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The Simple Life: The unmissable memoir from one of Britain’s most loved presenters
by Sarah BeenyJoin Sarah Beeny on her journey to live more simply and find her forever home...Throughout her life, Sarah Beeny has been obsessed with the idea of home. From her childhood growing up in a countryside cottage to renovating her very first flat in London to restoring a stately home in Yorkshire, she has never been afraid of the hard work needed to turn a house into a home. Now, in her most recent adventure, Sarah and her family have moved to a former dairy farm in Somerset to build the home of their dreams. In The Simple Life, Sarah will tell the story of her life, sharing tales and experiences in everything including parenting, property, friendships, nature and the environment, all the way through to her recent cancer diagnosis and treatment. Through it all, Sarah tackles challenges and troubles with signature wit and wisdom, discovering life is never as 'simple' as you'd like it to be.
The Sinatra Club: My Life Inside the New York Mafia
by Sal PolisiThe Mob was the biggest, richest business in America—too dangerous and too deadly to fail. Until it was destroyed from within by drugs, greed, and the decline of its traditional crime Family values. And by guys like Sal Polisi. He was born in Brooklyn—the same place that spawned Murder, Inc., Al Capone, and John Gotti, the future Mob godfather who became his friend. Polisi was raised on a family legacy that led him into the life he loved as a member of the Colombos, one of the New York Mob’s feared Five Families, and came of age when the Mafia was at the height of its vast wealth and power. Known by his Mob name, Sally Ubatz (“Crazy Sally”), he ran an illegal after-hours gambling den, The Sinatra Club, that was a magic kingdom of crime and a hangout for up-and-coming mobsters like Gotti and the three wiseguys immortalized in Martin Scorsese’s GoodFellas—Henry Hill, Jimmy Burke, and Tommy DeSimone. For Polisi, the nonstop thrills of glory days spent robbing banks, hijacking trucks, pulling daring heists—and getting away with it all, thanks to cops and public servants corrupted by Mob money—were fleeting. When he was busted for drug trafficking, and already sickened by the bloodbath that engulfed the Mob as it teetered toward extinction, he flipped and became one of a breed he had loathed all his life—a rat. In this riveting, pulse-pounding, and, at times, darkly hilarious first-person chronicle of his brazen crimes, wild sexual escapades, and personal tragedies, Polisi tells his story of life inside the New York Mob in a voice straight from the streets. With shocking candor, he draws on a hard-won knowledge of Mob history to paint a neverbefore- seen picture of the inner workings of the Mob and the larger-than-life characters who populated a once extensive and secret underworld that, thanks to guys like him, no longer exists. *** I was always a street guy. I was into robbing and stealing and gambling and loan sharking. I wasn’t involved in the bigmoney sit-downs, the labor racketeering and construction company shakedowns, the Garment District and garbage and cement company kickbacks. . . . For guys like me and Fox, my blood brother and crime partner, the thing we loved about being in that life was the action, the excitement. . . .We were in it for the money, sure. But it was the danger, the thrills that made the life of crime something special. A guy like John Gotti was different. He was far more ambitious than me and Fox. He wasn’t just in it for the rush and the riches. He wanted the power and the glory. John Gotti’s tragedy, if you can call it that, was that he was born too late for the old-school gangster crown that he craved. He began his rise as the Mob was beginning to crumble; by the time he got to the top, the bottom had dropped out. From the beginning, John was charismatic and smart. He just wasn’t cut out to be godfather. Once he became boss, he drove the bus right off the bridge. Or maybe it was the bus that drove him. Either way, I watched him go. Here’s how it all happened.
The Sinatra Files: The Secret FBI Dossier
by Phil Kuntz Tom KuntzAn American Icon Under Government Surveillance When Frank Sinatra died in 1998, he was one of the most chronicled celebrities ever, but the most unusual record of his life came to light only posthumously: a 1,275-page dossier recording decades of FBI surveillance stemming from J. Edgar Hoover's belief that Sinatra had mob or Communist ties. This shadow biography, with information never before presented in book form, details: Hoover's search through Sinatra's past to see if he got a bogus medical deferment from military service, ultimately yielding the simple fact that Sinatra really had suffered a perforated eardrum as a youthThe FBI's previously unreported cooperation with journalists looking for dirt on Sinatra, including one who had recently been punched out by the singerNumerous instances of the star's carousing and intemperate behavior -- including a detailed report alleging that he rampaged through a Las Vegas hotel after he and his wife Mia Farrow lost small fortunes gamblingThe mob's attempts to curry favor with John F. Kennedy through Sinatra -- and its anger when Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy turned up the heat. This fascinating record of governmental scrutiny will captivate every Sinatra fan, as well as anyone who wants to understand the second half of the American century -- the Cold War, popular culture, the cult of celebrity, Camelot, and the FBI's mania for investigating American citizens -- all personified by the most dominant entertainer of the era.
