"I had but one delusion, which I held onto with all my willpower: we once gave Nikolai a life of flesh and blood; and I'm doing it over again, this time by words.' In a world created outside of time, Li and the son who died talk about their lives. Deeply intimate and moving, this story cycle of grief captures the love and humor in a relationship which goes on now in a mother's heart, between a mother and child, even as it captures the pain of Li's...

"In the wake of Hilary Mantel's brilliant conclusion to her award-winning Wolf Hall trilogy, this collection of loosely autobiographical stories locates the transforming moments of a haunted childhood. Sharp and funny, these drawn-from-life stories begin in the 1950s in an insular northern village "scoured by bitter winds and rough gossip tongues." For the child narrator, the only way to survive is to get up, get on, get out. In "King Billy Is a Gentleman,"...

"Brent Spiner's explosive and hilarious novel is a personal look at the slightly askew relationship between a celebrity and his fans. If the Coen Brothers were to make a Star Trek movie, involving the complexity of fan obsession and sci-fi, this noir comedy might just be the one. Set in 1991, just as Star Trek: The Next Generation has rocketed the cast to global fame, the young and impressionable actor Brent Spiner receives a mysterious package and...

For over fifty years, Willie Nelson has wondered about the life story of the legless man who sold wrapping paper to customers on the street in front of a downtown department store in Ft. Worth. This seller of "pretty paper" inspired Willie's classic Christmas song, and now, with a leap of imagination, he tells the tale of Tom Winthrop.

Little Women is a classic novel by Louisa May Alcott, originally published in two volumes in 1868 and 1869. The story is set against the backdrop of the Civil War and follows the lives of the four March sisters-Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy-as they navigate the challenges of adolescence and early adulthood. The novel begins with the March family facing financial difficulties as their father is away serving as a chaplain in the war. Despite their limited...

This is an autobiographical novel, which is a unique work that the author Fan Yusu said he intends to publish only once in his life. In the novel, based on his own experience, Fan Yusu created the heroine Fan Juren, telling the story of Fan Juren's hardships growing up in his hometown and wandering in Beijing. Influenced by the ghost culture of Chu when he was young, Fan Juren fantasized about an old mulberry tree in his courtyard, and embarked on...

Between sports, school, and working for his father, eleven-year-old Amar'e's life is full and he is not yet ready to concentrate on basketball--but when a group of older boys start hogging the local basketball court he knows that he has to do something to help his friends.

Provides in-depth analysis of the literary work The Bell Jar, as well as its importance and critical reception. Includes a chronology of the life and works of the author.

" Donald Hall, drawing on his own childhood memories to create an instant-classic Christmas story, gives himself the thing he most wanted but didn't get as a boy: a Christmas at Eagle Pond. It's the Christmas season of 1940 and twelve-year-old Donnie takes the train to visit his grandparents. Once there, he quickly settles into the farm's routines. In the barn, Gramp milks the cows and entertains his grandson by speaking rhymed pieces, while his grandson's...