Unmentionable

The New York Times bestselling, "hysterically funny and unsettlingly fascinating" (Jenny Lawson) guide to the secrets of Victorian womanhood. Have you ever wished you could live in an earlier, more romantic era? Ladies, welcome to the 19th century, where there's arsenic in your face cream, a pot of cold pee sits under your bed, and all of your underwear is crotchless. (Why? Shush, dear. A lady doesn't question.) UNMENTIONABLE is your hilarious, scandalously honest (though never crass), illustrated guide to life as a Victorian lady, offering detailed advice on: ~ What to wear ~ Where to relieve yourself ~ How to conceal your loathsome addiction to menstruating ~ What to expect on your wedding night ~ How to be the perfect Victorian wife ~ Why masturbating will kill you ~ And more Irresistibly charming, laugh-out-loud funny, and featuring nearly 200 images from Victorian publications, UNMENTIONABLE will inspire a whole new level of respect for Elizabeth Bennett, Scarlet O'Hara, Jane Eyre, and all of our great, great grandmothers. (And it just might leave you feeling ecstatically grateful to live in an age of pants, super absorbency tampons, epidurals, anti-depressants, and not-dying-of-the-syphilis-your-husband-brought-home.)

Includes recipes for cooking horse meat, goats, dogs, cats, rats, rabbits, hares, squirrels, turtles, snakes, eels, sharks, frogs, and insects, among other unusual food sources.

“A historical, feminist romance . . . a realistic evocation of small-town America circa 1917, including its racial tensions.” —Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, “96 Books for Your Summer Reading List” Marian Elliot Adams, an outspoken advocate for sensible undergarments for women, sweeps onto the Chautauqua stage under a brown canvas tent on a sweltering August night in 1917, and shocks the gathered town of Emporia with her speech: How can women compete with men in the workplace and in life if they are confined by their undergarments? The crowd is further appalled when Marian falls off the stage and sprains her ankle, and is forced to remain among them for a week. As the week passes, she throws into turmoil the town’s unspoken rules governing social order, women, and African Americans—and captures the heart of Emporia’s recently widowed newspaper editor. She pushes Deuce Garland to become a greater, braver, and more dynamic man than he ever imagined was possible. As Deuce puts his livelihood and reputation on the line at home, Marian’s journey takes her to the frozen mud of France’s Picardy region, just beyond the lines, to help destitute villagers as the Great War rages on. Marian is a powerful catalyst that forces nineteenth-century Emporia into the twentieth century; but while she agitates for enlightenment and justice, she has little time to consider her own motives and her extreme loneliness. Marian, in the end, must decide if she has the courage to face small-town life, and be known, or continue to be a stranger always passing through. “A sweeping and memorable story of struggle and suffrage, love and redemption.” —New York Journal of Books

Unmentionables is the epic story of two couples in the Civil War south. One couple is straight, white and wealthy; the other is gay, black and enslaved. Field hand Jimmy meets Cato, a house servant from a nearby plantation. Over time, Jimmy's fascination with Cato grows into romantic love. Winner Book of the Year award for Gay fiction

In this Amazon Best Book of the Month--with a very timely theme around girls and their bodies--a teen rewrites sex education, one viral post at a time. Phoebe Townsend is a rule follower . . . or so everyone thinks. She’s an A student who writes for her small-town school newspaper. But what no one knows is that Phoebe is also Pom—the anonymous teen who’s rewriting sex education on her blog and social media. Phoebe is not a pervert. No, really. Her unconventional hobby is just a research obsession. And sex should not be a secret. As long as Phoebe stays undercover, she’s sure she’ll fly through junior year unnoticed. . . . That is, until Pom goes viral, courtesy of mayoral candidate Lydia Brookhurst. The former beauty queen labels Phoebe’s work an “assault on morality,” riling up her supporters and calling on Pom to reveal her identity. But Phoebe is not backing down. With her anonymity on the line, is it all worth the fight? Julia Walton delivers a brutally honest novel about sex, social media, and the courage to pursue truth when misinformation is rife. Who knew truth could be so scandalous?

From the author of the "hysterically funny and unsettlingly fascinating"* New York Times bestseller Unmentionable, a hilarious illustrated guide to the secrets of Victorian child-rearing [*Jenny Lawson] Feminist historian Therese Oneill is back, to educate you on what to expect when you're expecting . . . a Victorian baby! In Ungovernable, Oneill conducts an unforgettable tour through the backwards, pseudoscientific, downright bizarre parenting fashions of the Victorians, advising us on: - How to be sure you're not too ugly, sickly, or stupid to breed - What positions and room decor will help you conceive a son - How much beer, wine, cyanide and heroin to consume while pregnant - How to select the best peasant teat for your child - Which foods won't turn your children into sexual deviants - And so much more Endlessly surprising, wickedly funny, and filled with juicy historical tidbits and images, Ungovernable provides much-needed perspective on -- and comic relief from -- the age-old struggle to bring up baby.

Unmentionable? Sure. But I'll try to tell you anyway...The mouth organ is inside my mouth. It is stuck in sideways. The pain is terrible. My eyes water. Some things you just can't talk about. Locked in the loo. Kissing a cold, cold kid. Being a little squirt. Burning your behind. Unmentionable short stories from the brilliant Paul Jennings.

The Unmentionable History of the West is a fond romp through the underwear that men and women wore in days gone by. Think of corsets, navy blue bloomers, long underwear with its trap door and brassieres that could kill. Think also of the other unmentionables that came along with being sexual beings. Women had to hide their pregnancies, talk of birth control was illegal, seduction was a crime, prostitution likewise. There were so many silences, so many secrets about the private lives of men and women. Then along came the 1960s and the social revolution known as the women's movement. Suddenly, underwear was out, girdles were gone and women began wearing pants. What came first then . . . the women's movement or pants? The removal of restrictive underwear or the force that was Gloria Steinem? The Unmentionable History of the West tackles these questions seriously, but with a good dose of humour.