The Sing Sing Files: One Journalist, Six Innocent Men, and a Twenty-Year Fight for Justice
by Dan SlepianAn NBC Dateline producer's cinematic account of his two-decade journey navigating the broken criminal justice system to help free six innocent menIn 2002, Dan Slepian, a veteran producer for NBC’s Dateline, received a tip from a Bronx homicide detective that two men were serving twenty-five years to life in prison for a 1990 murder they did not commit.Haunted by what the detective had told him, Slepian began an investigation of the case that eventually resulted in freedom for the two men and launched Slepian on a two-decade personal and professional journey into a deeply flawed justice system fiercely resistant to rectifying—or even acknowledging—its mistakes and their consequences.The Sing Sing Files: One Journalist, Six Innocent Men, and a Twenty-Year Fight for Justice is Slepian’s account of challenging that system. The story follows Slepian on years of prison visits, court hearings, and street reporting that led to a series of powerful Dateline episodes and eventually to freedom for four other men and to an especially deep and lasting friendship with one of them, Jon-Adrian “JJ” Velazquez. From his cell in Sing Sing, JJ aided Slepian in his investigations until his own release in 2021 after decades in prison.Like Bryan Stevenson’s Just Mercy, The Sing Sing Files is a deeply personal account of wrongful imprisonment and the flaws in our justice system, and a powerful argument for reckoning and accountability. Slepian’s extraordinary book, at once painful and full of hope, shines a light on an injustice whose impact the nation has only begun to confront.
The Single Files: A Journey of Fears, Hopes, and Dreams
by Ahuva ParnesMy date is arriving in an hour. Mina is pounding on my door, she wants to see me dressed; it's time to get ready. I'm hoping. I'm davening. I'll let you know how things go. At twenty-five, Ahuva Parnes is tired of the pitying glances, the condescending comments, the well-meaning advice. She's ready to move on in life, to join the ranks of the sheitel-wearing young women all around her. But somehow the right one hasn't shown up yet. As she waits, Ahuva opens her own business, reaches out to her students, and tries to fill her days with meaningful activities. But it's hard to feel fulfilled when your twin is expecting her second child, your younger sister is anxious to start dating, and people tell you that you're sabotaging your own future. In this intriguing true story, we ride the roller coaster of emotions that accompanies Ahuva on every date. We join her in hotel lobbies and museums and wonder... Will she ever find the person she's been waiting for?
The Single Ladies of Jacaranda Retirement Village: an uplifting tale of love and friendship
by Joanna NellA moving, funny, heartwarming tale of love and friendship, for anyone who loved The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, The Keeper of Lost Things and Three Things About Elsie.'Hugely entertaining . . . funny and heart-warming' Woman & Home'A gentle, warm-hearted book that had me rooting for all the characters and laughing out loud at points'' LIBBY PAGE, author of The LidoIt's never too late to grow old disgracefully...The life of 79-year-old pensioner Peggy Smart is as beige as the décor in her retirement village. Her week revolves around aqua aerobics and appointments with her doctor. The highlight of Peggy's day is watching her neighbour Brian head out for his morning swim. Peggy dreams of inviting the handsome widower - treasurer of the Residents' Committee and one of the few eligible men in the village - to an intimate dinner. But why would an educated man like Brian, a chartered accountant no less, look twice at Peggy? As a woman of a certain age, she fears she has become invisible, even to men in their eighties.But a chance encounter with an old school friend she hasn't seen in five decades - the glamorous fashionista Angie Valentine - sets Peggy on an unexpected journey of self-discovery. Can she channel her 'inner Helen Mirren' and find love and friendship in her twilight years?(P)2018 Hachette Australia
The Singular Mark Twain: A Biography
by Fred KaplanThe fact that Samuel Langhorne Clemens came to use his pen name, Mark Twain, in his personal letters and in his personal life is significant to Kaplan (English literature, Queens College) because it demonstrates the extent to which he was a unified, singular, individual, integrating his life and his art. In Kaplan's sympathetic biography, charges of racism are countered by descriptions of the growth of Twain's progressivism (as well as his anti-imperialism), especially during his later years in virtual exile from the United States. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc. , Portland, OR (booknews. com)
The Sins of the Father: Joseph P. Kennedy and the Dynasty He Founded
by Ronald KesslerBiography of Joseph Kennedy.
