Download or read book The Callaghan Septology II Where the Bones of a Buried Rat Lie written by Kim Ekemar and published by Bradley & Brougham Publishing House. This book was released on 2022-10-05 with total page 181 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After a second face transplant, Matthias Callaghan eases into a different life together with his new girlfriend Samantha. Not until too late does he realise that the Metropolitan police, Rathbone – the Russian Mafia’s legal counsel –, a gangster boss named Flint, and a group of swindled octogenarians all seek to confront the person they believe he is. The sudden reappearance of his ex-wife complicates his life even more. Then, when his former business partner is released from prison, Callaghan gets sued for millions. Hard pressed from all sides, Callaghan decides that his only way out is to adopt one of his former identities and negotiate an assassination. “This is multilayered writing at its best … This well-written thriller’s complex plotting and characterization make for a fine read.” Kirkus Reviews “The main character, Matthias, is brilliantly created. There is no doubt in my mind that this book receives the highest rating.” OnlineBookClub Reviews “The intricacy with which Matthias plans and juggles his life according to what face he is wearing is quite amazing, and the author shows great skill and dexterity in managing and organizing all his relationships so that he never gets caught in one of his impersonations … The number of storylines adds to the depth, intrigue, and originality of the plot.” CreateSpace Reviews

Download or read book The Lost Identity Casualties Where the Bones of a Buried Rat Lie written by Kim Ekemar and published by Bradley & Brougham Publishing House. This book was released on 2016-11-16 with total page 515 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 2019 PINNACLE AWARD WINNER! THE LOST IDENTITY CASUALTIES Coming out of a coma, Matthias Callaghan finds himself tied to a hospital bed, wrapped in bandages and suffering from amnesia. As he gradually recovers his memories, Callaghan discovers that he – in a case of mistaken identity – has been mutilated and subject to a full face transplant while being comatose. After being released from the hospital Callaghan spends months in solitary depression using his intelligence to plot his revenge on the five people who have caused him the loss of his identity and former privileged life. What he learns the hard way is that his revenge must encompass the Russian Mafia, a treacherous lawyer, his former business partner, the wife he recently has divorced and his estranged father. WHERE THE BONES OF A BURIED RAT LIE After further surgery, Matthias Callaghan eases into a different life together with his new girlfriend Samantha. Not until too late does he realise that the Metropolitan police, the Russian Mafia’s legal adviser, a gangster boss named Flint and a group of swindled octogenarian ladies continue their attempts to confront the person they believe he is. The sudden reappearance of his ex-wife makes his life trickier still. Then, when his former business partner is released from prison, Callaghan is sued for millions. Hard pressed from all sides, Callaghan decides his only way out is to adopt one of his former identities and negotiate an assassination.

Download or read book The Callaghan Septology V Callaghan in the Crosshairs written by Kim Ekemar and published by Bradley & Brougham Publishing House. This book was released on 2022-10-23 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Under the astute leadership of Vasily Ivanovich, the Russian Mafia in London is rapidly expanding its business in the UK and on the European continent, while strategically embarking on a new, ingenious way to launder the proceeds. The heir to the London gangster boss Jeremiah Flint’s fortune decides to send incriminating evidence about Matthias Callaghan to Scotland Yard in retaliation for Callaghan’s past dealings with his uncle. When Callaghan travels with his young family from Australia to Italy, he’s arrested on arrival. After being extradited to the UK, Callaghan is eventually released from jail after putting up the requested bail. However, after walking out of prison, he immediately vanishes despite, by court order, having been equipped with a tracking device. Everyone is looking for Callaghan, but no one knows where, or why, he has disappeared. KIRKUS REVIEWS: Ekemar revisits the adventurous exploits of Matthias Callaghan in this exhilarating opening to a new trilogy. Callaghan’s odyssey began when he was mutilated by Russian mobsters, received a face transplant at a Swiss clinic, and then set out to wreak revenge. Along the way, he switched faces again to assume his father’s identity and continued to juggle the myriad aspects of his convoluted life. Now, his Jekyll-and-Hyde existence seemingly behind him, Callaghan has a new family, a new house, and a new life in Australia. Ekemar spends the lion’s share of this installment laying out the protagonist’s situation while establishing the various characters and what roles they’ll play in the cliffhanger ending. He effectively assembles a complex web of mobsters, reporters, cops (clean and dirty, local and international), smugglers, and people who’ve been wronged by one or more of Callaghan’s ever shifting personae. The action bounces around to encompass Russian gangster machinations in the United Kingdom, a smuggling operation by plane and camel caravan in Morocco and Mauritania, other members of the Russian mob tailing a dirty cop as he lives it up in France, a crucial arrest at an Italian airport, and a blissfully ignorant Callaghan awaiting his third child. In between, Ekemar skillfully and unobtrusively recaps pertinent details of Callaghan’s unique history via dialogue, introspection, speculation, and exposition. Readers will find it useful to read Ekemar’s last four Callaghan books before approaching this one. However, it will surely please established fans. A fast-paced, page-turning continuation of a singular and thought-provoking series.

