Showing results by narrator "Alyssa Bresnahan" in All Categories

The Fall of the Sparrow is the story of a family's struggle to heal itself after the violent death of its oldest daughter. At the heart is Alan "Woody" Woodhall, a classics professor at a small mid-western college, whose beloved oldest daughter, Cookie, is killed during a terrorist bombing. Woody finds himself standing in the cemetery where Cookie is buried, convinced that life has taught him all the lessons he has to learn.

The Language of the Night is Ursula K. Le Guin’s first full-length collection of essays and criticism, with sections on her own background, on fantasy and science fiction, on writing, and on the future of literate science fiction. Each section is introduced with commentary by Susan Wood and the book contains a complete bibliography of Le Guin’s work (at the time of publication).

Romilly was an independent tomboy from a noble family, contrary to the social demands of Darkovan women. That was bad enough, but when Romilly’s father arranged her marriage to a nobleman she found repulsive, she rebelled. Disguising herself as a boy, she fled into the deep forests. Living off the land was not nearly as difficult for Romilly as for most people, for she possessed a rare and highly treasured gift — telepathic communication with hawk and horse. 

Haunted by mysterious images of hooded figures, Magdalen Lorne, chief Terran operative on Darkover, pursues a quest not only to the frozen ends of the physical world but also to the perilous limits of the spiritual world. And there she is tested by the evil sorcery of the Dark Sisterhood. 

It's taken a long time and a little heartache, but Annie Sutton is finally following her dream of living on Martha's Vineyard. She fell in love with the island's singular beauty while using it as a setting for two of her novels. In her cozy rented cottage on Chappaquiddick, she's settling in for her first Vineyard winter - complete with a fierce nor'easter on the way, forecast to bring high winds and deep snow. But the blizzard also brings something unexpected to Annie's front porch: a basket, encircled by a ribbon, containing a baby girl. The note reads: "I named her Bella, after my grandmother. Please help her, because I can't."

A respected university professor, Anne Waverly has a past known to few: Years ago, her own unwitting act cost Anne her husband and daughter. Fewer still know that this history and her academic specialty - alternative religious movements - have made her a brilliant FBI operative. Four times she has infiltrated suspect communities, escaping her own memories of loss and carnage to find a measure of atonement. Now, as she begins to savour life once more, she has no intention of taking another assignment. Until she learns of more than 100 children living in the Change movement's Arizona compound....

The last thing Maura Thomas remembers before her car careened over a steep embankment is having dinner with her college roommate over 20 years ago. Everything in between is a blank. As Maura begins to piece together the fragments of her previous life, she grows convinced that her car crash was no accident. But the moment she remembers the truth, she'll find herself at the mercy of a killer determined to silence her forever....

She is on something of a vision quest, looking for family, for home, for understanding. She is also driven by the leftover teenaged desire to meet Pat Johns - Jesse from The Beachcombers - because he is, as she says, a working, healthy Indian man. Birdie heads for Molly's Reach to find answers, but they are not the ones she expected. With the arrival in Gibsons of her Auntie Val and her cousin Skinny Freda, Birdie begins to draw from her dreams the lessons she was never fully taught in life.

Sanora Babb' s long-hidden novel Whose Names Are Unknown tells an intimate story of the High Plains farmers who fled drought dust storms during the Great Depression. Written with empathy for the farmers' plight, this powerful narrative is based upon the author' s firsthand experience.

Janie Johnson's life has been in turmoil ever since she discovered she was kidnapped as a young child. Visiting and getting acquainted with her birth family was difficult. As the story spread throughout high school, facing her curious classmates was even worse. Maybe this year will be better now that she's no longer the focus of attention and she will be a mature junior. But late one night she hears her friend Reeve hosting a call-in program on a college radio station. To her horror, he reveals her story to his fans.

