Search this site    Denial Author: Ablow, Keith ISBN: 0-679-44211-1 Pages: 263 Format: Hardcover Publisher: Pantheon Published: June 24, 1997 Condition: Price: USD $1.69 Amazon.com: On his way to jail to certify the sanity of a homeless man accused of murder, Dr. Frank Klevenger listens to a B-52's CD and snorts cocaine as he drives from the handsome seaside town of Marblehead to the urban decay of Lynn, Massachusetts. So much for mental health. But Keith R. Ablow, a practicing psychiatrist himself, quickly shows us why Dr. Klevenger is so good at his job: his own personal demons give him an unusual understanding of troubled minds, which lifts this debut thriller to an insightful and exciting level. From Booklist Lynn, Massachusetts, is being terrorized by a murderer-mutilator in its midst, and psychiatrist Frank Clevenger gets the call to take the confession of the suspect, a schizoid who believes he is General William Westmoreland. The general, however, is not the only unbalanced one in this creepy thriller: Dr. Clevenger is a high-strung, coke-tooting, booze-swilling, strip-bar-and bed-hopping time bomb who barely keeps a lid on his anger. His explosiveness factors into the mystery when, despite the fact that the general kills himself, the body count continues to mount, and Clevenger either knew or slept with the victims. So did a competing prime suspect, who also dallies with Clevenger's live-in girlfriend. With so many easy zippers in this homicidal General Hospital, author Ablow could have inadvertently let his plot float away in soap-opera silliness, but he renders such a credible psychological portrait of Clevenger that the final revelation of the culprit is a satisfying surprise. A clever and tense debut. Gilbert Taylor Girlfriends Author: Anita Bunkley / Sandra Kitt / Eva Rutland ISBN: 0-7394-0367-2 Pages: Format: Hardcover Publisher: HarperCollins Published: 1999 Condition: Price: USD $1.99 Through Thick & Thin: Money Problems. Kid Problems. Man problems. Even when the going gets toughest, you've still got your girlfriends. You may not always see eye to eye, but your friends are beside you through it all - health & sickness, marriage & divorce, wealth & poverty and more. Now, three acclaimed African-American novelists: Anita Bunkley, Sandra Kitt & Eva Rutland - introduce you to some wonderful new women in poignant stories that touch the heart. Filled with hope & forgiveness, laughter & understanding, tears & love, these stories capture the wonderful, resilient bond that transforms women into sisters - the bond that makes us girlfriends. Sons of Fortune Author: Archer, Jeffrey ISBN: 0-312-31319-5 Pages: 400 Format: Hardcover Publisher: St. Martin's Press Published: January 7, 2003 Condition: Price: USD $2.29 From Publishers Weekly: Veteran novelist and British politician Archer (Kane and Abel) is currently serving a prison sentence for perjury, so readers can perhaps forgive him if this latest effort falls short of his usual standard. The implausibly plotted novel follows fraternal twin boys separated at birth by a bizarre set of circumstances. Nat Cartwright and Fletcher Davenport are born in Hartford, Conn., in the early 1950s. A meddlesome nurse sends them home with different families. Nat is raised in a lower-middle-class household, attends the University of Connecticut, serves heroically in Vietnam and goes into banking. Fletcher, the wealthy Yalie, becomes a lawyer and a politician. The men are repeatedly thrown into competition with each other, whether for admission to college or in their professional lives, their rivalry culminating when they both run for governor of their home state. The characters are too thin, and their respective worlds too littered with clich‚s, to offer a satisfying portrait of the baby boomer generation. Contrived plot twists offer little distraction, while the dialogue sometimes reads like a set of photo captions-information without emotion. "When you think about it, they are the obvious predator," says Nat about a takeover threat. "Fairchild's is the largest bank in the state; seventy-one branches with almost no serious rivals." Archer is usually a skillful storyteller, but he drops the ball here. Nightfall Author: Asimov, Isaac / Silverberg, Robert ISBN: 0-385-26341-4 Pages: 352 Format: Hardcover Publisher: Doubleday Published: October 1, 1990 Condition: Price: USD $2.29  From Publishers Weekly: This collaboration by two masters of the genre expands on Asimov's classic short story first published in 1941. Kalgash is a planet with six suns, a world where darkness is unnatural. Scientists realize that an eclipse--an event that occurs only every 2049 years--is imminent, and that a society completely unfamiliar with darkness will be plunged into madness and chaos. The novel traces events leading to this discovery, and the fates of the main characters immediately following the apocalypse. While the premise is convincing in the context of a short story, this longer version brings up too many unresolved questions. The original tale was tightly written, succinct and stunning, but the novelization seems flabby and drawn-out--the reader recognizes the significance and consequences of the impending events long before the characters do. An abrupt and simplistic ending further mars a hallowed SF tale. 100,000 first printing. Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition. From School Library Journal YA-- Because of its six suns, the planet Kalgash is bathed in perpetual sunlight. However, once every 2,049 years all six suns are eclipsed, plunging the planet into total darkness and causing widespread madness that results in the civilization's complete destruction, thus allowing the cycle to begin again. Night fall , expanded from Asimov's 1941 award-winning short story, lets readers experience the cataclysmic event through the eyes and biases of a newspaperman, an astronomer, an archaeologist, a psychologist, and a religious fanatic. This novel improves upon the original through the use of better developed characters and an expanded, more textured story that results in an absorbing, richer tale. - John Lawson, Fairfax County Public Library, Fairfax, Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. The Robber Bride Author: Atwood, Margaret ISBN: 0-385-26008-3 Pages: 466 Format: Hardcover Publisher: Nan A. Talese Published: October 1, 1993 Condition: Price: USD $2.29  From Publishers Weekly: The author of Cat's Eye depicts a femme fatale's malevolent role in the lives of three women; a seven-week PW bestseller. Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. From Library Journal Petite Tony teaches the agressively male subject of military history and has a talent for speaking backwards; actually, she's Ynot. Charis eats only vegetarian fare and consults crystals. Boisterous, stylish Roz runs her own company and drives a BMW. These three women would seem to have little in common, but they're held together by a single thread: Zenia, a lying, charismatic femme fatale who at one time or other stole the men in their lives. But Zenia is dead, blown to bits in Beirut, and can hurt them no more. Or so they think until the day a still-seductive Zenia walks into the restaurant where they are having lunch. As in Cat's Eye ( LJ 2/1/89), Atwood takes feminism one step further, showing women as victims not only of society but of themselves. Her book is daring, richly detailed, and compulsively readable. Indeed, some readers might find it too readable; at times it feels a bit trashier than something you would expect from Atwood. In addition, while Zenia is a fascinating absence at the novel's center, she seems too bad to be true. Nevertheless, Atwood is always good reading. For most collections. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 7/93. - Barbara Hoffert, "Library Journal" Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. The Mammoth Hunters Author: Auel, Jean M. / Bacon, Paul (Designer) ISBN: 0-517-55627-8 Pages: 645 Format: Hardcover Publisher: Crown Published: December 21, 1985 Condition: Price: USD $2.99 From Publishers Weekly: The authenticity of background detail, the lilting prose rhythms and the appealing conceptual audacity that won many fans for The Clan of the Cave Bear and The Valley of the Horses continue to work their spell in this third installment of Auel's projected six-volume Earth's Children saga set in Ice Age Europe. The heroine, 18-year-old Ayla, cursed and pronounced dead by the "flathead" clan that reared her, now takes her chances with the mammoth-hunting Mamutoi, attended by her faithful lover, Jondalar. Gradually overcoming the prejudice aroused by her flathead connection, Ayla wins acceptance into the new clan through her powers as a healer, her shamanistic potential, her skill with spear and slingshot and her way with animals (she rides a horse, domesticates a wolf cub, both "firsts," it would seem, and even rides a lion). She also wins the heart of a bone-carving artist of "sparkling wit" (not much in evidence), which forces her to make a painful choice between the curiously complaisant Jondalar, her first instructor in love's delights, and this more charismatic fellow. The story is lyric rather than dramatic, and Ayla and her lovers are projections of a romantic rather than a historical imagination, but readers caught up in the charm of Auel's story probably won't care. 750,000 first printing; $300,000 ad/promo; paperback rights to Bantam; Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club dual main selections; author tour. Foreign rights: Jean Naggar. December 6 Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library Journal Ayla, the prehistoric heroine of Auel's immensely popular series, meets a new clan, the mammoth hunters, in this eagerly awaited third installment to the saga. During her sojourn with this clan, Ayla and her lover, Jondalar, encounter a variety of crises triggered by Ayla's past and her involvement with another man. Auel has created an amazing and fascinating world. Every aspect of society and culture is accounted for; no detail is too small to be included. To enjoy this novel the reader must accept the author's concepts and cultural descriptions. Despite the sometimes too-modern dialogue and the often fatuous sex, this is a solid tale that will be particularly enjoyed by those who've been following Ayla's fortunes. Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club dual main selections. Lydia Burruel, Mesa P.L., Ariz. Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. The Fighting Ground Author: Avi ISBN: 0-06-440185-5 Pages: 160 Format: Paperback Publisher: HarperTrophy Published: May 15, 1987 Condition: Price: USD $1.69 From Publishers Weekly: The compelling story of a young boy's first encounter with war and how it changes him. Ages 9-up. Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. -- H. "Convincingly portrays Jonathan's passage from naive boy to young man." Unholy Dying A Crime Novel Author: Barnard, Robert ISBN: 0-7432-0149-3 Pages: 288 Format: Hardcover Publisher: Scribner Published: April 20, 2001 Condition: Price: USD $2.99 From Publishers Weekly: There are two authentic monsters in Barnard's latest outing for West Yorkshire cops Mike Oddie and Charlie Peace the murder victim and his actual killer. The trouble with this otherwise smooth story is that the dead man, a really nasty journalist named Cosmo Horrocks, is much more interesting than the murderer. "Build 'em up, smash 'em down" could be the motto of the seedy sex-and-crime chronicler, who loves to make everyone else's life miserable. Since this includes not only the people he writes about but also his family, his fellow journalists and virtually everyone he meets, the list of suspects when Cosmo gets his head bashed in is as long as a roll of toilet paper. Was it the subject of Cosmo's latest scandal-mongering a disgraced priest, Father Pardoe, booted out of his parish by a conniving bishop because of his attentions to an attractive, pregnant single mother? Was it Cosmo's own wife or daughter, each of whom has reasons to hate and fear him? And what about that young colleague on the West Yorkshire Chronicle who seems to have a sick fascination with Cosmo's methods? Unlike Agatha Christie on the Orient Express, Barnard can't have every single one of the suspects be guilty. So Oddie and Peace (who finds himself more personally involved than usual because of his own impending fatherhood) have to sift through a thicket of lies and evasions before nailing the killer. By then, Cosmo has been dead for more than 100 pages taking a lot of energy and interest with him. (Apr. 20)Forecast: Eight-time Edgar nominee Barnard, who has won Anthony, Agatha and Macavity awards, has a strong following, which might be enough to keep this relatively weak offering selling briskly. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc. From Booklist In his thirty-third book, the popular and prolific British mystery writer proves that he can still spin a roiling good yarn. This time Barnard follows a small-town scandal concerning rumors of unbecoming conduct by the local parish priest. Father Pardoe's career seems to be over, his reputation tarnished beyond repair by the back-fence whisperings naming him the father of the baby soon expected by single mother Julie Norris. There is also the issue of the priest's possible mishandling of a certain church fund. When Cosmo Horrocks, reporter at the West Yorkshire Chronicle, relates the rumors, the scandal grows exponentially, which may have something to do with the subsequent murder of the unfortunate Cosmo. Inspector Mike Oddie and Sergeant Charlie Peace are called in to find the killer; readers can count on being surprised by the results of their investigation. An outstanding village mystery in the grand tradition. Brad Hooper Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Talking It Over Author: Barnes, Julian ISBN: 0-679-40525-9 Pages: 275 Format: Hardcover Publisher: Knopf Published: October 8, 1991 Condition: Price: USD $1.99 From Publishers Weekly: The author of Flaubert's Parrot once again devises smart and fabulous fun. On the surface Barnes's newest is a postmodern Jules et Jim , made up only of testimonies from its characters, principally, meat-and-potatoes Stuart; Stuart's new bride, Gillian; and Stuart's best friend, the grandiloquent Oliver, who has fallen in love with Gillian. The structural conceit, however, opens the novel to a wealth of literary gambits, all the more effective for their unobtrusiveness. Barnes plays on Pirandello, for example, giving us characters in search of a reader: they compete for attention, directly address an intended audience ("Have a cigarette? You don't? I know you don't--you've told me that before"), demand that an unsympathetic witness be yanked from the story line. As Oliver woos Gillian, Barnes throws in some teasing references to other pursuits. The ingenious ending allows each of the figures to fashion his own, radically different resolution, while Barnes's sly narration leaves it to the reader to be the ultimate judge and, as such, the ultimate author. BOMC and QPB alternates. Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library Journal Stuart Hughes and Oliver Russell have been friends since childhood. When the fiscally astute but socially inept Stuart meets the beautiful and artistic Gillian Wyatt at a London wine bar, Oliver can hardly believe it. Gillian clearly deserves someone more cultured, more sophisticated--someone more like Oliver himself. Oliver tags along on the couple's first dates, stands as best man at their wedding, and only when it is too late declares his love for his best friend's wife. It's rather like a British version of the film Jules and Jim , he jokes. In fact, the narrative strategy has more in common with TV documentary than prose fiction. The characters are "talking heads" who address the reader directly, in three autonomous though interrelated harangues. There is no omniscient narrator to interpret the story; each character is defined entirely by speech. A witty and provocative novel from the author of the masterpiece Flaubert's Parrot ( LJ 4/1/85). Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 6/1/91. --Ed ward B. St. John, Loyola Law Sch. Lib., Los Angeles Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. Ship Fever Author: Barrett, Andrea ISBN: 0-393-31600-9 Pages: 254 Format: Paperback Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company Published: December 1996 Condition: Price: USD $1.69 Amazon.com: In 1764, two Englishwomen set out to prove that swallows--contrary to the great Linnaeus's belief--do not hibernate underwater. But they must be patient and experiment in secret, such actions being inappropriate for the female of the species. In 1862, a hopeless naturalist heads off for yet another journey, though he can't seem to rid his conscience of the thousands of animals that have already died in his service. In 1971, a pregnant young woman, ill at ease with her socially superior husband and his stepchildren, hears of a Tierra del Fuegan taken hostage by the commander of the Beagle in 1835. This unwilling specimen was, we