Download or read book Property written by Valerie Martin and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2007-12-18 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: WINNER OF THE ORANGE PRIZE • Set in 1828 on a Louisiana sugar plantation, this novel from the bestselling author of Mary Reilly presents a “fresh, unsentimental look at what slave-owning does to (and for) one's interior life.... The writing—so prised and clean limbed—is a marvel" (Toni Morrison, Nobel Prize-winning author of Beloved). Manon Gaudet, pretty, bitterly intelligent, and monstrously self-absorbed, seethes under the dominion of her boorish husband. In particular his relationship with her slave Sarah, who is both his victim and his mistress. Exploring the permutations of Manon’s own obsession with Sarah against the backdrop of an impending slave rebellion, Property unfolds with the speed and menace of heat lightning, casting a startling light from the past upon the assumptions we still make about the powerful and powerful.
Download or read book The Fiction of Valerie Martin written by Veronica Makowsky and published by LSU Press. This book was released on 2016-03-21 with total page 347 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the first book-length study of Valerie Martin's fiction, Veronica Makowsky explores the work of this lauded, but often overlooked, contemporary novelist. Winner of the Orange Prize for her novel Property (2003), Martin also won the Kafka Prize for Mary Reilly (1990), which was then translated into sixteen languages and made into a popular film. Despite these successes, her critically acclaimed novels and stories have yet to attain a broad readership. Makowsky addresses this disconnect through a detailed critical study of Martin's distinguished oeuvre, grounding each work in its historical, cultural, and theoretical contexts. Makowsky begins with a sketch of Martin's life and then considers each of her ten novels and four collections of short stories. Throughout, Makowsky's deft critique reveals Martin to be an astute observer of people and places. Pointing to both early works, like A Recent Martyr (1987), and recent books, such as The Ghost of the Mary Celeste (2014), Makowsky identifies a potent mixture of pleasure and fear in Martin's writing that emphasizes the author's nuanced exploration of human imagination. Notable, too, are Martin's literary techniques -- especially point of view -- and her allusions to masterpieces in Western literature. The works of Henry and William James in particular influenced Martin's thematic blend of intellectualism and empathy evident in her rounded depictions of women in works like Italian Fever (1999) and The Great Divorce (1994). A rich and substantive study, The Fiction of Valerie Martin demonstrates and deconstructs the mastery of this thought-provoking author, in turn firmly establishing Martin's place in the canon of contemporary writers.
Download or read book Mary Reilly written by Valerie Martin and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2013-02-13 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the acclaimed author of the bestselling Italian Fever and award-winning Property, comes a fresh twist on the classic Jekyll and Hyde story, a novel told from the perspective of Dr. Jekyll's dutiful and intelligent housemaid. "Part psychological novel, part social history, part eerie horror tale ... dark and moving and powerful." —The Washington Post Faithfully weaving in details from Robert Louis Stevenson's classic, Martin introduces an original and captivating character: Mary is a survivor—scarred but still strong—familiar with evil, yet brimming with devotion and love. As a bond grows between Mary and her tortured employer, she is sent on errands to unsavory districts of London and entrusted with secrets she would rather not know. Unable to confront her hideous suspicions about Dr. Jekyll, Mary ultimately proves the lengths to which she'll go to protect him. Through her astute reflections, we hear the rest of the classic Jekyll and Hyde story, and this familiar tale is made more terrifying than we remember it, more complex than we imagined possible.
Download or read book I Give It to You written by Valerie Martin and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2020-08-11 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An "immensely satisfying” story (The Guardian) of family, war, art, and betrayal set around an ancient, ancestral home in the Tuscan countryside from the bestselling, award-winning author of Property. When Jan Vidor, an American writer and academic, rents an apartment in a Tuscan villa for the summer, she plans to spend her break working on a novel about Mussolini. Instead, she finds herself captivated by her aristocratic landlady, the elegant, acerbic Beatrice Salviati Bartolo Doyle, whose family has owned Villa Chiara for generations. Jan is intrigued by Beatrice’s stories of World War II, particularly by the tragic fate of her uncle Sandro, who was mysteriously murdered in the driveway of the villa at the conclusion of the war. Day by day, Beatrice makes Jan privy to her family history. As years go by and the friendship is sustained by infrequent meetings, Jan finds she can’t resist writing Beatrice’s story. But as she works on the novel, it becomes clear that the villa itself is at risk and that Beatrice is incapable of saving it. Jan understands that she is telling the story of a catastrophe her friend might prefer to conceal. She presses on.
