This newly revised study examines thematic elements in Christina Rossettis poetry in order to celebrate and explain an important, undervalued writer and her remarkable artistic quest to achieve an original voice. Critics rightly applaud Rossettis metrical craftsmanship and song-like lyrical phrasings, but over-attention to formal felicities can impede proper interpretation of content. Through detailed readings of selected poems, this book demonstrates that Rossettis rigorously controlled use of language and innovative symbolism combine to create radical, hidden inter-textual levels of meaning beyond those attainable via biographical decoding, making her a singular bridge between Romanticism and Modernism. From earliest secular interactions with Romantic and Tractarian thought, through Goblin Market (1862) and The Princes Progress (1866), Rossettis verse resists straightforward interpretation by subtly interrogating and subverting the patriarchal traditions of writing that it simultaneously extends: love lyric, fairy tale, quest myth, and sonnet. Persuasively constructing a case for the inability of male-ordained poetics to cope with the expression of active female identity, Monna Innominata (1881) deconstructs lyric tradition, casting together medieval, renaissance, Romantic and Victorian ideologies. This groundbreaking sonnet cycle disturbs poetic conventions and forms the most concentrated, sustained demonstration of the struggle to articulate the female self to be found in Rossettis oeuvre, perhaps in literary history. The painful sense of irresolution and despair pervading Monna Innominata sheds important light upon Christina Rossettis exclusive production of devotional literature during her final years.

Journalist Joe Talbert investigates the murder of the father he never knew, and must reckon with his own family's past, in this "brilliant sequel" to the national bestseller The Life We Bury (Publishers Weekly) Joe Talbert, Jr. has never once met his namesake. Now out of college, a cub reporter for the Associated Press in Minneapolis, he stumbles across a story describing the murder of a man named Joseph Talbert in a small town in southern Minnesota. Full of curiosity about whether this man might be his father, Joe is shocked to find that none of the town's residents have much to say about the dead man-other than that his death was long overdue. Joe discovers that the dead man was a loathsome lowlife who cheated his neighbors, threatened his daughter, and squandered his wife's inheritance after she, too, passed away -- an inheritance that may now be Joe's. Mired in uncertainty and plagued by his own devastated relationship with his mother, who is seeking to get back into her son's life, Joe must put together the missing pieces of his family history -- before his quest for discovery threatens to put him in a grave of his own.

Fugitive FBI Agent Mia North knows that hunting down killers and solving new—and old—cases is the only way to clear her name. When a rash of high-school girls are found murdered, discovered on the soccer field, the case is personal for Mia. Can she find and stop the killer—and figure out who framed her—before she is caught by the U.S. Marshals? In SEE HER HIDE (A Mia North FBI Suspense Thriller—Book Two), Special Agent Mia North is a rising star in the FBI—until, in an elaborate setup, she’s framed for murder and sentenced to prison. When a lucky break allows her to escape, Mia finds herself a fugitive, on the run and on the wrong side of the law for the first time in her life. She can’t see her young daughter—and she has no hope of returning to her former life. The only way to get her life back, she realizes, is to hunt down whoever framed her. Mia’s former partner desperately needs her help: high-school soccer players are turning up dead in neighboring towns, with no rhyme or reason. Mia may be the only one who can solve it. But her position is tenuous and she has no one to back her up. Might she, working alone and racing against the clock, stumble right into the killer’s hands? An action-packed page-turner, the MIA NORTH series is a riveting crime thriller, jammed with suspense, surprises, and twists and turns that you won’t see coming. Fall in love with this brilliant new female protagonist and you’ll be turning pages late into the night. Books #3-#6 in the series—SEE HER SCREAM, SEE HER VANISH, SEE HER GONE, and SEE HER DEAD—are now also available.

A bundle of books #2 (SEE HER HIDE) and #3 (SEE HER SCREAM) in Rylie Dark’s Mia North FBI Suspense Thriller series! This bundle offers books two and three in one convenient file, with over 100,000 words of reading. Special Agent Mia North is a rising star in the FBI—until, in an elaborate setup, she’s framed for murder and sentenced to prison. When a lucky break allows her to escape, Mia finds herself a fugitive, on the run and on the wrong side of the law for the first time in her life. She can’t see her young daughter—and she has no hope of returning to her former life. The only way to get her life back, she realizes, is to hunt down whoever framed her. In SEE HER HIDE (Book #2), Mia’s former partner desperately needs her help: high-school soccer players are turning up dead in neighboring towns, with no rhyme or reason. Mia may be the only one who can solve it. But her position is tenuous and she has no one to back her up. Might she, working alone and racing against the clock, stumble right into the killer’s hands? Can she find and stop the killer—and figure out who framed her—before she is caught by the U.S. Marshals? In SEE HER SCREAM (Book #3), Mia, still on the run, is summoned by her ex-partner when a new apparent serial killer surfaces. The new case will lead her, working in the shadows, to a creepy commune in the Southwest, where red herrings abound. Mia knows her only hope of getting answers is to infiltrate the commune—but its members aren’t exactly welcoming. Worse, Mia is desperate to contact her daughter, but the U.S. Marshals are getting closer. As she turns up a shocking revelation and inches close to figuring out who framed her, the noose is closing in. Can Mia solve the case in time to escape herself? An action-packed page-turner, the MIA NORTH series is a riveting crime thriller, jammed with suspense, surprises, and twists and turns that you won’t see coming. Fall in love with this brilliant new female protagonist and you’ll be turning pages late into the night. Books #4-#6 in the series—SEE HER VANISH, SEE HER GONE, and SEE HER DEAD—are now also available.