read, "captured, exiled, re-educated; then returned, abused by his family, finally re-accepted. Was he happy? Or was he saying that as a way to spite his captors? Darwin never knew." Many of the characters who populate Andrea Barrett's National Book Award-winning collection, Ship Fever, feel similarly displaced in the world. They long to prove themselves in both science and love, but are often thwarted by gender, social position, or the prevailing order. In "The Behavior of the Hawkweeds," the wife of a genetics professor has learned that each narrative of discovery is matched by one, if not more, "in which science is not just unappreciated, but bent by loneliness and longing." Barrett's astonishing tales of ambition and isolation convey the meaning and feeling behind the patterns--scientific and emotional--but slip free of easy closure. The two women in "Rare Bird," like the swallows, depart England for more conducive climes, or so the brother of one believes. The reader is left to hope, and imagine. Much has been made of Andrea Barrett's interlacing of history, knowledge, and fact--and rightly so. But equal attention should be paid to the brilliant serenity and exactitude of her style. --Kerry Fried From Publishers Weekly: The quantifiable truths of science intersect with the less easily measured precincts of the heart in these eight seductively stylish tales. In the graphic title novella, a self-doubting, idealistic Canadian doctor's faith in science is sorely tested in 1847 when he takes a hospital post at a quarantine station flooded with diseased, dying Irish immigrants fleeing the potato famine. The story, which deftly exposes English and Canadian prejudice against the Irish, turns on the doctor's emotions, oscillating between a quarantined Irish woman and a wealthy Canadian lady, his onetime childhood playmate. In "The English Pupil," Swedish botanist Carolus Linnaeus, who brought order to the natural world with his system of nomenclature, battles the disorder of his own aging mind as he suffers from paralysis and memory loss at age 70. In "The Behavior of the Hawkweeds," a precious letter drafted by Austrian monk Gregor Mendel, who discovered the laws of heredity, reverberates throughout the narrator's marriage to her husband, an upstate New York geneticist. Barrett (The Forms of Water) uses science as a prism to illuminate, in often unsettling ways, the effects of ambition, intuition and chance on private and professional lives. Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. Emma's Secret Author: Bradford, Barbara Taylor ISBN: 0-312-30702-0 Pages: 496 Format: Hardcover Publisher: St. Martin's Press Published: January 6, 2004 Condition: Price: USD $2.49  From Publishers Weekly: It has been nearly 25 years since Bradford made her name with the female rags-to-riches saga. A Woman of Substance, the first in a trilogy of novels that concluded with 1988's To Be the Best. Gambling that there is still life to be squeezed out of the story of indomitable super-survivor Emma Harte and her descendants, Bradford returns to the chase with this present-day sequel. The novel opens in 2001 at Pennistone Royal, Emma's magnificent country estate in Yorkshire, now occupied by her granddaughter Paula's family. Paula heads the Knightsbridge store, flagship of the nationwide Harte chain, and her grown daughters, Linnet and Tessa, work there. A young American, Evan Hughes, with an uncanny Harte family resemblance, appears one day seeking a job. She's hired at once, since Linnet needs help with an upcoming fashion spectacular, a retrospective featuring Emma's couture wardrobe. Linnet's cousin Gideon, who works for the Harte newspapers, is smitten with Evan, and soon the mystery of her background is of concern, especially when it's discovered that Evan's grandmother had a close relationship with Emma. The overwhelming amount of descriptive detail clothing, interior decor, food and drink slows down the narrative, but such Victorian props as a decorative locked box, a key taped behind a photograph and long-lost diaries provide mild suspense. The saga was already losing steam with To Be the Best, and this fourth installment is further diluted. Lacking the dynamic impact of the original, it will be best appreciated by those with an irresistible desire to follow the further adventures of the Harte clan. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Remember (Large Print) Author: Bradford, Barbara Taylor ISBN: 0-679-40821-5 Pages: 784 Format: Hardcover Publisher: Random House Large Print Published: November 26, 1991 Condition: Price: USD $2.99 Book Description: An electrifying new novel by Barbara Taylor Bradford, who demonstrates her superb storytelling gifts in this passionate tale of Nicky Wells. Beautfiul and fabulously successful as a television war correspondent, she deeply mourns the loss of her great love, only to be confronted with disturbing suspicions that this remarkable man led a mysterious double life.... Unexpected Blessings Author: Bradford, Barbara Taylor ISBN: 0-312-30704-7 Pages: 496 Format: Hardcover Publisher: St. Martin's Press Published: January 4, 2005 Condition: Price: USD $2.49 From Publishers Weekly: Emma Harte, the redoubtable heroine of veteran novelist Bradford's 1976 bestseller, A Woman of Substance, has been dead for 30 years, but she's still a player in the continuing family saga. Her pronouncements and unwritten rules are well remembered by all the descendants in the dynasty and business empire she founded. This installment begins where Emma's Secret (2004) left off, with Evan Hughes, the young visitor from the U.S., obtaining a dream job in fashion at the renowned London department store, Harte's, and beginning a romance with Gideon Harte, heir apparent to