Download or read book The Ghost of the Mary Celeste written by Valerie Martin and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2015-02-03 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 1872: the American merchant vessel Mary Celeste is discovered adrift off the coast of Spain. Her cargo is intact and there is no sign of struggle, but her crew has disappeared, never to be found. As news of the derelict ghost ship spreads, the Mary Celeste captures imaginations around the world—from a Philadelphia spiritualist medium named Violet Petra to an unknown young writer named Arthur Conan Doyle. In a haunted, death-obsessed age, the Mary Celeste is by turns a provocative mystery, an inspiration to creativity, and the tragic story of a family doomed by the sea. Based on actual events, spanning seas and continents, life and death, The Ghost of the Mary Celeste is a spellbinding exploration of love, nature, and the fictions that pass as truth.
Download or read book Trespass written by Valerie Martin and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2007-09-18 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Two women, Chloe Dale, an artist comfortably ensconced in bucolic suburbia, and Salome Drago, a wily, seductive refugee from a country that no longer exists, confront each other in a Manhattan restaurant, and the battle lines are drawn. Toby Dale, son of the artist and ardent suitor of the refugee, is in no position to choose sides. Outside, the drumbeats for the impending invasion of Iraq drown out all argument, and those who object will soon be reduced to standing in the street. The story of two families—suspicious, territorial, naïve in their confidence that they are free of the past—Trespass unfolds with commanding force. It is a bracing, tender novel for the 21st century.
Download or read book Italian Fever written by Valerie Martin and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2000-05-09 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Part romance, part gothic suspense story, this is the compelling tale of an American woman's awakening as she tumbles headlong into a mystery, art, and eros—from the bestselling, award-winning author of Property. • "Spellbinding ... A virtuoso ... Martin's competence has kindled into brilliance." —The New York Times Book Review Lucy leads a quiet, solitary life working for a best-selling (but remarkably untalented) writer. When he dies at his villa in Tuscany, Lucy flies to Tuscany to settle his affairs. What begins as a grim chore soon threatens Stark's Emersonian self-reliance--and her very sense of what is real. The villa harbors secrets: a missing manuscript, neighbors whose Byzantine arrogance veils their dark past, a phantom whose nocturnal visits tear a gaping hole in Lucy's well-honed skepticism. And to complicate matters: Massimo, a married man whose tender attentions render Lucy breathless. Smart, sophisticated, achingly beautiful, Italian Fever is one of the most original and compelling novels of the year.
Download or read book The Confessions of Edward Day written by Valerie Martin and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2011-12-14 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Acclaimed author Valerie Martin returns with a dark comedy about love, sex, an actor's ambition, and the perils of playing a role too well. In this fictional memoir, Valerie Martin brilliantly re-creates the seamy theater world of 1970s New York, when rents were cheap, love was free, and nudity on stage was the latest craze. Edward Day, a talented and ambitious young actor finds his life forever altered during a weekend party on the Jersey Shore, where he seduces the delicious Madeleine Delavergne and is saved from drowning by the mysterious Guy Margate, a man who bears an eerie physical resemblance to Edward. Forever after, Edward is torn between his desire for Madeleine and his indebtedness to Guy, his rival in love and in art, on stage and off.
Download or read book Set in Motion written by Valerie Martin and published by LSU Press. This book was released on 2001 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Developing countries, confronted with increased demand for health services, are seeking alternative methods for funding these services through a variety of methods, including user charges, private health insurance, community-based financing, and earmarked payroll and general taxation. This book provides a framework for assessing national health financing by drawing on the experiences of industrial countries that have a longer history in addressing the issue. The framework is designed for the assessment of national health financing in terms of what are policy concerns in all health systems: coverage, accessibility to financing, overall affordability, efficiency in the supply and financing of services, innovation, and consumer choice. The book also discusses a number of policy issues arising from the use of the framework. It uses the experience of six industrial countries--Canada, Germany, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States--to illustrate the results of different approaches in the pursuit of health care policy objectives
Download or read book Sea Lovers written by Valerie Martin and published by Serpent's Tail. This book was released on 2016-01-14 with total page 163 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Each of these twelve stories is a complete world, where ordinary lives are transformed, myths bloom into reality and the everyday is haunted by obsession and duplicity. A painter is made insufferable by success; a writer is driven to bury the evidence of his inadequacy. Metamorphosis fragments a marriage and beasts bear the consequences of human failings. Living creatures scratch out hauntings, rumours spread like fire. Fantastical beings are made flesh while mortals are engaged in a struggle that should be honourable but more often corrupts. Lyrical and macabre, Valerie Martin's stories are wry and unexpected too. The question 'Are we animals, or are we something else?' is answered by an ancient proposition both whimsical and disturbing: we are neither and both.
