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Book About My Life and the Kept Woman

Download or read book About My Life and the Kept Woman written by John Rechy and published by Open Road + Grove/Atlantic. This book was released on 2009-03-17 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The long-awaited memoir by “one of the few original American writers of the last century” is a testament to the power of self-acceptance (Gore Vidal). John Rechy, author of City of Night and The Sexual Outlaw, has always known discrimination. Raised Mexican-American in El Paso, Texas, at a time when Latino children were routinely segregated, Rechy was often assumed to be Anglo because of his light skin, and had his name “changed” for him by a teacher, from Juan to John. As he grew older—and as his fascination with the memory of a notorious kept woman in his childhood deepened—Rechy became aware that his differences lay not just in his heritage, but in his sexuality. While he performed the roles expected of him by others—the authoritarians in the US Army during the Korean War, the bigoted relatives of his Anglo college classmates, or the men and women who wanted him to be something he was not—he never allowed them to define him. The “riveting” story of a life that bears witness to some of the most riotous changes of the past century, About My Life and the Kept Woman is as much a portrait of intolerance as of an individual who defied it to forge his own path (The Advocate). “Rechy might be called the first bard of West Hollywood.” —The New York Times “A skillfully paced story . . . As a memoirist, Rechy is both participant and observer, and he segues as easily between narrative and exegesis as his younger self did between the lure of the wild streets and the embrace of his traditional family.” —Los Angeles Magazine

Book The Kept Woman

    Book Details:
  • Author : Karin Slaughter
  • Publisher : Random House
  • Release : 2016-07-14
  • ISBN : 1473507863
  • Pages : 560 pages

Download or read book The Kept Woman written by Karin Slaughter and published by Random House. This book was released on 2016-07-14 with total page 560 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ‘One of the boldest thriller writers working today’ TESS GERRITSEN ‘Her characters, plot, and pacing are unrivalled’ MICHAEL CONNELLY _________________________________________ The eighth Will Trent novel, from the #1 bestselling author A body is discovered in an empty Atlanta warehouse. It's the body of an ex-cop, and from the moment Special Agent Will Trent walks in he knows this could be the most devastating case of his career. Bloody footprints leading away from the scene reveal that another victim - a woman - has left the scene and vanished into thin air. And, worst of all, the warehouse belongs to the city's biggest, most politically-connected, most high-profile athlete - a local hero protected by the world's most expensive lawyers. A local hero Will has spent the last six months investigating on a brutal rape charge. But for Will - and also for Dr Sara Linton, the GBI's newest medical examiner - the case is about to get even worse. Because an unexpected discovery at the scene reveals a personal link to Will's troubled past. The consequences will wreak havoc on his life and the lives of those he loves, those he works with, and those he pursues. But Sara's scene-of-the-crime diagnosis is that they only have a few hours to find the missing woman before she bleeds out . . . _________________________________________ Crime and thriller masters know there’s nothing better than a little Slaughter: ‘I’d follow her anywhere’ GILLIAN FLYNN ‘Passion, intensity, and humanity’ LEE CHILD ‘A writer of extraordinary talents’ KATHY REICHS ‘Fiction doesn't get any better than this’ JEFFERY DEAVER ‘A great writer at the peak of her powers’ PETER JAMES ‘Raw, powerful and utterly gripping’ KATHRYN STOCKETT ‘With heart and skill Karin Slaughter keeps you hooked from the first page until the last’ CAMILLA LACKBERG ‘Amongst the world‘s greatest and finest crime writers’ YRSA SIGURÐARDÓTTIR

Book Testimony of a Kept Woman  From Misery to Ministry Instead of the State Penitentiary

Download or read book Testimony of a Kept Woman From Misery to Ministry Instead of the State Penitentiary written by Jan Newell-Byrd and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2019-03-12 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After Jan escaped the physical domestic violence and the emotional/verbal abuse she had endured at the hands of her first husband, she was certain that her life was going to turn around. She married a pastor with whom she could work closely to build a ministry. Their congregation grew, and it truly seemed as if their lives were blessed. But slowly, the accusations began to surface that would shatter Jan's world and show her just how deep her husband's deceptions went. As she struggled to maintain her faith and dignity under the watchful eyes of the congregation, she was inwardly undergoing the greatest crisis of her life.For any reader who has felt like God Almighty has packed up, moved away, and forgotten to leave His forwarding address, Jan's powerful Testimony of a Kept Woman will provide much-needed hope as she shows readers how even in her moment of crisis, God kept her close to Him. Her story as a survivor of both domestic violence with her first husband and her victory over emotional and verbal abuse with her second husband is proof that God has the perfect purpose for every pain and sorrow.