Download or read book The Callaghan Septology IV The Tollbooth in the Labyrinth written by Kim Ekemar and published by Bradley & Brougham Publishing House. This book was released on 2022-10-07 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Chased across the world by police and criminals alike, Matthias Callaghan eludes them by hiding in Australia. With his girlfriend Samantha, he starts a new life in the belief that he hasn’t left traces behind allowing Interpol, the Russian Mafia and a London gangster named Flint to find him. Six months later he finds out that he’s wrong. Once again on the run, he and Samantha escapes to Bali where they try to come to grips with Callaghan’s quandary. The pair settles on a daring plan to remove all threats to Callaghan’s existence and allow him to recover his true identity. “Ekemar packs this original, complex tale with action and intrigue from stem to stern … A thrill ride to a series packed with complex characters, motives, and themes that will delight and perhaps trouble, but not disappoint, fans of this series.” - Kirkus Reviews “This book gets four out of four stars from me. It had all the right ingredients for a great read: crime, horror, family problems, international intrigue and even romance.” - Onlinebookclub Reviews “The intricacy with which it is developed, the cohesiveness that weaves the story lines together, and the suspense that is built through the skillfully constructed flashbacks and timely changes of scene combine to form a very intelligently written manuscript in the fiction/suspense genre. ... The plot is wonderfully complex and creative without being overly complicated; it is very absorbing in the sense that good mysteries are intricate and reflect life’s complexity. The reader is constantly kept in suspense as the intrigue builds ... In fact, the plot and the story lines are quite original and inventive!” - Amazon Editorial Review

Download or read book The Callaghan Septology III The Quarry at the Crossroads written by Kim Ekemar and published by Bradley & Brougham Publishing House. This book was released on 2022-10-07 with total page 229 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When he’s taken in for questioning by the police, Matthias Callaghan is faced with two options: to maintain the identity he has been obliged to adopt or to reveal his real one. For different reasons, in either case he risks going to prison and losing a fortune. Callaghan realises that he must flee Europe and decides to start a new life in Australia. After selling off everything he owns, he travels to USA to shake off any pursuers. Unknown to him, he’s followed by an assassin who catches up with him at a desert hotel, Callaghan changes his escape plan and crosses the border to Mexico. Unaware of the extent of the manhunt mounted to find him, he’s all of a sudden preyed upon by the FBI, Interpol, two competing drug cartels, a London gangster kingpin and the Russian Mafia. “Jam-packed with action … Ekemar expertly balances his myriad schemes and characters. Once again, Ekemar’s well-drawn, realistic characters and wild, suspenseful plot render this an absolute must-read for series fans.” Kirkus Reviews “I would highly recommend this book to all readers who love a good crime, mystery and horror novel. I would even recommend this book to those who do not usually read this genre … It kept me intrigued and captivated my imagination.” Onlinebookclub Reviews “The plot is suspenseful and tightly constructed. Throughout the manuscript, the suspenseful tone is kept up well from all points of view. The international crime, medical, and economic content all struck me as believable and well researched. The book is indeed hard to put down.” CreateSpace Reviews