Download or read book Mrs Gulliver written by Valerie Martin and published by Doubleday. This book was released on 2024-02-20 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the prize-winning and beloved author Valerie Martin (Mary Reilly, Property, Italian Fever) comes a surprisingly inventive tale of female subversion and agency in a patriarchal world, with two brilliantly crafted protagonists to root for. It’s 1954 on far-flung Verona Island, a tropical paradise with a fragile economy and a rising crime rate. Prostitution is legal and Lila Gulliver is proud of her business, a high-end brothel where her clients are guaranteed privacy and discretion. When Carità Bercy, a young, destitute, and beautiful blind woman arrives at her door seeking employment, Lila decides to give her a chance. Carità proves a valuable asset to the house, as well as a psychological puzzle to her employer. One hot night, Ian Drohan, a handsome youth and the scion of the wealthiest family on the island, visits Lila’s house and falls madly in love with Carità. Lila doubts his sincerity and fears for Carità ‘s future. Carità has no such fears. In fact, Carità is a reckless force of nature, determined to succeed in ways Lila hasn’t even contemplated. Spirits of the star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet, as well as the devilish denizens of the magical island in The Tempest, haunt this steamy tale of passionate love, found and lost, and found again.
Download or read book Love written by Valerie Martin and published by Lost Horse Press. This book was released on 1999 with total page 92 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Ms. Martin's trademarks: a preoccupation with the dark underside of life, a taste for disturbing, even macabre imagery . . . excursions into an unseen realm [of] strange and magical events. . . . Martin possesses a sure storytelling gift, [an] ability to transform a myriad of specific details into larger, symbolic shapes."--New York Times
Download or read book Anton and Cecil written by Lisa Martin and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The high-seas adventures of two cat brothers.
Download or read book The Fiction of Valerie Martin written by Veronica A. Makowsky and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Great Divorce written by Valerie Martin and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2003-02-04 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Three surprising women, their lives riven by divorce both literal and metaphorical: Ellen Clayton, reeling from her husband’s decision to leave her after twenty years, finds meaning in caring for her teenage daughters and in her work as the veterinarian at the New Orleans Zoo. Her young assistant Camille, preyed on by a series of contemptuous men, experiences bizarre episodes in which she feels herself transforming into one of the great cats in her care. And Elisabeth Boyer, a passionate Creole aristocrat trapped on her husband’s antebellum plantation, finds deliverance in the form of a black leopard, a powerful, merciless ally from the wild. Their unfolding stories blur distinctions of time, class and social construct to reveal the ordinary and extraordinary measures required to make our fractured world whole.
Download or read book The Handmaid s Tale written by Margaret Atwood and published by McClelland & Stewart. This book was released on 2011-09-06 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An instant classic and eerily prescient cultural phenomenon, from “the patron saint of feminist dystopian fiction” (New York Times). Now an award-winning Hulu series starring Elizabeth Moss. In this multi-award-winning, bestselling novel, Margaret Atwood has created a stunning Orwellian vision of the near future. This is the story of Offred, one of the unfortunate “Handmaids” under the new social order who have only one purpose: to breed. In Gilead, where women are prohibited from holding jobs, reading, and forming friendships, Offred’s persistent memories of life in the “time before” and her will to survive are acts of rebellion. Provocative, startling, prophetic, and with Margaret Atwood’s devastating irony, wit, and acute perceptive powers in full force, The Handmaid’s Tale is at once a mordant satire and a dire warning.
Download or read book The Consolation of Nature and Other Stories written by Valerie Martin and published by Vintage. This book was released on 1989 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
