- Table View
- List View
All Set for Black, Thanks.: A New Look at Mourning
by Miriam WeinsteinWhen Miriam Weinstein&’s good friend died unexpectedly, and other losses followed close behind, it led to a year of introspection and black outfits. All Set For Black, Thanks ditches the sanctimony to give us the help, and the laughs, that we actually need in times of mourning and grief. She explores such topics as how we keep our dead with us even as we learn to let them go; why we should not bring casseroles; how to write the Best Eulogy Ever. Part memoir, part how-to, this book will help you get through the rough bargain of human existence: none of us gets out of here alive, but we live as if the lives of our loved ones had no end.
The Shelf Life of Ashes: A Memoir
by Hollis GiammatteoWhen Hollis Giammatteo sought a job working with the elderly, she did so with the intention of finding models of healthy aging. And she failed. In The Shelf Life of Ashes, Giammatteo chronicles her experiences with her wards, as well as the trip she embarks upon when her mother, who is convinced she is dying, entreats her to come &“home.&” Trips back, traumas triggered, identity in crisis, equanimity gained—this quasi-comic, concentrated journey engages the reader in the process of naming and facing the tasks involved in growing old, while asking a simple but weighted question: Can aging be done well?
Journey to the Heart Stone: A Novel
by Catherine RaphaelIn the beginning, the Goddess danced the world into existence. Peace reigned for generations through matriarchal rule within the Minca, Dute, and Carroo tribes. But then one man&’s lust for power destroyed this balance: Vestor assassinated his sister, Mother of the Minca tribe. His army ravaged the Dute and Carroo tribes. A once-idyllic world was thrust into war, famine, and despair.Yet today, there is hope. Vestor&’s niece, Cora, has a vision: if she can convince an emissary from each tribe to rendezvous at the Heart Stone, she can overthrow her evil uncle, take her rightful place as Mother Minca, and restore harmony.But the Dutes have disappeared deep into their mountains. There are rumors that the Carroos are extinct. And Cora must move swiftly—lest Vestor learn that she&’s pregnant with the Mincan heir.
Make a Wish for Me: A Family's Recovery from Autism
by LeeAndra ChergeyIndie Reader Discovery Awards Winner for Parenting National Indie Excellence Award Finalist Hollywood Book Festival 2016 Honorable mention in general non-fiction Bookvana 2016 Finalist in Parenting/Family Bronze Medal Winner Inspirational Memoir-Female Living Now Book Awards-Books for Better Living When LeeAndra Chergey is told that her son, Ryan, is no longer considered &“normal,&” she and her family are forced into a new way of handling the outside world. Together, Chergey&’s family and a team of carefully chosen therapists put in years of hard work, and eventually teach Ryan to speak and express emotions. Through it all, Chergey follows her heart—and in the process, she learns that being &“normal&” is not nearly as important as providing your child with a life full of joy, love, and acceptance. Tender and candid, Make A Wish For Me is a story of accepting and tackling a disability stigmatized and misunderstood by society.
The Lucidity Project: A Novel
by Abbey Campbell Cook"The Lucidity Project stirs readers to look at life and their abilities in an exhilarating new way.&” — POPSUGAR Depression has haunted twenty-five-year-old Max Dorigan her entire life. After years of unsuccessful treatment and a failed suicide attempt, Max agrees to join &“The Lucidity Project,&” a program at a mysterious health and wellness resort in the Caribbean—where, she soon finds, the people are just as troubled as she is, only in a different way. They claim to have psychic powers. They claim they can see ghosts. They claim Max is one of them. Max refuses to pay much attention until Dr. Micah McMoneagle, the charismatic head of the project, reveals he&’s found a way to allow people to enter each other&’s dreams. Now, instead of discussing their issues in talk therapy, Max and her new gifted friends can symbolically work through their problems on the astral plane. Together they embark on a magical, transformational journey through dreamtime to reveal the causes of the things that are holding them back—an adventure that ultimately awakens them to who they really are, and what they came to earth to do.
