Download or read book By Invitation Only written by Dorothea Benton Frank and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2018-05-15 with total page 428 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “If I could only read one writer from now until the end of my life, it would be Dorothea Benton Frank.” --Elin Hilderbrand, New York Times bestselling author of The Identicals The Lowcountry of South Carolina is where By Invitation Only begins at a barbecue engagement party thrown by Diane English Stiftel, her brother Floyd, and her parents to celebrate her son’s engagement. On this gorgeous, magical night, the bride’s father, Alejandro Cambria, a wealthy power broker whose unbelievably successful career in private equity made him one of Chicago’s celebrated elite, discovers the limits and possibilities of cell phone range. While the mother of the bride, Susan Kennedy Cambria, who dabbles in the world of public relations and believes herself deserving of every square inch of her multimillion-dollar penthouse and imaginary carrara marble pedestal, learns about moonshine and dangerous liaisons. Soon By Invitation Only zooms to Chicago, where the unraveling accelerates. Nearly a thousand miles away from her comfortable, familiar world, Diane is the antithesis of the bright lights and super-sophisticated guests attending her son Fred’s second engagement party. Why a second party? Maybe it had been assumed that the first one wouldn’t be up to snuff? Fred is marrying Shelby Cambria, also an only child. The Cambrias’ dearest wish is for their daughter to be happy. If Shelby wants to marry Frederick, aka Fred, they will not stand in her way—although Susan does hope her friends won’t think her daughter is marrying more than a few degrees beneath her socially. At the same time, Diane worries that her son will be lost to her forever. By Invitation Only is a tale of two families, one struggling to do well, one well to do, and one young couple—the privileged daughter of Chicago’s crème de la crème and the son of hard -working Southern peach farmers. Dorothea Benton Frank offers a funny, sharp, and deeply empathetic novel of two very different worlds—of limousines and pickup trucks, caviars and pigs, skyscrapers and ocean spray—filled with a delightful cast of characters who all have something to hide and a lot to learn. A difference in legal opinions, a headlong dive from grace, and an abrupt twist will reveal the truth of who they are and demonstrate, when it truly counts, what kind of grit they have. Are they living the life they want, what regrets do they hold, and how would they remake their lives if they were given the invitation to do so? By Invitation Only is classic Dorothea Benton Frank—a mesmerizing Lowcountry Tale that roars with spirit, humor, and truth, and forces us to reconsider our notions of what it means to be a Have or a Have Not.
Download or read book By Invitation Only written by Alexis Maybank and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2012-04-12 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On a warm September night in 2002, former acquaintances Alexis Maybank and Alexandra Wilkis reconnected at a mixer for new students at Harvard Business School. Alexis had just ended a four-year run at eBay during the dotcom boom and bust. Alexandra had just spent three years as an investment banker at Merrill Lynch. Now they were entering the country’s top training ground for future titans of Wall Street and the Fortune 500. Little did either suspect that five years later, they’d become famous not in finance or consulting or corporate management, but at the bleeding-edge intersection of fashion and technology. Gilt Groupe – launched by Alexis, Alexandra, and three colleagues in 2007 – is one of the most fascinating startups of recent years, with a valuation of more than $1 billion. And it all began with one bold idea: to bring sample sales online and change the way millions shop. As Alexis and Alexandra write about the day Gilt.com went live: “We had created a website that could potentially change the rules of retail, for both shoppers and brands. If shopping was traditionally a slow, leisurely activity that might consume an entire day, it would now be competitive, addictive, urgent, thrilling—a rush delivered at the same time each day. Shopping would become not just easier, but so much fun.” But turning that vision into reality wasn’t easy. Designers had long controlled their own sample sales by staging them in anonymous, makeshift locations and strictly limiting invitations. Those lucky enough to hear about a Marc Jacobs or Hermès sample sale would drop everything and run for dramatic, fleeting bargains. Why should elite brands support a new startup trying to replicate the experience online? And even if brands like Valentino, Christian Louboutin, and Zac Posen got on board, would shoppers embrace such a website? Would the kind of people who love high-end fashion really visit a new online sale each day? Was “accessible luxury” a breakthrough idea or an absurd oxymoron? Alexis and Alexandra share their perspective in this dramatic story of Gilt’s birth, rise, and evolution. They show how they juggled the conflicting needs of their suppliers, engineers, marketers, and potential investors. They explain how they blended their individual strengths and weaknesses and managed their rapidly growing team. They cover the growing pains of expanding into new categories like housewares, travel, and menswear. And they take us through the darkest moments of the recession when Gilt might easily have died. As you’ll learn from the true story of Gilt, anything is possible for those with the creativity to recognize a new opportunity and the perseverance to make it real.