First published in 1848, Camille captivated Paris and has inspired countless adaptations. This classic story of love and loss is based on the author’s real-life affair with courtesan Marie Duplessis. Also known as The Lady of the Camellias, the novel follows the courtesan Marguerite Gautier through her tumultuous love affair with handsome—but middle class—Armand Duval. Before their passionate affair is over, one lover must give up everything.

Living in a quiet suburb of Washington, D.C., Marsha is nine years old in the summer of 1973. While the nation’s attention is focused on the breaking Watergate scandal, her quiet neighborhood is going through its own upheaval. Looking back as an adult, she remembers it as a time when her father’s abandonment of his family becomes entwined with the arrival of a new neighbor and the death of a boy who lives down the street. Deeply disillusioned by the changes in her life, Marsha takes it upon herself to find the boy’s murderer, which sets off a chain of tragic events.

Called the "Ennoia," the woman who came within a heartbeat of killing prisoner Alpha in the Grantham parking garage is back. This time she’s snatched Dr. Timothy Ryan. The Psi Team find themselves caught in a battle that has been raging across timelines for 2,000 years. But, can they trust the Ennoia? Or is she using our timeline for her own purposes? Meanwhile, Bill Stevens has his own agenda, and his goons have already crossed blades with Psi Team. Now they are coming for Alpha, and all the revenge they can get.

In the hillside beauty of San Francisco, Kate Martinelli, a young female officer, is promoted to the Homicide division, inheriting a middle-aged partner who is expected to resent her. Instead, the two forge a rare and rich partnership. When rookie detective Kate Martinelli hunts for a sadist who is strangling six-year-old girls, something about the trail makes her think that she may be falling into a trap.  

The first cremation the homeless people held in Golden Gate Park was for a dog; their second pyre held a much larger body. To find the one responsible for these deaths, Martinelli sets out on a quest for Brother Erasmus. An enigmatic creature who has befriended the homeless, he speaks only in quotations. When public fear of the peculiar band of park-dwellers threatens to grow out of control, Martinelli must unravel the guilt that lies at the bottom of Erasmus' refusal to give direct answers to her questions.  

Lucy Champagne was sent to St. Cecilia’s after her movie-star mother was brutally attacked by her sleazy boyfriend, Ray Watkins. Lucy’s damning testimony landed Ray a 25-year sentence. But now, Ray is free. And he’s going to find Lucy and make her pay, no matter how far and how fast she runs....   

Alice wakes up in the Los Angeles Quake Zone in 2025 having no idea how she got there. As her memories slowly return, she finds she's being hunted by several armed groups intent on capturing her alive. At the same time, Este, a survivor of the quakes that destroyed Los Angeles, makes a living as a pathfinder for salvage teams in the city. Este rescues Alice from her pursuers and learns there is something not quite right about her - Alice is convinced it is 2003. 

Maggie Messina knows that knitting is not only enjoyable, it also calms both the mind and soul. She's happy to visit two sisters, Holly and Rose Piper, and teach them some simple stitches, while the rest of the Black Sheep knitters tag along. Dana Haeger has known the young women since they were children and is the closest thing to family the Pipers now have. Dana is especially concerned about Rose, who has been easily overwhelmed ever since a car accident many years ago.

After a winter spent writing her latest novel, Annie looks forward to a summer with friends who have become like the family she never had. But then her landlord announces that his grandson will be moving into her cozy Chappaquiddick cottage - and she'll be moving out. Year-round island housing is tough to find. Shaken by the thought of being forced to leave the people and the community she's grown to love, Annie seeks distraction in the July 4th celebrations - and stumbles upon a young woman who's unconscious on her front lawn...and barely alive....

Finally settled into her adopted island home, Annie is looking forward to writing her next mystery, making soap for her new business, and starting renovations on the Inn she plans to open by the summer. She's also enjoying spending more time with local police sergeant John Lyons, the man she's only just gotten comfortable calling her boyfriend. She's even starting to relish her relationship with John's teenaged daughter, Lucy. Then Annie and the teen stumble upon skeletal remains on the Inn's property, a finding that calls a halt to all construction while the police investigate.