Book The Woman I Kept to Myself

Download or read book The Woman I Kept to Myself written by Julia Alvarez and published by Algonquin Books. This book was released on 2011-04-05 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The works of this award-winning poet and novelist are rich with the language and influences of two cultures: those of the Dominican Republic of her childhood and the America of her youth and adulthood. They have shaped her writing just as they have shaped her life. In these seventy-five autobiographical poems, Alvarez’s clear voice sings out in every line. Here, in the middle of her life, she looks back as a way of understanding and celebrating the woman she has become.

Book The Kept Girl

Download or read book The Kept Girl written by Kim Cooper and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Los Angeles, 1929: a glittering metropolis on the crest of an epic crash. A mysterious prophetess and her alluring daughter have relieved an oil tycoon's nephew of his fortune. But the kid won't talk. To find the money, the old man calls on a trusted executive, Raymond Chandler, who in turn enlists the aid of his devoted secretary/mistress, Muriel Fischer, and their idealistic patrolman friend Tom James. Soon the nephew is revealed as a high-ranking member of a murderous cult of angel worshippers, and the trio plunges into an investigation that sends them careening across Southern California, from sinister sanitariums to roadside burger stands, decaying Bunker Hill mansions to sparkling cocktail parties, taxi dance halls to the morgue, all in search of the secretive Great Eleven. But when Muriel goes undercover to infiltrate the group's rural lair, she comes face to face with disturbing truths that threaten to spoil everything, not just for the cult's members, but for herself as well. A work of fiction inspired by actual events and featuring the real-life cop who is a likely model for the mature Chandler's greatest creation, private eye Philip Marlowe, Kim Cooper's The Kept Girl exposes a mystery so horrifying, it could only be true.

Book A Woman Is No Man

    Book Details:
  • Author : Etaf Rum
  • Publisher : HarperCollins
  • Release : 2019-03-05
  • ISBN : 0062699784
  • Pages : 393 pages

Download or read book A Woman Is No Man written by Etaf Rum and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2019-03-05 with total page 393 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Goodreads Choice Awards Finalist for Best Fiction and Best Debut • BookBrowse's Best Book of the Year • A Marie Claire Best Women's Fiction of the Year • A Real Simple Best Book of the Year • A PopSugar Best Book of the Year • A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice • A Washington Post 10 Books to Read in March • A Newsweek Best Book of the Summer • A USA Today Best Book of the Week • A Washington Book Review Difficult-To-Put-Down Novel • A Refinery 29 Best Books of the Month • A Buzzfeed News 4 Books We Couldn't Put Down Last Month • A New Arab Best Books by Arab Authors • An Electric Lit 20 Best Debuts of the First Half of 2019 • A The Millions Most Anticipated Books of the Year “Garnering justified comparisons to Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns... Etaf Rum’s debut novel is a must-read about women mustering up the bravery to follow their inner voice.” —Refinery 29 The New York Times bestseller and Read with Jenna TODAY SHOW Book Club pick telling the story of three generations of Palestinian-American women struggling to express their individual desires within the confines of their Arab culture in the wake of shocking intimate violence in their community. "Where I come from, we’ve learned to silence ourselves. We’ve been taught that silence will save us. Where I come from, we keep these stories to ourselves. To tell them to the outside world is unheard of—dangerous, the ultimate shame.” Palestine, 1990. Seventeen-year-old Isra prefers reading books to entertaining the suitors her father has chosen for her. Over the course of a week, the naïve and dreamy girl finds herself quickly betrothed and married, and is soon living in Brooklyn. There Isra struggles to adapt to the expectations of her oppressive mother-in-law Fareeda and strange new husband Adam, a pressure that intensifies as she begins to have children—four daughters instead of the sons Fareeda tells Isra she must bear. Brooklyn, 2008. Eighteen-year-old Deya, Isra’s oldest daughter, must meet with potential husbands at her grandmother Fareeda’s insistence, though her only desire is to go to college. Deya can’t help but wonder if her options would have been different had her parents survived the car crash that killed them when Deya was only eight. But her grandmother is firm on the matter: the only way to secure a worthy future for Deya is through marriage to the right man. But fate has a will of its own, and soon Deya will find herself on an unexpected path that leads her to shocking truths about her family—knowledge that will force her to question everything she thought she knew about her parents, the past, and her own future.

