My Family And Other Strangers

When Jeremy Hardy decided to explore his ancestry it was, in part, to get to the bottom of his grandmother Rebecca's dubious claims that the family descended from a certain 17th-century architect and that, more recently, Jeremy's great-grandfather was a Royal bodyguard. Other legends ranged from the great aunt who ran illegal hooch during Prohibition to the wronged Victorian servant girl who bore an illegitimate Hardy, not forgetting the family's rightful claim to a large country estate. Wild stories aside, Jeremy sets out to such diverse locations as the Croydon one-way system and the hostile waters around Malta in order to find traces of recognisable family traits and a sense of how he came to be. With wry humour and a keen eye for the absurd and the frustrating, Jeremy takes us on a by turns funny and moving journey into the world of family ancestry. My Family and Other Strangers will be enjoyed by anyone who has tried to decipher the 1901 census records, or simply wishes they too had asked their grandparents more about their lives.

These twenty short stories and ten poems cover many situations and environments: "The Star Ruby." Precocious and nasty with reason, a young girl covets her grandma's ring. "The General's Darlings." A resourceful soldier starts a chorus and is amazed to discover it's become important to him. "High Ground." A boy rides from Chicago to Indiana to bring back Thanksgiving poultry with his brother-in-law and an African-American. "Uncommon Versatility." An artist of many styles who looks like Sasquatch. "Julie's Retirement." He retires and settles things after being feted by strangers. "His Secret Place." Seeking enlightenment in all the wrong places. "Skin Deep." She uniquely escapes abuse. "Family Traditions." A woman attends a reunion amid painful memories. "Reflections." Retribution and horror in an American town. "Shirley's Story." A lascivious man learns to curb his appetite. "A Two-Christmas Story." Will love conquer despair and stubborn ethical positions? "Lost and Found." What happens when a pet alligator is left in a taxicab? "Theodora's Mirage." A Death Valley trip and a new driver's terror in a bitter battle of wits. "Like Clockwork." A wealthy middle-aged woman marries an avaricious young man. "Genevieve's Maturity." Parents help their daughter choose to control over her own destiny. "Anna Are You Mine at Last?" He lost Anna to another, but can he win her back? "Ben and the Dragon." A clever young man perpetuates a fairy tale. "Missing Ariel." First the son, now the wife is missing, but will they find her before evil does? "The Sports Car Rally." He's unprepared for the surreal feeling of turning over in an open car, and its aftermath. "When Half-Spent Was the Night." A man learns his effect on peace after years of regret. The poetry, too, captures different moods. "Final Garden." A gardener's lament after starting from scratch too many times. "Conversation With My Cat." Admiration for a friend, and a curious desire. "Old Lion by the Riverbank." How he copes once past his prime. "Overlooked Crop." A serendipitous find. "Last Visitor." A mystic vision of a desirable end to things. "Old Songs" (SETI at Home). The wonder of celestial eavesdropping. "Solo Walk." Missing a lover who has gone. "Sanctuary." Rejoicing at home after braving the elements. "Revolution." About adoration and love. "Loss of the First Mate." About a loved one who has passed away.

"My father proposed to my mother at gunpoint when she was nineteen, and knowing that she was already pregnant with a dead man’s child, she accepted." Thus begins this riveting story of a woman's quest to understand her recently deceased mother, a glamorous, cruel narcissist who left her only child an inheritance of debts, threats, and mysteries.

Myself and Other Strangers by Rick Anthony Myself and Other Strangers is, as the author notes in his preface, a “midlife confessional” and an “autobiographical outpouring” that invites the reader into a man’s interior life—one that proves to be both chaotic and entertaining. Facing a classic midlife crisis at the height of the 1990s, Rick Anthony embarked on a course that changed his life on many levels. His struggles, experiences, and thoughts are shared frankly, with a wry wit that softens some of the hard lessons learned. Anthony dares to share what many hide: doubts and weaknesses, impulses and hesitations, and, most of all, genuine emotions. Written as a series of brief essays, Myself and Other Strangers is about coming to grips with who you are, no matter where you are in life.

The young man standing by his father's hospital bed is stunned when his father tells him to "pull the plug!" Thus begins a lifetime quest to understand his father's preference for death and how each of us faces their own death differently.

Psst… I’ve got a secret and I want to share it. If you join my reader’s group I’ll send you Pay Back, the second book in my Lovers and Other Strangers series, and the Lovers and Other Strangers series: The Short Stories free. To sign up all you have to do is go to my website! You can find all of my books listed there along with longer excerpts. Hope to see you soon! Boxed set from L.C. Giroux featuring three books that all take place in small town New Mexico, well and a side trip to Las Vegas NV for a little fun. Also included is a bonus short story. The books are: Second Chance at Salvation, All In, Where's My Cowboy? and the short story The Day Before the Night Before Christmas. These stories have western elements without going all chaps and spurs on you.

In "Children and Other Strangers, "Ruth Szold Ginzberg offers a personal view of modern women who now have choices concerning marriage, child-rearing, and families. It is written from the perspective and experiences of a mother of three who belongs to the generation of women who came of age in the 1940s and who had little choice but to follow the socially prescribed path of domesticity. Combining analysis, autobiography, and humor in equal parts, this book is a pleasure to read as well as a clear-eyed look at a critically important subject. The author proceeds from the provocative assumption that the women's revolution is the most important social development of the twentieth century. In the experience of many women, the defining questions of that revolution turned on personal issues of marriage and motherhood as much as on the public issues of political and economic equality. Today such personal issues are largely determined by free personal choice; it is possible for couples to maintain a close emotional bond without entering into a marriage arrangement. In Ruth Ginzberg's view the only appropriate reason for a woman to marry is to have children. In spite of these unprecedented freedoms, much of the book's argument maintains that young women today have little idea of what having children really connotes in terms of loss of freedom for the mother, constraints on her time and energy, the disruptions that children introduce into adult relationships, and above all that once a mother, the bond is for life. "Children and Other Strangers is "a memoir rich in wisdom and perception. It will be of interest to women's studies specialists, psychologists, and social workers.

A New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice, winner of the International Latino Book Award for Best Latino-themed Fiction 2016, Longlisted for the 2015 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize. Named a best book of the season by Cosmopolitan, Vanity Fair, Harper's Bazaar, Redbook, Bustle,NBC Latino and Men's Journal The arresting debut novel from award-winning writer Jennine Capó Crucet When Lizet-the daughter of Cuban immigrants and the first in her family to graduate from high school-secretly applies and is accepted to an ultra-elite college, her parents are furious at her decision to leave Miami. Just weeks before she's set to start school, her parents divorce and her father sells her childhood home, leaving Lizet, her mother, and Leidy-Lizet's older sister, a brand-new single mom-without a steady income and scrambling for a place to live. Amidst this turmoil, Lizet begins her first semester at Rawlings College, distracted by both the exciting and difficult moments of freshman year. But the privileged world of the campus feels utterly foreign, as does her new awareness of herself as a minority. Struggling both socially and academically, she returns to Miami for a surprise Thanksgiving visit, only to be overshadowed by the arrival of Ariel Hernandez, a young boy whose mother died fleeing with him from Cuba on a raft. The ensuing immigration battle puts Miami in a glaring spotlight, captivating the nation and entangling Lizet's entire family, especially her mother. Pulled between life at college and the needs of those she loves, Lizet is faced with difficult decisions that will change her life forever. Urgent and mordantly funny, Make Your Home Among Strangers tells the moving story of a young woman torn between generational, cultural, and political forces; it's the new story of what it means to be American today.