Download or read book The Callaghan Septology VI The Hourglass Running out of Sand written by Kim Ekemar and published by Bradley & Brougham Publishing House. This book was released on 2022-10-23 with total page 207 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When Callaghan regains consciousness and discovers that he has been abandoned in the Sahara next to two corpses, he despairs about how to make it back to London without money or a phone. His greatest worry, though, is the loss of the ciclosporin pills that he must take regularly to prevent rejection of the transplants he has been subject to. He eventually makes it to the Mediterranean Sea, where his only alternative to return to Europe is to risk a precarious journey that will take him and several hundreds of hopeful, illegal African emigrants to Italy. After barely surviving the disastrous sea voyage, he continues his eventful journey through Italy to finally reach St Puys – the Swiss clinic where his two face transplants were performed. Knowing that he’s wanted by Interpol, at St Puys Callaghan manages to convince Dr Sternmacher to transfer him clandestinely to London in the hope of being reunited with Samantha. When he’s unable to find her, the penniless Callaghan pays a visit to the flat he was once the owner of. There, a great surprise awaits him. KIRKUS REVIEW Left for dead in the Sahara Desert beside two corpses, Matthias Callaghan—with no money, ID, or meds—finagles his way to his doctor in Switzerland and then to London. In this sixth installment of his series, Ekemar continues to breathe excitement into his face-changing, vengeance-filled, Jekyll and Hyde premise. As soon as the unflappable Callaghan reaches London, where he is wanted for jumping bail on a murder charge, he starts juggling the pieces of his fragmented life in his classic, inimitable style. Expect solid prose, action, plot turns, and conniving among the fully developed protagonists and antagonists alike. Callaghan haggles for an early hearing in his murder case using a picture of the mysterious Ivanovich as a bargaining chip. As in previous installments, the author nicely sets up his readers for the next episode with a grand finale, leaving various threads hanging. This tale’s well-drawn characters move like clockwork through a series of wild, suspenseful plot twists in a danse macabre of greed, murder, and revenge.

Download or read book The Callaghan Septology VII The Final Facedown written by Kim Ekemar and published by Bradley & Brougham Publishing House. This book was released on 2022-10-23 with total page 187 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: To his great relief, Callaghan is declared innocent of the murder he has been charged with. After assisting the Metropolitan Police to expose the Russian Mafia’s operation in the UK, he returns to Australia. Meanwhile, the head of the Russian Mafia, in an attempt to get his former life back, decides on a clever, unconventional solution to hide from Interpol. When Dr Sternmacher calls Callaghan to warn him about an issue that can’t be discussed over the phone, he reluctantly accepts to go back to Europe. Callaghan eventually discovers that Mafia boss Vasily Ivanovich has adopted a new, foolproof identity. Next he learns that Vasily has abducted his wife Samantha in Australia. In exchange for her release, Vasily demands his immediate presence in Paris, leaving Callaghan with no choice but to accept. Then a shared, unexpected and terrifying event changes life for both of them, leading Vasily and Callaghan to face each other during a long, tense night. At dawn, they go separate ways, determined to find a way to bring each other one down – for good. KIRKUS REVIEWS A gangster seeks vengeance on Matthias Callaghan in the grand finale of Ekemar’s psychological-thriller series. After wriggling out of a murder rap and exposing the Russian mob in the United Kingdom, Callaghan heads back to Australia, where he feels safe building a new home for his family. However, his vengeful machinations, which involved taking on multiple identities over the course of the series, have had consequences that won’t allow him to rest quite yet. Ekemar’s solid character construction renders even the wildest plot twists wholly plausible. In addition to the main narrative, there are various side plots and personalities that add spice or complications as well as a number of inept crooks that lend the narrative some comic relief. It all leads up to a final confrontation between Callaghan and Ivanovich that’s exciting, poignant, and up-close and personal. Ekemar explores themes of identity as skillfully as a maestro, sounding notes of existential angst and potboiler-y excitement throughout. This final episode also nicely ties up the series’ loose ends in a satisfying climax. A thrilling ending to a multilayered seven-book saga that’s sure to be a hit with fans.

