The Camel-Keeper's Son Maxmillian (also known as Bo) Stubbs's mother has just married a very rich man. Bo is looking forward to moving into his stepfather's big house and attending the snooty Fortnum School in the fall. Everything about Bo's new life will be first class, just like his new navy blazer with the Fortnum crest. While his mother is on her honeymoon, Bo spends a month with his father, Woody, an itinerant camel-keeper who entertains at shopping malls and conventions around the country. Woody is decidedly not first class, and neither is the eccentric cast of characters Bo meets on their travels. But Bo learns a lot from them that isn't taught at Fortnum...about love, loyalty, and the art of pretending -- and that class and first class are not necessarily the same thing.

In a time of Rasputin's magic and Romanov mystery, a young girl finds herself at the heart of the royal family. She was an orphan, ushered into the royal palace on the prayers of her majestry. Yet, decades later, her time spent in the embrace of the Romanovs haunts her still. Is she responsible for those murderous events that changed everything? If only she can find the heir, maybe she can put together the broken pieces of her own past-maybe she can hold on to the love she found

"Four female panellists face off in a wild, whip-smart televised debate about the intersection of religion and misogyny. On one side, there's Maryam, a progressive Muslim lawyer, and Yehudit, an Orthodox Jewish spiritual leader. The other has Liz, a lesbian antitheist pundit, and Margaret, an excommunicated nun. The debaters wrestle with themselves and with each other: Can you be a feminist and believe in religion? What can or can't be forgiven? Why do we have faith to begin with? Between the arguments, each of the debaters return to a seminal and secret moment in their past that represents a crisis of faith, leading the debate to become more and more personally charged, until it climaxes in an epic battle, culminating in a possible leap of faith. Unholy delves into the biblical struggles that tear us apart and makes us who we are. It's about having the courage to take the leap in life and into love. What is more holy than that?"--

Knowledge, intuition, science, and love are thrown into question in a collection of stories that embodies everyday dilemmas and dramas in settings as diverse as Ibiza to Camden Town, and from rural Spain to a precarious rowboat

The Zen of La Llorona is a second collection of poetry by a Native American woman, and as such, it goes beyond initial concerns with personal racial identity. While still very much speaking from an indigenous point of view, The Zen of La Llorona complicates that indigenous identity with visceral explorations of gendered violence, sexual orientation and mothering in an unpredictable, chaotic world. Key to these poems are historical and current events: traumas as distant as the colonization of California’s indigenous peoples and as close as the destructive forces of 9/11 and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. How do we survive destruction without becoming destroyers ourselves? How can the elements of earth, love, community and work nurture creation, and manifest hope? Utilizing the figure of “La Llorona,” a mythical indigenous figure of the Americas who first murders and then mourns her children, the poems in this book seek to unravel the mysterious fascination we have with despair, and move us along with the poet to a more clarifying, centering focus on joy. Zen, the author notes, tells us “everyone loses everything,” leaving us with only a decision about our attitude toward loss itself. La Llorona, on the other hand, says, “Nonsense – there’s always something left to lose.” What that “something” is, and how we can preserve and honor it, is at the heart of this collection of poems.

It was a night David Smith would never forget...the night he began living every father's most agonizing nightmare. On that chilly fall evening in 1994, he learned that his two young sons had been kidnapped. The person who broke the news was his estranged wife Susan Smith - the children's mother. In the harrowing days and nights that followed, an intensive manhunt began that would focus the eyes of America on the Smith family. But through it all, David Smith had only one thought: to get his boys back. Nine days later, a tearful Susan Smith confessed that the kidnapping had been a hoax, a cruel lie. The truth would be even crueler: three-year-old Michael and fourteen-month-old Alex Smith were dead, slain by their mother's own hand. David Smith speaks out about his life with Susan, the beloved children he has lost but will always love, and the slow, painful process of trying to put his life back together. He talks honestly and openly about his less-than-perfect marriage - a troubled relationship that led to affairs on both their parts; Susan's destructive obsession with the lover who'd rejected her; the events leading up to that fateful night last October; and, finally, the need to come to terms with his own grief and loss.