The Sins of the Father: Joseph P. Kennedy and the Dynasty He Founded
by Ronald KesslerThisfirst serious volume focusing exclusively on Joseph Patrick Kennedy --Ronald Kessler recreates the life and times of this ambitious, powerful, masterfully manipulative man. Utilizing extensive research and interviews with Kennedy family members and their intimates, speaking on record for the first time, Kessler reveals stunning details of JPK's enormous accomplishments and the terrible personal losses he suffered.
The Siren Years: A Canadian Diplomat Abroad 1937-1945 (Large Print Library)
by Charles RitchieCharles Ritchie, one of Canada's most distinguished diplomats, was a born diarist, a man whose daily record of his life is so well written that it leaps from the page. In wartime England, Ritchie, as Second Secretary at the Canadian High Commission, served as private secretary to Vincent Massey, whose second-in-command was Lester B. Pearson, future prime minister of Canada. In a perfect position to observe both statecraft and the London social whirl that continued even during the war, Ritchie provides a fascinating, perceptive, and (surprisingly) humorous picture of the London Blitz - the people in the parks, the shabby streets, the heightened love affairs - and the vagaries of the British at war. There are also glimpses of the great, and portraits of noted artists and writers that he knew well.A vivid document of a period and a wonderful piece of writing, The Siren Years has become a classic.From the Trade Paperback edition.
The Sirens of Mars: Searching for Life on Another World
by Sarah Stewart Johnson&“Sarah Stewart Johnson interweaves her own coming-of-age story as a planetary scientist with a vivid history of the exploration of Mars in this celebration of human curiosity, passion, and perseverance.&”—Alan Lightman, author of Einstein&’s Dreams Mars was once similar to Earth, but today there are no rivers, no lakes, no oceans. Coated in red dust, the terrain is bewilderingly empty. And yet multiple spacecraft are circling Mars, sweeping over Terra Sabaea, Syrtis Major, the dunes of Elysium, and Mare Sirenum—on the brink, perhaps, of a staggering find, one that would inspire humankind as much as any discovery in the history of modern science. In this beautifully observed, deeply personal book, Georgetown scientist Sarah Stewart Johnson tells the story of how she and other researchers have scoured Mars for signs of life, transforming the planet from a distant point of light into a world of its own. Johnson&’s fascination with Mars began as a child in Kentucky, turning over rocks with her father and looking at planets in the night sky. She now conducts fieldwork in some of Earth&’s most hostile environments, such as the Dry Valleys of Antarctica and the salt flats of Western Australia, developing methods for detecting life on other worlds. Here, with poetic precision, she interlaces her own personal journey—as a female scientist and a mother—with tales of other seekers, from Percival Lowell, who was convinced that a utopian society existed on Mars, to Audouin Dollfus, who tried to carry out astronomical observations from a stratospheric balloon. In the process, she shows how the story of Mars is also a story about Earth: This other world has been our mirror, our foil, a telltale reflection of our own anxieties and yearnings. Empathetic and evocative, The Sirens of Mars offers an unlikely natural history of a place where no human has ever set foot, while providing a vivid portrait of our quest to defy our isolation in the cosmos.