Download or read book The Callaghan Septology I The Lost Identity Casualties written by Kim Ekemar and published by Bradley & Brougham Publishing House. This book was released on 2022-10-03 with total page 251 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Coming out of a coma, Matthias Callaghan finds himself tied to a hospital bed, wrapped in bandages and suffering from amnesia. As he gradually recovers his memories, Callaghan discovers that he – in a case of mistaken identity – has been mutilated and subject to a full face transplant while being comatose. After being released from the hospital, Callaghan spends months in solitary depression plotting his revenge on the five people who have caused him the loss of his identity and former privileged life. What he learns the hard way is that his revenge must encompass the Russian Mafia, a treacherous lawyer, his former business partner, his ex-wife and his estranged father. “Ekemar plays the plot beautifully … A unique, multilayered tale with some fresh twists.” - Kirkus Reviews “A well-conceived tale for those who enjoy smart, complex, global intrigue.” – Clarion Foreword Reviews “It takes a lot of skill to bring so many interesting characters together, explore their histories, build a great main character, plot out some wild revenge plots and watch what happens, all while making some fascinating points about the follies of greed and pride. A fantastic amount of creativity” -Onlinebookclub Reviews “This is a very captivating novel with a very good plot. The beginning immediately draws the reader into the complex web of mystery.” - Amazon Editorial Review

Download or read book Words on the Wing written by Kim Ekemar and published by Bradley & Brougham Publishing House. This book was released on 2019-12-14 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The lyrics to fifty-seven songs that are weighing the impact of challenges and loss, hatched in mysterious dimensions, reviewing the manipulative and the diabolical, and contemplating wishful thinking and the conclusions of past experiences.

Download or read book BOX SET Locked room Mysteries Murder written by Kim Ekemar and published by Bradley & Brougham Publishing House. This book was released on 2020-04-26 with total page 449 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: THE PATRICIDE After a fire, the wealthy landowner Patrice Lafarge is found alone and dead in his bedroom locked from the inside. Inspector Rimbaud reviews the case and counts on the help of his sharp-witted Aunt Emilie. What at first appears to be an accidental death is after the autopsy declared to be a homicide. One of the children at home on Clos Saint-Jacques to celebrate Patrice Lafarge’s 75th birthday over a May weekend has to be the killer, but – who did it, how was it done and for what reason? “This clever ‘whodunit’ set in 1935 France introduces a winning pair of sleuths who probe the death – behind a locked door – of Patrice Lafarge, whose heirs had gathered at his country estate to learn of a change to his will. As in many Golden Age puzzle mysteries, the plot is the key … Readers who enjoy pitting their wits against that of the author will find themselves satisfied by the surprising solution.” – The BookLife Prize in Fiction “It’s a very well written and edited book, which I recommend for readers who enjoy classic mysteries and want to immerse themselves in the pleasures of a locked-room murder challenge. This is a competent example in the locked-room mystery genre, and a very entertaining one to boot.” – Onlinebookclub Reviews THE MURDERS ON THREE BRIDGES In need of a change of scenery, Detective Inspector Arriaga boards Stella Australis for a trip around Tierra del Fuego. Before the ship reaches Cape Horn, the lone officer on the bridge is shot dead. When others come rushing, they find all doors leading to it locked from the inside. With most passengers and crew ashore on an excursion to a glacier and the runaway ship headed for shipwreck on the rocky coast, the captain is overwhelmed by the challenges. The inspector narrows down the suspects to nine – but how did the murderer escape with the doors locked from the inside? Then he faces the explanations for murders that have taken place on not one but three different bridges, including one that concerns his two fathers – the one he has never met and the one he is litigating. “This thriller is well-written and held my interest throughout, and there are a plethora of clues to figure out the perpetrator of the crime – fun for amateur detectives! The author has created a surprise ending … I’ll be looking out for more stories by this author.” – Reedsy Reviews “The writing itself is excellent; Ekemar’s prose is a pleasure to read. It’s a great locked-room murder mystery, rich in interesting characters, presenting a genuine puzzle for readers to solve. I thoroughly enjoyed it and highly recommend it to all fans of crime and mystery.” – OnlineBookclub Reviews THE CRIMSON BLUEPRINTS Paul Crimson fought in the war that USA waged against Viet Nam. He kept diaries of everything he experienced, which he later concentrated into a manuscript that became a bestseller. Convinced by his editor to start writing a follow-up, he moved to a wintery town in Maine. Crimson started writing it with no idea how it would end. By fusing keen observations of people in the tranquil town with notes from his editor and his soldiering past, he launched The Ship – a terrifying scenario of snowstorms, survival and soul searching. Then his unstableness provoked events to spin out of control, with his work in progress mirroring his perceptions of them. “Richly textured, this novel evokes a smothering, claustrophobic atmosphere of evil and events spinning out of control in all its settings. Crimson’s three lives—his past in Viet Nam, his present in Maine, and his fictional world in the Arctic—create a revealing portrait of a tortured soul. This novel delivers a spooky and readable yarn.” – Kirkus Reviews “The characters are brilliantly crafted. Many readers will enjoy this book, especially those who are interested in the psychological effects of war, those who’d like to see how a writer finds inspiration and those who enjoy a crime thriller.” - OnlineBookclub Reviews

