Ms. Martin's trademarks: a preoccupation with the dark underside of life, a taste for disturbing, even macabre imagery . . . excursions into an unseen realm [of] strange and magical events. . . . Martin possesses a sure storytelling gift, [an] ability to transform a myriad of specific details into larger, symbolic shapes."--New York Times
WINNER OF THE ORANGE PRIZE • Set in 1828 on a Louisiana sugar plantation, this novel from the bestselling author of Mary Reilly presents a “fresh, unsentimental look at what slave-owning does to (and for) one's interior life.... The writing—so prised and clean limbed—is a marvel" (Toni Morrison, Nobel Prize-winning author of Beloved). Manon Gaudet, pretty, bitterly intelligent, and monstrously self-absorbed, seethes under the dominion of her boorish husband. In particular his relationship with her slave Sarah, who is both his victim and his mistress. Exploring the permutations of Manon’s own obsession with Sarah against the backdrop of an impending slave rebellion, Property unfolds with the speed and menace of heat lightning, casting a startling light from the past upon the assumptions we still make about the powerful and powerful.
From the prize-winning and beloved author Valerie Martin (Mary Reilly, Property, Italian Fever) comes a surprisingly inventive tale of female subversion and agency in a patriarchal world, with two brilliantly crafted protagonists to root for. It’s 1954 on far-flung Verona Island, a tropical paradise with a fragile economy and a rising crime rate. Prostitution is legal and Lila Gulliver is proud of her business, a high-end brothel where her clients are guaranteed privacy and discretion. When Carità Bercy, a young, destitute, and beautiful blind woman arrives at her door seeking employment, Lila decides to give her a chance. Carità proves a valuable asset to the house, as well as a psychological puzzle to her employer. One hot night, Ian Drohan, a handsome youth and the scion of the wealthiest family on the island, visits Lila’s house and falls madly in love with Carità. Lila doubts his sincerity and fears for Carità ‘s future. Carità has no such fears. In fact, Carità is a reckless force of nature, determined to succeed in ways Lila hasn’t even contemplated. Spirits of the star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet, as well as the devilish denizens of the magical island in The Tempest, haunt this steamy tale of passionate love, found and lost, and found again.
From the bestselling author of Mary Reilly and prize-winning author of Property comes a riveting story of three women in New Orleans who must face the repercussions of sex, betrayal and the wilder side of human nature. • “Haunting…. An utterly compelling work of fiction.” —The New York Times Three surprising women, their lives riven by divorce both literal and metaphorical: Ellen Clayton, reeling from her husband’s decision to leave her after twenty years, finds meaning in caring for her teenage daughters and in her work as the veterinarian at the New Orleans Zoo. Her young assistant Camille, preyed on by a series of contemptuous men, experiences bizarre episodes in which she feels herself transforming into one of the great cats in her care. And Elisabeth Boyer, a passionate Creole aristocrat trapped on her husband’s antebellum plantation, finds deliverance in the form of a black leopard, a powerful, merciless ally from the wild. Their unfolding stories blur distinctions of time, class and social construct to reveal the ordinary and extraordinary measures required to make our fractured world whole.
Twelve extraordinary short stories from the award-winning, bestselling author of Property that explore human morality and our shared losses and joys, shifting from realism to myth, from the Louisiana bayou to the streets of Rome and beyond. • “Complex and wonderful.... A long, cool drink of water.” —The New York Times Book Review In these stories, Martin mines her three literary preoccupations—animals, artists, and metamorphoses—to unforgettable effect. In “The Consolation of Nature,” a family battles a giant rat that has invaded their home. “The Open Door” follows an American poet in Rome, forced to choose between her lover and a world so new it takes her breath away. In “Et in Academic Ego,” a seventeen-year-old bayou orphan falls in love with a centaur who transforms her life. And the title story conjures up a hideous mermaid who fatally seduces a fisherman. Sophisticated, incisive, deeply felt and always surprising, Sea Lovers showcases the enduring work of an indispensable writer.
A timeless story of family, war, art, and betrayal set around an ancient, ancestral home in the Tuscan countryside from bestselling novelist Valerie Martin. When Jan Vidor, an American writer and academic, rents an apartment in a Tuscan villa for the summer, she plans to spend her break working on a novel about Mussolini. Instead, she finds herself captivated by her aristocratic landlady, the elegant, acerbic Beatrice Salviati Bartolo Doyle, whose family has owned Villa Chiara for generations. Jan is intrigued by Beatrice’s stories of World War II, particularly by the tragic fate of her uncle Sandro, who was mysteriously murdered in the driveway of the villa at the conclusion of the war. Day by day, Beatrice makes Jan privy to her family history. As years go by and the friendship is sustained by infrequent meetings, Jan finds she can’t resist writing Beatrice’s story. But as she works on the novel, it becomes clear that the villa itself is at risk and that Beatrice is incapable of saving it. Jan understands that she is telling the story of a catastrophe her friend might prefer to conceal. She presses on.