The Sisterhood of the Enchanted Forest: Sustenance, Wisdom, and Awakening in Finland's Karelia
by William Doyle Naomi MoriyamaWhat would happen if you built one of the world&’s most advanced societies inside a forest—and strove to make made women full partners in power?After living for twenty-five years in New York, Naomi Moriyama moved with her husband and co-author William Doyle and their seven-year-old child to the vast forest of Finland's Karelia, a mysterious region on the Russian border that helped inspire J.R. R. Tolkien&’s Middle Earth fantasies. She entered a life-altering zone of tranquility, peace, and beauty, the spiritual heart of the nation ranked as the happiest nation on Earth, with among the world's most empowered women. Finland is also the country with cleanest air and water and the best schools, a country where motherhood and fatherhood are championed by law, childhood is revered, schoolchildren are required to play outdoors multiple times a day, and trains contain mini-libraries and mini-playgrounds for children to enjoy. It was here in the Karelian forest that Naomi found a culinary symphony of succulent wild edibles, herbs, berries, mushrooms and fish, all freshly plucked from the moss-carpeted forest and sparkling clear streams. She also found something that changed her life—a tribe of invincible women who became her soul-sisters. As an idyllic summer and fall gave way to a sub-Arctic winter of mind-bending darkness and cold, Naomi faced her fears and her future. Over the course of six unforgettable months with her family and her new &“sisters&”, she found her life transformed, and discovered the power that lay within her all along. Then she tried to leave. But she kept coming back. Come, take a journey deep into Europe's most distant, magical wilderness, and join the sisterhood of the enchanted forest.
The Sisterhood: A Love Letter to the Women Who Have Shaped Us
by Daisy BuchananFor fans of Bryony Gordon and Dolly Alderton, The Sisterhood is an honest and hilarious book which celebrates the ways in which women connect with each other.'My five sisters are the only women I would ever kill for. And they are the only women I have ever wanted to kill.'Imagine living between the pages of Pride And Prejudice, in the Bennett household. Now, imagine how the Bennett girls as they'd be in the 21st century - looking like the Kardashian sisters, but behaving like the Simpsons. This is the house Daisy Buchanan grew up in,Daisy's memoir The Sisterhood explores what it's like to live as a modern woman by examining some examples close to home - her adored and infuriating sisters. There's Beth, the rebellious contrarian; Grace, the overachiever with a dark sense of humour; Livvy, the tough girl who secretly cries during adverts; Maddy, essentially Descartes with a beehive; and Dotty, the joker obsessed with RuPaul's Drag Race and bears. In this tender, funny and unflinchingly honest account Daisy examines her relationship with her sisters and what it's made up of - friendship, insecurity jokes, jealousy and above all, love - while celebrating the ways in which women connect with each other and finding the ways in which we're all sisters under the skin.
The Sisterhood: A Love Letter to the Women Who Have Shaped Us
by Daisy BuchananFor fans of Bryony Gordon and Dolly Alderton, The Sisterhood is an honest and hilarious book which celebrates the ways in which women connect with each other.'My five sisters are the only women I would ever kill for. And they are the only women I have ever wanted to kill.'Imagine living between the pages of Pride And Prejudice, in the Bennett household. Now, imagine how the Bennett girls as they'd be in the 21st century - looking like the Kardashian sisters, but behaving like the Simpsons. This is the house Daisy Buchanan grew up in,Daisy's memoir The Sisterhood explores what it's like to live as a modern woman by examining some examples close to home - her adored and infuriating sisters. There's Beth, the rebellious contrarian; Grace, the overachiever with a dark sense of humour; Livvy, the tough girl who secretly cries during adverts; Maddy, essentially Descartes with a beehive; and Dotty, the joker obsessed with RuPaul's Drag Race and bears. In this tender, funny and unflinchingly honest account Daisy examines her relationship with her sisters and what it's made up of - friendship, insecurity jokes, jealousy and above all, love - while celebrating the ways in which women connect with each other and finding the ways in which we're all sisters under the skin.
The Sisterhood: How a Network of Black Women Writers Changed American Culture
by Courtney ThorssonOne Sunday afternoon in February 1977, Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, Ntozake Shange, and several other Black women writers met at June Jordan’s Brooklyn apartment to eat gumbo, drink champagne, and talk about their work. Calling themselves “The Sisterhood,” the group—which also came to include Audre Lorde, Paule Marshall, Margo Jefferson, and others—would get together once a month over the next two years, creating a vital space for Black women to discuss literature and liberation.The Sisterhood tells the story of how this remarkable community transformed American writing and cultural institutions. Drawing on original interviews with Sisterhood members as well as correspondence, meeting minutes, and readings of their works, Courtney Thorsson explores the group’s everyday collaboration and profound legacy. The Sisterhood advocated for Black women writers at trade publishers and magazines such as Random House, Ms., and Essence, and eventually in academic departments as well—often in the face of sexist, racist, and homophobic backlash. Thorsson traces the personal, professional, and political ties that brought the group together as well as the reasons for its dissolution. She considers the popular and critical success of Sisterhood members in the 1980s, the uneasy absorption of Black feminism into the academy, and how younger writers built on the foundations the group laid. Highlighting the organizing, networking, and community building that nurtured Black women’s writing, this book demonstrates that The Sisterhood offers an enduring model for Black feminist collaboration.