Book The Beautiful Ones

Download or read book The Beautiful Ones written by Prince and published by One World. This book was released on 2019-10-29 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The brilliant coming-of-age-and-into-superstardom story of one of the greatest artists of all time, in his own words—featuring never-before-seen photos, original scrapbooks and lyric sheets, and the exquisite memoir he began writing before his tragic death NAMED ONE OF THE BEST MUSIC BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW AND ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE WASHINGTON POST AND THE GUARDIAN • NOMINATED FOR THE NAACP IMAGE AWARD Prince was a musical genius, one of the most beloved, accomplished, and acclaimed musicians of our time. He was a startlingly original visionary with an imagination deep enough to whip up whole worlds, from the sexy, gritty funk paradise of “Uptown” to the mythical landscape of Purple Rain to the psychedelia of “Paisley Park.” But his most ambitious creative act was turning Prince Rogers Nelson, born in Minnesota, into Prince, one of the greatest pop stars of any era. The Beautiful Ones is the story of how Prince became Prince—a first-person account of a kid absorbing the world around him and then creating a persona, an artistic vision, and a life, before the hits and fame that would come to define him. The book is told in four parts. The first is the memoir Prince was writing before his tragic death, pages that bring us into his childhood world through his own lyrical prose. The second part takes us through Prince’s early years as a musician, before his first album was released, via an evocative scrapbook of writing and photos. The third section shows us Prince’s evolution through candid images that go up to the cusp of his greatest achievement, which we see in the book’s fourth section: his original handwritten treatment for Purple Rain—the final stage in Prince’s self-creation, where he retells the autobiography of the first three parts as a heroic journey. The book is framed by editor Dan Piepenbring’s riveting and moving introduction about his profound collaboration with Prince in his final months—a time when Prince was thinking deeply about how to reveal more of himself and his ideas to the world, while retaining the mystery and mystique he’d so carefully cultivated—and annotations that provide context to the book’s images. This work is not just a tribute to an icon, but an original and energizing literary work in its own right, full of Prince’s ideas and vision, his voice and image—his undying gift to the world.

Book A Kept Woman

    Book Details:
  • Author : Louise Bagshawe
  • Publisher : Review
  • Release : 2008-10-02
  • ISBN : 0755352246
  • Pages : 308 pages

Download or read book A Kept Woman written by Louise Bagshawe and published by Review. This book was released on 2008-10-02 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Diana’s combination of beauty and class has bagged her marriage to publishing mogul Ernie Foxton, and with that comes a stunning New York apartment, a designer wardrobe and a manicurist, hairdresser and masseuse on tap. With little more to do with her days than shopping and socialising, this is the life for which she was born. But then, without warning, the bottom drops out of Diana’s meticulously constructed world, and she finds herself without a home or a husband, and with barely a dime to her name. For the first time in her life, she might just have to look after herself. But, given how many people would love to see her fail, it’s not going to be a walk in the park...

