Walker’s doctors can’t answer. In his journey, he offers an insightful critique of society’s assumptions about the disabled, and he discovers a connected community of families living with this illness. As Brown gradually lets go of his self-blame and hope for a cure, he learns to accept the Walker he loves, just as he is.Honest, intelligent, and deeply moving, The Boy in the Moon explores the value of a single human life.“Candid . . . heartwrenching. . . . Much more than a moving journal of life with a disabled child; it is about Brown’s quest to understand his son and his son’s condition . . . An absorbing, revealing work of startling frankness.” —Kirkus Reviews“Unforgettable . . . Crisp, observant and, occasionally, subversively funny.” —Cleveland Plain Dealer”Honest and deeply moving.” —Tucson Citizen“[A] beautiful book, heartfelt and profound, warm and wise.” —Jane Bernstein, author of Loving Rachel and Rachel in the World
The Boy in the Picture: The Craigellachie Kid and the Driving of the Last Spike
by Ray ArgyleEdward Mallandaine was there! To prove it he thrust himself into the historic photograph of the "Last Spike" being driven to mark the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Surrounded by the railway dignitaries of the time, his young face peers out amid their frosty beards. Edward had just turned eighteen when he left his home in Victoria, British Columbia, to join the Canadian militia to fight Louis Riel in the North-West Rebellion of 1885. Hired to ride dispatches over the unfinished stretch of railway in British Columbia, he meets highway men, high officials, men of the North-West Mounted Police, and the denizens of saloons hidden away in mountain passes. He survives the lawlessness of remote towns and railway camps, rubs shoulders with Chinese labourers struggling to blast a right-of-way through the towering peaks of Eagle Pass, and makes a freezing midnight ride by railway flatcar to reach the outpost of Craigellachie just in time.
The Boy in the Woods: A True Story of Survival During the Second World War
by Maxwell SmartThe astonishing true story of a boy who survived the war by hiding in the Polish forest Maxwell Smart was eleven years old when his entire family was killed before his eyes. He might have died along with them, but his mother selflessly ordered him to save himself. Alone in the forest, he dug a hole in the ground for shelter and foraged for food in farmers’ fields. His clothes in rags and close to starvation, he repeatedly escaped death at the hands of Nazis.After months alone, Maxwell encountered a boy wandering in the forest looking for food. Janek was also alone; like Maxwell he had just become an orphan, and the two quickly became friends. They built a bunker in the ground to survive through the winter. One day, after a massacre took place nearby, the boys discovered a baby girl, still alive, lying in the arms of her dead mother. Maxwell and Janek rescued the baby, but this act came at a great cost. Max’s epic tale of heroism will inspire with its proof of the enduring human spirit. From the brutality of war emerges a man who would become a celebrated artist, offering the world, in contrast to the horrors of his suffering, beautiful works of art. The Boy in the Woods is a remarkable historical document about a time that should never be forgotten.
The Boy on Fairfield Street
by Kathleen KrullAn award-winning author zeros in on the formative first 22 years of the life of Ted Geisel. Featuring decorative illustrations by Dr. Seuss, this picture book biography is written especially for his young fans.
The Boy on Fairfield Street: How Ted Geisel Grew Up to Become Dr. Seuss
by Kathleen KrullIntroduces the life of renowned children's book author and illustrator Ted Geisel, popularly known as Dr. Seuss, focusing on his childhood and youth in Springfield, Massachusetts.
The Boy on the Beach: My Family's Escape from Syria and Our Hope for a New Home
by Tima KurdiAn intimate and poignant memoir about the family of Alan Kurdi—the young Syrian boy who became the global emblem for the desperate plight of millions of Syrian refugees—and of the many extraordinary journeys the Kurdis have taken, spanning countries and continents.Alan Kurdi’s body washed up on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea on September 2, 2015, and overnight, the political became personal, as the world awoke to the reality of the Syrian refugee crisis. Tima Kurdi first saw the shocking photo of her nephew in her home in Vancouver, Canada. But Tima did not need a photo to understand the truth—she and her family had already been living it. In The Boy on the Beach, Tima recounts her idyllic childhood in Syria, where she grew up with her brother Abdullah and other siblings in a tight‑knit family. A strong‑willed, independent woman, Tima studied to be a hairdresser and had dreams of seeing the world. At twenty‑two, she emigrated to Canada, but much of her family remained in Damascus. Life as a single mother and immigrant in a new country wasn’t always easy, and Tima recounts with heart‑wrenching honesty the anguish of being torn between a new home and the world she’d left behind. As Tima struggled to adapt to life in a new land, war overtook her homeland. Caught in the crosshairs of civil war, her family risked everything and fled their homes. Tima worked tirelessly to help them find safety, but their journey was far from easy. Although thwarted by politics, hounded by violence, and separated by vast distances, the Kurdis encountered setbacks at every turn, they never gave up hope. And when tragedy struck, Tima suddenly found herself thrust onto the world stage as an advocate for refugees everywhere, a role for which she had never prepared but that allowed her to give voice to those who didn’t have an opportunity to speak for themselves. From the jasmine‑scented neighbourhoods of Damascus before the war to the streets of Aleppo during it, to the refugee camps of Europe and the leafy suburbs of Vancouver, The Boy on the Beach is one family’s story of love, loss, and the persistent search for safe harbour in a devastating time of war.