The Sisters Antipodes: A Memoir
by Jane Alison&“A wrenching, luminous memoir&” of how betrayal and divorce transformed two families and the lives of two young women (People). When Jane Alison was a child, her family met another that seemed like its mirror. Each had a father in the Foreign Service, a beautiful mother, and two little girls. The younger two—one of them Jane—even shared a birthday. With so much in common, the two families quickly became inseparable. Within months, affairs had ignited between the adults, and before long the pairs had exchanged partners—divorced, remarried, and moved on. As if in a cataclysm of nature, two families were ripped asunder, and two new ones were formed. Two pairs of girls were left in shock, a &“silent, numb shock, like a crack inside stone, not enough to split it but inside, quietly fissuring.&” And Jane and her stepsister were thrown into a state of wordless combat for the love of their fathers. This true story of their rivalry, and the tragic loss that ultimately followed, is a fascinating record of how adult behavior can shape, or shatter, a childhood. Spanning from Australia to the United States, it is &“enormously compelling . . . [A] harrowing journey of identity&” (Publishers Weekly, starred review).
The Sisters Who Would Be Queen: Mary, Katherine, and Lady Jane Grey - A Tudor Tragedy
by Leanda De LisleMary, Katherine, and Jane Grey--sisters whose mere existence nearly toppled a kingdom and altered a nation's destiny--are the captivating subjects of Leanda de Lisle's new book. The Sisters Who Would Be Queen breathes fresh life into these three young women, who were victimized in the notoriously vicious Tudor power struggle and whose heirs would otherwise probably be ruling England today. Born into aristocracy, the Grey sisters were the great-granddaughters of Henry VII, grandnieces to Henry VIII, legitimate successors to the English throne, and rivals to Henry VIII's daughters, Mary and Elizabeth. Lady Jane, the eldest, was thrust center stage by greedy men and uncompromising religious politics when she briefly succeeded Henry's son, the young Edward I. Dubbed "the Nine Days Queen" after her short, tragic reign from the Tower of London, Jane has over the centuries earned a special place in the affections of the English people as a "queen with a public heart. " But as de Lisle reveals, Jane was actually more rebel than victim, more leader than pawn, and Mary and Katherine Grey found that they would have to tread carefully in order to avoid sharing their elder sister's violent fate. Navigating the politics of the Tudor court after Jane's death was a precarious challenge. Katherine Grey, who sought to live a stable life, earned the trust of Mary I, only to risk her future with a love marriage that threatened Queen Elizabeth's throne. Mary Grey, considered too petite and plain to be significant, looked for her own escape from the burden of her royal blood--an impossible task after she followed her heart and also incurred the queen's envy, fear, and wrath. Exploding the many myths of Lady Jane Grey's life, unearthing the details of Katherine's and Mary's dramatic stories, and casting new light on Elizabeth's reign, Leanda de Lisle gives voice and resonance to the lives of the Greys and offers perspective on their place in history and on a time when a royal marriage could gain a woman a kingdom or cost her everything.
The Sisters d' Aranyi (Routledge Revivals)
by Joseph MacleodFirst published in 1969, The Sisters d' Aranyi traces the careers, personalities and musical development of Jelly d’ Aranyi and Adila Fachiri, outstanding violinists in Britain and Hungarian great nieces of Josef Joachim, with insight and a wealth of anecdote and description. The book contains fresh lights on figures such as Joachim himself, Elgar, Ravel and Vaughan Williams, Casals, Suggia, and Myra Hess, Aldous Huxley, Einstein and Schweitzer, Balfour, Asquith and Neville Chamberlain. There are illuminating comments on music from Bach to the present day, and also a chapter on the mysterious affair of the Imprisoned Schumann Violin Concerto, and how it was found and liberated. These two consummate musicians were, however, part of a movement towards greater sincerity in music- a tendency not yet sufficiently recorded by musicologists. To set them in their time, this biography contains a most readable history of music in Britain with some original observations on the nature of music itself in performance. This book is an essential read for students of music, music history, literature, performance studies, for violin players and also for general music lovers.