Book Girl  Forgotten

    Book Details:
  • Author : Karin Slaughter
  • Publisher : HarperCollins
  • Release : 2022-08-23
  • ISBN : 006285903X
  • Pages : 483 pages

Download or read book Girl Forgotten written by Karin Slaughter and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2022-08-23 with total page 483 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “It’s Slaughter’s prodigious gifts of characterization that make her stand out among thriller writers.” — Washington Post From the New York Times bestselling author of Pieces of Her, comes an electrifying thriller featuring newly minted US Marshal Andrea Oliver as she investigates a cold case with links to her father’s past. A small town hides a big secret… Who killed Emily Vaughn? A girl with a secret… Longbill Beach, 1982. Emily Vaughn gets ready for the prom. For an athlete, who is smart, pretty and well-liked, this night should be the highlight of her high school career. But Emily has a secret. And by the end of the evening, that secret will be silenced forever. An unsolved murder… Forty years later, Emily’s murder remains a mystery. Her tight-knit group of friends closed ranks; her respected, wealthy family retreated inwards; the small town moved on from her grisly attack. But all that’s about to change. One final chance to uncover a killer… US Marshal Andrea Oliver arrives in Longbill Beach on her first assignment: to protect a judge receiving death threats. But, in reality, Andrea is there to find justice for Emily. The killer is still out there—and Andrea must discover the truth before she gets silenced, too…

Book The Will Trent Series 7 Book Bundle

Download or read book The Will Trent Series 7 Book Bundle written by Karin Slaughter and published by Bantam. This book was released on 2014-05-13 with total page 3824 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New York Times bestselling author Karin Slaughter is acclaimed for her novels of heart-stopping suspense, edge-of-your-seat intrigue, and richly imagined characters. And when Slaughter created detective Will Trent she broke the mold. While displaying an uncanny knack for reading people, solving puzzles, and cracking cases at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Detective Trent navigates the varied relationships with the women in his life: vice cop Angie Polaski, supervisor Amanda Wagner, partner Faith Mitchell, and Dr. Sara Linton. This gripping eBook bundle contains seven novels in the Will Trent series, including: TRIPTYCH FRACTURED UNDONE BROKEN FALLEN CRIMINAL UNSEEN Also includes the eBook novellas Snatched and Busted as well as a preview of Karin Slaughter’s highly anticipated thriller Cop Town! Praise for Karin Slaughter and her Will Trent thrillers “One of the best crime novelists in America.”—The Washington Post “Crime fiction at its finest.”—Michael Connelly “Slaughter writes with a razor. . . . Better than Cornwell can ever hope to be.”—The Plain Dealer “Slaughter will have you on the edge of your seat.”—Seattle Post-Intelligencer “Slaughter’s gift for building multilayered tension while deconstructing damaged personalities gives this thriller a nerve-wracking finish.”—USA Today, on Triptych “Heart-pounding . . . Trent and Mitchell, a pair of complex and deeply flawed heroes, will leave fans clamoring for the next installment.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review), on Fractured “A complicated spider web of secrets and tangles.”—Los Angeles Times, on Undone “Addictive . . . Slaughter is a terrific writer, and she keeps the emotional tension high throughout.”—The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, on Broken “An absolute master . . . Slaughter creates some wonderfully complex and mature female characters, a distinctive achievement in the world of thrillers.”—Chicago Tribune, on Fallen “[A] hold-on-to-your-hat, nail-biting story . . . What raises Slaughter way above the sensational is her wonderful way with characters.”—The Washington Post, on Criminal “No one writes like Slaughter.”—The Huffington Post, on Unseen

Book Sometimes I Lie

    Book Details:
  • Author : Alice Feeney
  • Publisher : Flatiron Books
  • Release : 2018-03-13
  • ISBN : 1250144833
  • Pages : 288 pages

Download or read book Sometimes I Lie written by Alice Feeney and published by Flatiron Books. This book was released on 2018-03-13 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: My name is Amber Reynolds. There are three things you should know about me: 1. I’m in a coma. 2. My husband doesn’t love me anymore. 3. Sometimes I lie. Amber wakes up in a hospital. She can’t move. She can’t speak. She can’t open her eyes. She can hear everyone around her, but they have no idea. Amber doesn’t remember what happened, but she has a suspicion her husband had something to do with it. Alternating between her paralyzed present, the week before her accident, and a series of childhood diaries from twenty years ago, this brilliant psychological thriller asks: Is something really a lie if you believe it's the truth?