the family newspaper enterprise. In the previous volume, Evan learned that her own father was the illegitimate child of another Harte scion (making Evan and Gideon cousins a few times removed), and now she wonders whether she should divulge this secret to her father, who is soon to arrive in London. A true crisis distracts her, however: the disappearance of three-year-old Adele, adored daughter of store manager Tessa, one of Emma's great-grandchildren. Linnet, Tessa's half-sister and sometimes business rival, comes to the rescue and Adele soon reappears, but tensions between the sisters persist. Meanwhile, Linnet's cousin India has fallen in love with a painter from a working-class background, and India must battle her family's disapproval. The exploits and adventures of Bradford's indomitable heroines continue to make for lusty escapist fiction in this robust fifth novel in the series. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Firebrand Author: Bradley, Marion Zimmer ISBN: 0-671-64177-8 Pages: 608 Format: Hardcover Publisher: Simon & Schuster Published: October 1987 Condition: Price: USD $2.29  From Publishers Weekly: The author of The Mists of Avalon here "vividly recounts" the Trojan War. "Although these mythic figures stumble through some petty, rather too modern dialogue," PW found that "Bradley animates . . . the conflicts between a culture that reveres the strength of women and one that makes them mere consorts of powerful men." Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. From Library Journal Bradley ( The Mists of Avalon ) has combined several legends about the fall of Troy in this novel, told from the point of view of Kassandra, daughter of King Priam. After receiving the gift of prophecy from the god Apollo and then rejecting him, she was cursed when he decreed that her vision would be taken as dreams or the ravings of a madwoman. Some basic knowledge of Greek mythology would be helpful to the reader in keeping the various gods and their relationships straight. She makes a strong statement about the desirability of women having control of their own destinies and about the cruelties men inflict upon them. Literary Guild featured alternate. Andrea Lee Shuey, Dallas P.L. Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. Gin Lane Author: Brady, James ISBN: 0-312-18579-0 Pages: 256 Format: Hardcover Publisher: St. Martin's Press Published: May 15, 1998 Condition: Price: USD $1.99 From Publishers Weekly: Memorial Day weekend promises to be quite an event in Parade columnist Brady's new foray into the Hamptons. This time out, the author of Further Lane (set in East Hampton) sets his story amidst the snobbier estates of Southampton, where journalist Beecher Stowe and his amour, Lady Alix Dunraven, are once again involved in personal intimacies and potential murder. Notorious morning deejay "Cowboy" Dils (Don Imus crossbred with Howard Stern), who has managed to offend virtually everyone, is the target of several suspicious "accidents." Meanwhile, social climbers Tom and Daisy Buchanan (wink, wink) are marrying off a daughter to Viscount "Fruity" Albemarle in what promises to be the social event of the summer. Add to the mix a slew of security people checking the area in anticipation of a possible presidential drop-in. Tossing out tart observations and acid one-liners, Brady fills his pages with socialites, titans of industry, showbiz arrivistes and various hangers-on but not much in the way of plot. Nonetheless, devoted readers of Women's Wear Daily, Town and Country, Liz Smith and society chronicler Suzy will enjoy unmasking some of the thinly disguised and wickedly drawn real-life personages in this juicy m?lange. Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Kirkus Reviews Tedium in excelsis as Advertising Age and Parade columnist Brady extends his line of novels about wealthy Long Islanders begun with Further Lane (1997). Earlier, Brady entertained with elaborate sketches of New York worlds of high fashion, the press, and publishing, his vignettes jam-packed with dropped names and celebrity twits. This time, we find him moving from East Hampton's Further Lane and the Maidstone Club to Southampton's great walled houses and the elegance of Gin Lane and its stuffy Meadow Club. Still narrating is Beecher Stowe IV, a journalist whose head is crammed with more local lore than could interest even the most inbred native. Reading the present novel is like sorting through a landfill of glittering bitchery and rubbish poured from a motormouth whose brain is chockablock with gossip columns. The story tells of a barbed and raspy Don Imuslike morning chat-show host, Leicester ``Cowboy'' Dils, who moves onto Gin Lane only to win many snobbish enemies with the vaunting scope of his gauche Gatsbyesque longing for diehard gentleman status. Recently, his wit has also drawn the blood of the POTUS (President of the United States) regarding the Ps dalliances. And--ahh!--the POTUS is about to visit Gin Lane. When Dils goes out for a midnight run, someone tries to kill him with a black Rolls-Royce. When that fails, an attempt with a golf cart nearly works. Could these nasty tricks have anything to do with superbillionaire of broadcasting Roger Champion, 80 and impotent, who is Dils's boss and lives down the lane with Dils's ex-gir1friend, former actress Slim Norris Champion, 40? Is Champion's backing of a racetrack scheme with sleazy Wyseman Clagett tied in somehow with his outrage at Cowboy Dils? Not up to Nelson DeMille's vastly more focused The Gold Coast, which details a similar Fitzgeraldian legend. But Brady fans litter the landscape, and may disagree. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. First Ladies Author: Breslin, Catherine ISBN: 0-07-007648-0 Pages: 429 Format: Hardcover Publisher: Mcgraw-Hill Published: May 1987 Condition: Price: USD $2.49 From Library Journal: In the 1980 presidential election neither candidate wins a majority in the Electoral College. While the selection of a chief executive is deadlocked in the House, Democratic vice-president Larry Devlin is sworn in as acting president. This new novel by Breslin ( Unholy Child ) is the account of two political wives, "dragon lady" Prilla Sterling, wife of the Republican contender, and recovering alcoholic, temporary first lady Robin Devlin. The women are perfect foils for each other, their stories played out against an interesting and authentic view of political life behind the scenes. But the parallels between these characters and their real-life counterparts bring an unwelcome element of predictability. Also irritating is the machine gun style writing technique punctuated by too many italicized phrases. Still, a unique political plot holds the reader until the end. BOMC alternate. Lydia Burruel Johnson, Mesa P.L., Ariz. Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. The Smoke Jumper Author: Evans, Nicholas ISBN: 0-385-33403-6 Pages: 448 Format: Hardcover Publisher: Delacorte Press Published: August 21, 2001 Condition: Price: USD $1.99 Amazon.com's Best of 2001: New York born and bred, Julia Bishop has no warning that spending the summer counseling troubled teens in Montana will change her life forever. Happily in love with smoke jumper and musician Ed Tully, she looks forward to spending the summer weekends with him in Missoula and is stunned and disturbed by the instant connection she feels to his best friend, Connor Ford. Connor, a Montana rancher and smoke jumper, loves fighting fires almost as much as he loves photography, and before the summer is barely started, he loves Julia Bishop just as deeply. The bond between the three is strong but the work of a smoke jumper is fraught with danger and the trio soon face death by fire. Survival changes their lives forever and places them on paths that divide Julia, Ed, and Connor just as surely as their individual journeys bind them irrevocably together. The Smoke Jumper is a tale of loyalty and guilt, honor and selfless love, and the human cost of choices made. --Lois Faye Dyer From Publishers Weekly With fists over their hearts, best friends Connor Ford and Ed Tully shout out "hearts of fire" before parachuting into devastating forest fires to extinguish them. Working side by side in life-threatening circumstances, this unlikely pair (Connor is a Montana cowboy and freelance photographer; Ed is a Chicago musician and would-be playwright) bond through their summer job. Ed's girlfriend, Julia, counsels troubled teens in the Montana wilderness and, though neither one acknowledged it, when Connor and Julia met sparks flew. All three of their lives change irreparably when Julia is trapped in a raging forest fire. Ed becomes blinded during the rescue, and Connor saves Julia. Julia marries Ed out of a sense of responsibility, and a frustrated Connor leaves for years to travel the globe as a war photographer. Although it sounds like an extravagant soap opera, and occasionally feels that way, Evans's (The Horse Whisperer and The Loop) latest novel is about more than just a complicated love triangle. From its opening line, "The important things in life always happen by accident," this is a tale of fate and the search for happiness and self-fulfillment. Conger's strong, clear reading has an edge accentuating the danger of Connor's life, yet at the same time his voice is a source of integrity and calm that anchors the story. Simultaneous release with the Delacorte hardcover. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition. The Bookshop Author: Fitzgerald, Penelope ISBN: 0-395-86946-3 Pages: 128 Format: Paperback Publisher: Mariner Books Published: September 15, 1997 Condition: Price: USD $1.69 Amazon.com: Since 1977, Penelope Fitzgerald has been quietly coming out with small, perfect devastations of human hope and inhuman (i.e., all-too-human) behavior. And now we have the opportunity to read "The Bookshop," her tragicomedy of provincial manners first published in 1978 in the U.K., but never available in the U.S. The Bookshop unfolds in a tiny Sussex seaside town, which by 1959 is virtually cut off from the outside English world. Postwar peace and plenty having passed it by, Hardborough is defined chiefly by what it doesn't have. It does have, however, plenty of observant inhabitants, most of whom are keen to see Florence Green's new bookshop fail. But rising damp will not stop Florence, nor will the resident, malevolent poltergeist (or "rapper," in the local patois). Nor will she be thwarted by Violet Gamart, who has designs on Florence's building for her own arts series and will go to any lengths to get it. One of Florence's few allies (who is, unfortunately, a hermit) warns her: "She wants an Arts Centre. How can the arts have a centre? But she thinks they have, and she wishes to dislodge you." Once the Old House Bookshop is up and running, Florence is subjected to the hilarious perils of running a subscription library, training a 10-year-old assistant, and obtaining the right merchandise for her customers. Men favor works "by former SAS men, who had been parachuted into Europe and greatly influenced the course of the war; they also placed orders for books by Allied commanders who poured scorn on the SAS men, and questioned their credentials." Women fight over a biography of Queen Mary. "This was in spite of the fact that most of them seemed to possess inner knowledge of the court--more, indeed, than the biographer." But it is only when the slippery Milo North suggests