The Sisters of Auschwitz: The True Story of Two Jewish Sisters' Resistance in the Heart of Nazi Territory
by Roxane Van IperenThe unforgettable story of two unsung heroes of World War II: sisters Janny and Lien Brilleslijper who joined the Dutch Resistance, helped save dozen of lives, were captured by the Nazis, and ultimately survived the Holocaust. <P><P>Eight months after Germany’s invasion of Poland, the Nazis roll into The Netherlands, expanding their reign of brutality to the Dutch. But by the Winter of 1943, resistance is growing. Among those fighting their brutal Nazi occupiers are two Jewish sisters, Janny and Lien Brilleslijper from Amsterdam. Risking arrest and death, the sisters help save others, sheltering them in a clandestine safehouse in the woods, they called “The High Nest.” <P><P>This secret refuge would become one of the most important Jewish safehouses in the country, serving as a hiding place and underground center for resistance partisans as well as artists condemned by Hitler. From The High Nest, an underground web of artists arises, giving hope and light to those living in terror in Holland as they begin to restore the dazzling pre-war life of Amsterdam and The Hague. When the house and its occupants are eventually betrayed, the most terrifying time of the sisters' lives begins. As Allied troops close in, the Brilleslijper family are rushed onto the last train to Auschwitz, along with Anne Frank and her family. The journey will bring Janny and Lien close to Anne and her older sister Margot. The days ahead will test the sisters beyond human imagination as they are stripped of everything but their courage, their resilience, and their love for each other. <P><P>Based on meticulous research and unprecedented access to the Brilleslijpers’ personal archives of memoirs and photos, Sisters of Auschwitz is a long-overdue homage to two young women’s heroism and moral bravery—and a reminder of the power each of us has to change the world. <P><P><b>A New York Times Best Seller</b>
The Sisters of Auschwitz: The true story of two Jewish sisters’ resistance in the heart of Nazi territory
by Roxane van Iperen"Heartbreakingly good" Stephen, Amazon review ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐"You can't put it down" Anon, Amazon review ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐"Immensely moving" Jo, Amazon review ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐"An incredible read" Agnes, Amazon review ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐They knew their survival depended on each other. They had to live for each other. It is 1940 and the Final Solution is about to begin. The Nazis have occupied The Netherlands but resistance is growing and two Jewish sisters - Janny and Lien Brilleslijper - are risking their lives to save those being hunted, through their clandestine safehouse 'The High Nest'. It becomes one of the most important safehouses in the country but when the house and its occupants are betrayed the most terrifying time of the sisters' lives begins. This is the beginning of the end. With German defeat in sight, the Brilleslijper family are put on the last train to Auschwitz, along with Anne Frank and her family. What comes next challenges the sisters beyond human imagination as they are stripped of everything but their courage, resilience and love for each other.Perfect for readers of The Tattooist of Auschwitz, Cilka's Journey and The Librarian of Auschwitz - this is the international bestselling and life-affirming true story of female bravery and surviving the horrors of Auschwitz.See what Amazon readers are saying about The Sisters of Auschwitz:"Amazing story of resistance and love between sisters while fighting against evil", T Gill, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐"Excellent. Kept you on the edge - a very gripping and sad true story, very well told", Helen 'o' Troy, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐"Great book, I really enjoyed it, 10/10", Laura Regan, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐"This is such a heartbreaking, thought provoking book, could not put it down and shed a few tears in the process. Amazing read, cannot recommend enough", Paige Walton, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐"Amazing book. Thrilling, captivating, beautiful", Kathleen Treacy, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐"It is one of the most harrowing but inspirational stories but fills you with admiration. Would highly recommend", Amazon Customer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
The Sisters of Henry VIII: The Tumultuous Lives of Margaret of Scotland and Mary of France
by Maria PerryHenry VIII's sisters, neglected by generations of historians, impacted the lives and perceptions of their contemporaries more forcefully than did any of their brother's famous six wives. Maria Perry examines the lives of these extraordinary women and analyzes their influence on European Tudor Age history. Both Margaret and Mary, initially accepted their status as pawns in the dynastic power struggles that raged across sixteenth-century Europe. Margaret became queen of Scotland at age thirteen; family members arranged beautiful Mary's betrothal to the aging King of France when she was twelve. But both women chose their second husbands for love. Margaret bucked convention by marrying and divorcing twice after Henry's advancing armies slaughtered her first husband and kidnapped her children. Mary risked execution by proposing to the handsome Duke of Suffolk. By illuminating the characters of these two historical figures, Perry casts light on other aspects of Tudor England, offering a fresh interpretation of Henry VIII's upbringing and of his relationship with immediate family members. In this eye-opening expose of the intrigue and scandal that simmered just beneath the Tudors' regal image, Perry reveals striking new information about a family that - more than any other - shaped the development of both Reformation England and the modern world. She delivers a new and entirely viable theory about what transpired on the wedding night of Henry's doomed elder brother, Arthur, England's heir apparent, and she presents her own spectacular findings on Henry's illegitimate son, his "worldly jewel," the shadowy Duke of Richmond. Perry rescues two remarkable princesses from the shadows of history and radically challenges popular views of both the king and his era. Actress and writer MARIA PERRY was educated at Somerville College, Oxford. Following a career in journalism, both in England and in Sweden, she undertook a wide spectrum of roles on stage and television and in film. She is a founding member of the London recording group The Poetry People. Her previous books, The Word of a Prince: A Life of Elizabeth I and Knightbridge Woman, both received high acclaim. She lives in London.