Download or read book The Complete Circles of Gold Trilogy written by Kim Ekemar and published by Bradley & Brougham Publishing House. This book was released on 2024-05-14 with total page 683 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At the end of WWII, Anton Gleichner realizes Germany will lose the war. He decides to steal a fortune in gold objects, escape the Nazi's losing war in Europe and start a new life in South America, where he forms a business arrangement with Charles Munroe. Four decades later, the freelance reporter Dusty Dawes gets an assignment to investigate the cocaine trade from Colombia to the USA. The task takes him across mountains on horseback and by riverboat to the production facilities, and later, by coincidence, to one of the top men directing the Cartagena Cartel. Dusty travels from Salvador to Rio de Janeiro, where he gets romantically involved with the mob boss's mistress. When she disappears, Dusty finds out that she has gone to Paraguay instructed to withdraw a large sum of money in cash. After they meet again in Asunción, they both are imprisoned during an event with Paraguay's president. After Jacie has extricated herself from her detention by implying that Dusty is a terrorist, she withdraws the money as instructed. She then travels on to La Paz where she gets new instructions where to deliver the money. Dusty escapes the jail where he's held, and an alert for his capture is issued. Negotiated by his country's consulate, Dusty is expelled from Paraguay. Knowing that Jacie has traveled to La Paz, he follows her there, only to find that she has traveled on to Peru. After catching up with Jacie, they are chased on the Inca Trail. Inadequately prepared, Dusty and Jacie suffer the harsh and capricious weather conditions trekking above the clouds pursued by two thugs from the Cartagena Cartel. Meanwhile, the brain behind the drug cartel is spinning a web including using Dusty and Jacie to launch crack cocaine in the US. Incorporated in the main story are historical flashbacks that formed the South America that Dusty travels in 1982: The ritual that created the Eldorado myth, the dwellers in the Amazon rainforest, the slave trade from Africa, Alfredo Stroessner's dictatorship, the poor illiterate but astute Simón Patiño who became one of the richest men in the world, the Inca chieftains fratricide, Francisco Pizarro's daring conquest of the Inca empire and the mounting search for the elusive Eldorado kingdom where the streets were considered to be paved with gold.

