First Published in 2003. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This study focuses on the representation of the family in American drama, in particular, on various uses and conventions of the figure of the prodigal husband or son. It considers the lineage and function of this figure from the writings of Augustine, medieval iconography, Renaissance prodigal son plays, and temperance melodramas to such contemporary manifestations as television talk shows, the Recovery Movement, and plays by contemporary writers including Spalding Gray, Ntozake Shange, and Cherrie Moraga.

A Washington Post Best Book of Year Winner of the 2004 Latino Book Award This sweeping drama of intimately connected families-black, white, and Latino-boldly conjures up the ever-shifting cultural mosaic that is America. At its heart is Vidamia Farrell, half Puerto Rican, half Irish, who sets out in search of the father she has never known. Her journey takes her from her affluent suburban home to the Lower East Side of Manhattan, where her father Billy Farrell now lives with his second family. Once a gifted jazz pianist, Billy lost two fingers in the Vietnam War and has since shut himself off from jazz. While Billy's colorful new family draws Vidamia into their fold, so she determines to draw her father back into the world he left behind.

Captain Maximillian Blair had always hoped to discover there was life on other planets. His job at one of the government's most secure research facilities put him in the position to learn the truth, one way or another. When he met a stranger from the stars, he didn't expect to to be charged with discovering the man's secrets at any cost. Or to fall in love. How deadly would the truth prove to be? And can his love be the world's salvation or will it be its damnation?

This book serves to awaken mankind to open the line of communication with Spirit, Ascended Masters, Angelic Realms, your own High Self Committee and more. Powerful channeled information and techniques working for the highest good of all, in assisting mankind in empowering themselves to their highest spiritual potential and ascension. Providing a portal to connect with and hear spirit.

A collection of twelve moving, real-life stories in partnership with The Royal British Legion for the 75th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day. The tales in this collection all relate to the idea of homecoming in the immediate aftermath of WW2. Stories include a soldier coming home from war, child evacuees returning home, war brides going away to a new home and displaced persons being forced to find a new home country.

From the New York Times bestselling author The Four Winds, a moving, powerful novel about the fragile threads that bind together our lives and the astonishing potential of second chances “A tender, beautifully told story of emotional growth, forgiveness [and] the possibility of miracles.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) Madelaine Hillyard is a world-famous heart surgeon at the top of her game. Her personal life is far less successful. A loving but overworked single mom, she is constantly at odds with her teenage daughter. At sixteen, Lina is confused, angry, and fast becoming a stranger to her mother—a rebel desperate to find the father who walked away before she was born. Complicating matters for Madelaine are the vastly different DeMarco brothers: While priest Francis DeMarco is always ready to lend a helping hand, his brother, Angel, long ago took on the role of bad boy. Years earlier Angel abandoned Madelaine—and fatherhood—to go in search of fame and fortune. His departure left Madelaine devastated, but now he reappears and seeks help from the very people he betrayed—as a patient in dire need.

Escaping Los Angeles and the ugly memories of her son's recent murder, Maudie Toola returns to her childhood home of Molena Point, bringing her orphaned grandson, whom she must now raise. But she's unaware that the killer has followed her, nor does she know that the small seaside village is dealing with a series of brutal assaults. Meanwhile, a new tomcat appears on the scene, a wise and elderly wanderer who bears an important message from a state prisoner, for the chief of police. But this cat has a personal agenda too—just as does Maudie, who harbors her own secret about her son's killer. As the lonely prison cat provides the link between the mysteries, Joe Grey and his pals, in turn, help him find a surprising new home, a safe retreat in time for the holidays.

Read an essay by Chang-rae Lee here. The bestselling, award-winning writer of Native Speaker, Aloft, and My Year Abroad returns with his biggest, most ambitious novel yet: a spellbinding story of how love and war echo through an entire lifetime. With his three critically acclaimed novels, Chang-rae Lee has established himself as one of the most talented writers of contemporary literary fiction. Now, with The Surrendered, Lee has created a book that amplifies everything we've seen in his previous works, and reads like nothing else. It is a brilliant, haunting, heartbreaking story about how love and war inalterably change the lives of those they touch. June Han was only a girl when the Korean War left her orphaned; Hector Brennan was a young GI who fled the petty tragedies of his small town to serve his country. When the war ended, their lives collided at a Korean orphanage where they vied for the attentions of Sylvie Tanner, the beautiful yet deeply damaged missionary wife whose elusive love seemed to transform everything. Thirty years later and on the other side of the world, June and Hector are reunited in a plot that will force them to come to terms with the mysterious secrets of their past, and the shocking acts of love and violence that bind them together. As Lee unfurls the stunning story of June, Hector, and Sylvie, he weaves a profound meditation on the nature of heroism and sacrifice, the power of love, and the possibilities for mercy, salvation, and surrendering oneself to another. Combining the complex themes of identity and belonging of Native Speaker and A Gesture Life with the broad range, energy, and pure storytelling gifts of Aloft, Chang-rae Lee has delivered his most ambitious, exciting, and unforgettable work yet. It is a mesmeriz­ing novel, elegantly suspenseful and deeply affecting.

You Can Go Home Again opens with a story of growing up black in the hostile and segregated South, where even at nine years old, Dave already realizes a striking difference between how black and white people are treated. Daves parents are law-abiding citizens and God-fearing Christians, but this is still the era of segregation with its rampant racism, and a time when a black boy faces a dismal future. Determined to beat the odds, Dave holds tight to his dreams even while chafing against his loving but strict upbringing. As soon as hes old enough, he joins the Marines and begins to discover the world. Upon his return from Japan, he moves to Philadelphia and begins to discover life and learns the hard way that dreams dont always come true. You Can Go Home Again, Freds second book, is the prequel to his first book, The Delivery Man.