Paul Dogolov, divorced Vietnam War hero and novelist, teaches a writing class in a maximum security prison. Convinced that one of his students, serving a life sentence for brutal murder, is innocent, he sets out to find the real killer. The search leads him to a remote, dust-blasted California desert town and a scorpion's nest of bizarre and vicious characters. The result is a tale of intrigue, corruption, and savage humor, in which Dogolov, through his encounter with the horrific, yet wildly comic, Fat Lady of the title, learns about terror, degradation, and ultimately, love in a funhouse-mirror world where illusion is reality, reality, a chimera. "David Scott Milton is certainly one of the most talented, uncompromising prose writers of his generation, and The Fat Lady Sings is perhaps his best and also most appealing novel." — Peter Bogdanovich

A dual milestone in City Lights history, When I Was a Poet is number 60 of the famous Pocket Poets Series, as well as our first book of poems by legendary Beat author David Meltzer. The title piece is an ambitious late work by a master at the height of his powers, a spiritual assessment of the meaning of a lifetime spent writing poetry. Also included are portraits of key figures in the poet's life, including his parents, his late wife and musical partner Tina Meltzer, and Semina artist Wallace Berman, as well as "California Dreamin'," a reminiscence of Beat-era bohemian life. Meltzer's wide-ranging musical knowledge manifests itself in "A Slew of Blues" as well as poems devoted to the likes of Art Pepper and Nusrat Ali Khan, while his esoteric interests are embodied in a series of mystical "amulets." The book's final section contains two more major works, the eight-part serial poem "Night Reals" and "Dogma," a modernist counterpoint to the autobiographical title piece. With its profound meditations on love, loss, aging and death, When I Was a Poet is a substantial contribution to American poetry by one of its greatest living practitioners. As Lawrence Ferlinghetti writes, Meltzer is "one of the greats of post-WWII San Francisco poets and musicians."

The author describes his love for Vermont, sharing his thoughts on the history of the region, the reason for the state's live and let live attitude, and how Vermont's free-thinking traditions can survive in the modern world.

An astonishing collection of short stories--set deep in the twisted heart of middle class America--from one of America's most promising and highly acclaimed young writers. Leavitt lays bare the terrible lies of love and pain that bind us all in this "astounding collection of short stories".--New York Times. Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award.

The Moral Lives of Israelis explores the last ten years of life in Israel, a sixty-one-year-old country that has never not been in a state of war. It began in David Berlin's head as he sat vigil over his father's deathbed in a falling-down hospital in Tel Aviv. The last words given to him by his father were not words of love for his son and his grandchildren, but this command: "Look after my little country." That note set off a huge voyage of exploration and remembrance for Berlin, who has spent much of the last six years living and reporting in Israel, interviewing his own generation and the new crop of politicians and leaders, and witnessing the Second Lebanon War, the removal of the settlers from Gaza, and other defining events. The result is a thrilling blend of memoir, reportage and original thinking on the place of Israel in the world. The fundamental question that floats over every page of this passionate book is, with so many missteps and in a region deeply fraught with antagonism, racism and misunderstanding, how can Israel move forward? After many dead ends and twists and turns, it is the nineteenth-century visionary father of Zionism, Theodor Herzl, who ultimately sparks Berlin's dream for Israel in the twenty-first century — it is Herzl's insistence on a secular and cosmopolitan state that Berlin sees as a way to move beyond. Berlin's brave inquiry will be a must-read for anyone concerned with the fate of the Middle East — it engages on every level from the deeply emotional to the philosophical, and brings new perspective to a question that resonates well beyond the borders of Israel.

Titles are: The Bright Side * Can't Let You Go (The Sha La Song) * Careless Whisper * Cuban Hideaway * The Dance * Don't Give Up * I'll Be There * I'm Waiting for You * Know You by Heart * Love Is on the Way * Right by Your Side * Surrender * Together Again * You Are Me, I Am You.