The Boy on the Lake: A True Story
by Charlie Smith Susan Rosser Trevor SchaeferThe inspiring true story of a boy who turned his struggle with cancer into a public health crusade that went all the way to Washington, DC. Trevor Smith Schaefer was the boy with everything to live for. Born into a family of baseball and Big Macs, his life in a small Idaho mountain town was full of nothing but potential. Then came the piercing headaches that wouldn&’t stop. And soon after his thirteenth birthday he received the diagnosis that would turn Trevor&’s world upside-down—he had brain cancer. After having a tumor the size of a golf ball removed from his brain, Trevor persevered through a difficult recovery. But he wasn&’t done fighting. With the help of his mother, Trevor began organizing fundraisers and educational awareness events for cancer—specifically the types occurring in children due to environmental factors like pollution and toxic waste. This is the incredible tale of Trevor&’s journey from cancer patient to community activist and the force behind what became known as &“Trevor&’s Law&”—which required the government to track and follow cancer clusters and their causes. The bill was signed into law by President Barack Obama in 2016. The passing and signing of Trevor&’s Law proved &“the power of one Idahoan, one American, to bring change that will benefit millions of people who could face cancer one day.&” —Senator Mike Crapo, R–Idaho
The Boy on the Shed: A remarkable sporting memoir with a foreword by Alan Shearer
by Paul FerrisToday was his first climb to the top. He knew if he was there, watching, then she would never leave him. Her name was Bernadette and he climbed the shed every day.~This is a not a football book, as such. Rather, it is a memoir by someone who happened to have superior ability at the sport during his formative years which led him on a remarkable journey. Paul Ferris became a professional footballer and at the age of 16 was the youngest ever to play in Newcastle United's first team. Coming from Northern Ireland and being a skilful winger with dancing feet, he was inevitably hailed as 'the new George Best'. But the story of his time in the game, particularly as a young player, is one of insecurity, injuries, uncertainty, fear and, ultimately, a failure to fulfil his hopes and dreams.The book opens in Lisburn, near Belfast. The Ferris family are Catholics in a predominantly Protestant town at the height of the 'Troubles'. Ferris re-lives his childhood and teens with brutal candour laced with black humour.The Boy on the Shed is a beautifully written account of a life, but it also lifts the lid on big personalities at Newcastle United.