Download or read book The Invitation Only Zone written by Robert S. Boynton and published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. This book was released on 2016-01-12 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A bizarre, little-known tale about the most secretive culture on earth For decades, North Korea denied any part in the disappearance of dozens of Japanese citizens from Japan’s coastal towns and cities in the late 1970s. But in 2002, with his country on the brink of collapse, Kim Jong-il admitted to the kidnapping of thirteen people and returned five of them in hopes of receiving Japanese aid. As part of a global espionage project, the regime had attempted to reeducate these abductees and make them spy on its behalf. When the scheme faltered, the captives were forced to teach Japanese to North Korean spies and make lives for themselves, marrying, having children, and posing as North Korean civilians in guarded communities known as “Invitation-Only Zones”—the fiction being that they were exclusive enclaves, not prisons. From the moment Robert S. Boynton saw a photograph of these men and women, he became obsessed with their story. Torn from their homes as young adults, living for a quarter century in a strange and hostile country, they were returned with little more than an apology from the secretive regime. In The Invitation-Only Zone, Boynton untangles the bizarre logic behind the abductions. Drawing on extensive interviews with the abductees, Boynton reconstructs the story of their lives inside North Korea and ponders the existential toll the episode has had on them, and on Japan itself. He speaks with nationalists, spies, defectors, diplomats, abductees, and even crab fishermen, exploring the cultural and racial tensions between Korea and Japan that have festered for more than a century. A deeply reported, thoroughly researched book, The Invitation-Only Zone is a riveting story of East Asian politics and of the tragic human consequences of North Korea’s zealous attempt to remain relevant in the modern world.
Download or read book Invitation Only written by Kate Brian and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-10-11 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Set in a world of exclusive boarding schools, Kate Brian's compelling series, PRIVATE, combines the bitchy snobbery of the elite and wealthy with a Heather-esq element of dark secrets, mystery, and satire. An invitation is only the beginning… Reed Brennan is living her dream. She's a student at prestigious Easton Academy and she's been invited to live in the exclusive Billings Hall, home to the most beautiful, intelligent, and enviable girls on campus. Life couldn't bemore exciting - apart from the nagging fact that her boyfriend, Thomas, has gone missing… A night partying in the woods leads to Reed being caught in a compromising situation. Now she's being blackmailed: either she dishes the dirt on the Billings Girls, or she'll be exposed - and expelled… This compelling series full of dark secrets, mystery and satire is a must for fans of Gossip Girl, Pretty Little Liars and Mean Girls?.
Download or read book By Invitation Only written by Jodi Della Femina and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2010-05-11 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Femina has spent a lifetime meeting extraordinary people, watching her father's businesses flourish, and working in his famous restaurant on Long Island. From her rarified perspective, she has fashioned a novel about what she knows best.
Download or read book Invitation Only Murder written by Leslie Meier and published by Kensington Cozies. This book was released on 2019-11-26 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With family tensions intensifying in Tinker’s Cove, part-time reporter Lucy Stone could really use some time off the grid—but disconnecting from reality comes at a deadly price . . . Lucy doesn’t know what to expect as she arrives on a private Maine island owned by eccentric billionaire Scott Newman, only that the exclusive experience should make for a very intriguing feature story. An avid environmentalist, Scott has stripped the getaway of modern conveniences in favor of an extreme eco-friendly lifestyle. A trip to Holiday Island is like traveling back to the nineteenth century—much to the dismay of the island’s other residents . . . Before Lucy can get the full scoop on Scott, she is horrified to find one of his daughters dead at the bottom of a seaside cliff. Stuck on a clammy island with murder suspects aplenty, Lucy must tap into the limited resources around her to outwit a cold-blooded killer—before it’s lights out for her next!
Download or read book The Long Weekend written by Adrian Tinniswood and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2016-05-03 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From an acclaimed social and architectural historian, the tumultuous, scandalous, glitzy, and glamorous history of English country houses and high society during the interwar period As WWI drew to a close, change reverberated through the halls of England's country homes. As the sun set slowly on the British Empire, the shadows lengthened on the lawns of a thousand stately homes. In The Long Weekend, historian Adrian Tinniswood introduces us to the tumultuous, scandalous and glamorous history of English country houses during the years between World Wars. As estate taxes and other challenges forced many of these venerable houses onto the market, new sectors of British and American society were seduced by the dream of owning a home in the English countryside. Drawing on thousands of memoirs, letters, and diaries, as well as the eye-witness testimonies of belted earls and bibulous butlers, Tinniswood brings the stately homes of England to life as never before, opening the door to a world by turns opulent and ordinary, noble and vicious, and forever wrapped in myth. We are drawn into the intrigues of legendary families such as the Astors, the Churchills and the Devonshires as they hosted hunting parties and balls that attracted the likes of Charlie Chaplin, T.E. Lawrence, and royals such as Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson. We waltz through aristocratic soiré, and watch as the upper crust struggle to fend off rising taxes and underbred outsiders, property speculators and poultry farmers. We gain insight into the guilt and the gingerbread, and see how the image of the country house was carefully protected by its occupants above and below stairs. Through the glitz of estate parties, the social tensions between old money and new, the hunting parties, illicit trysts, and grand feasts, Tinniswood offers a glimpse behind the veil of these great estates -- and reveals a reality much more riveting than the dream.