Warning: this memoir makes the enigma of Claude Cahun even more enigmatic; anyone who comes to it looking for confessions will first have to deal with her disavowals. Memories? Choice morsels. My soul is fragmentary.—from DisavowalsClaude Cahun (1894-1954), born Lucy Schwob, was a poet, performer, resistance fighter, prisoner, Surrealist, “constructor and explorer of objects,” photographer, and “queer freak” who invented her life by flaunting the interchangability of roles and playing with the ambivalence of identity. Whether feigning vulnerability on the arm of her lover and stepsister Suzanne Malherbe aka Marcel Moore (“the other me”), making theatrical public appearances in disguise (sailor, gymnast, gypsy), or making herself up (vampire, Buddha, mannequin, angel) for self-portraits and installations, she rendered opposites inoperative and exposed the thinness of gender and power constructs by reducing them to mere surface costumes. In May 1930 Éditions Carrefour of Paris published 500 copies of a book called Aveux non avenues, in which Cahun explored these same dialectics in book form. It is the nearest thing to a memoir Cahun wrote, but in fact the book is an anti-memoir, a critique of autobiography, where she uses subversive photomontages and statements to present herself as a force of genius possessed of the need to resist identification and to maintain within herself “the mania of the exception.” Disavowals is the first appearance of that work, widely considered to be her most important text, in English. Reproductions of the original photomontages introduce the various sections, which in turn explore Cahun's distinctive ideas and obsessions—self-interrogation, narcissism, metamorphosis, love, gender-switching, humor, fear. An extensive introduction by Tate curator Jennifer Mundy sets the text in the context of Cahun's life and art. Also included is a translation of the original preface by Cahun's friend Pierre Mac Orlan, a comment by her biographer, François Leperlier, a note on the translation by Susan de Muth, and a postscript by Agnès Lhermitte.

Mr. Crockett is neither handsome nor fashionable, but he knows a secret--all things need love and care. With years of attention and patience, he transforms his shabby brownstone into an elegant home and brings a scrawny, neglected tree to life, teaching his critical neighbors that beauty can be found in unexpected places. Yan Nascimbene’s striking illustrations breathe new life into this holiday classic, originally published in 1972, that gently captures the true meaning of Christmas.

'Brilliant . . . exhilarating . . . Exciting and memorably written, this is one of those rare reads that has you galloping to the end, but feeling bereft at having to say goodbye so soon' Independent Behind a crumbling facade of seeming normality, secrets begin to stir within the Lux family home. Jean Lux, constrained academic wife and guilty mother, is waiting for excitement - and it will come from an unexpected source. Meanwhile Eve, her intelligent elder daughter, luxuriates in wounded jealousy, until her loathing for her only sister verges on the murderous. Into this climate of static repression and bitterness enters Raymond Snow, the deadly rival of Jean's husband, who begins to show interest in the vulnerable Eve. Meanwhile, Jean's best friend, Helena, has something she is yearning to tell: a confession that may alter everyone's life forever. Beautifully written and very funny, Daughters of Jerusalem is a gripping tale of hidden love and hate, of the desire to belong and the need for escape. Daughters of Jerusalem won both the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and a Somerset Maugham Award. 'Brilliant and witty . . . Mendelson's second bewitchingly erotic and darkly dramatic novel confirms her as a stylish, perceptive chronicler of the heart's hidden desires' Daily Mail

"Charity Tillemann-Dick was a vivacious young American soprano studying at the celebrated Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest when she received devastating news: her lungs were failing, her heart was three and a half sizes too big, and she would die within five years. Inexplicably, despite her fatal pulmonary condition, she could still sing. Medical experts advised Charity to abandon her musical dreams, but if her time was running out, she wanted to spend it doing what she loved. In just three years, she endured two double lung transplants. Teetering between life and death, she slowly learned to breathe, walk, talk, eat, and sing again. With new lungs and fierce determination, she eventually fell in love, rebuilt her career, and reclaimed her life. Over a decade after her diagnosis, she has a chart-topping album, performs around the globe, and is a leading voice for organ donation. Weaving Charity's extraordinary tale of triumph with those of opera's greatest heroines, The Encore illuminates the indomitable human spirit. It's the story of confronting devastating challenges with love: the intimate love of a mother for her daughter, a man for a woman, a doctor for her craft, and a singer for her music. Ultimately, grace from God and strangers enabled the work of love to save one young woman's breath and allowed her to reclaim her life"--Inside dust jacket.