Download or read book Beyond Borderline written by John G Gunderson and published by New Harbinger Publications. This book was released on 2016-08-01 with total page 182 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “These survivors hit their mark in helping to change the conversation about borderline personality disorder (BPD)." —Jim Payne, former president of the National Alliance on Mental Illness This provocative book uncovers the truth about a misunderstood and stigmatized disorder, and offers an opportunity for a deeper, more empathetic understanding of BPD from the real experts—the individuals living with it. BPD affects a significant percentage of the population. It is a disorder of relationships, one whose symptoms occur most in interpersonal contexts—and thus impact any number of interpersonal connections in life. When people have BPD, they may struggle to manage their emotions on a daily basis, and have to deal with fears of abandonment, anger issues, self-injury, and even suicidality—all of which can lead to even more instability in relationships. In Beyond Borderline, two internationally acclaimed experts on BPD—including Perry Hoffman, cofounder and president of the National Education Alliance for Borderline Personality Disorder (NEA-BPD)—team up to present a rare glimpse into the lives and recovery of people affected by BPD. This powerful compilation of stories reveals the deeply personal, firsthand perspectives of people who suffer with BPD, explores the numerous ways in which this disorder has affected their lives, and outlines the most debilitating and misunderstood symptoms of BPD (the most tragic being suicide). Beyond Borderline delves into the many ways the disorder can present—as well as the many paths to recovery—using evidence-based tools from dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), mindfulness meditation, mentalization-based therapy (MBT), and more. BPD is a challenging disorder that impacts people’s lives and relationships in countless ways. With this book—full of intimate accounts that reflect the myriad ways BPD presents and how it affects not just those afflicted, but also their loved ones—you’ll gain a deeper understanding of the disorder and learn how to move forward on the path toward healing while dealing with BPD.

Download or read book I Hold a Wolf by the Ears written by Laura van den Berg and published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. This book was released on 2020-07-28 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ONE OF TIME'S 10 BEST FICTION BOOKS OF 2020. Longlisted for the Joyce Carol Oates Prize. Named a Best Book of 2020 by NPR, Bustle, Good Housekeeping, the New York Public Library, Library Journal, Lit Hub, Electric Literature, and Tor.com "As enchanting as fairy tales, as mysterious as dreams, these exquisitely composed fictions are as urgent and original as any being written today.” —Sigrid Nunez, author of The Friend, winner of the 2018 National Book Award for Fiction An urgent and unsettling collection of women on the verge from Laura van den Berg, author of The Third Hotel I Hold a Wolf by the Ears, Laura van den Berg’s first story collection since her prizewinning book The Isle of Youth, draws readers into a world of wholly original, sideways ghost stories that linger in the mouth and the mind. Both timeless and urgent, these eleven stories confront misogyny, violence, and the impossible economics of America with van den Berg’s trademark spiky humor and surreal eye. Moving from the peculiarities of Florida to liminal spaces of travel in Mexico City, Sicily, and Iceland, I Hold a Wolf by the Ears is uncannily attuned to our current moment, and to the fears we reveal to no one but ourselves. In “Lizards,” a man mutes his wife’s anxieties by giving her a LaCroix-like seltzer laced with sedatives. In the title story, a woman poses as her more successful sister during a botched Italian holiday, a choice that brings about strange and destructive consequences, while in “Karolina,” a woman discovers her prickly ex-sister-in-law in the aftermath of an earthquake and is forced to face the truth about her violent brother. I Hold a Wolf by the Ears presents a collection of women on the verge, trying to grasp what’s left of life: grieving, divorced, and hyperaware, searching, vulnerable, and unhinged, they exist in a world that deviates from our own only when you look too closely. With remarkable control and transcendent talent, van den Berg dissolves, in the words of the narrator of “Slumberland,” “that border between magic and annihilation,” and further establishes herself as a defining fiction writer of our time.

Download or read book Let the Dead Bury Their Dead and Other Stories written by Randall Kenan and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 1992 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This remarkable collection of twelve short stories is about the diverse folk--black and white, young and old, rich and poor, rural and sophisticated--who live in the eastern North Carolina town of Tims Creek. Among the memorable characters are Clarence Pickett, who at age three began receiving messages from beyond the grave and whose gift seems tied to a hog's ability to talk; matronly Ida Perry, haunted by a boy her judge husband may have drowned years before; Dean Williams, hired to seduce the richest black man in Times Creek, yearning after innocence while he betrays love.

