"A tragicomic journey across America as one man attempts to create a fast food empire, and a legacy to leave behind. From the prolific and peerless Stanley Elkin, The Franchiser follows Ben Flesh-one of the men "who made America look like America, who made America famous." He collects franchises, traveling from state to state, acquiring the brand-name establishments that shape the American landscape. But both the nation and Ben are running out of energy. As blackouts roll through the West, Ben struggles with the onset of multiple sclerosis, and the growing realization that his lifetime quest to buy a name for himself has ultimately failed"--

Family trauma, race, and the destiny of a nation corrupted by slavery, cast in the light of epic myth: "More than a saga of Black revitalization . . . Part vision, part parable, it is a story for all America." ( The New York Times Book Review ) The Snowdon family stands as a pinnacle of Black excellence in Washington, D.C.: educated, affluent, and influential. John Christopher, the patriarch, saves lives as a heart surgeon and is revered by his students at Howard University. His wife, Camille, governs an elegant house overlooking Rock Creek Park and devotes herself to reading, gardening, and raising their three daughters--Cynthia, Patricia, and Eva--to attend the very best schools and roam the world on a whim. Theirs ought to be a story of success and empowerment, but something is rotten in the house of Snowdon. Years later, when John Christopher's granddaughter Johnnie comes to seek the truth about her own parentage, she unveils a legacy of unspeakable family secrets tangled up in America's original sin. What begins as a quest for identity spirals into an apocalyptic vision of a nation on the brink of ruin. By turns a poetic epic, a ghost story, a historical saga, and a chilling dystopian fable, Thereafter Johnnie is a unique and uniquely American fusion of myth and hard-bitten reality: an erotic, horrifying, and even hopeful reckoning with centuries of injustice.

Step into the halcyon world of pre-war England through the eyes of George Sherston, the fictionalized alter ego of poet and war hero Siegfried Sassoon. In "Memoirs of a Fox-hunting Man", Sassoon masterfully captures the innocence of youth, the thrill of the hunt, and the deep, abiding connection to a countryside untouched by the horrors of the Great War. Through Sherston’s adventures—on horseback and off—readers are immersed in the gentle rhythms of country life, the camaraderie of the hunting field, and the quiet introspections of a young man coming of age. Yet beneath the light-hearted tales and sporting escapades lies an undercurrent of change, as the encroaching reality of war looms over this idyllic existence. Sassoon’s prose is at once nostalgic and sharply observant, offering a portrait of an era and a generation on the cusp of irrevocable transformation. Whether you are a lover of classic literature, historical fiction, or poignant coming-of-age stories, this evocative narrative offers both a window into a vanished world and a powerful commentary on the innocence lost to war.

Paris, 1960s. A young dancer and single mother, who might or might not be the narrator's love interest, is revisited by menacing figures from her past, even as she tries to escape that past through her art. Set in the shimmering world of the Paris ballet, a world populated by giants such as Balanchine and Nureyev, Ballerina revisits the themes of memory, desire, and ineffable danger that have become hallmarks of Patrick Modiano's fiction. -- Amazon.com.

As the master of the Indian Spring school emerged from the pine woods into the little clearing before the schoolhouse, he stopped whistling, put his hat less jauntily on his head, threw away some wild flowers he had gathered on his way, and otherwise assumed the severe demeanor of his profession and his mature age which was at least twenty. Not that he usually felt this an assumption; it was a firm conviction of his serious nature that he impressed others, as he did himself, with the blended austerity and ennui of deep and exhausted experience

A collection of Algren’s lost and unfinished writings, including his last novel and several stories considered to be among his masterpieces, with a new introduction by Algren's biographer Colin Asher. "You should not read [Algren] if you can’t take a punch. Mr. Algren can hit with both hands and move around and he will kill you if you are not awfully careful." —Ernest Hemingway Nelson Algren sought humanity in the urban wilderness of postwar America, where his powerful voice rose from behind the billboards and down tin-can alleys, from among the marginalized and ignored, the outcasts and scapegoats, the punks and junkies, the sex workers and down-on-their luck gamblers, the punch-drunk boxers and skid-row drunkies and kids who knew they'd never reach the age of twenty-one. Algren admired them all for their vitality and no-bullshit forthrightness, their insistence on living, their self-awareness, and their ability to find a laugh and a dream in the unlikeliest places. Entrapment and Other Writings contains his unfinished last novel, previously unpublished or uncollected stories and poems, and reportage. Algren speaks to our time as few of his American contemporaries of the 1940s and ’50s do, in part because he was always the outsider.