Book City of Night

    Book Details:
  • Author : John Rechy
  • Publisher : Serpent's Tail
  • Release : 2021-05-20
  • ISBN : 178283785X
  • Pages : 479 pages

Download or read book City of Night written by John Rechy and published by Serpent's Tail. This book was released on 2021-05-20 with total page 479 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bold and inventive in style, City of Night is the groundbreaking 1960s novel about male prostitution. Rechy is unflinching in his portrayal of one hustling 'youngman' and his search for self-knowledge among the other denizens of his neon-lit world. As the narrator moves from Texas to Times Square and then on to the French Quarter of New Orleans, Rechy delivers a portrait of the edges of America that has lost none of its power. On his travels, the nameless narrator meets a collection of unforgettable characters, from vice cops to guilt-ridden married men eaten up by desire, to Lance O'Hara, once Hollywood's biggest star. Rechy describes this world with candour and understanding in a prose that is highly personal and vividly descriptive.

Book A Little Life

    Book Details:
  • Author : Hanya Yanagihara
  • Publisher : Anchor
  • Release : 2016-01-26
  • ISBN : 0804172706
  • Pages : 834 pages

Download or read book A Little Life written by Hanya Yanagihara and published by Anchor. This book was released on 2016-01-26 with total page 834 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A stunning “portrait of the enduring grace of friendship” (NPR) about the families we are born into, and those that we make for ourselves. A masterful depiction of love in the twenty-first century. NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST • MAN BOOKER PRIZE FINALIST • WINNER OF THE KIRKUS PRIZE A Little Life follows four college classmates—broke, adrift, and buoyed only by their friendship and ambition—as they move to New York in search of fame and fortune. While their relationships, which are tinged by addiction, success, and pride, deepen over the decades, the men are held together by their devotion to the brilliant, enigmatic Jude, a man scarred by an unspeakable childhood trauma. A hymn to brotherly bonds and a masterful depiction of love in the twenty-first century, Hanya Yanagihara’s stunning novel is about the families we are born into, and those that we make for ourselves. Look for Hanya Yanagihara’s latest bestselling novel, To Paradise.

Book Everything I Never Told You

Download or read book Everything I Never Told You written by Celeste Ng and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2015-05-12 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year • A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice • Winner of the Alex Award and the Massachusetts Book Award • Named a Best Book of the Year by NPR, San Francisco Chronicle, Entertainment Weekly, The Huffington Post, BuzzFeed, Grantland Booklist, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Shelf Awareness, Book Riot, School Library Journal, Bustle, and Time Our New York The acclaimed debut novel by the author of Little Fires Everywhere and Our Missing Hearts “A taut tale of ever deepening and quickening suspense.” —O, the Oprah Magazine “Explosive . . . Both a propulsive mystery and a profound examination of a mixed-race family.” —Entertainment Weekly “Lydia is dead. But they don’t know this yet.” So begins this exquisite novel about a Chinese American family living in 1970s small-town Ohio. Lydia is the favorite child of Marilyn and James Lee, and her parents are determined that she will fulfill the dreams they were unable to pursue. But when Lydia’s body is found in the local lake, the delicate balancing act that has been keeping the Lee family together is destroyed, tumbling them into chaos. A profoundly moving story of family, secrets, and longing, Everything I Never Told You is both a gripping page-turner and a sensitive family portrait, uncovering the ways in which mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, and husbands and wives struggle, all their lives, to understand one another.

Book Pieces of Her

    Book Details:
  • Author : Karin Slaughter
  • Publisher : HarperCollins
  • Release : 2018-08-01
  • ISBN : 1460706625
  • Pages : 346 pages

Download or read book Pieces of Her written by Karin Slaughter and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2018-08-01 with total page 346 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Now a major Netflix adaptation: The #1 Australian bestseller from the author of The Silent Wife 'A novel that sets the standard for psychological thriller writing. Rarely in fiction have the past and the present collided with such force and in such a distinctive and compelling voice' Jeffery Deaver What if the person you thought you knew best turned out to be someone you never knew at all? Andrea Oliver's mother, Laura, is the perfect small-town mum. Laura lives a quiet but happy life in sleepy beachside Belle Isle. She's a pillar of the community: a speech therapist, business owner and everybody's friend. And she's never kept a secret from anyone. Or so Andrea thinks. When Andrea is caught in a random violent attack at a shopping mall, Laura intervenes and acts in a way that is unrecognisable to her daughter. It's like Laura is a completely different person - and that's because she was. Thirty years ago. Before Andrea. Before Belle Isle. Laura is hailed as a hero for her actions at the mall but 24 hours later she is in hospital, shot by an intruder, who's spent decades trying to track her down. What is Andrea's mother trying to hide? As elements of the past return and put them both in danger, Andrea is left to piece together Laura's former identity and discover the truth - for better or worse - about her mother. Is the gentle, loving woman who raised her also a violent killer? 'A nerve-shredding psychological thriller that will keep readers guessing to the very last page' New York Journal of Books 'A frenetic, stay-up-all-night kind of read' Good Reading 'Filled with Slaughter's trademark twists' Entertainment Weekly