From the award-winning author of Property and bestselling author of Mary Reilly—"a bold retelling of a familiar, beloved story” (Los Angeles Times), inspired by the fresco cycles that depict the life of St. Francis of Assisi. Drawing from myriad sources and moving in reverse chronological order, she begins in the dark, final days, with a suffering Francesco on the verge of death, then shows us the unwashed and innocent revolutionary, unafraid to lecture a pope on Christ’s message. We see his mystical friendship with Chiara di Offreducci, a nobleman’s daughter who turns her back on the world to join him, and finally, the frivolous young Francesco on the deserted road where his encounter with a leper leads him to an ecstatic embrace of God. Salvation is at once an illuminating glimpse into the medieval world and an original and intimate portrait of the man whose legend has resonated through the centuries.
From the Orange Prize-winning author of Property comes a vital and heartbreaking collection of short stories that turns an unflinching eye upon artists—driven and blocked, desired and detested, infamous and sublime—as they struggle beneath the tyranny of Art to reconcile their audience with their muse. • “A triumph”—The New Yorker A painter who owes his small success to a man he despises, discovers that his passivity has cost him the love that might have set him free. A writer of modest talents encounters the old love who once betrayed him; now she repels him, yet the unfinished novel she leaves in his hands may surpass anything he could ever produce himself. An American poet in Rome finds herself forced to choose between her lover and a world so alien it takes her voice away. A print maker, who has reached a certain age, enters so deeply into the magical world of her imagination that she can never find her way back. In captivating, luminous prose, Martin explores the trials and rewards of human relationships and creative endeavor with all the ease and insight of a writer at the top of her form.
Developing countries, confronted with increased demand for health services, are seeking alternative methods for funding these services through a variety of methods, including user charges, private health insurance, community-based financing, and earmarked payroll and general taxation. This book provides a framework for assessing national health financing by drawing on the experiences of industrial countries that have a longer history in addressing the issue. The framework is designed for the assessment of national health financing in terms of what are policy concerns in all health systems: coverage, accessibility to financing, overall affordability, efficiency in the supply and financing of services, innovation, and consumer choice. The book also discusses a number of policy issues arising from the use of the framework. It uses the experience of six industrial countries--Canada, Germany, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States--to illustrate the results of different approaches in the pursuit of health care policy objectives
Acclaimed author Valerie Martin returns with a dark comedy about love, sex, an actor's ambition, and the perils of playing a role too well. In this fictional memoir, Valerie Martin brilliantly re-creates the seamy theater world of 1970s New York, when rents were cheap, love was free, and nudity on stage was the latest craze. Edward Day, a talented and ambitious young actor finds his life forever altered during a weekend party on the Jersey Shore, where he seduces the delicious Madeleine Delavergne and is saved from drowning by the mysterious Guy Margate, a man who bears an eerie physical resemblance to Edward. Forever after, Edward is torn between his desire for Madeleine and his indebtedness to Guy, his rival in love and in art, on stage and off.
Two women, Chloe Dale, an artist comfortably ensconced in bucolic suburbia, and Salome Drago, a wily, seductive refugee from a country that no longer exists, confront each other in a Manhattan restaurant, and the battle lines are drawn. Toby Dale, son of the artist and ardent suitor of the refugee, is in no position to choose sides. Outside, the drumbeats for the impending invasion of Iraq drown out all argument, and those who object will soon be reduced to standing in the street. The story of two families—suspicious, territorial, naïve in their confidence that they are free of the past—Trespass unfolds with commanding force. It is a bracing, tender novel for the 21st century.
Part romance, part gothic suspense story, this is the compelling tale of an American woman's awakening as she tumbles headlong into a mystery, art, and eros—from the bestselling, award-winning author of Property. • "Spellbinding ... A virtuoso ... Martin's competence has kindled into brilliance." —The New York Times Book Review Lucy leads a quiet, solitary life working for a best-selling (but remarkably untalented) writer. When he dies at his villa in Tuscany, Lucy flies to Tuscany to settle his affairs. What begins as a grim chore soon threatens Stark's Emersonian self-reliance--and her very sense of what is real. The villa harbors secrets: a missing manuscript, neighbors whose Byzantine arrogance veils their dark past, a phantom whose nocturnal visits tear a gaping hole in Lucy's well-honed skepticism. And to complicate matters: Massimo, a married man whose tender attentions render Lucy breathless. Smart, sophisticated, achingly beautiful, Italian Fever is one of the most original and compelling novels of the year.