"Power" is a masterful historical novel set in the eighteenth-century Duchy of WÃ1/4rttemberg. It tells the story of Josef SÃ1/4ß Oppenheimer, a brilliant and ambitious financier who rises to become the most influential advisor to the Duke. As SÃ1/4ß maneuvers through the treacherous landscape of courtly intrigue and political rivalry, he must navigate the precarious balance between his immense worldly power and his identity as a Jewish man in a hostile society. Lion Feuchtwanger's narrative explores themes of ambition, loyalty, and the corrupting nature of absolute authority. The novel provides a vivid portrait of an era defined by decadence and rigid social hierarchies while examining the internal conflict of a man caught between the pursuit of influence and the preservation of his heritage. With its rich historical detail and profound psychological insight, "Power" remains a compelling study of the moral costs of political success and the enduring struggle for dignity in the face of systemic prejudice. 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 was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you may see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. 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. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. 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.

Shortlisted for the prestigious Sapir Prize, winner of UNSECO's international competition for Short Stories from the Mediterranean, Amstel is a haunting collection of stories about family, love and longing. These captivating tales take conventional life and tilt it sideways, delivering a memorable blend of the real and the surreal: A mother invites her reluctant son for cocktails and Amstel beer, then drunkenly reveals a part of her life that would have better remained hidden; a lonely man invites a battered young mother and her son into his empty home and a new hope is born in him; a pregnant woman in Jerusalem and her Palestinian cleaning lady draw closer until the Intifada tests their comradeship; a crazy Moroccan girl who habitually bites the back of her hand until it bleeds, believes she's found love; a woman exits her house momentarily into the night chill, the entrance door slams behind her and she has nowhere to go except to the small campfire Palestinian workers from The West Bank have kindled nearby - these are some of the diverse characters populating the intriguing stories in Amstel.Praise for Amstel:"I discovered a lush, rare literary language in the story 'Amstel.' I read it and was dumbfounded that writers still exist who are capable of creating a sentence worthy of Thomas Mann, filled with detail and sparks and shards of images all flowing together to create a portrait from within and simultaneously observed from a distance...It is a truly classic tale, with no jarring notes...demanding a period of reflection before reading anything."Benny Ziffer, Haaretz Daily

"One day, a young man receives an unexpected letter from his grandmother, kicking off a literary adventure that brings home to him everything he has not seen. Once Upon Argentina relates the lives of the narrator's relatives-- a group of people from all over the world gathered in a land where immigrant traditions merge and thrive. The lives of these relatives intersect, like a set of Matryoshka dolls or a hall of mirrors, as the personal and social stories of twentieth century Argentina converge. Beyond these tales of hardship and triumph, Andres Neuman's novel experiments with the nature of the autobiography, encompassing prenatal memories, expanding the autofiction genre with a new voice and twist. Merging present and past, collective experiences and his own, the narrator explores a genealogy populated by unforgettable characters, offering us the story of the construction of a country, his Argentine childhood, and his early literary discoveries.With extraordinary delicacy and intensity, combining elegy, tragedy, and humor, Andres Neuman reveals a world as real as it is fantastic, as strange as it is our own. Once Upon Argentina is a coming-of-age tale, a political novel, and a love letter to the absent ones."--Publisher's website

When Anna and Sadie discover the diaries of their mother, Rebecca, in the days following her death, they learn that her life was far more complex than either of them knew: a garment worker in early-1900s New York; the reluctant wife in an arranged marriage to an ailing and abusive husband; the improbable friend of a pregnant prostitute.But the diaries reveal more than just surprising details about Rebecca's life: they also point to a family secret - and questions about Sadie's true parentage.The Featherbed is a gripping family saga that moves between the tenements of New York's Lower East Side and the stately homes of Toronto's Annex. Strong in plot, character, setting, and style, it is a fully-realised debut from an assured writer.

