'Once, in winter, after I had scrambled up the hill beside the cathedral, a snake and I were both enjoying basking in the warmth of the sun's mid-morning rays, when we spotted each other. It was a powerful moment. We fell into complete stillness, each looking at the other's eyes and watching to see whether the other meant any harm. At the end of our mutual appraisal, I knew the snake was not a danger to me and continued to lay on the rock without fear... Although other smaller snakes, to Mum's mortification, sometimes slipped in and out of the retaining walls beside our house, this cathedral snake became my first real encounter.'Snake Cradle is the first volume of Roberta Sykes's three volume autobiography, Snake Dreaming. Snake Cradle chronicles the early years of one of Australia's best known activists for Aboriginal rights, from the time of her birth in Townsville in the 1940s through to the birth of her son when she was 17, and the trial of...

Annie Brown, wrestling with doubts about her faith and a biological clock the size of Big Ben, escapes the stifling kindness of her fellow ordinands and the stifled yelps of her sexuality by writing a raunchy novel. Yet Annie can no more control her characters than she could a congregation. Outrageous Isabella and butter-wouldn't-melt Barney hurtle unbidden into difficult situations that lead Annie inexorably back to her own repressed upbringing and present predicament. Some of their liberation rubs off on her too, and when she meets brusque outsider Will, Annie plunges into passion as uninhibitedly as Isabella. But Annie's vocation, like her libido, won't lie down, and she despairs of finding a happy ending to either of her stories . . .

This omnibus covers Nikki Giovanni's complete work of poetry from 1967--1983. THE COLLECTED POETRY OF NIKKI GIOVANNI will include the complete volumes of five adult books of poetry: Black Feeling Black Talk/Black Judgement, My House, The Women and the Men, Cotton Candy on a Rainy Day, and Those Who Ride the Night Winds. Nikki self--published her first book Black Feeling, Black Talk/BlackJudgement in 1969, selling 10,000 copies; William Morrow published in 1970. Know for its iconic revolutionary phrases, it is heralded as one of the most important volumes of modern African--American poetry and is considered the seminal volume of Nikki's body of work.My House (Morrow 1972) marks a new dimension in tone and philosphy----This is Giovanni's first foray into the autobiographical.In The Women and the Men (Morrow 1975), Nikki displays her compassion for the people, things and places she has encountered----She reveres the ordinary and is in search of the...

Set in 1968 in the Parisian suburbs, No Telling is narrated by twelve-year-old Gilles as he approaches his Solemn Communion, puberty, and some sense of the chaos around him. His home is deeply dysfunctional: a dithering mother, a hard-drinking, womanising uncle who becomes his stepfather, and an older sister, Carole - an unbalanced revolutionary who hasn't danced her ballet steps since the death of their real father. Gilles is blithely unaware that any of this is out of the ordinary, as he and his friend Christophe try and piece together a world from fragments of rumour and hushed adult conversation. There is a deeper trauma here, however, far more shocking than anything Gilles could have dreamt of - a mystery it will take the events of the novel and eight years to resolve. --'Meticulously observed-.a riveting tour de force-Impossible to put down' Daily Telegraph --'A wonderful, clear-eyed portrayal of a child's bewildered negotiations with the adult world, shot through with...

Sold to the highest bidder, Dawn, a beautiful half Indian, finds comfort in the arms of her rescuer, Cole Webster, a fierce warrior who reveres the Native American traditions and shows her a passion that she has never known. Reissue.

Nicole Castroman brings the dangerous pirate ports of the Caribbean to life in this vibrant sequel to Blackhearts—the reimagined origin story of history's most infamous pirate, Blackbeard.Edward "Teach" Drummond is setting sail to the Caribbean as first mate on the most celebrated ship in the British fleet—until he rebels against his captain. Sailing on the same blue waters, Anne barely makes it to the Caribbean, where she hopes to learn more about her ancestry. What she doesn't expect is a port filled with lawless criminals and danger lurking around every corner. With the mutinous Teach in chains, Anne must brave the perilous, pirate haven of Nassau in order to save not only Teach, but her new friends on the island. But when Teach is offered a deal—capture a notorious pirate or waste away in the Governor's dungeons—what he discovers brings him closer and closer to becoming a pirate himself. And further away from Anne who is being held...

Meet Andy and Terry. They make books together in the world's coolest treehouse! They've got loads of different storeys in their home in the sky: you can find a marshmallow machine, the world's most powerful whirlpool, a penguin ice-skating rink, a tank full of sharks and a human pinball machine, among many other things. But none of these help them agree on their special story for World Book Day - and it's not just Mr Big Nose keeping an eye on them now, but the story police too!Terry's Dumb Dot Story is a special World Book Day Treehouse adventure from Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton, told through a combination of laugh-out-loud text and fantastic cartoon-style illustrations.Well, what are you waiting for? Come on up!

"Dan Fante is an authentic literary outlaw." —New York TimesFrom Dan Fante, son of novelist John Fante, comes an exploration of his family's legacy—one of boozing, passion, writing, and survival. Long before his father achieved literary recognition for Ask the Dust or The Road to Los Angeles, and before Dan had conceived his novels 86'd, Chump Change, and Mooch, their difficult relationship as father and son evolved in a household where love and literary artistry were often overshadowed by emotional violence. Fante is the story of Dan's struggle to find his own voice amidst the madness of his family's dark inheritance, a memoir of his escape from his own vices and his eventual return to Los Angeles to embrace the man—and the calling—that once had driven him away.

During an attack on a terrorist group in Port Sudan, Lt. Blake Murdock and his SEAL team uncover three million dollars in counterfeit currency. When officials link the money to an economic terrorism plot on the U.S. currency system, there is only one solution — SEAL Team Seven.

A family, and the security to enjoy it: that’s all Tom and Anna Reed ever wanted. But years of infertility treatments, including four failed attempts at in-vitro fertilization, have left them with neither. The emotional and financial costs are straining their marriage and endangering their dreams. So when their downstairs tenant – a recluse whose promptly delivered cashier’s checks were barely keeping them afloat – dies in his sleep, the $400,000 they find stashed in his kitchen seems like fate. More than fate: a chance for everything they’ve dreamed of for so long. A fairy-tale ending. But Tom and Anna soon realize that fairy tales never come cheap. Because their tenant wasn’t a hermit who squirreled away his pennies. He was a criminal who double-crossed some of the most dangerous men in Chicago. Men who won’t stop until they get revenge, no matter where they find it.