Florence sell the Olympia Press edition of "Lolita" that Florence comes under legal and political fire. Fitzgerald's heroine divides people into "exterminators and exterminatees," a vision she clearly shares with her creator--but the author balances disillusion with grace, wit, and weirdness, favoring the open ending over the moral absolute. Penelope Fitzgerald's internecine if gentle world view even extends to literature--books are living, jostling things. Florence finds that paperbacks, crowding "the shelves in well-disciplined ranks," vie with Everyman editions, which "in their shabby dignity, seemed to confront them with a look of reproach." One senses that classic hardcovers would welcome The Bookshop, despite its status as a paperback original. --Kerry Fried From Library Journal Florence Green, a widow, has lived for ten years in a small village in Suffolk, England. With a modest inheritance, she plans to open the first and only bookstore in the area. Florence purchases a damp, haunted property that has stood vacant for many years but encounters unexpected resistance from one of the local gentry, Mrs. Gamart, who has a sudden yen to establish an arts center in the same building. Florence goes ahead with her plan in spite of Mrs. Gamart and meets with some small success. However, Mrs. Gamart surreptitiously places obstacles in Florence's way, going so far as to have a nephew in Parliament write and pass legislation that eventually evicts Florence from her shop and her home. This work by veteran writer Fitzgerald (The Blue Flower, LJ 3/1/97), originally published in Great Britain, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1978. Both witty and sad, it boasts whimsical characters who are masterfully portrayed. Highly recommended. -?Joanna M. Burkhardt, Univ. of Rhode Island Coll. of Continuing Education, Providence Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. Jewels Author: Steel, Danielle ISBN: 0-385-30490-0 Pages: 471 Format: Hardcover Publisher: Delacorte Press Published: May 1, 1992 Condition: Price: USD $2.29  Birthdays are a time for reflection, especially for Sarah, Duchess of Whitfield, who is awaiting the arrival of her far-flung family. Years earlier, reeling from her pending divorce, Sarah Thompson is force-marched through Europe on the grand tour by her concerned parents. Disinterested in the sons, grandsons, and nephews paraded before her by well-meaning acquaintances, Sarah chances upon William Whitfield, the Duke of Whitfield, 14th in line for succession to the English throne. Disarmed by his wit and intrigued by his intellect, Sarah allows William to become her companion in London, warning him they can only be friends. Undeterred, William dismisses Sarah's protestations that her divorce makes her unsuitable to be his duchess and finally convinces Sarah to marry him. While honeymooning in France, Sarah and William happen upon Chateau de la Meuze. Enchanted, the Whitfields buy and set about restoring the estate. But World War II looms, threatening their idyllic existence. Following the birth of their first child, Phillip, William joins the RAF when England declares war on Germany. Reluctantly, he leaves Sarah and Phillip at the chateau. German troops, led by the courtly commandant Joachim von Mannheim, take possession of the chateau to establish a hospital, removing Sarah and Phillip to the caretaker's cottage. When the war ends, William, after being imprisoned for three years and barely surviving the torture that deprived him of the use of his legs, returns to his family. The Whitfields pick up threads of lives strained, but not broken, by war. Soon, they are approached by others who lost everything during the war except a few secreted heirlooms. But jewelry can't put food on the table, and the Whitfields begin purchasing jewelry to provide neighbors with much-needed cash. When William jokingly suggests opening a Paris store, a legacy is born: Whitfield's, Jewelers to the Crown. Over the next decades, which bring three more children, two more branches of Whitfields, and the death of her husband, Sarah is molded into a force to be reckoned with, capable of handling her willful children and a highly successful international business with equal aplomb. Steel paints a portrait of a family, imperfect as they may be, and the powerful matriarch who reminds them of the bond that transcends titles, money, and borders. --Alison Trinkle From Publishers Weekly In the Steel collectionoeuvre, which means works of art, is awk with following jewel metaphor, Jewels is merely a semiprecious gem. Set in the WW II era, the novel depicts the travails of its to elim dangler heroine, Sarah, Duchess of Whitfield. The beautiful debutante daughter of a wealthy American family, Sarah has endured the disgrace attending her divorce of her caddish first husband. Eventually she marries the charming and very rich Duke of Whitfield, who buys her a chateau in France. The rest of the novel follows the self-satisfied course of their usually happy since he's in prison camp at one point union. WW II offers Steel a chance to pump drama into this bland narrative, but she misses it. Sarah spends the war comfortably ensconced on the grounds of her chateau, looked out for by a solicitious German commander so polite she doesn't guess he has fallen in love with her. Meekly, he leaves the moment Sarah learns her husband, the duke, has survived a Nazi prison camp. After she nurses William back to health, their idyllic marriage placidly resumes. They are rich and envied. They eat well, dress well, live well, have or else mention first child above, children and open a jewelry store for amusement. The narrative's greatest conflict comes in the final chapters, when widowed Sarah has to deal with her unruly offspring. Costume jewelry has more sparkle than this uninspired tale. Major ad/promo; Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club main selections. Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. No Greater Love Author: Steel, Danielle ISBN: 0-385-29909-5 Pages: 392 Format: Hardcover Publisher: Delacorte Press Published: October 1, 1991 Condition: Price: USD $2.29  Amazon.com: While hearts may go on after a tragedy occurs, they are never the same. Prolific bestselling author Danielle Steel revisits this familiar theme in No Greater Love. Twenty-year-old Edwina Winfield is forced to assume the role of head of the household, becoming both mother and father to her five younger siblings after her parents and beloved fiancé drown during the disastrous sinking of the Titanic. Determined never to marry, Edwina must also run the family newspaper until her younger brothers are old enough to step in. But next-in-line Phillip heads first to Harvard and then is tragically killed during World War I. Fun-loving George is wooed by the lights of Hollywood and exquisite sister Alexis follows in his footsteps. While tending to the youngest children, Fannie and Teddy, Edwina must assist the rest of her siblings out of their many scrapes and escapades. Along the way, she comes to terms with her loss and is finally able to put the events of the fateful night of April 15, 1912, the night the Titanic made its final voyage to the bottom of the sea, behind her and let love into her heart once more. --Alison Trinkle --This text refers to the Paperback edition. From Publishers Weekly Steel ( Heartbeat ) shamelessly plucks her readers' heartstrings in this predictably sentimental novel. In 1912, during a harrowing Atlantic crossing, 20-year-old Edwina Winfield loses her parents and fiance in the sinking of the R.M.S. Titanic . She bravely shoulders full responsibility for her younger siblings--sensible Philip, wiseacre George, angelic Alexis and toddlers Fannie and Teddy--and resigns herself to spinsterhood, certain she will never wish to marry. Financially if not emotionally secure in San Francisco, she ponders the fate of their father's newspaper business, capably mothers her brood and politely declines the amorous advances of a family friend. Additional tragedy awaits in the form of WW I and, again, tears are shed, but the indomitable Winfields prevail, eventually gaining access to glamourous 1920s Hollywood. As George develops a career in the movie industry and stunning blonde Alexis dreams of stardom, readers will begin to suspect that long-suffering, virtuous Edwina might have another chance at happiness (read: true love). Steel can never be accused of subtlety, but fans of her brand of romance won't be disappointed. Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club main selections; author tour. Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. Silent Honor Author: Steel, Danielle ISBN: 0-385-31301-2 Pages: 353 Format: Hardcover Publisher: Delacorte Press Published: November 1, 1996 Condition: Price: USD $1.99 From Publishers Weekly: The doyenne of bestseller lists weaves another romantic story in her 38th novel, a tale of separated families and shattered lives set against one of the most morally reprehensible events in U.S. history: the internment of Japanese-Americans during WW II. In 1941, 18-year-old Hiroko Takashimaya, the beautiful, painfully shy daughter of a modern-thinking professor and a tradition-bound mother, is sent from her home in Kyoto to live in California with her American cousins and attend a prestigious women's college. Terribly homesick yet determined to make her parents proud, dutiful Hiroko begins to adjust to her new life and even does the unthinkable when she falls in love with Peter Jenkins, a handsome American professor. The joys of Peter's love painfully contrast with the humiliation Hiroko suffers at the hands of her racially prejudiced school mates, but worse is to come when war breaks out and Hiroko and her cousins are sent to segregated camps. Separated from Peter, now a soldier fighting in Europe, Hiroko sheds her sheltered, girlhood innocence and evolves into a strong, independent woman. Steel's slapdash prose and stereotypical characterization produce a formulaic tale, albeit more earnest and didactic than her usual fare, but she does succeed in telling a poignant story. Major ad/promo; simultaneous BDD audio. Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library Journal At 18, Hiroko faces an unfamiliar culture and racial prejudice when she arrives to attend college in America. Her American cousins and Peter, their Caucasian friend, help her adapt to her new life, but nothing can prepare them for what follows the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Suddenly viewed as enemies, Japanese residents and even U.S. citizens of Japanese descent are deprived of jobs, property, and freedom and sent to internment camps. Secretly married to Peter before he enters the army, Hiroko endures many hardships and losses in the camps. Believing Peter to be missing in action, she returns to Japan after the war only to discover that her entire family has perished. At this bleakest moment in her life, Peter reappears, providing the promise of a happy future. Although it may be predictable, this novel is a reminder of a shameful episode in American history that should not be forgotten. Steel's (Wings, LJ 10/15/94) reputation will ensure demand. -Barbara E. Kemp, SUNY at Albany Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. The Ghost Author: Steel, Danielle ISBN: 0-385-31695-X Pages: 360 Format: Hardcover Publisher: Delacorte Press Published: November 5, 1997 Condition: Price: USD $2.29