Eliza Waite: A Novel
by Ashley E. Sweeney2017 Nancy Pearl Book Award After the tragic death of her husband and son on a remote island in Washington&’s San Juan Islands, Eliza Waite joins the throng of miners, fortune hunters, business owners, con men, and prostitutes traveling north to the Klondike in the spring of 1898. When Eliza arrives in Skagway, Alaska, she has less than fifty dollars to her name and not a friend in the world—but with some savvy, and with the help of some unsavory characters, Eliza opens a successful bakery on Skagway&’s main street and befriends a madam at a neighboring bordello. Occupying this space—a place somewhere between traditional and nontraditional feminine roles—Eliza awakens emotionally and sexually. But when an unprincipled man from her past turns up in Skagway, Eliza is fearful that she will be unable to conceal her identity and move forward with her new life. Using Gold Rush history, diary entries, and authentic pioneer recipes, Eliza Waite transports readers to the sights sounds, smells, and tastes of a raucous and fleeting era of American history.
The Good Widow: A Memoir of Living with Loss
by Jennifer KatzWhat do we do when life ends? How do we honor the past while moving into an unimaginable, uncertain future? This tender, bracingly honest memoir explores how Jenny, a young widow, navigates the sudden loss of Tris, her beloved spouse of eighteen years.With Tris gone, Jenny suddenly finds herself a single mom to a teen daughter and adult stepson. The newly splintered family finds ways to celebrate &“milestone firsts&” —including birthdays and other holidays that, without Tris, now feel hollow and bittersweet. Jenny finds herself drawn to new people, including other widows and psychic mediums, and becoming open to different kinds of connections based on sharing and spirituality. She also embarks on a halting quest for new romantic love. Initially, as she endures awkward first dates and unpleasant interactions with self-proclaimed &“nice guys,&” she resists her new reality —but over time, she finds someone unexpectedly comforting, blending the pain of loss with the pleasure of closeness. For readers who have also lost a loved one, The Good Widow offers both a comforting guide to grief and a form of companionship; for everyone, it&’s a beautiful example of how even after death, love endures.
The Convention of Wives: A Novel
by Debra GreenDina and Julia first meet at a surgical convention and bond over frustrations with their husbands&’ demanding schedules. But geography, time, and growing families make maintaining their friendship difficult and their relationship eventually falls apart. One of them is left to wonder why; the other has a secret. But neither of them knows that decisions made by family members decades earlier have set them on a collision course. Years after their friendship ends, Julia gets word that her daughter has suddenly become seriously ill—and she and Dina must decide whether they can face the history that now unites them and muster the maturity to rescue their emotionally tattered families. A sweeping saga that follows generations from a shtetl in Odessa to the comforts of Scarsdale, an uprising in Glasgow to servitude in the Caribbean, and a trek through the Alps to a displaced persons camp in Italy, The Convention of Wives is a story about the ever-evolving messiness of friendship and marriage, and the wonder of survival.
Life's Accessories: A Memoir (and Fashion Guide)
by Rachel Levy LesserRachel Levy Lesser can relive almost every significant life event through an accessory. A scarf, a pair of earrings, a bag, even a fleece pair of socks—each contains the elements that put together the story of a life. Life’s Accessories is a funny, sad, touching, relatable, shake-your-head-right-along-as-you-laugh-and-wipe-away-tears, coming-of-age memoir. In fourteen essays, Lesser tackles sensitive issues like anxiety, illness, and loss in a way that feels a bit like having a chat with a good friend. Out of the stories comes solid life—and fashion—advice. About far more than just a hair tie, a bracelet, or a belt, Life’s Accessories is a window into the many ways in which Lesser has come to understand life—in all of its beauty, its joys, its sorrows, its heartaches, its challenges, and its absurdity.
