Czar Nicholas The Toad And Duck Soup

The mid-1960s through the mid-1970s was a heady, turbulent time. There was a lot going on back then, and author Elisabeth Amaral was in the middle of it all: the fights for womens rights, racial equality, a music revolution, be-ins, love-ins, riots in the streets, the rage against the Vietnam War, and sex, drugs, and rock and roll. It was an amazing time to be young. In Czar Nicholas, The Toad, and Duck Soup, Amaral shares her recollections of those times. She narrates a coming-of-age story about herself and her husband as they embarked on an improbable journey of self-discovery. They gave up their jobs, moved with their infant son from New York City to Boston, unexpectedly started a childrens boutique, and soon opened a popular restaurant in Harvard Square. With sincerity and humor, Czar Nicholas, The Toad, and Duck Soup offers a personal and revealing account that reaches out to those who find themselves striving to make a relationship work that, by its very nature, may be doomed. But this story is also one of friendshipand of finding the courage to move on. Praise for Czar Nicholas, The Toad, and Duck Soup In her intimate and humorous memoir, Liz Amaral reveals the challenges of a young family establishing a home in Cambridge amid the tumult of the late 1960s. You will discover the disconcerting truth about her marriage and the painful path she takes to find herself again. A true adventure of the heart. Kathrin Seitz, writer, producer, and coach

The mid-1960s through the mid-1970s was a heady, turbulent time. There was a lot going on back then, and author Elisabeth Amaral was in the middle of it all: the fights for women's rights, racial equality, a music revolution, be-ins, love-ins, riots in the streets, the rage against the Vietnam War, and sex, drugs, and rock and roll. It was an amazing time to be young. In Czar Nicholas, The Toad, and Duck Soup, Amaral shares her recollections of those times. She narrates a coming-of-age story about herself and her husband as they embarked on an improbable journey of self-discovery. They gave up their jobs, moved with their infant son from New York City to Boston, unexpectedly started a children's boutique, and soon opened a popular restaurant in Harvard Square. With sincerity and humor, Czar Nicholas, The Toad, and Duck Soup offers a personal and revealing account that reaches out to those who find themselves striving to make a relationship work that, by its very nature, may be doomed. But this story is also one of friendship--and of finding the courage to move on. Praise for Czar Nicholas, The Toad, and Duck Soup "In her intimate and humorous memoir, Liz Amaral reveals the challenges of a young family establishing a home in Cambridge amid the tumult of the late 1960s. You will discover the disconcerting truth about her marriage and the painful path she takes to find herself again. A true adventure of the heart." --Kathrin Seitz, writer, producer, and coach

On October 1941, in a small village outside Moscow, Serafima bids farewell to Vitya, a Soviet officer going to the front. With only moments left together, she places a cross around her beloved’s neck and reluctantly releases him into a cruel world where nothing is certain, especially whether she will ever see him again. Days later, Germans invade her village and take over her tiny house. Serafima and her mother must comply with orders, endure abuse, and stay put, or their village will be annihilated. As World War II intertwines Serafima’s and Vitya’s life with that of a young German violinist and a Russian intellectual, their destinies are irrevocably altered. Can they rise to the challenge of agonizing moral choices and learn to forgive and love again? Praise “The Cruel Romance is a tale of love, violence, and acceptance as Serafima is forced to live with what the Germans left behind. This compelling story makes for a thrilling read in a setting and time that comes to life, pulling the reader into the vividly drawn, rarely seen world” (Elisabeth Amaral, author of When Any Kind of Love Will Do and Czar Nicholas, The Toad, and Duck Soup).

Ellie Allington is a successful Manhattan real estate broker. On the summer evening that she hosts dozens of guests for her husband Patrick's birthday, she decides she will no longer live with his infidelities. This determination begins to replace years of loneliness and depression with anger and the strength to find herself again. A few days after the party she receives a call from Valeria, apparently about real estate, inviting her to a nearby loft. However, Valeria has other, mysterious reasons for making contact. Ellie finds herself drawn to this delicate, beautiful woman and at Valeria's request prolongs her visit. That decision is a fateful one. When the actual owner arrives, he is accompanied by Antonio, a retired police detective. The power of Ellie's attraction to Antonio startles and overwhelms her. As their relationship begins, both of them are drawn into the web of Valeria's troubled past. This is a story about relationships-Ellie's relationships with her family, her tenants, real estate, and her ill-fated friendship with Valeria. It is the story of a woman rediscovering her strengths, her passion, herself. Most of all, it is a love story.

"Liz Amaral is an original, both in her writing and her life. In these stories, you will find delight, horror, comedy, and love, and most of all, surprise. You will be confronted by your own darkness-the boogeymen who hide within you-and by your own humanity. This is a book you will not be able to put down. Hold on-it's a great ride." -Kathrin Seitz, author and producer Reflecting the common longing to be loved, amid the strangeness, humor and unpredictability of the world, When Any Kind of Love Will Do contains stories and memories from hidden corners of the soul. Meet a woman who bought a loft whose blood-soaked walls make her feel right at home. Read about a witness to a brutal murder who exacts her own revenge. Inhabit the minds of three young people in Manhattan's West Village who search for meaning in their lives, and see into the mind of a killer and his victim. These thrilling and imaginative stories tap into our deepest longings and reveal visions of the world that are bewildering, disturbing, or downright hilarious.

The eternal conflict between the will of man and the power of nature, as expressed by the sea. Contains a realistic and rhapsodical description of the Needles, the pointed rocks in the English Channel, and a man's terrifying fight with an octopus.