When Maggie's grandmother passes away, she inherits her house and a mysterious family secret hidden in her prized daisy garden. As she uncovers the truth, Maggie discovers unexpected connections with her past and finds the courage to open her heart to love again. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Oxford and Cambridge are two of the most fabled academic institutions in the world; graduates include John Milton and Lord Byron, Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin, and, more recently, President Bill Clinton. For eight centuries, students have journeyed to Oxbridge to drink in the nectar of the classics and train in the sports of the Greeks. Then, in 1990, American writer Bruce Feiler arrived... Looking for Class is a hilarious and enlightening account of a year at Oxford and Cambridge by a talented young writer who won wide acclaim for his first book, Learning to Bow, an educational odyssey set in Japan. For his new adventure abroad, Feiler lived as a graduate student at Cambridge. He has written this comic expose with the dry wit of a British novelist and the irreverence of an American journalist. The result is a bawdy and illuminating pageant of British life, a cross between P. G. Wodehouse and P. J. O'Rourke, Brideshead Revisited and Animal House. Feiler shows us Oxbridge from all angles - the garden parties and formal balls, high-minded dormitory debates and late-night drinking Olympics, stuffy tutorials and weeklong exams. Along the way, he matches wits with the quickest tongue in the school during an "English-style" debate; rows in Cambridge's most exclusive athletic ritual; and learns lessons in love from a Rhodes Scholar. At a time when America's meritocracy is draping itself in the fine cloth of elite British education, Bruce Feiler has ventured into the dark and dusty halls of Anglo academia and demystified British education. What he has discovered is entertaining, informative, and highly relevant to our own educational system. Bruce Feiler is one of the most promising young writers at work today. With remarkable insight, he penetrates Oxford and Cambridge, a world romanticized but rarely seen.

Winner of the 2004 Prix de Flore—one of France's most distinguished literary prizes—a wildly romantic, true-life love story “History follows a trail of sputtering desire, often calling upon the delusions of lovers to generate the sparks. If it weren’t for us, the world would suffer from a dismal lack of stories," writes Bruce Benderson in this brutally candid memoir. “What astonishes and intrigues is Benderson’s way of recounting, in the sweetest possible voice, things that are considered shocking,” wrote Le Monde. What’s so shocking? It’s not just Benderson’s job translating Céline Dion’s saccharine autobiography, which he admits is driving him mad; but his unrequited love for an impoverished Romanian in “cheap club-kid platforms with dollar signs in his squinting eyes,” whom he meets while on a journalism assignment in Eastern Europe. Rather than retreat, Benderson absorbs everything he can about Romanian culture and discovers an uncanny similarity between his own obsession for the Romanian (named Romulus) and the disastrous love affair of King Carol II, the last king of Romania (1893-1953). Throughout, Benderson—“absolutely free of bitterness, nastiness, or any desire to protect himself,” wrote Le Monde—is sustained by little white codeine pills, a poetic self-awareness, a sense of humor, and an unwavering belief in the perfect romance, even as wild dogs chase him down Romanian streets.

Eliza Altairsky-Lointaine is the toast of Moscow society, a beautiful actress in an infamous theatre troupe.Her love life is as colourful as the parts she plays. She is the estranged wife of a descendant of Genghis Khan. And her ex-husband has threatened to kill anyone who courts her.He appears to be making good on his promise.Fandorin is contacted by concerned friend - the widowed wife of Chekhov - who asks him to investigate an alarming incident involving Eliza. But when he watches Eliza on stage for the first time, he falls desperately in love . . . Can he solve the case - and win over Eliza - without attracting the attentions of the murderer he is trying to find?