Through the years I have had the privilege of knowing some wonderful dogs and cats, bunnies and hamsters, goldfish, birds, cows, horses, ducks, chickens and pigs. This book started out as stories for my grandchildren, and when it was suggested that others might enjoy reading it the idea took hold, and 'Fur, Feathers and Fins' became a reality. All of the stories are true. Some may be hard to believe, some will make you laugh, while others may make you cry. If you've ever shared your life with a pet you know the joy they can bring to you, and if you've never had a pet, I hope you enjoy reading about mine. I have enjoyed writing about them, remembering each one, and shedding a few tears along the way. If you decide that you want to bring a fur friend into your family, please go to the local animal shelter and give a precious kitten, puppy, dog, or cat the forever home they so deserve....

This year is unlike any other for Iman, who has just lost her little sister, Firdous, to leukemia. Going to the mosque and Sunday school was exciting, especially during the holy month of Ramadan, with Firdous as her companion. But now Iman prays alone, sits alone, and doesn’t even feel hungry when it is time to eat. As she grapples with overwhelming sadness, Iman cannot help but wonder why God took her sister away from her. Iman cherishes the memories with her sister. As she travels back in time to reflect on her time with Firdous, she also details her feelings as she learns to live without her beloved sister and attempts to find a way out of the darkness of grief into the light of healing. Included are specific coping tools and activities for young people who are also grieving that honor feelings, faith, and provide a gentle reminder that our loved ones are always alive in our hearts. Prayers for My Sister is the tale of a Muslim girl’s journey through grief after her sister dies from leukemia.

In the thirty-five years since China instituted its One-Child Policy, 120,000 children—mostly girls—have left China through international adoption, including 85,000 to the United States. It’s generally assumed that this diaspora is the result of China’s approach to population control, but there is also the underlying belief that the majority of adoptees are daughters because the One-Child Policy often collides with the traditional preference for a son. While there is some truth to this, it does not tell the full story—a story with deep personal resonance to Kay Ann Johnson, a China scholar and mother to an adopted Chinese daughter. Johnson spent years talking with the Chinese parents driven to relinquish their daughters during the brutal birth-planning campaigns of the 1990s and early 2000s, and, with China’s Hidden Children, she paints a startlingly different picture. The decision to give up a daughter, she shows, is not a facile one, but one almost always fraught with grief and dictated by fear. Were it not for the constant threat of punishment for breaching the country’s stringent birth-planning policies, most Chinese parents would have raised their daughters despite the cultural preference for sons. With clear understanding and compassion for the families, Johnson describes their desperate efforts to conceal the birth of second or third daughters from the authorities. As the Chinese government cracked down on those caught concealing an out-of-plan child, strategies for surrendering children changed—from arranging adoptions or sending them to live with rural family to secret placement at carefully chosen doorsteps and, finally, abandonment in public places. In the twenty-first century, China’s so-called abandoned children have increasingly become “stolen” children, as declining fertility rates have left the dwindling number of children available for adoption more vulnerable to child trafficking. In addition, government seizures of locally—but illegally—adopted children and children hidden within their birth families mean that even legal adopters have unknowingly adopted children taken from parents and sent to orphanages. The image of the “unwanted daughter” remains commonplace in Western conceptions of China. With China’s Hidden Children, Johnson reveals the complex web of love, secrecy, and pain woven in the coerced decision to give one’s child up for adoption and the profound negative impact China’s birth-planning campaigns have on Chinese families.

Sophie escapes from Auschwitz and is sheltered in a Catholic convent until the area is liberated by the Russians. Her husband Jake is inducted into the Polish Army in 1939 and is taken prisoner by the Germans. With the help of a friend, he escapes and reaches Russia. He eventually joins the 1st Polish Army and is part of the forces liberating Poland and Berlin. After the war Sophie searches for information about Jake. She hears about the 1st Polish Army and tries to get to Berlin to connect with survivors who might know about Jake. She is aided by another Auschwitz survivor Joseph who is searching for Eliza, a friend from Auschwitz. In an extraordinary encounter in Berlin, Sophie and Jake are reunited.

My Secret Life, Complete, Volumes 1-11 by Anonymous is a candid exploration of an individual's private experiences and innermost thoughts. This intriguing compilation offers a window into the intimate and often unspoken aspects of human life. Reading My Secret Life, Complete, Volumes 1-11 is akin to embarking on a personal journey of self-discovery. This provocative and introspective series will make you ponder the complexities of human nature and the secrets we all harbor within us.

The following story is true. This book is about my children’s mysteries written between the ages of 9 and 16. The years would have been 1975 to 1982. During this time, I was completely oblivious to a terrible truth about myself. I was living in Daler Cottage, the given name of my childhood home. At the age of 19, I would start a novel called The Lessons. This novel was fuelled by a burning fantasy world that was eating me up inside. For the next thirty years, I would struggle with this novel, unaware of this truth. The story of The Lessons is covered in my other book. Prior to my novel-writing phase, I was writing these mysteries as well as painting and devising plays. I kept a diary between 1977 and 1988, during which I attained a degree in Fine Art. I would continue to write and paint for many years to come. My diaries illuminate the circumstances surrounding the writing of my children’s stories. Unknown to me, clues to this horrific truth have leaked into all my creations like oil bubbling up through the ground. At the age of 51, I finally learned the truth. This book describes the decoding process to find the true meaning behind my children’s mysteries. Due to the nature of this book, names and certain details have been altered in order to protect identities and I am writing under a pseudonym. With images throughout.