Butterfly Awakens: A Memoir of Transformation Through Grief
by Meg NoceroOne woman’s dark night leads her on a journey to find her light. Butterfly Awakens depicts the story of the extraordinary transformation of a forty-something Italian American attorney as she moves through unimaginable grief and sadness watching her beloved mother lose her battle to breast cancer. This tumultuous life experience shifts her world, causing her to question her life choices and opening her up to her soul’s calling. Nocero brings readers along on her journey through a dark night of the soul as she deals with the grieving process, a toxic work environment, and intense stress that results in depression, anxiety, and an acquired somatic nervous disorder called tinnitus. Through it all, she never gives up, instead looking for the help she needs to start to heal and find her light. In the end, like the metamorphosis from caterpillar to butterfly, this story is a beautiful love letter that honors Nocero’s mother’s legacy while detailing the awakening of her own. There are many stories about breast cancer and grief, but none are quite like this one. Throughout her tale, Nocero pulls the reader deep into her story through the intensity of her emotions; and in the end, after resigning from her career as a federal prosecutor due to a toxic administration, she searches for the lighthouse she saw in a vision when her mother died. Embarking on a spiritual pilgrimage on El Camino de Santiago in Northern Spain to get to the lighthouse at Cap Finisterre, she sets out to wake up and live again; the butterfly connection and stark honesty of her writing offers readers important lessons learned from moving through grief so that each person can shine their light again.
Have You Seen These Children?: A Memoir
by Veronica SlaugherFour young children caught between love and hate—hostages to the cruelty of revenge. A deceitful American father and a naïve decision by a Filipino mother transformed their lives forever. Valorie, Veronica, Vance, and Vincent&’s perfect world turned into a nightmare one hot afternoon in 1959 in Cebu, Philippines. What was to be a quick lunch with their father turned into a flight to America, where four dreadfully long years of running from state to state, hiding, and vanishing into the night followed. Kidnapped from the only world they knew, confusion quickly set in. At nine, Valorie, the eldest, liked seeing their father after his absence for over a year. Vance, a timid six-year-old, went along with whatever Valorie did. Vincent, the baby at three, cried for his mother while clinging to Veronica for comfort. Veronica, eight, was the only one who was truly panicked by what was happening around them—and she recognized instantly that she and her siblings would have to stick together in order to survive. In that moment, her childhood ended and the warrior within her emerged. Moving from state to state and school to school, avoiding the law, looking over their shoulders at every turn, the four Slaughter children found themselves fighting not only the heartbreak of separation from their loving mother but also poverty, discrimination, and abuse. Their only weapons were their deep love for one another and an unwavering determination to survive the trials they faced—and find their way back to their mother.
Let the More Loving One Be Me: My Journey from Trauma to Freedom
by Judy ForemanIn this compelling tale, Judy Foreman reveals the terror she felt every night as a girl as she lay in bed frozen in dread, listening for her father&’s footsteps coming down the hall. She recalls his mostly naked body, his stale smell, his silhouette in the bedroom doorway. Worse, in some ways, was her mother&’s denial—her insistence that this man was wonderful, her refusal to acknowledge his drinking or his rage. It wasn&’t until Foreman spent a high school summer as an exchange student with a Danish family that she began to see how unsafe her own family was; it wasn&’t until she went to an all-women&’s college that she realized that women had value. Ultimately, this book shows that with time and therapy, it is possible to heal from serious childhood trauma and lead a life of deep fulfillment, rewarding work and, most wonderfully, love. It is a book about the power of emotional courage to change one&’s own inner and outer experience of the world, and about what matters most in life: cultivating healthy connections to other people.
Being Mean: A Memoir of Sexual Abuse and Survival
by Patricia EagleBeing Mean is about learning how to acknowledge and live with incomprehensible experiences in the healthiest ways possible. Told in vignettes relative to markers of age and experience, Patricia Eagle reveals the heartbreak and destruction of sexual abuse, from age four to thirteen, by her father. Eagle uses dissociation and numbing in response to his abusive behavior, her mother&’s complacency, and as a way to block her own sense of self. How does a child come to know what is safe or unsafe, right or wrong, normal or abnormal? How does a young woman learn the difference between real love and a desire for sexual pleasure stimulated by abusive childhood sexual experiences? Careening through life, Eagle wonders how to trust others and, most importantly, herself. As a mature woman struggling to understand and live with her past, she remains earnest in her pursuit of clarity, compassion, and trust.