Download or read book Daily Rituals Women at Work written by Mason Currey and published by Knopf. This book was released on 2019-03-05 with total page 417 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More of Mason Currey's irresistible Daily Rituals, this time exploring the daily obstacles and rituals of women who are artists--painters, composers, sculptors, scientists, filmmakers, and performers. We see how these brilliant minds get to work, the choices they have to make: rebuffing convention, stealing (or secreting away) time from the pull of husbands, wives, children, obligations, in order to create their creations. From those who are the masters of their craft (Eudora Welty, Lynn Fontanne, Penelope Fitzgerald, Marie Curie) to those who were recognized in a burst of acclaim (Lorraine Hansberry, Zadie Smith) . . . from Clara Schumann and Shirley Jackson, carving out small amounts of time from family life, to Isadora Duncan and Agnes Martin, rejecting the demands of domesticity, Currey shows us the large and small (and abiding) choices these women made--and continue to make--for their art: Isak Dinesen, "I promised the Devil my soul, and in return he promised me that everything I was going to experience would be turned into tales," Dinesen subsisting on oysters and Champagne but also amphetamines, which gave her the overdrive she required . . . And the rituals (daily and otherwise) that guide these artists: Isabel Allende starting a new book only on January 8th . . . Hilary Mantel taking a shower to combat writers' block ("I am the cleanest person I know") . . . Tallulah Bankhead coping with her three phobias (hating to go to bed, hating to get up, and hating to be alone), which, could she "mute them," would make her life "as slick as a sonnet, but as dull as ditch water" . . . Lillian Hellman chain-smoking three packs of cigarettes and drinking twenty cups of coffee a day--and, after milking the cow and cleaning the barn, writing out of "elation, depression, hope" ("That is the exact order. Hope sets in toward nightfall. That's when you tell yourself that you're going to be better the next time, so help you God.") . . . Diane Arbus, doing what "gnaws at" her . . . Colette, locked in her writing room by her first husband, Henry Gauthier-Villars (nom de plume: Willy) and not being "let out" until completing her daily quota (she wrote five pages a day and threw away the fifth). Colette later said, "A prison is one of the best workshops" . . . Jessye Norman disdaining routines or rituals of any kind, seeing them as "a crutch" . . . and Octavia Butler writing every day no matter what ("screw inspiration"). Germaine de Staël . . . Elizabeth Barrett Browning . . . George Eliot . . . Edith Wharton . . . Virginia Woolf . . . Edna Ferber . . . Doris Lessing . . . Pina Bausch . . . Frida Kahlo . . . Marguerite Duras . . . Helen Frankenthaler . . . Patti Smith, and 131 more--on their daily routines, superstitions, fears, eating (and drinking) habits, and other finely (and not so finely) calibrated rituals that help summon up willpower and self-discipline, keeping themselves afloat with optimism and fight, as they create (and avoid creating) their creations.

Download or read book Seduction and Betrayal written by Elizabeth Hardwick and published by New York Review of Books. This book was released on 2011-07-13 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A vivid and provocative literary criticism of famous women writers from Virginia Woolf to Zelda Fitzgerald by a “gifted miniaturist biographer” (Joyce Carol Oates) The novelist and essayist Elizabeth Hardwick is one of contemporary America’s most brilliant writers, and Seduction and Betrayal, in which she considers the careers of women writers as well as the larger question of the presence of women in literature, is her most passionate and concentrated work of criticism. A gallery of unforgettable portraits—of Virginia Woolf and Zelda Fitzgerald, Dorothy Wordsworth and Jane Carlyle—as well as a provocative reading of such works as Wuthering Heights, Hedda Gabler, and the poems of Sylvia Plath, Seduction and Betrayal is a virtuoso performance, a major writer’s reckoning with the relations between men and women, women and writing, writing and life.

Download or read book Multitudes written by Lucy Caldwell and published by Faber & Faber. This book was released on 2016-05-03 with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Beautifully crafted, and so finely balanced that she holds the reader right up against the tender humanity of her characters.' Eimear McBride'A writer of rare elegance and beauty, Caldwell doesn't just get inside her characters' minds. She perches in the precarious chambers of their hearts, telling their stories truthfully and tenderly.' IndependentMultitudes is the beautiful debut story collection from the acclaimed, prize-winning novelist and playwright Lucy CaldwellFrom Belfast to London and back again the ten stories that comprise Caldwell's first collection explore the many facets of growing up - the pain and the heartache, the tenderness and the joy, the fleeting and the formative - or 'the drunkenness of things being various'. Stories of longing and belonging, they culminate with the heart-wrenching and unforgettable title story.