Showing results by publisher "Author's Republic" in Coming of Age

Set in the late 80s, early 90s, a time when feminism meant women could behave like men, and the gay community in London were coming out of the closet. A time of exciting change as Gen Xers were leading the way towards 3rd wave feminism, the ‘Women can have it all’ approach. That was the plan anyway. London was feeding the world the first inklings of ‘Cool Britannia’ Isabel is caught between the old static world of female conformity and the new world of female masturbation & gay porn. Under the wing of her big sister’s strident feminism, Isabel attempts to be a modern teen.

The Last American Geek is a captivating, hilarious coming-of-age story about a young outcast who is tired of his miserable life. The geek is unattractive, friendless, bullied; is filled with frustration and social anxiety, and has no chance of finding quality romance. But rather than accept his predicament and settle for a lifetime of misery, he flips the switch in the most unusual ways, only the most ingenious, unique, cunning and determined geek could conjure up!

Genocide. Jellyfish smack. Unrequited love. This is a tale of thirteen mermaid sisters, the last of their kind.

Stephen’s comfortable but empty existence is transformed by an unexpected visitor from his past. Forced to face up to the consequences of a love he had long suppressed, he is drawn back to his time teaching in Beijing, China, during the spring of 1989. There he toyed with the people and events associated with the pro-democracy movement only in search of cheap adventure. Despite his naivety, he was drawn inexorably towards both. Though his travels took him from the Great Wall to the plains of Inner Mongolia, there was no escaping the pull of Tiananmen Square on the night of 4th June.

A unique award-winning novel that combines side-splitting humor with the quest for enlightenment. Orthodontist Jacob Silverstein is not your typical tooth-straightener. He’s a novelist by night who dreams of becoming a best-selling author.

When Caroline, a gifted ornithologist who wants a life of travel and adventure, gets pregnant against her wishes, her husband, Charlie, assumes she will change her mind. She doesn't—and as their daughter, Grace, grows up, she falls through the devastating schism that has grown between them. Told by all three of the characters involved and set against the backdrop of Lake Superior, Finding Grace is a piercing chronicle and a poignant comic-of-age journey for a daughter and her parents.

Lukas is an underdog and a winner: intelligent, angry, humorous, and 14 years old. He is a guerrilla warfare fighter against the establishment and injustice. Lukas discovers his teachers to be people with faults and failings, and he is prepared to manipulate them to his advantage. To Lukas comes Donny: teacher, coach and mentor. What happens when Lukas finds something to admire in the enemy? Worse still, what happens when your mate is unjustly judged guilty of the sexual assault of the girl you have the hots for?

Sophie is desperate to stitch her life back together. Quirky. Derailed. Unhinged. Untamed. Awkward. And ultimately hanging on by a thread after a life-changing car crash changes the direction of her life as she knew it. Navigating losing love, death, and finding her place in the world, she sets out on a journey to fall back in love with life. Between sewing sarcastic cross-stitches, threads of sexual tension, and a rift of spiritual revelations, Sophie finds herself forming new friendships, traveling new lands, and living in limbo between worlds.

Charlie, a charismatic psychologist turned rock star, awaits his public execution with unnerving calmness. He tells his provocative story to reluctant author, Alistair, who has been commissioned to write an adverse account of Charlie's histrionic rise and breathtaking fall. As his journey unfolds, Alistair encounters the strange people who knew Charlie, taking him to exotic places around the world. He discovers a curious and disquieting secrecy, a peculiar world of complicity, and a plot to protect Charlie's short but extraordinary life.

The Priest follows a working class altar boy's decision to become a priest, exploring the struggle many boys have becoming men, especially around sexuality. Pierre finds safety within the vocational confines and celibacy of his Catholic faith, only then to be astonished as he experiences life vicariously in the shadow of the confessional. Ultimately, he must confront his own emerging sexuality in the real world and reconcile the inevitable collision between the security of doctrine and the risks of being human - all of which takes him to a surprising place.

Like most boys, Jason Blake wants to please his father and older brother. But this erratic father and hyper-competitive brother challenge beyond the norm. To find his way, Jason tries on different roles: schoolyard bully, football player, actor, student. At 20, Jason escapes his Midwest home and seeks independence and adventure - first to Cape Cod, later to Europe. Each adventure takes Jason farther from his father and brother.

The Larcher is a novel about childhood, centrally concerning a lively and curious girl who forms a mistaken belief that has unforeseen consequences. There are two perspectives: one is that of an elderly woman in a nursing home, nearing the end of a long illness and haunted by visions of a lost childhood. The other is that of an adventurous ten year old trying to make sense of the world of her small Northern seaside village.

This is the fourth volume in my Kitsune magical fox series. Judy's mother Hilda has betrayed her friends, inciting a mob to burn their farm. This is the saga of Hilda's road to redemption.

Does anyone know who they are when they lose the foundation of their world? I tried to be the person I was before, the “good girl”, but I needed more. That’s when I met Ryder and Zack. My body felt magnetically drawn to Ryder, but with each step, I fought the initial pull. I couldn’t trust my impulses; they were telling me to give myself to him, and I didn’t even know him. When Zack kissed me later that night, I pulled away breathless, hypnotized, and unsteady. The months following were a whirlwind of desire and reckless choices I’d never in my life thought I’d take.

A young woman from Nebraska follows her friends to Princeton, NJ, where she meets some very unusual people and becomes an internationally famous rock star fronting the band Angel.

A clue to her boyfriend's murder during a study abroad program in Mexico draws Carey back into the mystery that led to his death, forcing her to re-examine her own culpability and the self-delusion that blinded her to the dangers of his world. Ben's missing passport resurfaces, and Carey, now in her late twenties and living with her parents in Indianapolis, learns that her Mexican restaurant co-workers know more than they've said. Past and present collide, bringing the truth into sharp focus.

All Honest Pilgrims takes the listener on several journeys to Concord, Massachusetts, specifically Walden Pond, with several characters all interrelated but very different. Spanning the early 1980s through 9/11, to the present pandemic, it follows these “pilgrims”, united by their love of Henry David Thoreau. Thoreau quotes guide and motivate each character throughout their journey.

Bull Santee, a 13-year-old Black boy, is being held by the sheriff of tiny Sunset, Mississippi, for sneaking into a White man's backyard and brutally beating his pet dog to death. But Shy Brown knows Bull didn't do it. How does Shy, a privileged White kid from Memphis and the grandson of one of the most important men in Sunset, get involved in something as ugly and disturbing as this? What does Shy know? How does he know it? And what is he going to do about it?

Dubliners is a collection of 15 short stories by James Joyce, first published in 1914. The stories comprise a naturalistic depiction of Irish middle-class life in and around Dublin in the early years of the 20th century. The stories were written when Irish nationalism was at its peak, and a search for a national identity and purpose was raging; at a crossroads of history and culture, Ireland was jolted by various converging ideas and influences.

Join Dr. Zephon and the McCallister family on a transformational journey. Using the specially designed Jet Skis, Dr. Zephon takes his quantum leap into a new metaphysical realm. It is here that they discover many hidden truths of physics, metaphysics, and the nature of existence.