What We Leave Behind: A Novel
by Christine Gallagher KearneyIn 1947, war bride Ursula arrives in Minneapolis torn between guilt over leaving loved ones behind and her desire to start a new life—and a family—in this promised land. But the American dream proves elusive—she is struck with polio, and then shocked by the sudden death of her GI husband. Without a spouse or the child she so desperately wanted, Ursula must rely on her shrewd survival skills from wartime Berlin, and she takes in a boarder to help make ends meet. She soon falls in love with the Argentinean medical technician living in her spare bedroom, but his devotion to communism troubles her—and when she finds herself pregnant with his child, she is faced with a dilemma: how to reconcile her dream of motherhood with an America that is so different from what she imagined.
Start with the Backbeat: A Musical Novel
by Garinè B. IsassiIt is the spring of 1989 in New York City when Jill Dodge, a post-punk rocker from Texas, finally gets her big promotion at Mega Big Records. She is thrust into a race to find a gritty, urban rapper before the &“Gangsta&” trend passes their label by. As Jill and her mostly middle-class coworkers search for the next big rap star, they fluctuate between alliances and rivalries, tripping over the stereotypes of race, class, and musical genre. They work to promote their current roster of acts as well as the new rap artist they sign to a contract. It turns out, he may not be what they expected. Full of original lyrics and wit, Start With the Backbeat is a compelling examination of the nuances of class, race, and culture in America―which are sometimes ridiculously serious.
Breathe: A Memoir of Motherhood, Grief, and Family Conflict
by Kelly KittelKelly Kittel didn&’t know the true meaning of the phrase &“in the wrong place and the wrong time&” until she fell victim to just such a circumstance—and lost her infant son as a result. In the wake of their son&’s death, Kittel and her husband are overcome with grief—and they&’re still trying to make sense of their loss when, a mere nine months later, their family doctor makes a terrible mistake during Kittel&’s pregnancy and they are forced to bury a second child. And when they decide to press malpractice charges, things only get worse: they end up having to battle not only the medical system but also their own family in a court of law, all while raising their other three children and trying to heal from the pain of living through the deaths of two sons. Achingly raw and beautifully narrated, Breathe is a story of motherhood, death, family, and conflict—and, ultimately, how to embrace love, honesty, and joy even in the face of tragedy.
Secrets and Revenge: A Novel
by Noël CaraccioYears ago, Rick Singleton blackmailed the very wealthy managing partner of a large New York law firm after stumbling across a black market adoption ring the man was running on the side. He got a million dollars out of Steve Goldrick before going to the district attorney to turn him in—and Goldrick fled the country before the authorities could arrest him.Knowing that Goldrick could never return to the US without being arrested, Rick thought he and his family were safe from any potential reprisal from the disgraced attorney. But now someone has invaded Rick’s home, badly injured his wife, Maizie, and taken his three-month-old daughter, Grace—and all signs point to Goldrick.Maizie’s long-deceased grandmother, Fannie, has come back from the other side to help her family before; now, Maizie’s mother, Abby, calls on her again. A force to be reckoned with, Fannie is able to move freely in the physical world, although no one can see her. When she answers her daughter’s call, she finds herself in Dubai, with no clue as to what her surprising new surroundings have to do with her great-granddaughter’s kidnapping. Will Fannie be able to help her family figure out who really kidnapped Grace and where she is being held? And even if she does, will it be possible to return Grace safely to her parents?