The Sisters: The Saga of the Mitford Family
by Mary S. LovellThis family biography considers the consequences of competing ideologies--Communist, royalist, and Fascist--on a twentieth-century English family, which happened to include four best-selling authors.
The Sisters: The Saga of the Mitford Family
by Mary S. Lovell"Fascinating, the way all great family stories are fascinating."--Robert Gottlieb, New York Times Book Review This is the story of a close, loving family splintered by the violent ideologies of Europe between the world wars. Jessica was a Communist; Debo became the Duchess of Devonshire; Nancy was one of the best-selling novelists of her day; beautiful Diana married the Fascist leader Sir Oswald Mosley; and Unity, a close friend of Hitler, shot herself in the head when England and Germany declared war. The Mitfords had style and presence and were mercilessly gifted. Above all, they were funny--hilariously and mercilessly so. In this wise, evenhanded, and generous book, Mary Lovell captures the vitality and drama of a family that took the twentieth century by storm and became, in some respects, its victims.
The Site: A Personal Odyssey
by Robert W. NeroPoetry or potsherds? That’s the surprising dilemma one of Canada’s well-known nature writers confronts in The Site: A Personal Odyssey, a highly personalized account of a lifetime’s involvement as an avocational archaeologist. With deft descriptive powers, Robert Nero leads us gently into this new facet of his amazing spectrum of interests. Not unexpectedly, there even is poetry in his approach to studying prehistoric remains! From childhood through adolescence, to wartime service with the U.S. Army in the Southwest Pacific, from exploring the vast sand dunes of Lake Athabasca to excavating a 3,000-year-old site he discovered west of Winnipeg, Nero allows us to share his enthusiasm and excitement in outdoor adventures. There is always a wonderful immediacy in his narrative, the mark of a gifted writer, whether expressed in prose or poetry.
The Six -- Young Readers Edition: The Untold Story of America's First Women Astronauts
by Loren GrushThe extraordinary true story of America&’s first female astronauts hailed as &“suspenseful, meticulously observed, enlightening&” by Margot Lee Shetterly, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Hidden Figures, now adapted for young readers.Sally Ride may have been the first US woman in space, but did you know there were five other incredible American women who helped blaze the trail for female astronauts by her side? When NASA sent astronauts to the moon in the 1960s and 1970s, the agency excluded women from the corps, arguing that only military test pilots—a group women were also aggressively barred from—had the right stuff. But as the 1980s dawned so did new thinking, and six elite women scientists—Sally Ride, Judith Resnik, Anna Lee Fisher, Kathy Sullivan, Shannon Lucid, and Rhea Seddon—set out to prove they had exactly the right stuff to become the first US women astronauts. In The Six Young Readers Edition, acclaimed journalist Loren Grush shows how these brilliant and courageous women fought to enter STEM fields they were discouraged from pursuing, endured claustrophobic—and often deeply sexist—media attention, underwent rigorous survival training, and prepared for years to take multi-million-dollar equipment into orbit. Told with contributions from nearly all the living participants and now adapted for young readers, this book is an inspiring testament to their struggles, accomplishments, and sacrifices and how they built the tools that made the space program run. It&’s a legacy that lives on to inspire young people today.