Book Nora Webster

    Book Details:
  • Author : Colm Toibin
  • Publisher : Simon and Schuster
  • Release : 2014-10-07
  • ISBN : 1439149852
  • Pages : 400 pages

Download or read book Nora Webster written by Colm Toibin and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2014-10-07 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From one of contemporary literature’s bestselling, critically acclaimed, and beloved authors: a “luminous” novel (Jennifer Egan, The New York Times Book Review) about a fiercely compelling young widow navigating grief, fear, and longing, and finding her own voice—“heartrendingly transcendant” (The New York Times, Janet Maslin). Set in Wexford, Ireland, Colm Tóibín’s magnificent seventh novel introduces the formidable, memorable, and deeply moving Nora Webster. Widowed at forty, with four children and not enough money, Nora has lost the love of her life, Maurice, the man who rescued her from the stifling world to which she was born. And now she fears she may be sucked back into it. Wounded, selfish, strong-willed, clinging to secrecy in a tiny community where everyone knows your business, Nora is drowning in her own sorrow and blind to the suffering of her young sons, who have lost their father. Yet she has moments of stunning insight and empathy, and when she begins to sing again, after decades, she finds solace, engagement, a haven—herself. Nora Webster “may actually be a perfect work of fiction” (Los Angeles Times), by a “beautiful and daring” writer (The New York Times Book Review) at the zenith of his career, able to “sneak up on readers and capture their imaginations” (USA TODAY). “Miraculous...Tóibín portrays Nora with tremendous sympathy and understanding” (Ron Charles, The Washington Post).

Book These Precious Days

Download or read book These Precious Days written by Ann Patchett and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2021-11-23 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The beloved New York Times bestselling author reflects on home, family, friendships and writing in this deeply personal collection of essays. "The elegance of Patchett’s prose is seductive and inviting: with Patchett as a guide, readers will really get to grips with the power of struggles, failures, and triumphs alike." —Publisher's Weekly “Any story that starts will also end.” As a writer, Ann Patchett knows what the outcome of her fiction will be. Life, however, often takes turns we do not see coming. Patchett ponders this truth in these wise essays that afford a fresh and intimate look into her mind and heart. At the center of These Precious Days is the title essay, a surprising and moving meditation on an unexpected friendship that explores “what it means to be seen, to find someone with whom you can be your best and most complete self.” When Patchett chose an early galley of actor and producer Tom Hanks’ short story collection to read one night before bed, she had no idea that this single choice would be life changing. It would introduce her to a remarkable woman—Tom’s brilliant assistant Sooki—with whom she would form a profound bond that held monumental consequences for them both. A literary alchemist, Patchett plumbs the depths of her experiences to create gold: engaging and moving pieces that are both self-portrait and landscape, each vibrant with emotion and rich in insight. Turning her writer’s eye on her own experiences, she transforms the private into the universal, providing us all a way to look at our own worlds anew, and reminds how fleeting and enigmatic life can be. From the enchantments of Kate DiCamillo’s children’s books (author of The Beatryce Prophecy) to youthful memories of Paris; the cherished life gifts given by her three fathers to the unexpected influence of Charles Schultz’s Snoopy; the expansive vision of Eudora Welty to the importance of knitting, Patchett connects life and art as she illuminates what matters most. Infused with the author’s grace, wit, and warmth, the pieces in These Precious Days resonate deep in the soul, leaving an indelible mark—and demonstrate why Ann Patchett is one of the most celebrated writers of our time.