You Cannot Mess This Up: A True Story That Never Happened
by Amy Weinland DaughtersIt's 2014 and Amy Daughters is a forty-six-year old stay-at-home mom living in Dayton, Ohio. She returns to her hometown of Houston over the Thanksgiving holiday to discuss her parents’ estate—and finds herself hurled back in time. Suddenly, it’s 1978, and she is forced to spend thirty-six hours in her childhood home with her nuclear family, including her ten-year old self. Over the next day and a half she reconsiders every feeling she’s ever had, discusses current events with dead people, gets overserved at a party with her parents’ friends, and is treated to lunch at the Bonanza Sirloin Pit. Besides noticing that everyone is smoking cigarettes, she’s still jealous of her sister, and there is a serious lack of tampons in the house, Amy also begins to appreciate that memories are malleable, wholly dependent on who is doing the remembering. In viewing her parents as peers and her siblings as detached children, she redefines her difficult relationships with her family members and, ultimately, realizes that her life story matters and is profoundly significant—not so much to everyone else, perhaps, but certainly to her. Amy’s guide said her trip back in time wouldn’t change anything in the future, but by the time her thirty-six hours are up, she’s convinced that she’ll never be the same again.
Second Chance: A Mother's Quest for a Natural Birth after a Cesarean
by Thais Nye DerichOn the joyful day of her son&’s birth, Thais Derich never questioned going to the hospital. A week later, she walked out physically, spiritually, and emotionally injured, and fully disabused of the idea that the medical field would ever put her best interests before protocol, money, and legal concerns. The next three years of her life were spent recovering from that day, and preparing herself to do things her way when she became pregnant again. And then she did get pregnant again—and that resolve was put to the test. A universal story about betrayal and trust and the roller coaster ride in between, Second Chance illuminates the many ways in which our healthcare system is broken when it comes to helping women give birth, and gives a voice to all the mothers who have walked away from their delivery experiences wondering what the hell just happened.
Technical Program Manager's Handbook: Empowering managers to efficiently manage technical projects and build a successful career path
by Joshua Alan TeterExplore the different aspects of the technical program manager's role in the tech world and get ready to advance your career across the Big Five tech companiesKey FeaturesUncover the secret to becoming a successful technical program managerLearn some of the system design principles and architectural concepts necessary for a TPMGet up and running with a wide range of foundational program management topicsBook DescriptionThe technical program manager (TPM) is a relatively new role born out of the need of the tech industry to have a specialized practitioner who speaks both tech and business and leverages this bilingual talent to get results that no one else can. This book dives into what makes a TPM tick. You’ll find out which project and program management skills will help you shine and how you can apply your technical skills for effective results. This book looks at the TPM role across the Big Five tech companies (Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Apple, and Meta) to help you discern the most effective skills to be successful no matter which company you work for. Are you already a well-performing TPM looking to see what’s next? This book identifies the career paths for a TPM at the Big Five to help you decide the next step for you. By the end of this book, you’ll have a clear understanding of how to be a TPM, along with a breakdown of the necessary technical and program management skills to develop a clear roadmap for your career.What you will learnInvestigate why a TPM is an important role in the tech industryUnderstand the purpose and uniqueness of the TPM roleDiscover what makes a successful TPMNavigate project management with your unique technical skillsExplorer the career opportunities available for a TPMCompare the TPM role and responsibilities across the Big Five tech leadersWho this book is forThis TPM book is for aspiring and established technical program managers in the tech industry. To get the most out of this book, you should have a basic understanding of the project management life cycle and be comfortable with technical concepts as we dive into basic system design and architecture landscapes in context to the TPM role and expectations.