"A polyphonic novel set over the course of three days, Midnight is Not in Everyone's Reach is a stunning meditation on memory and time from Antonio Lobo Antunes, considered by many to be Portugal's greatest living writer. The year is 2011, and our aging narrator has returned to Alto da Vigia to say goodbye to the house where her family spent summers during her childhood. Divided into three sections, one for each day that she spends at the home, Midnight is Not in Everyone's Reach unspools in torrents of dialogue and surreal, feverish scenarios. Over these three days, the dead return to life, time splinters and freezes, and conversations flow from the past into the present and back again, as we journey across the narrator's corrosive psyche toward our real destination-the place inside herself where the family's grief-stricken secrets are kept"--

'a witty realisation of how like is attracted to like, of how deep the rabbit fence of self-centredness goes, of how often an apparently virtuous interest in others is powered by malice and envy.'

PENGUIN HORROR: A celebration of the very best literary horror, a series of terrifying novels and tales that for generations have thrilled, captivated and kept readers wide awake at night.Joan Flower is long dead when she first appears to Samuel Fleming, a priest plagued by doubts about her and her daughters' execution for witchcraft. Did he do all he could to rescue them fro[Bokinfo]

"Ecstasy: A Study of Happiness," by Louis Couperus, offers a fascinating glimpse into 19th-century Dutch society. This meticulously prepared edition allows readers to explore the social life and customs of the Netherlands through the lens of captivating fiction. Couperus, a master of Dutch literature, delves into the timeless question of happiness, examining its pursuit and elusive nature within a specific historical context. This novel provides a rich tapestry of cultural heritage, transporting the reader to another time and place. Experience the intricacies of Dutch social dynamics in this historical novel, a compelling work of literary fiction. 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.

"Celebrated stage actress Mona Zahid wakes up on Thanksgiving morning to the clamor of guests packed into her Manhattan apartment and to a wave of dread: her in-laws are lurking on the other side of the bedroom door; she's still fighting with her husband; and in just a few weeks she will begin rehearsals as Shakespeare's Cleopatra, the hardest role in theater. In an impulsive burst, Mona bounds out the door with the family dog in tow ("I forgot the parsley!" is her lame excuse) to find her estranged mentor, Milton Katz, who was recently forced out of the legendary theater company he founded amid accusations of sexual misconduct. Mona's escape turns into an overnight adventure that brings her face-to-face with her past, with her creative power and its limitations, and ultimately, with all the people she has ever loved. Beguilingly approachable and intricately constructed, at once funny and sad and wise, Mona Acts Out is a novel about acting and telling the truth, about how we play roles to get through our days, and how the great roles teach us how to live."--Amazon

1998 Houghton Mifflin hardcover, David Leavitt (The Two Hotel A Novel). A young man wants nothing more than to play piano and an affair with a prominent piano player changes his life forever

A conventional Italian honeymoon becomes a psychic journey in this haunting novel. A new and inspired translation by Peter Hargitai.

"Dr. Adriaan" by Louis Couperus delves into the intricate world of family and domestic life, offering a compelling character study within the framework of psychological fiction. Couperus masterfully explores the complexities of relationships, revealing the subtle tensions and unspoken dramas that simmer beneath the surface of everyday interactions. A timeless exploration of families, this literary work offers a deep dive into the psychological landscape of its characters. Through nuanced prose, Couperus examines the enduring themes of human connection and the subtle yet powerful forces that shape our lives within the family unit. "Dr. Adriaan" remains a resonant and insightful portrayal of the human condition, showcasing the author's skill in capturing the nuances of familial bonds. This meticulously prepared edition preserves the original text for readers to experience Couperus's vision. 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.

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.