The Boy on the Shed: Sports Book Awards Autobiography of the Year
by Paul FerrisShortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year AwardThe Sunday Times Sports Book of the Year The Times Sports Book of the Year Telegraph Football Book of the Year'Ferris's wonderful memoir represents a twin triumph. He has endured every kind of setback in life but has invariably reinvented himself; and his writing is a pure pleasure.' The Sunday Times 'Enough depth and humanity to make your average football autobiography look like a Ladybird book.' Telegraph'A masterpiece of the genre' Brian McNally 'Football memoirs rarely produce great literature but Ferris's The Boy on the Shed is a glistening exception.' Guardian 'Fascinating and stylishly told.' David Walsh, The Sunday Times The Boy on the Shed is a story of love and fate. At 16, Paul Ferris becomes Newcastle United's youngest-ever first-teamer. Like many a tricky winger from Northern Ireland, he is hailed as 'the new George Best'.As a player and later a physio and member of the Magpies' managerial team, Paul's career acquaints him not only with Kevin Keegan, Kenny Dalglish and Bobby Robson, Ruud Gullit, Paul Gascoigne and Alan Shearer but also with injury, insecurity and disappointment.Yet this autobiography is more than a tale of the vagaries of sporting fortune. It begins during 'The Troubles' in a working-class Catholic family in the Protestant town of Lisburn, near Belfast. After a childhood scarred by his mother's illness and sectarian hatred, Paul meets the love of his life, his future wife Geraldine. Talented and carefree on the pitch, shy and anxious off it, he earns a tilt at stardom. His first spell at Newcastle turns sour, as does his return as a physio, although obtaining a Masters degree shows him what he could achieve away from football.When Paul qualifies as a barrister, a career in Law beckons. Instead, a craving to prove himself in the game draws him back to St James' Park as part of Shearer's management triumvirate - with unfortunate consequences.Written with brutal candour, dark humour and consummate style, The Boy on the Shed is a riveting and moving account of a life less ordinary
The Boy on the Shed: Sports Book Awards Autobiography of the Year
by Paul FerrisToday was his first climb to the top. He knew if he was there, watching, then she would never leave him. Her name was Bernadette and he climbed the shed every day. This is a not a football book, as such. Rather, it is a memoir by someone who happened to have superior ability at the sport during his formative years which led him on a remarkable journey. Paul Ferris became a professional footballer and at the age of 16 was the youngest ever to play in Newcastle United's first team. Coming from Northern Ireland and being a skilful winger with dancing feet, he was inevitably hailed as 'the new George Best'. But the story of his time in the game, particularly as a young player, is one of insecurity, injuries, uncertainty, fear and, ultimately, a failure to fulfil his hopes and dreams.The book opens in Lisburn, near Belfast. The Ferris family are Catholics in a predominantly Protestant town at the height of the 'Troubles'. Ferris re-lives his childhood and teens with brutal candour laced with black humour. The Boy on the Shed is a beautifully written account of a life, but it also lifts the lid on big personalities at Newcastle United.
The Boy on the Wooden Box: How the Impossible Became Possible . . . on Schindler's List
by Leon LeysonEven in the darkest of times--especially in the darkest of times--there is room for strength and bravery. A remarkable memoir from Leon Leyson, one of the youngest children to survive the Holocaust on Oskar Schindler's list.Leon Leyson (born Leib Lezjon) was only ten years old when the Nazis invaded Poland and his family was forced to relocate to the Krakow ghetto. With incredible luck, perseverance, and grit, Leyson was able to survive the sadism of the Nazis, including that of the demonic Amon Goeth, commandant of Plaszow, the concentration camp outside Krakow. Ultimately, it was the generosity and cunning of one man, a man named Oskar Schindler, who saved Leon Leyson's life, and the lives of his mother, his father, and two of his four siblings, by adding their names to his list of workers in his factory--a list that became world renowned: Schindler's List. This, the only memoir published by a former Schindler's List child, perfectly captures the innocence of a small boy who goes through the unthinkable. Most notable is the lack of rancor, the lack of venom, and the abundance of dignity in Mr. Leyson's telling. The Boy on the Wooden Box is a legacy of hope, a memoir unlike anything you've ever read.
The Boy with the Perpetual Nervousness: A Memoir
by Graham CaveneyAn enthralling, emotional memoir that recounts the ups and downs of coming-of-age, set against the music and literature of the 1970s.Raised in a small town in the north of England known primarily for its cotton mills, football team, and its deep roots in the “Respectable Working Class,” Graham Caveney armed himself against the confusing nature of adolescence with a thick accent, a copy of Kafka, and a record collection including the likes of the Buzzcocks and Joy Division. All three provided him the opportunity to escape, even if just in mind, beyond his small-town borders. But, when those passions are noticed and preyed upon by a mentor, everything changes. Now, as an adult, Caveney attempts to reconcile his past and present, coming to grips with both the challenges and wonder of adolescence, music, and literature. By turns angry, despairing, beautifully written, shockingly funny, and ultimately redemptive, The Boy with Perpetual Nervousness is a tribute to the power of the arts—and a startling, original memoir that “feels as if it had to be written, and demands to be read” (The Guardian UK).