Modern Python Cookbook: 133 recipes to develop flawless and expressive programs in Python 3.8, 2nd Edition
by Steven F. LottComplete recipes spread across 15 chapters to help you overcome commonly faced issues by Python for everybody across the globe. Each recipe takes a problem-solution approach to resolve for effective Python. Key Features Develop expressive and effective Python programs Best practices and common idioms through carefully explained recipes Discover new ways to apply Python for data-focused development Make use of Python's optional type annotations Book Description Python is the preferred choice of developers, engineers, data scientists, and hobbyists everywhere. It is a great language that can power your applications and provide great speed, safety, and scalability. It can be used for simple scripting or sophisticated web applications. By exposing Python as a series of simple recipes, this book gives you insight into specific language features in a particular context. Having a tangible context helps make the language or a given standard library feature easier to understand. This book comes with 133 recipes on the latest version of Python 3.8. The recipes will benefit everyone, from beginners just starting out with Python to experts. You'll not only learn Python programming concepts but also how to build complex applications. The recipes will touch upon all necessary Python concepts related to data structures, object oriented programming, functional programming, and statistical programming. You will get acquainted with the nuances of Python syntax and how to effectively take advantage of it. By the end of this Python book, you will be equipped with knowledge of testing, web services, configuration, and application integration tips and tricks. You will be armed with the knowledge of how to create applications with flexible logging, powerful configuration, command-line options, automated unit tests, and good documentation. What you will learn See the intricate details of the Python syntax and how to use it to your advantage Improve your coding with Python readability through functions Manipulate data effectively using built-in data structures Get acquainted with advanced programming techniques in Python Equip yourself with functional and statistical programming features Write proper tests to be sure a program works as advertised Integrate application software using Python Who this book is for The Python book is for web developers, programmers, enterprise programmers, engineers, and big data scientists. If you are a beginner, this book will get you started. If you are experienced, it will expand your knowledge base. A basic knowledge of programming would help.
Odoo 12 Development Cookbook: 190+ unique recipes to build effective enterprise and business applications, 3rd Edition
by Daniel Reis Holger Brunn Alexandre Fayolle Parth GajjarBuild customized solutions for your business using the latest features of Odoo 12 and PythonKey FeaturesGet up to speed with Odoo 12 to create custom and reusable modulesInterconnect your application with other systems by implementing web APIsUnderstand the mechanisms powering the Odoo framework and Odoo.sh to build robust enterprisesBook DescriptionOdoo is a powerful framework known for rapid application development. Its latest release, Odoo 12, introduces tons of new features. With this book, you'll learn how to develop powerful Odoo applications from scratch, using all the latest features.This Odoo cookbook starts by covering Odoo installation and deployment on the server. Next, you'll explore the Odoo framework with real-world examples. You'll create a new Odoo module from the ground up and progress to advanced framework concepts. You'll also learn how to modify existing applications, including Point of Sale (POS). This book is not just limited to backend development; the advanced JavaScript recipes for creating new views and widgets will help you build beautiful UI elements. As you move forward, you'll gain insights into website development and become a quality Odoo developer by studying performance optimization, debugging, and automated tests. Finally, you'll learn the latest concepts like multi-website, In-App Purchasing (IAP), Odoo.sh, and IoT Box.By the end of the book, you'll have all the knowledge you need to build powerful Odoo applications. The development best practices used in this book will undoubtedly come handy when you are working with the Odoo framework.What you will learnDevelop a module in the Odoo framework and modify the existing flow of any applicationBuild dynamic websites with Odoo CMSCreate and modify backend JavaScript components in Odoo and POSConnect and access any object in Odoo via Remote Procedure Calls (RPC)Illustrate the different tools available in Odoo to implement business processes for your recordsImplement in-app purchase servicesManage, deploy, and test an Odoo instance with the PaaS Odoo.shConfigure IoT Box to add and upgrade Point of Sale (POS) hardwareWho this book is forIf you're a Python developer who wants to develop highly efficient business applications with the latest Odoo framework, or if you just want a solution guide for all your Odoo development issues, this book is for you. Some JavaScript programming and web development experience is necessary to get the most out of this book.
