Unmentionables

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

“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

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.)

In ancient Greece, women strapped lengths of cloth across their breasts and then covered them with tunics. These bosom protectors were the antecedents of the brassiere, which didn't come along until the 20th century. With the use of fine art, photography, film stills, cartoons, and ads, Unmentionables describes the social history of a subject that holds a powerful fascination for us all. 120 full color and b&w illustrations.

We have a pornography crisis in the church. This book, however, does not take a deep dive on the statistics or how our brains are being rewired by the internet. This is not a book about the pornography business. This is a book about root causes, root teachings, and then root solutions. Mentioning the Unmentionables seeks to answer the question “How did we get here?” It calls attention to the dire problem of pornography, but then offers a faithful response in the context of the church: to mention the unmentionables.

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.

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?

A new collection by a poet declared "one of the most exciting poets of her generation" (Harvard Review). With elegant wordplay and her usual subversive wit, Beth Ann Fennelly explores the "unmentionable"—not only what is considered too bold but also what can't be said because words are insufficient. In sections of short narratives, she questions our everyday human foibles. Three longer sequences display her admirable reach and fierce intelligence: One, "The Kudzu Chronicles," is a rollicking piece about the transplanted weed. Another, "Bertha Morisot: Retrospective," conjures up a complex life portrait of the French impressionist painter. The third presents fifteen dream songs that virtually out-Berryman Berryman.