|
When Mary Turner entered the world, she was already her parents' least-favorite child. Filled with ambition but always seeming to be lacking some crucial skill, Mary left home immediately after graduating high school and set her sights on the endless horizon before her. Mary had had a difficult childhood; when she was young, her grandparents had died in a tragic accident that left the entire family–especially her father, Kenneth–shrouded in a heavy grief. Once on her own, Mary kept her eyes fixed on the future, and soon that future came to include a man named Adam.<br><br>Though Adam and Mary had a difficult relationship, they eloped in Las Vegas and returned home a (mostly) happily married couple; it wasn't much later that they became first-time parents. After Scotty was born, however, Mary began exhibiting concerning symptoms. She struggled to bond with her child and experienced increasingly volatile emotional swings. Soon after, Mary was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.<br><br>Mary struggled to cope with her mental illness, and as the years passed, she began turning to drugs and alcohol to soothe her aching mind. She began neglecting, and eventually abusing, Scotty, and the family quickly started to deteriorate. Eventually deciding that Adam and Scotty would be better off without her, Mary packed up her car and ran away to Las Vegas, where she made the bulk of her money by moving illegal drugs. Her time there was a thrilling and dangerous whirlwind, but Mary knew it had to come to an end eventually. Next, she landed in Sedona, Arizona, where she led a quiet, peaceful life, nothing like the one she'd left behind in Vegas. <br><br>Still, Mary knew she would need to return home and reconnect with the family she'd abandoned. Instead of finding Adam, Mary found Luke, an old friend and fellow addict. Once reunited with Luke, Mary quickly fell in love with him and agreed to help him smuggle drugs out of the country. She was caught at the Dublin airport, however, and sent to prison, where she learned she was pregnant with Luke's child. Her child was taken from her to live with her father.<br><br>Petals also offers a deeply poignant and introspective look into the many facets of mental illness, substance abuse and recovery, death, heartbreak, joy, and forgiveness. It is through its diverse cast of characters that the reader is allowed a look into the minds and senses of all those touched by Mary's journey. Best suited for readers who enjoy fast-paced action combined with a deeply emotional and introspective narrative, Petals is a multi-generational story of everyday humans who must learn to cut their own paths amid the wild, yet heartbreakingly beautiful, garden that is life. Получить ссылку |
The Petals of a Kansas Sunflower
Автор: Melvin D. Epp
Год издания:
Rather than pledging allegiance to the military effort as dictated by Prussian law in 1867, many devout Anabaptists deemed it prudent to become pioneers in Kansas. The year was 1876 and odd numbered sections of railroad land were being marketed by the Santa Fe across Kansas. Towns developed around train depots; local shopping became available. Marie Harder Epp was born in America to these relocated Anabaptists. She was a Kansas Mennonite farmer and also the village poet. Her poems, written for oral delivery, tell the story of life in Holland and West Prussia following the Reformation, the relocation to Kansas, and the creation of a church community on the tall grass prairies. A church was organized to focus these hard-working Germans on divine realities as they buried their dead, married their young, and dealt with the harsh prairie winds. Marie's poems also describe the changeover from buggies to cars, from German to English, and from isolation to global outreach. With time, the Anabaptists learned through cultural adaptation that they could be both staunch Mennonites and also patriotic Americans.
Thousand Petals
Автор: Jinna Johnson
Год издания:
This is a book of American haiku. The form is Japanese, forged by the Japanese genius to express the uniqueness of everyday life. The author writes with a refreshing, simple style, capturing the experience clearly in a few words. The reader cannot help but finish the poems with a greater appreciation of the simple things in life.The haiku book is divided into two sentences, a large one of haiku and a smaller one of eight tanka. The tanka is a form of Japanese poetry that is two longer than the haiku, the haiku being of three lines and the tanka of five. The haiku section has eight subsections, most of which are about nature; eg., the first section is entitled «Trees and Leaves.» Each poem is self-contained and can be enjoyed even when isolated from the others.
Petals from the Sky
Автор: Mingmei Yip
Год издания:
From the acclaimed author of Peach Blossom Pavilion comes a lush and lyrical novel of East and West–and of one young woman's search for her heart's true calling. . .When twenty-year-old Meng Ning declares that she wants to be a Buddhist nun, her mother is aghast. In her eyes, a nun's life means only deprivation–"no freedom, no love, no meat." But to Meng Ning, it means the chance to control her own destiny, and to live in an oasis of music, art, and poetry far from her parents' unhappy union. With an enigmatic nun known as Yi Kong, «Depending on Emptiness,» as her mentor, Meng Ning spends the next ten years studying abroad, disdaining men, and preparing to enter the nunnery. Then, a fire breaks out at her Buddhist retreat, and Meng Ning is carried to safety by Michael Fuller, a young American doctor. The unprecedented physical contact stirs her curiosity. And as their tentative friendship grows intimate, Meng Ning realizes she must choose between the sensual and the spiritual life.From the austere beauty of China's Buddhist temples to the whirlwind of Manhattan's social elite, and the brilliant bustle of Paris and Hong Kong, here is a novel of joy and heartbreak–and of the surprising paths that lead us where we most need to be. Praise for Peach Blossom Pavilion "Lovely and poignant. . .a novel of heartache, but also one of hope as the strong heroine never gives in." – Curled Up With A Good Book "Beautiful and evocative, real and heart-wrenching. . .insightful and memorable." – Romantic Times "A rare peek into an exotic culture that is thrilling, captivating, and moving." –Shobhan Bantwal Reading Group Guide Inside
Чтобы скачать книгу, отключите блокировку рекламы. Спасибо!