Gloria Swanson: Ready for Her Close-Up (Hollywood Legends Series)
by Tricia WelschGloria Swanson: Ready for Her Close-Up shows how a talented, self-confident actress negotiated a creative path through seven decades of celebrity. It also illuminates a little-known chapter in American media history: how the powerful women of early Hollywood transformed their remarkable careers after their stars dimmed. This book brings Swanson (1899–1983) back into the spotlight, revealing her as a complex, creative, entrepreneurial, and thoroughly modern woman. Swanson cavorted in slapstick short films with Charlie Chaplin and Mack Sennett in the 1910s. The popularity of her films with Cecil B. DeMille helped create the star system. A glamour icon, Swanson became the most talked-about star in Hollywood, earning three Academy Award nominations, receiving 10,000 fan letters every week, and living up to a reputation as Queen of Hollywood. She bought mansions and penthouses, dressed in fur and feathers, and flitted through Paris, London, and New York engaging in passionate love affairs that made headlines and caused scandals. Frustrated with the studio system, Swanson turned down a million-dollar-a-year contract. After a wild ride making unforgettable movies with some of Hollywood’s most colorful characters—including her lover Joseph Kennedy and maverick director Erich von Stroheim—she was a million dollars in debt. Without hesitation she went looking for her next challenge, beginning her long second act. Swanson became a talented businesswoman who patented inventions and won fashion awards for her clothing designs; a natural foods activist decades before it was fashionable; an exhibited sculptor; and a designer employed by the United Nations. All the while she continued to act in films, theater, and television at home and abroad. Though she had one of Hollywood’s most famous exit lines—"All right, Mr. DeMille, I’m ready for my close-up!”—the real Gloria Swanson never looked back.
Garden of Dreams: The Life of Simone Signoret (Hollywood Legends Series)
by Patricia A. DemaioThe incomparable Simone Signoret (1921-1985), one of the grand actresses of the twentieth century and one of France's most notable stars, considered herself the “oldest discovery” in Hollywood. After years of block-listing during the McCarthy era, she was thirty-eight years old when she entered Hollywood through the back door in the 1959 British blockbuster Room at the Top. Her portrayal of the endearing Alice Aisgill earned her the Academy Award in 1960, the first French actor to win a coveted Oscar. Though a latecomer to Hollywood, Signoret was already an international star who had survived the Nazi occupation of Paris, emerging in 1945 as a beautiful, promising actress capable of communicating more emotion through body language than dialogue alone could achieve. She gained a reputation as the thinking man's sex symbol and in several films portrayed prostitutes with subtlety and depth. She was fiercely protective of her privacy. But after winning the Oscar, she was dragged through the gutter when her second husband, Yves Montand, had a widely publicized affair with Marilyn Monroe. Many attributed her rapid aging and alcoholism to this betrayal. She endured this perception in silence, all the while demonstrating a remarkable capacity to reinvent herself as a bestselling author, respected social activist, and revered actress who remained in the cinema, her “garden of dreams,” for over four decades. Patricia A. DeMaio combines Signoret's courageous story with Montand's biography to reveal new information and insight into Signoret's humanitarian efforts and the vibrant film career that sustained her.
Grady Baby: A Year in the Life of Atlanta's Grady Hospital
by Jerry GentryGranted unprecedented behind-the-scenes access to the maternity ward of Atlanta's sprawling public hospital, Jerry Gentry binds together stories of women, medical residents, nurses, and midwives. In this teeming facility that never closes, he shows how their sorrows, struggles, and spiritual fortitude join at the moment when life begins. Gentry tells these stories in a style and pace that mirrors life in the hospital. Scenes may change rapidly or linger on the birth of a child or an older woman's struggle with addiction. Some individuals reappear throughout the narrative while some flash by and then are gone, leaving an indelible imprint on the memory. In his narrative, Gentry follows four principal stories: A young, single woman is having her second child. She gradually reveals that her relationship with her boyfriend is a violent one. An older woman—a “Grady Baby” and lifelong Grady patient—emerges as a kind of spiritual muse. In the charity hospital, a Brazilian émigré is pregnant by a man from a wealthy Atlanta family. A woman with AIDS faces the trials of a mixed-race relationship and the terrifying question—will my baby have the virus? Never maudlin, Grady Baby presents hard choices—some wise, some not—made by women enduring tough realities. The term “Grady Baby” has been traditionally a pejorative, stereotyping the race and class of patients, but it can also be a term of pride and strength. With an insider's eye and unflinching, humanizing narrative voice, Gentry reveals the battles, failures, and triumphs that occur in one year in the place where birth and the hardships of urban life collide.