Download or read book Invitation Only written by Kate Brian and published by Turtleback Books. This book was released on 2006-11 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For use in schools and libraries only. Reed learns how difficult it is to be one of the Billings Girls at the Eaton Academy when she is not invited to the huge Halloween party in New York City and she is blackmailed by her roommate into finding some dirt on her new friends.
Download or read book Mardi Gras Treasures written by Schindler, Henri and published by Pelican Publishing. This book was released on with total page 170 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New Orleans collectibles, and especially Mardi Gras collectibles, continue to be popular worldwide. This gorgeous volume of vintage Mardi Gras ball invitations, dance cards, and admit cards shows off just what kinds of collectibles are still available. Mardi Gras Treasures offers a wonderful look back on the glories of Carnival art, in a single volume that is itself a collector's item. This special limited edition of 500 is numbered and signed by the author, presented in a lovely cloth slipcase.
Download or read book A Rather Charming Invitation written by C.A. Belmond and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2010-02-02 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Her work has been hailed as "a return to the golden age of romantic suspense," and Belmond is back with her beloved characters and their search for a missing bridal tapestry. Dateline: London, Paris, Antibes. It's time to get down to wedding planning. But while heiress Penny's distant relatives insist that the nuptials be held in their native France, Jeremy's kin won't have it anywhere but England. And either choice might just re-ignite the Hundred Years' War... Then, in a family château high above the perfume fields of Grasse, Penny's French cousin offers her the loan of an ancient bridal tapestry. But Penny has barely begun to crack its perplexing imagery before a series of strange events unfolds, threatening to derail the wedding. From a secret chalet on Lake Geneva, to a nostalgic stop at the opulent Train Bleu, to a winner-take-all gamble in Monte Carlo, Penny and Jeremy are off on another romp...while the clock is ticking down until they say, "I do."
Download or read book The Birthday Invitation written by Lucy Rowland and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2017-05-04 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When handing out the invitations for her birthday party, Ella mistakenly drops one on the forest floor, and who should find it? A wizard, of course ... and a pirate and a parrot and then a whole host of wonderful characters! Join Ella for her very exciting birthday party, complete with a hilarious array of unexpected guests! A brilliantly fun picture book, gloriously illustrated by the supremely talented and bestselling illustrator Laura Hughes.
Download or read book By Invitation Only written by Geneva Lee and published by . This book was released on 2018-11-09 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An end-of-the-year party ends in murder and everyone is a suspect.
Download or read book An Invitation to Model Theory written by Jonathan Kirby and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2019-04-18 with total page 197 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Model theory begins with an audacious idea: to consider statements about mathematical structures as mathematical objects of study in their own right. While inherently important as a tool of mathematical logic, it also enjoys connections to and applications in diverse branches of mathematics, including algebra, number theory and analysis. Despite this, traditional introductions to model theory assume a graduate-level background of the reader. In this innovative textbook, Jonathan Kirby brings model theory to an undergraduate audience. The highlights of basic model theory are illustrated through examples from specific structures familiar from undergraduate mathematics, paying particular attention to definable sets throughout. With numerous exercises of varying difficulty, this is an accessible introduction to model theory and its place in mathematics.
Download or read book Happy Like This written by Ashley Wurzbacher and published by Iowa Short Fiction Award. This book was released on 2019 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The characters in Happy Like This are smart girls and professional women--social scientists, linguists, speech therapists, plant physiologists, dancers--who search for happiness in roles and relationships that are often unscripted or unconventional. Spanning a wide range of distinct perspectives, voices, styles, and settings, the ten shimmering stories in Happy Like This offer deeply felt, often humorous meditations on the complexity of choice and the ambiguity of happiness.
Download or read book Invitation to the Game written by Monica Hughes and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 1993-06 with total page 198 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Unemployed after high school in the highly robotic society of 2154, Lisse and seven friends resign themselves to a boring existence in their "Designated Area" until the government invites them to play The Game.
Download or read book Invitation Strictly Personal written by Iain R. Webb and published by Goodman Publishers. This book was released on 2014 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With a foreword by celebrated designer Anna Sui, and rarely seen material from the great fashion houses, Invitation Strictly Personal lets you share in the fashion show experience The fashion show invitation is a statement of intent, providing the first inkling of the designer's vision for that season. Invitation Strictly Personal presents a unique collection of 300 invitations that span the past four decades, from both ready-to-wear and haute couture houses in the fashion capitals of New York, London, Milan, and Paris. Here are some of the key, unforgettable fashion moments such as Alexander McQueen's Memorial "Show" at St. Paul's Cathedral, Stella McCartney's first show for Chloe, and John Galliano's return to the runway in spring 1994 with the support of Anna Wintour. Most of the invitations come from the personal collection of award-winning author Iain Webb, accumulated over his years as a fashion correspondent. This unique volume also features program notes, lookbooks, posters, and promotional objects--all rarely available outside the fashion industry.
Download or read book Invitation to the Classics written by Louise Cowan and published by Baker Books. This book was released on 2006-08-01 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Motivation and direction for reading and understanding the great authors and works of Western culture.