From the acclaimed author of the bestselling Italian Fever and award-winning Property, comes a fresh twist on the classic Jekyll and Hyde story, a novel told from the perspective of Dr. Jekyll's dutiful and intelligent housemaid. "Part psychological novel, part social history, part eerie horror tale ... dark and moving and powerful." —The Washington Post Faithfully weaving in details from Robert Louis Stevenson's classic, Martin introduces an original and captivating character: Mary is a survivor—scarred but still strong—familiar with evil, yet brimming with devotion and love. As a bond grows between Mary and her tortured employer, she is sent on errands to unsavory districts of London and entrusted with secrets she would rather not know. Unable to confront her hideous suspicions about Dr. Jekyll, Mary ultimately proves the lengths to which she'll go to protect him. Through her astute reflections, we hear the rest of the classic Jekyll and Hyde story, and this familiar tale is made more terrifying than we remember it, more complex than we imagined possible.
In 1979, Valerie Martin, her husband and their two young children joined what they thought was a non-denominational Christian Ministry. Having “forsaken all” to follow Christ, they embarked on a twenty-two month waking nightmare. The physical, mental and emotional abuse endured by the Martins culminated in the loss of custody of their children and all their personal assets. Subsequently Valerie was diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.A Soul Protected details these events as well as the arduous task of recovery and restoration that spanned three decades. Ms Martin's book provides resources and practices that can assist individuals who have endured any kind of soul shattering experience and who suffer from PTSD.
Play games, build towers, move to the beat, and go on a pretend picnic--all with math Developed by the Mixing in Math group at TERC, an education nonprofit, and based on research funded in part by the National Science Foundation, this book is packed with all kinds of math games for matching colors with numbers, comparing and counting, and simple addition and subtraction. These projects and games, which use everyday materials such as paper towel tubes and cardboard boxes, can be used as icebreakers, party games, and group activities for indoors and out as well as special events throughout the calendar year. Whether in the car, on the bus, in a waiting room, or at the dinner table, the varied games and activates in this book serve as the perfect introduction to math for young children.
1872: the American merchant vessel Mary Celeste is discovered adrift off the coast of Spain. Her cargo is intact and there is no sign of struggle, but her crew has disappeared, never to be found. As news of the derelict ghost ship spreads, the Mary Celeste captures imaginations around the world—from a Philadelphia spiritualist medium named Violet Petra to an unknown young writer named Arthur Conan Doyle. In a haunted, death-obsessed age, the Mary Celeste is by turns a provocative mystery, an inspiration to creativity, and the tragic story of a family doomed by the sea. Based on actual events, spanning seas and continents, life and death, The Ghost of the Mary Celeste is a spellbinding exploration of love, nature, and the fictions that pass as truth.
A chilling noir collection featuring fifteen crime and mystery tales and six poems from female authors. Joyce Carol Oates, a queen-pin of the noir genre, has brought her keen and discerning eye to the curation of an outstanding anthology of brand-new top-shelf short stories (and poems by Margaret Atwood!). While bad men are not always the victims in these tales, they get their due often enough to satisfy readers who are sick and tired of the gendered status quo, or who just want to have a little bit of fun at the expense of a crumbling patriarchal society. This stylistically diverse collection will make you squirm in your seat, stay up at night, laugh out loud, and inevitably wish for more. With stories by: Joyce Carol Oates, Margaret Atwood (poems), Valerie Martin, Aimee Bender, Edwidge Danticat, Sheila Kohler, S.A. Solomon, S.J. Rozan, Lucy Taylor, Cassandra Khaw, Bernice L. McFadden, Jennifer Morales, Elizabeth McCracken, Livia Llewellyn, Lisa Lim, and Steph Cha. Praise for Cutting Edge “The indefatigable Joyce Carol Oates gathers a strong list of names . . . . Emerging and established authors provide attention-grabbing short works: especially notable are Edwidge Danticat's story on the quotidian horror of domestic violence, Bernice L. McFadden’s comic take on the appropriation of racial friendship, and Lisa Lim’s illustrations of a grotesque marriage.” —Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine “But of course, in the end, it isn't the themes or the innovations on the format of the short story anthology that make the tales collected in Cutting Edge most “feel” as if you were reading Joyce Carol Oates herself. It is the writing. The tight plots and fresh, flowing prose that go about their business until—snap!—the story’s well-oiled mousetrap does its job.” —New York Journal of Books “The 15 stories and six poems in this slim yet weighty all-original noir anthology . . . are razor-sharp and relentless in their portrayal of life, offering snapshots of dysfunction, everyday toil, and brief joy. It is unusual, however, in its scope, zeroing in not only on what the female characters endure but what they dish out . . . . Each story sears but does not cauterize, leaving protagonists and readers raw . . . . Fans of contemporary crime fiction won’t want to miss this one.” —Publishers Weekly
Terrible news has reached cat brothers Anton and Cecil: their rodent friend Hieronymus has been captured. Anton and Cecil must set out to rescue the mouse who once saved Anton’s life. Boarding one of the monstrous machines the mice call “landships,” the brothers travel to the Wild West. Along the way Cecil is tossed out onto the prairie by the train’s conductor only to face bison, prairie dogs, and a boy who would make him a pet. Meanwhile, Anton meets a ferret friend who warns of stampeding herds, rattlesnakes, and fierce, enormous cats. Facing such danger can Anton and Cecil find the courage and wit to save Hieronymus?
