Showing results for "oconnor" in Genre Fiction

This collection of nine short stories by Flannery O'Connor was published posthumously in 1965. The flawed characters of each story are fully revealed in apocalyptic moments of conflict and violence that are presented with comic detachment.

Riley is stuck —in a job she hates, a toxic relationship, and in life. She knows the relationship is bad for her, but she also can’t seem to let her go. After catching her girlfriend cheating, again, she finds comfort at her favorite bar, with her best friend by her side. After punching someone in the face and meeting a mysteriously gorgeous bartender, Riley thinks things may be changing. Sawyer is adventurous, sexy, and confident— all the things Riley yearns to be. And a sunrise motorcycle ride starts to give her hope that things can change.

Flannery O’Connor’s astonishing and haunting first novel is a classic of 20th-century literature. It is the story of Hazel Motes, a 22-year-old caught in an unending struggle against his innate, desperate faith. He falls under the spell of a “blind” street preacher named Asa Hawks and his degenerate fifteen-year-old daughter. In an ironic, malicious gesture of his own non-faith, and to prove himself a greater cynic than Hawks, Hazel founds The Church of God Without Christ but is still thwarted in his efforts to lose God.

Straya lies in ruins. A once-proud nation, former Australia has regressed into a patchwork civilization cowering under the deadly heat of a merciless sun. Savage violence lurks around every corner. Affable young mutant, Franga, risks life and double-jointed limb to help provide for his makeshift family of mutie kids and increasingly senile friend and mentor, Ken Ages. After finding a strange artifact in the deadly Downlow district, Franga inadvertently starts a horrifying chain reaction.

With a mischievous twinkle in her eyes, humorist Karen O'Connor invites you to chuckle and even laugh out loud at the mishaps, misunderstandings, and missteps we all make in our journey to maturity, You'll enjoy listening to and sharing these short stories that highlight the joy of being alive, the funny situations we get ourselves into, and the faith that makes life worthwhile.

New York Times best-selling author William Kent Krueger has won numerous accolades for his books, including the Anthony Award for Best First Novel. In Trickster’s Point, the 12th suspenseful installment in Krueger’s Cork O’Connor series, Cork is framed for the murder of Minnesota’s first Native American governor-elect, Jubal Little. As Cork fights to clear his name and uncover the truth, he discovers that events from his own past may hold the key to the real killer’s identity.

Dublin 1907, a city of whispered rumours. An actress still in her teens begins an affair with a damaged older man, the leading playwright at the theatre where she works. Rebellious, irreverent, beautiful, flirtatious, Molly Allgood is a girl of the inner city tenements, dreaming of stardom in America. Witty and watchful, she has dozens of admirers. But in the backstage of her life, there is a secret.

It is 1865: the American Civil War is ending. Eliza Duane Mulvey sets out from Lafayette, Louisiana, the town her mother Mary Duane called home. Alone, she walks across a devastated country in search of a youngster she has not seen in four years. One of the hundred thousand children drawn into the war, his fate has been mysterious and will prove extraordinary.

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Dublin-born Sean O’Connor rules the streets of Kilburn with his charm and his fists. But the locals don’t take kindly to an Irishman muscling in on their patch—and they’re out for blood. As a turf war heats up, Sean digs in deeper, determined to protect his empire and his family. But every move he makes pulls him further from the life he promised his wife, Josie, and their young daughter, Orla. Josie just wants out—a quiet life far from the violence and vendettas. But with Sean risking it all, escape might no longer be an option.

An act of terrorism brings the financial system to a grinding halt. Premeditated violence and waves of unrest sweep across the continent. In a time of polarization and distrust, a more sinister force is behind this attempt to bring about a new America. However, this political subterfuge is met with violent opposition. In the confusion, the coast-to-coast chaos takes on a life of its own, bringing about a sudden collapse of American civilization.

Set in Rhodesia 1976, this coming-of-age story delivers twisted romantic adventure. Overnight, 16-year-old Sandra Robertson finds herself alone in a hostile land where her education is terminated. Friends rally and send her to live with her grandmother. A true survivor with ambition, Sandy has little experience but manages to secure work. Hotel employment not only provides food and accommodation, but it also happens to provide education of a different sort.

Safety is a relative term for David. Initially reluctant to side with any of the warring factions, death strikes close to home as an unwelcome guest arrives in the nearby town, forcing David to take up his rifle once more. He is suddenly thrust into a fight for his life and for those he loves. Charlotte and Vir escape the death and destruction in DC, but the ghosts of Charlotte's past continue to haunt her. Having thought they had been gifted with a chance at a new beginning, the two survivors instead find themselves pursued by a ruthless enemy.

When Libby Gentry's parents receive the letter that she's failed out of school, Libby is forced to pack her Prada bag and head to work for her great-aunt in rural Louisiana. Nothing about tiny Elsbury, Louisiana, entices her until she locks eyes with the Southern charmer Blaine Crabtree. Libby is used to getting what she wants, and Blaine is no exception; but as the two grow closer, bigger problems arise. When new opportunities in Chicago pop up, she is presented with a difficult situation: wait for her redneck Romeo or move on.

Sylvia lives alone, dedicating herself to her job at the local university. On weekends, she helps out at a local hedgehog sanctuary because it gives her something to talk about on Mondays - and it makes people think she's nicer than she is. Only Sylvia has a secret: she's been in love with her boss, Professor Lomax, for over a decade now, and she's sure he's just waiting for the right time to leave his wife. Meanwhile she stores every crumb of his affection and covertly makes trouble for anyone she feels gets in his way.

Meet Bridget: a twenty-something whose self-consciousness is only outpaced by her curiosity, confusion, and the joy of life’s absurdity. Told with a touch of dark humor and a relatable series of mishaps, Bridget’s messy journey through early adulthood includes heartfelt moments of unpacking heavy baggage, untethering her spirit to soar to new heights, and a whiplash-inducing rollercoaster of emotions, relationships, and epiphanies.

Inspired by true events, Among Kings tells the inspiring story of William Sheppard, the first African American missionary to the Congo who rescues the entire nation enslaved by Belgian's ruthless King Leopold II. Traveling 1,000 miles up the Congo River with Samuel Lapsley, his white missionary companion, the two overcome deadly fevers, dangerous animals, and cannibal tribes. Sheppard becomes a famous explorer honored by kings, queens, and presidents. Armed with a camera, he exposes widespread Congo atrocities to the world.

In a Mirror City is a chilling, dystopian sci-fi noir about a girl called Maja Larsen, who is trapped in a world that was broken long before she was born. Maja is caught up in this fast-paced conspiracy, aided and abetted by a ragged guard of criminals and thieves and hounded by authorities that seem to know more about Maja than she does herself.

James Lovell desperately wants to help the American cause, but alone in a cold, dark cell in the Boston Stone Jail, his dreams seem a faint illusion. In icy March winds, pounded by the Americans’ cannon, General Howe evacuates British troops and Loyalists from Boston. James Lovell is forced into a ship bound for Halifax, while his father and family take passage for the British stronghold in the ship’s upper berth. In jail in Halifax, James can only write letters and pray for release, hoping General George Washington will hear his appeal.

In a condemned tower block in Glasgow, residents slowly trickle away until a young man is left alone with only the angels and devils in his mind for company. Stumbling from one surreal situation to the next, he encounters others on the margins of society, finding friendship and camaraderie wherever it is offered, grappling with who he is and what shape his future might take. The Voids is an unsparing story of modern-day Britain, told with brilliant flashes of humour and humanity.