In New York City, they all just wanted to find careers and a life outside of where they were from. But as they make choices and mistakes a downpour is coming. What will be revealed? Will they be prepared? Who will survive? After all, when it rains... it pours.

Understanding Alan Sillitoe offers a lucid appraisal of the life and works of the well-known contemporary British writer hailed by critics as the literary descendent of D.H. Lawrence. Known primarily for his novels Saturday Night and Sunday Morning and The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner, Sillitoe has written more than 50 books over the last 40 years, including novels, plays, collections of short stories, poems, and travel pieces, as well as more than four hundred essays. In this comprehensive study of the major novels and short stories, Hanson reveals Sillitoe's artistic influences and the dominant thematic concerns of his works.

Miles Lechler is nothing special. Like a million other highschoolers, he spends his days blissfully unaware of the comings and goings of life, absorbed in his own world of school, football and crushes. That is, until one rainy afternoon, when a fatal car accident changes what he thought he knew about death. Lance is a predator. A prodigy of the reapers, a sect of human souls overseen by the angels themselves, Lance mercilessly hunts the recently departed, dutifully carrying them onwards to paradise. That is, until one rainy night, when a rogue burst of spiritual power changes what he thought he knew about life after death. Now Lance, or as he was once called, Miles, must move quickly, fighting in both the physical and spiritual realms against nightmarish creatures born of sin, ancient demons hungering for pain, and perhaps most frighteningly, a growing hatred for humanity bred within the angels themselves. The fate of both worlds hangs in the balance.

When, with her family at the age of eight, Bathsheba tops a hill and witnesses the bloody and violent stoning of an adulterous woman, she does not know that the memory will stay with her and will vividly return to be a threat to her in her early twenties. As the granddaughter of an influential man named Ahithophel, Bathsheba grows up in a loving home, only to lose her mother and her grandmother at a young age. Her father, Eliam, disguises her as a boy and takes her with him as he travels on a camel caravan for several years. At the age of fourteen, she becomes mistress of Grandfather Ahithophel’s household when he is called to be a counselor to King David in Jerusalem. When she turns fifteen, without her father’s knowledge, Grandfather Ahithophel marries her off to a widowed man named Uriah. Hers is an abusive marriage. After years of abuse, when Bathsheba goes to Jerusalem for the procession of the Ark, which King David has brought to the city, she meets a handsome dancer from the procession. Later when Uriah buys a place near Ahithophel’s in Jerusalem, she moves there with Gebur, Uriah’s son from his first marriage. One day on a visit to the ruins behind Jerusalem, where she goes for peace, she encounters again the dancer from the procession of the Ark. They spend the day talking yet fighting a growing attraction. In the heat of the evening, she goes to the aliyah, the semiprivate rooftop porch, to bathe. In the dancing moonbeams of a sultry, hot night, a man stands on his aliyah, which overlooks much of the city. His eyes fasten upon the movements of a beautifully shaped woman who is innocently bathing in the ivy-curtained aliyah below him. The next day, though she knows she should not, Bathsheba plans to return to the ruins, where she had met the dancer. But it is not to be. Her stepson, Gebur, awakens ill, and she does not want to leave him. That night, as twilight deepens to dark, a messenger and soldiers arrive on her doorstep. The king has summoned her. It is not a request. Questions hurtle through her as she is escorted into the palace, up the stairs, and allowed entrance through walnut double doors. Upon entering she is alone, except for the shadowed figure who emerges from the folds of golden drapes at the far edge of the aliyah. “What are you doing here? I am waiting for the king,” bursts forth from her. The dancer from the ruins, now arrayed in a robe of opulent red and gold, silences her as he quietly speaks her name. “Bathsheba.” She stops, for she knew she had not told it to him. Leading her to a divan, he explains that he was the dancer in the procession of the Ark but he is also King David. Her lord and sovereign, she realizes with astonishment, aware again of the powerful attraction between them. I will be all right as long as he doesn’t touch me, she thinks. Then King David reaches to slowly turn her to him, bending to claim her lips in a tender but oh so breathtaking kiss. In his eyes is a question she cannot refuse. As David lowers himself toward her, he realizes that he has gained more than possession of her body. He has gained entrance to her soul. Four days later, Bathsheba comes out of her world of wonder to realize she has broken Yahweh’s law of adultery. It is Yahweh’s law she has broken; to Yahweh she must go. She sees no one as she enters the women’s courtyard. The high priest, Zadok, is the only priest there at that time of day. He and the prophet Nathan both enter the women’s court silently to witness a depth of sorrow they have seldom seen. After Zadok makes his presence known, he intercedes and offers absolution for Bathsheba, not knowing what the cause of her deep grief is. In three months’ time, Bathsheba, during the time between sleep and gentle wakefulness as she feels again the morning sickness in her stomach, accepts the fact that she is carrying King David’s baby. Uriah, her husband, has been soldiering at Ammon for many months. She is terrif

Max is a man who knows how to survive. 'The rocks' are the earthquake-racked result of an apocalypse that no one remembers. After decades of solitude, Max arrives in Brac, the last remaining human town on Earth and somewhere that shouldn't exist. He begins to question the rocks' dominance, and embarks on an adventure to discover whether a place exists where the barrenness of the rocks truly ends; and ultimately, to discover whether there is more to life than merely surviving.Dirty Clouds and Puffs of Stardust follows Max's emotional and often humorous journey across, under and eventually beyond the rocks as he searches for this better place, somewhere with both physical and emotional location.

Darkness has fallen, and it is widely rumored that King Corlee will not honor the contract of peace entered into by his daughter. Even the Kingdom of Zah, under the rule of Queen Marrelia is in a state of unrest. It has been days and no word, yet I feel the conclusion draws near. I feel it in my blood that the final crusade for absolute control has been waged. Queen Marrelia will try to avenge the loss of her true love, and through the loss of her innocence will grow a young woman not unlike her opponent. I tremble with fright, for insight has lent me a terrible aspect. Yet even in my darkest dreams-the ones I awaken from terrified and shivering with sweat-I can see one sprig of life upon a desert of despair. The final hope of Zah is weighed by the outcome of a single hero. The color of this one's heart is undecided as I can feel the confusion even from a great distance. In the end, it is the strength of the few that win these battles, and I feel the hero will return. This wild one. This crazy, vengeful, wild one they call Skyler.

As the fight for equal rights continues, Defiant takes a critical look at the strides and struggles of the past in this revelatory and moving memoir about a young Black man growing up in the South during the heart of the Civil Rights Movement. For fans of It's Trevor Noah: Born a Crime, Stamped, and Brown Girl Dreaming. "With his compelling memoir, Hudson will inspire young readers to emulate his ideals and accomplishments.” –Booklist, Starred Review Born in 1946 in Mansfield, Louisiana, Wade Hudson came of age against the backdrop of the Civil Rights Movement. From their home on Mary Street, his close-knit family watched as the country grappled with desegregation, as the Klan targeted the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, and as systemic racism struck across the nation and in their hometown. Amidst it all, Wade was growing up. Getting into scuffles, playing baseball, immersing himself in his church community, and starting to write. Most important, Wade learned how to find his voice and use it. From his family, his community, and his college classmates, Wade learned the importance of fighting for change by confronting the laws and customs that marginalized and demeaned people. This powerful memoir reveals the struggles, joys, love, and ongoing resilience that it took to grow up Black in segregated America, and the lessons that carry over to our fight for a better future.