The Boy: Stirling Moss: A Life in 60 Laps
by Richard WilliamsEven in the midst of a global pandemic, the death of Stirling Moss on 12 April 2020 at the age of 90 made headlines, almost 60 years after he retired from Formula One. In The Boy, Richard Williams assesses what made him such an iconic figure. Told in 60 brief chapters, Williams builds a fascinating and revealing portrait of a driver who was a hero to millions. As the long years of war began to recede, sport in Britain was getting moving again and there was a need for heroes. Denis Compton and Stanley Matthews were in their pomp, playing to packed houses. But Stirling Moss was a fresh face, just 17 years old when he first emerged in 1947. Too young to have served and been scarred by the war, he was soon revealed to possess not only an unearthly degree of skill but the qualities of courage and resolution noted in the generation that fought in the air and on land and sea. Their youth had been stolen; his was new and unspoiled.The Boy explains how and why he came to occupy such a unique place in the esteem and the affections of the nation. Why him, rather than some of his contemporaries, such as Mike Hawthorn and Peter Collins, who shared a role in the rise of Britain as a power in international motor racing? Moss may never have been world champion, but he created a remarkable and enduring legacy, and Williams brilliantly shows just how he did it.
The Boyhood Memoirs of A. E. Hotchner: King of the Hill and Looking for Miracles
by A. E. Hotchner<p><i>King of the Hill</i> is A. E. Hotchner's memoir of his impoverished childhood in St. Louis, originally published in 1972. Hotchner's story is one of ingenuity and spirit in the face of economic hardship during the Great Depression. Left to live alone in a rundown hotel while his traveling salesman father is on the road, his mother is hospitalized, and his younger brother is sent to live with relatives, young Hotchner's determination to survive overcomes the challenge of keeping his situation secret. <p><i>Looking for Miracles</i> is a sequel to <i>King of the Hill</i>, originally published in 1975. The story takes place in 1936, three years after <i>King of the Hill</i>, when Hotchner bluffs his way into a job as a summer counselor at a camp in the Ozarks. The story is poignant and uplifting, as well as hilariously entertaining. <p>Bound together for the first time, these two boyhood memoirs of Hotchner's will touch readers with their truth, innocence, and joy. Hotchner's ability to convey times of intense hardship in warm and witty language attests to his stature as one of America's great storytellers.</p>
The Boys Are Back (Movie Tie-in Edition
by Simon Carr"So there we are, a father and two sons in a household without role models, males together in a home different from anything I'd known--an idyllic Lost Boys' world with a house full of children and as few rules as possible."When Simon Carr's wife Susie lost her battle to cancer, Carr was left to raise his 5-year old son, Alexander, on his own. Soon after, Hugo, his 11-year old son from a previous marriage comes to live with them. Now, this motley crew of boys have to learn how to be a family. Along the way, Carr reveals some illuminating truths about parenting and the differences between mothers and fathers. His messy household bears no similarity to the immaculate home his wife kept; his response to mothers on the playground fretting about his son's safety on the handlebars is, "If he falls, at least he'll know not to do it again." Emotionally honest and sharply witty, Carr's story is at once heartbreaking and wonderfully life-affirming.From the Trade Paperback edition.
The Boys Who Challenged Hitler: Knud Pedersen and The Churchill Club
by Phillip HooseAt the outset of World War II, Denmark did not resist German occupation. Deeply ashamed of his nation's leaders, fifteen-year-old Knud Pedersen resolved with his brother and a handful of schoolmates to take action against the Nazis if the adults would not. <P><P>Naming their secret club after the fiery British leader, the young patriots in the Churchill Club committed countless acts of sabotage, infuriating the Germans, who eventually had the boys tracked down and arrested. But their efforts were not in vain: the boys' exploits and eventual imprisonment helped spark a full-blown Danish resistance. <P>Interweaving his own narrative with the recollections of Knud himself, here is Phillip Hoose's inspiring story of these young war heroes.
The Boys and Me: My Life in the Country Music Supergroup Sawyer Brown
by Mark MillerThe Boys and Me is the behind-the-scenes, untold story of front man and lead singer Mark Miller and his band—country music icons Sawyer Brown!Before The Voice and American Idol, there was Star Search with Ed McMahon. In the first season, an eclectic and charismatic country-rock band called Sawyer Brown appeared on the show, taking America by storm. From ignored underdogs in Nashville to overnight rock stars from LA to New York, they swept the competition and won. Since 1984, &“the boys&” legendary live shows, along with their relentless drive to stay true to themselves, have captivated faithful fans around the world. As front man and lead singer of the band, Mark Miller&’s rise to fame wasn&’t exactly the path he envisioned for himself. After losing his father, Mark was raised by his mom whose solid faith and strong work ethic helped guide and shape him and his brother, Frank. With his sights set on playing pro basketball, Mark never dreamed of becoming an entertainer, especially considering he was terrified to stand on a stage. But God had a different plan. Now, forty years later, Sawyer Brown has eighteen studio albums to their name, multiple No. 1 singles, fifty-plus songs charting on the Billboard Hot Country Songs, and legendary award-winning videos. And they have no plans of stopping any time soon. The band&’s longevity is a testament to their strong songwriting, high-energy performances, and hard work. This is the behind-the-scenes, untold story of Mark Miller and &“the boys&”—country music icons Sawyer Brown!