First UK publication of the novel which preceded Valerie Martin's 2003 Orange Prize-winning Property. 'Few have written so surprisingly, so convincingly, as Valerie Martin about sexual obsession' - Margaret Atwood CD contains a bonus track interview with the author.
Tuckered out from a journey across the Wild West, cat brothers Anton and Cecil are ready to head east for home--until a minor stop to change trains in Chicago turns into a major adventure. A bloodhound detective recruits the brothers to help solve a case: puppies are disappearing right off their leashes! Anton and Cecil’s search takes them deep into the heart of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, where they befriend exotic animals, ride the newly invented Ferris Wheel, and look for clues amid the crowds of fairgoers. Just as they close in on the culprit, Cecil is carried away in a giant flying balloon and Anton is left behind. Can the cat brothers find the puppies and each other in this big, busy city? Fans of classic animal adventures such as A Cricket in Times Square and Poppy will love Anton and Cecil’s world, brimming with action and rich, true-to-life detail.
A swashbuckling story of two very different cat brothers and their adventures at sea. Cecil and Anton are as different as port and starboard. Cecil, stocky and black with white patches, thirsts for seafaring adventure as he roams the docks of his harborside home, taking day trips on fishing boats when the chance comes along. Slim, gray Anton prefers listening to the sailors’ shanties at the town saloon. But one day when Anton goes to port, he’s taken to be a ratter on a ship bound for the high seas. Knowing little of the wide open ocean that lies beyond the harbor, Cecil boards another ship in hopes of finding Anton. But what begins as a rescue mission turns into a pair of high-seas adventures. Anton takes on a fierce rat, outwits hungry birds, and forges a forbidden friendship, while Cecil encounters dolphins and whales and finds himself in the middle of a pirate raid. On an ocean as vast as the one Anton and Cecil have discovered, will they ever see home—or each other—again? Orange Prize–winning author Valerie Martin and Lisa Martin present a colorful cast of characters, rich historical detail, and lyrical storytelling that will delight fans of such classic animal adventures as The Wind in the Willows, Stuart Little, and Poppy.
Have you ever had dreams or visions that came to pass? Have you ever had moments where you felt like you knew what was going to happen and it did, right before your eyes? Well, this is a must-read book by Dr. Valerie Martin-Stewart as she has compiled most of her dreams, visions and "supernatural" happenings to share with the world! After reading this book, you will leave inpired, mind-boggled, and in awe about life and this "supernatural" world. You will know that God does still speak to His people through dreams, visions and angels just as He did with Joseph and many others in the Bible.
A swashbuckling story of two very different cat brothers and their adventures at sea. Anton and Cecil are as different as port and starboard. Cecil, stocky and black with white patches, thirsts for seafaring adventure. Slim, gray Anton prefers listening to the sailors’ shanties at the town saloon. One day when Anton goes to the harbor, he’s taken as a ratter on a ship bound for the high seas. Cecil boards another ship in hopes of finding Anton. What begins as a rescue mission turns into a pair of high-seas adventures. Anton takes on a fierce rat, outwits hungry birds, and forges a forbidden friendship, while Cecil meets dolphins and whales and finds himself in a pirate raid. On an ocean as vast as the one Anton and Cecil have discovered, will they ever see home--or each other--again? Includes a sneak peek at the next adventure in the series, Anton and Cecil: Cats on Track.
This book is a true story about a lady who experienced rejection at 4 years old and not by a stranger but by her mother. She grew up feeling abandoned, suicidal, depressed most of the time and had very low self-esteem. She had not been able to cry publicly for over 32 years of her teenage and adult life due to the many tears she shed at 4 years old. However, she had a divine revelation from the Holy Spirit one evening in October 2003 right after she had been bombarded with thoughts to end her life by pulling out in front of an 18-wheeler truck. She ignored the voice and made it to her destination where she was immediately told by the Holy Spirit to get a pen and paper and write what she heard. This is an awesome story of an OVERCOMER in life!!!
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