The Boys from Dolores: Fidel Castro's Classmates from Revolution to Exile
by Patrick SymmesFrom the author of Chasing Che,the remarkable tale of a group of boys at the heart of Cuba's political and social history. The Boys from Dolores illuminates the elite island society from which Fidel Castro and his brother Raul emerged. The Colegio de Dolores was a Jesuit boarding school in Santiago, Cuba's rich and ancient second city, where Fidel and Raul were educated in the 1930s and '40s.
The Boys in Chicago Heights: The Forgotten Crew of the Chicago Outfit (True Crime Ser.)
by Matthew J. Luzi&“Chronicles the heyday of the Chicago Heights subsidiary of Al Capone&’s infamous Prohibition-breaking criminal organization&” (Time Out Chicago). Chicago Heights was long the seat of one of the major street crews of the Chicago Outfit, but its importance has often been overlooked and misunderstood. The crew&’s origins predate Prohibition, when Chicago Heights was a developing manufacturing center with a large Italian immigrant population. Its earliest bosses struggled for control until a violent gang war left the crew solidified under the auspices of Al Capone. For the remainder of the twentieth century, the boys from Chicago Heights generated large streams of revenue for the Outfit through its vast gambling enterprises, union infiltration, and stolen auto rackets. For the first time, the history of the Chicago Heights street crew is traced from its inception through its last known boss. Includes photos! &“I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the Chicago Heights Street Crew. It not only provides a well researched history of the crew, but also explains how the boys from Chicago Heights became an important, yet little known, part of the Chicago Outfit.&” —Springer Science + Business Media
The Boys in the Cave: Deep Inside the Impossible Rescue in Thailand
by Matt GutmanFrom award-winning ABC News Chief National Correspondent Matt Gutman, and written using exclusive interviews and information comes the definitive account of the dramatic story that gripped the world: the miracle rescue of twelve boys and their soccer coach trapped in a flooded cave miles underground for nearly three weeks—a pulse-pounding page-turner by a reporter who was there every step of their journey out. After a practice in June 2018, a Thai soccer coach took a dozen of his young players to explore a famous but flood-prone cave. It was one of the boys’ birthday, but neither he nor the dozen resurfaced. Worried parents and rescuers flocked to the mouth of a cave that seemed to have swallowed the boys without a trace. Ranging in age from eleven to sixteen, the boys were all members of the Wild Boars soccer team. When water unexpectedly inundated the cave, blocking their escape, they retreated deeper inside, taking shelter in a side cavern. While the world feared them dead, the thirteen young souls survived by licking the condensation off the cave’s walls, meditating, and huddling together for warmth.In this thrilling account, ABC News Chief National Correspondent Matt Gutman recounts this amazing story in depth and from every angle, exploring their time in the cave, the failed plans and human mistakes that nearly doomed them, and the daring mission that ultimately saved them. Gutman introduces the elite team of volunteer divers who risked death to execute a plan so risky that its American planners admitted, “for us, success would have meant getting just one boy out alive.” He takes you inside the meetings where life and death decisions were grimly made and describes how these heroes pulled off an improbable rescue under immense pressure, with the boys’ desperate parents and the entire world watching. One of the largest rescues in history was in doubt until the very last moment. Matt Gutman covered the story intensively, went deep inside the caves himself, and interviewed dozens of rescuers, experts and eye-witnessed around the world. The result is this pulse-pounding page-turner that vividly recreates this extraordinary event in all its intensity—and documents the ingenuity and sacrifice it took to succeed.
The Boys in the Light: An Extraordinary World War II Story of Survival, Faith, and Brotherhood
by Nina WillnerAn epic story of the triumph of good over evil. The soldiers of D Company could not believe their eyes as they came face-to-face with the human cost of Hitler&’s evil: two teenage boys—survivors of Auschwitz and Buchenwald—who had escaped. The Boys in the Light follows the parallel journeys of Company D and Eddie Willner, the author&’s father, as they are caught up on two sides of World War II. At sixteen, Eddie Willner was among the millions of European Jews rounded up by Hitler&’s Nazis. He was forced into slave labor alongside his father and his best friend, Mike, and spent the next three years of his life surviving the death camps, including Auschwitz. Meanwhile, in the United States, boys only a few years older than Eddie were joining the army and heading toward their own precarious futures. Once farmers, factory workers, and coal miners, they were suddenly untested soldiers, thrust into the brutal conflicts of WWII. A company of 3rd Armored Division tankers, led by 23-year-old Elmer Hovland, quickly became battle-hardened and weary, constantly questioning whether the war was worth it. They got their answer when two emaciated boys stepped out of the woods with their tattooed arms raised. The Boys in the Light is a testament to survival against all odds, the strength of the bonds forged during war and the resilience of the human spirit. This extraordinary true story is a must-read for fans of Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown, and Erik Larson&’s The Splendid and the Vile.
The Boys of '98: Theodore Roosevelt and the Rough Riders
by Dale L. WalkerIn The Boys of '98, Spur Award winning author Dale L. Walker tells the colorful story of Americas most memorable fighting force, the volunteer cavalry known as the Rough Riders. From its members, and their slapdash training in Texas and Florida, to its battles at Las Gusimas and San Juan Hill under the command of Theodore Roosevelt, who kept riding, some say, into the White House."This lively and carefully detailed narrative of one of the more unlikely military units and of a short, savage war, celebrates some gallant men and catches their nation at the moment it emerged as a world power. " - Kirkus ReviewsAt the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
The Boys of Everest
by Clint WillisThe Boys of Everest, which received enormous praise when published in hardback, tells the story of a band of climbers who reinvented mountaineering during the three decades after Everest's first ascent. It is a story of tremendous courage, astonishing acheivement and heartbreaking loss. Their leader was the boyish, fanatically driven Chris Bonington. His inner circle - they came to be known as Bonington's Boys - included a dozen who became climbing's greatest generation. Bonington's Boys gave birth to a new brand of climbing. They took increasingly terrible risks on now-legendary expeditions to the world's most fearsome peaks. And they paid an enormous price for their acheivements. Most of Bonington's boys died in the mountains, leaving behind the hardest question of all: was it worth it? The Boys of Everest, based on interviews with surviving climbers and other individuals as well as five decades of journals, expedition accounts, and letters, provides the closest thing to an answer that we'll ever have. It offers riveting descriptions of what The Boys of Everest found in the mountains - as well as an understanding of what they lost there.
The Boys of My Youth
by Jo Ann BeardRarely does the debut of a new writer garner such attention & acclaim. The excitement began the moment "The Fourth State of Matter," one of the fourteen extraordinary personal narratives in this book, appeared in the pages of the New Yorker. It increased when the author received a prestigious Whiting Foundation Award in November 1997, & it continued as the hardcover edition of The Boys of My Youth sold out its first printing even before publication. The author writes with perfect pitch as she takes us through one woman's life - from childhood to marriage & beyond - & memorably captures the collision of youthful longing & the hard intransigences of time & fate.
The Boys of Shakespeare's School in the Second World War
by Richard Pearson&“The story of the King Edward VI grammar school in Stratford-upon-Avon and its sacrifice in the Second World War . . . a heavy price for just one school.&” —War History Online Like the Great War generation before them, the Old Boys of King Edward VI School, Stratford-upon-Avon, (known as Shakespeare&’s School) answered the Nations call to arms in 1939. Over the next six years, no less than fifty-two of these young men fought and died for their Country. This evocative and carefully researched book tells each one&’s story. The author paints a picture of the character of the individual concerned, along with his family background, his contribution to the School and, most importantly, his war service and the circumstances of his death. Some perished in lonely cockpits during the Battle of Britain and the Bombing campaign. Others fought and died at sea whether on Atlantic convoys, the Mediterranean campaign or in the Far East. The soldiers among them fell in the glare of the Western Desert fighting the Germans and Italians and in the unforgiving jungles of Burma repulsing the Japanese. In one case, death came in a German concentration camp. Who can tell what influence the strong ethos of this small grammar school with its enduring values of decency and comradeship had played during the years of hostilities on both those who made the supreme sacrifice and others who were fortunate enough to survive? What is certain is that the example set by those former members of Shakespeare&’s School whose stories are told in this book must never be forgotten by their successors.